Sunday was a gorgeous spring day, and since Rob and I have downsized our athletics from three sports (biking, running and swimming) to one (swimming), we found ourselves with a little extra free time during the weekend. So, we headed for Richmond to take in the Arts in the Park Festival. Our main goal was to check in with Foust whose work we represent and will take with us to the Affordable Art Fair in NYC this June. It is always such a pleasure to see her work and talk art. And here’s a little scoop: Buy now, because when the wider world (i.e. NYC) sees her linocuts, prices will rise accordingly!
In between visits with Foust at her booth, Rob and I walked around to check out the art and see if we wanted to buy anything for ourselves. These fairs are always a mixed bag, and this one was no exception. I’ll start with the bad, because that is just how I am.
First, too much travel photography. Yes, you took pictures on your vacation to Tuscany and other exotic lands. Yes, they are nice and colorful. But they are not art. Sorry. Second, if you are going to show paintings, paint well. Respect the craft. Third, to be interesting, jewelry shouldn’t just be a bunch of beads a fifth grader could string together. Fourth, I don’t want to see your signature the first time I look at your work. It should not be that big. One woman even altered the placement of her signature to integrate it into each painting. No, no, no. Let the work speak. Fifth, a woman describing her husband’s artwork tried to make giclees sound like the original egg tempera paintings. We know egg tempera – it’s not a medium that makes multiples possible. Turns out the works being sold were digital prints of scanned images. Her unwillingness to call them digital reproductions bordered on fraud. They were reasonably priced and lovely, but they were simply photocopies of egg tempera paintings. Fine and fair, just don’t say the medium was egg tempera. The medium was a computer. (I’m no snob, at least not completely; we bought a giclee from a different artist. So there. But I knew what it was. No dissembling.)
Finally, a note to the organizers: Show more craft. Don’t fill the booths with bad, repetitive paintings and photographs. It dulls the senses. There was some nice clay work, but not quite nice enough to buy. And, I was surprised to see very little wood - only a couple of turners and maybe three people showing quality furniture.
Since we are the sellers of art in our day jobs, it is always good to see things from a buyer’s perspective. It’s a good reminder that to inspire you to make a purchase, a work must be high quality, presented well and stand out from the rest. A number of things did, and we went home with three of them. This is what came home with us:
Richmond artist Keith M. Ramsey. Wow. Young, talented, and an Edward Hopper fan to boot. Enough said. Look for yourself. We bought a small acrylic painting that feels a little like this one from his web site. Keith is a good colorist and has a great sensibility. Keith also has a lot to say through his art; he takes himself seriously; and he is one to watch.
Maryland artist Curtis Woody. Just look at this… I love hands. This one made me tear up. Had to buy it. This is the giclee we bought. It’s not an "original", which I’m slightly embarrassed about, but until we get the gallery completely off the ground, we’ll be hard pressed to buy originals from artists as well known as Curtis. We’d love to figure out a way to show his work one day – maybe as part of a group show.
Richmond artist Kim Young creates some terrific jewelry and wall assemblages. Very folk art feeling. I am a new fan and customer. Kim works a lot with found objects and old globes which she cuts and refashions into pins and earrings. I hadn’t seen affordable work like it before which is saying a lot. And, as it turns out, she is friends with Foust. Small world!
We also spent a good amount of time looking through the booth of Eli Thompson. He does cityscape etchings. Besides loving etchings, Eli’s quality stood out. They require talent and commitment. Eli had that. Although we didn’t pull the trigger and buy one, we’ll keep an eye on his work.
With all that said, I do believe we represent the best artists in the world at Migration. Seriously. But it is always good to look and acquire, if not originals, at least reminders in some form of what touched you on that day.
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