Old Black Magic

Filled with playful details and symbols that predict impending doom such as a black cat, crystal ball, and tarot cards, Patrick Nagatani and painter Andrée Tracey (American, born 1948) collaborated to create Old Black Magic. The two prepared props and a backdrop in Los Angeles and brought them to the Polaroid Corporation in Boston, where the massive 20 x 24-inch Polaroid camera used to make this print was located. Tracey posed for the camera and Nagatani “rigged up a pulley system to yank the piano up on command to achieve a blurred (or falling) effect.”