Man Crying 1991

Last Friday night I sat in front of the TV to watch "Blue Bloods" on  CBS. It wasn't a program I had ever watched before, but three of my  paintings were going to be used as set dressings for a scene in an  episode called "Lonely Hearts Club". This project came through Film Art LA, a company that represents my artwork and licenses images for  movies and TV:  http://www.filmartla.com . In September I got a call from Jennifer Long, who owns the company, to tell me that my work was being  rented for "Blue Bloods". She explained that "Man Crying" had been requested for use during the scene in which the work would be  talked about by the actors. She also let me know my name would be used  in dialogue as the fictitious artist.  They would be using digital prints-much larger in the scene than in  real life. I was asked to sign off on the part of the script that used my name, so I knew exactly what was going to be said. It was thrilling being on TV and seeing my images.  I thought it was pretty great being Holly from Red Hook with a nice New York City Gallery and a sympathetic boyfriend named Patrick.  You can see the scene with my paintings in the first five minutes of the episode at http://www.cbs.com/shows/blue_bloods/video/$

The image itself was based on the photograph of a close friend who is one of the most stoic people I know. The image was about showing one kind of face on the outside, but having another face happening inside, where it doesn't show to the world but is deeply felt. I'm always somewhat surprised at how images portraying distress or sadness offend or push some people away, and it was interesting to me that they used this image as an example of how depressed and angst ridden, or "EDP"(emotionally dysfunctional people-their words) artists are.  In fact, what the painting is really about is how difficult it is for us to constantly have to hide what we really feel.  It's a kind of cautionary tale about allowing ourselves and others to have true and genuine feelings, whatever they may be.