Street Gallery, Sunday 31st december 2006
Always a great feeling to see a man kneeling in front my art! I don´t know why, but it often happens that people take some strange positions in front of my paintings... I imagine that the most pragmatic amongst you would say:
You might be right, but often I have the feeling that people are trying to enter the pictures.
„it´s just because your pictures are tiny and laying on the ground!“
An Italian woman told me one day:
„Your paintings... they´re not quite reality... more like a dream... but a dream which one wants to enter, to go deeper and deeper inside! And at the end it is very hard to leave, it´s like a spell!“
It was one of the most beautiful compliments I have ever received! Anyway... I wonder above all how elastic old people still can be when they want to!
It was busy today in the Street Gallery, I would say: vibrating! Before we set up, I was not quite sure, it made sense to be there, thinking the people had better things to do on New Year´s Eve than to admire my paintings. I was wrong. I got a great deal of attention, many compliments and as a result, some sales are expected this week in the Studio.. .
My first wishes for the New Year came from a german painter. He said, that my prices are much too low, adding that his own prices are higher, but well, in Germany... We are in Spain here, and some articles are still expected to be cheap. Paintings for example. But perhaps only because there is much competition, as I mentioned before... (read december 2006, There are 50 ways to leave your Lover). And also because of these studios scattered around Spain, where hundreds of east european painters are working on a production line for the big chain store „El Corte Ingles“, producing 3000 times the same original painting for 30€...
There were a couple of interesting moments in the Street Gallery, Kevin talks about some of them in his diary today, but the most touching one for me was created by a spanish woman. She looked intensely at my new picture from the series „Hands“ and spoke to her friend about it, It is always a delicate situation when people are commenting on my work in private. Most of the time I am not supposed to understand them as they all speak in different languages, but unfortunately, I myself speak and understand most of them. Anyway whilst I am trying to respect the intimacy of their thoughts, guiding my ears to the „ bbzzzes“ of the wind or the „rrrssshhhes“ of the sea, I am only human and human it is to listen when some stranger is speaking about you!
I heard the woman say to her friend:
„Well, I go to the artist now... I must always speak to the author of what I admire... see if I can speak to this girl...“
and she marched bravely towards me. En passant: thankyou for „the girl“, senora!
As the woman realised that I understood spanish very well, I noticed a certain concern... but well, her conscience was clear, all I´d heard from her had been very positive.
She asked me to come with her to the hands, and remarked:
„It´s fantastic what you have done here... painters normally paint mothers with babies, and especially mothers´hands... you have painted the hand of a father... it´s amazing how you could evoke what a father IS, only showing his hand!“
I told her that 2 weeks ago I had sold the hand of a grandfather holding the hand of his grandson... A great idea, she said.
And of course she then asked the price of the hand. As I told her, she was very shocked and the magic was gone: so much for the idea that I am too cheap!!!!
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