Summertime Blues

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Original painting (July 2021) 
 
Oil on canvas
 
48 x 60 inches 
 
This painting features Betty Draper from the TV series Mad Men, I find her character to be a quintessential example of the mid-century American housewife and the internal struggles women of that period endured. In this particular moment we find her unhinged, all of her repressed depression (or “blues” as they used to call it) and anger bubbling up to the surface as she points her gun toward the sky. The candle flame which bifurcates the composition represents all of this undressed rage within Betty, the intense dissatisfaction that has accumulated due to her circumstances and inability to have any kind of independent fulfillment or self actualization. The plastic yard flamingos which were a pervasive symbol of post-war optimism, are melting and contorting, analogous to Betty’s failure to maintain her rosy facade.