Puehu- To Blow Away (2007) Painting by Steven W Pollard

Puehu- To Blow Away : 24" x 36"
These loosely paraphrased passages from Charlotte Lamb “In the Still of the Night” reflect my thoughts of therapy with this patient. He recognized that his acting was like an addiction. The longer he took the drug the more addicted he became; the longer he acted the more confused he became with reality and the character he played. He began to wonder who he really was. At times his true identity crumbled and he felt like nothing but a flat image on the movie screen. He had played the character of a man obsessed with failure for so long that he became obsessed with failure. In the end he started to drink to deaden the pain but this only made every addiction worse. He began to forget his lines and eventually no one would hire him. He still had his charming moments but his life was shattered and over. He hoped that he had enough left to survive. After he had left his profession he felt gutted. No one believed in him and he didn’t believe in himself. He watched old reruns and couldn’t understand how it had happened.