Post 66: 160706 Opening Night

As the rain continues to pour from weary skies I sit at my computer with the fond memories of last nights slow dancing in my weary mind. I did not go as early as planned but it seemed that everyone else was of the same mind. All the artists came in drips and drabs and I did not get to meet them all like I had hoped. But brief conversations were pleasantly shared with the few I did meet.

There is a thrill in having eyes move along the walls and stop at something of your own creation, have them linger and joined by voices raised to express a point of view. I was amply pleased with how my images appeared. Due to the constraints of wall space I originally thought that I would have to have them arranged in two rows but a single row adorned half of the longest wall on the first floor.

The evening itself was filled with the sound of excited conversations that were soon engulfed or perhaps answered by a four string violin bass strained though several peddles so the sound produced was more like a single dialogue from a distant giant rather than the happy strumming of a mop haired Beatle. His solo voice was soon joined by bongos and a small pink idiophone and the tempo picked up. Other voices came in the form of expressionist dance and angst rap that drew applauding ears despite the drawback of not having a mic due to uncontrollable feedback. All this was just on the first floor, up on the second a keyboard and lyric ladened songs were proffered then as the tone changed an acoustic guitar was folded into the mix.

It was easy to be entertained with the diversity of musicians, of audience and the staggering diversity of images that adorned the walls. A good sized audience came to share in our night and orange cheesecake. For me a pleasant surprise came when I was able to add a small red dot to the corner of one of my photos. My very first.

I found I had to ask myself a question, do I create for the sake of it or do I put too much hope in the sale at the other end? The answer is, the sale is fluffy icing I can delight in but do without. If my cake remains un-iced I still take pleasure in its consumption.

Without a doubt it was a successful opening to which a lot of effort was put in by Chen Lie, our curator and all those she found to help her. As I slunk away into the slight drizzle of a warm summers night I found myself quietly glowing from the pleasure of being involved and the growing expectation of ‘Next’ time.