Tonight, I came up with an idea for a strip. But first, a back story…
While visiting the Louvre in Paris I was amazed at some of the art displayed on the walls. The sheer size of some being as long as my house. 
This is me looking at a magnificent piece while we toured the museum in 2008.
I was amazed at how close we could get to these incredible pieces of art. Except for one. The Mona Lisa. Enclosed in bullet proof museum glass with two rows of velvet rope and security keeping people back, we stood about twenty feet from the 77cm X 53 cm or 30 in X 21 in painting.
Meghan and I both looked at it and went, “eh.” Then went back to being awestruck at some truly beautiful pieces of art.
Now, back to tonight. As I lay in bed reading Atlas Shrugged at the point when I’m reading about Hank Rearden and understanding his character I begin thinking, what is the world’s largest painting. Maybe I’ll paint the world’s largest painting. If there is the world’s largest painting there also has to exist the world’s smallest painting.
So I thought, what would the smallest painting in the world look like and how would it be displayed? How could one accomplish this? Would it go into the nano region of a molecular scale?
This train of thought propelled me into jotting down the dialogue for a strip. I ran it by my wife, a writer and one who hardly ever finds me funny, she didn’t get it. To her it was simplistic with no deeper meaning than two people looking at The World’s Smallest Piece of Art.
Now. My goal was to criticize the concept of art and those who say they understand it as well as criticize certain artists who I feel, at times, do nothing more than an action with a result and call it art and somehow fool people into paying them for their results. I attempted to demonstrate this point in the artwork above with people looking and flocking to stare at a blank space on the wall.
Originally, the final piece of dialogue written for the culturally enlightened woman was, “You’re not that bright are you?” The point of which was to mock those who pretend to understand art and make others feel inferior for their lack of comprehension for the absurd and secondly, to make the reader second guess their own comprehension of the strip. I decided to change this to concentrate not on the man’s intellect but his simplistic view and thinking that it could just as well garner the same reaction from the reader as the other line.
All of this brings me to one last point. A joke is never good if you have to explain it to people.
(FYI: The World’s Largest Painting by a single painter was done by David Aberg at 86,000 sq feet entitled “Mother Earth”. And yes, the world’s smallest flat art is done using nanotechnology entitled “Fish” created by J Sha)
This weeks topic for IF, Stay. Immediately I think of the command for a dog; sit, stay, roll over, shake. I flexed my brain a bit and came up with the image above.
The desire to make love stay even when a heart longs for another, we’ll smother it; seclude it, trap it, and inflict our will so we can keep that familiar love for ourselves. Fear, doubt, insecurity, and desperation drive us to extreme lengths where that love is no longer reciprocated or genuine.
“It took on this occasion a double dose to recall me to myself; and alas! six hours after, as I sat looking sadly in the fire, the pangs returned, and the drug had to be re-administered.”
~ The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Robert Louis Stevenson
This is Max. Max is a very interesting child; logical, serious, inquisitive, brash, and as tough as a piece of leather.
Max asks questions, questions that require complicated answers that possess abstract components. The interesting thing is he seems to comprehend them and can communicate these answers to other children.
He threw me for a loop once when I went to visit my sister’s family before my fencing lesson. I came in through the front door and began walking toward the kitchen through the living room when Max stopped me and said, “Hey, take off your shoes. You’ll track dirt into the house.” Taken aback I quickly obeyed and apologized for my rudeness and told him how right he was. He was only three or four. Max just couldn’t tolerate such behavior.
I was impressed because it wasn’t just repeating what mom and dad said to him on a regular basis, it was the comprehension of cause and effect, and that those were the rules people must follow and the carpet must be kept clean.
On this Fourth of July weekend while we celebrated our independence at my parents house, eating, fishing, and swimming in the kiddie pools, I took pictures of Tiger Lilly’s first 4th of July. While I was taking pictures Max came over to watch and asked, “Why are you taking photos in black and white and not in color?”
I told him that I liked black and white because of the classic look of it and that black and white provided mood and shadows that color just cannot capture. I showed him what I meant using one of the photos for my explanation and he seemed to get it but didn’t really care. Here are two photos from that day using both color and b & w to capture some great memories.
Lillian with Uncle Adam holding her while mommy gives her her first taste of watermelon.
Lillian devoured the watermelon. I use this photo to illustrate my point of how color is wonderful to pick up the different colors in the watermelon and skin tones, as well as in the background with the grass and the kiddie pool. Very fresh looking.
And here is Max, giving his best James Dean while eating his fun-dip like candy. His sneer and his sinister glare combined with the lines from the wall behind him provide a mugshot type feel. A very rebellious look. The wet hair the bright light and the position of the shadows give it a summer beach like feel as well.
A color version of this photo just doesn’t compare, while a b&w version of Lilly eating watermelon would fall flat. I think these examples best illustrate my point as to why I like to use both options.
Happy birthday Max!
Love,
Uncle Kiki
