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Some years ago, a friend called to say she was coming into town and could we meet that evening. I had a ticket for a performance at the Joyce Theater in Chelsea--a dance company was performing to the music of Philip Glass--which I was not about to give up, so I offered to see if I could get her a ticket. She agreed, and I secured a primo spot for her in the center of the orchestra. .
I enjoyed the performance from my side aisle seat in the M row. When the performance was over, I waited there for my friend to exit her row.
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"The dancers were good,” she boomed as she shuffled along the row, “but that music. Ugh, dreadful! There was an audible gasp as theatergoers who had been sitting nearby turned to look at her.
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Guess who had been sitting in the seat directly in front of her and who was at that very moment walking parallel to her on his row? Yes, the composer. If he was affected by my friend’s comment he didn’t show it, but he certainly heard it. .
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But sometimes our comments, overheard or directed at someone, can have dire professional consequences. And that's the topic of today’s post.
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At an art fair a few years ago, an artist was displeased where the gallery had placed her work, which she felt was a less-than-prime spot in the booth. Outside the building she ran into a friend and let her anger and disappointment out. Fair enough. Unfortunately the disappointment included some serious dissing of the gallery. Unknown to her, the gallery assistant was around the corner having a cigarette and heard the whole tirade. The assistant told the dealer, and when the artist returned later to the booth, she was let go from the gallery right then and there.
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While that artist was left to rue the consequences of her remarks, the following artist has no idea what his comments cost him. Recently a curator friend mentioned that he had been thinking of giving a particular artist a solo exhibition as part of a larger prestigious event, but that the artist had been so rude over another matter that he, the curator, decided to offer the exhibition to someone else. “I’m not going to put myself in the position of being verbally abused by this artist. My job takes too much out of me as it is,” said the curator unapologetically.
At an art fair a few years ago, an artist was displeased where the gallery had placed her work, which she felt was a less-than-prime spot in the booth. Outside the building she ran into a friend and let her anger and disappointment out. Fair enough. Unfortunately the disappointment included some serious dissing of the gallery. Unknown to her, the gallery assistant was around the corner having a cigarette and heard the whole tirade. The assistant told the dealer, and when the artist returned later to the booth, she was let go from the gallery right then and there.
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While that artist was left to rue the consequences of her remarks, the following artist has no idea what his comments cost him. Recently a curator friend mentioned that he had been thinking of giving a particular artist a solo exhibition as part of a larger prestigious event, but that the artist had been so rude over another matter that he, the curator, decided to offer the exhibition to someone else. “I’m not going to put myself in the position of being verbally abused by this artist. My job takes too much out of me as it is,” said the curator unapologetically.
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Marketing Mondays is usually about the nuts and bolts of getting yourself and your work into position in the art world. These anecdotes illustrate what can happen once you’re there. You work too hard to get yourself in the enviable position of being on a curator’s radar, of getting into a gallery. Why let a stray remark drag you off course?
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As always, your comments, stories and--especially--cautionary tales are welcome.
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As always, your comments, stories and--especially--cautionary tales are welcome.
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Images from the Internet
