exhibitionism

so the gallery opening was pretty cool. the turnout was good and a bunch of art got sold. my stuff is hanging in the hallway outside the gallery (so i guess you can go see it anytime the building is open, not just when the gallery is open on fridays & saturdays), and i don't think any of it has sold yet, but maybe it has and it just wasn't marked as sold.

there was some really cool art in the show, but most of the stuff i liked was either really expensive or really small... and i didn't want to buy one 4"x4" piece of art, for example; you need like 6-8 pieces of that size for them to be really effective. my stuff was certainly not the best in the show, but it sure wasn't the worst either, so i didn't feel self-conscious about it being my first gallery show or anything like that. (there's some discussion of the show here on imn but registration is required to read that thread.)

unfortunately, with all the other things to keep track of, they forgot to set up the projector, so i had brought video stuff to show but had no screen to show it on. fortunately, virago has one of those dvd/tv combo units and her apt is only a mile or two from the gallery, so we headed back there to test it and bring it to the gallery. unfortunately, it doesn't have JPG functionality, because it refused to play the CDROM of my databent art (which played fine in my own dvd player). but it played my burnt dvds of video stuff, including some almost-databent video that i had recorded off the satellite during thunderstorms (some of which looks a lot like bent jpegs, only in motion), so at least that was something.

when we got back to the gallery, the spontaneous sound collective was playing: several people performing using a mix of traditional instruments and found objects. it sounded like an improv jam, but i guess i don't know that for sure. it was fairly interesting, but jim wanted me to go on as soon as they were done, which left me trying to set up in a locker-sized area while surrounded by their gear and sharing a table with a bass drum. not the easiest circumstances to set up in, but i managed.

there were no monitors and i was standing behind the speakers, so the sound wasn't great but i soldiered on with my performance; at a couple points it got pretty sloppy, but i would just bring back some funny or poignant vocal samples into the mix when things got too crazy. i managed to clear a few people out of the main room, but some of them stuck around and i got a few compliments later on... after all, this is an arty crowd, and some of them actually like challenging art. that's always refreshing.

we missed most of the performance by the hoovers, which is a one-man band, but heard some of his witty banter about how his bandmates had stood him up for the evening. after that, the graves (from portland oregon) played... they were some kind of indie-folk thing and i was not feeling it, so after hanging around downstairs and determining that i wasn't going to perform a second set as originally planned (we were a bit off-schedule), we packed up the car and headed back to virago's apartment.

so yeah, lots & lots of good art, with a bit of not-so-good art. free food (though i didn't get any) and free wine! a good-zized crowd that remained pretty steady throughout the evening as people came & went. so that was a pretty good night. and it's a great exhibition at a great gallery run by cool people, so if you're in the area and get a chance, you should check it out before it ends (on sept 17). and buy some of my art while you're there.¶