MINOR CELEBRITY

....One nice thing about being an artist is that you can be world famous and have your work in museums and the most important collections in the world, and your next door neighbor still has no fucking clue what you do for a living. Which is a good thing when you are taking the trash out in your underwear and you happen to run into them. 

One bad thing about being an artist is that you can be totally anonymous, even when you are out in the middle of the Art World because the Art World is actually a large and rambling place with many hallways and Cul-de-Sacs that have nothing to do with each other. Last night I went out to an opening. I wanted to see some paintings by a guy I knew. I went to the opening, but I really didn't know a sole and the the longer I spent there not talking to anyone, the more self-conscious  I felt that I was a weirdo actually looking at the art work on the walls.

Tonight was totally more like it. I remembered that this guy I know was opening a new gallery and I ran out of the house to see his first show, as this might actually be the last time I get to see someone act ambitiously and over-reach at least until after the Great Depression.

Anyway, the gallery is on a block with lots of other galleries who also happen to be having openings, and I couldn't even make it into any of the galleries without running into familiar faces and warm conversations. I felt like a minor celebrity as I waved hello to critics and gallery owners and I hardly had a chance to look at the art work. This is the way it is supposed to be. I've lived in this town for all my life and have been hanging around parties and openings in this neighborhood for almost twenty years. I think it is good when I can loose myself in these kind of social gatherings and feel like I have a lot of friends. God knows it can be fleeting.