Image: Brooke Shaden

There was great expectation as the crowd gathered outside the gallery for the opening of a new exhibition.

The artist August Calledoni had generated much interest in recent years with his unusual subjects and manner of presentation.

This year the crowd were in anticipation of his major work “Chocolate Girl with Cat’.

The critics had acclaimed the work as ground-breaking, a masterpiece in visual representation. There would only be one opportunity to view the piece before it went to sale, most likely to some private art buyer and so would not be seen again.

The sceptics saw it as another pretentious piece from a very over rated artist. They questioned the point of the work, was the artist merely producing a work of sensationalism with no meaning at all. They called Calledoni a fraud, the work of little artistic relevance apart from the curiosity of it all.

After all said one, ‘the cat looks as disinterested in the girl as we are.’

The exhibition though was a success as thousands walked past the work and each person had an opinion as to its worth or not. If it did one thing, it was to generate conversation, and the gallery owner could not have been thrilled by the public’s response.

For the artist Calledoni, he felt empowered to produce more art that would achieve the success of this work.

He set his mind to another work, this time involving a boy, and a dog with a lollipop.

Written for: https://mindlovemiserysmenagerie.wordpress.com/2018/06/05/photo-challenge-217/