Gabourey Sidibe - Portrait by Sam Spratt
A while back, I asked Gabby to come to my studio. Work immediately began and the beginnings of several sketches and pieces started to come together, but I didnât want to rush the main painting so I shelved it while the usual pattern of clients interrupting personal work took over. Many paintings never get finished or see the light of day, both personal and professional, but Gabby was special. I wrote these notes back during her visit:
Her time in my studio was mostly light, ďŹlled with her bubbly energy as we cracked open some beers, exchanged embarrassing drinking stories, taking group photos as if weâd known each other for more than the actual hour we had, and her trying to convince me that she has an actual medical condition where she ďŹnds everything adorable. Youâd be fooled too if you were lied to by an Oscar-nominated actress with her talent. But when I asked her, stripped of any pretension, that if I were to paint her, how sheâd like to be portrayed, she said âI donât really care about how Iâm portrayedâ and then she paused and continued âI guess ⌠did you ever watch the show Community? Ya know how the schoolâs mascot is the human being? I mean, I donât want to be a grey faceless spandex blob like that, but Iâd like to just be a human being. Not someoneâs message or idea of what I stand for because of what I look like, just a human, how youâd paint me if I were anyone else".
