Tuesday's Art Exhibit

Benjamin is quite the prolific artist.  He works in a variety of media, from crayons to markers and watercolor paint. Drawing inspiration from books, his own experiences and quite frankly sometimes I have no idea where, he prefers to dedicate most of his artwork to the people in his life.  Today's exhibit is a collection of portraits in washable marker on paper.  Enjoy.

STAGASORRES and T-REX
These were commissioned as a matched pair for Polar-Bear and Pollyball, two of the artist's plush friends.

 

The statement behind these two is clear.  Herbivore or carnivore, black or blue, a hyphenated name or no, we're all just dinosaurs with exaggerated features in the end. 

PIRET

Piret is the only work at the exhibit signed by the artist himself, and not intended as a gift for a friend or loved one.  The style is also markedly different from the other works, making use of graphic novel devices to convey the subject's speech and thoughts.

ALELA WAS FLYING
This piece is the most playful and mysterious in the collection.  Who is this Alela?  Is she a fairy, or simply a girl in costume? Why is she near the number 6?  Even the intended recipient is not clear - is it for his sister, or a stuffed animal who happens to share her name?

Detail from Alela

What secret is hiding behind her smile?

 ONE DAY A NINJA WAS MOVEING

The jewel of the exhibit is most certainly this sullen, slightly overweight ninja.  Intended as a gift for his best friend, Doggie, it is yet another piece of social commentary from this budding artist.  Everybody wants to be a ninja, but not everybody can.  Being a ninja takes hard work and dedication.  So if you're serious about being a ninja, put down the Fritos and move.

Navigation and Music

Car rides are entertaining.  Bordering on exasperating, but still entertaining.

Ben's "new" obsession is street signs, and what road we're on.  I use the term "new" loosely - this started a number of weeks ago.  At first, he was just interested in knowing what road we were on, and he started reading the signs when we'd take a turn and announcing it to the car, "We're on Abilene!"

But we weren't taking enough turns to keep him occupied.  So he began reading the street signs as we'd pass by them, "There's Oasis!".  At higher speeds this leads to some interesting mis-reads.  My personal favorites are "Robot Diction", which would make for an excellent band name, and "Shh! Seventy-One!" which could be the title track off their first album (those are "Robert Dixon" and "SH 71" respectively, for the curious).

He's taken it to a new level recently, since he's now memorized all the streets near our house, and knows the common paths to and fro.  He's a full-fledged BPS (Benjamin Positioning System).  Now, he tells us where to go.  "No Mommy!  Go straight on William Cannon, THEN turn left on Escarpment!"  And while we're discussing that road, he's also heavily into the "Why?" phase of his life, and William Cannon is a source of endless debate.

"Why does it say double-u emm, instead of William?"
"Because it is shorter."
"Why is it shorter?"
"So they could fit it on the sign."
"Why is it on the sign?"
And on, and on, and on...

He knows which roads do and do not have an outlet, and makes a distinction between the "Abilene with no outlet" and the "Abilene with an outlet".  The first time he started talking about the "Abilene with no outlet", I just kind of said "Silly boy, of course Abilene has an outlet!" and dismissed him with a pat on the head.   I should have known better than to question him.  If he says something is so, then it is so.  The next day, we're riding in the car and he points and says "Daddy look!  Abilene with No Outlet!"  He was pointing at the sign for Abilene Cove, a cul-de-sac I have probably run or driven past several hundred times, but apparently never noticed.  And yes, it has no outlet.

As the BPS is busy rattling off the streets we're passing and asking why some roads have two names, from the other side of the car comes music.  Over there, we've installed a radio with Penelophonic sound.  About half of the time, she is tuned to some station that just plays the alphabet song, sometimes in its entirety and sometimes just a small portion over and over again.  The program director there is kind of unpredictable, even if we do hear a lot of the same stuff.  She's been known to spin Old Macdonald and Twinkle, Twinkle as well (which sounds suspiciously like the alphabet song).  Occasionally, we'll get a long bout of babbling talk radio from some host who is overly concerned with their shoes.  And the commercials, while at regular intervals, don't appear to be selling anything.  They just come on and request water and a snack.  Peas.