Lady Liberty stood me up!
Its the most bullshit thing ever, Brourman said of Libertys absence.
She laughed and waved her long fingers.
Brourman, at her opening in Manhattan Jan. 9, says her work embraces having “complicated feelings about something.“John Taggart
Its a narrative gift.
In fact, Brourmans courtroomartcame about as a way of trying to make sense of a narrative.
Sitting in on the trial turned out to be something of a mindfuck.
For one, Brourman had recently filed a sexual assault lawsuit against a professor at the University of Michigan.
The work knows more about the trial than I do, for sure.
So I basically adopted the principles of decorum.
I never broke the rules except for my JUUL, but I never got caught.
Trump Organization comptroller Jeff McConney, she said, recoiled from the image of himself weeping on the stand.
Even Trump himself lingered approvingly over his likeness before commenting, Gotta lose some weight.
Halfway through the hush-money trial, Brourman ran into Trump campaign co-chair Susie Wiles outside Trump Tower.
I went up to her and said, I drew you today.
She said, Thats interesting.
Deportations
For her part, Brourman leaned into the performative nature of it all.
Theres also an element of theater, she says of the judicial process.
When covering the Republican Convention, she wore a pink and orange silk taffeta suit and red alligator pumps.
When she went down to Mar-a-Lago to paint a portrait of Trump, she chose Vivienne Westwood.
A black velvet skirt suit, and I had a spray tan, she tells me.
My dad was like, Dont wear anything too funky.
I was like, OK, youre right.
I knew that that setting was a different courtroom.
It was more of a royal court than it was a court of law.
My dreams were getting weird, she tells me.
I was like, I gotta turn it.
In these high-profile trials, the adrenaline is insane.
Electric, she says.
With the work, I can kind of get the feeling of the moment and let people interpret something.
How they interpret it is up to them.
Im comfortable in not being sure of what the answer is, Brourman says.
Near the door, MSNBC anchor Lawrence ODonnell took in a Ralph Steadman-esque depiction of Stormy Daniels.
James herself was pictured, ankles crossed and hands folded, in a smaller piece toward the back.
I told her that she should get that one, said Brourman.
Like, she has first right of refusal.
Brourman surveyed the room, holding her own sort of court.
The gangs all here!
Announce to the crowd.
Supreme Court just ruled against Trump.
And so, you know, what could happen tomorrow could change what something I already made means.
En route to the shows afterparty, she gathered the teal fur around her shoulders and said her goodbyes.
Ill see you in the morning!
she called out to those who still lingered.
See you in court!
