Study of Galena Wrapped in a Sheet, 2025. Brown and sepia inks and gouache on vellum, 6 x 8 in,
The character of Galena was drawn from many different sources. Her endless quest for increasingly intense sensations—and the use of heroic doses of alcohol and substances to approach such a heightened state—was inspired by the painter Francis Bacon’s biography and interviews. I also modeled aspects of her personality and speech on someone I once knew who was simultaneously a psychopath and a masochist: quite a combo.
A line from William Gibson’s Count Zero was also inspiring:
“And, for an instant, she stared directly into those soft blue eyes and knew, with an instinctive mammalian certainty, that the exceedingly rich were no longer even remotely human.”
Galena displays “inhumanity” through her inappropriate reactions to situations, whether it’s poking her nose into a painting she’s trying to figure out how to appreciate, laughing uncontrollably at a fistfight, or taking visceral pleasure in having large amounts of money stolen from her purse in an elevator car.