I moved to New York City over 20 years ago and I have lived in and been fascinated by this place ever since.



One of the first iconic NYC images grab my attention was the ubiquitous take-out coffee cup.  It was blue and white and featured an image of the classical greek sculpture - the discobolos, his nudity covered by some type of gladiatorial skirt.  A little design suggestive of architectural moldings ringed the top and the bottom of the cup, and what appears to be an Olympic flame stands next to the discobolus.  The back side of the cup says “It's Our Pleasure to Serve You”.



This little disposable cup has come to represent for me the unique cultural engine that is New York.  The City is a voracious consumer of differing national identities and cultural heritages which rapidly become synthesized into the fabric of daily life on a scale unparalleled in the world today.



In June, 2010, I installed this lo-rez "digitized" image of the cup for an exhibition at Vizivarosi Gallery in Budapest, Hungary.  Each "pixel" is a 5cm x 5cm piece of painted paper.

 

 

Christopher Pelley    6 Coffee Cups, Recto / Verso   ink jet prints   2010