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Neon
Eulogy: Vancouver Café and Street
consists of riveting line drawings by artist Laughing Hand (Keith McKellar)
of the disappearing neon of Vancouver, BC, accompanied by jazz riff tales
of the street. For the last sixteen years street artist Laughing Hand
has been quietly capturing Vancouvers dives and haunts, through
the metaphor of neon and its days of glory. McKellars expressionist
portraits of famous cafés and theatres combined with anecdotal
histories of landmarks, characters and the streets form a unique document
of a fascinating past, already fading from view. The Ovaltine Cafe, the
Aristocratic, the Ho Ho, the Orpheum, the Stanley, the Only, the Smiling
Buddha, the Yale these landmarks and their heritage neon
are a window into our culture in McKellars hand. A poignant and
wildly entertaining social comment from the journals of a bohemian sleuth,
Neon Eulogy: Vancouver Café and Street is a startling
glimpse of Canadian cultural heritage.
Ex-cabbie turned street
artist, working from a push-cart wagon, composing on location, Laughing
Hand is the alter-ego of artist Keith McKellar. McKellar grew up in Prince
George, BC. More recently his travels, as a street artist for eighteen
years, have taken him on urban vagabond walking journeys in North America
and in Asia. McKellars writings and drawings appear in Canadian
magazines and newspapers. His first collection Line-Poem Drawings,
was published by Ekstasis Editions in 1983. His drawings of neon landmarks
were part of the City of Lights vintage neon show at the Vancouver Museum
in 1999. Keith McKellar divides his time between Vancouver and Victoria,
BC. |
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