Commissions: The View From Away From Here.

June 26, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Commissions are always a strange and flattering thing.  It’s wonderful when someone picks you out specifically, as an artist, to do something personal for them.  It’s nervewracking because you are creating a piece, while yes..with their respect and blessing…but still FOR someone else…not as a gift, but for hire.   Especially with a friend, you do not want to disappoint them and create some awkward social dynamics.  Recently a dear friend of mine commissioned a piece from me…a favorite viewpoint in New York.  I can’t even remember the last time I painted a cityscape…probably college…and it probably wasn’t successful.  My friend was aware that cityscapes aren’t my normal thang…but had enough faith that I could pull it off.  In this case, Emily’s faith became my faith, and I ended up doing/(and enjoying) a painting I never would have thought to have tackled.  This was a good reminder of a simple fact:  strengthening your studio practice is like strengthening your muscles….different workouts have different results…and you sometimes find muscles you didn’t know you had.  This painting was a nice muscular stretch.

Below is the result:

Commissioned Painting. Acrylic on Canvas. 2011

(*For any folks interested in commissions, feel free to email me at Drawsomethingawful@gmail.com)

Filed Under: Inside the Studio, painting Tagged With: , , , ,

Joan Crawford

June 19, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Joan Crawford in "Our Dancing Daughters" with Robert Montgomery in 1928.

“She is the only star I know who manufactured herself…She drew up a blueprint for herself and outlined a beautiful package of skin, bones, and character and then set out to put life into the outline.   She succeeded, and so Joan Crawford came into existence at the same time an overweight Charleston dancer, born Lucille LeSueur, disappeared from the world.”  -Columnist Louella Parsons on Joan Crawford

Filed Under: Old Hollywood Tagged With: ,

A Dame and a Dress

June 18, 2011 By 1 Comment

I know I am majorly late on this, but it doesn’t feel to proper to not have wished a certain dead movie star a happy birthday.  Marilyn Monroe was born 85 years ago this past June 1st.  Later today, June 18th, the infamous white pleated dress  from The Seven Year Itch is going up for auction.    Considering her JFK Birthday gown went for over a million…and Marilyn’s value has only risen, I have a feeling some records are going to be broken with this gown.

The dress was designed by Travilla, who designed many of Marilyn’s other costumes..including  such films as Bus Stop, How to Marry a Millionaire, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and many more.  They met in 1950 when Marilyn asked to borrow Travilla’s dressing room to try on a costume.  More on Travilla’s Marilyn designs can be found over here.

Upon seeing high quality photos of the dress, I had almost forgotten how beautiful it is.  I had actually never noticed the bow in the front.  I wish the costume recreations of it held more true to the original. The amazing details of the garment seem to be continuously lost. Look at the airy floooow to it

The dress is from the collection of Debbie Reynolds…whom..by looking at the auction catalog..apparently had her own private museum of gems of Hollywood history.  Debbie acquired the bulk of the collection in the early 70′s directly from the studios when they began breaking up their inventory.   Little things..like you know, the blue dress Judy Garland wore in the Wizard of Oz, Marilyn’s red Gentleman Prefer Blondes ensemble, Audrey Hepburn’s grand white dress from My Fair Lady, or Joan Crawford’s waitress uniform from Mildred Pierce.  More on the Debbie Reynolds auction collection can be found here. It’s epic.

Anyway, Happy Belated Birthday Marilyn! I hope your dress finds a good home.

Filed Under: marilyn monroe, Uncategorized Tagged With: , , , , ,

Marissa Cooper is Epic.

June 14, 2011 By 1 Comment

Marissa Cooper is epic.

Played by Mischa Barton, Marissa has a mythology and iconography which is continued in some form throughout the entire series of the teen show The O.C.

The pilot for The O.C. is one of my favorite TV pilots.  It pays a blatant homage to Rebel Without A Cause but without being stifled by it. I am not going to do a character to character comparison; even if one has a casual knowledge of Rebel Without A Cause the similarities are evident.  I did however, find a nice little example on YouTube of one scene being compared…as well as I want to give some context of the cinematic and cultural vocabulary used by The O.C. to those unfamiliar.

Despite the cinematic similarities, Marissa Cooper ends up being more of the rebel than Ryan Atwood…and with somewhat of a cause.  She is the rich but troubled girl next door.   Marissa continuously is attempting to fight her own self destruction, only to break to occasionally fight some battles against world around her.. (all while being a fashion plate, and having those around her fall in love with her…)  She abuses alcohol and pills.  She is often saved, and sometimes does the saving. Ultimately, she needs to remove herself from role expected of her in her world……to go live on a fishing boat..but is killed in a car accident on the way to the airport.

She is an archetype, and am important one.  With a few words substituted, the above paragraph could be used to describe the an icon as big as Marilyn Monroe.

We can’t see Marissa on a fishing boat, much like we couldn’t see a movie in theaters with Marilyn Monroe as a mother.  Both are far too removed from the mythology we demand of them culturally.  While Marissa Cooper may just be a character on canceled teen television series, fictional Marissa Cooper carries a vein with symbolic Marilyn Monroe and countless others.  (*I am referring to Marilyn Monroe’s created symbolism, not her privately)    She was never meant to live..  She is symbol and must continue to enact her obligatory mythic cycle….something that is not conducive with a long fulfilled life.  She is the one that joins us temporarily, but leaves an impact that is lasting.  The O.C. continues on for a season after Marissa is killed with the remaining characters attempting to deal with her absence.

Below I have some screencaps of part of the Marissa Cooper cycle as seen in The O.C. pilot.   This cycle is repeated throughout the series both thematically and visually.

Marissa welcomes the outsider, and the possibilities of danger he brings. you know, like with cigarettes.

Drinking heavily at a party. Her mood and presence is separate from the other party go-ers.

Oh snap. She drank too much. Despite being the most popular girl at school, her friends just drop her off in her driveway when she's shitfaced.

she's not dead yet, but she's practicing.

Ryan finds his fallen beauty.

We are presented the young, beautiful, and seemingly dead woman.

Rescued: Ryan brings passed-out Marissa to rest in his bed instead of on display on a driveway.

Covers her with a shroud...or fine blanket. (Even the episode commentary makes shroud jokes).

The next day. Marissa is the pretty girl next door again. Ryan is leaving.

Leaving Marissa at sunset. ethereal much?

going for the angel look.

Marissa is temporal. We leave her.

She is picked up by someone else...to start the cycle again.

More to come of Marissa Cooper and other transient TV teens.

Filed Under: Teen TV, The OC Tagged With: , , , , ,

Sneak Peak: Spoiler Alert: Marissa Cooper is Dead

June 2, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Here’s a peak at the piece I have going up in South Boston Open Studios Group Show.  It will be on display this weekend throughout the month of June.

This is my first finished piece in my Marissa Cooper series.  This is part of my larger series on exile, exit, and loss in Teen TV.  More on that will be posted soon…but for now..here’s Marissa Cooper.

Spoiler Alert: Marissa Cooper is Dead, 12x16, 2011

Filed Under: Teen TV, The OC Tagged With: , , ,

South Boston Open Studios, Spring 2011

June 2, 2011 By Leave a Comment

It’s that time of year….time for Southie Open Studios.

Come by, I will have new work.  More info here.

 

 

Filed Under: Events, Inside the Studio, warehouse 11
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