Mystery nude found in gallery ceiling — did you paint it? What does it mean?
Please note: This article is published as an archive copy from Philadelphia City Paper. My City Paper is not affiliated with Philadelphia City Paper. Philadelphia City Paper was an alternative weekly newspaper in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The last edition was published on October 8, 2015.
A very tall art thief stashed it up there, maybe?
South Philly gallery and art school the Fleisher Art Memorial just found a mystery painting of a kneeling nude figure in their ceiling. They have no idea who painted it, how long it's been up there or why, and they're asking the public for clues. Via Facebook:
Fleisher mystery alert! Is this your painting our exhibitions manager just found in the gallery ceiling? We've begun crafting our own stories about its origin and how it found its erstwhile home, but if it belongs to you we'd love to know how it got up there and get it back to you!
We're kind of curious, too, so we're reposting. Probable scenarios:
- A very tall art thief couldn't smuggle the painting out during the day, so she stashed it up in the ceiling intending to come back later when security was less attentive. But she was arrested that very afternoon, and is going to be so mad when she hears about this from prison.
- The model in the painting converted overnight to a very strict form of Orthodox Judaism, and asked that all the paintings produced from her nude modeling days be destroyed. The painter of this work, however, was too attached to the painting to let it be tossed on the bonfire, and so hid it in the ceiling in hopes that someday she'd once again be comfortable with her own image and he'd be able to retrieve it and display it.
- The Fleisher has an infestation of the rats of NIMH, and they wanted to add a little culture to their pad.
- An elaborate prank involving making an art student believe that her painting had come to life and fallen in love with her.
- This is actually an ancient talisman that had been placed in Fleisher's ceiling centuries ago to ward off the invasion of Earth via a portal to a strange dimension incomprehensible to the human mind. So... enjoy the rest of the day.
