Saturday, November 5, 2011

Spoke Art and The Royal Tenenbaums

I have a neighborhood art gallery. It's called Spoke Art.

It takes some effort to deliver such a statement flippantly in conversation, as if it were no more remarkable than having a neighborhood coffee shop or convenience store, because the very existence of said gallery just steps from my front door makes me feel irrationally, inexplicably cool.

 

For the past few months, however, my relationship with Spoke Art was merely a feeling of coolness-by-neighborhood-association. That is, until Spoke Art announced a new exhibition: "Bad Dads: An art show tribute to the films of Wes Anderson." And yes, call me a huge wannabe-hipster cliche, but I do have more than a soft-spot for the awkward honesty of Anderson's characters.


And of all those characters, my heart will forever belong to Royal Tenenbaum and his bizarre family of miserables geniuses. I defy you to find a young girl in her twenties who didn't at some point try smoking in her bathroom with a fan tied to the radiator, thimbled finger tapping the porcelain tub, a la Margot Tenenbaum. Who wasn't madly in love with both suicidal, lovesick Richie and egomaniacal, drug-addled Eli Cash. Who didn't seriously consider buying a red Adidas tracksuit and sporting a mop of dark curls after seeing how cool it looked on Ari and Uzi - or, for that matter, who didn't consider naming her firstborn Uzi. Who didn't alternately channel Margot's deadpan eccentricity and Ethel's graceful composure and occasional spectacular outburst. Who didn't blast Paul Simon's "Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard" at exasperated families, teachers, and boyfriends for the better part of a year.

To my chaotic sixteen-year old self, the Tenenbaums were a reminder that even the most miserable, twisted families (however one chooses to define them) have a peculiar charm and their own brand of happiness. Despite the fact that realizing said happiness might require one to fall in love with their adopted brother.





Margot: You probably don't even know my middle name
Royal: That's a trick question. You don't have one.
Margot: Helen.
Royal:  That was my mother's name.
Margot: I know it was.
 
 
 
 
She was known for her extreme secrecy. For example,  none of the Tenenbaums knew she was a smoker, which she had been since the age of 12. Nor were they aware  of her first marriage and divorce to a recording artist in Jamaica. She kept a private studio  in Mockingbird Heights under the name "Helen Scott." She had not completed a play in seven years.



Among the few possessions he left to his heirs was a set of Encyclopedia Britannica in storage at the Lindbergh Palace Hotel under the names Ari and Uzi Tenenbaum. No-one spoke at the funeral, and Father Petersen's leg had not yet mended, but it was agreed among them that Royal would have found the event to be most satisfactory.




Richie: I think he's very lonely. Lonelier than he lets on. Maybe lonelier than he even realizes.
Ethel: Have you spoken to him about this?
Richie: Briefly. And he agreed that...
Chas: I'm sorry, maybe I'm a little confused here. What are you suggesting?
Richie: That he come here and stay in my room.
Chas: Are you out of your mind?
Richie: No. I'm not. Anyway I think he'd be much more comfortable here than at...
Chas: Who gives a shit?
Richie: I do.
Chas: You poor sucker. You poor, washed up papa's boy.









Eli: How's Richie?
Margot: I don't know. I can't tell.
Eli: Yeah, me neither. He wrote me a letter. He says he's in love with you.
Margot: What are you talking about?
Eli: That's what he said. I don't know how we're supposed to take it.





That's 72 unforced errors for Richie Tenenbaum. He's playing the worst tennis of his life. What's he feeling right now? I don't know, Jim. There's obviously something wrong with him. He's taken off his shoes and one of his socks and...actually, I think he's crying.


If anyone out there is wondering what to get me for Christmas, I'll take Margot in profile with trenchcoat and cigarette. Please.

Spoke Art Gallery is at 816 Sutter St, between Jones and Leavenworth. It is open Tuesday through Saturday, 12-6pm. "Bad Dads" is on view until November 22nd.

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