Watercolor Portraits of ’70s and ’80s Sitcom Characters

By Judy Berman

Oct. 11, 2011

Let’s try a mental exercise: Picture some of your favorite TV shows of the ’70s and ’80s — maybe Three’s Company or the original Hawaii Five-0. How do the characters look in your imagination? Crisp and bright, or somewhat blurry and washed out? For us, it’s always been the latter, either because our memories of them are dim or simply due to the desaturated look of decades-old TV. So it’s remarkable to see how closely San Francisco-based artist Kelly Falzone Inouye’s watercolor portraits of sitcoms from that era our own recollections. “For me, the medium of watercolor is extremely nostalgic and sentimental,” writes Inouye. “In using this medium in its loosest, most watery form to depict fictional characters, my intent is to examine issues of portrayal vs. portraiture.” Check out Sitcoms Series after the jump, and then visit Inouye’s website to see more of her work.