Medyani took me out for a dose of oil painting, as we saw the about-to-close American in Paris exhibit at the MFA Boston, and afterwards to a Dee-Licious feast at Betty’s Wok & Noodle. While the individual pieces were a delight and in few cases stunning, in combination they directed my thinking to the sociological. What people perceive as important enough to paint, what they choose to accentuate, is as thrilling to me than the work itself, or the technique. And that’s the magic of things, is that they can be looked at with different eyes and imaginations.

I’ve made a habit of examining the framing more carefully as of late. The frame is what separates art from not-art, and while they are often incredibly ornate, they’re rarely signed. And, while I’m hopeful that they did a great job in making that threshold wherever the paintings originally were hung, in the confines of a museum gallery they tend to be a bit jarring.