Travis Louie, Oliver & His Spud, 2012, acrylic on board, 16 x 10" (actual painting is octagonal) • Sold
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. |