That old poster art

I did this painting in June of 1974.  It was not actually meant to be a painting, per se, and I did it as a favor for a young concertmaster who was making his debut in NYC with his equally young quintet of classical musicians.  It’s not large, only 12”x16”, but it’s painted on canvas and I did it before acrylics became ubiquitous, using small jars of egg tempera (better known as “poster paint”) in primary and secondary colors and did my own mixing.  If it seems a little out of balance it was on purpose because it was used to advertise their concert and the black space, when in poster form (and the program cover),  was used for the name of the group, the concert itself, ticket information and venue.  My friend was most grateful but, as seems to be usual with good deeds, it did not go unpunished.  I did not get paid but I was still proud my poster was displayed all over the place in NYC.  But astonished peeve surged to the surface when, one fine day a couple of years later, I found the poster (in postcard form) on the racks of a bookstore in Greenwich Village.  Then I discovered the poster itself had been reproduced in print in numbers way beyond its use as advertising and was being offered for sale everywhere.  It took me a while to track down my musician friend but by that time in his career he had gained some notoriety and he got his manager and/or agent on the case and I was able to obtain a lump sum payment for what had previously been a freebie.  He also, in about 1980, called me and said that he had found the original art and did I want it back?  You betcha!

Once it was back in my possession, however, it was just another funky piece of decorative art that I had on the walls (or not) in the various abodes in which I subsequently resided.  During one fateful move in 1993 it got damaged and was relegated to a basement closet, along with other abandoned flotsam of my past.  Sometime in 2001 (maybe), I was attempting to make sense of a lot of my stored-away detritus and brought this painting upstairs and was able to repair it satisfactorily, cagily using Krazy Glue and quick-drying acrylics.  Coincidentally, in April of that year I had houseguests who seemed to like it and I just handed it over, right then and there, to my friend Ismael as a housewarming gift and it was reportedly well hung in his bedroom in Quincy, Mass.  Sadly calamity (in 2007), in the form of the Marlboro Man, stabbed Ismael in the lungs and in 2009, the grim reaper struck him down.

In 2014 I moved lock, stock and art to Florida and in early 2015 I thought to ask Paul, Ismael’s husband, whatever happened to “that old poster art.”  He said it was hanging on the wall of his house in Milbury, Mass.  It was good to know it was still somewhat treasured and I forgot about it (yet again).  Two weeks ago Paul was back in FLL and, one fine morning, delivered to my doorstep a half dozen bagels and this painting.  I was wowed by the bagels and very pleased to see the painting and it now hangs, once again, on the walls of its originator.   This narrative is all true except that most of the dates are guesswork.  Even the delivery date of the bagels has slipped away.