Mechanics and Art

I took our car in yesterday to have it worked on and I took it to these mechanics who work in a shop that I can see from my studio window.

Art and Gordy

Their names are Art and Gordy.

I find it funny that one of the mechanics is named Art like in art art right? But nobody else does. Maybe they just don't get it.

I want Art and Gordy to be good mechanics because it's so easy for me to bring the car in, but it's too early to tell. I think they're good though.

The Actual Problem

They explain the actual problem and they give me visual aids. For instance, the brakes were bad on the Subaru and Gordy showed me where the pads were very thin (Gordy frowned because I shouldn't let them get that bad) and if they had gotten much thinner I would have been paying a LOT more.

So if you hear a little metallic sound (which may or may not sound metallic depending on if you're a man or a woman) when you hit the brakes, bring it in immediately.

So I like them because they show me the problem.

Good Sign

Yesterday was another good sign because Gordy asked me if I was an artist. He knew the building I work in is full of them.

To me that's a very good sign, because how many people in this world are genuinely interested in anybody but themself?

A person who asks a good question is a person to patronize at least I think.

I explained to him that I had a show coming up and gave him one of the postcards (a postcard I might add that is very well done, it makes the show seem like it's going to be GREAT) and Gordy frowns at it and says so I could pick up some things for Christmas at the show, eh?

Nature of the Show

I say no, unless you have a pile of money or a taste for art made out of human hair. Not that I don't think he has money (he's got three hundred and sixty dollars for sure) or that he couldn't like pieces made out of human hair or that I think pieces made out of human hair aren't good.

I just didn't think he had the right idea about the nature of the show.

Sorta Pointed Out

It sorta pointed out to me that I think a lot of art is not connected to a LOT of people in this world, there are so many people just like Gordy that are interested in the world around themselves, know how to interact with people very successfully and just generally are great people but who live in a world that is totally foreign to the world of art, visual art in particular.

I mean if Picasso himself would've walked in there (without his shirt) with a bad muffler, Art and Gordy would show him the hole and get on his case for trying to fix it with a beer can without batting an eye.

You've got a bad boot too

That's too bad. There's are millions of people who don't look at visual art the same way they might listen to a song on the radio, or watch a good movie, or look at the problem of a cracked boot as you turn a corner (it's clicking now -- you'll know when it's time (I hope I do!) to get it fixed).

And I think they should look at visual art the same way they listen to a good song. I think people are sometimes afraid of visual art, afraid to say they don't like something and afraid when they do like something. I don't know why but it probably has something to do with Abstract Art and the general consensus among people that they could've done it themselves.

So I said I'd invite Art and Gordy to the next open house at our building.

Good Thing

Coincidentally, I read that night in an art magazine that Chris Ofilili made art that connected with more people than just the normal art world crowd and I thought that was a pretty good thing to have said about somebody's art.

http://www.britishcouncil.hr/slike/ofili.jpg