SOMETIMES ART HAS A DESTINY

I recently brought a piece of art with me to a show. My plans were to use it as an auction piece, $1 a ticket. We'd draw a ticket and give it away at the end of the 4 days show.

Now this piece of art had a bit of a history. The original art was actually a body painting I did with a solitary model on New Years eve 2023. It was a tremendous session and the model came away from it becoming a dear friend a helper on various projects I've done since.

The name "Mona Lisa Et Universum" was given because the piece reminded me of the Mona Lisa for some reason.

In the spring I began to work on the various art that would go with me to the summer show in Providence. I wanted to use several of the pieces from earlier body painting sessions, and I chose the Mona Lisa piece to base a 3 dimensional painting on.

What came of it was called "A Banshee Crying in the Infinite Void" and she was the antithesis of the Mona Lisa piece.

The two pieces couldn't have been any more different from each other.

So August came and the Banshee was packed up and headed to show with us! I had her displayed prominently on an easel with a sign for the raffle.

Thursday came and went with only a single raffle ticket sold. We changed positions for the next day. Yet not a single ticket sold.

Saturday came and by midday I could see that it was just bombing.

I made a decision that I was just going to call the single ticket holder and give it to them that day if they still wanted it. No more than a half hour later the ticket holder passed the table and I grabbed them out of the crowd by the hand. I was so happy to see them. When I got them to the side, I stopped and looked at them closely. Suddenly everything rushed into perspective. They were transgender. I hadn't noticed before. So I took them by both hands and said "I have a story for you".

I told them about the model who had posed for the piece and what a dear friend they'd become and still were. And most important, that the model was also transgender. I explained to them that sometimes art had a destiny, and that it was their destiny to own this piece.

Needless to say, there were tears and they walked away with the art shaking their head.

And I knew that yet again, art sometimes chooses where it wants to go and nothing we say about it will stop it from going to the right hands.

And most important, that it IS NOT always about an exchange of money or charging a fee of any kind. Art sometimes has a destiny and we should always remember that.