F. Scott Hess

I lived in Iran for a year in 1993, spending much of the time in the home of my in-laws in Tehran. I painted this as a gift for them. It stayed on the wall a short time, then started traveling from closet to closet, home to home. Eventually it was returned to me by my brother-in-law, none the better for wear. I had to restore it, partially due to abuse, and partially to some technical errors on my part (I learned to use damar varnish in painting mediums while in Vienna, but have since realized it is a horrible substance to use in paint mediums. Forget what Doerner or Meyer say! It stays sticky for years). So I cleaned off the dust, and hair, and carpet fibers, and fixed it up as best I could.

Most portraits of people bore me to tears, and I have no interest in painting such works. In this piece, I wanted a strong psychological charge, and I think it also captures something of their relationship. No, I couldn’t bring myself to flatter either of them, but more than fifteen years later no one complains anymore about how they look. My portraits are the opposite of Dorian Gray. The subjects start out looking ten years older, but inevitably the time comes when they no longer think they look so bad. This painting now hangs above my mother-in-law’s bed, with no complaints.