Indoctrination in the Dark
In the 70’s and 80's, it wasn’t just first run movies that influenced the culture, older movies with their promise of romance regardless of what brutally wrong male behaviors were presented were everywhere-- on TV, in Revival Houses, on college campuses. Many prided themselves on being “old movie buffs”.
A classic movie my mother shared with me as “so romantic” was “It Happened One Night”. In the penultimate scene, Clark Gable convinces Claudette Colbert’s father that Gable loves his daughter with the quote in this painting. The father approves and we learn the proper power dynamic of true love.
I wanted this painting to look like a Valentine gone wrong with its disturbing message and its sherbert-y sweet pastel colors, glitter hearts and drips of red. I wanted it to feel like the bloodied, melted, broken dreams of a pre-teen girl.
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