Once again I have the joy of participating in Gallery 1988's Crazy 4 Cult art show (opening December 12th) in which nearly a hundred artists pay tribute to cult films. This year I tried a new format, and created a set of decorative mirrors like the ones that were offered as carnival game prizes throughout the 1970s, '80s, and '90s that featured the cultural icons of the moment.
Before we take a closer look at my stuff, let us review the enthralling history of prize mirrors. The concept seems to have emerged in the '70s, and the mirrors were quickly rumored to double as a handy surface to cut n' sniff cocaine. When they first showed up in the carnys' trailers most were nearly as large as record album covers, and contained in semi-sturdy wooden frames, with the images screen-printed onto the glass...
Over the years their quality devolved dramatically.
Some of the earlier mirrors were marbled with decorative colored veins, but this feature was soon discontinued for the most part...
(photos came from ebay)Multiple sizes were available to accommodate the "Small" and "Large" prize categories, but as the '80s progressed the big ones were mostly phased out in favor of the six by six universal standard...
The wooden (and sometimes metallic plastic) frames were downgraded to cardboard.
The next degradation was replacing the mirrors with regular clear glass, and printing the image on back.
In their chintziest form the prizes consisted of a piece of glass slipped in front of a cardstock printout in a cardstock frame.
However, in recent years the spirit of the carnival prize mirror lives on in its descendent, the framed poster.
All that said, my mirror creations are meant to emulate those middle years when real mirrors were still in use, but the frames were low-end.
One wonders if any of the imagery was ever officially authorized, but bootlegging was certainly rampant, and some fascinating "off-guide" artwork could be found...
While the format changed dramatically, the visual themes remained constant. The subjects revolved around the sex, drugs, & rock formula, and in my neck of the woods there was also an (un)healthy dose of pro-gun and confederate pride propaganda.
This was the inspiration for my tribute to John Carpenter's 1982 version of The Thing...
Naturally, Kurt Russell's character is all-American, but as you may recall, the Thing is first unleashed in a Norwegian research camp in the Arctic, thus the Norwegian flag that gives the design its confederate flavor. Since carnival mirrors are rife with misguided typography I happily took the opportunity to use the font Hobo. It's a typeface I try to work into as many projects as possible, yet sadly my efforts are almost always shot down.
(In case you can't tell, the images are placed on real mirrors. They just look a bit weird because I blurred the reflections in Photoshop. )
I've always enjoyed the way that traveling fairs embraced '80s Heavy Metal music and then refused to let go long after its heyday. Just last year I heard a Gravitron proudly blaring Poison and Cinderella. Since the majority of prize mirrors are rock related I aimed high by mashing up Evil Dead 2 (1987), a quintessential horror flick, with Iron Maiden, the embodiment of carnival life.
My mirrors will be for sale as a set once Crazy 4 Cult begins on December 12th. (EDIT: They sold!!) Here's the link to all the art.
