"Ouch. What was that for?", Mrs. Undaground asked.
"That's my signal to you", I answered. "Everytime I see a suspect booth, I'm going to have to pinch the back of your arm."
"A suspect booth?"
"Yes. A lot of this is real art, but some of it you and I could do with a free weekend."
"OK. But don't pinch me so hard. I get it."
I have always had a great appreciation for art. I admit that there is some stuff where I just don't see the genious. I would have a difficult time telling the difference between some of the impressionists' paintings of despair and a nicely composed fingerpainting.
Each year, Mrs. Undaground and I attend Artigras; a local festival where you can buy all kinds of art, or just walk around pinching each other. There are some very talented people there, and it's always a good time. There are some artists, though, that probably missed their calling as insurance salesmen. Don't get me wrong, I encourage everybody to express themselves creatively however they see fit. It's just when it's sitting there with a big $700 price tag on it where it crosses the line from doodle to delusion.
Apparently if you're a professional photographer now, it's the law that you have to travel to Europe and wake up on a foggy morning and take a few pictures. Then, you're supposed to walk the town and take a picture of every doorway you see. Fruit stands are recommended as well. Again, these pictures look nice, but for the price, couldn't we just start saving for our own trip to Europe to take photos of door frames and corner cafes?
As we drove home, we discussed the artists again.
"I had to pinch you a lot today. How's your arm?"
"It's OK. A little ice and some rest and I'll be fine."
"Was there any time when I pinched you, when you thought I was wrong. I mean, was there any gratuitous pinching on my part?"
"Well, I'm not really sure that you could weld metal", she said.
"Isn't that just a case of having the right equipment. Isn't it similar to playing a harmonica. It's a fairly easy instrument to play; people just don't realize it because they don't own any. I think if we got some welding equipment, we could produce art better than that guy. As a matter of fact, put me down for some welding equipment for Christmas. Maybe we can get a booth here next year."
If it comes down to it, I can slap a frame on my "family self portrait" doodles and sell those. Here's a free one for all you loyal readers:
Monday, February 20, 2006
Art Appreciation
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3 comments:
I may be a bit sensitive about this, but why couldn't you say, "Used cars salesmen" vs. Insurance Sales. It would have painted a better picture of your point. Your point being, that The Undaground family felt the aggressive sales tactics of the artists. I’m sure you didn’t mean that insurance products are really doodles and Insurance professionals are just acting like they are more important than they really are. Lessons learned from the past two hurricane seasons have taught Floridians that you should always carrier the right amount of insurance, and have a good relationship with your Insurance broker.
I tend to agree with the insurance salesman, I know a couple great ones - I also know one or 2 used car salesman who are ok - Maybe you should use "Gucci and Fendi purse salesmen in Chinatown"
Nope. Bad writing on my part. I meant that when they chose "professional artist" as a career, they missed their calling for a 9 to 5 job. No offense to insurance salesmen. My point was that you can be a great insurance salesman even if you can't paint worth a crap. Maybe I should have said assembly-line worker.
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