And back in 1999....



"Danny" 1999, acrylic, jute, paper, and ink
on canvas


The week before last, Michael and I went into Pittsburgh to visit my folks at my old apartment, which we've had since I was in graduate school, a period that is receding ever more rapidly into the past. While I was working on my thesis, and in between my on-campus jobs, I painted people I had known in Germany. This was part nostalgia, part reverse-homesickness. I came back from Germany in July 1998, we settled on the house in which the paintings now hang, and classes began all within the space of two weeks.

"Danny" here is based on the boyfriend of a friend from Israel, named Yasmin, with whom I've lost contact since I returned to the States. Danny came over to Munich from Tel Aviv twice to visit Yasmin. On his second visit, while we were at a Muenchner Freiheit bar, he told me, and I quote: "Savannah, your only problem is that you don't have legs up to your neck." Uh, okay. Thanks?

The bottom image, "Dead Boyfriends" is of a man who shall remain nameless. However, I'm sure he would recognize himself if he were to see it. But he hasn't, and he won't. Ha, fun.

The photos, taken with a cellphone camera, are less than stellar, but document stuff I forget about when I'm working on new things. They aren't seen often enough. I'd like to get them out more, but where to show....where to show? Plus the second one is huge and hard to move.

"Dead Boyfriend" (1998-99), acrylic, glass, and colored paper on
canvas. Size: the 3rd floor stairway wall at 613 Ivy Street




Detail of "Dead Boyfriend"