Portfolio > Portraits

Self Portrait
Fin De Siecle Self Portrait
woodcut
24" x 48"
1996

For a while, I was obsessed with 1890's NYC. The photos of Jacob Riis, specifically, "Bandit's Roost" and "Street Arabs in Night Quarters" are amazing, moody, expressionist photos that capture a wild, dangerous time in NYC; not unlike, I would like to imagine, 1980's Lower East Side.
I stared at Mr. Riis' photos until I could imagine living in those times, walking the streets in those sharp waistcoat outfits. I found one of those coats and vests at the 23rd St flea market. The hat I got at the Delancy St Stetson Shop. I thought it was a cool little top- hat. Turns out, it's an Hasidic Satmar sect hat. Cool lid, though, I still have it. The coat and vest I wear every Halloween as my Edgar Allen Poe costume.