Coy - Part Thirty - "Isn't That Pretty" - (B) - "Iconic Objects"

Coy

Part Thirty

"Isn't That Pretty"

(B)

"Iconic Objects"

            A teddy bear in a tote bag?

            “Do not worry

            It does

            Get turbulent (rough and tumble)

            Even though

            It should be

Sweeter

            Than Grandmother’s

            Pie”.

            The reader is warned.

            Iconic objects; objects that are icons, plague the antiquarian interest... and art.  This plague ...of the art eye... is constant harassment to I ...from ‘somebody or something (often passive)’.  Iconic objects effect ALL of my professional social passage as an antiquarian... except the darkest hiding inter-mind art discourse ‘spinning’... alone ‘way in there’ (the mind).  Aside from that dark inner mind-of-art portal, I ... “it is one” (iconic object).  It is not the object that plagues... it is the ‘good people’ ...that plague.

            When Janet held up the teddy bear  (Part Twenty-Nine [B])...at double table distance from I, my eye knew “cold” from my poise.  It (“HE”) (the teddy bear) “is one” I knew; “BUTTON IN THE EAR I SEE IT”.  I didn’t know then that there was a BAG too... until seconds later.  THAT TOO... an iconic object TOO.  TWO... TOO (object icons).

            “HORROR”.

            “How much?”

            “OK I’LL BUY IT (“HIM!”).  And I got Dan, the bear-in-bag... out of there.

            So...:  Someone DID THAT; put the bear in the bag.  NOT JUST ANY BEAR in ANY BAG.  I mean... they monogrammed the bag with Dan’s name too.  “ISN’T THAT CUTE!”.  And just let it go at that?

            I... know better than that .  So... Mrs. Turnbridge (“Cathy TOLL Bridge:  WITH HER... YOU HAVE TO PAY!”) spoke to me with her coat over her arm.  She was leaving too. “I WAS GOING TO BUY THAT BEAR.  I DIDN’T SEE IT WAS DAN AND CAME IN THE BAG.”

            “I didn’t either”.

            “Well you know MRS. FOSTER’S MOTHER had that BEAR in the NURSING HOME.  SEE...:  DAN:  I DIDN’T KNOW IT WAS DAN.  SHE DIED.  IN SEPTEMBER.  HER MIND, you know.”

            “As is everyone’s mind”.

            “WELL SHE USED TO BE RAZOR SHARP”.  DAN was HER BABY BEAR:  When she was LITTLE.  BABY BEAR.  JUST LOVED THIS BEAR.  You understand.”

            “Of course”

            “I DIDN’T KNOW that his NAME was on a BAG.  What are you going to DO with HIM.”

            “Show him to my wife.”

            “OH... How interesting... DO YOU... THINK SHE’LL KNOW WHAT HE IS?”

            “Of course”

            “HE HAS THE BUTTON IN THE EAR.”

            “Right.  AND his own BAG.

            “Yes.  That too.  That IS very nice they DID THAT.  But you know that; I know you.”

            Then I got out of there.  Evidently Dan showed up ZIPPED UP in the bag straight from the nursing home to the ... scarf and mittens holiday fair table Janet-of-the-spiked eggnog was managing?  She found the bear?  Unzipped the bag.  I don’t think so.  Those women knew about the bear, the bag, the ‘Dan’ and his nursing home story (heritage).  Did they know about the bear’s design history?  It appears that some women, at the least, did.  Did they know about Dan’s positive art qualities?  What about the bag’s positive art qualities.  WHO EVER PUT the Dan-in-bag PACKAGE together to “GO GIFTED” to the nursing home DID absolutely KNOW.  The bear was carefully chosen.  The bag was carefully chosen.  BOTH are ‘high test’ object icons ‘of impeccable qualities’, maker branding, name branding and universal hands down “You’re ok with that” social “Need a clean hand towel?”... ‘secured site’.  “Nobody needs to UPDATE with THAT:  YOUR FINE.”

            So I knew all of that too... including how these “THAT” slip through the commercial grid of this setting (the holiday fair) for simply ...no other reason... than... “THAT:  YOUR FINE.”... and a glass or two of spiked eggnog amongst friends:  “WE DIDN’T KNOW DAN WAS IN THE BAG because WE WERE IN THE BAG.  Evelyn FOUND HIM.”

            “YOUR SO GOOD AT WHAT YOU DO... WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO WITH HIM?”

            “Sell him at auction in New York.”

            “NO REALLY”.

            The dust of I... “a dealer; you know he IS ONE.” purloining Dan-in-bag settled about a half mile down the road.  I did check my rearview mirror to ‘see’ if there was ‘pursuit’.

            “OH ISN’T THAT CUTE” has been the EVER AFTER.  Except for me.  I know better.

            Starting with the tote bag... I do... because that’s easier to ...get through.  The tote bag doesn’t have a face... that my face... looks at its face ...looking at MY face... to... confuse me ...when I’m “I go a-fishing” “Isn’t that pretty.” for ...art.

            Yeah I can spin the damn tote bag ALL OVER the abstract art world and getting real... like... ‘texture’... fabric ‘movement’... hard edge color... soft edged murmurs on ‘flat planes of’.  I can even touch 'suggesting erotica' with ...the zipper.  “OH you BAD BOY: not DAN’S BAG for THAT.”

            The actual issued result ...of mind-spins-looking-for-art... is... ‘pretty cool.  I mean...; “neat”.  I mean... “I think.” (feel?).  Yeah:  Why that?  Because... it isn’t there that way.  It’s ‘the other way’ that... ‘something is going on over ...here.’  Where’s ‘here’ (hear?).  OVER THERE.  From a ‘the safe distance’.  It’s the icon... It’s OVER THERE.  On the floor... under the table.  THAT’S where it’s ‘something going on’... right down to the intertwined handles and fussy scrunch-of-bottom-corners:  “IT’S SO COOL THE WAY IT DOES THAT I JUST LOVE IT”.

            So does the bank behind the store.  There’s a memo on that... somewhere.  There’s also bag history.  Bag heritage.  Bag... “yeah I got one of those” and bag... “IT’S THE ONLY ONE THAT'S THE REAL ONE”.

            Line in sand.

            Never

            Ever

            CROSSED

            Except “mine's getting dirty”.

            Tote bag courtesans

            They are called

            When posing before the door

            Of a summer season’s store.

            That is where art has to get into the lifeboat and row away from the sinking.

            The bear... with the button in the ear tag icon UPON ‘THAT FACE’ icon upon the whole “IT’S JUST LIKE THE ORIGINAL (1903-04) BEAR” icon... upon a

            Table that... gets completely lost from view ‘by that’ (“the damn bear”).  Overwhelming to ALL of the ‘most of them’ who... they’re not even EVER going to bother to think of thinking that one THINKING could ‘get past’ THAT: “I LOVE IT IT’S SO CUTE”.  And I don’t really care anyway because power icons like the bear and bag don’t come up that often:  Not more than, like, a couple dozen times a... day.  That’s where the ‘It is one’ comes from... a couple of dozen times in my average work day.  Icons... are PLAGUE to one’s art eye.  Easy... art... so many stall therein ...the world of them, the ...world of art that ...is them “SEE”.  Falling short; short sighted I KNOW QUALITY orange cones deployed NO RISK (risk? What is risk?) safety “SEE” “OVER THERE:  SHE HAS ONE TOO.”

            A white SUV on my bumper... on the winding cow paths of old New England... art and antiques... now RACE WAYS of ...iconic art ... “I BOUGHT IT... but  I gotta pick up my kids I’M LATE YOUR DRIVING TOO SLOW.  My old one got dirty”.

            If I put the bear; “Dan”, on the table... and the tote bag under the table... the table disappears.  It is pitched and... turned up side down.  It’s ‘too much’ to compete with... even though the table... could well be... ‘better’ ‘art’... in terms of its... heritage, history, antiquarian virtue and positive art qualities.  It can not withstand... the visual attack of the... power icons and the mind ...of THAT mind’s art eye supporting it (the icon).

            Unless one says... ‘that’s a... power icon art... over there... say good bye’.  That is... one chooses by art choice to... get into the lifeboat and row away from the sinking.

            Most do not.  Most ‘do that’ ‘forever’.  It’s easy.  It’s ‘high spots’ art.  “EVERYONE”... ‘knows what THAT is’.  “They have one THERE TOO.  OURS is BETTER”.  Really?

            And I have no problem cashing in on this anyway.  “They’d never know the difference”.

            Two times earlier in this tale the ‘this’ of power iconic object art has been noted.  The first is when I ...purchase... Aunt Winnie’s John Dreves, Steuben Glass “Olive Bowl”.  That; the olive bowl, is an icon.  I didn’t need to say so then?  I don’t need to say so now?  What should I say (query)?  Did Helen know that ...it was an icon.  DID that knowing cause her to sell the olive dish.  HOW did Helen know that?  Was it instinct... and / or Helen’s ACTUAL art experience that told her, her art self, that the olive dish ‘didn’t belong’.  Did it not belong because it IS an icon... so ‘others’ are lost by it overwhelming.  Is THAT IT: A sold because it was, of art of the Savage Mansion, “wrong”... and Helen knew it.

            I mean... what am I gonna do with it?

            SELL IT.

            To a high spot collector who... collects... high spots... an I ‘knows it’.

            Right?

            Number two notice... and we do need a pooper-scoop to... ‘clean that up’... even though it CANNOT be cleaned up by ‘anyone’ except that “YOU” and “YOUR INNER SELF”  of art... is when I am first at Janet’s and Chris (remember Chris? Part Nineteen [A and B]) is there with her... pressed blue jeans, proper socks and ‘perfectly preserved’ boat shoe nodding at me.  Talk about ‘no risk’ in art.  She’d be having “ALL BOOKS” “ABOUT ART” removed from the elementary school library “THEY CAN’T SHOW THAT”.  She, of divine taste in footwear... assures.. ‘her home is that way too’.  That’s the home (with art) BETWEEN THE EARS.  I do not need to go there either; the home with the walls.

            “There’s nothing going on over there:  No (art) risk.”

            I don’t like getting in lifeboats and rowing away from a sinking.

            I don’t have a cliff to jump off of to ‘kill myself’.

            I am a picker’ of antiques.  I do not collect, keep or show ANY... THING.  I do not high spot an icon.  Or show one.  I expect THEM (all who are not pickers) to ...do that.  I GO

            BACK

            TO

            THE ATTIC.

            To get away from the ‘them’.

            Most of what is in old New England estates are not icons.

            Most of what is in old New England estates have wonderful positive art qualities,

            History, heritage and antiquarian intrigue

            That no one cares about.