His full name was Paul Williamsburg <\/p>\n\n\n\n
But he liked to be called Williamsburg <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the years leading up to his accident <\/p>\n\n\n\n
He had an obsession with cleanliness<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Taking up to twelve baths a day <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sometimes on his own <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sometimes with one of his angels <\/p>\n\n\n\n
He was also obsessed with kindness <\/p>\n\n\n\n
And on one occasion gave Mary Gante <\/p>\n\n\n\n
A Rolling Stone reporter his famous <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kew Gardens painting <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Which now hangs in the MOMA <\/p>\n\n\n\n
But it was not always like that <\/p>\n\n\n\n
As for many years he was in serious debt <\/p>\n\n\n\n
And was always on the run from creditors <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sometimes he would hide in lofts and cellars <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Or radically change his appearance <\/p>\n\n\n\n
His favourite country was England <\/p>\n\n\n\n
And he visited as often as he could <\/p>\n\n\n\n
His favourite place was Kew Gardens <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Which he filmed and painted many times <\/p>\n\n\n\n
His great friend Alice the Cat lived in Kew<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And he often stayed with her when in London <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sometimes when on the run from the taxman <\/p>\n\n\n\n
She was one of the last people to see him <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Before his mysterious disappearance <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Although she knew where he was <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The tax authorities in the US had uncovered <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Purple Fraud <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Thousands of dollars had been hidden away<\/p>\n\n\n\n
No tax had been paid <\/p>\n\n\n\n
It was a simple scheme <\/p>\n\n\n\n
During his Purple Year <\/p>\n\n\n\n
He arranged for all his Purple Paintings <\/p>\n\n\n\n
To be copied by those without his talent <\/p>\n\n\n\n
They were obvious forgeries <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Even a senior member of the FBI was taken in <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Williamsburg aware of a warrant for his arrest <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Suddenly left New York <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nobody apart from Alice the Cat knew where he was <\/p>\n\n\n\n
She was frequently asked the same question <\/p>\n\n\n\n
But always said that loved flowers more than the truth <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Since his accident he has been reported in many places <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Alice the Cat was often followed by reporters <\/p>\n\n\n\n
When she travelled abroad visiting famous botanical gardens <\/p>\n\n\n\n
A number of years have passed since Cornwall’s least famous son <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Left Macy’s never to be seen again it was a great career move <\/p>\n\n\n\n
As his paintings and especially the forgeries command high prices <\/p>\n\n\n\n
He never signed his movies and Alice the Cat signed everything else <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I once shared a bath with Williamsburg and two of his angels <\/p>\n\n\n\n
New York Number 28 was the name of the five day long movie<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is occasionally shown at film festivals but never in the US <\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is the longest movie shot in total darkness <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Voices can be heard but nothing can be seen <\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is supposed that the artist is hiding in this movie <\/p>\n\n\n\n
And this has caused the US authorities <\/p>\n\n\n\n
To confiscate all known copies <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last year I was arrested in LA for no real reason <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Except I wanted to be called Alice the Cat <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I was told in no uncertain terms that the artist<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Would break cover one day and they would be waiting <\/p>\n\n\n\n
What they are not aware of is that New York Number 28<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Has been copied many times and many bootleg copies exist <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Including the most famous one shot in strong sunlight <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I remember the movie well as after six minutes the artist <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dressed as a French general leaves the room through a side door <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Leaving the two angels and myself relaxing in the bath<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On that day we had dressed as Tibetan Monks <\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
His full name was Paul Williamsburg But he liked to be called Williamsburg In the years leading up to his accident He had an obsession with cleanliness Taking up to twelve baths a day Sometimes on his own Sometimes with one of his angels He was also obsessed with kindness And on one occasion gave […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33287"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33287"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33287\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33295,"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33287\/revisions\/33295"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33287"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33287"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33287"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}