Most of the difficulty involved with this project is personally rewarding. I like learning about Buzzards Bay, learning to row, and making art. But two aspects are not: fundraising and marketing.
One of the things that I decided early on is that I would develop an interim show that would exist as a kind of prequel to my rowing project. And that show is slated to happen this January. The show uses rowing imagery and text related to economics. The show will be hosted at Winkleman Gallery in collaboration with my long term gallery, Schroeder Romero.
The show stands on its own. But because the work relates to the ongoing rowing project, the January show will give me the perfect opportunity to talk about what's next. On a more practical level, the January show also will give my dealers the opportunity to sell some drawings. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that they will sell enough to subsidize the larger goals that I have over the next year and a half. I have, of course, applied for several grants that could help support this project. But, so far, I've received two rejections. So I'm not going to stake my career on the lottery of grants.
Over the past few days, I've been working on a design for a catalog of the drawings that will be in the January show. It's a handsome book. I can send it out to potential funders or to potential curators. But it's also available to order online. So I could possibly sell a few copies and make a few dollars to support this project. I'm planning to print and set aside 25 copies of this catalog. I'll sign and number them and offer them as premiums for contributors who donate to a kickstarter campaign. I plan to launch that during my January show, too. I'm certainly not going to start it now. There are too many people in need right now in New York. Winkleman Gallery, for example, was devastated. And I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the practicality of rebuilding the gallery before I can have a show in it. Hurricane Sandy relief is the immediate, practical problem.
If you're curious about the catalog, you can visit lulu.com. It could make a nice holiday present for someone -- but support Sandy relief first.
