I like (ninja) turtles!

It's Ah-me, Mario!!!

One Christmas morning, many years ago, I received one of the greatest surprises of my life: A Super Nintendo game system!  We've all seen youtube videos of kids going berserk while opening presents on Christmas morning; well, imagine that times 1,000.  While I will admit that I have experienced equivalent levels of elation since then (on a number of occasions, thankfully) the memory of that morning is one that I will never forget.  I'll also never forget how later on that week, when my family finally returned home to El Paso after spending Christmas in Dallas with the grandparents, I discovered that Santa had taken my allowance (over $100) and left me a note explaining how the money had helped to pay for my Super Nintendo.  I was fuming!  Do you know how long it takes a kid to save over $100 dollars with a $2 weekly allowance?!?!  Not to mention the amount of discipline and self-control required not to blow it all on the latest Ninja Turtle or Bucky O'hare toy set first chance you get?!?

I eventually got over it (although you can probably tell I still bear a bit of a grudge towards the "fat man" from the North Pole) and played the one game I had for Super Nintendo all day, every day!  Or for at least 15 minutes a day.  Back then, my parents were weirdly strict and so 15 minutes was the best I could get most days.  Although, I found that if I'd wake up at 4:30AM on weekends and mute the television that I could occasionally get a whole hour or two of gameplay in sometimes.  Anyway, that one game was Super Mario World and I thought it was the greatest thing ever!  My brothers and I still enjoy playing it to this day!  And that's where I got the inspiration for my latest project!

For any n00bs out there, Mario is an Italian plumber who is constantly trying to rescue the Princess from the evil clutches of the koopa king, Bowser.  Bowser has a wide assortment of minions at his command but his most trusted lieutenants are his own children, the Koopalings.  In Super Mario World, there are 7 koopa kids, each one serving as the "boss" at the end of the game's 7 worlds.  Later on Nintendo added an 8th kid, Bowser's favorite child, Bowser Jr.  I decided, that it would be fun to create a project revolving around these video game villains and so I came up with the following:

Bowser and Family!!!

(Click on image to enlarge)

The wide shot makes it kinda difficult to view details so I'll take you through the bunch one by one.

Mario

Iggy Koopa

Morton Koopa Jr.

Lemmy Koopa

Ludwig Von Koopa

Roy Koopa

Wendy O. Koopa

Larry Koopa

Bowser Jr.

Bowser

I placed Bowser in his "Clown Car", which is what he rides around in when you fight him at the end of Super Mario World.  It looks like this in the game:

And one more shot, from the back!

So this is my tribute to the favorite game from my childhood (and, let's be honest, adulthood).  If I had to categorize the project I'd describe it as Post-WWII Expressionistic art since the increasing size of each koopa represents the growing challenge Mario faces as he progresses through the game.  It's definitely Avant-garde and some would say that there is even a bit of Dada-esque influence mixed in there.  You know, real deep stuff.