Do That Thing You Do With Interest Rates, Baby

Toulouse Lautrec had his Jane Avril, and now Erin Crowe has Alan Greenspan.

Some art majors embrace abstract impressionism. Others go for
post-modernism or neo-cubism. Erin Crowe opted for Alan
Greenspanism.

Fascinated by the Federal Reserve Board chairman's inscrutable
visage and towering reputation, the 24-year-old University of
Virginia graduate spent the better part of two years working on
unauthorized portraits of Greenspan. She wound up with 20 paintings
and sketches.

Looking to make a few bucks before heading to graduate school in
England this fall, Crowe decided to display the works over the
summer at a family friend's gallery in Sag Harbor, Long Island,
vacation home to many Greenspan-worshiping Wall Streeters.

From the moment the Greenspan images appeared, people began
wandering in off the street to gaze at the paintings, which capture
the Fed chairman's face in a variety of expressions ranging from
exasperation to perplexity to mirthful amusement. Titles of the
works include "If You Say So," "I Gotta Tell Ya" and "Humpf."

[...]

Greenspan worship is hardly a new phenomenon. Songs have been
written about the Fed chairman's stewardship of interest rates and
inflation and his oracular wisdom regarding all things economic.



Now, if she could just get him to pose for a nude.....