Steve Martin wrote a great piece in The New Yorker back in December, that I only just stumbled onto now. It’s a short fake script of Picasso appearing on ‘The Entertainment Channel’ to market his work, ‘Lady with a Fan’. Just some flavor from it:
The Entertainment Channel: First of all, we loved ‘Lady with a Fan.’Picasso: Thank you. People seem to be very excited by the painting, and the test scores have been great.
E.C.: What was it like painting ‘Lady with a Fan’?
Picasso: Very, very exciting. I was excited by the prospect of painting it and working with so many exciting people, the paint people, the canvas stretcher…
E.C.: So it was a very exciting project for you.
Picasso: Yes, I was really excited. Sometimes I was more excited, and sometimes I was less excited…
E.C.: But you were always excited?
Picasso: Oh, yes, always excited. That¹s a good way to put it.
Marketing works of great genius through the media of entertainment and celebrity can certainly be a bizarre fit, sometimes. The inevitable result is a conversation about the process of the art, rather than the art itself. Martin offers an elegant parody of that very point, with the perfect closer:
E.C.: Thank you, Pablo Picasso. (Turns to camera) ‘Lady with a Fan’ can be seen at the National Gallery for the next one thousand or so years.
