The Wire: Bubbles and Omar

A couple of weeks ago, my friend Joanie told me about a tv show called The Wire, which she said was the best tv show that she's ever seen. So Barry and I have been renting it from Netflix (it's not on the air anymore and anyway I don't have cable tv even if it were still on the air). I LOVE the show. The characters are fully 3 dimensional, with all the ferocity and fragility of real true human beings -- it's not at all black and white. 


So I did this portrait (above) of one of my favorite characters, Bubbles, the earnest, courageous, scroungey drug addict, who briefly saw the light coming from under the door leading out of his addiction this week, only to turn back to peer down the long black hallway he's been trudging for years.


Another favorite character is Omar, the fearlessly murderous stick-up man who is avenging the murder of his boyfriend, Brandon (for those of you familiar with The Wire, I am midway through the first season of episodes). He's terrifyingly tough and also tender, taking brutal revenge in the name of love.