5.10.05

Ready for My Close-Up!

wireI got an excited phone call from a woman early this morning; I know, this happens a lot. Her home is being used in a scene for the HBO series The Wire, shot here in Baltimore. Turns out this nice young lady and her husband have collected my work, and in one scene a painting of mine will be in the frame, so the crew wanted my permission to have it in the scene. Yes, and can I deliver 12 more paintings? Is it a crime scene? Will blood be splattered all over the work? Will the actor recite their last dying words, wistfully gazing up at my painting? Close-up! Cut! Print! Do I get one of those mobile trailers?

This did remind me of something Terry Teachout wrote of not long ago. Can you name any well-known artwork used in a movie scene? I include TV also. This is my first, that I know of. The Missus, however, has had many experiences in several movies and TV shows.

Her most famous was the very popular TV show of the 90s, Melrose Place. A poster was made of one of her illustrations with the verse, “My true love has my heart and I have his.” The poster decorated the bedroom of a beach house and two of the characters, passionate lovers, were trying to kill each other. The fight went from room to room, smashing furniture, with much throwing of vases and lamps. We were very excited when they got to the bedroom: “Throw the poster! Throw the poster!” we all screamed. “Kill him with the poster!” Ahh, life and art, it just doesn't get any better.

Think about it. How many paintings can you think of that have been in a movie or TV scene? Are you paying attention? Remember the scene in the lawyer's office, in the movie Kramer vs. Kramer? There was a big Lennart Anderson painting in the background, most likely filmed in the offices of the Salander-O'Reilly Gallery. Let me know, and I’ll post a list.

6 comments:

  1. I absolutely loved this post, Mark. Just the whole visual/ visceral movie/ people interacting with the movie on the screen while in their own living room thing ... killer! (i gave you props on my blog post yesterday)

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  2. Thanks for your comment on my blog at yesterday's post.

    I replied to you there, so look for it. (Double poser!)

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  3. And as for art in movies, I can think of none better than The Thomas Crown Affair (the one with Pierce Brosnan and Rene Russo). Lots of art there!

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  4. On paintings and film:
    Don't forget the scene in Terry Gilliam's film Baron Munchausen in which Uma Thurman appears in a living cinematic recreation of Sandro Botticell's "Birth of Venus".

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  5. Lennart Anderson wasn't showing in Salander-O'Reilly at the time Kramer Versus Kramer was made. That was about 20 years beforehand.

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  6. Well, what's the correct answer anon?

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