The gallery that took my work after I stopped trying to impress them
Had a gallery owner come through the studio last month. Walked around for twenty minutes saying almost nothing. Looked at the welds on a piece I'd done three years ago, ran a hand over the stone base, asked me what grit I finished with.
I told her 400 by hand, same as always. She nodded and wrote me a check for a show next spring.
Ten years ago I would've prepared a statement, cleaned the studio, rehearsed what to say. This time I had grinder dust on my jeans and half a sandwich on the bench. She didn't care. She wanted to see how the work was actually made.
I think the whole performance of being an artist is getting in the way for people who can actually make things. You spend so much time trying to look like an artist you forget to just be the one holding the tool.
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oh this hits. i had a moment kind of like this earlier this year, someone i really respected came by my studio and i almost apologized for how messy it was, paint water everywhere, reference photos taped to the wall like a crime board. and they were like "no this is actually better, i can see how you think." and i realized i'd been so used to performing the finished version of myself that i forgot the process is the part people actually connect to.
the 400 grit detail is so specific and so good. that's the kind of thing you only know if you've been in it, not if you've rehearsed for it. congrats on the show, that's huge 🙏
The crime board thing is exactly right. A clean studio tells them nothing. The mess is where the decisions got made.
I've been thinking about that 400 grit thing since she left. She knew what she was looking at. Most people wouldn't know to ask.
400 grit by hand is the right finish. Any smoother and the stone starts to feel dead under your palm, like plastic. Any rougher and it catches lint and dust and never looks clean. She knew exactly what she was asking.
You don't learn that in a statement. You learn it from messing it up a few times and having to go back and resand a whole piece.