@thepostman_art & @TrustyScribe. “Just Because I’m Smiling, Doesn’t Mean I’m Happy.” 2018, David LaChapelle Studios, Los Angeles. ~ 120” x 120.” Spray paint, stencil & wheat-paste.
——
45 years ago Robin Williams was an unknown @JuilliardSchool grad working the comedy circuit of Southern California. Through this, Williams earned a role as Mork on the TV sitcom HAPPY DAYS. The episode MY FAVOURITE ORKAN aired in 1978, becoming one of its most popular episodes. Williams became a household name & was soon starring in the spinoff MORK & MINDY, which aired from 1978 to 1982. 37 years later, in August 2014, Williams would take his life, a result of falling back into depression after being diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease.
The Postman’s wheat paste features a young Williams from a promotional still by photographer Jim Britt. It highlights Williams’s youthful optimism & desire to inspire laughter. But this was just a public persona, as beneath this was a man struggling with anxiety & depression, addicted to alcohol & drugs (as represented by the text TrustyScribe incorporated into the piece).
Colour plays an important role in this piece. Williams’s orange lips, blue hair, rainbow-coloured suspenders, & stylized graffiti shirt highlight that public persona Williams projected living life as an actor & comedian. But the black background & his grey toned skin emphasize the struggles he grappled with.
The choice to colour Williams’s hair blue is likely a technical one to avoid having Williams’s hair being lost in the background (artist Jim Lee, in a 2013 interview with @EntertainmentWeekly explained how comic artists used blue as a “…way to highlight the hair so it doesn’t look like a singular block…”). Colorpsychology.org also attributes to the colour blue the personality traits of confidence, honesty, & loyalty; as well as the traits of anxiousness, depression, sadness, & sensitivity.
A streak of yellow light shines down behind Williams, which could represent the limelight that Williams lived in. But it could also represent the light that The Postman & TrustyScribe are trying to shine on mental health issues through their art.
This post was originally featured on Instagram.