Standing at a Crossroads

The circus blew through this town again last week. Quite a spectacular tempest of hype, bravado, exaggeration, arrogance, and excess combined with hope, joy, bewilderment, and artistic expression. It all left me standing at a crossroads kind of like Robert Johnson way back in the day. There was no devil that I am aware of, and certainly no guitar – but the circus weekend in Des Moines left me with some choices to make in it’s wake.

The guy that writes about art in the newspaper stated around 200,000 people visited the downtown show over the weekend allegedly based on aerial photographs of the crowd and concession sales. That number just plain needs to stop being thrown around. It’s insulting the intelligence of everyone involved from the writer to the reader to the artists. While I’m thinking about it:  Giving attention to a few gimmick displays and visiting some friends’ booths does not qualify as art criticism. It works for shills, not critics. It’s true. Deal with it.

The downtown show is a good one. I walked it on Saturday night with the Beautiful Ms. Madonna and another photographer – a good friend of mine from Mizzou. I visited with several artists. I wanted to visit with many more, but I knew it was getting late, I was not a customer that night, and it was a long day for the artists. Money talks, chit-chat walks at the end of a long day at these things. These guys were coming up on two 12 hour days in the trenches by the time I rolled up on them Saturday evening and I was sensitive to that reality.  No “cha-ching” could lead to a short fuse, so I kept a low profile and focused on the work that I could see as the sun set. I did stop and visit with my friend the Florida photographer. His wife is an incredible pastel painter. I got a chance to visit with her again as well. (We had a chance to all have dinner together on Thursday night – an event I will not forget anytime soon.- a little more on that later.) I ended our Saturday evening chat early so we could see the show before it got too dark, much to my companion’s chagrin. Nothing like enjoying some Canadian Club and Mountain Dew with a first class wood sculptor.

I saw the “Never Disagree With Me” jeweler, the trinket makers, and of course the interior design illustrator.

Yawn.

Nothing new, nothing innovative. I saw the multitudes of painters with HUGE skies and small horizons. (Hint: that’s old now guys.) Along with all the usual awards this downtown show will win at some lame event later this year, I would like to nominate it for the “Most Twenty-Somethings Looking for a Place to Drink and Be Seen Award” A winner. Hands down. No contest. Blue Ribbon.

Buy/sell at the downtown show? Not that I could see. I’m not saying it wasn’t there, but I was impressed that I didn’t readily see any “posers” or “wannabe’s”. This feeling of authenticity is an important pillar of integrity for this show, but it was easily off set by the multitude of distractions. Music, movies, blah, blah, blah. Too much stimulation. That’s why I call it a circus.

But still,  the show is obviously thinking of a nice balance for the artists and visitors because it kept all the irritating profit and charity booths off to one side of the map – away from the artists. I know the artists must have appreciated that bit of insight on the part of the show management and they should be commended for making the right decisions for the artists and the buyers. Those show hours are tough though, is it really for sales or is it to provide a nice atmosphere for the libations to take place?

There is so much going on downtown that distracts the senses. Still, it does look like the show is trying to make sense of it all after so many years – finally.

I will not apply to the show for reasons of my own, but they do appear to be working toward a more focused view of the artists and the work for sale.

Back to the art -sculptures – wood sculptures, clay, metal – gorgeous leather work and even some paper-cutting . . . beautiful forms and twists intelligently or expertly investigated and either constructed or perhaps encouraged to bloom by some very hardworking and smart artists. Jewelry with some shape, some line, some color – some value. Beautiful textures. Great consistency in each booth – nothing seemed controversial or challenging. . . . but it was beautiful work.

Paintings seemed a bit too formula-driven for me, but I understood what they were doing. Not enough risk-taking, too comfortable and oriented toward a more pleasant customer experience. Too trendy. They weren’t country-kitsch at all, but they weren’t avant-gard by any stretch of the imagination either. I didn’t see anything too gimmicky at the show, but nothing risky either. There’s nothing really wrong with that. The show leans a bit to the conservative tastes – I know this market after all these years. People in Des Moines generally like beauty, quality, and no controversy. There was no junk, no yard art that I could see. No duck rocks. No marshmallow guns.

Nothing made me stop in my tracks either.

The “Other Art Show” is larger. In many ways it is better. The focus is on art. It’s well-managed. Well organized. It has come so amazingly far in the last decade or so. Quality work. Still some kitsch, but this is the “other show” so it has to be expected. Only a few of the artists I knew back during the first year have grown and improved and taken chances. Others are making the same things they were making 10 years ago. Again, “risk taking” or the lack thereof, seems to be the common denominator among the artists at both shows in Des Moines this weekend. Artists need to take risks, the patrons may want to consider some risks, the “Other Art Show” may benefit from taking a risk and leaving the fairgrounds behind. The show needs to grow in quality not only from the standpoint of the artists, but the audience as well. This show is outgrowing the fairgrounds location in terms of size and quality.

Saturday was a good day for the indoor show at the fairgrounds. It was impressive probably because of the rain on Saturday morning, but the crowd (and the sales) kept happening until late in the day. Sunday never came together at the fairgrounds. Too many people walking with their hands in their pockets, ignoring the work around them or walking with their arms crossed and only paying attention to their companions as they strolled the aisles.

In my booth, I interpreted the behavior of the crowd to be one of apathy or boredom with the show. I walked the show and realized that many of the participants were high quality, high caliber artists that I have seen selling piece after piece for years. The people that put the show together chose some very dynamic and impressive artists to be in the show. Because I was not selling either, I started watching the passersby more closely. I started to note what they were carrying – usually nothing, but many were carrying metal yard art, trinkets, small cards and ceramics. It was not an art-buying crowd. They weren’t bored, they were out of their league.Intimidated by the prices and work at the downtown show, these people came to the fairgrounds for a walk indoors and maybe a small purchase. They got more than they bargained for this year.

Most, but not all of the artists at the fairgrounds show had no hope of making the sales to the visitors that day. It was not their crowd. This is by no means the promoters’ fault. They put together a top notch show in a top notch facility to take place at the same time as a very well-known show that is ingrained into the collective psyche of the townies. Pretty impressive. It needs to grow, and it needs to grow in a new venue.

I stood and watched the artists breaking down their booths at the end of a dismal day on Sunday. Very little talking. Lots of banging and clanging of tent poles (Why do so many people insist on bringing their outdoor setup for an indoor venue?). Some of them deserved what they got on Sunday – good and bad. Some were kicked to the curb by the downtown show, others just aren’t good enough, still others like me – don’t care what they think downtown. I watched as everyone hurried to get everything to their vans before the rain would start. We could hear the thunder OVER the noise of the air ducts.

I remember thinking there were really, really good artists there. Artists that take risks and try new ideas. Artists that don’t necessarily lead, but don’t follow either. Real artists march to their own beat. New imagery and ideas on new or maybe re-visited materials. My customers on Saturday loved what I had going on. On Sunday, my new customers didn’t come to see the work – save for a handful of notable exceptions – one of whom has an incredible “Blue Fish” on her wall from Saturday. Visiting an artist twice during a show and bringing someone with them is probably the hightest compliment that a patron can hand to an artist.

As I watched the promoters and other artists finish up I realized what my pastel painter and photographer friends were telling me at dinner Thursday night. Regarding my work – it needs to be in front of a more “cerebral” (her words, not mine) audience rather than in front of a crowd more focused on something else. We all have a place we should be and our audience needs to know where we can be found.

Sunday night I finally confirmed to myself she was indeed correct at Thursday night’s dinner. I was nodding like a junkie in a dark alley as I watched the artists packing their things and I thought about what Ellen had said. I have some decisions to make just like these two Des Moines art shows and the artists that participate in them should be making.

Continue to grow or become stagnant?
Focus or take a shotgun approach?
Art or a “product”?
Artist or “vendor”?
Take a risk or bask in the glow of what always worked before?

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So now – I’m standing at a crossroads.. . . .   .     .

JohnStillmunks.com