No. 98. Water Lillies Now. It's been two years since he was in Paris--how quickly the time passes!! It was while browsing through the Musee de L'Orangerie, innocently enjoying the Derains and the Soutines that, almost by chance, he found himself descending the stairs into the museum's Monet Room 1 (Adorno called it a "mausoleum") and finding himself awash--almost against his will--in Monet's "Grandes Decorations," the Water Lillies. He rather wished it hadn't been quite so overwhelming an experience. Since returning home, he had always wanted to pay some sort of tribute to that epic body of work in his own practice, but had never found a way. Then, a few weeks ago, he noticed a frieze of violet water lillies splashed along the sides of a box of Royale tissues. They had been painted crudely, without conviction, against a listless green background. He set about copying them--on a vast, Monet-scale. Their cheapness, their downright tawdriness both fascinated him and rather disgusted him. Well, that's perfect, he thought.