The Burnout(57)

“I saw you looking at Young Love,” she says with a friendly smile. “If you’re interested, Mavis Adler has a new exhibition beginning here a week from Saturday. A very exciting new collection.”

I can’t say, No thanks, I was just interested in that one painting, so I take the leaflet and eye it. Then, a moment later, my mind starts turning.

“All new art?” I look up.

“All new art.” Jana nods.

Oh my God! I am officially top detective and I win. The messages on the beach are some kind of art, and we’re the only witnesses because we’re in the lodges.

“Tell me something,” I say, in my best, swaggering, slam-dunk TV-detective manner. “Is Mavis Adler’s new exhibition by any chance a series of messages on the beach?”

“No,” says Jana.

I frown, put out. “No?”

“No,” she repeats. “You’re thinking of a previous collection, Land Conversations, which made use of the beach at Rilston Bay.”

“Well, what’s this new exhibition?”

“It’s a series of sculptures using natural and manmade materials. Here, have a look.” She opens a catalog on a nearby display case. “If you’d like to buy an exhibition catalog, they’re twenty pounds,” she adds.

“Right,” I say, trying not to sound like a Philistine cheapskate. “Well … maybe.”

I flip over the pages to see photographs of huge metal girders welded together into weird shapes. Some of them have bits of driftwood incorporated, and one is nestling in a massive coil of rope, only I can’t tell if that’s part of the art or not. I glance at the title to see if that helps, but it’s called Untitled.

“Amazing!” I say as I get to the end of the catalog. Jana seems to be expecting me to say more, so I grope for some more phrases. “Very powerful. Visceral. I loved the … the.… structural … forms. Quite different from Young Love. And Land Conversations.”

“Yes.” Jana smiles. “Her new work is possibly more challenging than anything she has done previously. But very rewarding.” She juts out her chin as though she’s daring me to disagree.

“Definitely!” I say hastily. “Very rewarding. So, has she ever painted any more pictures like Young Love?”

“No.” Jana’s smile becomes more fixed. “No, she hasn’t. But she is working on a new secret project called Titan. We’re all waiting to see what that is.”

I wander over to a display board entitled The Story Behind Young Love and see a collage of newspaper articles about the real teenage couple who took the art world by storm.

“I never knew they were real!” I exclaim, and scan a few paragraphs about the couple, who are called Gabrielle and Patrick. “Wait, they got married in real life? That’s so romantic!”

“It was all quite widely reported,” says Jana as though I’m a bit dim. “There was a TV documentary.”

“Oh. Well, I missed that.”

I survey the picture from a Daily Mail piece, showing the couple in their wedding finery, and suddenly an idea occurs to me.

“She could paint an update!” I swing round to Jana. “She could paint them in their wedding gear and call it Wedding Love. Or if they have kids, she could paint Family Love. Everyone would love it! You’d sell loads of mugs.”

I’m already creating a marketing campaign in my head. Hashtags, images, partnerships, events, the biggest digital presence you’ve ever seen …

Then I blink and come to, almost in surprise at myself. I never expected my brain to come alive like that. I thought I was off marketing, off work, off all of it. It just shows. Something.

“Yes,” says Jana, her smile growing still more rigid. “Various people have suggested updates over the years. However, Ms. Adler has chosen not to reengage with Young Love. Obviously we support her artistic integrity and are very excited about her new direction.”

I bite my lip, feeling a bit sorry for Jana. Obviously she’d die for a lovely new romantic painting from Mavis Adler, but instead she has to be super-excited about metal girders. I’m sure the metal girders are very powerful, only I can’t see anyone putting them on a pencil case.

“And you’re positive she isn’t doing any messages on the beach at the moment?” I return to my original inquiry.

“I don’t know.” Jana spreads her hands. “It’s possible. She’s currently in Copenhagen, of course.”

“Copenhagen?” This ruins my theory. She can’t be simultaneously in Copenhagen and planting messages on the beach.

Although now I think about it, it was always more Finn’s theory than mine. So I still win.

“She’s back in two days, and we’re running a special event at the Rilston ballroom. Ms. Adler will be unveiling Titan,” she adds momentously.

“Wow!” I say, feeling that some response is required. “Titan!”

“Exactly. It will be a big moment. There’s a drinks reception, if you’re interested? The details are in there.” She nods at the leaflet in my hand. “Now I’ll let you browse.”

I drift around the gallery, looking at watercolors and oversized pottery vases, then return to the gift shop area, which is about 90 percent Young Love merchandise, mixed with a few postcards of her messages on the beach. I pick up a Young Love tote bag and approach the till.