Pinball style: drama and design

melissa harmon

Pinball Style comments on pinball art from the 1940s through the 2000s.

Melissa Harmon’s work explores dramatic and historical context with a touch of fashion police humor.

PINBALL STYLE IS AVAILABLE FOR BOOKING

Contact Melissa Harmon for details at (510) 205-6959

Astro, 1971 – Gordon Morison, Commentary: Melissa Harmon

Astro: Green Girl and Her Pet Robot. Skin is in! Green, or whatever color you want. So is having your own pink and orange robot as a fashion accessory. In the 1970s as the U.S. space program took off, designers such as Paco Rabanne, Betsey Johnson, Peirre Cardin and Andy Warhol made clothes from space-age materials with studs and insets like these on Gordon Morison’s chubby robot. Limitless optimism is seen in almost every pinball scenario from the '50s through '70s. As long as everyone is having a swell time, there are no real losers. No need to speculate about the fate of the characters in pinball art; their well being is permanent.

Op Pop Pop, 1971 – Christian Marche, Commentary: Melissa Harmon

OP Pop Pop: As she throws paint by the bucketful, the artist is well dressed for the occasion. The double row of buttons and hint of pleats gives the skirt a bit of military tailoring, a conservative touch. Layered haircut, geometric jewelry and shoes, the pointed geometry of her legs and arms brings order the the wild scene. Op Art, Pop Art, Abstract Expressionism and Psychedelia are all referenced in Op Pop Pop. Pop art is considered one of the last Modern Art movements. Because of her technique, the pictured artist is an Abstract Expressionist like Jackson Pollock.

Egg Head, 1961 – Roy Parker, Commentary: Melissa Harmon

Egg Head: There’s a genus (sic) at work in the Unipac (Univac) computer laboratory while sexy blondes, brunettes and redheads in low cut gowns smoke and play play tic tac toe. Poor Oxie Robut and the scientist are both terminally horny. Oxie is covering up his steely hard-on with the tic t ac toe board. The scientist sweats while he twiddles little buttons on the electronic confuser which measures the statoshere. At the top, a peaceful egghead of the intellect points to his own noggin. His clown makeup and red stripes confirm his nerdly status. The sexiest guy in the scene is the god Mercury, pictured atop a mechanism labeled mercury switches,a new invention at the time.

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