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Dear Rats-
Was there a time when banks had art in
them? I use a bank in which no matter what branch I go to there
is nothing on the walls except some slick advertisements for the bank.
Ironically these ads are for homes, full of creature comforts, that you could
get loans for from the bank. The colors of the interior are slate, not
blue, rose, not red, and taupe not brown. All muted colors and no art on
the walls.
The other day I asked the teller where the art was
and she replied that she did not know but that 'they", (the management
presumably) were very careful that everything in the bank reflected the bank's
image.
And then today when I went to the bank, one of the
tellers had brought a large bouquet of home grown flowers and placed them at her
station. So there it was all the brighter for being set off by the muted tones
and flat surfaces. Bright peonies, orange roses and white lilacs crowded
together in a cheap non corporate vase.
I stood there in line and wondered if I really did
remember a time when there was art, even ugly art, in the bank. Surely
when I went to the bank as a child I remember a mural of all the cattle brands
of all the ranches who banked at our bank. And my current bank is the same
company as the one my parents used. That seems a long jump from a mural of
the cattle brands of Eastern Oregon to blank taupe walls.
Jack
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