todd gross - ERIC KIM ₿

Click to read more — Mark Powell. Belle Isle Detroit, 2007

Eric’s Note: I am excited to share this interview as a collaboration between Todd Gross (Quarlo) and Mark Powell (locaburg). I first discovered Mark Powell’s work through Todd Gross- who has been a big fan. I thought it might be a great idea to have Todd interview Mark – as he knew his work far better than I did. Enjoy the interview and images below!

Todd: I’m pretty sure it was my friend, Eliot Shepard who first tipped me off to Mark Powell’s work on Flickr way back in 2004. I was immediately struck by the unique atmospherics and equally out there cast of characters present in the photos. Although I’m fairly certain Mark could point his camera at a blank wall and the resulting image would still have that “locaburg vibe”, Mark has an eye that’s finely attuned to the odd in-between moment.

I had the good fortune of meeting Mark on a couple of occasions and his personality certainly mirrors his work–vivacious, affable, inquisitive and a touch bent.

Eric’s Note: I am not sure how I stumbled upon the work of Todd Gross, but when I first saw his images- I was hooked. Not only are his images colorful and vibrant, but they are quite surreal, wacky, and in Todd’s words– jazzy. Not only does he have a talent for spotting and photographing interesting characters, but also colorful “still life” photos on the street. Check out his fresh color work and thoughts in the feature below.

Todd: I am a 42-year old lifelong (townie!) resident of Queens, New York and Forest Hills High School drop-out. That’s the same school the Ramones didn’t got to. Love those guys. I saw Tommy buying flowers for his Mom at a local deli… once.

As a kid I was obsessed with collecting Mad magazines. Alfred E Neuman was my guy. I wrote and drew my own rip-off, called Nutso. Unfortunately, I lacked talent. My drawing skills were for shit. I couldn’t even make it to stick-figure level. We’re talking more like… blobs. Also, this being the early ’80s there was Atari and Intellivision to play, so I eventually grew discouraged and gave it up. But I knew I wanted to get involved with some sort of visual art at some point.

Tag: todd gross

Capturing Moments of Complete Disorientation: Interview with Mark Powell by Todd Gross

The Random and Jazzy Color Street Photography of Todd Gross