Job Interview

The first time I saw C. P. was in a job interview. I was applying for an Artist’s Assistant position. When I entered the room everyone was smoking. The artist sat with his coat draped regally over his shoulders, flanked by attractive indy-rocker/hipster boys, and thousands of dollars of Old Holland paint laid out on a table. The boys asked me questions, while the artist observed me.
After a while he spoke “Do you have a problem working with” (he then paused dramatically, took a drag of his cigarette, and completed the sentence while exhaling the smoke) “Sexually Explicit Material?” I said “No” with bored disinterest. Already a weird experience, I couldn’t wait to know where this was going. The artist stood up to hand me a folder of large photographs, and sat back down to continue observing me.
The photos were of nude prepubescent boys. Most of the time the boys were standing, and showering, or just wet. The camera angle was from below, and highlighting the hairless genitals. My job was to turn these into 10- foot by 12-foot paintings.
A month later got a call saying they went with more photorealistic styled painters.