Apparently I’ve got to be Dead!

Buy from living artists. The dead ones don’t need the money.

About 14 years ago on a trip abroad with my husband, we found ourselves at the lounge at Brussels airport. The place was packed but we managed to find a table. Sat down and looked up to see a lady with a full plate looking to sit somewhere. So, we invited her to join us. As happens we got talking. She was a fellow Indian going back to the USA after spending time with her family in Ahmadabad. She said her husband (a British gentleman) used to drive trucks transporting art for the big companies like Sotheby’s and Christie’s. And now he’s moved on to owning his own trucking company that does the same in New York. And since I paint, I was welcome to visit them anytime I was in New York the next time.

We exchanged email ID’s and got on with our respective lives. She got in touch some years ago to ask about art colleges in India for her son and I was happy to tell her. Then we lost touch again. She called me up some years ago saying she was visiting Kerala for a few days holiday with her husband and wanted to break journey in Bangalore just to meet me. I was delighted and said yes. They booked into a hotel just behind my place and came over one evening. Her husband had an upset stomach, so we had a dinner of basic Dal khichidi I made for him 🙂

We got talking and he whipped out his phone. It had treasures. Paintings and art, I had only ever dreamed of seeing up close. They were multi-million-dollar paintings and artworks that he has transported for buyers across the globe.  He told me trade secrets of how they keep security tight. Secrets I cannot reveal here. He mentioned that he had a football sized underground art storage facility in the centre of New York.  You can imagine my glee. I can’t wait to visit…

So then Robert asked to see my work. Work I am happy to say he liked and saw potential in. He mentioned that who knows someday he could be transporting my art. But then he qualified that statement with … But you got to be dead!

So, I say again.

Buy from living artists. The dead ones don’t need the money.