My left shoulder had its 3rd birthday this week. Nobody noticed but me. going bionic is a very personal thing, something truly miraculous but fairly private after all the fuss and bother is past. But having had this 2nd shoulder replacement surgery within 4 months of the first enabled me to set out on a determined part to recapture my skills in the studio and hopefully lead to a career renaissance. Mission accomplished on the first and the jury is still out on the latter.
The odd thing about all this is that I have a 25+ year history with a CV to match. Only now that holds about as much water as the strainer for my pasta. This is a weak economy, weaker still for visual artists in part because art is the very first line item cut from any construction or remodeling budget. It's expendable. Posters are cheap and look good in frames. "Real"artwork unfortunately gets swiftly booted to the back of the bus.
So how lucky am I to be having this big exhibition that opens at the end of the month? Damn lucky. It will be a good show - and a long show since it will be up throught Decemebr 30. But my challenge starts before that. what am I going to do about finding new gallery representation for my newly resurrected former career? I'm not even certain my previous galleries will be interested. Just keeping their doors open is a challenge and they may have decided to focus on what sells in this weak market rather than exhibiting work by artists they used to know love and actually sell in the "old days". I may have said this before, but I feel like a virgin with a long resume.
I've ben away from commecrcial art sales for so long I dn;t even know which galleries to approach. I'm starting from scratch looking for galleries that handle works on paper, oil pastel pieces, colorfield pieces, abstractions, work by artists I admire, etc. Once upon a time in the old days this cojuld be accomplished by looking through a year's worth of Art in Americas, noting artists and/or galleries I felt were hopeful prospects and doing a bit more research. Today with the web, the whole world is in digital format and finding a prospective gallery is harder than ever.Getting someone to look at unsolicited work is probably as difficult as it ever was if not harder) but unless an artist knows a represented artist willing to make the introductions, it's all one enormous crap shoot. I hate gambling.
So my career renaissance has a strong start, especially if there is some sort of decent press coverage I can use as a teaser for galleries. But most likely I'll need to pound the cyber pavements and say lots of prayers. It's a steep climb but I didn't come this far to be a wimp about it. People have always has positive responses to my work because it is colorful and seems upbeat. I'm counting on that being even more important in a weak economy.
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