SHARK CLUB #1: RICK’S SHOT
Davis W. Morton / 2000 / oil on canvas / 25 X 36 inches

     Unique for its location, The Shark Club in Bethesda, Maryland was like a downtown Euro nightclub transported to the suburbs. All of the people in this painting were employees who were unwinding after hours.
     Rick is the man holding the pool cue, and the symbolism of his “shot” is multi-layered. It could be his next shot in the game that he is playing, or he could be interested in Monica sitting in the chair. For me, “Rick’s Shot” is how he chooses to approach his future. Although the fun he has been having is already fading, he must weigh the direction of the life he knows against the idea of another kind of future that is looking bleaker to him every year.
     For someone no longer young, the advice to “be responsible” is not hard to give. But then another part of us is saying, “Youth is wasted on the young.” In the end, which is better, “ I wish I had done that” or “I wish I hadn’t”? How many people ever take “Rick’s Shot” and find the balance, where having fun and being responsible are dependant on each other? As she looks at the viewer, we don’t know if Monica has the answers to these questions, because she’s not telling.

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©2002
Comments and Original Art by Davis W. Morton (19-176)