The People You Meet at Park West Art Auctions

Roger’s Right Corner: It’s the People You Meet!
Commentary By Roger Cathcart

A cruise is a great way to get away and meet new people. The cruise we recently took was on my favorite line – Norwegian – and was out of the great winter cruise hub of Miami, an amazing port with great numbers of cruise ships leaving most days. Our ship was the Norwegian Jewel, a fairly new vessel as luxurious as they make them...

The most interesting people were the Park West art auction people – a fixture on Norwegian lines – whose job was to sell art from the largest gallery in the world. This was the third cruise with an auctioneer and his/her assistants - and they surely were the best.

The head guy was a young and enthusiastic man named Trevor from Houston, Texas. Trevor had worked in other capacities on cruise ships, but said he really liked this job. He had learned about art and the artists while on the job, but his knowledge is impressive and you would swear he had a degree in fine arts. He is also very articulate – a true auctioneer – and really works at getting the bids and selling the paintings.

His main assistant was Etienne, a white South African. He and I discussed the present dangers of being a white person in this dangerous country. He told me that his mother still lives there but had lost her business, and the last time he visited he was held up and robbed. Etienne does not plan to return to his native country but will go elsewhere – a wise decision.

Trevor’s second assistant was a Serbian named Aggy. He told me he had been in Canada but was sent away when his visa expired. He hopes to get an American visa and then apply to become a Canadian. Let’s hope he makes it...

* Excerpted from an original publication in the The Reminder - April 15, 2009