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If I start to paint for money I risk losing the objective and
message that I try to convey and then all is lost. Not to say
that I won’t make more money, I probably would. What I’m
afraid of is losing the relationship that I have with what I
do and the love and respect I have for those around me and life
in general.
I just noticed that I used the word “relationship” in
the sentence above and that struck me. Look at the way the word
is constructed; “Relation” and “Ship”.
You can perhaps understand that as love and respect placed in
a ship, steering your life for better and for worse. What we
need to get away from is money, letting the stress of the daily
day get to you, not spending enough time with your family and
friends and not trying to see the beautiful things that there
are in this life of ours. That is my sales technique, if I ever
had one.
The second day of the exhibition started slowly
at 16.30, I believe we were all grateful for this as it gave
us some more time to talk to the many interesting people who
came to see our works. Paintings went slowly and imperceptibly,
often the subject of a "hello" and some talk, the person, or
persons, walking away and coming back before deals were struck.
I think this is the right way and I love the quiet sounds coming
from people who spends some quality time looking deeply in to
a work of art and small talk; it’s similar to the hum that
can be heard in a good restaurant where we, as people, just sit,
eat and enjoy. The second, and last day, ended with the desired
and seemingly unattainable “sold out” being declared
after checking that all works had the red round sticker next
to them. We spent some time, exhausted, with the sponsors and
the representatives from the Danish consulate congratulating
ourselves on the success and the way that things had been planned
and carried out.
The following morning we got up early, everything
we had brought with us needed to find its buyer and paintings
wrapped, ready for delivery. It may be sad to part with the works
but that is also a positive thing; it allows you to clean the
slate and look forward, you cannot develop as long as you hang
on to what you have done previously.
We had two days to wrap up before heading home and those days
were not just spent packing, we also had the honour of an invitation
to the Art Association of Kuwait.
I believe that nowhere can the state of affairs be seen more
clearly than in the art and writings of a nation so we were very
excited to see the works in the art association.
I’m not sure what I should, or could,
expect. Was it to be strictly traditional works? Were the colours
going to be dull brown, okra and yellows? Was there to be any
inventive and expressionist works? Thoughts flew through my mind
as we drove through Kuwait City with its mosque’s and minarets.
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This is a 7 page article from my exhibition in Kuwait in
2005 where I was invited in honour of Queen Margerethe's
60th anniversary by the Royal Danish Embassy and SAS Radisson.
It was originally published as a 9 page article in Thoughts
Magazine, 2005.
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PDF of original article
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