The funniest commission requests ever

[Marcus Lim]

This came from my ex-coordinator / gallery owner friend, whom i worked with long time ago. She runs a regular weekly live drawing sessions, and always on a lookout for new models for her group.

Apparently, one guy came for audition, and after some talks they finally sealed the deal. He asked my friend one last question: are your artists going to draw my face with my body?

My friend was amused, and gave him a definite reply. He smiled and said, "Oh...then..."

"Can i put a paper bag over my head??"

She nearly fell off her seat!
Apparently this guy doesn't want to be recognized (i think he was some top civil servant i guess...) She canned her laughter, and gently turned him down...and he was disappointed by the rejection!

The rest of the day was a laughing history!

[Anthony Emmolo]

A middle-aged lady who came to the studio with a photo of her and her husband in happier times, arm in arm. She wanted a pastel of the photo to try to win her husband back from a lover that he'd gotten involved with. In the end, at the unveiling, she loved the painting, but her husband didn't like it at all. Sometimes you've got to know when to say good-bye, but it is hard.

[Anthony Emmolo]

I attend a life class on Thursdays here in Shanghai. It is attended by a number of older Chinese men. I am the only foreigner. The Chinese models are all mostly very professional. They tend to be poor ladies from the provinces who are honestly trying to make a living in the big city. Many people in Shanghai come from other parts of China, and send the bulk of their meager incomes home to the families so that the family can live better. Then, in time they may or may not return to their home town themselves.

Well, this one model comes, all dressed in her Saturday night at the disco gear, and immediately approaches me in perfect English. Inside of three minutes we managed to communicate that I am very married. She was very divorced, and wanted me to hook her up with a foreign man so that she could move to the USA or to Europe. "I have this South African guy now," she told me, "But I don't like him so much."

Well, the stand was set for her, she disrobed, and looked over to me. "Do you like my body?" She was scheduled for four more sessions, I didn't come to any of them. I couldn't paint with that kind of "Dirtiness." Although I didn't like my judgment of her at all, I felt I needed to distance myself.