CONTINUED
Jennifer Lima
PHOTO LA TWO
Part Two of Jennifer Lima’s Behind the Scene’ report from Photo LA
By the time the doors opened at 11:00am this morning, a crowd of about 40 people had gathered, waiting to enter 2010’s Photo LA. Given that it was a Friday morning, 40 is a pretty large number. As well as an unexpected number. W’ith the economy the way it is and the up and downs of the past year, many artists were prepared for a major decrease in attendance at this years’ exhibition. Yet it seems that good people and eccentric art were exactly what the doctor had ordered.
It’s Day 2 of the four day extravaganza and already there is chaos on the horizon. As I walked into the Santa Monica Civic Center this morning, I detected a slight burning smell. Sort of like the smell that burned rubber gives off. Still, since no one seemed to be alarmed I figured it was nothing.
It turns out that smell was burned rubber, burned out extension cord rubber to be exact. A minor electrical issue that caused about 20 lights or so to go out, not necessarily a big deal in any other situation, but during an art exhibit it could be a catastrophe. Before I knew it, a crew of six workers scurried past me fully armed with ladders, cords and tools. Within less than an hour the lights were back on and all was right again, the world made sense once more.
As part of my “undercover” scheme to get a behind the scenes look at Photo LA, I teamed up with local photographer Norman Kulkin, working as his assistant for the exhibit. Kulkin, known for his exquisite taste and vast collections in vernacular photography, helped me get the low down on what an event like this really takes to pull off.
For starters, you need serious people skills. Not for making sales, though that would make sense, but no. The people skills needed are to help you avoid “group meetings” from taking place in your booth. Although it seems that some of those situations you just can’t avoid, like today for example. A group of three people ran into each other right in front of our booth, naturally, they stepped into the booth to get out of the way. Causing a “group meeting” to ultimately take place in our booth where the woman went on to explain that she no longer needed to buy art since she “bought herself a camera.” Obviously it takes more to be a photographer than just owning a point and shoot camera, now why was she even at the event? I thought about that, I considered pulling her to the side and saying, “hey lady, why are you here again?” might decided that might be a bit rude.
Another thing to watch out for is people who compliment your art, get you going then when you think you’re about to make a sale or gain a fan they ask, “are you interested in printing or scanning?” Learning to scoop out the true art enthusiasts and collectors can be a bit more complicated than I thought.
Through a day of haggling and politely weeding out the flakes, there is always a moment that reminds you why you’re in this business. In the mist of today’s events there was a young woman, Lydia that entered the booth wide eyed with what seemed to be disbelief. It turned out she had spotted a few photographs on the wall by her all time favorite artist, Kortez, an artist Kulkin knew personally.
I watched her as he shared stories of his personal experiences with Kortez and discussed the aspects of his art that made him great. She said she had come to Photo LA with hopes of getting a close look at maybe one of his photographs, Kulkin provided her with four originals at a very close proximity. Thus, in her words, “making her day.”
I found that, while most people enjoy walking around admiring the artwork, sitting in one spot admiring the people is just as fun. Watching Lydia find pure joy in a simple photograph is what art is truly about. By it “making her day” to be able to experience firsthand a photograph by one of the greats gave me a sense of purpose in my undercover schemes. Plus, watching a man become annoyed when he failed to figure out what “vernacular” meant causing him to turn to his wife and say, “it doesn’t matter, I’m not into those kinds of photos anyway” well, that just made my day.
Jennifer Lima /
Photographs by Angie Smith, Guy Hepner, Norman Kulkin and Eye Gallery.
Comments
Leave a Comment
Required: 
