TOP DRAWER SATIRE

 

Seeing the Big Picture
by
HL Carpenter

 

Want to see the Big Picture? Better hurry. It may not be on display much longer.

For centuries, the Big Picture has had a home at the Museum of Perception, an international art gallery located on Public Realm Boulevard. Anyone can view the Big Picture, free of charge, during normal business hours. No special invitation or pass is required.

Unfortunately, the museum’s visitor records show that very few people are interested in looking at the Big Picture these days. Because of the decline in the Big Picture’s appeal, the museum is thinking of rotating the painting out of the exhibit area.

“The Big Picture is a real piece of work,” says Dee Tayle, the museum curator. “Sadly, most of our patrons pass it by like they don’t even see it.”

One problem may be that the Big Picture has gone out of style. Art critics say the painting is huge and abstract, and to appreciate the full meaning you have to stand back and study it, sometimes for hours. They’re convinced museum visitors can’t be bothered, instead preferring to focus on smaller pictures with easier-to-grasp themes.

Big Picture lovers think that’s a shame. They believe anyone who misses seeing the Big Picture is making a mistake.

“We tell all museum visitors to look at the Big Picture,” says one fan. “Those little canvases are pretty, but they’re nothing more than distractions, taking attention away from the main event.”

Ms. Tayle is not so sure. She says the Big Picture is important, but only part of the story. It’s her contention that the Museum of Perception is in business to give visitors what they prefer – and at the moment, that’s not the Big Picture.

She adds, “It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see.”

 

Originally published April 2009.