Title: “Exhibit 1: Big Girls Don’t Cry”
Size: 20” x 16″
Date Completed: April 17, 2015
Media: Paper adhered to canvas, stained with coffee, and painted with calligraphy ink
Description: Perhaps the most anticipated California Family Law ruling of 2014, In re Marriage of Valli (2014) 195 California Supreme Court, S193990, 58 Cal.4 th 1396, 171 Cal.Rptr.3d 454, 2014 FA 1640), helped put to rest the tensions between two conflicting presumptions – that of Cal. Evidence Code §662 (title presumption) vs. Cal. Family Code §2581 which presumes property acquired during the marriage is community property. This piece of artwork uses pages from the ruling stained with coffee and painted with calligraphy ink. The title of the art work “Exhibit 1: Big Girls Don’t Cry” is aptly derived from one of litigant’s (Frankie Valli) songs.
Artist Commentary: After a particularly long day at the office I was tired, burnt out, and surrounded by mountains of paperwork. I remember picking up my cold and unfinished cup of coffee and underneath it was a document that had been thoroughly stained by the ring of the mug. The natural tannins of the coffee pigmented the page fibers. The black ink of the document contrasted the white and ochre background. Perhaps it was the stresses of the day, but in that moment there was something beautiful to me about its aesthetic simplicity. I proceeded to stain and ink several pages. That document was the Valli case and the piece eventually became “Exhibit: 1 Big Girls Don’t Cry”
Owner: Garrett C. Dailey, Esq., CFLS as of November 12, 2015
Sales Price: undisclosed
Unique Identification Number: #0000000000698