For me, the hardest part of this recession is not the creative budgeting required to still have a life, it's the difficulty in justifying splurges. And, travel aside, my favorite splurge is buying art. It's funny, I can rationalize buying tickets to see bands perform every week of my life, but buying another piece of art for my apartment feels indulgent.
Last night I took in a terrific show at Black Hand Coffee over on Sheppard Street, a place I'd never even been in since I don't drink coffee or PBR. Showing were Bizhan Khodabandeh, James Callahan and Matt Deans in a show with a leaning toward line, although painting was also represented. I already have a James Callahan hanging in my hallway and I was interested to see a show that featured solo and collaborative work by two artists with whom I'm familiar.
I walked into the place, stopped at the first frame and I was in love. Seriously, Bizhan's 2008 silkscreen titled Softening Our Footprints totally captivated me. It's a triptych with the borders borrowed from an Iranian rug pattern. The three scenes depict a guy with a paint roller watching an approaching car, sneaking up on it and ultimately rolling over it to reveal a bike replacing the car, all in shades of pink and green. I knew as soon as I saw it that I had to have it.
I walked the rest of the show which is most definitely worth checking out (it's up through April) three times. A really big guy doing the same thing finally leaned over and pointed out his favorite piece to me, so I showed him mine; we agreed that the other had made a good choice, just not as good as our own.
I wanted that piece so badly, but how to justify an art purchase right now? Then it came to me! My birthday is next month and my folks always send me a check so this year they would be buying me a Khodabandeh to add to my walls. I was grinning ear to ear when I finally told Bizhan that I wanted to buy it.
And he was grinning ear to ear knowing he'd sold a piece on the first hour of the show. He'd told me his splurge during these tough times is martial arts classes, which he was cutting back on for economic reasons. I was happy to think that I was enabling him to continue splurging on them a while longer.
Like he told me last night, everybody has their something that makes it all worthwhile.
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Congrats on the art! Carl and Pat probably don't realize the scope and depth of what their check purchases. I took a look at it, not my style, not that I really have any style, but very interesting, none the less.
ReplyDeleteCongrats on the art! Carl and Pat probably don't realize the scope and depth of what their check purchases. I took a look at it, not my style, not that I really have any style, but very interesting, none the less.
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