He put some Zinc White pigment on the surface and brushed it in. A seascape appeared, grey reflected light. Truly awful. The work appeals to ‘Its’ sense of perverse pleasure. One of them must lose. ‘It’ eggs him on. Graphite powder is applied. Cotton wool to rub it in. But cotton wool catches on the rough surface , a memory of lint on childhood scabs, stuck and painful to remove. And as he stands back the work remains appalling. It is amused. He laughs. Cotton wool has drawn itself next to the zinc white to suggest a shore. It has all the qualities of bad collage. If the work continues to defy him, He will make it so bad that there will be no end to its regret. Or He might see the error of its ways and allow some means of redemption.
