AFTER MANY YEARS OF CREATING IMAGES OF MARILYN IN PAINTINGS AND DRAWINGS, IN THE MID 90'S I BEGAN EXPERIMENTING WITH SCULPTURE.  ALTHOUGH I HAD ATTEMPTED CAPTURING MARILYN THREE DIMENSIONALLY YEARS BEFORE, THE CHALLENGES HAD FRUSTRATED  ME.  THIS SMALL SCULPTURE WAS INTENDED AS A PROTOTYPE TO BE USED FOR A LARGER PIECE AND A REFERENCE FOR A PAINTING.  THE IMAGE OF MARILYN AS SHE APPEARED IN THE PRESIDENTIAL GALA HAD FASCINATED ME FOR DECADES.  TO ME IT WAS AN ULTIMATE VISION TO CAPTURE IN ART.  THIS NOT ONLY FOR THE AESTHETIC BEAUTY OF THE REPRESENTATION, BUT ALSO FOR THE  DEPTH OF MEANING THAT IT HELD FOR MARILYN'S SYMBOLIC FORM.    

EARLY IN 2003 I COMPLETED A LARGE OIL PAINTING BASED ON THE VISION THAT I SOUGHT TO CAPTURE FOR YEARS.  FEW PHOTOGRAPHS EXIST OF MARILYN FROM THIS OCCASION AND CERTAINLY NO FORMAL STUDIO IMAGES.  I CREATED THE FIGURE FROM COMPOSITE IMAGES AND INVENTED THE SPACE AS A FORMAL SET FOR THE REGAL PORTRAIT.  THE PAINTING, ALTHOUGH SUCCEEDING IN MY INTENDED EFFECT, LEFT ME LONGING FOR A FURTHER EXPLORATION OF MARILYN'S ELUSIVE QUALITY. 

OF ALL THE SEEMINGLY INFINITE EXPRESSIONS THAT I COULD HAVE SCULPTED, I SETTLED ON THIS ONE.  THE FAR AWAY GLANCE THAT SIMULTANEOUSLY ENGAGED INTIMATELY YET HAD A DISTANT LONGING, HELD THE COMPLEXITY OF BEAUTY AND SENSITIVITY EMBODIED IN  THE WOMAN BEHIND THE SYMBOL.  

MARILYN'S DELICATE FEATURES WERE DIFFICULT TO CAPTURE.  SO MUCH OF MARILYN'S CLASSIC LOOK WAS BASED ON COSMETICS.  I WAS ELATED TO FIND VINTAGE PROSTHETIC GLASS EYES AND TEETH TO INCORPORATE INTO THE LIKENESS.  I USED A SELF HARDENING WATER BASED CLAY OVER A PLASTER REINFORCED CHICKEN WIRE SUPPORT.

BY MAY 1962 MARILYN WAS ABOUT TO TURN 36 YEARS OF AGE.  HER FEATURES HAD TAKEN ON A MORE MATURE LOOK.  SHE WAS THINNER THAN SHE HAD BEEN IN YEARS AND HAD A DELICATE QUALITY TO HER APPEARANCE.  MOST WOULD AGREE THAT SHE WAS NEVER MORE LOVELY THAN AT  THIS TIME.   

I TOOK SOME ARTISTIC LIBERTY WITH MARILYN'S LIKENESS.  I CHOSE TO SCULPT A MORE IDEALIZED PORTRAIT THAT WOULD BE ACCURATE TO THE ERA THAT IT ATTEMPTED TO REPRESENT, YET HAD THE QUALITIES OF THE CLASSIC MARILYN OF THE MID 50'S.

MARILYN'S FIGURE WAS ALSO MORE SLENDER AND HAD LOST THE HOUR GLASS FULLNESS SHE WAS KNOWN FOR.  NONETHELESS, SHE HAD AN EXTRAORDINARY FIGURE  IN 1962.  AGAIN, I TOOK THE ARTISTIC LIBERTY OF ENHANCING HER STATISTICS.    

EXPRESSIVE HANDS WERE ALWAYS AN ASPECT TO MARILYN'S POSES.