Brick Carrier (2013) Painting by Alyn Federico

It must have seemed odd to him that somebody would want to take his photograph. After all, why him, he was no one special, he was just hoping to get paid at the end of a long day. But somebody did want to take his picture. So, he held his brick palette up, cocked his head, and looked straight ahead. What this young man didn't realize at the time was, he was working, working, at a time when so many were not.

This is a black & white airbrush rendering done with gray-tone photo colors on stretched denim. The photograph was taken by a photographer Carl Mayden, who, like so many others, worked for the FSA during the Great Depression.

There is always an attempt by the artist to capture something that only they see. Something that made them want to paint the piece in the first place. That for me was the look on this man's face, there was just something about that look.

Related themes

Airbrush Rendering Of A Photograph From The DepressionTaken By Carl MaydensYoung Black ManBrick PalletHat