Every Saturday, we’ll be posting a new illustration by David Lester. The Mecca Normal guitarist is visually documenting people, places and events from his band’s 28-year run, with text by vocalist Jean Smith.
“Do you have any more paintings like this?” Nadine asked Martin.
“That depends on what you mean by like this,” Martin said, rising up on his toes, enjoying the attention, hoping Nadine would say incredible, fabulous or world class.
“Political.”
“Everything is political,” Martin quipped authoritatively, as if it was something he came up with.
“Oh good god,” Nadine said emphatically, spinning around and heading to the reception desk, the heels of her paint-splattered work boots tapping out wood-wood-wood-wood on the cement floor.
“Yes, I have more,” Martin called after her thinking he’d irritated her and jeopardized the flow of attention.
Nadine flipped open the page on the wall calendar and wrote Martin Lewis across the following month.
“Probably hundreds,” Martin called out, wanting to bring the focus back to him. It seemed that she’d been distracted by something unrelated, circling the date of an important event that had popped into her head when he told her that everything was political. He regretted saying it.
Nadine let the calendar flop closed and walked back to Martin. “The Black Dot Museum of Political Art would be very pleased to exhibit your paintings, Mr. Lewis,” Nadine said cheerfully, but Martin didn’t look too happy.
