Publisher: Lavish.
E: Huh?
P: Lavish. Art books. We call them lavish. You know, not big, Lavish. Or sometimes big and lavish. But never just big.
E: OK then, a lavish art book. Something that picks up the threads and weaves them together to create an image of our culture.
P: A history of painting in other words.
E: I was thinking more than that, like, you know, sculpture, photography, performance, installation, video ....
P: No, no, let’s stick with painting. Less complicated, more popular. It's what people expect when the see the word art.
E: But we already have a book on New Zealand painting.
P: We do?
E: Yes. 200 years of New Zealand Painting. We published it back in 1971.
P: Great. Then let’s update it.
E: We already did.
P: Damn. How long ago?
E: 1990
P: But that was … I don’t know … lots of years ago.
E: Eleven.
P: Brilliant! We could call it the cricket update then. Maybe get Martin Crowe to do an intro.
E: I’m sure I can find some art person to do it ... hopefully.
P: Oh… OK. (counting on fingers) I’ve even got a title. Ready?
E: (on the verge of tears) What?
P: It's obvious really. 241 Years of New Zealand Painting.
Which is almost what they did.
