Mitchell Funk
The Fremont Sign, Las Vegas, 1974
Archival Pigment Print
40 × 60 in / 101.6 × 152.4 cm
$ 6,500.00
Before one of America's most iconic streets was desecrated into an outdoor mall, Fremont street was a wonderland of classic casino signs. Mitchell Funk doubles down and turns a wildly...
Before one of America's most iconic streets was desecrated into an outdoor mall, Fremont street was a wonderland of classic casino signs. Mitchell Funk doubles down and turns a wildly colorful scene into an optically stimulating abstract image. He brings into color photography idea's of such modernist painters like Stuart Davis, who incorporated commercial typography of street architecture into his art. To do this shot, Funk had to choose the right place and the right camera angle. All of the signs had to be in a row. A Nikon 500mm "mirror lens" was used. This special lens compresses the neon and bulbs so that they would blend together in a unique way. Finally, he thew the image radically out of focus. The result, the Mint sign expands into a panel of sensuous pinks and magentas so hot they make love to your eyeballs. Binion's Horseshoe is transformed into layers of diaphanous cerulean blues which overlap pinks. The street scene is morphed into sections of color and ringlets of shimmering light intersecting with calligraphic elements. Perspective is diminished with foreground and background elements pushed to the same plane. Sharp becomes fuzzy in a beautiful all over composition with no central point of focus. Ultimately, a street of many casino signs become one sign. The Fremont sign.