Julian Schnabel
Sylvie      1987
74" x 60"
oil, plates, bondo on wood
Art © 1987  Julian Schnabel
Photography © 1987  Phillips/Schwab

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Julian Schnabel painted this portrait of me in 1987.  This painting was included in a retrospective of his work shown that same year at the Whitney Museum of American Art.  I worked for him as an assistant from February 1985 until June 1989.  Last time I heard this painting was in the collection of Oliver Stone.

I saw my old boss on TV last night at the Academy Awards...right behind Catherine Zeta-Jones and Michael Douglas.  Julian was on the red carpet chatting with Joan Rivers about his second film, "Before Night Falls" which he directed and produced.  His lead actor, Javier Bardem was nominated for "Best Actor" for his portrayal of Rienaldo Arenas, a Cuban writer who died of AIDS in 1990.  

Julian's first movie, "Basquiat,"  was about the brilliant, expressive, impulsive and deceased painter, Jean Michel Basquiat who died tragically from a drug overdose on August 12, 1988

A feature story about Julian Schnabel appeared in The Sunday New York Times Magazine on March 25, 2001.  In the article Julian refers to the time frame when I worked for him as his "teenage" period.  I helped Julian prepare the written material and organize the photography that illustrates his autobiography, C.V.J.  Nicknames of Maitre D's & Other Excerpts from Life published by Random House in 1987.