18” x 24” acrylic and glitter on canvas. Canvas is 100% cotton duck with an acrylic titanium triple primer.

What’s the story behind this painting?

Since we didn’t have cable all the time, when there was nothing to watch on TV I watched figure skating competitions. Oksana Baiul, Tonya Harding, and Nancy Kerrigan were some of the most famous household names during the early mid-90s. I still remember one of Kerrigan’s endorsement commercials for Campbell’s chicken soup, as she strode confidently around the ice rink in the face of hockey players. So, of course I was convinced at a tender age that Campbell’s soup could nourish you into becoming a star figure skater. That’s when you know how impressionable children can be when it comes to advertising.

            Of course, the biggest news of 1994 concerned the feud between Kerrigan and Harding, and the scandal around the former’s knee injury. I was only gathering bits and pieces of the story through the news and eavesdropping on the hearsay in adult conversations. Through tabloid TV I unwittingly learned that one’s personal worth was based on outward appearance, as it turned to be the case for both Kerrigan and Harding. Within the figure skating coverage, the media deconstructed both women into polar opposites of one another: Kerrigan was the graceful and elegant princess who wore alluring costumes on the ice. She came from a good home and was a part of a well rounded family. Harding, on the other hand, was portrayed by the media as a deviant when it came to femininity and beauty. In spite of her skills as a superstar figure skater, her socioeconomic background, hobbies, and unstable relationships classified her as “white trash.” They criticized her “choice” of costumes and decided that she didn’t have that overall “package.” In fact, as Ellen Kestnbaum suggests, “our preferences for one skater over another reveal a lot about our ideologies.” At eight years old, what was the media telling me? Image is everything. It sort of shattered the idea that if you worked hard and you were dedicated to your craft, then you would triumph. One memory very vivid to me was when Harding had a meltdown over the laces from her bright white skates. I recall how they glided across the ice. I remember her burgundy outfit. I remember the way her face turned red as she struggled. I incorporated these colors onto my canvas.

Looking back now, how could the US Olympic Committee ever send someone like Harding to represent the U.S.? They would have seen her as an embarrassment to the global athletic scene and to foreign affairs. I find it rather ironic that in a country where we pride ourselves for hard work, for pulling up our bootstraps, and triumphing by coming from nothing, Harding was never considered the ideal candidate. Instead the media criticized her character, gender, and background mercilessly, only deeming her worthy as tabloid content for high ratings. I felt bad for both Kerrigan and Harding because they were both assaulted but in different ways. Yet, only justice reprimanded the physical assault. The selective tolerance of slander and character assassination was very confusing.