A martini with your Matisse?
John Weeks
Article Created: 06/26/2008 06:21:17 PM PDT
On Saturday night the dA Center for the Arts in Pomona is inaugurating
its new Martini Club, an event that will provide an opportunity
for people to toast the artistic spirit with distilled spirits.
And I am thinking, uh-oh.
You see, I go to lots of art and wine festivals, and I buy way too
much art, and it's totally the wine's fault.
And that's just wine. What's going to happen if I am around fine
art, and there is hard liquor involved?
Don't get me wrong. I am not opposed to the idea on principle. It
may be that martinis will bring about another whole renaissance
of art appreciation, just as wine already has done.
Let me paint a mental picture for you. I have been to art festivals
where wine was not available, and I have seen throngs of people
leaving after a cursory look, and they wear bored, indifferent looks
on their faces, and they are empty-handed. And then I go to art
festivals where wine is available, at modest prices or even free,
and I see people oohing and ahhing and making a great fuss over
the art, and buying lots of it, and leaving the show with looks
of excitement and pleasure on their flushed faces.
Yes, I have seen these people up close, for I have been among their
number.
A glass of wine, I find, helps to open our hearts and minds to the
wonders of art. Two or three glasses help to open our wallets.
I must say, I never have regretted a single piece of art I have
purchased at an art and
wine festival. Admittedly, there have been occasions, afterward,
when I have studied this or that piece in my home, and I have found
it necessary to have a bit of wine, just to help me remember why
I found the piece so enchanting in the first place.
Yes, a little reminder is helpful, now and then.
I probably will check out the Martini Club, which gets under way
at 6 p.m. Saturday at the art center, 252-D S. Main St., Pomona
(www.dacenter.org).
I wonder if the art I buy under the exhilarating influence of distilled
spirits will be fiercer, bolder, more pointed and persistent than
the art I have bought at the more gentle behest of wine.
In fact, I wonder if there are many differing correlations between
the kinds of art we admire and the kinds of adult beverages we enjoy.
I recently attended a saki tasting at RA Sushi Bar Restaurant located
in the Promenade Shops at Dos Lagos, in Corona (www.rasushi.com).
The restaurant offers what I am sure is the most extensive selection
of premium sakis in the Inland Empire.
Saki is a distinctive rice wine that has been an important part
of Asian culture and cuisine for centuries. I can tell you that
I find premium sakis, served chilled, to be delicious. I also can
tell you that if there had been any Asian art for sale during the
saki tasting, I probably would have bought some.
Yes, I have no doubt that art and saki would pair nicely, just as
wine and art do, and martinis and art do.
I'm not as sure about beer and art. Frankly, I never have heard
of a beer and art festival. At the same time, I know that they must
exist, and I am fairly certain that I have attended at least one
of them, because I own an expensively framed picture of dogs playing
poker, and I have no idea where it came from.
John Weeks is features editor of The Sun. Read his past columns
and blogs at www.sbsun.com. Contact him at john.weeks@inlandnewspapers.com. |