Ok, let me first start this post by saying that as an artist, I am generally thrilled to be able to showcase my work somewhere, anywhere, and NOT have to pay a fee to do so. I have paid fees before, for venues I thought were "worth it" and not made any sales at those venues, so generally I steer clear of that sort of thing. When you are an emerging artist, such as myself, sometimes you have no other choice but to pay...so you do...and that is EXACTLY what I did when I FIRST showcased with the Hollywood RAWArtists back in February of 2011. The rules were simple, as a showcasing artist I had to "promote the show and sell tickets". How, you may ask? Well, by essentially bugging my nearest and dearest friends and family to buy tickets to the venue at $10 a pop. In order to do so they had to go to the RAWartists website and order them there (being sure to select my name from the drop down menu so I would get credit) and pre-pay to get their names on a guest list. If, by the week of the show, this had not occurred 20 different times, I was then forced to "buy out" the remainder of the 20 tickets with my own money, or I couldn't showcase. This seemed a little unorthodox to me, but I wanted to showcase. What if I just buy all 20 spots from the get go? I asked...Well, then I get an OPEN GUEST LIST - as many of my friends, family, associates, etc... could then attend on my guest list without paying a dime. This is the option I went for at this initial February show, and I feel that my $200 was very well spent since I sold a $1,000 painting that night. The venue was certainly NOT an "art" venue, however. A dark night club with limited wall space and nowhere cohesive to really show things off, it was more suited for the music and fashion acts that were on the stage below. The drinks were outrageously expensive, but after all, it WAS a Hollywood club, so I suppose that is to be expected. Given the number of artists showcasing times a minimum of $200 each, plus whatever they negotiated with the house, I am assuming RAW made out pretty well in the end.
Fast forward to the Fall of 2011 and the RAWAwards are announced. Everyone who showcased is automatically entered and two weeks of online voting decides who makes it to the semis. To my surprise, I made it to the semis and top 5 artists in Hollywood. Very cool! However, it saddened me because it was just a popular vote, whomever has the most friends wins...nothing to really do with talent or artistic merit. Even still, a great honor to make it that far and I was more than happy to participate. The good news about this show is that we showcasing artists were not "required" to sell 20 tickets. Score one for artists! The bad news is all our friends and people in attendance have no choice but to buy tickets at $10 each to get in. So, once again, RAW is making money off of ME promoting this show to my friends and family and followers. I get it, we all want to make money, but art shows, especially ones revolving around a contest of sorts, should have free entry if you are gonna charge for drinks. I'm just saying...The other catch? The WINNER in each category is decided by a popular vote taking place that night, at the semifinal show! So again, another popularity contest! Again, nothing to do with real talent or artistic merit, just whomever has the most people willing to pay $10 and show up WINS. Bummer.
They way they orchestrated this bit of genius was by giving each person coming in the door a strip of stickers - each sticker was of a different color and had a picture on it - a paint brush for the art category, lips for the makeup category, etc... Each of us showcasing artists were given a blank paper to fill with stickers - so each person in the door was supposed to go around, look at everything and then decide who to give their one sticker to, in each category. An okay idea at best, but only if a few things happen...1) Everyone showcasing is given the same amount of wall space 2) Everyone showcasing is set up in a ROW, side by side 3) Everyone showcasing is not allowed to HUSTLE for stickers....Not one of these three things was in effect. I was lucky, I scored a primo spot right in the entrance - so everyone coming in had no choice but to see my work. However, some artists had their art upstairs, or hanging in the bar area or surrounding the stage. One poor girl had all her art on the left hand side way at the back of the club...by the time the show had been going 30 minutes the place was so packed that no one could even GET to where her art was located, let alone vote for her. One fellow, who's art was hanging on both sides of the dimly lit dance floor, was standing at the entrance of the club asking each person who came in for their art sticker - before they had even had a chance to see anyone art at all! The sad part is, even with this unfair "hustle" he didn't even get close to winning. People were trading stickers - I'll give you my art sticker for your accessories one...etc... It was sad, unfair and unsportsmanlike. As the night wore on and I talked to the few serious art patrons that were there, I became disenchanted with the whole process. My own friends and husband, with the best of intentions, started "hustling" for stickers for me! It was a nice gesture on their part, to be sure, but not the way I wanted to do business or win. And I didn't win, which was fine. The girl that did win in my category was adorable, and she beat me by a good 30-40 stickers, so its not like it was even close. However, I'm not upset that I didn't win, I'm upset that it seemed really unfair. The girl across the entry from me had just moved to LA a few months back, and her art was AWESOME - yet she didn't know enough people in attendance to get more than about 20-30 stickers, and as a true artist, she didn't feel like hustling and cheating for extra votes. I don't blame her.
Looking back I felt cheated, in a way, by the whole process. Cheated that RAW made money off of my friends, cheated that the layout wasn't indicative of an equal or fair representation of each artist showcasing, cheated in the way the voting was handled and carried out. Most of all I felt cheated that it had absolutely nothing to do with the ART itself, and everything to do with popularity. While I do suppose that IS a part of self-promotion, in a contest setting how many friends you have shouldn't decide whether you win Artist of the Year or not, you know?
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