2008, oil on canvas, 84" x 56"
So what do you think?
Do I have to comment? Don't make me.
Yes, say something, please.
You don't want me to. Really.
Ok, don't say anything. I had to paint this. I mean I had to go there, you know?
No, I don't know.
I can eroticize a garden-variety news photo of you. What am I supposed to do with that? It's raw material for me. I'm not going to ignore it.
Well, ignoring it would be a start.
I don't want to. Sorry.
[pause]
You like the image of Hillary as cold, inhuman, void of passion?
Of course not. But, in a way, I prefer it over this.
Really?! What about the sculptor who did the bust of you with the perky breasts in the Museum of Sex? Hell, you probably met him and shook his hand.
No, I haven't met him.
What would you say to him if you did?
Well, first, it doesn't look anything like me. I don't know what I would say to the guy.
I suspect that as long as it's hetero-normative, it's very ok to eroticize you.
No, not necessarily. I don't know. I'm just uncomfortable with this.
Because it's a woman who made it?
No!
Yes!
No, because it looks like me!
It doesn't really look like you. Well, maybe the hair. I had to make up the face. Hey, can you give me a photo for the next one I do?
I don't think so!
I'm just kidding. Tell me what is so wrong about painting Hillary in a moment of unbridled, sexual ecstasy?
You've got to be kidding.
No, I'm not. I hate the image of you as frigid. I see just the opposite. And I know other people do too, including some writers. Why is it ok for them to write about what they perceive to be the nature of your passions and it's not ok for me to paint the obvious? I'll tell you what I think it's about.
No, I don't want to talk about it anymore. I have to go.
C'mon. Five minutes. I really want to understand what is so problematic for you about this image.
Why haven't you painted Obama jerking off? That's my problem. Why me?
It's not my fault that it's more fun to imagine you in that way. Blame it on Venus. If I did a painting of Obama touching himself, it would be loaded with racial content, right?
My point exactly. There is all this other content that you don't see and I do. It's not just about you thinking I'm hot. I'm fine with that. It's all the other stuff built in there. Ok? #