Sunshine and Olly

by Jonathan Blaustein

I killed Party City.

(It happened during my December hiatus.)

They say it's official, as Party City is going down; the stores are closing. 

I called them out, in my 2016-18 series “Party City is the Devil,” which was featured as a solo exhibition of the same name at the Harwood Museum of Art here in 2019.

For the Harwood show, in addition to my photographs, (which were made exclusively of party supplies from the store,) I also included wall sculptures made from the objects themselves. 

Including two helium sculptures, (of SuperMario and Elmo,) that slowly degraded over the course of the exhibit. 

The general idea is that Party City was a conglomerate that sold items meant to be thrown in the trash. 

It was embedded in the concept: cheap crap from China that you just throw away when you’re done. 

The idea of the stuff as garbage was powerful enough that one of the museum custodians actually threw Elmo away.

(Even though he was tethered to the wall with Party City ribbon.)

The Harwood preparator had to go to Santa Fe to buy a new Elmo, (and get more helium,) even though it’s an hour and half away from the museum. 

True story. 

My point is that Party City was here, and now it’s gone.

Trump was gone, and now he’s back.

Poland was a doormat for centuries, but now it’s powerful.

Sunshine and Olly used to be only my voice. 

But that’s changing too. 









I just read Jessie’s piece, and it’s excellent. A perfect first step.

Beyond that, I made overtures to a terrific writer/photographer I know, who is thinking of joining up.

And another writer/photographer reached out this weekend, expressing interest in taking on a photo beat for the blog. 

That’s (potentially) four voices writing stories here at Sunshine and Olly.

We’re approaching our 2nd Anniversary, (no gifts necessary,) and as Jessie’s article is written, I can brag that it’s no longer a one-man band.

If we have a slew of new content from fresh voices, over the next few months, that would be awesome. 

I’m ready to be an editor.