Dancing with the Artists
Us boyz competing with each other were all ponying up for our breakfasts at the Snow Café, more accurately the Slow Café judging by the hour it took to get our orders. Apparently Anchorage is in no hurry to join the frenetic rush of the Lower 48. The place was packed and just getting a table took 20 minutes. It gave me and my competition for a courthouse project one block away plenty of time to acquaint ourselves.
I’m usually reticent about these meet-ups, having met some incredible egos in my little career in public art, but this was a big project and us Chosen Few had been to a lot of these dances. The best man might not win, but whoever did would be pretty good. The odds-on horse in the race, Ray King, had amazing installations all over the world. He was leaving that night for London, then on to Taipei. Mostly he regaled us with stories of his 1750’s Pennsylvania homestead on 23 acres, an historic parcel of Americana he was extensively remodeling. Later, he told us, he’ll build his real house. After he sells the 1900 chocolate factory in Philadelphia where he has his studio.
Preston, David and I listened politely, fairly gobsmacked at Ray’s energy and the concomitant wealth. You don’t run into many rich artists, at least not on the South End. David mentioned at some point how great it was, win or lose, to be here as finalists. Ray smiled knowingly, signing his credit card receipt. “Over the years, I’ve decided it takes three things to make it in this business,” he said and all of us prepared to take notes. “Talent. Luck. And Perseverance. A lot of artists can’t handle rejection.”
I doubt Ray has experienced the same level of rejections as the rest of us, but we certainly know what he means. We all have battle scars, knee-buckling disappointments and dark periods of self doubt. Luck can turn on us, both ways. But none of us quit. And if we lose this project we’ll move on to the next.
We all wished each other good luck when we departed. You know, on the next project.
Hits: 72
But Skeeter, would Ray make it into the Studio Tour??? I would run the other way from the guy who wrote the following paragraph. Perhaps the Donald will tap him for something–something elegant but primitive, I am sure.
“His artwork uses mathematics and sacred geometry, scaled to the golden mean, to add a humanistic element and proportion to public art. Using advanced technology, King designs three-dimensional shapes and patterns that are inspired by forms found in nature. These forms are astoundingly complex, yet simple and elegant, primitive, yet futuristic.”