Ghost in the Canvas

"Oh Jeff, I love you, too...But..." may have a problem.

May have a problem?

Check out the x-ray.

"Oh Jeff" was painted over a skull?

'Fraid so.

Have you....

X-rayed other works by Roy? Of course!

A forger with a sick sense of humor?

Its provenance is beyond question.

Then what the Hell, Mike?

Roy always created sketches before painting and used a projector to trace the image on the canvas.

Then the skull shouldn't be there. Unless....

The skull was already under the *gesso like a ghost in the canvas?

What if it's haunted?

Makes you think, doesn't it?

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100 words

This is a work of fiction. *Note: Gesso is a white paint used to coat canvas prior to painting.

Ray's "Oh Jeff" Flash Fiction Challenge

As a brief explanatory note for this piece, I'd like to make the point that artists, like writers, often base their art on flesh and blood. Even if Roy's illustration looks straight out of a comic book, beneath the decorative paint you can find bone, hard truth. If it's not immediately apparent, look at his original illustration again. You never know when you might miss something important.

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For my first entry, I paired Roy Lichtenstein with the artist Jeff Koons for a bit of artistic satire. Since I admire both Roy and Jeff's work, I recommend that you resist the assumption that I share any animus for either of them or for their artistic milieu.

Art, Money and Balloon Animals

Some observations about their art:

Roy aimed to create a machine-made look for his illustrations with acrylic Magna paint to imitate the polish of the printing process. He painted the comic book style dots by hand. Look at the illustration in Art, Money and Balloon Animals and see for yourself what an insane accomplishment those hand-painted dots represent. But if you want to understand the point of the work look at the emotion revealed in her expression.

Although Jeff aims for perfection too, he considers himself an idea person and farms out the crafting of the work to highly expert artisans. Look at the photograph of Balloon Dog (Blue) at the end of Art, Money and Balloon Animals. People who visit it can see their reflections in the faux balloons! Jeff claims he does not invest meaning in his work. However, his art is often highly phallic. Just sayin'....

In my second entry, I focused on generating emotion and drama with a Liebestod (Love/Death) tale. He or she once having loved can never love another. Tennyson was an absolute master of the Liebestod. If you have never read the Lady of Shalott, I recommend checking it out. If you think it's romantic claptrap, ask yourself if you ever knew an old and loving couple where after one died the other passed away soon after of heartbreak. It's not as unusual as you might think.

In the Stillness of the Night

In my third entry, I decided to pretend that Roy used an actual model for 'Oh Jeff' (which he did not) and somehow trapped her voice within the canvas while covering her image with the painting. My goal for this tale was for weird/strange fiction with a touch of horror.

Lost Soul

Thanks for reading!