I love pink. When I was twenty I found a fantastic pink sofa with matching chair at an auction and just had to have it. I remember the look on my dad’s face when I brought it home in his Ford F150 pickup. It was dark when I pulled into the drive. As we were lifting the sofa out of the truck it dawned on him it was pink. “It’s Pink! Jesus Christ, Mark, why’d you buy a pink couch?” Clearly the beauty of it all was lost on him.
Years later the sofa travelled with me to Seattle thanks to my friend Mark Hagar. He was shipping a trade show booth to a client in Seattle and asked if I’d like my sofa and chair to accompany it. Always one for my creature comforts I accepted his offer and it remained with me for years.
When I moved to Europe in 2001, I put it into storage where it sort of aged for a few years. When Lee and I went to the storage place to collect my stuff, the look on his face was not dissimilar to that of my Dad’s. “You’ve spent $70 a month to keep a tatty pink sofa and chair?” We retired the sofa and gave the chair to Matthew Haggerty for his office. Just last summer I was back in Seattle and sunk back into it and smiled.
Recently, Stuart and Jackie from Terrence Higgins Trust asked if I’d shoot a signature photo for the cover of their Supperclub Magazine. We chatted about concepts and I showed them a shot I’d done using my lovely friend Anna, a cheeky chihuahua and a bottle of champagne. “That’s what we want!” Pink it was. The shoot was a blast. Pink-o-plenty. Stuart did the prop shopping. Lollipop, icecream, lobster and pomegranate (ok…that’s red, but close enough). Harvey Nichols brought the clothes and the stylist and we scored with a very handsome model. He commented that it was nice to get to smile. Normally they just want him to brood. Ah, isn’t pink a refreshing change.
