Laurel Holloman's Brush with the Abstract: Exclusive Interview

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You’ve acted a bit since The L Word’s finale. Can you tell me what you’ve worked on?

Right now I have Gigantic coming out in October. I shot four episodes of that. It was a really good experience because I reconnected with some great L Word writers and directors like Jamie Babbit and Angela Robinson -- who I just saw today. And Marti  Noxon, who was the producer on Angel. She’s the creator and she’s fabulous. I felt lucky. It was a very different part –  a single mom raising a teenage son -- very liberal. She used to be kind of a rock and roller and is struggling to keep her life together.

The show is about celebrities’ kids right?

It’s really about celebrity in Los Angeles --  the drug of celebrity, and these kids are all children of famous actors, except for my son. My character used to be a pop star, kind of a one hit wonder, and now she’s just a teacher. That part wasn’t really something that was very much explored though. It is more focused on their relationships and their children.

What I liked about it was that it showed a teenage son and a mother who had almost like a brother / sister relationship because the mother had had him so young, and because she’d been a victim of domestic violence and was basically raising her son by herself. So there were issues there that were interesting.

Also, the cast is great. Gia Mantegna, who is Joe Mantegna’s daughter, and Grace Gummer, who is Meryl Streep’s daughter, who is lovely and just so amazing, and Ryan Rottman, who played my son. I just felt like it was great. Also, Helen Slater is in it.

That’s sounds like it’s just my speed. I will definitely tune in. I have a new guilty pleasure right now -- watching Greek on Hulu.

Oh, then yeah I think you will like it. It’s great.

And you went to New York to concentrate on painting after shooting Gigantic? I’ve read interviews recently in which it seemed as though you were giving up the greasepaint (acting) for oil paint. Is that at all accurate?

Once I finished that (Gigantic) in the spring, it was pretty clear I was headed to New York.

And no, I am not quitting acting at all. I’ve read for many things in New York. I have been more selective I guess. There are just some things that if they don’t click and they don’t end up in the town I am living in with my children. When you’re on your own with your kids, there are a lot of choices you have to make that are going to be different.

What is it like working on commission? Does the pressure hamper your creativity or make the process less enjoyable?

I have been so lucky that everyone that asks for commission so far usually wants something that’s similar to a painting they’ve already seen. There are a couple of people that have bought already. I invited them into the studio and they saw the painting before they purchased, with the exception of She Burned My Eyes, which sold to someone in France. One of the commissions is for a yoga studio in India.

I read about that. It’s exciting to do an entire space!

Yeah! We are really in the early stages of everything with all of this. What it seems to be is kind of collaboration, which I think is wonderful and challenging. I love that people have really strong ideas about what colors they want.

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