On The Set
MAD MEN DON DRAPER OFFICE PAINTING
Butternut,” Don Draper’s Office — Seasons 1 – 3
“Spoondance,” Pilot Episode
The Pilot episode of Mad Men utilized three of my paintings; “Close Call,” “Butternut” and “Spoondance.” Of the three only one, “Butternut” was picked up to show in Don Draper’s office for the first three seasons. (“Butternut” is acrylic on canvas, and the dynamic effect is created by the use of palette knife to apply the paint.) I did not have cable reception at the time, so was not aware of the impact Mad Men was making on the design and fashion world, until I visited my sister who mentioned it, and saw an episode. I was surprised to see how frequently the painting appeared in the scenes in Don Draper’s office. It was also gratifying to see that in the last episode of the third season, when Draper leaves Sterling Cooper, Butternut is on its side in one of the last scenes — its “swan song!”
For the first season the actual painting was used, but for the following two seasons a giclée reproduction on canvas was used. This is the kind of reproduction I am selling; they are created to order, approved for color and quality by me, and signed. Please allow three weeks for delivery.
At The Office
THE OFFICE OF EVAN WESSLER
“Your work continues to garner compliments from visitors to my office. The paintings are all great: every day, I look at all of them and notice something new. However, I’ve decided Foundling is my favorite. Its pieces fit and “stack” together so idiosyncratically, with asymmetries that jut and collide and encroach upon one another, as would fault lines in the Earth’s crust. The very incongruity of it all adds a friction that, ironically, holds the system together in some precarious balance. The fragments feature swirls or straight lines or curves or gradients; they are unique blocks, and though each possesses its own energy, that energy is shared amongst a colorful partnership. The piece is redolent of the mind, or the world at large: at once a chaotic and coherent mosaic. It bowls me over.”
– Evan