Interview

BLASBERG: I saw him at your opening in Venice, and he did seem proud. He’s the children’s-book illustrator?

SCARRY: Yes, his father was the first one—my grandfather—and then my father continued the family business. They write and illustrate books.

BLASBERG: What are the names of these books?

SCARRY: Busy, Busy World is probably the best-known one, though there’s an entire series. They’ve been translated into something like 54 languages and are sold all over the world.

BLASBERG: Why didn’t you become a children’s-book illustrator?

SCARRY: You never know, maybe I will. My father would love that.

BLASBERG: Were you aware as a child that not everyone’s father illustrated children’s books?

SCARRY: I grew up in the books. They were a reflection of our lives. My sister and I were characters in them, as was our house and car. We never owned a television. Well, there’s an exception: At Christmas-time at my grandparent’s chalet in Switzerland we watched Some Like It Hot, The Sound of Music, Luchino Visconti’s Death in Venice, and just about every Hitchcock film ever made on their blackandwhite ’60s television. We watched them over and over. When we lived in Venice, I learned to paint from my father and went sailing with him in the lagoon.

BLASBERG: I met your mother in Venice, too. We shared a water taxi. She’s fabulous. Did your mom work when you were growing up?

SCARRY: Before I was born, yes. She was a model. She was a Gucci girl for a time.

BLASBERG: Was she one of those wild ’70s supermodels?

SCARRY: I don’t think she was wild; she loved to travel, and she was very beautiful.

BLASBERG: You moved around a lot when you were a little girl. Was that difficult? Were you the type who was good at making friends?

SCARRY: I remember my first day of first grade in Venice: I was the only blond kid, and I didn’t speak a word of Italian. The little boys and girls all lined up to touch my hair . . . but a year later I was elected il presidente of the class, so I guess making friends wasn’t difficult.

BLASBERG: Tell me about the artwork I just saw in Venice, AfterMath.

SCARRY: I’m interested in the psychology between men and women, the struggle between them to connect. I find that they’re always out of sync. You don’t know why, it’s always in a moment, but you come to realize that we’re just wired differently. It’s so hard for us to understand this constant struggle and frustration in love.

BLASBERG: So much of your interest in psychology shows up in your work.

SCARRY: For a long time I think I’ve been quite numb, protecting myself. But now I feel I’m at a stage where I’m delving and exposing my fears and anxieties and emotions and feelings. Which is why one piece I’m working on now involves a human figure attached to a metal cage, under a large container of soap: It’s as if I’m putting this clean body that’s been so protected and numbed onto a stainless steel frame, like a butcher’s frame, to put myself out there.

BLASBERG: Is there ever a hesitation about putting so much of yourself in the public sphere?

SCARRY: Yes. I think I am—well, I’m told I am quite a reserved person emotionally. And then all of a sudden I’m putting so much out there. It’s kind of extreme. I’ve gone from being superclosed and protecting myself to wanting to express all this in the public. But it feels good; it feels like it needed to be done.