When my beloved friend Simon was an undergraduate at the Rhode Island School of Design, he walked up the hill to Brown to attend a presentation by artist Julian Schnabel. In the elevator with his friends en route to the talk, he began, like any good self-righteous undergraduate, to trash Schnabel. “I can’t believe people pay any attention to this fraud. He’s not an artist. He paints on plates. A total phoney. He’s laughing at people and producing garbage, etc.” When they arrived at the auditorium level, the man behind him left the elevator...and walked to the podium. It was Julian Schnabel. It’s one of my favorite stories. On a recent walk down memory lane in Providence, Simon pointed out, to my delight, the elevator in the List Arts Center at Brown where it had all transpired.
No comments:
Post a Comment