Have you seen the eggs?
Of course you have. Who hasn’t seen the eggs? The bloody eggs are all people have been going on about for the last month, and if by some miracle you haven’t hunted them down yet, then this weekend they’re all gathering in a big omelette-y pile in Covent Garden for Easter.
You can even go online and bid to have one in your house.
But if you do, choose carefully. Because like everything in this world, there are good eggs, and there are bad eggs.
See, now that’s a good egg. A lot of work’s gone into this one. It’s by Rolando Di Sessa Neto and at the moment you can buy it for the bargain price of £1,300. You might think I’m being all sarcastic in expressing my appreciation for this egg, but I’m not. If I had £1,300 to spend on an egg, I’d absolutely buy the one with dinosaurs all over it. Then I’d spend my evenings tricking people by announcing “I’ve got a dinosaur egg!” at dinner parties, before watching their facial expressions rise and fall with expectation. But that’s just me.
I like the sound of Rolando, too. His bio on the website says:
“Rolando Di Sessa Neto has been drawing all his life. He started out drawing cartoons and children’s books, but has since moved into different kinds of illustrations and comics as well”.
They missed out the bit about why he started painting dinosaur eggs, but I like it because there’s no pretension. That’s just how Rolando rolls, he just likes to draw.
Which brings me to the other end of the spectrum: Egg no. 36. Or, as I like to call it: Bad Egg.
Where do I start with this one? How about the price: £1,400 – that’s right, one hundred pounds more than the dinosaurs for what is basically the laziest looking egg I’ve ever seen.
I know what you’re thinking. “Come on, Shivani Mathur. Where are the Moshi Monsters? What about the feathers? Where’s the love? Everyone else gave it a good go, but you just went a bit mental with the gold and red spray paint”.
And to be honest, if I hadn’t read her bio on the website I’d be in total agreement with you. But here’s the deal:
Shivani Mathur’s paintings are vivid and bright, contemplative and reflective. At the core there is a precise thought, but the viewer must work hard to see it and often sees different aspects and images in the same work. She calls it an “abstraction of precision” Her works have been exhibited at Bonham’s Bond Street, Walton Street Knightsbridge, Royal Automobile Club Pall Mall, The Brunei Gallery and in India.
You see, it’s not the egg that’s wrong – it’s us. We’re just not working hard enough to see the magic. So I squinted a bit and thought I saw an image of Jesus on the side, but then I realised I didn’t, it was just the reflection of a nearby Italian tourist.
Anyway, the eggs are going soon, and I think I’m going to miss them (not you, no. 36.)
Happy Easter. If you had a favourite, do let me know. We can talk eggs in the comments below.
The dinosaur egg is eggcellent.
I’ll get my coat.
That’s…eggactly the reaction I was hoping for.
I liked “Pandora” because you could be fooled into thinking there was a h’actual dinosaur inside it. 2nd in line on my list was “Around the World”, because it featured what looked suspiciously like a granny flying in the air with an umbrella (although, it could have been Mary Poppins).