Vieux Hollywood By Gina Miller
Looking through my files today, it appears as though I had worked rather intensely on the figure model (I'm calling her Star) on August 31, 2005 and worked on the background scene more than a year later, October 25, 2006. Originally Star was sitting legs crossed on the hood of the car but I never finished it as it just seemed to lack impact. So today while browsing through some reading material Star suddenly without reason jumped in my mind, and I saw her as she appears here in the final composition. She just walked herself back into my life and so as to oblige her presence, I opened up the files and put her where she beckoned herself to be. It may seem as though I am talking metaphorically, and I am, but it is interesting that as an artist it does sometimes seem as though the art is dictating itself to me and I merely follow the guidelines, like a conduit. I used to write a lot of poetry and I felt this same sensation but much more powerfully then—it was as if the words were already written in the stars somewhere correctly and I was trying to find them, getting all of the wrong words out of the way, unscrambling the encrypted composition, and when I did, I just knew when they were right. I have heard a lot of artists of different mediums express this same type of experience. Anyway, here is my shining Star.
The word vieux
means old
in French.
Regarding the new position of Star: from this vantage point it is as if we are looking inside of her mind, and we can see what her thoughts are (at least in this particular moment) by what is behind her. This secondary aspect gives us the more personal impact that the 'on the car position' did not.
Created August 05, October 06 and May 07. Added to the website May 18, 2007
Copyright Gina Miller 1998-2007
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