26 Dollars
After spending a night in NY, we headed back to Boston by way of New Haven to see the George Shaw painting show at the Yale Center for British Art and have lunch with Phillip Prodger. Phillip is the former curator of photography at the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem and has recently returned to the States from London where he did a stint at the National Portrait Gallery.
Before I tell you the $26 story let me share some of Shaw's paintings with you.
Quite often these are large, on up to 5 or 6 ft, mostly enamel on metal. Here is the opening statement
Don't know if you can read it so small but it speaks about his inherent preoccupation with the fine art of painting and the prevailing medium of the day, photography.
These are extraordinary paintings, "take your breath away" beautiful and, for me, they both validate present day painting but validate much of my work that points at things like fences, that allows shadows, blank walls and everyday objects pulling back in space, made earlier in my career in black and white and now in color.
photograph: Neal Rantoul from Fences and Walls
painting: George Shaw
painting: George Shaw
Affirming is the sense that Shaw and I look at the world in similar ways. Uncanny, really, that someone unknown to me until now has been working in a manner that is somewhat aligned to mine.
Looking for proof? Easy. Go to Edgartown Beach Club and the blog post:
here (hint: the author of the series is me, working under the pseudonym Marc Meyers)
photograph: Neal Rantoul
painting: George Shaw
26 Dollars: Heading back to Boston on the Mass Pike we stopped for gas. I am standing there filling up and this man comes up to me. He's got an elaborate story about a dead fuel pump in his pickup truck, a towing charge, a weekend in New London for Coast Guard veterans on a cutter, a chipped tooth, his two daughters, needing bus fare to Portsmouth that is $66 and then shows me the $40 in his wallet. He's $26 short and can I help hm out? I ask him if he's asked others before me. He says, yes, one other. I ask how'd that go? He says not well. I don't hesitate and hand him first my card saying he needs to call or email to get the address to send me the $26 when he gets home. He says he will do that. I ask him his name. He says Dave O'Malley. He's middle aged, looks together and is with me every step of the way. I hand him $26. He looks me square in the eye and says thank you, you are a life saver and then shakes my hand. It is now five days later and I have heard nothing from Mr Dave O'Malley. I am a sucker or it is money well spent?
My email: here
Yale Center for British Art in New Haven, CT here through December.
Related series
Edgartown Beach Club
These were made by Marc S, Meyer and are written about in the blog post:
nealrantoul.com/posts/marc-s-meyer-profile
Please go to the post for more information about this work.
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