In total there were twelve paintings in the room. Some were quite colorful, others somber, one monochromatic. I looked over each painting, and each painting had objective content, even though a few of them were quite abstract in appearance. And here's the trick, they were each, perspective/point of view, images. Now I know that any image can be described in this manner. But these were obviously chosen because each was clearly a visual representation about the concept of perspective, none more so than the centerpiece. And here follows a futile effort:

At first glance it was a painting of a room with four people, three males and one female. Two of the males were distracted; one reading a book in picture center, another gazing off into space. This second was situated on the far, viewer right, and was distorted in such a way as to suggest something odd was going on with the image itself. The third male was in obvious interaction with the female, on the edge of his seat, legs spread open with elbows rested lightly upon them, gesturing emphatically as if in the act of trying to convince the female upon some point of argument. While the female sat back in her chair with her legs crossed and her arms folded in front of her chest, under her ample breasts. Then I noticed, in the lower picture center, a pair of crossed legs with a drawing pad in their lap, and a pair of hands, one holding the pad in place, the other creating a drawing of a room with three males and one female and a pair of crossed legs with...

It was odd but it wasn't the only odd feature to the painting. For instance, a painted-in border matting created a horizontal oval of the whole rendered image including the two side panels. Another oddity was a thin, dark line encompassing the center section of the painting, which looked like a line drawing of a pair of water goggles seen from the front. And the title was A Dream of Four Dreams Within a Dream.

I was perplexed by these fantastical anomalies because of the super-realistic style in which the image was rendered. That is, I was confounded until I started staring at the center of the image, pondering the distortions, and pop! I realized the artist had taken the viewer into his own head. The image was treated as if the viewer was inside the artist's head looking out. My heart leapt at the very conception of the idea, while my mind was amazed at how well the image worked once you learned to use your peripheral vision to view it as a whole.

As I stood there gazing at the image, Gilbert entered the room and walked to my side, awaiting my attention.

"Gilbert," I started. "Where in the world did you find this painting?"

"Richard," he said while handing me a glass of white wine. "How are you old friend?" he finished.

"Pampered, good buddy, feeling quite pampered."

"Well, put the little monster away for now,” I noticed the little smirk in his tone of voice, "dinner's ready."

We both laughed and gave each other a brotherly hug with one arm, being careful not to spill our wine. `Good wine, is much to fine - to loose a drop of mine.'

"Gilbert," I started over, "Why did you choose these paintings?"

"Perspective is probably one of the most important magnitudes of consequence. In a sense it colors our character by our use of it - by helping us choose the things with which we identify ourselves. Did you at any point today come to the realization that character is the counterpoint balance of chaos? No, don't answer that now... Keep it in mind; let’s take care of the necessaries for now: body before mind young man."

He opened the door on our left and walked ahead of me as we entered a short hall that led to a small kitchen. When I stepped into the hall I caught the aroma of the meal which had been prepared, the sent of Comino was thick within it. And though it mixed a little with the heavy incense from the `gallery,' I couldn't help but think of my childhood. - The Sunday morning preparation for an afternoon at the park with all my cousins and relatives. - Ah, there's nothing like the sense of smell to bring back an old memory.

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