By Joyce Ellen Weinstein
During the late 1960’s and into the 70’s I was a commercial textile designer working in the garment center in New York City to support myself and two children.
My boss at that time, the woman in white, was getting married for the second time.
The ceremony was held out of doors at a lovely location in the Hamptons. The bride was an exceedingly beautiful woman, smart, talented and very charming who attracted men wherever she went. The man standing next to her worked at the same company we did as a textile salesman. Although it may appear that way, he was not the groom, but her lover of many years.
His wife who may or may not have known of her husband’s relationship (everyone else did!) with the bride is placed at the edge of the work on the right. She is not quite in the picture.
Between the salesman and his wife is a woman who was the bride’s very close friend. She had never been married but had very much wanted to be. In empathy for her friend, the bride threw her bouquet in her friend’s direction so she would easily be able to catch it, which she did. You see her in almost orgasmic ecstasy.
Hope springs eternal.
On the opposite edge of the canvas is me, the artists. I am part of the proceedings. The strange expression on my face is due to the quantities of cocaine I had inhaled along with the others in the painting. It was at time cocaine was ubiquitous as a sign of affluence.
Second Wedding (1985) – an oil painting on linen is an autobiographical work. It is 54” x 62”. All the people in the painting are real (left to right): Me (the artist), the bride, the salesman, the friend and the wife.
Joyce Ellen Weinstein – finds her inspiration in the personal and emotional as well as the interaction developed through self, family and community, all of which are parts making up the whole of her unified body of work.
BlueStone Gallery – Fine and Functional Art
104 East Ann Street
Milford, PA 18337
570.296.9999
www.bluestonegallerymilford.com