In our last Kick-About, we lingered on the idea of invisible energies and the strange halos said to surround living things. This week, our attention shifts to something solid, gleaming, and unmistakably tangible. Our prompt looks to the Chrysler Building—an icon of Art Deco design, ambition, and precision. As always, the works that follow were made in a short time—and for all previous editions of The Kick-About, go here.
Jan Blake
“This prompt really takes me back in time — a real nostalgia trip. I was living in London and teaching art at a school in Kilburn, where the head of art was quite a woman. Only a year older than me, she was totally living it up in every way. In 1978, she proposed that we have an art department fancy-dress party at the Café Royal on Regent Street. At the time, she was living in a council flat right in the centre of London, next door to Ronnie Scott’s, so she was well acquainted with her surroundings. The theme for the evening’s fancy dress was The Café Royal 1932 Cocktail List. I chose the cocktail Skyscraper from the list and went on to invent my costume based on the Chrysler Building, which I had seen the previous year on a trip to New York. Spurred on by the success of my costume, I left teaching and went on to study theatre design at postgraduate level at the Slade. Here I am.”
Itta Howie
“Last year, I began photographing Brutalist buildings in Bristol, UK. I had only a few night shots of Prince Street Car Park, so for this KA, I went back on a rare sunny day to capture its striking architecture on my mobile phone. Built in 1966, this car park is both ambitious and controversial – much like the Chrysler Building was regarded three decades earlier.”
Lewis Punton
This latest Kick-About prompt—the almighty Chrysler Building—rather poetically coincided with a weekend trip Harry and I took to Edinburgh to celebrate her 30th. Surrounded by buildings with undeniable star power, and wrapped in what I like to call Deathly Hallows Part I weather, I’d planned to photograph striking shop windows and later build a makeshift skyscraper in post back in Kent.
In true Kick-About fashion, that didn’t quite come off, and I couldn’t land on a result I was happy with. What did happen, though, was that carrying such a structural prompt around the city nudged me towards images that echoed the Chrysler’s monolithic, cloud-grazing presence.
Gary Thorne
“Lines, rhythms, patterns, at a glance pretty random, yet hoping these curious snaps from Syracuse might just fit the KA 151 bill.”
Kerfe Roig
“I don’t know where this association came from, but it appeared immediately.”
around the clock
unaware
of time, the days pile
up on them
selves, weaving
a dense mass that ignores all
requests for relief
what has been
inhaled refuses
to be ex
haled and all
of it is stuck—halted, fixed,
soundless, unresolved
Vanessa Clegg
“Looking at the building, the first thing that came to mind was those beautiful copper jelly moulds that were a staple of any grand Victorian household, so that became the key. After that, I thought of Fritz Lang’s Metropolis and Batman’s Gotham City, and finally, as the drawing progressed, the house made of sweets from the fairy tale of the children lost in the woods. Mix it all up with a handful of charcoal pencils and this was the result — all a bit wonky, but I really enjoyed the journey.” Chrysler Building. Charcoal on Fabriano. 60 cm × 40 cm.
vanessaclegg.co.uk / vanillaclegg
Phil Gomm
“The thing I love about this building is how it sort of grows into organicism as it reaches its peak; I get a strong sense of ‘chrysalis’ from the Chrysler building, as if that top-most part of the building is some Art Deco cocoon – part-architecture, part-pupa. With this in mind, I went casting around for something I could photograph that might give me those concentric curves and segmentation, finding improbable inspiration in the plastic chocolate egg moulds I used to create Hepworth-inspired objects for The Kick-About No. 145.
I took a few photographs of the moulds nested inside each other, then took those studies into video editing software, where a particular technique allowed me to ‘bend’ the images into the semblance of three-dimensional forms. It all got very exciting for a while there and really I just want to realise these tactile-looking things as actual ‘things’—wishing I was a jeweller or wood-whittler or metalsmith or… Some of them look like cocoons or eggs, others look like Deco compacts or brooches – and none of them a patch on the building itself!”
philgomm.com / behance.net/Phil_Gomm
James Randall
“Art deco was big when I was young, there had been a big salmon pink curvy revival. So when the KA Chrysler Building landed I started fiddling with chevrons – a design element utilised in art deco – but I broke them apart, rearranged them and finally pierced them before popping them onto a sky background. The second image was just fiddling with a grill idea that looked too much like an Australian TV station logo. Attempt three had more narrative – a fragmented Chrysler Building builder. Attempt four began with the eye and the pinnacle graphics that I liked from three. I was adding deco building shapes but they began to look like cannons, so I went down the twisted rabbit hole of US politics. I did have fun with the background of this one which is a single photo in three sizes chopped into strips and coloured by strip with a grungy wall texture overlay – of course had to add ‘great again’ – how haunting these two words have become. “The eye on the U.S. dollar bill is the “Eye of Providence” (or All-Seeing Eye), which represents God watching over humanity, particularly blessing the new American nation.’ – thanks for that quote AI…”
Charly Skilling
“The top of the Chrysler Building just makes me think “crochet”, and Art Deco designs remind me of an image from my childhood. I once saw an Art Deco wall picture, constructed of inlaid woods of differing colours, depicting a sunrise. I can’t remember where I saw it — it may have been in my grandparents’ home — but the image has always stayed with me, so I let that guide my colour choices. As you can see, it’s not finished — I ran out of time — but I hope this is enough to indicate the overall idea. I included an inverted image because that somehow makes the organic nature of the building so apparent. Fun KA — but if I ever repeat the exercise, I shall put much more effort into working out the geometry beforehand!”
Graeme Daly
“I focused on the renowned windows of the Chrysler building and sketched a bunch of interior designs with the art deco motif dialled up to maximum. The different areas envisioned include bedrooms, balconies and other glamorous areas. Time wasn’t on my side and I only managed to get one complete design, partly because I got lost in the details of this one. I just adore interior design and it is one of my favourite subjects to illustrate so I’ll have to finish the others”
@graemedalyart / vimeo.com/graemedaly / linkedin.com/in/graeme-daly / twitter.com/Graeme_Daly / gentlegiant.ie
Next time, we point the finger at something small, handmade, and full of character…
Red's Kingdom 
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