You're No Monet ...

I set up my show at the Middle East this morning and despite my stressing over the situation, I'm pretty happy with the way it ended up. I hung 14 paintings including two which I just finished in time for this show. The newest and biggest painting is a 4 foot by 4 foot rendering of my grandfather's brother and his wife, done from a photo my mother took in 1954 over in Ireland. It's a nice painting but it's an even better sail - something I found out as I tried to walk across Mass Ave this particularly windy morn. I was whipping around like Baryshnikov trying to navigate this thing through the air and down the street.


Later this afternoon, I returned to put up the title tags that I made and deliver some promotional postcards, which had Pan-Mass Portraiture - P-Town to Pittsfield written across the top. The bartender read it and said "Pittsfield?!?! Pittsfield suuuuuuuuucks!" I was like, you don't have to tell me, man, I'm from there. Turns out he's from Great Barrington and his father was an engineer at GE. South County. Bitches can't hang with the Pitts!


After the couple left from the last table that I needed to access to hang the tag, I went over to do so. There was a cute young Hispanic girl bussing the table while I hung the tag and we had the following exchange:

CYHG: Are you the one who did the paintings?
VTK: I am. do you like them?
CYHG: Ehhh ... They're ok. They're not as good as Monet.
VTK: Monet?
CYHG: Yes, Monet. Do you know him?
VTK: Yes.
CYHG: I saw his paintings at the Museum of Fine Arts and his paintings are better. I looked at them and it was like a photograph [what kind of impressionist camera does this girl have]; yours, you can tell they are done by hand. You can see the strokes and stuff.
VTK: So you're saying that Monet is better than me?
CYHG: No I didn't say that. He probably had more practice. If you keep practicing, you never know.
VTK: [*thinking* yes you did say that and that's ok. because he's Monet.] Yep. It takes practice for sure. What's your name?
CYHG: Lesbia.
VTK: Lesbia?
CYHG: Yes, Lesbia.
VTK: Well, nice meeting you, Lesbia. Take care.

Not that you'd doubt me, but I just want to point out that all of that text is verbatim. So, apparently I'm not as good as Monet. He's pretty good though. And I plan to keep practicing.

The show is going to be up for the rest of the month, so if you're in the area, check it out. And if you're in the area on Saturday, September 16th from 3 to 6 PM, definitely stop by because that's when the "reception" is going to be. I don't really know what that entails, but it is a bar/restaurant, so there will be food and drink (though you may very well have to buy that yourself - I'm unemployed). And if you feel like rockin' out, the Wrens are playing at the Middle East Downstairs later that night. I'm going and several other people have expressed interest in that as well. If you want to join in on that action, and I recommend you do because the Wrens wrock, I would get your tickets sooner rather than later because there's a good chance that it will sell out given their popularity and the fact that the college kids are back in town. You can come to the reception on the late side - 5:00, 5:30 - and then we can all either go out to eat or come back to my apartment, which is 4 blocks away, for cocktail hour(s). Seriously, the Wrens kick ass, so you should do that. But if you can't make that, I'd love to see all my little Von Trapper Keepsakes at some other time in the afternoon. Come on down.



(it's the Restaurant or "Upstairs" side, not the Corner Bar)