Art Imitates Life (Part Two)

Everyone wants a picture perfect ending, where the couple ends up together and lives their dream. But is that possible for the struggling artist and the therapist who see the world differently?

Will: Five Minutes Before the Incident

This whole idea was probably a mistake. 

I was trying to make Scarlet happy. She’d wanted us to go on more “dates;” more planned activities, just the two of us. Personally, I didn’t feel the need. We’ve been together for ten years. Doesn’t that mean we’re past the whole exhausting thing of “dating”? Isn’t that the whole point of hanging around each other for so long? That we can just relax? Spend our Sunday afternoons lounging cozily on opposite ends of the couch, or each off doing our own thing? Scarlet getting brunch with her friends, and me staying behind to blast my music as loud as I want and get some painting done?

Instead, we’re spending this rainy March Sunday alongside about ten million other people: here at the museum. Which also happens to be my workplace. We’ve only made it to the Intro gallery, at the very beginning of the show, and already I’m getting pissed off. I’ve been jostled–shoved, really–by some guy in an expensive-looking overcoat. Normally this would provide a little pleasurable frisson, because I could look forward to evening the score: I’d watch the guy out of the corner of my eye, waiting patiently for the right moment to give him an “accidental” shove in return. But not today, because this particular guy was like eighty fucking years old, so I’ll have to suck it up. There are too many people in this goddamn city, and most of them are too goddamn pushy, even (especially, actually) the senior citizens. 

The show looks really good, I have to admit. It looks dramatic. Deep crimson walls; the title in that very Renaissance-y looking typeface they’d sourced from some late-fifteenth-century essay printed in Venice; and only a single, small painting in the first room, which the label describes as the earliest-known Italian double portrait, probably made on the occasion of an engagement. It’s a weird, kind of inscrutable painting–the woman takes up most of the picture, while you only see a sliver of the guy’s face as he looks at her through a window. And then if you look more carefully, you realize they’re not actually looking at each other; they’re not aligned. 

Anyway, I helped to hang that painting; I placed it here on the wall. I’m proud of my work on this show; I can admit that to myself. It’s an important exhibition, with lots of big-deal loans from museums in Italy. That’s why I suggested going on a “date” to see it together. I thought maybe it would impress Scarlet. She hasn’t seemed all that impressed with me lately. 

But now that we’re here, it’s putting me in a bad headspace. This is where I work. And now here I am, on one of my precious days off. Looking at that double portrait, all I can think about is how Rob and I spent like a full hour holding it up, moving it an inch to the left, to the right, then up, and then down, as the curators and exhibition designers stood back and squinted and bickered amongst themselves. At one point Alistair, one of the curators, apologized to me…but he called me Rob. Art handlers are interchangeable to these people, just a bunch of guys in t-shirts and cargo pants doing glorified manual labor. Just thinking about it now, I can feel that familiar fog of anger and resentment starting to spread out from somewhere deep in my chest, my heart beating harder and faster. 

Deep breaths, Will. Scarlet would tell me to take deep breaths; to focus on my breath and try to “be present.” She was into all that wellness shit, and sometimes even I have to admit that it kind of works. I’ll try it a couple of times now: Breathe in, breathe out. 

Scarlet is still reading the Intro text. She isn’t really an art person, but when she does go to museums, she likes to read everything, like the good student she’s always been. Me, I prefer just to look; to get a pure and unmediated visual experience. If a painting has to be “explained” to be interesting, then it isn’t worth shit. That isn’t what great art is about. Not in my opinion. Plus I’ve already read this Intro text like five times. Just from spending so much time in these galleries during the install, I already know way more than I’d ever wanted to about love, courtship, and marriage in Renaissance Italy.

Another glance over at Scarlet. She’s smiling softly. She’s been in a very sunny mood today. Is she still reading? Still?

Wait a second. Is there any chance that…No. Come on. She couldn’t really think that I would do something so obvious. She couldn’t be expecting anything so cheesy. Could she? Could she?

Shit. 

Process

When Camron and Olivia decided to collaborate in writing a story together, they were apprehensive and felt out of touch with their writing but knew it was long overdue to create a story together. They both have unique styles of writing, they overthink the details, they never liked group projects, and their lives are chaotically busy outside of the organization. But they kept in mind their love for writing, dialogue, and art which guided them through a fun and challenging project. In one of their monthly meeting, Camron and Olivia came in with characters and plot lines that made each other laugh and engaged their curiosity. They decided on a story about working in a museum and a couple learning to grow together because it was a setting that they both knew very well.

Camron and Olivia wanted to ensure that they had an equal voice in the writing of the story. They gave their characters separate sections with separate points of view and opinions, created timelines, and tested themselves by writing for each other’s characters. Towards the end, Camron and Olivia wrote lines together to connect their sections in hopes of having an ending that feels congruent and represents both of them.
Meeting once a month in this five month process allowed them to learn about each other even more and practice their writing skills in a safe environment while practicing the importance of using deadlines and communication skills. Camron and Olivia are grateful for the opportunity to work and learn from each other.