PROJECT

Casus Ventosus

The series reimagines wind related scenes from popular films, novels, and stories.

Commissioned by celebrity chef Charlie Palmer, the concept of the series was developed to embellish his eponymous Downtown Dallas restaurant’s dramatic interior design motif, which featured several golden, spinning turbines above the main dining room – a tribute to Texas’s burgeoning wind energy industry.

The works playfully embrace the language of mass entertainment, replete with green-screen sets, special effects, and CGI creatures. The force of wind (or an associated agent) is cast in each garish scene as the antagonist, and considering the State’s infamous relationship to fossil fuel, the subtext of the collection is nakedly ironic, if not cynical. Faithful to the standard popcorn tale, at the precipice of calamity the heroes meet or rebuff their circumstances with assured, one-liner bravado. The collection includes renditions from Buster Keaton’s Steamboat Bill, Jr., The Three Little Pigs, The Wizard of Oz, Mary Poppins, Pecos Bill, and Miguel de Cervantes’ Don Quixote. 

Over a several-week production period the photographs were shot partially on soundstages and then across multiple locations in and around New York. The studio portion of the production employed a modest crew of twelve, and in an embrace of the series’ theatrical influences, the characters were played by film and theater actors, and the wardrobe consisted of original pieces made in collaboration with the eminent costume and couture designer Garo Sparo.

The collection includes 6 artworks.

Edition 1/1

Private commission.

MEDIUM Chromogenic Photographic Print

Credits

FEATURING: Sean Allison, Melinda Hall, Nathan Joseph, Liam Martin, Allison Carter Thomas DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: John Dreyer STUDIO PRODUCER: Moshe Lazarus WARDROBE: Garo Sparo MAKEUP: Shoukoufe Azari HAIR: Scott Wasserman SET DESIGNER: Kai Lee PRODUCTION MANAGER: Cathryn Dwyre, Marc Masciandaro 3D ARTIST: Greg Petchkovsky

design & production