TAPE 67 The Bootstuck Art Scene

A routine call to Bootstuck quickly turns into a tour of the town’s rapidly expanding art scene. With Caleb busy hanging pictures “upside down but sideways,” it’s revealed that Bootstuck has recently welcomed an artist — and the results are… unconventional. Caleb’s latest project involves painting the outside view on the inside walls of the house and the inside of the house on the outside, creating what may be either a groundbreaking artistic statement or a logistical nightmare.

Elsewhere in town, artistic expression flourishes in many forms: Dave’s spaghetti sculptures, handcrafted beaded bracelets, and a series of increasingly confusing pictures of pictures. Plans are also underway for a full Bootstuck art show featuring “artisanals and art facts,” though organizers remain wary of one very enthusiastic attendee known only as Waving Tony.

As usual, the cultural boom raises more questions than answers — but in Bootstuck, that’s generally considered a sign that things are going well.

www.bootstuck.com

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:07

Hello? That's interesting. Things anyway. I don't know. I just I'm just a guy phoning a weird place in a weird part of Ontario. None of this makes any sense. None of it seems to be for anything. I'm just told to do it. So here I am. Yeah, I already said hello. Well, I have some questions here for you, if you don't mind. Wait, hold on. I wanted to say something.

SPEAKER_00 0:30

Caleb! I need you go round back, get that thing from round back, bring it around front to the side, hang it up upside down, but sideways, upside down, sideways. So I wanted to say something, but wasn't to you. Hello? What's Caleb doing back there? He's moving things around from the side to the back, hanging them upside down but sideways. Yeah, he's got three of them to do.

SPEAKER_01 0:48

Three, three, what? Uh photographs? Some artwork? Yep. Really?

SPEAKER_00 0:53

Yeah, we're getting real well, it's real nice stuff.

SPEAKER_01 0:55

We got an artist that came to town. Oh, really? And and I'm curious, what's what's art what's the art scene in Bootstuck?

SPEAKER_02 1:02

Yeah, we'll make a song about that one. Art C what's what's that mean?

SPEAKER_00 1:08

Everybody painting, everybody's crayon. Oh no. I'm not too sharp. Hold on. I got Dolcrayon. You ever have that problem?

SPEAKER_01 1:16

Del crayon?

SPEAKER_00 1:17

Yeah. Uh no. Art. Well, we do paintings and we do carving. Dave's the best at carve-offs, and Caleb's the best at paint-offs. I'm really good at making little beaded bracelets.

SPEAKER_01 1:27

Beaded bracelets? Okay. And Caleb is a is a painter? He's a painter. He's real good.

SPEAKER_00 1:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:33

Well, what does he do? Landscapes or uh portraits or Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:37

He does everything. Mostly what he does is he paints things that are outside, inside, and then we think he's outside all the time. Paints it on the walls, paint it on the windows, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:45

So when you're in the house and you look at the wall, he's painted what you would see if there was no wall there.

SPEAKER_00 1:50

Yeah, and then the outside of the house is what's painted from behind the house, inside of the house, and that's why he's renting from the back to the side. So he understands. Then he paints it all.

SPEAKER_01 1:58

Where's the house? So you paint the exterior on the interior, and you paint the interior on the exterior.

SPEAKER_00 2:03

He's doing a real good job, but he also has logs to saw. Wintertime and all.

SPEAKER_01 2:07

I don't know if that's demented or genius. Yeah, so we're allowed to throw stones. Oh my gosh. What's Caleb hanging up on the wall right now?

SPEAKER_00 2:15

Oh, he's hanging up three pictures. One's a picture of the first picture, and the second one's a picture of the first two pictures. And can you guess what the third one is?

SPEAKER_01 2:23

A picture of the picture of the pictures of the picture. Nope, close. It's a tractor. Well, uh, that's very what about yourself? What what's your artistic contribution to bootstuck stuff?

SPEAKER_00 2:36

Well, I told you I'll make bracelets. I make really good beaded bracelets. Yeah, I'll make one for you next time you come up. Oh, doctor. What do you think? If you're a 25 or a 28, yeah, I'll figure it out.

SPEAKER_01 2:45

Uh sorry, a 25 or 28? What's that?

SPEAKER_00 2:47

How many beads do you need?

SPEAKER_01 2:49

Oh, to go around my I don't know. I wouldn't worry too much about it. I've got hundreds. I don't worry much about bootstock. So you're a beadist, and I know Dave does the spaghetti sculptures. Yeah, very well. Yep.

SPEAKER_00 3:01

Give me a spaghetti sculpture looking like a bowl of riggettone.

SPEAKER_01 3:05

A bowl of Tony?

SPEAKER_00 3:06

Rigatoni. Not waving Tony. Remember him? Oh, I do. Rigatoni.

SPEAKER_01 3:10

Yeah, yeah. Different, yeah. Oh, hang on. Is that is that waving Tony in the background?

SPEAKER_00 3:15

Hold on, let me look.

SPEAKER_01 3:18

Yeah. Everything.

SPEAKER_00 3:19

I didn't even know. I can hear him. You can't hear that. Yeah, that's a fast wave. Clip-flap, clip-flap. How does that even pop? Look at him go. Woo! Mahat. Oh, hold on. No. Nope. Sorry.

SPEAKER_01 3:33

Um, all right, so back to the art scene.

SPEAKER_02 3:35

Art scene. Art scene! What's that mean? Art scene.

SPEAKER_01 3:45

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_00 3:47

Getting real excited about it. We're having an art show. You should just come up and see the art show. We're gonna have like a whole hallway full of artisanals and art facts. Art is also gonna be there. Yeah, he'll just stand there, wave. Yeah, not Tony though. No, won't let him in.

SPEAKER_01 4:04

No.

SPEAKER_00 4:06

No.

SPEAKER_01 4:07

Oh, there he goes. Can you like close a window or something so we don't have to sure we can.

SPEAKER_00 4:15

We'll close the door too because we'll wind in there.