Friday, June 1, 2012

At The Gypsy Caravan: Elvis Times Two

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Gypsy Caravan 2012-05-28 15 (Elvis Composite)
The Gypsy Caravan is by far the largest flea market in the area. It's just one day a year, held on Memorial Day for the benefit of the St. Louis Symphony. The thing is just huge, covering a few parking lots and a whole garage at the University of Missouri - St. Louis. Great place to shoot.

They got some weird stuff for sale up there.  These are similar but not identical plastic and foam busts of Elvis Presley. I suppose you buy the form and paint it to suit your own vision. The one on the left looks like it has Marfan Syndrome, more like Pharaoh Akhenaten than the King of Rock and Roll. The other makes me think that Elvis hit the bottle and pill jar too hard (he did, didn't he?) and then had a stroke. Note the sunken right cheek and loss of muscle tone around the left side of the mouth. (Well, if he really had a stroke these should be on the same side of the face. Leave room for poetic license.)

STL DPB will feature more wacky merchandise from the Gypsy Caravan over the next few days.

5 comments:

cieldequimper said...

I'm trying to imagine these as a prized possession...

Unknown said...

So kitsch! How very cool! :-)

Paul in Powell River said...

And to think that someone actually spent money on these originally! Baffles the mind ...

William Kendall said...

Different tastes, I guess. I'm not an Elvis fan.

PJ said...

You can always count on Elvis, I don't care what people say, he'll never die.