The series title is taken from the “Despecialized Edition,” a fan-created reconstruction, led by Petr Harmáček, of the original 1977 theatrical release of “Star Wars”. Dissatisfied with his original film, George Lucas began re-editing “Star Wars” in 1997. After making noticeable changes, including discarding entire scenes, Lucas released new versions of the film and promoted them as the “Special Editions”. Since then, fans of the original release have made attempts to rebuild the 1977 version. 

Each painting in my series is based on one of the many scenes Lucas removed from his film. I’m fascinated by the opposing efforts of author and audience to construct the “true” version..