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Jack Balas, 1993; The Sink, Rome; oil/wood; 77"x47"

Text: " ...n your half the bed listening to him go on about the busted shower and what the football team will do this fall. You've trudged through this ancient dust of Rome, athletes everywhere naked on pedestals, on friezes, lining the rooftops -- the Quirinale, Campidoglio, the Vatican -- muscle taut in combat, in repose and now you thumb the Sistine guide but he goes to the sink and removes the last of his clothes and you are frozen by more muscle: hard, smooth. He's talking about some girl he met in the Pantheon as he lathers himself. You hear yourself tell about the Forum, how you look at your calves and the veins casting shadows in sun and imagine yourself back then and now you're marble. That's when he turns to you, asks if you ever..."