ED PISKOR | "Park DJ". Original artwork for page 2, volume 1 of "The Hip Hop Family Tree", 2015

ED PISKOR

"PARK DJ". ORIGINAL ARTWORK FOR PAGE 2, VOLUME 1 OF THE HIP HOP FAMILY TREE, 2015

Pencil, ink, and marker on stiff paper (17 by 11 inches), signed "Ed Piskor 2020" at bottom.

"I remember the day I drew this piece, waking up with the composition in my head and excited to see how it would look on paper. The references that inspired it included Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli Batman panels, a few lines in the Kevin Smith movie Chasing Amy where the cartoonists are complimenting one another on how well they drew a streetlight, and some great photos floating around of DJs in the park during this period."

From Fantagraphics, the publisher: "Hip Hop Family Tree Book 1: 1975-1981. From bestselling author and self-proclaimed hip hop nerd Ed Piskor, Hip Hop Family Tree is the entertaining, encyclopedic history of the formative years of the music genre that changed global culture. Originally serialized on the hugely popular website Boing Boing, each volume is cleverly presented and packaged in a style mimicking the Marvel comics of the same era. Piskor’s exuberant yet controlled cartooning takes you from the parks and rec rooms of the South Bronx to the night clubs, recording studios, and radio stations where the scene started to boom, capturing the flavor of late-1970s New York City in panels bursting with obsessively authentic detail. With a vigorous and engaging Ken Burns meets Stan Lee approach, the battles and rivalries, the technical innovations, the triumphs and failures are all thoroughly researched and lovingly depicted. Like the acclaimed hip hop documentaries Style Wars and Scratch, Hip Hop Family Tree is an essential cultural chronicle and a must for hip hop fans, pop-culture addicts, and anyone who wants to know how it went down back in the day."

REFERENCE:

Illustrated: Ed Piskor: The Fantagraphics Studio Edition, p. 153

PROVENANCE:

Courtesy Ed Piskor