I am watching one of my favorite old teevee indulgences on Netflix: “Person of Interest.” Sure, there’s lots of bullets, explosions, wrong stuff but tonight I noticed really, really wrong stuff on Season 3, Episode 20.
Bad guys are in an art gallery in DC — Looks like it might be the National Portrait Gallery but not sure. One thing I’m sure about is that Hieronymous Bosch’s “Garden of Earthly Delights” does not reside there (it is not a portrait and it is in Museo Nacional Del Prado). A second thing I know is that it isn’t some massive wall painting — it is incredibly small which makes the detail all that more astonishing.
Why am I writing about this teevee show and Bosch? Who cares? I’m an internationally famous author. But actually the points are:
1. Sometimes good stuff like democracy can be fucked up by a small detail that grows in your head like a big detail and then you realize it is a big detail;
2. Avoid the big stupid shite by the big stupid shitehead and look at the small details around him — those things which are crafted by evil people like Stephen Miller and John Kelley. Mick Mulvaney, et al.;
3. Ever really look at Bosch’s “Garden of Earthly Delights”? The first of the triptych is supposed to be Eden. Look closer, lots of murdering going on. I only know this because I have a print — about the size of the real painting — and I look at it every day. Also, two of my cats have looked at it every day. Emily Dickenson II (her demise not actually regretted) and Roger the Cat. They have stared at it. Why? Evil lies therein; and
4. Don’t let anyone tell you not to be outraged about the details. Fuck them. Be outraged but, like most artists I’ve seen/read, they translate outrage into something near perfect — something that is like a mirror to the horror so others can actually see the horror.
I often miss details until I talk with people smarter than I am. That always helps to focus. Most people are smarter than I am — that’s a detail.
Don’t get lost in the splash of color and clamor. You could get lost in Bosch’s painting until you look at the details. You can realize Eden is really a preamble of hell but not become part of the prey.
Apologies for a ramble on a detail in a teevee show.