Just got this email from my friend in Chicago. Sounds like it went well! Congrats.
From my friend:
I actually DID make it to this exhibit last night. I wanted to "represent" in case their show was scarcely populated. I was there around 7:30ish and wanted to say something to the artist and the lady who looked like might be his wife... but they had a lot of friends standing around and they were all talking and deep in conversation... It seemed like there were a lot of people milling about. There were a few other artists' stuff showing along-side his in separate rooms. If you chat with her, tell her I was the lady in the big gray wooly hat and long puffy jacket. :) (It was 22 degrees last night)
His stuff was GREAT. Up close, they looked like photos, step back, and they were amazing masterpieces of color and light. The skies he painted actually looked self-illuminating. It was a small showing, but very good stuff!! Thanks for the info. Give him/her wishes of lots of luck for me.
Arghh, I wish she had approached us. I think I do remember her coming in. (Blonde hair?) Things really didn't go so well. The people we were talking to were the two other artists who were exhibiting in the other rooms and the two gallery owners. At 7:30, they FINALLY turned the heat on (Oh, my gosh was it COLDER than a frog's belly!), so I had my space by the radiator, and they had just brought out the wine. We don't drink but the others did, so it probably looked like we were having more fun than we actually were. Please thank your friend PROFUSELY for coming!!!
The show was quite poorly attended, probably due to the cold or maybe there was something really exciting going on elsewhere in the city. (They said it was the coldest night of the year. There was nobody in the restaurant where we ate and the other gallery owners on the strip said no one was in their shops either.) The other disappointments were the gallery had no post cards for people to pick up, there was no music going, there were no little appetizers out like there usually is at shows. There was no way for Don to indicate that he was the artist; no place for him to sit or a name tag or anything. They made it very awkward for him. He felt gyped of his experience, really.
Anyway, the other two artists showed up and we were introduced. One was an older woman (in her 60's) and the other was a CPA (Cute, Popular Artist). The woman artist told me that the CPA usually travels in packs with his friends who are all artists, musicians, actors and models and each friend is more beautiful than the next. He was one of those people that you meet and you feel like you've known him a long time. Both of those artists said usually openings are really busy. I'm sure they were disappointed, too, for their own sakes. So the CPA decided, "Hey, let's have a 'closing' party at the end of the month!" and he talked the gallery owners into it quite easily. He said he'd bring his hoards of friends and hopefully the friends will bring friends and it'll be more like what we had hoped. This guy's work is supposed to be in the background of the movie "The Breakup." I haven't seen it yet, but we plan to rent it soon.
Here's some pictures. http://www.flickr.com/photos/21165366@N02/
We ate at a place called Ed Debevic's. It's like a 50's diner and the wait staff is kinda rude (nothing like the Weiner Circle by any means, just humorous.) They make you wear weird hats, which is why I'm wearing a paper hat in the photo.
CPA, now that is hilarious , sad and true at the same time . kinda discribes Juxtapoz magazine , which started off with potential but is now about lowbrow CPA
Also, FYI but I thought the Breakup is a seriously bad movie. Maybe it's just not what I expected. There was one scene that was good but other than that, erg.
Jennifer Aniston's character does work in a gallery so I bet it's in those scenes.
