Life is a Cabaret, Old Chum

 

 

A few days ago, I was walking downtown with my dog before sunrise. The streets lights shined on the asphalt still wet from the midnight rain. A few cars were parked on the square covered with rain drops as if sweating in the desert town. 

As we were to pass by one car, I noticed its bumper sticker the read "Reality is something you rise above."

 My dog was looking at me surprised that I had halted our daily walk. I rubbed behind his ears and said "I know this line, but cannot remember who said it."

 I Googled upon return. It was a line by Liza Minnelli from the 1972 movie “Cabaret”. I had not watched that movie for more than half a century, and with a cup of coffee I recalled a few moments of my life around 1972, and pondered if that philosophy of reality meant anything to me then. I was sure it did not. In those days, reality was the challenge of survival.

 But, I felt like putting my feelings of the moment on canvas, a thing I do along my writings as a different form of keeping a diary.

 As before, my canvas was a preserved wild rabbit skin. It was going to be afree-hand, free floating moment, but the theme of a cabaret reminded me of a poster where the painter had mixed art nouveau with a touch of cubism.

 With reality in mind, Liza Minnelli in memory and cubism as an outlook, I drew a woman’s face:

Somehow, given the rough surface texture of the canvas, the face looked like those roman mosaic portraits, the most famous (at least for me) being that of a woman from Pompeii.

This historical portrait, displayed in the National Museum of Archeology in Naples, Italy is of an unknown woman, which adds to the mystery and attractiveness of the artifact.

In my Google search, I found an old poster of “Cabaret” where Minnelli is shown with a long cigarette holder and one leg extended. I wanted to include this perspective in my painting.

Therefore, and keeping in mind that art nouveau poster, I opted for straight lines but faint colours. I used water colour, oil and acrylic paint. Here is the final product:

This painting is a departure from my previous portraits of women both in style and perspective. It is almost a sketch, a peeping into the concepts of reality and the fun of burlesque.

 

Will I try it again? Time will tell.

 

March 10, 2024

© Vahé A. Kazandjian, 2024