I’m a big fan of film noir. And, I a big fan of Eve Plumb’s film noir series of paintings—her riff on that genre.
Eve Plumb
THERE YOU ARE.
oil on canvas, 10×8 inches
Bilotta Gallery
A little background. Eve Plumb began acting professionally in 1966—she was 7-years old. Born in Burbank, California, her first roles were in TV commercials and through them, she was noticed by series casting directors. The next year, 1967, she appeared on The Virginian, The Big Valley, and Lassie. In 1968, she appeared on It Takes a Thief and Family Affair where she played a terminally ill girl on the episode “Christmas Came A Little Early.” From 1969 to 1974, Plumb was the middle sister, Jan Brady, on the ABC sitcom The Brady Bunch.
Eve Plumb
LOOK AT HIM.
oil on canvas, 10×8 inches
Plumb has been painting for over two decades, and her colorful still-life canvases are well known and collected. She says, “Painting is a creative outlet for me when I’m not acting. It gives me a feeling of control over my creative life. An actor often has to wait for projects to come along, but I can paint any time of the day.”
Viewing the canvases in her film noir series delivers a much different experience than seeing her still-life pieces. For noir, using deliberate, bold brush strokes and a palette of blacks and whites, she recreates the dark-grey-toned, softly-lit—sometimes harshly lit for a magical second of puncutation—essence of the noir genre.
However, Plumb hands you the heart of noir with a twist. As a writer, I find her twist delightful and fascinating. Ominously, the paintings’ titles appear on the face of each work as if hastily typed and then clipped from a blank sheet of paper—bringing to mind a ransom note. There is also a keen sense of whimsy. With a wink and a nod to noir’s roots in German Expressionist cinematography, Plumb acknowledges the melodramatic—often over-the-top, often staccato—dialog that was a hallmark of the era. Her noir paintings have three-word titles—no more, no less.
♦
I offer a few painting titles for Plumb to consider for her future creations:
Put that down. Just the facts. What is that? In the river. He’s a heel. Hear the truth. Not wearing panties. On your Street. I was great. In the day. My new face. Night in the city.
Eve Plumb is on Instagram, Twitter @Therealeveplumb, and Facebook.