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04/05/2006: "The Terror of the Failure, or, “Why Deadlines Induce Productivity in Artists”"
I haven’t had a solo show since last August, and I haven’t tried to get a new one since then (I wanted to be able to create “deadline-free”)…but I realize that there’s nothing like an approaching deadline to get the old creative juices flowing.
I should back up… today Rob Roys asked me if I want a solo exhibit at his Two Crows Gallery for the month of May, (yes please) as well as help keep it open while he and his wife are out of town. The First Friday opening will be May 5th, so that gives me exactly one month to finish paintings, print show announcements, and all that jazz.
I’m really very excited. I didn’t realize how stimulating having an approaching exhibit can be, or how much I love having them, until I took some time off from it. Of course, I still loath attending the openings, but I’m trying to get over that. I guess there’s just something about them that makes me feel too much like a politician.
So, I will have my work hanging in the gallery for May, and then for the rest of the summer (we get nearly a million cruise ship visitors each summer downtown where the gallery is located) I’ll be able to keep some of my work up in the gallery. I hope that at least a little sells. I like Rob and Pagan a lot and want their little gallery to do well so if nothing sells I’ll feel extra loser-ish.
But, I’m not going to think like that! Nothing but positive joo joo from me for the rest of the month, and, unfortunately I’ll have to go back to oils for the time being. Seems from that last thread that I may be one of a shrinking number of painters who works exclusively in oils…I made reference to being a “dying breed” until I realized that taken literally, that’s kind of unsettling.