Branding YOU Better! – Susan Newman Lerer

July 25, 2013 – 6 PM Gallery Opening

How badly do artists want to be seen?

I’m walking crosstown on Houston Street and as I make my way across the street through construction and make the turn onto Norfolk Street I see a crowd of maybe 100 artists and guests so far standing across the street from the event. They’d been told to form a line (of sorts) across the street because the line cannot go down the residential side and block the homes.

By 6 PM there are hundreds of people and more and more are coming along. We’ve been told they will start letting people in at 6:15.

This is the first digital art exhibition given by See.me and I was happy to be included. The opening of this exhibition of artists from over 100 countries around the world was at the Angel Orensanz Foundation for Contemporary Art and titled, “The Story of the Creative.”

Get ready because what follows is just about chaos.

Each exhibitor was able to bring up to 3 guests, so you can just imagine how many people are now there and the line is turning into a large swarm and growing as every minute passes. They finally start letting people in but it quickly gets crazy as we’re trying to cross the street and the security guards are holding all of us back so cars can still go up the street. (These guys looked right out of a Hollywood movie like they were CIA.) Then one of the guards stops everyone and starts hand selecting until it’s about 6:35 pm and hundreds are still just standing there.

My friend Florence and I agree that we’ll wait till 7PM and if we’re not in, we’re gone. Just then they finally realize it’s hopeless and just let everybody in. The artists go in the side door to check in, which was actually no real check in, we were just given a tag to wear that says VIP so we can go to the second and more spacious level to view it all. The 1st floor is so crowded it’s like rush hour in the subway!And for free booze, to get near the bar was a challenge.

There was supposed to be some way for me to find out what of my work was in the show… yes I didn’t know what had been chosen from my see.me portfolio! Couldn’t find anybody that would have told me.

So with a drink in hand we went upstairs and just listened to the live music, watched the various flat screens showing work and about 1/2 hr later had had enough and left. The gate is closed and a guard is there and deciding when to let us out.

All I can say is, too many people, very disorganized and probably should have gone to see Bernie Williams and his band play in Hoboken! As a die hard Yankee fan, I don’t know what I was thinking.

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