I thought I was impressed with the Baristas, but I'm doubly impressed with Tim, who met me there in the wee hours of the morn for no payment other than the cup of coffee I forced on him. It would have been so sad without him, especially because I was ACCOSTED by this gentleman as I was hanging my art work.
He looked to be in his late twenties and he was ogling the paintings, so in an attempt at gauging interest, I walked over and asked if he'd like a card. He looked at me and said, "No."
Me: "Oh, cuz you were looking at the art."
Then he paused, and, turning back to the paintings, he said:
"I guess they'll call ANYTHING art these days."
GASP!! OMG lol I was like, what? So I DID gasp, and I smiled and said:
"That's a mean thing to say!"
Anyway, the conversation progressed for another 20 minutes. The guy started telling me about how there are "standards" in art and how if "judges" came into the Starbucks I would be laughed out of the place. I don't expect everyone to like my art, so I wasn't really upset, but I was surprised that it seemed to offend him so egregiously. Anyway, pretending that I didn't care, I kept on hanging. My first brush with some of the snobbery that comes out of the art world.
After lunch, I was feeling pretty good about things, because, with the reasoning that any reaction is actually a good reaction, I remembered that the impressionists were in fact laughed out of where they tried to exhibit (the Academy). Clearly, they kept on and ended up doing pretty well for themselves. So if people are that indignant about what I do maybe that's not such a bad thing.
Tim and I left to have lunch in Brooklyn, after which I returned to clean up the things we left (sadly, there was a lunch rush trying to negotiate their way around a ladder and several unhung paintings). As soon as I was finished and putting the ladder away, an older gentleman stopped me and asked if I was the artist. I could sense a kindly gleam in his eye, so I said yes. And then he told me he thought they were wonderful and they made him smile, and that he and his wife had just been fantasizing about how if they had a place in the Caribbean they would garner it with my art. It was amazingly nice.
So apparently this art show is very polarizing, which is actually something I'm starting to develop a taste for (I'll have to make my art even more colorful to keep this going). I still prefer to get compliments, but I'm now also really interested by the fact that someone out there dislikes my paintings so vehemently.
He looked to be in his late twenties and he was ogling the paintings, so in an attempt at gauging interest, I walked over and asked if he'd like a card. He looked at me and said, "No."
Me: "Oh, cuz you were looking at the art."
Then he paused, and, turning back to the paintings, he said:
"I guess they'll call ANYTHING art these days."
GASP!! OMG lol I was like, what? So I DID gasp, and I smiled and said:
"That's a mean thing to say!"
Anyway, the conversation progressed for another 20 minutes. The guy started telling me about how there are "standards" in art and how if "judges" came into the Starbucks I would be laughed out of the place. I don't expect everyone to like my art, so I wasn't really upset, but I was surprised that it seemed to offend him so egregiously. Anyway, pretending that I didn't care, I kept on hanging. My first brush with some of the snobbery that comes out of the art world.
After lunch, I was feeling pretty good about things, because, with the reasoning that any reaction is actually a good reaction, I remembered that the impressionists were in fact laughed out of where they tried to exhibit (the Academy). Clearly, they kept on and ended up doing pretty well for themselves. So if people are that indignant about what I do maybe that's not such a bad thing.
Tim and I left to have lunch in Brooklyn, after which I returned to clean up the things we left (sadly, there was a lunch rush trying to negotiate their way around a ladder and several unhung paintings). As soon as I was finished and putting the ladder away, an older gentleman stopped me and asked if I was the artist. I could sense a kindly gleam in his eye, so I said yes. And then he told me he thought they were wonderful and they made him smile, and that he and his wife had just been fantasizing about how if they had a place in the Caribbean they would garner it with my art. It was amazingly nice.
So apparently this art show is very polarizing, which is actually something I'm starting to develop a taste for (I'll have to make my art even more colorful to keep this going). I still prefer to get compliments, but I'm now also really interested by the fact that someone out there dislikes my paintings so vehemently.
RSS Feed
