Post-It Show Survival Guide
The above Post-It is by talented young illustrator, Jarrett Quon. His work, and the work of 186 other artists will be available for tonight’s Post-It Show 7 at GR2. As of this moment, we have 1259 pieces of art here for you. Earlier today Eric posted some general guidelines, but I wanted to pass on some more tips so you can fully enjoy your Post-It Show experience.
Most of you know that Giant Robot’s art shows aren’t the place you go to “be seen”. Our shows are where you go to check things out! Our mission is to share the artists we’re really excited about with all of you. The Post-It Show co-curated with Mark Todd & Esther Pearl Watson is the most massive vehicle to share new work, and one of the basic principles of the show is about sharing. The work is priced fairly at $20 for the majority of Post-It’s, making original art by incredibly talented participating artists available to a very wide audience. That brings us to the first rule of Michelle’s Post-It Show Survival Guide:
Don’t get greedy!
There are 187 artists and 1259 pieces of art for a reason – so that as many people as possible get to enjoy and collect work from a wide range of artists. When you come to the Post-It Show and try to poach every piece by a single artist, that work ends up going home with you and everyone else that comes through to see the show never gets to see it, much less have an opportunity to purchase it. There’s a beauty in the ephemera of the work in the show. Tiny pieces on paper that isn’t archival. Cash and carry means the show changes everyday as works leave the gallery, but for the opening night, everyone who comes out to celebrate the show with us and the artists in attendance should be rewarded with the opportunity to see the show as a whole, and everyone who shows up has the same opportunity to purchase work as you do.
I’m not sure of any other gallery that sells as many individual pieces in one night as we do for the Post-It Show. It’s a challenge that we’ve tweaked over the years to create as democratic and efficient a system as possible. Rule number two of Michelle’s Post-It Show Survival Guide:
Please be patient!
The show, like all Giant Robot Shows, is installed the night before the opening. That means you have over 6 hours on the day of the show to come and check out the available work. There’s a lot, so it takes some time. Some people are better than others about knowing which pieces they want to take home. They are prepared with photos of the pieces they love and they even remember where they found the piece on the wall. Others seem to need a lot more time to browse the entire length of the wall to make their decisions. We can’t control these things. We will help people with their selections as fast as we can, but as you’re waiting for your own turn to choose work, please remember that we are doing our best to keep things flowing. Come by early, sign up as soon as you get in (list is going out at 6 pm tonight) and leave us a way to contact you if you head next door to get dinner at gr/eats. We’ll call you on your cell if your name is called and you aren’t here. The next person on the list will get helped, but we’ll try for you again before we move on. While you wait, make some new friends! The gallery will be FULL of awesome people who like some of the same stuff that you do. Participating artists will be here hanging out as well. Enjoy the evening, meet people, catch up with friends and when your name comes up, we’ll get you set up with some beautiful artwork.
Those are the basics really.
Enjoy the night, hang out with us. As crazy a night as this is for the GR crew, we look forward to closing out the year with this show. For us this show is about old friends, new friends, discovery and sharing. Every day should be about those things.