Traveling Debutante

1997

oil on canvas

10" X 8"

This work is about ugly.

Firstly, when I was growing up I thought debutantes were a thing of the past. A sort of Gone with the Wind thing. When I came to North Carolina I found out they do still exist. These are, of course, the most privileged of society. The bane of my existence.

I was a house painter for many years and worked on a lot of those peoples houses. the kind of people that have a family of four and live in a ten bedroom house. That have rooms just for show. Very uncomfortable. Very fake. Some were nice enough. Most were not. They treated you as if you were their servant. Not good enough to converse with and certainly not welcome to use the bathroom inside (but I could tell you some stories about that!).

Anyway, I wanted to portray a woman who thinks she's the most beautiful thing in the world. Materialistic, superficial, and vain. She has no idea how ugly she is and how foolishly she behaves.