hanging the show

I'm guessing some of you haven't given much thought to how an art show at a gallery happens, so I thought you might be interested to learn a bit about it.

Yesterday Chris and I re-hung Sacred Flesh at the Visual Art Studio here in Richmond.  I had a showing of it in October, but, because I have a lot of paintings, we decided to put new pieces in for this month's opening/exhibition. 

This past week I took some time to try to arrange the paintings on the virtual walls I created in Adobe Photoshop so I would know which paintings to take and, perhaps, how I would hang them.  I also typed up the models' stories and printed them out so I'd have them ready for the show.  Still to come, I need to send the gallery owner, Anne, an Excel file with titles, mediums, and prices in it so she can print out the labels.

At 2 PM we began loading the minivan with canvases then went to the gallery to show my brother-in-law the exhibition.  (He was in town for a mere 23 hours, so we had lots to cram into such a small amount of time!  What a joy to see him!)  After he left, we loaded a few paintings into the minivan then headed back home to get the rest of the paintings, the computer, and the tool box with hammers, hooks, nails, tape measure, level, etc.

Returning to the gallery around 3:45, we unloaded the car then began what turned out to be the most difficult part of the process - figuring out where everything should go.  I think it's exceedingly important to place the works well so the viewers get led around the room in an interesting way.  I also want the pieces to relate to each other in terms of color/size/subject matter/scale or any of several other ways.  The schematic I had developed in Photoshop was a good place to start, but what we ended up with was NOT what I'd designed there!  We had to work around windows and heat returns and thermostats and light switches and all sorts of things like that.  Being there is the only real way to be able to set up a show.

The left wall was the hardest to hang because there are two windows which we covered with cardboard and sheets then hung the pieces using fishing line from hooks in the ceiling - not quite the safest-feeling way to do it, but so far it's worked.

Another challenge to this month's show was that we decided to group the pieces a bit more tightly and to double-hang some.  It took some time to figure out at attractive grouping of the pieces.  I ended up feeling delighted at the groupings and how handsome they look.  This image of them doesn't really do it justice because they're not laid out just quite accurately, but it'll give you a feel for it until you can come see for yourself!

After we got things laid out and the first part of the above wall hung, I was out of energy, so we walked down to a restaurant for some restorative repast.  That was very helpful - it is Restaurant Week in Richmond, so many of the best restaurants in town are offering a $25.02 three course menu with $2.10 of each meal going to the Food Bank.  Nice!  We weren't hungry enough to go for that, but we profited from their outstanding offerings and enjoyed our meals greatly.

Then back to it...  The front wall, the one you see when you enter the gallery, was next.  There were light switches and a telephone jack and wall outlet plus the lettering to work around on that wall, but I think we came up with a terrific design.  I love it that people see Frances' Joyful, Joyful when they walk in, flanked by new life in Lolly's Pregnant and Waiting, all accompanied by Lara, a woman who's inbetween the two women in terms of age and where she is in her life.  Chris framed Lolly's Pregnant for me this week, and it looks amazing.  I'm thrilled with how beautifully it turned out.

The right wall was next.  There we were working with a heat return and a window as well as a very small space to the left of the return.  There is a nice stretch of open wall between the return and the window, though, so I made the most of it!  I had planned to put another painting in there as well, but Chris felt it was too crowded with so many paintings, and I had to agree (even though I didn't want to!), so we took one out and allowed the pieces some breathing room.  Several of these pieces (Mother and Daughter Jocks Bound by Caution, Yes, this is me, and Sleek Back, Saucy Shadow) were in the show last month, but the rest are new this time around.  The one to the left of the Jocks, Classical Beauty is brand new.  I just finished it last week! 

The only other space we had to fill was the front window which I don't have a picture of, but I put Woman in a Chair and Don't Mess with Me! in there.  I really wanted to put Don't Mess with Me! in the gallery itself, because I don't think people take the time to really examine the window pieces as much as they do the wall pieces, but it just didn't fit color-wise.  The colors in it are so different than the others that it really  needed its own environment.  I figure both of those pieces will also do a great job attracting folks to the show (unless Don't Mess with Me! scares them with her look!)

After all that, we were DONE!  In more ways than one!  We got home at 9:30 PM, ready for relaxation and rest.  Of course, I didn't quite give it to myself - instead, I wrote emails to the models to let them know which pieces are in the show so they'll know if their piece(s) is/are in it, then sent out an invitation to people about the show.  There's a lot to do to launch a show, so much that the viewers don't realize, which goes into making it a beautiful, interesting, intriguing experience for each person who walks into the gallery. 

Sometimes I wish being an artist were only about painting and drawing, but I think that's nothing more than a fantasy.  I realize I also like the marketing efforts which go into it as well as the public aspects of talking about my work and having shows.  It felt very satisfying, too, to have created a beautiful space last night.  I'm happy with how the pieces look all hanging together.  It's great having the women on display for all to see.

Thanks to each of you for helping me realize my vocation of being an artist.  I am grateful to you each and every day.

Susan

Putting together a catalogue

Whew!  What a lot of work!  And a lot of fun!

I'm working on compiling a catalogue for the show I have beginning September 30th.  The show and the catalogue are both called Sacred Flesh.  The show will be held at the Visual Art Studio  at 208 W. Broad St in Richmond from Sept 30 - November 24.  Thursday, September 30th, there will be a preview for folks who really want to study the art without lots of crowds.  Friday is First Friday, a very fun, crowded, let's-see-who's-here-kind-of-evening that has turned downtown Richmond into a safe, fun, and very cool place to be.  I'll be giving an Artist's Talk at 5:15 on the first, and several of the models plan to be there as well to discuss their experiences.

For the month of November, I'll be switching out almost all the artwork.  On November 4th, there will be another preview, and First Friday will take place again November 5th with another Artist's Talk at 5:15 that night.

If you are on my mailing list, you will get a postcard in the mail in the next week or so.  If you'd like to be on my list, you can send me an email at susansingerart@msn.com, and I'll be happy to put you on the list and send you a card about this and other events I'll be having.

The catalogue will contain almost all the paintings which will be in the show both months as well as statements by or about each of the models.  Here's an example of what'll be in the book:

When Susan asked me to model for her new series, I believe we were having dinner together with a few others. I was intrigued and flattered, and after hesitating a moment I agreed to do it with a friend. A few weeks later we set a date and went to her studio one evening. I was extremely nervous and was partially regretting my decision. My friend offered to go first, and I was relieved. She was very natural and relaxed, and her confidence helped me loosen up. I imagined that I would be nervous at first, but eventually forget that I was completely naked.

That's not exactly how it played out. I felt unsure of what to do with my body, and was constantly worrying that my poses were awkward and unattractive. The fun part came afterward, when we looked through the photos. Once I was able to view what Susan was seeing through her lens, I have to admit that I was more than pleased with what I saw. Her ability to capture grace where none existed is amazing. In the end, I felt emboldened by the experience and came away realizing that I'd like to do it again!

If you're interested in having a copy of the catalogue, you can order it until September 25th for $20.  At the show and afterwards, it will be $25.  Email me for details.

Rembrandt

I'm currently reading a book about Rembrandt called, illuminatingly, Rembrandt!  It's by D.M. Field.  It's a huge, thick book with wonderful illustrations and a good biography of the painter.  I love Rembrandt's work because of his honest portrayals of people.  He didn't try to make them pretty.  He just tried to paint them how they were.  (Or at least that's how it looks to me.)

Here are some quotes about him which resonate for me as I do my paintings:

"The background of a Rembrandt painting may appear as a solid, dark brown.  In fact... it is made up of a mixture of closely associated browns, greens and greys, which acquire life and atmosphere from reflected light.  ....The background is never just packaging, it is an integral, functioning part of the design."

My backgrounds are generally very plain.  They have several colors in them, but that isn't evident unless one looks closely.  I prefer to keep the backgrounds clean and simple so that the empasis is on the figure, not the surroundings.  I use intuition to guide me as I decide where to crop a painting/photograph and leave much space around the figure if I like how the composition looks.  In Sleek Back, Saucy Shadow the negative space and the shadow play as big a part in the composition as the body itself does, though the empasis is on the figure.

"But the basis of Rembrandt's art is not so much color as tone - the effects of light and shadow known by the term chiaroscuro.  It is this that decides the scheme or composition of the picture."

When I choose my subjects to paint, I always think about the light and shadows.  I find that the form is described well by them, and having strong darks and lights makes the picture more dramatic.  Woman in a Chair is the piece I've done which exemplifies this idea best. 

About Rembrandt's composition, Field writes:

"...his paintings have a 'center', and they hardly ever contain different, self-contained areas of interest.  His compositions are quite simple, but strong and unerring....there is little movement.  Rembrandt's figures, seen against them, have an impact that does not spring exclusively from his intellect or his unique psychological insight.  Design and technique are also responsible."

Rembrandt's paintings are amazing for that.  Out of the dismal dark, there shines a face with so much humanity in it.  This image is a great example both of chiaroscuro and of the compositional elements Field wrote about above.  It's a self-portrait of Rembrandt when he was a young man.

I am trying to have the same sort of affect in The Dancer at 89 - simple composition, no movement - giving the viewer a chance to experience the interior life of the subject.

"Although he seldom paints a real room or a real landscape background, his art does not aspire to rise above nature, but shows us the essence, the true reality, of it.  As a modern biographer says, 'He was driven by a passion to set down every shape, area, tone and colour exactly as he saw it.' ...  Rembrandt does not paint the ideal, he paints the reality."

"Once Rembrandt's naturalistic style and sympathy for the poor, the old and the ugly, were deplored.  ...But our feelings on this score are precisely the contrary....  According to early biographies, Rembrandt is supposed to have said that an artist ought to be guided by nature and not by any other rules."

I am trying for that sense of reality as well.  I paint my models as realistically as I possibly can.  I find them so beautiful already that I have no need to enhance that beauty or to modify it in any way.  It may not be beauty in the conventional sense, but is it exquisite in its authenticity.

And a stimulating quote from Picasso to end this blog entry...

"Art is never pure, we should keep it far away from the innocent ignorant. We should never let people approach. Yes, art is dangerous. If it is pure it is not art."

(Pablo Picasso)