New Show at my Gallery; Photography by Charlie Lawton.
We just opened a new show last Sunday. This one took a lot of work to get going, and no small amount of stress on my part. There were some miscommunications, some misunderstandings, some hand-holding and some renegotiating.
Last year, I'd spoken with this artist about having a show. This shot in particular was the one I had seen and thought 'Cool potential here'. He showed me a collection of pieces he was working on, we talked about a theme, but ultimately it didn't work out for last year.
So we booked for now! Cut to a week and change ago, I had been pressing for images to start working the promo with. Finally, he'd finished his photo shoots, and he was ready to show me the work...
It was the first time I've had to tell an artist that I absolutely cannot show the work they're presenting me in my gallery.
At some point, he'd forgotten that we're all window here, and decided to explore some heavy themes of death and addiction. Unfortunately, because we're in a mall, and we're unable to put content warnings up, so I had to deliver the bad news and spend time figuring it out.
We were able to negotiate some back room space, like an auxiliary gallery in the office, but as a result, he decided not to print anything in large format, so we've got a show of many many many small pieces.
The opening was busy. And wild. The BIA had rented out the entirety of the public area in the concourse level of the mall, so we had the opening reception alongside the Lunar New Year celebrations. At one point, one of the artist's models did a land acknowledgment, drowned by the sounds of the revelry just outside the gallery door. It was a surreal experience.
I spent the whole day taking small groups of people to see the work in the back room, so I didn't get to visit with guests as much as I usually do. But we did sell a few little pieces, so that's good.
I had a pretty good feeling this would be one of the ones to find a home. I was right! Not the first time that's happened, either. I guess I'm learning how to measure public taste. I feel good about that!
Anyway, more news to come.
Signing off for now,