Ben’s Bar - Why People Attend Bars: To Be Heard, To Be Seen, To Be There (Detail)

One comes in contact with a golden fountain and an alluring image of Venus adorned in a brassy golden frame. Nevertheless, the whole environment contains numerous symbols that give it’s written words a deeper meaning. Venus, the Roman goddess of love, the mother of all (Roman) people, who also calls the Friday (italian: vernerdi / franz.: vendredi), shines in a baroque frame from the reflection of a golden, with three water-spouting trout fountains. If the mussel shape is still a common indication of the origin of the goddess from the sea, the three trouts are a clear manipulation of Patterson's well-known iconography, which would usually show dolphins in their place.