Description
by Ruth Keating
Cool Kids
The idea for this illustration comes from an old photo taken in 1996 at my 11th birthday party. It was the peak of summer, and The Smashing Pumpkins were in the charts with 1979, an alternative rock hit all about lost summers of youth. I loved it and the song stoked in me a feeling of yearning, not for the past, but for all the years I had yet to live. I felt an impatience to have already experienced more, to have already lived more, and to be able to experience the exquisite nostalgia expressed in the song.
The children in the photo are all lined up on top of a wood shed in my garden. We are taking turns jumping off, feeling that we are engaging in an exciting and slightly dangerous back garden extreme sport. Each child is lined up in businesslike fashion, as though queueing for a bus, exuding that aloof 90’s cool. Looking at the snapshot so many years later, it struck me that the phrase ‘never have the time’ was yet to become meaningful to us, we had all the time in the world then. We climbed up and jumped until we had our fill. Soon we would grow and change, and learn the lessons that make nostalgia so painfully sweet, and the time to sit on sticky tar paper roofs and risk breaking an ankle would end.
Available in three sizes- A4, A3 & A2(limited edition and comes with signed certificate)
A4 & A3 sizes
Digitally signed
Printed in Dublin onto 300gsm UPM Fine Uncoated Matte Stock.
A4 297mm x 210mm(8.27″ × 11.69″) €18.
A3 420mm x 297mm(11.69″ x 16.53″) €25.
A2 size
There are just 10 copies of a limited edition giclée A2 size available
Comes with special anniversary authenticity certificate which is signed by the artist
Frames available €20(A4), €28.50(A3) and €48(A2) in store and online.
