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=> The Ballad of The Manhole

Posted by pancho (Guest) - Saturday, May 13 2006, 19:49:11 (CEST)
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...this little story always amazes me. I`ve told it before but so what. What else have I got to do?

A few years ago a friend of mine, a sculptor from Berkeley, took my advice and came down to this Mexican fishing village for a vacation. Walking around the town one day he saw a manhole cover with a raised Star of David on it. Being a Jew this interested him. (At this point let me add that I`m indeed going to draw comparisons between how Jews, who remained faithful, treat of their culture...and how we, who ran AFTER them, treat ours.)

I wasn`t there at the time. He told me the story while we were in his studio later. He quickly set about to rescue this sewer cover with the design of his religion and entire culture on it. First he got permission from the owner of the building this sewer cover served. He bought him a brand new one WITHOUT a Star of David on it. He hired two fellows, bought them heavy duty gloves, buckets, face masks, and bottles and bottles of Chlorox bleach as well as muriatic acid...you can imagine why.

I wish I`d been there the day this odd group assembled. With much grunting and groaning the sewer cover was pried loose...god only knows, because he knows everything, how long that cover had been in place and how much shit it had covered over. They quickly banged the new cover on and removed to a safe spot to disinfect the old one. After a few hours of soaking and scrubbing the thing was as clean as could reasonable be expected.

He wrapped it carefully and took it with him, personally...as a carry-on when he flew out. No doubt US Customs was intrigued. How many people return from a vacation with an old sewer cover to declare?

At his studio he selected various acids that react really nicely with cast iron to give this object D`Arte, for that`s what it was soon to become, a very handsome patina...some waxing and polishing produced a really wonderful effect...until what I saw in his studio looked fit and ready for ANY gallery. As a finishing touch he had a teakwood stand made especially for it...and when he displayed it to a group of clients and friends...there were many ooohs and ahhhs and offers to buy it. He refused to sell it...wouldn`t even consider making a mould of it to cast copies in bronze..a much more dignified material than cast iron.

His Jewish patrons were especially delighted with the piece...and indeed by the story. It seemed what really sold them on it though was the Star of David...I mean that their national, religious, and cultural symbol should have been used to decorate such an obscene thing as a sewer cover...and in a Catholic country...of course.

My friends adventure, to me, was wonderful. Talk about making lemonade out of a lemon! He never got angry...neither did his Jewish friends and clients. They didn`t rant and rave over this willful desecration...they`ve all known it all too well. But what captivated them all and me too, was that here was yet another instance of the love and PRIDE they take in being Jewish...and their humor. They took supreme satisfaction in the act of TRANSFORMATION my friend performed. After all, he had done exactly what Art does...even more. He hadn`t started with a "blank tablet"...an empty canvas or block of stone even...no. He began literally IN THE HOLE...and dug his way out, tranforming a loathesome object as well as a loathsome background of religious bigotry, into a work of art...even of HIGH art. More than just the artist who starts fresh and clean...my Jewish friend started with insults and shit...and worked magic. And he did it all because he so LOVES his culture that it inspires him to go to whatever lengths to right a wrong...to make art and beauty where there is hate and ugliness.

It isn`t the manhole cover itself..or even the design on it, that makes this story so dear...and such a poignant comment on our "love" of Assyria. Rather it`s how emotions work within an individual in such positive ways...to not only create but RE-create...transform...give new life and meaning. His ACT was one of pure Art...never mind the iron disc.

And, also of course...I just have to remind us that a monumental statue of our queen...the first to rule an empire..which took thousands of dollars and 13 years to complete and which was accepted with honor by a major city in America....sat for four years AS IF it was junk...and all because ONE "Assyrian" twisted his shorts...but more because over 60,000 could care less about anything Assyrian that isn`t first and foremost JEWISH.

...put THAT in your arse and smoke it!

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