I’m
not aware of any other author who has attempted to infuse a novel with the inside
scoop of learning to paint in oils. There are Girl With the Pearl Earring
and Sacre Bleu, both good reads, and any number of other books about
artists and paintings, most written by non-painters trying to capture a
mystique.
But
even in Chris Moore’s hugely entertaining story about the muse and the pigment
supplier wrapped in a diaphanous veil of magical realism, the focus is on
history, and a sprinkling of facts rather than the direct experience of the
writer. With Girl, the question is, “Did the art Icon, Joe Vermeer, abuse, seduce, fall in love with, befriend, or otherwise mistreat his model?”
And as a secondary question, “Was she a victim or was she in on it from the
start?”
Where
can you find an honest, straight-forward doorway into the real artist’s
experience? You can find it in A Coward’s Guide to Oil
Painting, the Novel.
Mariah,
our female protagonist, experiences having a ‘muse’ as well as being described
as one. She submits to the gaze of the ‘other' while she herself is the ‘other’
for two groups of life drawing enthusiasts, raising existential questions
like, “How is she changed by the ‘gaze?’ and “Where does the muse reside?”
While
yearning to reclaim a tenuous connection with a potential mate, Mariah must
choose between a quiet, simple life focused on her own needs and an active,
involved one, focused on the needs of others. Characters who mean something to
her hasten the decision making process.
Cliff,
while practicing the techniques of painting in an exotic setting, has
breakthroughs in coming to ‘see’ naturally, without a symbolic interface. This
experience equips him with tools for life as well as art and determines his
mode of inquiry in solving mysteries. His choices involve the seductiveness of
cannabis, the lure of sirens, and ultimately, love in its many iterations and ramifications.
MM
Kent
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