krusty

2003
korean egg tempera on bristol board
19" x 24"

this painting was supposed to be the opposite of "schmaltzy," as my professor put it—as in, the opposite of thomas kincaid's work. so i went into this music store in charlottesville called plan 9 that sells useless toys and collectibles and took a picture of this krusty the clown figurine. i chose krusty as a subject because i feel like he epitomizes the anti-schmaltz. "the simpsons" is such a great show, satirizing everything and pointing out that even kids' show entertainers (i.e., krusty) are real people who drink and smoke and get caught up in shady deals (another example of this would be the movie death to smoochy). i like the composition of this painting because krusty appears to be larger than life and the most prominent feature is his gaping mouth, frozen in an almost sinister smile...i think it's the teeth.