“Harmonium” – At the West End Gallery — Final Week!!
Well, it’s alright, even if you’re old and grey
Well, it’s alright, you still got something to say
Well, it’s alright, remember to live and let live
Well, it’s alright, the best you can do is forgive
–End of the Line, The Traveling Wilburys
It’s the last few days of my show at the West End Gallery. The works included in this year’s show, Through the Trees, comes off the walls after this coming Thursday, August 26.
The end of any show generally carries a little sadness or wistfulness. It’s always a time to look back at the show, to put it all in some sort of perspective.
To see what sold. And what did not.
To get an idea of how people reacted to certain pieces. Or did not.
To determine if I would have changed anything about the work in that particular show and to begin to chart a course for my new work.
Sometimes the answers and conclusions I draw from this retrospection are clearly defined and leads me directly into the next phase of my work, seamlessly.
Other times, it’s not so clear cut. There might be no obvious conclusions. These instances are the more confusing and frustrating periods for me where I find myself looking for some push from the past, some given direction to follow. But there is none offered or recognized.
In a way, these times without direction are the most exciting even though they often put me on edge and fill me with frustration. I guess it’s because they are filled with unknown quantities, discoveries, and potentials. And that is where the breakthroughs, those sometimes elusive fresh paths of creativity, lie.
I am still in the measurement phase with this show. There are things I want to carry forward and some small things I might have changed or added. I was pleased with the reactions to some works and slightly disappointed by the reactions to some pieces who I felt deserved more attention.
I don’t really mean disappointed because in every show there are works that, going in, I feel will be among the first that find new homes. The painting at the top of the page, Harmonium, is such a piece.
It has become an accepted fact for me that these pieces inevitably are among the last to leave the galleries. It didn’t use to be that way. Early in my career, I could tell instantly that a new piece would be swooped up quickly once it hit the galleries. But as time went on, I lost that capacity and the works I often felt most strongly about were slow to find homes.
I think this came about because my criteria for judging my own work has evolved and changed over time, perhaps becomes bit narrower and esoteric. In the beginning, my perspective was no doubt closer to the typical viewer than it is now. I was new in my career and was really only doing what I did because it was work I wanted to see and was not finding elsewhere. Everything was fresh and new.
Time has added many changes and evolutions, some dramatic and some less perceptible and more nuanced.
Okay. The point is that there are things to be considered and absorbed at the of a show. I am in that process now and so far, so good– for the end of the line.
That was a lot of work to get to this song. Here’s a song, End of the Line, from the Traveling Wilburys— Bob Dylan, George Harrison, Roy Orbison, Tom Petty and Jeff Lynne. I often forget how much I enjoy this song until I hear it again. See if that’s the case for you with this slightly extended version.
Redtree Times 