Was inspired to paint this after a trip to Philadelphia art museums. Went to the Barnes on a tour – was interested to find out that Barnes’ collection was initially rejected by the Philly Art Museum establishment because Barnes wasn’t part of the “in crowd” – new money. Yet, his collection is the biggest and best Impressionistic and Post-Impressionistic collection outside of Paris. Then, went to the Philly Museum – found it odd that the Rocky sculpture is off museum property hidden in a corner at the bottom of the steps – guess it’s too “commercial” to be on museum property. Then, went into one of the Philly Museum shops to find them selling finger puppets of famous artists. Seems hypocritical to spurn the Rocky sculpture, then sell artist finger puppets. I’m all for the “commercialism” of fine art. Just find the seemingly-inconsistent standards comical. Tried to capture those feelings on canvas – all the objects are some commercialized form of famous artwork and artists.
