Luann by Greg Evans and Karen Evans for May 17, 2021

Nil looks like a mutant.

{face palm} How are you supposed to say the unsaid?

Is that an innie or an outie?

Well, I’m Impressed!

Nil’s Bullsh*t Detector is working just fine.

This guy might actually survive his date with Bernie, unscathed.

At least long enough to offer an explanation of why he wanted a date with her in the first place.

Whoa! This is getting pretty hot! How can they keep their hands off one another? If this were a movie it would be fade to black any second.

The perfect couple, one doesn’t say anything and the other says it all.

Bernice is trying to make nice… for which she will be pilloried!

I like Nil’s honesty!

Oh. . .brother. Sigh. . .

I said it before and I’ll say it again, it’s nothing, that’s not art, no matter what anyone else says, that’s a waste of time, it’s just a dot on a piece of paper!

What is the sound of one hand clapping?

I think that the outie.

Those of us who figured this was Nil’s exhibit were right. And I really like everything he said here. (And what Mordy said…)

I think we have a blossoming relationship.

Gasp! The lively, tiny scribble is done so skillfully!

Another trait we discover Bernie has – she is also a BLLSHTTR…

Ars gratia artis! Your raw criticism was the unsaid Bernice. Your well meaning attempt to validate the art through strained praise was not what he sought. Your honest reaction was uncomfortable but it was your truth. Maybe try that in your personal life?

“I should have known this was your work, but you didn’t tell me, for some reason. Not to mention I’ve never seen your work before, so how would I know it if I saw it?”

But she sounds just like an art critic.

Bernice should forget psychology. She has all the verbal skills necessary to be an art critic. Zebo would be so proud.

Why buy a large canvas and then do one doodle in the middle of it? :-)

I used to drive my artist friends nuts by saying pompous things like “My! What a lovely texture!”

Bernice might wonder just how far Nil’s minimalism extends.

I wish Bern would say, “Are you ****ing with me?” That could give Bern the wheel in this one-sided conversation.

Bernice: “I should have said nothing.”

Nil: “That would’ve made my art pointless.”

Bytebot: “I disagree, Nil. So far as your ‘art’ being pointless, it can stand on its own and speaks for itself. Further, causing a reaction does not turn garbage into ‘art,’ nor does it mean the garbage has any point.”

Bernice has the grace to apologize, and Nil seems pretty secure—I really like how this is developing. Nice character development for both of them.

Nil’s artwork is more of a Rorschach test, he wants viewers to tell him what they see.

I think they’re becoming the new odd couple. Bernice is going to fall hard.

I can see this going somewhere – at least for a short time. They are both intellectuals in very different ways: one is creative, the other science. Wouldn’t be the first couple (even married happily) like this.

Nil is quite talented and his object for Bernice is just the kind of honest expression that is both brilliant and revealing for/to/about Bernice herself. Will this revelation result in a realization by her how deep a relationship with Nil might be for her? I think he is very, very interested in finding out. Promising.

Gasp The effervescent dialog!

What this week’s story needs is Shannon doodling on some of this mostly blank canvases.

Nil could add one and get to one with Bernice!

I just realized, the first one looks like an eyebrow and this one looks like a navel. Is he following a theme of body parts contrasted against negative space?

And the plot moves along. It’s nice that Bernice said she was sorry, but she didn’t have to.

At least Nil has the right idea about courting Bernice: Let her do the talking.

“You say it best, when you say nothing at all!” :D

GASP! Nil prefers a sincere, snarky and ignorant criticism to a false appreciation. Bernice has met the only person who can survive a long term relationship with her without going crazy or running away! Nil wants to hear the real impressions, despite his indifferent attitude he work hard because he seriously wants to become a painter. This makes me appreciate him much more. I’m glad Bernice feels awkward, but now I hope she can talk to Nil taking him more seriously.

Bernice; trying to mimic what an art critic might say doesn’t help the situation any.

Nil is looking for an honest reaction, even a negative one. Which probably marks him as the most mature person in Luann’s orbit.

It reminds me of a Bizarro cartoon in an art gallery full of dozing patrons, and the artist telling a companion, “Sure, my art puts people to sleep, but at least that’s a reaction! What I can’t stand is apathy!”

Since this exhibition is all about saying the unsaid, I’ll say it:

…………………………….

There. Am I a hero? I’d like to think so…

Sometimes I wonder if I could do something foolish, like throw a can of paint on a wall, and sell it as a mural.

Think maybe she’s met her match??

Better than Toni yesterday: she kept nagging for a reaction, then got upset when she got it.

I think I’ll start finding ways to work “The effervescent minimalism is virtuosic” into everyday conversation.

It is the very essence of the quintessence of the ephemerality of the effervescent evanescence!

I think the result of this mini-arc is Bernice will learn to be more direct and actively pursue Jack.

that looks like an eye. the first looked like an eye brow-think they all add up to a picture of bearnice?

It’s actually nihilism, not minimalism. Some dirt got in the centre by accident.

The effervescent, minimalism of this arc is undeniably pointless.

She keeps talking about being a psych major, but constantly missing social queues. Whatever she is learning, she needs to go back and relearn it.

So simple, and yet, so artistic.

Just think! When Nil grows up he can actually try to cover more than .000005% of his canvases with paint! So exciting!

Bernice is not being artsy smartsy.

Nil is on to you, Berniece.

“Sometimes the best way, to say something, is just say nothing at all” – Justin Timberlake & Chris Stapleton, “Say Someting”

Bernice turned too hard into the skid of pretentiousness. With Nil, who knows if it will work.

Hmm . . . sarcasm meets pretentiousness. Looks like a match made in heaven.

An apology from Bernice! (Followed by an attempt to suck up to him)

Perhaps there’s hope for both of them!

As for us: A week of weak jokes about the meaning of „nil“?

Glad Bernice apologized, but for being honest? Seems the show title should be “Honest Opinions Unsaid”. Nil is correct, without the truth, his work is pointless. And proves the point as well. Nice! ;-)

GASP!!!

Bernice is so unlikable. Why would any man want to spend time with her.

You do and you’ll clean it up!

Bernice is just being Fake in the last panel. She is saying what she thinks Nil wants to hear, not her real feelings.

Nil is doing what a good romantic partner should do. He is trying to help her grow to be a better self. By not telling her it was his art, he got her to admit how she really felt and now she knows she cannot get away with her usual “not make waves” persona so she might actually have to be truly open and see that will not drive him away so she can grow in being more confident in saying what she really means.

Bern isn’t going to win this one. Bern should just put a hand on her chin and say Hmmmm.

So! By Nil’s own concept of art, all his canvases only should have consist of the base coat. He eventually realizes this, succumbs to absinthe addiction and cuts his ear off… if he has one,

So what would Bernice say, when Nil says he got $ 100k for the blank painting???

There will be no nude painting, because that would be saying the said!

9

I am glad that Bernice is overcompensating at the moment for the flippant attitude she displayed Saturday. It is showing to me, her caring side. And, I also think it is opening up the door for both Bernice and Nil to communicate effectively with each other and really get to know each other.

I like that Nil seems unfazed emotionally by the initially flippant comments and also by the current “meaningless word salad” comments. To me, it speaks highly of Nil knowing and understanding his own voice, his own art, and that his exhibit is truly his work designed to try to start dialogue (which good art does). He seems and is acting both confident in his artistic voice and yet not condescending or overbearing about it.

I am really looking forward to more of this, this week!!!!!

Maybe I have a new appreciation for art- If the artist is in on the con, they expose the snobs and elites who think they’re so smart!

I wonder. Nil knew that if Jack went, he wouldn’t have been blunt honest with his art as a critic. Was Nil looking for a date or just someone to be honest with him. Though, I do question why he has such an interest in human body parts ….

Getting his art ready for a show might explain why Nil didn’t ask Bernice to attend himself. But, man, Bernice is stepping in it hard.

Sometimes art criticism can sound sooooo pseudo-intellectual !!

I cannot stand Bernice. I think she’s an insufferable and unpleasant person and wouldn’t wish her on anyone.

That being said, Nil isn’t coming off that great right now either. G&K’s contempt for artists (usually exhibited by Zebo or that theatre lady) is really shining through. I’m kinda feeling bad for Bernice here. It sucks having to deal with someone who’s basically trying to be as difficult as possible.

I wonder if Nil will ask if he can paint Bernice someday …leaving it “unsaid” which parts. ;-)

I didn’t think it would be possible for Bernice to actually makes things even worse, but yeah, she has. Almost anything would have been better than what she said. Something like, “I’m sorry, Nil, but your art just doesn’t speak to me.” As for me, I think I’ll go take a nap…

Wait—Jack didn’t tell Bernice it was Nil’s art at the museum, either. Did they think she wouldn’t go if she knew? Nils, be more confident about those eyebrow paintings!

For some reason, this whole arc reminds me of the MASH episode where Radar is trying to impress some girl, and all he can find to say is “Ah, Bach!” Maybe Bernice should do the same. “Ah, Gogh!”

Fishing for Compliments never catches anything worth keeping.

I like this kid.

If you can’t tell the truth, why say anything.

Bernice is a gal, Nil is a guy. Must I explain why getting together is evolutionary, Mordock999?

Bernie’s feeble attempt at regaining her self-respect falls flatter than Nil’s palette. He sees through her so easily you might even conclude that he has two eyes….

oh the irony

I can’t understand why so many posters here think this is a ‘blind date’, when B and Nil HAD met before. Whether or not B disliked Nil had not been established. But it isn’t a ‘blind date’. The only thing really established is that B is attracted to Jack. She is so attracted that she jumped in to say ‘yes’ to an invitation he was extending to go to an art show, only when he finished his statement, he was actually asking her to go with Nil because he himself supposedly couldn’t go with Nil. I didn’t see that as ‘tricking’ someone into going with someone else. I saw it as B not waiting to hear everything Jack was saying, and ending up saying ‘yes’ to something she probably didn’t want to do…