Artist Statement

Colorizing old photos is not merely about adding color. It is an interpretive act that exposes how human beings mentally construct reality from incomplete information. We do it every day. We're doing it right now. As soon as I employed that visual construct to add color to old photos, creating art became almost spontaneous. That construct is called KBI, for knowledge, belief and imagination.

Black-and-white photos were limited by the technology of their day, leaving us intriguing monochromatic traces of the past. Modern technology allows us to reimagine and experience this past in living color offering us an imperfect but more contemporary view of people and places making the past more relatable and realistic. It's like a time machine bringing the past into the present. Try it. You might like it. I call it my accidental super power.

Melvin Hale

Casinos and Clubs on Fremont Street, Las Vegas 1948
Original artwork installed in a law office in Las Vegas.

Casinos and Clubs on Fremont Street #2, 60x46, coming out of the printer, an Epson Stylus Pro 11880, on Epson Exhibition Canvas.

The same image seen above after being stretched and glazed with epoxy resin.