Mayhem...

Maya with Doll.Pablo Picasso

Mayhem in London and Paris

At 14:13 pm today in Victoria tube station I spotted a vagabond haring away from the police. Then over the tannoy, Message for the police: the person you're chasing is on the Westbound platform.

Could this have been the thief who stole Picasso's Maya with Doll in Paris yesterday? Yes and No.

If we study the painting we notice Picasso wants to draw out the similarity between the doll and Maya, his daughter who was at the time about three years old. The similarly nostrilled noses join as though they are two connecting pieces of a jigsaw. The eyes also are raised and lowered, left to right, right to left as they would be in a mirror though they are not as alike as the noses. Moreover, their bodies are two halves as one. That they are separate is shown only by the different colour of cloth they wear. (It was painted in 1938 and at some point I will explore the relation between Picasso's art and craft and his possible use of opium. And please do feel free to send your knowledge or views about Picasso and opium.)

So, returning to Yes and No above, the VAGABOND could have been the thief in that the world is full of similarities and coincidences. And as for the poor grand-daughter of Picasso who had owned the painting until its theft, her mind is full of massive questions. Where is it? Who took it? When we lose something, even more so when it is stolen, the whole world becomes VAST, a vast place full of hiding holes and suspect people-our friends, our enemies, the vagabond chased in Victoria Underground at 14:13 pm on the 1st of March 2007.

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