Coming Soon to a Shrine / T-Shirt / Velvet Canvas Near You

By S.T. VanAirsdale

I miss Heath Ledger at least a fraction as much as the next filmgoer, but not quite enough to think this was a good idea:

(Portrait by Vincent Fantauzzo via PageSix.com)

PageSix.com has an exclusive on what's apparently a portrait Ledger sat for a few weeks before his death:

Australian artist Vincent Fantauzzo tells PageSix.com his painting is the result of an intense collaboration between himself and the 28-year-old star. "Before we did the painting we talked to all hours," he says. "The night before, we talked about the painting and about art, and about all sorts of things."

The haunting image "was an idea we discussed together and came up with... it was about how we all have different consciences and voices in our head that tell us what to do and how to react. They're not good or bad, they're just voices that we hear, telling us how to behave. That's what the other figures are in the painting."

When it came to the sitting, however, the talk stopped. "Heath was really serious and focused and almost in a meditation. He's quite serious."

To which, of course, there's really only one appropriate response. (Sorry.)

Posted at February 22, 2008 4:31 PM