A review by gengelcox
A Portrait of the Artist by Charles Midwinter

3.0

A strange story adrift in time and space. The city could be New York, given the art connection and the bus and the building, but it also could be Chicago. It’s somewhat in the future, given the woman’s occupation and the gear described, so it has a bit of a cyberpunk feel, but it centers around an artist who’s finally getting something painted but his subject is a new intelligent evolved squirrel that’s been visiting his apartment. It’s not really realistic, and yet the details are nicely realized. I suppose it might be intended as ironic, given the nature of art (in this case, as done in condiments), but at the end I’m more confused than enlightened.