Art Victim

Last week I went on vacation. Vacation, that sacred time of the American worker when sometimes, for a drunken instant, the place of return is forgotten. I didn't go to Key West or Portland or London for my vacation. I chose Baltimore,where it rained as much as it does in Portland for an entire week.
Instead of prowling the streets as is my wont when I visit Charm City, I went Christmas shopping at various downmarket locales ( no Saks thank you)and visited the Baltimore Museum of Art, home of the fabled Cone Sisters collection ( possibly the biggest private collection of Matisse, Picasso, the Impressionists and Post-Impressionists extant). The BMA was literally my downfall.
The current exhibit by Franz West is called To Build a House You Start with the Roof. A 25ft sculpture The Ego and the Id was created especially for the BMA show. This looping construction features seats or porches for the viewer to use for rest or for a new angle of this multicolored giant Slinky. I perched at different points on Ego and Id and, deciding I wanted to investigate the rest of the show, stepped off the rim of the two foot high platform and fell to the floor.

My mother always told me to put out my hands palms-out when I fell so's not to mar my face. My face won't stand much more damage, it's true, but neither will my operant left arm, which I knocked the bejesus out of. Since Thursday I've been wearing a brace on my left hand and avoiding strenuous use, like typing. At the emergency room I was told to avoid excessive use of my arm, which means I don't go back to work for a few more days.
Now that I'm back home perhaps the weather will improve.

p.s. The Franz West show is really a lot of fun especially for lounge lizards and sedentary types. I've never seen an interactive exhibition where the interaction consisted of sitting and gazing. Any ambulance chasers out there who have their search engines set on keywords like victim and injury please don't bother me.