Sandra Blair, A Time Warp Portrait
A few weeks ago Sandra posted an 80's photo of herself on Face Book. The wide shouldered dress reminded me of pictures of my mother from the forties. Sandra and I FB chatted. I quipped that with Photoshop, I could put my mother's 40's hairdo on Sandra. She said, "Oh, do it, that would be so cool!" I thought about doing the px for a few days, because I knew, that once started, it would be a time commitment to complete. Soon, I knew that I wanted to do the portrait.
Why do art?? There are many answers to this question. One of the most compelling is curiosity to see how the picture will develop. There are surprises involved in working a picture. A hundred small decisions, color, line, texture, and composition decisions add up to something that has never been seen before. If the inspiration is viable then the time spent crafting an image is rewarded with a beautiful NEW creation.
Sandra Blair was organizer and the sizzling Queen of Krewe of Clones for about seven years in the 80's. Krewe of Clones was a large and popular artist Mardi Gras marching parade connected with the Contemporary Arts Center.
According to my understanding, the Crewe of Rex (the oldest Crewe) was established to parody the royalty of Europe. Krewe of Clones was established to spoof Crewe of Rex. And now, Crewe de Vieux has inherited the out of control satire mantle of Krewe of Clones.
What a wonderful decade the eighties were for me and mine. We, an excitable pack of good friends and family, hot children in the city, were the "Hemorrhoid Marching Klub", creating costumes and mobile "sculptures" for the parade! Why?, you may ask, as many other baffled people have questioned, did you call it "Hemorrhoid Marching Klub? The answer is simple, "Because hemorrhoids are disgusting". Yes, that was the decade when I learned how to avoid "good taste". When I graduated from being hemmed in by appropriate behavior rules, a bigger world opened to my consciousness. This gave my art the freedom of a rebel, made me a committed nonconformist supported by a band of unruly misfits.
I am sorry Mother, and I apologize to my loving Aunts, you taught me well, but I had to escape the prison of being a good girl. Decades have passed, if you, careful teachers and role models, are still turning over in your grave, then you must be very dizzy. But, I imagine that you are looking down from above, lounging on a cloud, wearing elegant angelic palazzo pajamas, flipping through the channels of your descendants (the saints and the sinners) reality shows. I imagine that you "get it" now, that you understand why I needed to explore outward from the strictures of good breeding.
Sandra Blair, as Queen of Clones, was chief guide to the outer limits of wicked bad taste. Costumed as an over the top drag queen, she broke every rule in Miss Manners' stuffy book. She created her own blow your mind costumes. Crafty woman, that Sandra.
Somehow it is ironic that I would mate my mother's 'every hair in place' do with the face of the Queen of Divine Bad Taste. Now, this is art, mashing up seemingly antagonistic elements. And, this, is another good reason to make art. Sometimes creating helps me to reconcile antagonistic elements of my life. Better than therapy. Better than chocolate. Almost better than sex.
Sandra Blair in the Eighties
Isnt she beautiful?
