press pass

steven lopez, i focus, i want this

chuck adams at the eugene weekly will be running a cover story about steven lopez and the upcoming exhibit this coming thursday. i'm really happy  to see that the local press is interested in the story, i think that steven is very interesting and i want as many people as possible to hear about his work. 

i'm also trying very hard to get my head wrapped around every little minute detail that goes into putting on an art exhibit. a lot of the shows i've been involved in thus far at fenario have been relatively easy to set-up, but as i work on developing my position i want to attain the kind of skills and connections necessary to produce a fairly complicated affair. i want to have personal working knowledge of each aspect of the process: fund-raising, press releases, promotional distribution, hanging, etc. i hope to within a year, be perfectly capable of personally taking care of each aspect of the preparation for an art exhibit, so that i can handle with confidence the needs and expectations of any artist (and their work) that comes my way. i've felt so very blessed these past few months to have my first few shows with artists who are understanding and patient but have the professionalism and respect for their own work to be firm and critical when need be: it helps me learn new skills, and how to rectify a situation that may not be perfect with candor and grace. 

i've received comments in the past from friends (mostly those not in the art business) about how demanding they perceive some of my clients to be. i just don't see it that way. i see the entire process of developing and hanging a show to be an integral part to its overall impact. therefor i can easily understand why an artist would want to have their hand in the steps leading up to an opening. it may be crude to say but being someone's bitch for a couple weeks is just part of my job, but the reward is that both myself and my client get the pride of seeing an immaculate final result.