Re: Sam/Eames: art class
Acclaim was cheap, darling. Or rather, it didn't require serious talent, it took backing and public admiration and adoration and there was a whole line of people ready to agree with the pronouncement of whoever held the purse-strings. Acclaim turned daubs into art and could reduce art into postcards and no, Eames didn't argue popularity but he did think the whole history of culture was bound up in the Emperor having no clothes at all at certain points. He smiled in the face of her amused indignation.
"Darling, I make a point of never beginning arguments I would lose," he told her. Both eyebrows curved upward, "The nude?"
Eames was stocky. It was inescapable fact and he would never be fey and thin and dramatically unplaceable in age. His face was unlined in the main and possessed a quality that could assume character at will, which meant it lacked the stubborn traces of living unless you looked for the signs of wear that accumulated over time. He had no idea who Cris was, darling, but it was doubtful Eames was very young.
"Are you suggesting I'm not beautiful? No matter how old I am," and Eames preened with all the self-respecting self-adoration of a peacock, entirely deliberately and with the wry edge of finding the whole thing funny. "My eyeball too. Poor Murphy," he said with reproach. "He deserves love and kindness. He's seen a lot." It was almost affectionate, that statement and it faded on a note that was thoughtful truth.
He shrugged a shoulder. "Clothes don't, darling. Labels, that sort of thing. Tailoring, that does. If something fits a man like a glove, that has been made and measured for him. It doesn't matter what fabric it's made of, it's expensive." It was a tip from one artist to another and he regarded her lazily, with blue eyes that gleamed with an awake humor that belied the languidity of his posture. "There's no one like me, darling." More of the cocksuredness.
"Tell me about your art, darling. What would I buy, if I had money. Murphy here but what else do you do?" It was careless and casual.