Travis Louie, Oliver & His Spud, 2012, acrylic on board, 16 x 10" (actual painting is octagonal) Sold
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After a particularly hard frost in Devils Lake, North Dakota, Oliver Parker came across a strange bump in the potato field. He discovered a particularly rare kind of "floater". Floaters often disguised themselves as Hubbard squash or pumpkins and could be seen hovering over planting fields just before a good harvest. This type of floater was only found near gold deposits. Oliver became a wealthy man and his floater became known as Oliver's Spud because of where he found it. Oliver used the floater the way people used pigs to locate and extract truffles. He was very proud of his "Spud" and entered it in the Great Secret Pet Show of 1899 and won a blue ribbon. There was an unusual side effect that occurred from handling the "Spud." Exposure to "gold floaters" caused enlarging of the ears or nose and a shrinking of the eyes. By the time Oliver was in his thirties, his eyes were the size of raisins. |
