Saturday, January 26, 2008

Art Fairs

I'm not a fan of art fairs. I went to two of them yesterday. I'm still not a fan of art fairs.

The reasons are many. First, there's too much art. There are hundreds of booths, each one over-hung with wares. It's mind-boggling. Pretty soon, the eyes glaze over. You can't see anything any more, and what you do see all begins to look the same. Second, there's too much boring art. The art fair is not a place to challenge the mind. It's all about commerce and really has nothing whatever to do with art. It's to do with wares. Third, it's taxing on the body. Hips, knees and feet begin to protest after the first hour or so. After four or five hours, they're shrieking. Take me home!

There are more reasons, of course, but why go into them? At art fairs, I'm not sure whether to despair--that so many poor artists are vying for the attention of so few, not to mention the dollars in their pocketbooks.. Or whether to be awed by the infinite ingenuity of the human mind, that it is capable of such wildly diverse creativity.

I'm not a fan of art fairs. I went to two of them yesterday. I'm still not a fan of art fairs. I'll try to remember to post some pictures later...
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3 comments:

They call him James Ure said...

You know, I feel the same way. I have done a few art fairs and was overwhelmingly disappointed.

The fees to just set up my booth was astronomical. And while I sold many prints I wasn't able to make a profit on them.

And I was depressed that most of the booths were of cheap, wooden crafts that clog up stores like Hobby Lobby and Michaels.

Plus, I live in an area of the country that doesn't appreciate surreal/abstract artwork. Most folks here just like cowboy art.

Maybe I need to move to Denver for some better appreciation of my style.

But you know, I don't paint to sell while of course it's nice to be paid for my art. However, for me art is apart of me, in my DNA and first and foremost a way to best express my joys, hopes, dreams and yes nightmares and despairs.

January 28, 2008 at 11:54 AM
Steve Machado said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
January 28, 2008 at 1:25 PM
Steve Machado said...

I'm with you Peter. I've dragged myself along with my partner to Miami, NYC, and London and still hate it. Many of our friends are art people and some of them we only see at art fairs, but to me its tedious. I unfortunately don't possess an artful bone in my body so I'm the one asking, "Is that art, or just plain ugly?" That question is as welcomed, as my sage father says, "like a fart in a spacesuit."

Steve

January 28, 2008 at 3:05 PM

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