The owner of an art gallery featuring an exhibition dedicated to Hollywood star Pedro Pascal said she was “mortified” the gallery was closed when the actor turned up for a visit.
Jessica Rhodes Robb, who owns and runs the venue with her partner, Gavin Blake, was bemused to discover Pascal, 48, had turned up to the Rhodes Gallery in Margate on Sunday to find the door closed.
The Last of Us star had been hoping to see an exhibition featuring 17 images of his face. He arrived with fellow actor Russell Tovey and Robert Diament, who runs another gallery in Margate. Tovey and Diament present a podcast called Talk Art.
The trio took a photograph outside, which they posted to Instagram.
The exhibition, ADHD Hyper Fixation And Why It Looks Like I Love Pedro Pascal, was created by artist Heidi Gentle Burrell, who said it was a “lovely feeling” that her muse was aware of her work, and she did not blame Rhodes Robb for missing Pascal, saying she “deserves a day off”.
She said she would like to see the Chilean-born actor return, especially as she is adding a second part to the exhibition.
She told the PA news agency: “It would be very special. I have spent more than six months staring at his face so it would be great [to meet him]. I think every artist would feel the same. You don’t ever do something for validation but we’re only human, so to have someone appreciate what you’ve done is, of course, an absolutely lovely feeling.
“To have your actual subject look at themselves [in your artwork] – a person is so familiar with themselves in a mirror, they’re the only person that can really say whether you’ve got a likeness.
“It would be fantastic of course, if he came back and saw it and I’d love to be able to bore him all about ADHD and reassure him that I’m not obsessed, that it is just part of my fixation. It would be lovely to be able to show him around.”
Gentle Burrell maintained that she was not obsessed with the star. She said: “I understand why some people think it is an obsession, but from a drawing point of view, he’s got interesting characteristics to his face.”
The show runs until 1 September.
