imitation is the greatest form of flattery?

 Lately, people stuck at home have been doing some pretty amazing reenactments of real paintings. It's been a huge source of amusement for many, amusement being something we badly need right now. It's also been lovely to see the attention being paid to paintings, as museums, among many arts institutions, are closed to the public.

Ah the public. We have been hearing a great deal about what the public wants and doesn't want. It seems that, keeping things on track with museums, before the Covid outbreak, museums were doing okay. But, judging from the lack of knowledge displayed by my students about museum visits (the lack of memory? The lack of deep exposure?), a true understanding of and appreciation for art seems to be on the decline in our everyday practice. Until now, perhaps, with those reenactments.

What I have done here is not art, but it is a sort of reenactment. It's just that I finally dug out from my closet an outfit I have been meaning to wear as soon as the temperatures allowed it. I spotted this woman (top photo) as I came out of my parents' building last August (2019). I snapped a photo, knowing that the assemblage was one I could do with 1. old Gap jacket 2. Eileen Fisher tunic bought used at a consignment store and 3. J.Jill tan linen pants bought at a consignment store. (The buff around my neck is now a permanent fixture as it is ready to be pulled up over my face for instances of proximity to others).

I look nothing like that TriBeCa apparition. What was she carrying in that enormous bag? I could have put on my black booties to really seal the deal, but, come April, boots are put away with the exception of one pair of rain boots. Come May, those must also be put away.

We do have six months of winter here. It snowed last weekend. We call spring something that looks like winter. We call spring something that feels more like summer. We have perhaps a grand total of two weeks of something that feels like spring.

Unlike many who are stuck in apartments and looking for ways to pass the time as we await the passing of Covid, I have freedom of movement, in my garden, in my neighborhood and in my region. I am fortunate to have this freedom, a freedom that many who do not have it are perhaps considering as they contemplate a post-Covid future. Time for a more rural existence?

Will everything go back to the way it was before? Very doubtful. Will droves of young people spearhead yet another back to the land movement? That would be lovely. Please come and till the land. And, at the end of the day, come on over. Play some music, talk about art, and, once in a while, go to the city and visit and exhibit or two. As the bumper sticker on my car says, "Earth without Art is just Eh."