"Enter At Your Own Risk!! (Erotic Nightmare)"
#4 in my "Fandom Rocks!" series
Gouache and Mixed Media on Wood Panel
2 X 2 ft.

While Painting I listened to"

Well, the RHPS soundtrack, duh.

Give yourself over to absolute pleasure
Swim the warm waters of sins of the flesh
Erotic nightmares beyond any measure
And sensual daydreams to treasure forever

Why I Painted Dr. Frank-N-Furter:

Well, I painted when I painted it because it was Halloween, a.k.a. national Watch-Rocky-Day.

My history with the film is lengthy. I've been watching it since I was a little kid, like, a toddler. My mom likes to tell me how when it was just the two of us when I was little, she would break out her make up and jewelry, dress me up like Frank and make me dance the Time Warp (like seriously, I hadn't learned to walk completely yet). She shielded me from a lot of the dirtier aspects of the film. I have no idea how. I know she only taught be the less dirty call-backs, so I was a bit bewildered when I learned the rest. I remember showing it to some of my friends in junior high and them being extremely shocked. I couldn't believe they hadn't seen it.

Since I lived in a tiny rural town in a very religious part of America, I did not see the film in theater until I left for college. It's one of the first things my husband and I bonded over when we met (I wanted to dress as Columbia for Halloween, he'd spent years playing Eddie in the shadow cast). We danced the Time Warp at our wedding as the finale to our ceremony.

Ok, so on to Frank. While my favorite character is Columbia, let's face it, this movie is all about Tim Curry. He took that role and made it his bitch several times over. Easily one of the most charismatic characters/performances ever.

I chose this image, because for the most part, people remember Frank as funny, or sexy, or charming. But in truth, he is the villain of the film. We tend to hate on Riff and Magenta for killing him (spoilers I guess? The film is from the 70s), but SERIOUSLY, he manipulates, sexually assaults, and kills people. He built a man using spare parts and the rainbow so that he could have his own sex slave. If anything, Riff and Magenta are heroes for killing him. I wanted to make a painting the reflected the part of Frank that was evil.

"Erotic Nightmare" is a lyric from the song "Don't Dream It, Be It". I thought it went nicely with the image. It is done is silver glitter (not sure you can tell?), and for realz, my studio floor looks like the site of a stripper initiation. The image and his make-up is so stark that after the initial drawing, I started to think of it as German expressionist piece, or graphic movie poster. A bit of a departure from my usual detail oriented style. The streaky blue and green of the medical gown was a happy accident.

In the end, he turned out looking like Ursula the Sea Witch's cross-dressing brother. Perfect.