Last night I had a more than subtle reminder why I really do not care for Gallery Shows.

I was recently invited to show my work in a small local gallery. This would be the first time that I had displayed my work in Virginia Beach since maybe 1997 and the last time that I actually showed any work in a local gallery was earlier last year when I displayed a couple of paintings at the Jaffe Arts Center in Norfolk. By the way the Jaffe Arts Center is probably the coolest place around here to show your work and I am scheduled to have a one person show there this summer.

Now back to last nights show. I think I had forgotten what it was like. When I first submitted my work I had no idea that they intended this show to have an awards ceremony with all the fanfare and hoopla and the passing out of fancy ribbons like you were in a dog or horse show. But there I was again subjected to the same sort of mentality and mindset that really has kept me from most local art shows.

I have always hated the Dog and Pony show mentality with the passing out of ribbons to "Winners" of First, Second, and Third Places. Of course we all know that First Place beat the Second Place Horse by a nose!!! But there I was again Winners being announced and Ribbons being passed out. But I really was a little more observant than that. I did not just focus on my obvious distaste for the Dog and Pony Show three ring circus that was ongoing. What I really noticed last night was no one was really looking at any art. It was the routine schmooze fest where everyone is trying to feed off of each others egos. Meanwhile no art is really being looked at.

Probably my biggest beef was the way the show was hung. It is extremely important how someone hangs an art show. A lot of thought and preparation must go into this process. If I would have known in advance how they intended to hang the show I would have grabbed my paintings up under my arms and I would have walked out the door post haste! The gallery is somewhat on the smaller size having only three walls in which to hang art. Then there is the upstairs floor which has a long narrow hallway that branches off to several artist studios. When I delivered my two paintings I noticed that the downstairs Gallery did not have blank walls but instead still had framed art ready to sell still hanging there. It was my guess that they intended to remove these works so they could hang the new show. I guessed wrong or course.

Instead of hanging the complete show downstairs like most people would guess they instead they only hung part of the show on one smaller sized wall and the rest of the show was hung along the walls of the narrow hallway which of course had poor lighting. What I really noticed about how the works were hung was the fact that some of the artists who are part of this Art Gallery Co-op hung their paintings downstairs where they knew that the space was premium and would definitely show their work better. They saved the choice spots for themselves.

Maybe I was expecting too much. But what I saw was really a disrespect to many artists work mine included on how and where the artworks were hung. The one "Basquiat Fake" painting that I did would have looked great downstairs but what really got my goat was how they hung my small intimate realistic piece about Rembrandt. They hung this work at about waist level!! I could not believe it! Anyone who hangs shows should know that you never hang a small intimate work of art at waist level. You hang the work at a more suitable "eye level" so people can see it. Hanging such a small work at waist level may work if everyone coming to the gallery is loaded on Ecstasy and they crawl into the gallery in order to love all the low hung art. But in my case this wasn't happening.

I did learn a couple of things. Never assume again on how a show is going to be hung. Ask about this in advance. Another thing I learned was the fact that I will not ever submit any work to this gallery again for any future shows of this nature. I am still debating the idea of removing my two paintings from the gallery before the show ends. Better yet maybe I could wear all black, a ski mask, and black leather gloves and I could walk in there like an art thief and walk out with the two paintings. Maybe that would make for better story.



davmo




I almost forgot to add a very important bit of information to this topic. This art show like most art shows that are along the same lines had several very disturbing aspects that I feel should be mentioned. It was very funny that like clockwork most of the show attendees ate all of the freaking food. I don't know if you have ever noticed it or not but to me it seems like most people go to art shows just to eat up all of the damned food. Its like they haven't eaten in a week. Its like they are a bunch of vultures and if you get your hand too close you could lose a finger! Word of advise : In the future eat before your go to an opening or plan to go to a nice place to eat afterwords. Or just be the pig that you are!

The other thing that bothers me is once the "Officals" the people who are running the artshow, the people who deem what artwork is better than the next, once they hand out the ribbons and awards to the "Winners" you can set your watch and in 5 minutes everyone hauls ass and leaves! I have seen this so many times that it still never ceases to amaze me. You cannot even clear out an area that fast if their was a fire alarm!

All of these things trouble me. No wonder I really do not care for entering art shows that are really nothing more than dog and pony shows. Its a total waste of my time.

And the tacky ass ribbons they hand out at these shows. No wonder I sold all of mine on Ebay!

I am done venting now.