Yesterday I received this strange and wonderful picture from my good friend Carmen in Madrid. I was able to catch up with her during my brief visit to the city in November and she told me about some of the work she has been doing, including for a recent exhibition in the Netherlands. Of course, talking is not the same as showing. So, without my knowing it, she produced this piece for me and put it in the post. It arrived just before my birthday.
Carmen's work is often quite biographical in a spontaneous kind-of-way. Many of her pictures are inspired by the individual for whom they are intended. Is this a good likeness of me, I wonder, representationally speaking? Well, my wife says yes, especially the fact that the clock is upside down. It reflects the fact that I often do things later than I'm supposed to, or not at all...
Whatever the truth, I really like this picture, which is enigmatically entitled Tiempo a destiempo. It grows on me day by day. Carmen says she may exhibit in New York some time soon. I hope so, because I think her stuff would go down a storm there. Either way, I'm very pleased to have got in ahead of the rush.
