Thursday 28 April 2011

''Elvis' Wallet''

Imagine the scene:

2am, a humid Sunday morning in Quiff, Tenessee, a tired and half cut detective stares misty eyed into his almost empty glass, what remains of his ice is quickly melting. He brings a hand up to his face and wipes the sleep from his eyes, before running it over his 5 day stubble. As he leans back in his favourite (only) chair the phone startles him from his reverie.
''2am on a Sunday? This better be good'' he says in a voice resigned to the paper work that always stems from a drunken brawl or such like.
'Body in a motel room? Natural causes? Then why the fuck are you ringing me?..........''waddaya mean: 'If Elvis wasn't dead before he sure is now'!!??''


32 minutes later at a cheap motel room on the outskirts of Quiff, where the highway meets the sky and leaves what would be called the suburbs in any respectable town behind, a group of harrassed looking and hardworking policemen are joined by our detective, half dressed, half awake and half cut.
"whats the deal McCarthy?" Says our detective
"Male, aged 76 according to his ID, overwieght, blue eyes, same date of birth as the King, name is an anagram of the Kings, hell, he even got the kings face, allbeit 40 years older".
Are you seriously telling me that THIS?...this guy, in THIS motel?..the kind of motel that aint for a coupla hours with your lady, but for the kind of folk down on thier luck, needing a cheap place to live 'till things look up a bit......who couldn't even wait a couple more years of his miserable life till the lord took him naturaly...your telling me that this is ELVIS FUCKING PRESLEY????!!!..................................Give me the damn wallet!!


For my semester 2 main project I have decided to do a graphic response to not one but a number of ways in which America has influenced me from an early age.

Included in this are:

                      The 'Film Noir' and 'Crime' genre in Film, television and literature

                      Conspiracy theories and theorists

                      Rock and Roll (without which there would be no rock!)

                      A healthy Capitalist outlook

My response ties them all neatly into a little wallet shaped bundle, with the help of some crime scene photography and a bit of atmospheric storytelling ;)


Item one: Bank notes from Elvis' wallet

A 1 Dollar note from his wallet
Elvis 'engraving' style illustration for the dollar bill


I have also designed Elvis a driving license and some business cards for his wallet. More to come (prescriptions, paper cutting, coupons, all with an elvis theme!)






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