Nostalgia

Spring/Summer ’12

With “Nostalgia,” I challenged myself to capture some of my favorite original Super Mario characters free-hand, using only Conte crayon and four basic colors: white, black, red-orange, and brown. This series, like the “Swagghammer” piece, is a tribute to, and a commentary on, the figures that I was obsessed with when I was younger.

It’s the kid in me that made Mario and his posse something I felt I had to draw, because I knew I would regret it when I got older if I didn’t have a giant Bowser hanging in my foyer.

Mario games in particular represents a certain innocence, I didn’t draw GTA or HALO or COD for a reason, even though I played those games as well. Nostalgia is all about fond memories and innocent pleasures crystallized. This connects to a common theme in my work as I examine the gradual loss of innocence in children, but specifically the young black male.

Mario (2012)

Luigi (2012)

Yoshi (2012)

Toad (2012)

Nostalgia

By Jason BYrd

I remember when these men were boysAnd toys too easily took up all the space.Space that’s now been replaced With Laced L'sand Liquor.and Long deep thoughts About how damn dense this planet really is.
As kids we would sit there and stare shamelessly Into a square box, barely blinking,And we were in shock,thinking their world,Seemed more real than ours.
We wished we could just jump on heads To make problems dead.Now we wished we had more gold,And shrooms.We had x1000 lives So we could fuck aroundAnd never get down Cause game over never came With the same stress that test And breasts did.A kid’s kingdom at the flip of a switch.
And King Koopa can’t quite conjure the same fear now,after you hear your princess peach has disappeared.
And I’m many years older now,
Just a pit in my stomach.

Bowser (2012)

Koopa and Paratroopa (2012)