Homer Goodspeed, a fictitious character
was working on a map of Los Angeles,
in which he planned to improve travel
routes and make travel much more accessible.
He started by cutting a grocery bag and
flattening it out. He drew a curvy river
through the center of the city with many
streams entering the river at strategic
locations. There were parking lots where
people could park their cars and then board
the river buses and ride in peace to their
destinations. So far so good. He drew in
roadways to handle the lighter traffic
which now would exist. He had
pedestrian walkways, bike trails,
and helicopter landing pads. Everything was
going fine until he realized that he had
forgotten about the railroad. The more
he thought about it the more insane
he became. He started to sketch tracks
in the sky. They were short run and filled
the sky like clouds going in all directions
with no plan in mind. By the time he finished
he had a wonderful abstract painting which
he embellished with pastels, charcoal, pencil,
and acrylics. When he finished, he had his work
framed and it sold at Christie’s for $300 thousand
to a private collector. it was the only work
that Homer did, and no one has seen
the finished product since the auction.
He died at age 84 and his work was not
mentioned in the obituary.
Stanski
December 24, 2022, ^
Steve Haarman 