‘”Old American vintage gangster stuff has a fantastical feel; it feels less dirty in a way.  It feels like the opera of crime."
Shia LaBeouf

This is the second version of a print utilizing cinema images predominantly about the prohibition era. We seem to have a fascination with movies about the Mafia and organized crime that bears little relationship to the reality of the actions portrayed in them.  Hollywood has generated the gangster movie myths and we have loved every violent moment they portray. In Diamond Geezers I have used an A to Z yext of the names of the most famous or notorious gangsters of the prohibition era as my starting point. These I have and have combined movie images that reflect the lives of these individuals.  The text also contains the nick names (in a different color) of some of the protagonists such as Albert ‘Mad Hatter’ Anastasia, Jack ‘Legs’ Diamond and Charles ‘Lucky’ Luciano.
The more modern movies are in color, while the early versions are in black and white. It is interesting to note how frequently certain actors appeared in the various films such as James Cagney, in ‘White Heat’, ‘The Roaring Twenties’ or ‘Angels with Dirty Faces’ and similarly more recently with an actor like Robert De Niro in,  ‘Mean Streets’, ‘Goodfellas’, ‘Casino’ and ‘Heat’.

 ‘Diamond Geezers’ is a signed limited edition comprising 5 digital prints 0n canvass each finished with a hand painted satin protection varnish and diamond dusted over prints on the Black and White movie stills.