Friday, April 27, 2007

Andy Warhol

Yesterday, Nick said to me, "Tomorrow we're going to frame an original Andy Warhol."

This was not good news. I do not like framing art that is famous and irreplaceable. It makes me edgy. When I'm edgy, I'm more likely to make mistakes. When I make mistakes, I get edgier. I am sure you can see the downward spiral this can potentially initiate.

This morning when we finished assembling the frame and Nick went to get the piece, he told me the sparkley areas were painted with genuine diamond dust. When he pulled the covering off, this is what I saw. Except sized 40"x40."




The good news about the saga of the Andy Warhol piece is nothing that went wrong was my fault, (or caused any damage to the piece or the frame). The bad news - a lot went wrong.

It was a terrible day of bad luck, and by the time Nick left the room carrying the piece, I was feeling too shell-shocked to do much other than absently start joining some nearby frames. When the happy customer left, all oblivious to the stress his piece had put us through, Nick came back to the work room and said, "I'm going to go sit in my office and calm down for a while."

It occurred to me as he walked off that no art is worth the kind of anxiety the two of us dealt with this morning, no matter who made it or how much precious material is sprinkled on top. But when you've got an important client, a gigantic, expensive portrait of Santa, and a deadline, it's hard to keep everything in perspective.

Fortunately, the week is over. Unfortunately, I think a little chunk of diamond somehow managed to work its way into my eye.

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