I just had my first ever solo exhibition and it was very well received. The audience was completely taken in by my work and the feedback I got was very encouraging. At the end of it, I was reminded exactly why I make art: to express myself.
The best part of the exhibition was to finally feel understood. As I spoke of my work, telling the story of each painting, my audience was swayed by words. We moved from one painting to the next, each with its own tale. Some paintings spoke of passion, others spoke of loss while others said what the audience wanted them to say.
After the exhibition, I was deeply satisfied. My audience was too, as they chose their favourite pieces. We then agreed on prices, dates, deliveries and all the other mundane arrangements of selling art. If those arrangements come to fruition, then I could very well be a selling artist soon. For the time being, I am happy to know that my paintings are not just mine anymore, people want them!
But these people are not any people, it is my very good friend who was the only audience at this exhibition. She saw my work in this blog and insisted on coming to see it in person. I therefore organised an 'exhibition' just for her at my house and she confirmed that the work was as good as she thought it was! She even said it gave her goose bumps because it looked so familiar and yet very unique.
Her reaction to my work was very different to that of R, who seemed rather bored with my endless attempts to convince him about the origins of my art. 'Why don't you add some dimension, or perspective, or colour?' He retorted when I showed him page after page of the sketches. I was left feeling unappreciated, ignored, worthless.
Such is life, always tempering the good with the bad, the highs with the lows. Nowhere more so that in my academic life: After a successful conference week which ended with my winning a popular science talk contest, I received one of the worst emails ever. The email delivered a severely negative response to one of my many academic projects.
So now the balance is restored: I am neither full of myself, nor am I completely discouraged. I see my strengths just as much as I see the weakness. Some people like me and other do not. I call that life.
Labels: Amolo artist solo exhibition