"Iggy", 2006, Tempra and Acrylic on Board, 8' x 4'
This painting is my pride and joy. I love this painting like a mother loves a child. Just ask any of my friends, boyfriend and family, who have had the unlucky pleasure of moving this painting many times. It first went from school to my parents garage. Loading it into the truck I smoked my boyfriend in the head with it (accidently of course) and proceeded to yell about how important this painting was and if anything were to happen to it I would kill him. It sat in the garage for a couple years until my dad was sick of looking at it and threatened to throw it out. I immediately yelled that I would kill him if he did that and suggested it go up in my room. I measured from the floor to the ceiling, which I remember as being 8 feet exactly. My dad, my brother and I began the awkward process of taking it through the doors of the house and up the winding stairs of our house. Before it was able to get to my room we gouged the walls, ceiling and my dad got a nasty 6 inch sliver in his arm from my improper sanding of the wood. Once it was in my room we realized that it did not quite fit and the bottom stuck out from the wall about 2 feet. It had not looked that big in my studio at school or the garage and it looked like a massive bear in the corner of my room. I immediately regretted my decision to bring it in my room but kept my mouth shut and thanked my dad and brother for helping me.
Once my boyfriend and I got engaged and moved in together we had to move it from my bedroom into the basement of our new house. We had a bunch of friends helping us move and I again reminded everyone of just how much I loved this painting and that if anything happened to it I would kill each and everyone of them on the spot. Since I am such a basketcase my boyfriend told me I had to wait upstairs while they brought it in. I sat upstairs and held my breath while my loving friends made yelling noises and said things like, "OH NO WE'RE GOING TO DROP IT!". I waited several long minutes before a friend ran up the stairs and told me to come see where they put it. As we walked downstairs he regaled their heroic tale of how they moved it in and how one of them almost tripped and how it almost didn't fit down the stairs. He finished the story by saying, "...but then we turned the corner and it was like giving birth, it just slid down perfectly." I thanked them profusely once I saw that Iggy was in one piece.
If any of my friends, family and (now) husband are reading this I am so thankful for all your help with moving this painting and I apologize for being such a neurotic dink about it.
Anyway I had completed this painting for an assignment in one of my classes. The assignment was to complete a large scale painting in 8 hours straight based on the cover of a book or movie. I chose the cover of a VHS tape of an Iggy Pop concert from Paris 1991. I loved this tape and I watched it over and over again, enamoured by Iggy's performance. Since I had to do this painting quickly I felt like I captured Iggy's movements and energy in this painting.
"Outbreak", 2006, Oil on Board, 3' x 4'
