Pastel over Watercolor

The original of this piece was commissioned by Turner Classic Movies as part of their 20th anniversary celebration and was exhibited at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel during the 5th Annual TCM Classic Movie Festival.

“Alfred Hitchcock’s classic film, Vertigo, is the story of a man’s obsession with an unattainable love, a woman who doesn’t exist. Twice in the course of the film, she is transformed into the object of a man’s compulsive desires; first in order to carry out an evil plot of another’s greed, then in order to have a second chance to recapture and reincarnate what he believes he’s lost in order to save himself.

“I painted the blonde hair of the fantasy object of desire, Madeleine, as it begins to unravel from its core, creating a vortex of delusion. As Madeleine’s impostor, Judy submits again to being made over in the image of obsession, this time in return for love, not money. This reality proves unsustainable; her facade begins to crack, mistakes are made that set in motion a storm, which irrevocably threatened everything in its blonde, illusory path.”