This theme features artwork by Alison Blickle.
These paintings are part of an ongoing series of portraits of women from the 1920s, 30s, and 40s who moved to Hollywood to try to "make it", but failed. Some of them are completely unknown, and some of them had a bit of success and then went mad, or killed themselves, or had some tragedy happen to them that ended their career. The idea was inspired by my move from New York to Los Angeles. My husband is a screenwriter, so the movie industry is a big part of my life, and there are some parallels to the art world as well.
I call this body of work "Hollywood Forever", which is the name of a famous cemetery here in LA where lots of celebrities are buried. It alludes to the fact that I'm memorializing these ladies with my paintings. It's also a reminder that youth and beauty are fleeting, and none of us are getting out of here alive.
