‘You’re so pretty when you cry…’
– A friend to her gal-pal, over morning coffee and obvious heartbreak

by Louisa Cohen

In our deepest moments of crisis, sometimes what saves us are those sick little narcissistic moments – when we know no one is watching, but imagine everyone is.

Raise your hand if you’ve practiced a ‘pretty cry.’

Okay, I may be completely self-absorbed – but there is something about wanting to share your personal melodrama with the world around you. It can be glamorous and tragic (if only in your own mind.) While our real-life dramas are not theatrics for all to see, that’s reality for the cast of MTV’s The Hills. Their personal dirty laundry is aggressively aired out on television, in magazines, on gossip blogs, and MySpace rants, and now, rendered in serene pastel. Karin Bubas allows us a quiet minute to reflect on our friends from The Hills, in her new art exhibit ‘With Friends Like These…’

Karin depicts our favorite scripted reality-tv personas with a mélange of stares, sobs, and dumbfounded glances. This show is a perfect blend of high-art and pop culture, and hey, you can finally feel like a know-it-all art snob when hitting up the gallery!

“Ah, she really captures Kelly Cutrone’s ghost-white bitch face so aptly, don’t you agree?”

“Yes… yes… but it’s truly the look of complacent frustration in Heidi’s pout that rings truest for me…that Spencer is quite the scoundrel.”

In all seriousness, (well, as serious as this could get), the most iconic image of the series is most definitely our dear Lauren Conrad. LC is captured with mascara-tears dribbling down her cheeks, and just a remnant of lip liner left. This pose captured after a tearful breakdown with Audrina; a somber warning to those who choose friends as roommates.

If you are just that good, you can place where every still life comes from; Stephanie Pratt getting fired, Heidi’s mom brought to tears by her asshole son-in-law to be, and Whitney’s manicured hand-clasped-over-mouth in dumfounded shock. (If you’re reeeeally good you can name the OPI nail color.)

In truth, it’s a salient moment when you catch your own reflection staring back at you from the lonely frame. I stared into the glassy surface and wondered about the Spencer in my own life. If my best friends were ‘Lo’s or ‘Heidi’s’…and more importantly…How come I never look this good at work?

Its true, isn’t it, we’ve all got friends like these.

Now, stop crying in the fucking mirror darlings…and check out Karin’s show, you’ll find company there.

Charles Scott Gallery at Emily Carr, Granville Island, running through September 13th.