THAT is art?

This past weekend a friend and I decided we would sample some of the delights that the local museums have to offer. We each had coupons for half price entry to the Dali Museum in downtown St. Pete. So, armed with coupons and NO prior knowledge of what we were getting ourselves into we blissfully headed off for an afternoon of culture.

I knew it would be an adventure to begin with because whenever I drive to downtown St. Pete I encounter some kind of strange happening. Last time I navigated the mean streets of St. Pete I was with my Aunt from Omaha, Nebraska.That particular time I drove up the wrong way down a one-way street, AND I nearly ran over a homeless man who was taking a nap practically in the middle of the road. At any rate, we made it to the museum, but by that time all the "free" parking (which was all of ten parking spaces) was taken and we had to resort to the $5.00 parking garage.

BUT, we had made it. We were at the museum. We were getting culture. It was going to be great. Then, we went inside and right away I think we realized that this Dali guy was not your run of the mill artist. We was a real weirdo. We discovered that a lobster sculpture mounted to the base of an old-time telephone is "art". Also, a sports coat covered in shot glasses filled with a strange green fluid was also "art."

However, the price of admission was worth every penny as my friend and I encountered the various people in the art gallery. The first character was a 65 year old man who was obviously on his first date with a new lady friend. They said very little but stood looking at the lobster phone for a good 15 minutes. They would look, step back, think about it, hold their chins like great "thinkers" and then start all over again. Another character was a 40 year old man who had put on a paper mustache that looked just like Dali's. He stood at one painting and made the following remarks. "Oh look there Celia. Here in this classic work, the artist has placed all these pocket watches. But what's this??? Observe how two of the watches are EXACTLY alike. This bespeaks of man's disgruntled subconscious of Freudian anomalies." Do you get my point? He was so strange. But, the last lady we encountered there made me "pretend" like I was interested in a particular painting so I could hear the rest of her conversation. From what I could gather, she considered herself somewhat of a Dali and put HERSELF into these deep dreams to "envision" her way out of difficult times. PHEW. When my friend and I left, we decided that we had had enough of culture...for now. So, in the long run the day broke down like this...Cost of parking $5.00, Cost of admission $20.00, realizing that people who think they understand art are really frightening but REALLY FUNNY to watch....PRICELESS.