sink-mma

 

We kick off this week with a piece of art devoted to the art of misdirection. Misdirection is, of course, the act of showing people one thing, but making them think that they’re seeing something else by using a diversionary technique or tactic.

For instance, there is well-done misdirection. Let’s say that a talented magician, either on stage or at a table, is able to show you cards and make you think that you are seeing them turn up in a way that should be impossible. Or maybe he’s pulling coins out of mid-air, or a rabbit out of a hat. When misdirection is well-done, it most definitely is an art.

There is also sloppy, poorly-done misdirection. Perhaps in the hands of an untalented magician, you can see the attempts at misdirection coming a mile away and they fail miserably. You also see this when a very teeny, ham-handed press secretary tries, hypothetically, to insist that the attendance at a hypothetical inauguration was “the biggest in history,” when it is easily demonstrable to all but the most willingly gullible spectator that said inauguration was the least-attended in modern history.

I’m hoping that my attempt at misdirection is more successful than that this week. I hope that you look at the image above (click to enlarge) and see a colorful, slightly geometric, abstract painting that employs a number of different painterly techniques. If I have failed, then it will be immediately obvious that what you’re looking at is actually the nasty underside of the rusted-out steel sink that I replaced last week.

sink-original