"Whatever Meredyth Wants"...

This past week I spent a couple of days delivering artwork to Gallery NAGA, where Meredyth had been invited to be guest curator of a group show. I think that Arthur, the gallery director, came up with the title, "Whatever Meredyth Wants". Most of what I delivered was normal paintings and sculpture, but one bit was a nine foot pole with a three foot diameter base for a sculpture. The sculpture that goes on this base was created by a Japanese sculptor, Niho... who contacted me the night before the piece needed to be delivered. It consists of round units cast in translucent red resin that remind me of the bases and other parts of chess men. The units have a center hole and stack up along the pole making a totem like structure. The color and translucency have the look of raspberry Jello... though they're rigid and heavy. I would have loved to have seen them put it together. As I was delivering it, I asked her, "Why do young women always make such big, heavy things?" Which was probably sexist. That night she e-mailed to say that David, the installer, suggested that she work with feathers, next time... so she seemed to have a sense of humor about it.
Anyway, most of the rest of the week I painted with Stephen. Nothing special, there. All the while I had to keep fielding calls about the job that I'd passed off to Lowell and Paul. They were doing fine and in control, but the client kept wanting to talk to me.
Last night, Friday.... after finishing up with Stephen, I had a simple installation to do... one ten foot long painting. Arrived at the job (some dreadfull McMansion) with the painting that I'd picked up earlier in the day. Rang the bell... nothing. The art consultant arrived and she hit the bell... still nothing. As we waited in her car the client finally came up and rapped on the window. He'd been there all along but thought that his wife was home and taking care of us. Got the piece on the wall... assisted with the presentation of another piece. Clock is ticking... the opening for the Meredyth show... Finally, I'm released... traffic is miserable all the way home. I arrive and Syl says we'll never make it as there's only fourty-five minutes left for the opening. I change in a flash (after a small tantrum) and off we go... traffic cleared up, we were into a nearby parking space in ten minutes. Still a big crowd with many good friend artists and various other clients. We both agreed it was worth the extra effort.