Feeling too famous? Selling too much art? Getting too popular? Based on actual experiences I've had with artists at their openings and shows and including myself participating as an artist at these events over the years. Seems like some artists are just plain determined to undermine their careers. Now if you're wondering whether that might describe you, then check out some of my observations and see if you can use them to sabotage your art openings or any other occasions where your art is on display:
* Act important, distracted and preoccupied. The key here is to look as unapproachable as possible.
* Speak only with people you already know.
* Disappear for significant periods of time and make sure you tell no one where you're going. Or tell someone where you're going and then go somewhere else. Or tell people what time you're arriving and then either show up late or don't show up at all.
* Have bad art show opening protocol; Trash talk about others artwork techniques and their artists. (this happen for real and I was very disappointed by this artist)
* Acting like you are the best of the show and walking around like you don't need to talk to nobody, my artworks speaks for itself.(I really like this one, NOT)
* Talking to other artists about your success exhibitions and making then feel less then you.
* When people ask you questions about your art, tell them you don't know or haven't really thought about it. Or answer them, but look really put out by it.
* When people ask about the significance or meaning of your art tell them it's whatever they want it to be.
* When someone asks the price of a piece of your art, tell them you don't know or you're not sure. Or tell them you haven't figured it out yet. Or better yet, ask them what they think it's worth.
* Talk to one person for a really long time (preferably someone you already know and can speak with anywhere) and ignore anyone else who appears to want to speak with you. (I actually had an artist tell me once that he'd get to me as soon as he was done talking to his next door neighbor. You guessed it; I left immediately.)
* Act like you can't wait to end a conversation with someone, and then as soon as it's over, start a conversation with someone else and act much more interested in them.
* Interrupt or abruptly end a conversation with someone so that you can start a conversation with someone else who's walked up to you.
* End a conversation for no apparent reason, walk away, and start a whole new conversation with someone else.
* Walk up to anyone who has a profile in the art community like critics, collectors or bloggers, introduce yourself and immediately start talking about yourself and your art... whether they're interested or not. The longer you talk and the fewer opportunities you give them to respond, the better.
* Deliberately avoid eye contact or better yet, look straight through people who you can tell would like to speak with you, but who you don't know and, based on that, have decided to ignore.
* If you notice that someone is interested in speaking with you while you're speaking with someone else, continue the conversation for as long as possible and refuse to even acknowledge their presence.
* Surround yourself with several friends at all times so that no one has easy access to you.
* One the opposite end of the continuum, hover around your art and as soon as someone looks at it, tell them you're the artist and either ask them if they have any questions or just start talking.
* Launch into long and detailed explanations of your art whether the person you're speaking with asks for them or not.
* If someone can't figure out or understand what you're saying, make sure you act condescending or inconvenienced by it.
* Disagree with people's impressions or responses to your art and correct them as often as possible.
* Act amazed and astonished if someone you're speaking with hasn't heard of you or is unfamiliar with your art.
* Drink too much, smoke too much or do whatever else you have to do to make sure you're completely out of it.
I enjoy very much participating, visiting art exhibitions and art galleries, but I also had left with bad impressions. We artists tend to focus more on making arts for weeks and forgetting on how we need to present ourselves in public. What is your purpose in the exhibition??? "SALES" Be positive, respectful, humble, know your art, go straight to the point, stay alert, stay sober, no complaining, be nice, stay true to yourself and most important of all HAVE FUN ! the rest will fall in place, you never know who's observing you or really interested in your art.
Have a great day creating!
