I got to the gallery about a half hour into the show. Traffic was typical during rush hour. Three exits and forty five minutes later I arrived at the gallery. I parked in the lot adjacent to the gallery and could see one of my photos hung with care through the freshly washed front window. As I entered I was greeted by the galleries curator. She mentioned a couple of people had come earlier to see my work. I’ve been to countless openings in my lifetime both as an artist and a spectator. Never have I experienced someone showing up in the first few minutes ans leaving immediately after. I felt bad about missing them but took comfort in the fact that each one lived in town and didn’t travel too far. She then informed me that due to the backing on one of the frames only two of the three pictures made it to the wall. I thought it odd that they tried and tried but just couldn’t hang it but was not really bothered by it.
So I grabbed my complimentary cup of coffee and made my way from one image to another. There was a very eclectic array of images throughout the gallery. Some that made my eyes pop. Others that had me scratching my head. I worked my way from the back of the gallery to the front grabbing a handful of stale crackers on the way. (Yuck, is serving stale crackers and flat soda a tradition at exhibition openings?) As I came to my second image, a somewhat abstract offering; I quickly noticed they had hung it upside down. At first I gasped in embarrassment, then laughed. I ran to the back and explained how I noticed the mistake. “When paint drips or runs; it tends to go down, not up. She quickly ran up front and turned it right side up. We both laughed about it. People see things differently. Mistakes happen and nothing is perfect. Even in a perfect world.
A few moments later I asked if I could get a copy of the bio they had written. Last week as I was about to write one I was contacted by gentlemen there saying that, “they themselves” prepared the bios for shows there. “If I could just send some basic info and a link to my work”, they’d take care of it. I sent them a basic outline and links to my new sites I had recently built with WIX.com . As I was handed the book containing the bios I cringed. The man in charge basically copied the two sentence outline I sent and handwritten a link to, of all things, my Model Mayhem account. I didn’t even send him that link. Suddenly I wanted to rip the bio out from the book, take my pictures from the wall and run like mad. Though I had taken it all with a grain of salt I was beginning to feel a little angry. Soon after I headed out and headed home. I felt bad for anyone that stopped in before I arrived or after I left but the whole thing made uncomfortable and a bit disappointed. It’s not the end of the world by any stretch of the imagination but I wish I could have done something to fix things before they got broke.
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