24 September 2011

Art is Everywhere - Words to live by

If you take the time to look around you will find art everywhere. Many may disagree but it is a maxim that works for me.

Pecker is a delightfully funny film made by Baltimore director John Waters. Starring Edward Norton as Pecker, a young man with a passion for photography, whose life (and that of his family) is turned upside down after  gaining the attention of New York art afficionados. The payback is hilarious. While it does feature particularly aggressive lesbian strippers iIt is a million miles away from Water's earlier work such as Pink Flamingos.

But I am digressing. There is a scene in the film where Pecker finally gets his Obsessive compulsive laundrette manager girlfriend Shelly to understand that art is everywhere. The scene takes place in a voting booth


Pecker: Art's everywhere.
Shelly: Yeah, here in my endless bags of dirty laundry.
Pecker: It is if you think about it.
Shelly: What? In the brilliant green of a grass stain?
Pecker: Yes. That's art.
Shelly: The subtle yellow of a urine-soaked sheet?
Pecker: Yeah, yeah. Keep going. It's what you see every day.
Shelly: The aqua blue of cold water as it dilutes a violent red bloodstain?
Pecker: Oh, you got it! Be spontaneous for once in your life.
Shelly: Pecker, I'm scared. You mean the almond brown of stubborn mildew stains can be beautiful?
Pecker: Yes, yes! Let your mind go and you'll be free forever.
Shelly: Oh, Pecker, I think I finally see it.
Pecker: Oh, art, Shelly! Art!
Shelly: Pecker, use a condom.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

I thought I'd seen all John Waters' films but I haven't seen Pecker

jams o donnell said...

It's well worth watching. It has all of Waters' trademark lunacy but it is not OTT. I think it's his nicest film

SnoopyTheGoon said...

Yes, I can see it working for me too ;-)

jams o donnell said...

Absolutely!

Syncopated Eyeball said...

Edward Norton and John Waters together sounds good to me.

Have you seen 'A Single Man', Jams?
I watched it three times in two days. Beautiful cinematography and a marvellous performance by Colin Firth. For a direcctorial debut it is astonishingly good. The director is Tom Ford; apparently a successful couture designer.
Excuse me please if all of that is old news to you
- it's new to me, but I live in a bubble.

jams o donnell said...

Actually I've not seen it SE. I will have to give it a watch.