My advice, worth exactly what you pay for it, is to listen carefully to what is
said, but refrain from investment. As you correctly note, a lot of folks from
this world are terribly sophisticated in their own minds, and not at all shy
about letting it show. That doesn’t mean they won’t have worthy comments, but
it does mean some of their comments will be, well, less than worthy.
Your work already has measured up in that it has been selected for a showing.
Most galleries don’t taunt artists by hanging shows for the purpose of
ridiculing the artist. Sometimes it might seem that way, but they don’t. <g>
This is just me, but when I’m in a crowd/group discussing my work, I refrain
from engaging in equipment arguments about whether Nikon is superior to Canon
is superior to Acme, etc. I just don’t go there. And I try my best not to
engage in the digital is crap, film is where the real art is kind of argument
(despite my exchanges with AG here <g>). The way I do it is to recall that most
of the people who currently sing in the Film Choir were once solidly in the
Photography Isn’t Art school. Now, because digital has supplanted film, they
have suddenly discovered the artistic merit of photography, but only if it’s
done on film.
Only once this past summer did I lose my cool with a fellow in the shop that
sells my higher end stuff. It already had been established that he wasn’t a
customer, but rather a photographer interested in engaging in heavy criticism
of digital photography. He took particular exception to my enthusiasm for black
and white conversions of digital files. Sadly, and much to my personal
distress, after a few minutes I couldn’t take it anymore and let fly with both
barrels. He finally scurried out of the place looking like Gollum denied his
Precious.
I suspect you’ll run into the film v digital thing, but for the most part it
can be avoided by talking about execution of vision and that sort of thing. The
purpose of the medium is not the medium, but the message, i.e., the image.
Disarms most folks. And, most likely, the bulk of people you will encounter
will be complimentary and supportive with interesting comments and points of
view.
The presentation sounds interesting. I’m sure we’d be interested in hearing how
that went over, and perhaps show us a photo or two of the hanging to illustrate
exactly how it looks.
Good luck! And enjoy!
--Bob Whitmire
Certified Neanderthal
On Jan 31, 2014, at 12:05 PM, Bob Benson <bob.benson91@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> It's about my
> sixth individual show, but feels somewhat different because it's in a School
> of Art gallery . which guarantees fairly sophisticated folks at least in
> their minds. Profs, students, other faculty, board members, etc. Not
> unwilling to express opinions. Welcome of course .
--
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