Shady Salesman by Rick Prol

Within the abandoned alleys of Rick Prol’s ongoing “Empty City” series, Shady Salesmen slink and slouch in the darkness, prowling for suckers. But buyer beware! The items sold are nearly as strange as the creatures that sell them: Cats (dead or alive), a broken guitar, Pepsi-Cola or Coca-Cola… the choices not as real as they appear. The two characters present in “Shady Salesman” are both victims and victimizers, a continuation of a theme present in Rick Prol’s “Empty City” series began in 1985 and previously digitized by Orangehare. By revisiting them now, Rick Prol explores the illusion of choice present in our current times, which can be interpreted many ways, and begs the question: If someone’s selling, then who’s buying? Do we have a choice?