Ceramic bowl, sea monster series.

It’s summer, and I’ve taken a ceramics class each year for the past few years. This is the start of the Sea Monster series.  To see the rest of the bowls, please visit my blog:  http://art2go-rtdm.blogspot.com/

I’ve just finished this illustration for the 2010 Siren Music Festival held by the Village Voice in Coney Island each July.  This actually marks the 10th year in a row that I’ve created the art for Siren and its somewhat interesting to look back at the previous years work to see how I’ve evolved as an illustrator.  In terms of the assignment we decided on the Siren having three heads because it sort of jived with the greek mythology of Siren’s hanging out in groups of three, but we never expected that there would be a second Siren Fest let alone ten.  In some ways I think I’ve done the same drawing each time, just with a different interpretation.

It’s been an honor to be able to work on something which has soaked in the amazing, culturally-brackish waters that is Coney Island.  It has such a important and bizarre place in history (well chronicled in Rem Koolhaas’s Delirious New York) and its been a real treat to be able to give it my own strange take.  Why is there always a Yeti, Creature from the Black Lagoon, Black Manta, Easter Island guys and an Octopus hanging out?  I don’t know but if that every manages to occur in the real world it will happen there.  Coney Island is going through its latest round of upheaval and strife (well documented in this project) which is sad on many levels and yet oddly organic as well.

Huge thanks to Diane Perini who has chosen the lineups and been the driving force for all of Sirens 10 years and has given me tons of support.  Mike Gibson has been doing the logos and design of the ads, posters and t-shirts in recent years and has just made the whole thing sing.