Acrylic On Canvas: Michael Barbie Doll, Summer Of 2000 and 2001.

I've always been very proud of this painting, for so many reasons. While simple, I find it mod, beat, and artistic. And it has that wonderful, cuddly feeling of being real and meaningful. A feeling of depth, while mixed with dreams and fantasy. It's actually from, if anyone can tell, the pivotol "Monkees On Tour" episode. Michael Nesmith seemed so self-actualized there, and so attractive at that, I just had to capture a moment from there. It's from the scene where he's walking up the escalator.

I liked the idea of painting him, without showing his face, just his essense, not only because it was easy to do. His hair has always a fascination to me [to everyone], and it was so enjoyable to paint.

I titled this "Michael Barbie Doll" for a few reasons. When I was younger I used to play with my older cousins' Barbie dolls, and they had ones with horses and ponies and cowboy hats, and I developed this fantasy world about this country-western paradigm. I used to play with them on the mountain. Years later, when I developed a love for Michael, his image, artwork, and essense, etc, it all seemed to blend into the fantasy I had already created. The second reason is to poke fun at Michael's hyper-macho-masculine persona a bit. But the third, and most compelling, reason I call it this is that Barbie dolls are something you play with...

I always felt very specific connection to this painting, and it's subject matter. I'm not sure exactly what this says or means, but I first started this painting August 8, 2000, which I wrote on the back of the canvas, worked on it only that day, then put it down; a year later I picked it up again to finish it, and after I finished it I looked at the back to write the date, which was August 8, 2001. I had no idea it was the exact same date. Is that date meaningful to the subject matter of the painting? God only knows... God and Michael Nesmith. ;)