What is Talent?

I received the above postcard today. I saw the image and initially thought, "It's just two chairs stacked on top of each other! Where's the talent?" but upon further inspection I noticed that the artist, Mike Womack, created an optical illusion with paint. Now, that's talent. The piece is titled Cloud. Maybe this year's exhibit will have some more examples like this.

I have visited previous exhibitions of New American Talent and have wondered why did this curator choose these pieces and what are they seeing that I am not. One year, a piece with a title that I do not remember (probably untitled complete with the pretentiousness of all lowercase), was simply a roll of toilet paper on a holder bolted to a wall and part of the roll was carefully rolled out and laid out over a couple of steps. The Stark Gallery marketing people featured this piece on the post card advertising the exhibit.

Some people wonder why the public does not support the arts to the extent that they feel the public should. Others wonder why non-commercial artists are not taken seriously.

Does the toilet paper roll artist really have talent? Talent worthy of being placed in a gallery? Talent greater than say, Thomas Kinkade? Which one is the hack - the commercially successful Thomas Kinkade or the toilet paper roll artist? I think the real talent was the person who convinced a curator that the carefully laid out toilet paper roll is art worthy of being placed in a gallery.

I wonder how much of a curator's criteria is determined by the merit of the art rather than other factors? Curators are human beings with all the foibles. Would a truly talented artist with poor representation have the same chance as a so-so artist with a great agent?

Changing subjects: in the third panel Momma realizes that her own death would make her children happy. The one thing I'm certain about the nature of God is that it has a sick sense of humor when it comes to answering some prayers. Momma knows it, too.

My father-in-law is still in the hospital undergoing treatment for cancer. The drugs and toxins have had a weird effect on him. Walter successfully convinced his father that the people at the VA hospital were not trying to kill him, they did not kidnap him, and most importantly, they are not trying to sell him a car. The third item took Walter the longest to explain. Odd the fears that come forth in an altered state of mind.