Roger in Kuwait, part 4

End of the first night, two tired artists, a media manager, B&O, delegates from the embassy and directors of the hotel gathers to compare notes and celebrate the success with malt beer. We all sneak a look at the bottles and read the “0 % alcohol” printed on the sticker and then comfort ourselves with the fact that it’s more suitable than fruit juice and at least, there won’t be any hung-over artists in the morning as we prepare for the second and last day of the exhibition.

I believe we only sold a few pictures the first night - but in reality – we all worked too hard and talked to too many people to really notice who of us sold what and to whom, the only way of telling was by doing a quick scan that revealed more and more red round stickers next to the works of art. A sales log was kept judiciously and there was a perpetually growing stack of business cards with notes written in the barely readable fashion of the busy and standing-up.

Selling art, as such, is also deeply over-rated and an impossible thing; I firmly believe that you can’t sell art as such. It’s impossible because in the end of the day it is the buyer who makes up his mind about what he sees in the painting and therefore, what it means to him and also, for all practical purposes, what it is worth to him…

This tends to be the moment when I, who probably talks too much normally, step back and keep quiet. I like to watch people’s expression as they look at my art, I do not necessarily want to hear what they say as I need to keep my own relation to what I do but their faces and gestures tells me a story that a face-to-face discussion cannot.

I find that people are generally afraid of expressing their true relationship to the art that they see because they are afraid of saying the wrong things and this is a shame. Art is exactly what it means to you, as a viewer, and nothing else. The value is what it is worth to you. For me, as the creating artist, the price is a simple equation of my expenses and the cost of having a wife and four children, nothing more, and nothing less.

I’m in fact sometimes afraid of speculation getting the better of me. I know that I have become something of a brand name internationally and I know for a fact that many art lovers buy my works with speculation in mind and that is a thought I have to keep out of my mind at all times.

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