To have all your life’s work and to have them along the wall, it’s like walking in with no clothes on. It’s terrible.
-Andrew Wyeth
I have shared the quote above from Andrew Wyeth before and it has added resonance for me this year.
“Livelong Day”
My annual solo show at the West End Gallery, this year called Through the Trees, opens today with an opening reception from 4-7 PM. I am going to be there and am a bit nervous. It’ll be the first time in at close to two years since I have been in a gallery with all of my work on the walls and people in that same space.
You might think that this shouldn’t be any big deal and maybe you’re right. After all, I’ve done somewhere around 60 solo exhibitions around the country including tonight’s 21st at the West End Gallery. I should be an old hand by now.
But every show is new in some way, sometimes revealing new things in the work, new directions. But almost always, a new exposing of one’s inner self to others. You never get used to it, really.
As Wyeth says, it’s like standing there without clothes. And as I said, I haven’t stood naked in front of strangers for a couple of years now.
But for all the anxiety and self-conscious shuddering, I am perhaps looking forward to this opening more than most, mainly because it will be good to see some folks again after such a long time. And it will be good to see any reaction to the work. I have missed that kind of feedback.
So, with both apprehension and anticipation, I plan to lay low and wait out the day until the reception. Maybe think of something to say that doesn’t sound like the babblings of a mad man.
I don’t think there’s enough time in the day…
GC Myers/ Through the Trees at the West End Gallery July 2021
Redtree Times 