represent

Polarities

“Polarities”, my solo show at Viridian Artists, opens today. These are a couple shots I took after Lauren Purje and I hung the paintings on Sunday. It’s amazing how many emergency measures need doing at the last minute: one entire frame came apart at all four corners and had to be more or less reassembled securely, which we succeeded in doing, after a few false starts. I had to take another painting out of its frame, and off the stretchers at two corners, in order to tighten it, then reattach the frame. One other painting also had to be tightened, through less drastic measures involving a hair drier we bought on 10th Ave. at a drug store. I brought most of the other tools we needed, anticipating problems before I left Rochester, and Lauren provided the rest. There was a sense of fun in all of it, since so much work over the past five years had gone into making the work itself–any surprises in the delivery and hanging of the work seemed minor problem-solving exercises, rather than real work. Even though I drove the paintings 350 miles in what a friend called a “soccer mom” mini-van I rented from Avis. I informed her that it’s well known how Picasso lugged canvases to Paris in a Dodge Caravan. Really! (However, Van Gogh drove a Saab to Arles.) Here’s a video which I stupidly took in portrait aspect, offering what looks to me now like a keyhole view of the whole show. Reception is Thursday at 5:30 p.m. William Benton will perform on guitar.