Established Marvel : a Monk by Abbreviation

119. A MOST BEAUTIFUL WHITE PAINT:

You've got to figure how weird could it be to have a millionaire criminal befriend you and never knowing why and one time he said to me 'forget the History of Art kid - what you really want to learn about is the History of the Thievery of Art - that's where the money is' and I shrugged as if to laugh and he started to say 'no matter it's all the same in the end and when you come right down to it your way is probably more noble' and 'people know who were never even there' : (a'propos of nothing let's say) and together we were reading (two separate copies) 'Meet My Maker the Mad Molecule' by J.P. Donleavy and he made me promise that one day I'd write him a long paper about it and we'd discuss it together over a few beers and coffee - I agreed but nothing was ever heard or said on that score again - not sure who ever ever finished reading the book actually but I knew that and the reason I knew it was that nothing was ever really sealed or finished with him and it all just had to BE in some fluid form of process-never-ending - there was a time when he paid me fifty dollars up front to paint the place for him (which was a pretty 'definite' move and commitment on his part) and I did so using some beautiful and thick white paint which he supplied from a paint and art-supply store around the corner and that paint was a revelation to me the very idea that something could have 'Quality' - a thick and brushful presence an accountability of itself like something I'd never seen before - I had no idea how much that paint cost nor the brushes but it was to my mind the most expensive and most beautifully 'qualified' object I'd ever dealt with - a rich-man's paint to be sure - and I was dutifully impressed and I painted the white wooden surfaces of those rooms with the most lustrous and serious-looking beautiful coat of fresh and joyous white paint ever seen : believe you me GALLERY quality in coverage and lustre and smoothness and when I was finished the place was beautiful - fifty bucks meant a lot to me for two days work anyway plus I had the run of the place food and drink and a place to rest as I needed it and I was able to experience - really EXPERIENCE - quality for perhaps the first time in my life.