Bekende Bosschenaar: Bad Piano Man

Wherever you live, if you’re at all part of the environment, and it’s hard not to be. You will start noticing people. And to notice someone, they have to be different from the norm -- mostly outsiders, in some way, or otherwise extraordinary normal people. Either way, I call them famous, as I’d like to imagine everyone else sees them, too. The normal ones receive enough attention as is, while the attention the outsiders get is often somewhat dehumanizing. So I think you can guess what kind of famous people this art piece is about. I, too, am from somewhere (called Den Bosch), and do too notice some outsiders. This painting is about a variant of an outsider, often not appreciated, and deservedly so: beggars. In Den Bosch, the same beggars show up in the same places. I’m fairly sure most of them belong to a big group of associates -- some kind of company, really. Well, this one beggar plays music at the entrance of the city; he’s almost always there and hasn’t improved at his craft in my lifetime. But I guess that’s not the point.