The Initial Inspiration

Some time in the late 90s I went to a club in NYC with my sisters. There was a table near the dance floor with a group of people sitting around it drinking top shelf vodka.  One enormous man who was dressed in an ostentatious suit sat in the corner and all attention was entirely on him except that one of his sycophants slept draped across the table.  I turned to my sister and said that it was as though all of the seven deadly sins sat at the table personified.  Then I decided to make a painting inspired by paintings of the last supper about the seven deadly sins.  I had the idea rolling around in my head for a few years and then in 1999 I painted it.  That first small version that I painted is below.

Revisiting the Idea

Once upon a time (I don't want to say when in order to not embarrass anyone)  I gained a good 20 pounds over the course of a few months. At that time I was in a relationship with a sedentary over-eater.  When I met him I was on the proverbial rebound and I was happy that he had a few extra pounds because I would be able to eat ice cream.  This is a gross oversimplification, but it was a factor in my choice to go out with him.  It occurred to me that I had dated each of the deadly sins and then it dawned on me that in each case it was that particular weakness in myself that attracted me to each one or was expressed in me during the course of the relationship.  After having this realization I decided to revisit the subject.  

Having recognized the destructive affect of these sins on my own life gives me a deeper appreciation and new perspective on the subject.  This time I want to paint it on a life sized scale inspired by the tradition of allegorical paintings.  

I collaborated with Linda Mehnert to make this photograph so that I would have a great reward to give backers.  Linda took hundreds of pictures of me and then picked seven (one for each sin) to create a single digital image from the seven. The actual painting may or may not be a self portrait.  I originally was going to make the painting autobiographical by featuring my ex-boyfriends in the painting as the sins. Having made this photograph has made me consider making it a multiple self portrait, but that will be determined by the process of painting.  The one thing that can be certain about the painting is that it will feature 7 figures each representing one of the seven deadly sins and it will be last supper inspired. 

While the digital photo above has bright lighting reminiscent of a sitcom the lighting of the actual painting will be quite different.  It will be more like the light in the painting below.  The level of detail in the figures will be similar to the level of detail in the Portrait of Alex below The Arrival. 

Also I work very intuitively and make decisions while in the process of painting.  I never know what my paintings will look like until they are done and I only know a painting is done because I feel it has reached the point that it feels whole and there is no impulse in me to alter anything.  I know when it is done because it feels like it has become something much bigger than me, in a sense something that has a life of its own.  I am usually surprised with the results and how it reveals things to me about my subconscious. 

Please visit my website to see more of my paintings 

http://lizafif.com