Chili Cheese Dog  2021-2023

A fly on the wall in a Candy Store infested with flies. 

 

From the boiling hot dogs that have been sitting in water long enough to cause discoloration, to the senile old man that falls asleep on the floor and can’t seem to zip up his pants, this series documents the Lower East Side landmark, Ray’s Candy Store. Over the two year period that I have been employed by Asghar Ghahraman, also known as Ray Alvarez, after he adopted the name from a tombstone he slept on post deserting the Iranian Navy and escaping to the U.S. I have seen the good, the bad, and the ugly of this so-called Candy Store. 

 

As native New Yorkers come in and reminisce on sharing a Milkshake in Tompkins in the 1980s and praise their childhood hero Ray, I reflect on the times like when he told me I am going to hell for smoking pot or the time a rat almost ran over my foot while I was making a hot fudge sundae. Ray Alvarez has told me that he loves me, has insisted I’m stealing from him, and recounted stories from his past that I can never tell are the truth or a slightly altered plot-line from a movie he watched in his youth, all within the same hour. Ray Alvarez and his landmark candy store truly encompass the grit, love, and drudgery necessary to survive New York City.  Throughout this period I have seen crystalized chili, green hotdogs, and the flaccid penis of a ninety year old man. This quickly became my muse and I set off to photograph it all.