Odalisque

I've found that you can employ some artistic formulas for almost any purpose. Art history is full of annunciations and crucifictions; we use those familar poses and gestures all the time, repurposing them for our momentary use. They bring their own subtext to a new set of characters. It is like those flip books where you switch the head of one person onto the body of another. When you think about it, this is the essence of comedy. Upsetting our expectations, rearranging our perceptions, moving the furniture, wearing the wrong hat or the wrong socks. In Hitchcock's films there are a dozen situations where the hero is forced to masquerade as something he is not, usually in front of an audience. It makes us nervous, but we laugh. I could write a funny story around this series of small bankers. What has cast him in the pose of an Odalisque, with his pear and his wine? Who is he consorting with? This and several other small banker drawings will appear in The Believer next month.