‘Calm down, Evie! Just watching you flap is giving me palpitations!’ Pippa giggled.
‘How can I slow down? This is the most important exhibition the gallery has ever handled. In less than an hour, all the great and the good of London’s venerable art world will be descending on our little corner of the capital expecting to be bowled over by the creative genius of Britain’s newest contemporary artist. Everything has to be perfect!’
Evie slid her scarlet fingernail along the flap and withdrew the unwelcome missive before scanning the contents. She opened her mouth to object but no words tumbled forth. Her brain had temporarily disconnected from its modem and was refusing to register what her eyes were seeing. She felt a heavy fist of shock ram into her solar plexus, stealing her breath away, and a ripple of nausea threatened to overwhelm her.
‘Oh for heaven’s sake! This really is the final straw. The arrogant, self-centred …’
‘What’s the matter? What does it say?’
‘It’s from Jaxx Benson, our esteemed debut artist. It looks like we’ve got just over fifty minutes to swap this canvas – which he has helpfully labelled “the centrepiece of the whole exhibition” – with that one over there, which we spent the best part of yesterday positioning as the previous so-called “star attraction”. Quick! Antoine, could you and Pierre take the “Muswell Musings” canvas down and hide it in James’s office for the time being, then come back to help me and Pippa hang this one in its place? Hurry!’
As Pierre and Antoine rushed off to do as bid, their black waiters’ aprons flapping at their waists, Evie felt a surge of panic twist through her veins and sparkle out to her fingertips. A flush of perspiration gathered beneath her breasts and along her upper lip. She sent up a quick thank you to the gods of Estée Lauder for the staying power of her foundation and mascara.
She crouched down to tear away the cardboard armour from the late arrival, cursing the audacity of Jaxx Benson – heart-throb and lead singer of one of the hottest bands in the country who had decided to turn his hand to painting – for thinking it was okay to demand such a late substitution. She allowed her thoughts to whirl back over the hectic past few months during which she had spent twelve hours a day at the beck and call of the art world’s latest sensation until her nerves were frazzled and frayed.
She kept telling herself, and anyone else who chastised her for her workaholic tendencies, that once the opening night was out of the way she would take a break. However, at that moment, as she had single-handedly curated the whole exhibition, she couldn’t risk anything going wrong. This was her one big chance to show James Bradbury what she could do, but the stress of pulling off such an important show was taking its toll. Every night she had lain awake chasing the ‘what if’ demons down blind alleyways until her exhausted brain could take no more. All she wanted to do now was crawl into her bed and sleep until Sunday.
‘Thanks, Antoine. Pierre, can you help me get rid of all this packaging, please? It’s making the place look untidy.’
When Bradbury Art had taken delivery of the first of Jaxx Benson’s paintings to be revealed to his adoring public, the excitement in the gallery had been palpable. Evie had unpacked the artwork with the reverence demanded of a collection of Monets or Renoirs. But when she and Pippa had stood back to admire the canvases lined up in military precision along the West End gallery’s ice-white walls, they had been stunned into silence. Neither of them had wanted to be the first to comment, but Evie had eventually managed to ask how on earth the young musician had attracted such critical acclaim.
Whenever she considered any piece of art – whether it be a painting, a sculpture, a photograph, or an installation – she wanted to experience a thrill of emotion, any emotion. But Jaxx Benson’s artwork did nothing for her. It was clear to her expert eye that the singer had received no formal tutoring – his chosen subject matter was a collision of random splodges of black, taupe, and grey paint selected from a limited spectrum at the depressing end of his artist’s palette. The canvases lacked any kind of perspective or complexity in their composition. There was no use of symbolism or, as far as she could ascertain, any hidden meaning or energy beyond the surface.
Clearly Jaxx’s musical fame had preceded him and there was nothing she could do about it. It was up to her to deal with the shock and make the heart-throb’s debut into the art world as noteworthy as possible. Nevertheless, she could already envisage the art critics’ disdainful headlines printed on a loop of ticker tape coiling around her brain and she cringed. She had longed to show James what she was capable of, that she could curate a successful exhibition of this calibre, but tonight would not be that occasion. It was going to be a disaster; she could feel it in her bones.
She checked her watch again and began clawing at the bubble wrap. ‘Jaxx Benson really is the most unprofessional, egotistical, irritating person I have ever had the misfortune to …’
She was forced to pause in her character assassination when the new piece of artwork was unveiled in all its technicolour glory. Unlike its drab companions that hung on the walls around the gallery, this late arrival depicted a vibrant landscape – possibly of Devon or Cornwall – and was a complete departure from the other pieces in the exhibition.
‘Wow! That’s amazing!’ declared Pippa, coming to stand next to Evie with her arms folded as she studied the last-minute substitution. ‘No wonder he wants the canvases switched. Come on. Let’s get this beauty on the wall before the guests start to arrive.’
‘I have to agree with you, Pip. In fact, I might just have to reassess my initial opinion of Mr Benson’s artistic prowess if this piece is representative of his new stuff.’
Between the four of them they lifted the huge canvas onto the back wall. In unison, they took a step back and allowed their eyes to linger on the new leading lady. The canvas’s inclusion had lifted the rest of the collection from dull and mundane to quirky and almost interesting in a light, uplifting sense of contrast. It was as though the sun had appeared from behind a bank of bruised clouds to illuminate the whole space and a wave of relief surged through Evie.
She acknowledged for the first time that the feeling in the pit of her stomach had been one of dread. She had believed that the patrons of the art world who had been invited to the opening that evening would, like she and Pippa, consider the collection to be subpar; that they would arrive at the inevitable conclusion that James Bradbury Art had lost its edge or been blinded by the celebrity of the musician-turned-painter and had chosen to overlook the fact that he had little talent.
She needn’t have worried. Now she could genuinely dedicate herself to an evening of conversations in which she could happily wax lyrical about the artist’s indisputable talents.
‘Do you think this means Jaxx Benson has changed his mind and decided to come to the opening night now?’ asked Pippa for the hundredth time that day, her chestnut eyes sparkling with hope.
‘You know he won’t. One of the criteria for him agreeing to hold his debut exhibition at Bradbury’s was that we wouldn’t insist on him attending in person to publicize it. His agent made sure the stipulation was written into the contract. Even James Bradbury himself couldn’t persuade him to change his mind. So, Pip darling, you can put your autograph book and camera back in your handbag!’
Evie held her tablet aloft and took a succession of photographs of the spectacular canvas to upload to the James Bradbury Art Gallery’s Facebook and Instagram pages later.
‘Well, I don’t know how he can stay away. If this were my exhibition I’d be here soaking up the compliments, explaining the road to my inspiration, talking up the prices and smiling for the photographers. Don’t look at me like that, Evie. You would too!’
‘Ah,’ she sighed, rotating her aching shoulders and massaging her temples with her index fingers to soothe away the stress headache that was threatening to overwhelm her. ‘But that’s not likely, is it? I haven’t