Tom Thomson, Home Depot and Dog Pee

Mathieu Laca, Seafood, 2010 (private collection)

Sometimes, I feel like printing a checklist to be distributed to people visiting certain art shows. On that list, you would find words and expressions like “on the fringe, outrageous, atrocious, barbaric, infamous, scandalous, shocking, violent, wicked, disgraceful, extravagant, immoderate, offensive, underground, experimental, graphic, obscene, repulsive, revolting, sickening, gruesome”. Art critics, journalists, bloggers, ordinary visitors could use it to make sure they have plenty of words to describe their reactions.

Of course, this checklist would be useless in “normal galleries”, in galleries where we show “real art”, in galleries where we buy art that we are proud to hang in the living room, art we are proud to show to the neighbors, art that we don’t have to hide when kids come into the room. Art that respects the purest tradition of Tom Thomson and his seven jolly fellows. Flowers, landscapes, kittens, naked bodies with translucent veils that discreetly hide the nipples or the wee-wee, sad clowns, nice portraits in straw hats, windows opened to the sea with a soft breeze blowing in, sunsets, sunrises, seascapes, moonscapes, even blurry abstractions with or without Pollockian drippings, etc.

Here’s an advice to the “real art” connoisseurs: a few days ago, I had to buy wood and went to a nearby renovation center. Right in the middle of the store, there was a whole stack of those paintings, some of them were small enough to be hanged over a living room couch but some were huge. And the prices? Beyond comparison! There is not a single gallery that can compete with those prices.

The same day, while walking with my dog, I went by a nearby church where they had, the day before, one of those huge garage sales where people bring all the garbage they don’t have the guts to throw away. There, right by a pile of green garbage bags, waiting for the truck, was the stuff that nobody wanted to buy. And nobody felt they should bring that stuff back home. And there, on the pile, was a reproduction of a landscape by Tom Thomson. It looked like new! Sadly, my dog took the painting for a fire hydrant.

That’s when I asked myself: shouldn’t all the galleries be “on the fringe”? After all, for everything else, there’s Home Depot*!

* Abstract paintings (104), animals paintings (37), architecture (44), beach and ocean (14), contemporary (298), cuisine (2), dorm and novelty (10), flowers (68), kids art (7), motivational (1). That is 783 pieces to choose from with prices ranging between 20$ and 500$. No gallery can compete with that!

Comeau