[cont.]
“I thought this new director was going to energize the museum, bring a New York edginess to LA. This stuff is pretty tame and minor to my eye.”
“We agree on that. Did you read the press release? No? I liked the line, ‘works embedded in a dialogue of simulacra and simulation that meditate on space, light and the prospect of the infinite.’”
“My editor would delete that after the first draft and replace it with “he uses old photographs and found objects in his collages.’ Is this supposed to be cutting edge?”
“No, it’s an attempt at populism. Whenever museums try to organize shows with mass appeal, they always sink to the lowest common denominator. These days that means featuring a celebrity.”
“Maybe I should offer to show my watercolors?”
“Do you do watercolors?”
“I haven’t but I’m sure I can hire someone to execute my ideas. The ideas are all that count these days in the art world, right?”
They walked over to nab a glass of wine but before they could, Odessa saw a collector she needed to talk with, so she impulsively grabbed Lawrence’s arm and hauled him over with her, introducing him. The collector had read all of his novels and was so delighted to meet him. Everyone beamed and then he maneuvered her back to the bar. “A drink in the hand is as important as the right attire, don’t you think?”
As they sipped the wine, Odessa caught him staring over her shoulder at a gorgeous young woman with dark curly hair with obvious longing.
“If you are looking to bed a twenty something like that one, the best aphrodisiac is a serious novel,” she teased him.
“You don’t consider my novels serious?”
“The first two were pretty serious. The ones after that were fast empty reads, perfect for airports.”
“The first two didn’t sell.”
“What can I say? Entertainment makes more money than art.”
He nodded his head, the dark hair not moving at all. “I’ve found that money and fame are more reliable aphrodisiacs than anything else.”
“If you’re going for body and not brain, you’re probably right.”
“You do tell the truth, don’t you? Hey, why don’t we get out of here and go have drinks?”
“I’m flattered, really I am, but this is business for me. I’ve got to be visible and gracious to everyone with money or power in this joint.”
“Then let’s mingle.” He offered her his arm and she spent the evening introducing him to the people she knew who gushed all over him and he introduced her to the movie industry folks she didn’t know who all said they’d heard wonderful things about her gallery. She ran out of business cards before the evening was over. Museum board members who in the past had merely nodded in her direction at events now came over to give her an air kiss – and be introduced.
For once, she enjoyed being in the museum. Because it was built into a hillside, she always had the sensation that the back galleries were actually a cavern. The ceilings really weren’t low at all, but she never could curb her instinctive desire to slouch as low as she could and look for bats. Whenever she wandered into them, she couldn’t enjoy the art properly and ended up darting back out to the front galleries. But being with Lawrence changed her perception, adding a certain magic to the space, making it feel more like a basement club where naughty, sexy things happened in dark corners, hidden in the next room. Lawrence changed the dynamic of the whole place. Whenever he laughed, he left a wake of smiles behind him. She now understood why Doris had put up with him. It’s hard to resist moving toward the only light in a room. It also didn’t hurt that he whispered to her that Dennis had been a very lucky man.
Maggie walked in as Larry rounded up Odessa in his arms and danced with her as everyone watched. No one dances at art receptions. And few people anywhere start dancing without music. But Larry was humming something indecipherable, probably a waltz or a polka; and the two of them were dancing. If it had been anyone else, Maggie would have been delighted with the zaniness of the sight and delighted to see Odessa laughing again. But she knew trouble when she saw it.
Return on Wednesday for the next chapters of Just Like Suicide.
