so the show with my work in it opened last night. All in all it was a great night. I went to the opening with acheron and several friends of mine who i lived and worked with in yosemite the previous summer showed up as well. I had not seen them in over a year so many things were good about the night.
As to the show itsself, i was disapointed in more ways than one. Pertky, they had kept all the work that was on display previously up and just rearranged it's hanging. IMO this did 2 negative thinsg to the show - A) it crowded the other work to the point that it felt like a hodge podge and B) left the shoe unfocused. It was billed as being an "erotic" show, but if you leave up pop art of frogs, butterflies and star fish alomg with cats in windows you start to lose some of that feel very fast. It felt as if at the last minute they backed out of going all the way with their intended theme.
Secondly, the quality of the work felt lacking overall. It either focused on sexuality in a very vulgar and crude way or was a reitteration of things that have been done over and over again(this applies mostly to the photography aspect). Also, nudity does not always equal erotica. It seemed that this concept was also lost in the photo part of the show. On the traditional media(i use this term from too much art school speak) writing the word "fuck" or "prick" on your work does not make it erotic. There was one piece whish was a combo of textured blacks and grays with some semi-erotic posed photos added into the space which all together was visually beautiful. But then they put words - not even hannd written - HUGE typed out standard font (it hink it was helvettica) words with something to the effect of "fuck me with your huge boner bull prick" and it destroyed the sense of mystique the photos and subtle textures of black on gray that the imagery had. Sometimes i hate barbara kruger....
The other dissapointment was to find my work at the very very back of the show and on top of that below other work. My stuff is small - 8"x8" & 8"x10" - so it got used to fill space that only could hold small pieces while larger pieces got to take center stage. UGHHHHHHHHHH why is bigger always considered better? Back in photo school there was one guy i knew who would do 4"x5" prints, but then put them in 16"x20" matts to make sure they got the emphasis they deserved. Not sure how to do that with canvas, but it is something to think about.
Despite that, eavesdropping by myself and acheron proved that my work got a very good reception from the people who managed to make it to the back of the gallery as well as probiding general confusion as to how i had done it - super kudos
- also, how cool is it to have your work comparedas comparable to your favorite artist of all times. Not as a repetition mind you, but as merger of my work and his through paitningon ine side and photo(mine) on the other. That made me very very happy 
And of course getting to walk around wqith a name tag that said "artist" on it made me feel very official kind of and that there has finally been a real break from just creating to actually displaying and it makes all the difference in the world.
The rest of the night was good and i got to catch up with a lot of old friends, eat good food and drink. So the night came out well and will be interested to see how the show comes off overall in the week or so it will be up. I would love to sell a piece - both for the ego boost of it as well as providing some much needed cash flow to my projects.ok - that's all for now...
As to the show itsself, i was disapointed in more ways than one. Pertky, they had kept all the work that was on display previously up and just rearranged it's hanging. IMO this did 2 negative thinsg to the show - A) it crowded the other work to the point that it felt like a hodge podge and B) left the shoe unfocused. It was billed as being an "erotic" show, but if you leave up pop art of frogs, butterflies and star fish alomg with cats in windows you start to lose some of that feel very fast. It felt as if at the last minute they backed out of going all the way with their intended theme.
Secondly, the quality of the work felt lacking overall. It either focused on sexuality in a very vulgar and crude way or was a reitteration of things that have been done over and over again(this applies mostly to the photography aspect). Also, nudity does not always equal erotica. It seemed that this concept was also lost in the photo part of the show. On the traditional media(i use this term from too much art school speak) writing the word "fuck" or "prick" on your work does not make it erotic. There was one piece whish was a combo of textured blacks and grays with some semi-erotic posed photos added into the space which all together was visually beautiful. But then they put words - not even hannd written - HUGE typed out standard font (it hink it was helvettica) words with something to the effect of "fuck me with your huge boner bull prick" and it destroyed the sense of mystique the photos and subtle textures of black on gray that the imagery had. Sometimes i hate barbara kruger....
The other dissapointment was to find my work at the very very back of the show and on top of that below other work. My stuff is small - 8"x8" & 8"x10" - so it got used to fill space that only could hold small pieces while larger pieces got to take center stage. UGHHHHHHHHHH why is bigger always considered better? Back in photo school there was one guy i knew who would do 4"x5" prints, but then put them in 16"x20" matts to make sure they got the emphasis they deserved. Not sure how to do that with canvas, but it is something to think about.
Despite that, eavesdropping by myself and acheron proved that my work got a very good reception from the people who managed to make it to the back of the gallery as well as probiding general confusion as to how i had done it - super kudos
- also, how cool is it to have your work comparedas comparable to your favorite artist of all times. Not as a repetition mind you, but as merger of my work and his through paitningon ine side and photo(mine) on the other. That made me very very happy And of course getting to walk around wqith a name tag that said "artist" on it made me feel very official kind of and that there has finally been a real break from just creating to actually displaying and it makes all the difference in the world.
The rest of the night was good and i got to catch up with a lot of old friends, eat good food and drink. So the night came out well and will be interested to see how the show comes off overall in the week or so it will be up. I would love to sell a piece - both for the ego boost of it as well as providing some much needed cash flow to my projects.ok - that's all for now...