He’s got a Dali in the garage

Wednesday, March 1, 2000 | 9:35 a.m.

Salvador Dali would have appreciated the irony.

It borders on the surreal -- an original drawing by the world's leading practitioner of surrealistic art is packed away, gathering dust in a Las Vegas garage.

To Andy (not his real name), the piece is just something else he has accumulated in a life that has taken him from rodeo arenas to a career in the Navy to a career as a technician in a mental hospital to a career as a sheet metal worker.

He places no greater value on the Dali than he places on a prominently displayed ship in a bottle created by a Cuban refugee who once did a similar one for Fidel Castro.

Or the wall of signed photographs of country singers, which is a tip of the Stetson to his own days playing in a country band.

Andy's near indifference to Dali might be sacrilegious to rabid fans of the artist and the art movement that spanned from 1924 to 1945.

Dali, who died in 1989 at the age of 85, perhaps is best known to the general public for his paintings of wilted pocket watches, although the eccentric artist's range was much broader.

Andy acquired his etching by Dali, called "Velasquez," about 10 years ago.

According to the authentication information on the back of the drawing it is from Dali's "Spanish Immortals" series -- Diego Velasquez (1590-1660) is one of history's greatest artists.

"I was managing a motel off the Strip," Andy recalled. "One of the guests did business with flea markets and he had this etching. He said he couldn't sell it because it was water-stained, so he gave it to me."

Andy said the man's room was filled with goods he bought and sold at flea markets, with a narrow path cleared for a walkway through the merchandise, but no other paintings.

"He was a real likable person," Andy noted. "We struck up a friendship and he gave me the Dali. He said he probably couldn't get $10 for it."

Two years ago Andy attended a Dali exhibit at the Fashion Show mall and saw one similar to his that had a $50,000 price tag.

Although curious about the value of his own etching, Andy says that finding out its true worth isn't his top priority right now.

He's sure it would cost him a lot of money to have the work appraised and even more to have it restored, so "Velasquez" remains hidden away in one box among stacks of boxes.

It is so well hidden that it once took Andy two years to find it.

Being the owner of a Dali hasn't changed Andy's attitude about the Spanish painter -- he still doesn't much care for him.

"Most of his things were way out in left field," Andy, who is somewhat of an artist himself, said. "Everything was limp."

He prefers Elvis -- the velvet period.

So while a velvet painting of Elvis occupies a spot on Andy's garage wall, where he spends much of his time on various hobbies, Dali is in cold storage.

How surreal.