On view on floor five as part of the “Pop, Minimal, and Figurative Art” exhibit at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art is Andy Warhol’s Liz #6, an iconic work that we’ve all seen. But have you seen it side by side with Tim Curry’s Dr. Frank N. Furter from The Rocky Horror Picture Show? See above—now you have. The resemblance is uncanny in that “separated at birth” kind of way. Surely, this sixth Liz Taylor was the inspiration for Curry’s make-up, right? Happy to debate this with you at a drinking establishment of your choice—just say when, where and the name on your tab. I see you shiver with antici……pation.
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Starting Monday, Petaluma will be the scene of a massive arboreal apocalypse as the city fells trees along Highway 101 between Lakeville Street (Highway 116) and Corona Road (a name that makes you want to wear a face mask). Unless you’re a vampire, this shouldn’t affect your commute—the tree slaying will close northbound lanes from 10pm to 6am and southbound lanes from 7pm to 4am—for the next seven weeks. Alas, it never occurred to the powers-that-be to instead keep the trees and rip out the highway, as an act of civic healing. This particular leg of 101 has artificially divided Petaluma and fomented an intense East-West rivalry that’s led to calls to dam the Petaluma River and create Petaluma Bay to flood the side opposite their own.
Did English 101 teach us nothing? Being the “egg basket of the world” at the time F. Scott Fitzgerald was writing the Great Gatsby, surely Petaluma was the inspiration for East Egg and West Egg (aha!), the tony enclaves that indicated whether you come from old money or new money. I don’t know where Petaluma’s money is now, let alone its relative youth, but I do know that “mature trees” are showcased on every million-dollar-plus real estate listing (which is to say every listing at this point). Factor that into your nest egg, P-town.
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Someone has vandalized undercover artist Banksy’s latest mural in Bristol, England, leading others to ask “Wait, isn’t Banksy’s art itself technically vandalism?” Armed with spray paint and stencils, the much-lauded Banksy surreptitiously appropriates city walls as his canvases, which can become worth millions—that is, until another artist scrawls “BCC Wankers” across it in an apparent critique of the “Bristol City Council.” Sure, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but value in the art world starts with the holder of the spray can. A decade ago Banksy created six pieces during a San Francisco “residency”—surely Sonoma, Napa and Marin are next.
Nominate local targets for Banksy-treatment on our Facebook page (facebook.com/NorthBayBohemian) and we’ll pass them along (and, naturally, take a gallerist’s commission).
Daedalus Howell is the writer-director of the movie “Pill Head.”
