Vinyl Therapy: Moby "Play" (1999)

I think I'm ready to enjoy this again...

Like almost every other twenty-something oxygen-breathing mammal in 1999, I bought this album on CD, enjoyed it and then proceeded to hear EVERY SINGLE TRACK on commercials for everything from computers to cars.  Needless to say, the sonic wallpaper that this techno-pop gem provided began to rankle and annoy (rather than beguile and captivate) and the CD ended up getting handed off to someone else.  Twelve years later I encountered it on a VINYL import pressing (of all things) at a Goodwill Store in Matawan, NJ for a measly buck ninety-nine.  I was immediately won over by the ridiculously cheap price and availability of the LP on a rare format.  My guess is that it was bought in NYC at Rebel Rebel (or the like) by a New Jersey DJ and then donated (in very good condition, I might add) some time later. 

Archive: "Spaceboy #2" (1996)

CHRISTIAN MONTONE

"Spaceboy #2"  (1996)

Acrylic on cardboard LP cover and board.

Approx. size: 16 x 24 inches.

DETAILS BELOW:

Yet another painting created at the height of my vintage toy fascination.  

The toy that inspired this piece actually sits atop a high shelf in my living room today. 

Many other toys and games collected during this period have been sold, broken down and worked 

into assemblage pieces or given away to friends, but this particular item has a special place in my heart.

Archive: Brooklyn Heights Promenade (1999)

CHRISTIAN MONTONE

Drawing: Brooklyn Heights Reportage (1999)

FDR Drive, East River and tugboat as seen from The Promenade.

Approx. Size: 8 inches by 8 inches. Water soluble crayon and ink on board. 

Archive: "Bunny Trike" (1996)

CHRISTIAN MONTONE 

"Bunny Trike"  (1996)

Approx. size:  22 x 22 inches.  Acrylic on compressed board.

This piece was painted on pre-printed compressed board that was pulled from a remodeling/construction site by my friend Jon.  It's a 1960s Kay-Bee Toy Store Student Science Accesories point-of-purchase display backboard that ended up informing my color choices for the painting.  As I had been doing for months, I was once again depicting (and working to give an animated, humanized feel to) another one of the many vintage toys I had begun collecting.

Archive: "Barrel Robot" (1996)

CHRISTIAN MONTONE

"Barrel Robot" (1996)

Approx. size: 11 x 20 inches.  Acrylic on cardboard box and board.

From what I recall, the 1960s Maxwell House box came from either the basement workshop in my 

Staten Island grandparents' house or the (many years defunct) bar in my Pennsylvania grandparents' house.

Archive: "Desk Bear" Paintings (1996)

CHRISTIAN MONTONE

Paintings: 1996

"Desk Bear #1" (Acrylic on plexi, collaged paper and cardboard box) Approx. 10 x 12 inches.

"Desk Bear #2" (Acrylic on household wall paneling) Approx. 24 x 24 inches.

When I painted these pieces, I recall that I enjoyed the disparity in the textures 

created by the rough collage under #1 and the comparatively smooth 

1960s / 1970s striped paneling under #2.  The paneling for #2 was pulled from 

a remodeling / construction site by my friend Jon (as were the grounds for other pieces of this period).

Archive: "Spaceboy #1" (1996)

CHRISTIAN MONTONE

"Spaceboy #1" (1996)

Approx. size:  11 x 17 inches.

Acrylic on vintage tobacco premium coupons and foamcore.

The coupons upon which this is painted came from a large stash that had been 

squirreled away by my grandfather Phillip Montone from Hazleton, Pennsylvania.  

Upon clearing out his old house (and shuttered neighborhood bar, which comprised most 

of the downstairs level) by Dad came upon these... and knew exactly who to give them to.

Archive: "Push Start Car" (1996)

CHRISTIAN MONTONE

"Push Start Car" (1996)

Acrylic on wheatpaste and board.  Size: 17 x 21 inches.

Painted during the peak of my wind-up vintage toy fixation.

Many times, the wheatpaste layer (that I would affix to board as a ground for painting) was cut down 

from large sections of layered advertising posters that were plastered on buildings and sidewalk sheds in NYC.

Archive: "Too Much Information" Pop Collage Book (1995)

I can pretty much trace the "picture in picture" format that would later overtake my fine art collages and paintings back to this era.  These are pages from a 1995 collage project I did (shortly after graduating from Parsons) called "Too Much Information".  Years before I had my first iMac, digital camera or scanner, I used to make very analog screen grabs by photographing moving and/or paused music videos, bootleg concert videos and official VHS tapes straight from the TV.  

Now, remember... Every time I clicked the shutter, I was essentially spending money.  

I would click on an image that I really liked multiple times, doing a lot of guesswork as to exposure, clarity and sharpness.  I would (when doing a project like this) shoot two or three rolls of 35MM color film in the hopes that double prints from the local 24 hour photo service would provide me with enough material for a book.

  Sometimes I would gift these books to friends and other times I would color copy the sliced and assembled results to bind a small edition of a book.  Leftovers from these creative exploits also made GREAT inlay cards for mix tapes.

Archive: NYC "Times Square Dark Walk" Drawings (1997)

CHRISTIAN MONTONE

Four Drawings: "XXX', "Ghost", "Lobby", "Adults Only"

Size: 11 x 14 inches each.  (1997)

Created as an elegy for (what was then) the death rattle of the smuttier side of 42nd Street.

Archive: Vintage NYC In Drawings & Paintings (1997-1999)

CHRISTIAN MONTONE (1997 - 1999)

Drawings and Paintings:  Assorted NYC Street Scenes and Building Details.

From 1997 to 1999, I was creating (what I then considered to be) varied and illustrative pieces in which modern day New York City crossed paths with the varied New Yorks Of The Past... mainly those from 1950s and 1960s.  This was before I was an eBay user or an avid internet picture seeker, so I used the picture collection of The NY Public Library and any vintage NYC book, postcard or brochure I could find to gather reference.  I'm currently using reference I've gathered (from many sources) in the years since to build a newer (and much more cohesive) body of NYC-related pieces that touch upon the concept of multi-decade visual time travel, but I still look back on these seminal works and smile.

Archive: "Jalopy" & "Jalopy/State" (1996 & 2008)

CHRISTIAN MONTONE

Paintings: "Jalopy" (Acrylic on wheapaste and plexi) & "Jalopy/State" (Acrylic on paper & board)

Approx. size: 16 x 20 inches each.  (Begun 1996, revisited and completed 2008)

Archive: "BBQ Piggy #1" & "BBQ Piggy #2" (1996)

CHRISTIAN MONTONE

Paintings: "BBQ Piggy #1" (Acrylic on wheatpaste and board) & "BBQ Piggy #2" (Acrylic on wood)

Sizes: 17 x 21 inches and 9 x 12 inches respectively.  (1996)

Archive: "72nd & B'way" (1998)

 CHRISTIAN MONTONE

"72nd & B'way" (1998)

Diptych: 2 Panels, each approx. 11 x 17 inches.

Water soluble crayon on collaged paper on board.

DETAILS BELOW:

Created in the downstairs studio in Brooklyn shortly after spending a chilly Saturday doing reportage sketches alone, seated upon a bench at the triangle park which sits at the juncture of 72nd street and Broadway (near the Ansonia and the 1-2-3-9 Subway).  I recall being bundled in a coat with my sketchbook and backpack on my lap while my Sony Discman (remember those?) auto-repeated Mono's "Life In Mono" CD.  I can't look at this piece without hearing that particular album and feeling just a fraction of the chill brought in by the wind off the (not so far away) Hudson River.