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‘You could still find time to write occasionally, and not only to Sophie…’
‘What with having to work in the gallery and studying and constantly working towards ations—I don’t have any spare time,’ was the plaintive reply
‘What kind of painting do you do?’ asked Veronica politely
Ashley gave her a patronising look ‘I’ dead conventions; I’m an environmental constructionist—I conceptualise space and remodel it with mixed-media and sculptural forms’
‘Ashley is an installation artist,’ translated Luc, taking pity on Veronica’s look of confusion ‘You know the kind of thing—covering objects in bubble-wrap, running hours of looped video in a roo…’
‘Oh, sorry, Ashley, I really don’t knowit sounded quite ghastly ‘I did enjoy the Picasso Museuh’
Her atteround went down like a lead balloon ‘Oh, Picasso—he’s accessible to pretty well everyone these days’ Ashley shrugged
‘Ashley prides herself on her inaccessibility,’ said Luc, his voice so exquisitely deadpan that Veronica glanced sideways at hi
Ashley’s pretty face tensed, her blue eyes narrowing in fleeting doubt under the funky fringe of her bleached blonde hair before she decided to take the cole to be understood is part of the challenge of being on the cutting edge of art,’ she declared loftily
‘Installation art is a hot-button for sponsorship in the Melbourne cultural scene at the lass of wine and reaching for the olives ‘If you can get yourself noticed you can virtually write your own cheques If I get posted to London, Ryder, perhaps you ht be able to use soet sponsorship for an exhibition of Ash’s work,’ he said to Lucien, with an ingratiating sested he ell aware of the potential value of such contacts to himself
‘Perhaps’ Lucien’s voice was pleasant but noncommittal and Veronica, acutely attuned to every nuance of his tone, sensed his instinctive disli
ke of the other man
Ashley flushed
‘Luc’s got billions, he could afford to sponsor me himself, if he wasn’t such a philistine,’ she said, with a careless toss of her head
‘No, he hasn’t, he’s only a millionaire,’ piped up Sophie ‘I looked it up on the web A billion is a thousand million and Luc only has—’