Well, I’m basically set to head to Alexandria for tomorrow night’s opening of my show, Facets, at the Principle Gallery. This is the eleventh year that I’ve done this show so I have an idea of how things usually go. Not a lot of surprises. Like they say, this ain’t my first rodeo.
But, despite this little burst of bravado, there is always a level of anxiety that accompanies these shows. I’ve talked about it before in this blog. The thought that I’ve misread my work and it doesn’t resonate with a larger audience always lingers in the days before a show. That’s my biggest fear. That and the fear that nobody shows up and I’m left standing with the folks from the gallery, me apologizing to them and them to me, all of us making rationalizations on what might have happened.
Been there, done that.
This second scenario sounds worse, I know. The awful awkwardness of it. But the fear of midreading my own work and how it comes across to others looms far larger for me. People not showing up, sales being up or down– things like that are usually the result of factors you can’t predict or control. Weather. Scheduling conflicts. The economy.
But not seeing your own work as others might see it is a bigger problem, at least in my eyes. I see my work as being successful when it’s communicating across a wide spectrum of people. To me, art is all about communicating and connecting on an emotional level, getting across some feeling that I can’t capture in any other way but my imagery and having someone see and react to it in much the same way as I. And when that doesn’t happen, I’ve misread my work in some way. And when that happens, it’s like a sailor being adrift without a rudder or the stars to guide them. Truly alone.
And that is a time of fear.
But those moments are rare, fortunately. And I feel this show communicates well, reaches out in a broad way.
Connected, like the painting above of the same name, which is part of this show. It’s a painting on paper that measures 18″ by 26″ and one that I think very much bridges the gap between the past and the present of my work. I think that word, connected, says everything I want to say about this show.
Redtree Times 
Hello Gary,
Communicating and connecting – perhaps the greatest concerns of most artists.
As you know I like your art work very much and I feel connected by it ever since I bought your “Elevation of Being” several years ago in the same gallery that you are having your solo show tomorrow. That connection became even stronger when you let me use that piece for my book cover last year. Please see http://alicjamann.wordpress.com
The dancing tree in your “Time to Dance” relates so well to our “Zorba the Tree” in our yard, that it feels as they are also communicating – two trees, one painted and one growing, talking and dancing!
Have a great show tomorrow.
Alicja
I wish I could be there. I’ve never been to a gallery opening of an artist I know – and isn’t it an amazement that through this blogging business, I’ve come to feel I know something of you and a good bit about your work?
I’m intensely curious about how the paintings would impact me in “real life” after admiring them on your site for so many months. Now, there’s a project that would be interesting: a portrait of the art/artist in two realms.
Might have to think about that one. There’s every sort of interesting path to follow.I wonder if anyone’s ever done it? Lots has been written about meeting a person in “real life” after an internet relationship, but what would it be like to connect with Connected and his (her?) sibs?
Well, that will just have to simmer. In the meantime, enjoy the opening ~ wishing you much success!