look who's talking

Let the works speak for themselves” is a well known saying in the art world.  nora sumberg lets us into the private world of the painting… six of them in fact…. arguing and gossiping, as they while away their time in the gallery. 

They chat about saganaki and Elvis Costello; art critics and transport vans.  They grumble about the boredom of hanging in an exhibition and they dream about running away.   They discuss the 'new' painting on the other side of the room, and they share their fear of returning to the studio and being faced to the wall.   They don’t have much time for gallery directors, and of course, they discuss nora….

e         who was there?

m         i was.  it was amazing. she was dabbing away one minute, pee-wee painting was on the easel, suddenly she was reeling backwards coughing. apparently she’d sneezed, and as she inhaled, pee-wee was caught in the up-draught. the tiny painting was sucked in and lodged in her larynx. she had to have a …something scope, you know where they thread a camera up your nose then dangle it down your throat to see what’s happening

g          ouch!

v           so the painting was hanging in her throat?

b          sort of. she’s got a photo of it stuck there

v           wow!

m         she was pretty sick

e          what happened to the painting?

b          i think she coughed it up in time for the exhibition

v           she could have stood by the wall with a torch and opened her mouth

g          and people could shine it in to see

v           like at the doctor!

m         how very conceptual

v           i’d like her to swallow me

text is an extract from conversation "Look who's talking"

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