Arts
Photos of the 2011 Queen West Art Crawl
The ninth annual Queen West Art Crawl (QWAC) took place this weekend with a host of live performances, artist talks, and, of course, a huge open-air art show in Trinity Bellwoods Park, which served as the focal point of the festivities. Although the exhibition is a juried affair, highbrow art is usually in the minority at QWAC, where the focus tends towards work that's craft-driven and less pretentious in general. As is the case with any show that features 250 participating artists, the selection is wildly uneven, but that's actually part of the fun.
PHOTOS
Photos by Christian Bobak
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I had a steady flow of people in my booth. Lots just looking. But I sold 11 framed prints of my photography. Mostly smaller-sized items. But some requested larger prints than the 24 x 36" sizes I had on display. I also had some interest from restaurants and other companies wishing to display my work.
And then there were those passing through with silly or inane questions. About once an hour someone asked me, "What camera do you use?" Seriously. Does anyone ask Roger Federer what tennis racket he uses?
Then there's the jerk I caught holding out his cellphone to one of my photos as he asked me if he can take a photo for his computer desktop wallpaper.
Overall though, it was a rewarding experience.
The silly questions are one thing, but it's the sneaky ones taking pictures of your work that drive me nuts. On average I toss out 4 or 5 a week. Some even work in tag teams. One to distract and one to photograph the work!
BTW, my favorite silly question goes like this:
"Where is this piece from?"
"Australia"
"Did you take this picture?"
"Yes I did"
"Did you go to Australia?"
My reply depends on what kind of a day I am having:-)
Glad to hear you had some success in sales.
Best of luck to you!
Kenneth
My favourite quotes from the show:
Guy: "These photos are from Chernobyl"
Girl: "Is that in Japan?"
Elderly lady: "Oh, these are prints? Well I only buy original photographs!"
Roger, I feel the same about the camera question. People think they can do the same work if they have your gear.
Annoyance: people walking their bicycles through the show, causing traffic jams.
But sadly I suppose there's no accounting for people's tastes... which I guess is good for me since I sold a lot of work, but bad for the "professional" across from my booth who sold none of her large generic abstract pieces at $5000 - $7000 a pop, and who didn't actually attend the show except to supervise the drop-off and pick-up of the paintings along with her assistant. I hope one day I can be a professional so that I don't actually have to interact with my fans. Sigh. See you all next year.
Leigh
HOW DARE THEY? NO REALLY, HOW DAAAAARE THEY?