Simple Simon 

Curator: Here we have Scott Gustafson's painting, "Simple Simon." Note the charm of what appears to be naive art. Editor: Oh, wow. Talk about surreal sweetness! That's the first thing that hits me. The gentle blues, the golden pies, then BAM—a hulking gorilla wearing a chef's hat! There's definitely a fairy-tale, topsy-turvy vibe at play here. Curator: Exactly. While undated, Gustafson is best known as a children's book illustrator; it looks like he delights in re-imagining anthropomorphic forms—a nod perhaps to the visual vocabulary of Richard Scarry but painted with hyper-realistic oil paint. The theme speaks to that nostalgic, pre-digital space of childhood. Editor: That's interesting. To me, it feels darker, almost unsettling. Is that an upside-down monkey hanging from a tree behind the pie stand? Like a macabre shop sign? Maybe it reflects childhood, but from the vantage point of the now, with that hint of knowing despair or a warped nursery rhyme. Curator: Possibly, yes. And in contrast to, say, Disneyfied approaches to genre painting, this might explore our changing understanding of innocence. You see a bit of commentary, a sly acknowledgment of contemporary malaise seeping into these classic narratives. It makes you wonder about who exactly Simon, the ape pie-maker, *is*. Editor: Yes! I read some melancholy and wisdom in that simian face. Almost like a weary dad at a Renaissance fair. What stories does *he* have? I think it speaks volumes, the way childhood itself is commodified. These pies, aren’t they like the cheap thrills, the processed stuff? Curator: Well, now. The arrangement of pies also strikes me. So many in plain sight—the stand is certainly arranged with a keenness for visibility—though maybe you have a point with them symbolizing something. The painting captures that tension perfectly: surface charm versus an underlying discomfort. I'm drawn in, even though it unsettles. Editor: Precisely! It makes us think, "What *are* we selling when we sell childhood? Who is *really* profiting?" Even now I have more questions than answers about what it's doing here and whether it succeeds, but… I know I won't be forgetting "Simple Simon" anytime soon.