This past Sunday I was part of a posse of twenty or so artists all trying to sell their work. This was the first time I have done anything like this and I am not sure if I would do it again. I did have some wonderful conversations with lots of people and received some great comments. The best one was "yours is the best work here".
I was situated opposite a man who had taught high school for thirty years and his son. They carried on a very charismatic performance piece chatting and showing their work. They did gather quite a crowd and were certainly entertaining to watch. Next to me were two landscape painters, rather accomplished and they seemed to be successful in selling their work. I have to admit no one bought anything of mine, not a sausage sold.
This of course makes me wonder if this is a good way to sell art? We are all competing with China and IKEA , not directly because they sell reproductions, but by comparison, a sort of cheapness has entered the culture. I wonder if people really understand what goes into making art, the studio rent, the materials, the years of art school, the time spent looking and making.
It was interesting to watch people as they chanced on my work, they either glazed over, onto the next thing , not really looking or occasionally, someone's eyes would do a double take as they spied my work, a look of visual surprise on their faces. I tried to talk to these people and give them one of my cards.
I know from experience art can be a slow burn, especially new work that defies categorization , as I hope mine does. So I am trying not to be too discouraged , I know its all part of the process. Below is a drawing from the "Lotus Series".
