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OCCASIONALLY,
THERE IS AN UNHAPPY BROGAN CLIENT
Back in 1987, in Los Angeles, Liz was adapting her sculpture practice from repurposing existing materials, to organic geometries and was now working with a foundry and casting bronze. The transition from painted paper mache covered wire to cast bronze was far smoother than I might have imagined. I was impressed. Out on the town, I ran into Liz and we talked about the new bronze pieces. She said that she was pleased but was unable to get the patina she had envisioned. “What would you like?” I asked. “I wanted them to be black, but nobody could do it." Weeks later, I ran into Liz again. She had been working with Jack and was thrilled with the results. "Most are," I told her. A few months later I received a call from a fit-to-be-tied, ranting and raving Liz. “You can tell your rotten, god damn, asshole friend Jack to go fuck his worthless, piece of shit, ass!” Holy shit! I had never seen or heard her so pissed off. “What happened?" I asked, dying to know. “One of my pieces got damaged and has to have the patina redone. When I called Jack to get the formula, he refused to give it to me." She was about to explode. “Look Liz, Jack is a genius. The only one around that can do certain things, like a black patina. He markets his skills and that is his livelihood. If he gives away trade secrets, he is undermining his own business." She sputtered for a bit as she digested the news I had given her and while she may have had difficulty swallowing it, she understood and hung up. ____________________________ James Hayward is a painter. His the author of the highly recommendable Indiscretion, Selected Stories. His visual work can be found at Roberts Projects.
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