Mr. Bully's Meat Room

Mr. Bully's Meat Room, o/p, 24"x 20", Steven Rhude


On occasion I've stumbled across shops or small businesses exhibiting vernacular signs with paradoxical qualities. I usually don't enter them for fear of disturbing the preconceptions they generate for me. Years ago I recall encountering a place called 'The Optimist Shop' in the Lunenburg Shipyard. I knew going in may leave me with a sense the motif could lose its lustre. So I stayed on the outside, preferring to let my imagination conjure up a variety of meanings that would instead remain fixed as possible anecdotes or a bigger truth, compared to a reality that may not be so favorable on the inside. In short, I had no desire to dispel the illusion the shop exterior created for me as a painter.

So, I will probably never know Mr. Bully, or what his meat room looks like inside. But since I only stumbled on it by chance, I know that it does exist, is located in Petty Harbor, NFLD, and is probably only known to his customers owing to its isolated location. He must be somewhat proud of his trade as evident by the decorated door frame replete with cleavers and antlers, his name and number. But if you're not content with the exterior, give him a call sometime, or better yet, pay him a visit - in Newfoundland truth is always stranger than fiction.

Steven Rhude, Wolfville, NS.



   






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