THE ART CRITIC

  Everyone has an opinion on what is good or terrible art. Some say Picasso was a modern Michelangelo, a genius in composition, color, and draftsmanship. To others he was just a con man whose works looked like they could've been painted by a monkey.

  Whatever.

  Once the City decided that the front yard of the newly constructed City Hall needed a piece of art to show folks how cultured we were. Hearing of the City's desire, a kind lady donated an artwork from a local sculptor to fill the need. It was called Homage To The Sun.

  The fella who welded this thing together had a shop in the old house on Goodlette Road where Fire Chief Pearly Riner used to live. The front yard was full of his creations. Most people that drove by thought it was a junk yard and didn't even realize it was an art gallery. Evidently the benefactor and members of the City Council had more eclectic tastes and they thought Homage was a welded  masterpiece.

  In fact, it was a monstrosity about 10 feet tall and sorta looked like--if you could determine that it looked like anything--the lady with her arms reaching skyward that appears on the top of many trophies.

  When the town folk got a look at this thing, most didn't appreciate that they were in the presence of great art. They griped that it was a desecration of the new building and was, in general, just uglying up the place. I was among them. 
  It became a sticky issue that should've caused me to keep my mouth shut. But, that ain't me and when a Naples Daily News reporter asked what I thought about it I said, "Hideous. It looks like Winged Victory on LSD."

 This observation made the front page the next day and caused me to be persona non grata at City Council meetings for several months.

 And got me out of the art critic business, but if you'd like to judge for yourself, it's still there.
  Like the fellar once said "all beauty must fade away but ugly goes all the way to the bone."