When Carlos Rolon was growing up in West Chicago in the 1970s, his mother had the entrepreneurial savvy to set up a bootleg beauty salon in the family’s TV room. Needless to say, the nail business boomed on their plush leather arm chairs and the young Rolon, now a contemporary artist working under the name Dzine, was a very willing voyeur. With those fond, crystal clear memories dancing in his head, Dzine (pronounced ’design’, naturally) has spent the last several years documenting nail trends wherever he travels, from Europe and the Caribbean to Singapore and the US.
The fruits of his fascination have now found their way into his new book, ’Nailed’, a photographic history of nail art that starts with the ancient Egyptians and ends up with the rhinestone-clawed Puerto Ricans in Miami beach. ’I couldn’t believe that there wasn’t any book that dealt with finger nails as an art form,’ Dzine said at Miami’s Standard Hotel where, during Art Basel Miami Beach, he re-created his parent’s living room, complete with shaggy carpet, dusty wallpaper and two ton TV. Manicures were given out for free to celebrate his new book, but the pop up was mostly just to honour his mom, the best muse an artist could have asked for.
US artist Carlos Rolon, who goes by the name Dzine (pronounced ’design’, naturally), has spent the last few years documenting nail trends wherever he travels, from Europe and the Caribbean to Singapore and the US. Now he has brought these together in a new book, titled Nailed.
Photograph by Kai Regan
