ARTIST STATEMENT
Cherry Capri's work is inspired by vintage matchbook art from the 1950s and 1960s. The work also serves to educate viewers about the history and preservation of Mid-Century Modern history, architecture and signage.
Cherry Capri is a quirky punk-red haired performance artist and cult celebrity. Her life is a world of retro inspired fashion, tikis, exotica music, low-brow art, classic cars, and Las Vegas Rat Pack era shenanigans. Cherry writes a monthly advice column for Tiki Magazine and CA Modernism Magazine and her Royal Majesty Cherry was even once crowned Queen of the Pasadena Doo Dah Parade!
To purchase a painting, please contact Cherry's mgmt and they will give you the PayPal Account
and/or address to send payment to.
Cherry offers free delivery in the Southern California or Vegas area. Shipping to be determined to other areas.
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Spa Hotel Springs
36" x 48"
Giclee Print
Unframed
$75
Signed and Numbered Limited Edition Giclee Prints from Palm Springs:
This run of 300 prints has been sold out by the gallery. B
ut, Cherry still has a limited number of these prints available from her own private collection.
The original painting was Acrylic and Mixed Media on Panel
Cherry's first visit to Palm Springs was a spa weekend at the Spa Hotel.
This was years ago when it was still in its full glory with the glamorous
white canopy awning on the corner of Tahquitz and Indian Canyon.
To the right was a classic concrete screen and parallel to the walkway on the left
clear Modern reflecting pools went right through the front entrance wall to create
an indoor/outdoor water filled ambience.
"It was my first visit to a real spa and I was not disappointed with the clean tiled mineral baths
that took me back to an age of elegance in a city yet to rediscover its historic past.
My room looked towards Deep Well, a delicious dinner at the Agua Room was on the house.
And dare I say it – I made a visit to the "clothing optional" solarium."
Even though the hotel has lost much of its original look and feel, in my heart and memory,
the image of that facade will always be the epitome of Palm Springs Modern style.
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Golden Stardust
36"x36"
Acrylic with prismacolor and glitter on Canvas
Unframed
$500
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La Concha Shells
24"x24"
Acrylic with prismacolor and texture Canvas
Unframed
$350
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The Sahara
16" x 23.5"
Acrylic with prismacolor and glitter on Panel
Framed
$1500
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Dome of the Sea
12" x 18"
Acrylic with prismacolor and glitter on Panel
Framed
$1500
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It's All About the Tikis
42" 52"
Acrylic and Mixed Media on Panel
Unframed with self hangers
$600
The Tikis created by Danny Balsz in the 1960s was quite possibly the penultimate Polynesian experience outside of the South Seas. The following is text from their matchbook interior:
12 Acres of Tropical Enchantment
50 feet of underground lava tubes
80 foot erupting volcano
Waterfalls, lagoons, jungle trails
3 to 7 bands
POLYNESIAN EXTRAVAGANZA featuring the finest of Hawaii, Tahiti, Fiji, Samoa, Tonga and New Zealand.
Accommodates to 5000 persons, 18 acres of parking
Complete year round banquet facilities
Private facilities for birthday parties
We specialize in holiday parties
Sundays bring the kids
12 exciting rides, petting zoo
Polynesian cultural center of the islands
Train ride through ˝ mile of Polynesian settings and monster caves
According to Book of Tiki author Sven Kirsten, The Tikis was finally shut down in the 1970s by neighbors who didn't like the jungle drums in their backyards and the entertainment license was revoked. "Danny Balsz was a driven man. He packed up his Tikis and built them a new home in Lake Elsinore, further south of L.A. There he labored for years, re-erecting a complete new lava land. Patiently his Tikis stood guard over it, waiting the grand re-opening. But the times had changed, and the great day never came."
Currently part of the remains of the Lake Elsinore property are used as a paintball facility. You can still wander about the site just off N. Potrero Grande Drive in Monterey Park.
This painting maintains the flat graphic nature of the matchbook design, only it is reproduced in bold bright and living color over 400 times the size of the original. It is Cherry's largest work to date.
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Aloha Jhoe's
36" x 48"
Acrylic and Mixed Media Panel
Unframed with self hangers
$700
This tiki-themed bar and restaurant used to live on the south end of Palm Springs at 950 So. Palm Canyon Drive.
According to their matchbook, Aloha Jhoe's considered itself to be the World's Finest Restaurant.
They featured "Exquisite Cantonese Food" and "Exotic Bar Presentations."
The fanciful twisted mustached Tiki was a favorite of everyone's!
The graphic depiction of Tapa cloth seen on the original matchbook is interpreted with textural reality
and complexity. And the painting is over 300 times the size of the matchbook!
Featured in the seminal group show in San Francisco and the book "Tiki Art Now" by Otto Von Stroheim.
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Hukilau
16" x 16"
Acrylic and prismacolor with glitter on panel
Framed
$200
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The Original Brown Derby
24" x 24"
Acrylic, Colored Sand and Mixed Media on Panel,
Unframed with self hangers
$350
The original Brown Derby opened in 1926 on Wilshire Blvd. across the street from the famous Ambassador Hotel.
The Brown Derby concept was begun by Herb Somborn (husband of Gloria Swanson), screenwriter Wilson Mizner
and theater owner Sid Grauman. And the later owner/manager was Robert Cobb who created of the Cobb Salad there.
The Brown Derby was a popular social hotspot for stars in the heydays of Hollywood.
Caricatures of celebrities lined the walls and there were telephone jacks at every booth.
Of the four Derby restaurants that eventually opened – it was the only one shaped as a hat.
Long after the restaurant closed – the hat endured and you can still view the relocated dome
of the derby on top of a Korean restaurant in a mini-mall at 3377 Wilshire Blvd.
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Elmers
16" x 16"
Acrylic with prismacolor and glitter on panel
Unframed with self hangers
$150
For three decades Elmer’s Pancake House has been serving pancakes and steaks.
A Palm Springs classic since 1977 for many years to come.
This is one of the latest images in the "Come for Sun Swim Sun" collection, however the Elmer’s franchise began in the Northwest in 1960 and I suspect the matchbook art harkens from that time. Besides who wouldn’t like to paint a stack o’ pancakes with glittering maple syrup?
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Desert Inn
12" x 18"
Acrylic with prismacolor and glitter on Panel
Framed
$160
Wilber Clark's Desert Inn opened in April 1950. It was the fifth hotel-casino built on the Strip. The Desert Inn's famous trademark was a desert scene highlighted by a large joshua tree cactus. It appeared on the hotel’s collateral as well as the neon sign atop the building. The original 300 room hotel designed by Wayne McAllister and Hugh Taylor offered the best view of the city from the third-floor Skyroom.
If you ever catch reruns of the 1970s TV show "Vegas" look for the D.I. as they often used it as a location.
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Painted Desert Room
16 x 23.5
Acrylic and glitter on Panel
Framed
$180
The Painted Desert was a luxurious 450 seat supper club. Opening night entertainment in 1950 included performances by Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy, The Donn Arden Dancers and the Desert Inn Orchestra conducted by Ray Noble.
Frank Sinatra's first live performance in Vegas was in the Painted Desert Room in 1951. Over the years, performers who appeared there included: Jimmy Durante, Danny Kaye Tony Martin, Patti Page, Louis Prima and Keely Smith with Sam Butera & The Witnesses, Rosemary Clooney, The Crosby Brothers, Dick Shawn, Eddie Fisher, Benny Goodman & his Orchestra, The McGuire Sisters, Dinah Shore, Zoot Sims, Jack Benny, Andy Williams and Jackie Mason.
The era ended when the name was changed to the Crystal Room in 1963.
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The Dunes
16 x 23.5
Acrylic with prismacolor and glitter on Panel
Framed
$240
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Sahara Sphinx
16 x 23.5
Acrylic and panel dust on Panel
Framed
$240
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The Golden Sands
16 x 23.5
Acrylic with prismacolor and glitter on Panel
Framed
$240
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The New Sands
12" x 18"
Acrylic with prismacolor and glitter on Panel
Framed
$240
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The Golden Dunes
12" x 18"
Acrylic with prismacolor and glitter on Panel
Framed
$240
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Copper Cart
12" x 18"
Acrylic with prismacolor and glitter on Panel
Framed
$160
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