The opportunity to build a ‘tribe’ of individuals’ who understand and enjoy my work; no, it’s deeper then that: its people who believe in what I am trying to achieve or better still a future collector or purchaser of my work – finding such individuals’ to my mind just has to be worth it! Fortunately, this fair introduced me to two new couples, who have recently purchased my work. A rare pleasure, as galleries are naturally secretive and don’t usually provide purchasers details to the artist. This traditional out dated ‘them and us’ attitude seems quite redundant in this digital age, after all like most artists’ I am traceable, and for those more sad individuals with time on their hands my full contact details are available! It is my prediction the traditional gallery – artist relationship will be redefined for the good: galleries will have to be more transparent with their client databases; in doing so, the next few years will present exciting challenges for the artist to commence building their own tribes.
My second reason for attending these art fair events provides me with an opportunity to network, mingle and of course meet old acquaintances and forge new friendships with other artists’. An example of this, a fellow exhibitor took this photo of me. I think it’s a good likeness and illustrates my need to do more exercise – although I partake in Ballroom and Latin dancing three times a week I still seem to be putting on the pounds and this before Christmas! I shall write more about this next year.
