Frances Bean Cobain
Frances Bean Cobain has always seemed like a tragedy waiting to happen. When the genes of rock’s most volatile couple collide, how else could things turn out? Ever since the first pictures of that beautiful, blue-eyed baby appeared, cradled in the arms of her loving but (let’s face it) insane parents, the world has been waiting for her to reach adolescence, to start throwing tantrums at MTV parties, develop a drug habit, and basically become a complete trainwreck. Or, to come out with an album that brings together all the talent of Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love combined.
But somehow, she hasn’t flown off the rails so far, and it seems that she’s trying out a different creative path to her famous parents. This month, an LA gallery debuted a collection of her sketches under the pseudonym Fiddle Tim- and every one of them has sold.
The young Cobain is 17 years old (already! How did that happen?) and her art is clearly driven by the hauntings of an adolescent mind, with dark, ghoulish figures and distorted faces, reminiscent of Tim Burton and even our pal Kurt’s own artwork. With a sketch of punk rocker G.G. Alin forming the centrepiece of the collection, the influence of growing up in a rock and roll household is clear. Frances Bean’s art is imbued with the same peculiar mix of despair and wit that both Kurt and Courtney are known for, and calling the collection ‘Scumf–k’ shows that she’s certainly inherited her parents’ insatiable desire to shock and offend.
I’ve always wondered what it would be like growing up as Frances Bean Cobain. Being a teenager is hard enough when your father isn’t one of the century’s most famous suicides, and your mother isn’t the fishnet-wearing, Corpse-Bride-esque rock chick who yelled ‘he’s such an asshole’ at her husband’s funeral. Don’t get me wrong- I have boundless love and admiration for both Kurt and Courtney, but the very idea of such explosive, despair-filled genes combining to create a child was always going to inspire horror.
Still, while her DNA was inevitably going to be laden with an extra dose of crazy, and the circumstances of her father’s death and her mother’s madness made any chance of her growing up happy and well adjusted impossible, Frances also inherited an enormous bundle of creative energy from both sides of the gene pool. If there’s anything Kurt and Courtney were great at in their day, it was turning all their pain and torment into a visual and musical spectacle that young people from all over the world could relate to. Being born into that kind of family, where living is so visceral, where feelings are as volatile and irrepressible as a nest of vipers, has to be both a burden and a gift.
Look, I’ll be honest- her artwork isn’t amazing. It’s good, but it’s nothing special. Still, given how highly the odds of her growing up normally were stacked against her, it’s nice to see that she’s found an outlet for her angst- and that she’s finding her own way to be creative. Even Courtney seems to be aware of how screwed up her daughter could become when she said of the exhibition, ‘I think it’s astonishing, and considering her chemistry, it’s a good thing. What if she had to keep all those demons bottled inside?” Indeed, what if.
The fact that she’s displaying her work under a fake name suggests an attempt at least to ‘make it’ on her own merit, rather than trading off her famous parentage. Of course, I have no doubt that the only reason her sketches are on display (and that those of every other teenager with a stick of charcoal aren’t) is in fact her name- but the gesture at least of trying to keep it quiet shows some integrity and aspiration that is quite admirable.
At the end of the day, the quality of her work isn’t really the point. I think it’s still pretty great to see her doing something, fighting against the hand that fate dealt her. It’s great to see her growing into something other than the trainwreck we all thought she’d be- and what given the circumstances she has every right to become. It’s great to see her becoming a grown woman and doing something for herself, so that one day we might remember her simply as Frances Bean Cobain- and not Kurt and Courtney’s daughter.
Anyway. You can check out some of her sketches here and decide for yourself.
