ALL FAME NO FORTUNE, 2024

When making this collection I imagined the new yorkers from my client list, inner circle, and that I pass through in my day to day in the dream like state of their uncelebrated reality. Moments we capture on camera are more often just scenes from our lives, an accidental medium, a medium that’s never overworked because it was a quick snap

As seen in previous works from “Artifacts of Us” and “Girl Pain” …

Mira Mariah is the artist behind Girl Knew York known best for linework tattoos and images of women and the cultures they protect and indulge in. Departing from the linework of the tattoos Girl Knew York is known for ALL FAME NO FORTUNE explores what takes up space when lines are blurred through colorful, watery, layered images depicting everyday life for young artists in Knew York. Taking the lines from tattoo art layering it with the shapes from artifacts of us, and the reality of the terrible grainy blurry realities run through a technicolor watery fantasy containing symbolism from Rider Tarot decks.

In sunset colors, in colors seen from the lights of New York City night life, images from reality are made uncanny through their dreamlike rendering and at times story-book-like staging, I’m seeking to toe the line between the dust of reality and the glamor filter that makes fantasy so inviting.

Works are 18x24'' water color oil pastel and colored pencil on paper. This work experiments with rendering through patterns of stripes, animal prints, stars and checkers that are usually seen in my work and bringing them through colorful and abstract dimensions. Layering strokes and colors until the pattern is visible but warped.

The work is shown at Everything’s Fine Vintage because it reflects the community around vintage fashion in New York. The works celebrate clothing as part of storytelling. The works acknowledge the way the human behind the portrait uses fashion to connect themselves to themselves in dream and purpose. To buy vintage is to hunt something down that was waiting for you all along, this relates to the way throwing tarot cards is a way to hunt something down that’s inside yourself in order to take a closer look, examine your inner feelings by letting the imagery relate to your reality.

This work wants to come home with you. Wants to embody the energy of it’s reference in Tarot and transform your outer world for the better and leak it’s way into your inner world. The watery aspect of the artwork speaks to the blurring of inner and outer worlds relationship, what is tangible what is imagined what is possible, what is fantasy.

Advice from another artist, Kristen Wong, led me to go through the photos on my phone and pay attention to what I was photographing. I noticed how often daily life had become dreamy, messy, and yet gorgeous. In all the attempts of my friends, fashion, trends, restaurants and vertical 45 second videos to lock us into a preconceived aesthetic there we were inventing ever evolving aesthetic that we can see clearly if you scroll through your photos fast enough that the eras of your life become clear through color palettes and recurring characters.
This work is influenced by the following:

Eloise, kid rock talking about american idol, andy warhol talking about fame, the michael mcgregor show at hashimoto, the color palette of my friend Lizzy, my own bathroom, scenic symbolism, jean cocteau, tarot, life in new york
This work hopes to reach into the hearts of new yorkers and tell them their dreams are possible by reminding them that boredom choices, messes and inferiority complexes still take place in the dimensions where there wildest dreams come true.