what do I have to do to go to events where people are dressed nicely and there are plates of free cheese cubes
Go to the inaugurations of littlely known artists' exhibitions.
We are always begging for people to attend, there actually is the "hack" to invite your whole family but tell them to pretend they don't know you. People with money are more willing to buy your work if they think many people likes it, so your mere presence eating our cheese and canapes will be a great helps. Please bring whoever you want too.
Don’t mind if I do!
I will dress like an eccentric weirdo if that helps.
one time a pal of my pals was having a tough time selling their work in an art exhibit and called us up on the last day, ‘us’ being about 8 students who were Very hungry and also bored. We put on the nicest/artsiest clothes we had available (one dude had a legit fancy suit and put on some shades which were Bright Pink he looked like a movie star I swear) and rolled up to the show in pairs, separately. Fine Art Pal has some nice paintings! but nobody is really paying attention to them, so after getting some fancy cheese cubes in a manner that did not betray that we were actually a ravenous pack of starving students we casually wander around the show and then, fairly individually, drift to a stop by their work. Some of us even walked away, then came back a bit later ‘captivated’ by the art (it was actually really nice but recall we were all poor as shit and this was a help hustle folks). Our group’s interest naturally caught other folks, and eventually there was a small clump of about 15 people musing over this art, and within ten minutes the biggest piece had been snatched up by a shrewd investor. by the end of the exhibit every single piece was sold. It helped pay off the artist’s student debt and on that success they got into another exhibit! They’ve been doing well ever since.
So yes, please attend new artist shows, you get free cheese, get to look at nice art, and you can really help out people who deserve more attention.
also, i'm in my early 20s and have a parent who is a professional artist, meaning i've been helping host these things since i was about 12
and the question i most often get asked by gallery curators is "how do we get your generation interested in art?"
to which i never have a great response bc the only thing i know how to do is bring friends, and they always have a great time, but they wouldn't have thought to go otherwise
and like some of these events are ticketed sure and i gotta bring friends in with me but a lot are free! there's a lot of great art out there and gallery openings that are just begging for some uni students to come and grab free food and look at paintings and sculptures, i say this from years of personal experience
(plus if you turn up on opening night usually the artist will be there if you wanna ask them questions about their work)
as the previous reblog mentioned, they don't need you to buy things, they know the market for $4000 paintings is not a group of students, but it gets rich people interested AND it gives the artists feedback on what might appeal to younger generations and how they can keep up with what's going on in the world
(also like. most artists get maybe 6-10 big sales a year so those prices aren't bc the artist is rich it's just them making a living wage, if you get an artist even one big sale you've vastly improved their life)
so seriously if this sounds at all appealing to you see what art events are going on in your area i promise they want you there, plus you get to feel fancy
