Last month I had the pleasure of participating in my first ever group show at The East Village Art Collection (THE EVAC). 5 pieces from “Lost” were selected for a show entitled “New Horizons.” One of my friends from NYFA, Chloe Gaget, had texted me saying that she had found an interesting gallery space through instagram and we should apply together to some of their exhibitions. I was very interested, but sometimes it can be stressful submitting together with your peers. What happens if one person gets in while the other is rejected? We didn’t end up having to worry about this, seeing as we both got selected for different shows. Her show, entitled “A Moment in Time,” took place the week before mine, so I was able to go to her opening night party and get a feel for what the space is like.

The party featured a DJ, a bar (with complimentary champagne for artists and their VIP guests), and a fairly large selection of works across many different mediums. There were over 150 people in attendance with a few pieces sold, but I began to gather the main goal of this space wasn’t for high end sales, but for networking. 

The application process was fairly straightforward. It included filling out an information form with just some basic artist information, information about your project, and uploading files of your work to their image specifications. This is a pretty standard practice for open submissions. The one thing that I cannot stress enough when you’re trying to submit work somewhere is to pay attention to their directions. Right off the bat if you’re not following the instructions they’re going to look at your submission and think that you didn’t care enough about their time and what they need to be able to review your work. If you have questions or are confused, reach out! It’s always better to call or email and ask someone to clarify rather than submitting improperly - it shows them that you care.

As for THE EVAC’s specific submission process, they also include a phone interview. They want to know more about you and your work and hear how passionate you are. From there they review everything and have a panel of 5 curators judge whether or not your work is the right fit for their show. You need at least 4 out of the 5 curators to say “yes” in order for your work to be exhibited. For me, the waiting was the most stressful part. Sometimes it’s the not knowing that really gets to me – I’d rather hear back a “no” than nothing at all. Eventually, I did hear back that I received a “yes” from all 5 curators!

For this exhibition itself I wanted to change things up a bit. I had been hearing some feedback on Lost and experimenting with keeping it in just straight black and white the way that Death is, rather than the blown out highlighted way that it appears now on my website. I was happy with the outcome, and it allowed me to create singularly unique pages to display, rather than standard prints. I purchased another copy of Slaughterhouse-Five and took up my trusty sharpie to blackout its pages once again. Rather than reprinting the original portraits I used for the first copy of Lost, I decided to print out the pages from Lost onto the same glossy photo paper of the portraits. This way I only had to cut out the parts with photos, rather than eyeballing where I had originally cut. I used double sided tape to stick everything together, maybe a little unorthodox, I know, but I wanted to stick with similar methods to the original. 

After the pages were finished, it came time to select frames. I knew I wanted black frames with white pages because anything with any color involved would distract from the work and also stray away from the aesthetic and somber mood of the piece. The only issue was that artwork usually isn’t the size of book pages, so without time for a custom matte I had to improvise. I ended up displaying the work between the matte paper and the glass, which traditionally isn’t how you matte pictures, but whatever ends up working, right?

I dropped the work off the day before the event and was introduced to Steve, the head curator at THE EVAC. He’s a very kind man with much knowledge of the art world and we got along great. He was ecstatic to see my work in person, and came across as the type of guy who was doing this work because he truly loves and believes in it. Over the course of the 4 days that my work was exhibited we got to know one another fairly well, and I would have to say that his expertise and passion is not something to be overlooked. 

I was very stressed leading up to the event, but I had my girlfriend, Beth, with me and friends that I knew were coming to support me, so all in all I think I was as prepared as I could have been. The opening night party itself was a wonderful experience. My work was situated in the basement area, which originally had me worried that it wouldn’t be seen as much as everyone else’s. After the first half hour I began to realize that it was the right move. The atmosphere was much less chaotic than upstairs, and everyone was able to make their way down and take time to concentrate on and read each work I had on display. There was also a couch and a table set up so it was easier to talk to people and get to know one another. 

I was able to talk to everyone about my work, answer any questions, and watch as they took it all in. There was even one group of people that as I turned away I could hear commenting and saying “well I could have done that” which I think in this day and age is something that I’ll have to get used to hearing as an artist. 

Further into the night, as I was taking a short break on the couch, I was asked by a stranger to take some pictures for him. This resulted in Beth and I having an impromptu photoshoot, going all out with poses and angles and totally hyping this guy up. Afterwards, we sat and he introduced himself as Kiru, a musician and art director who was asked to come to view the works and network. Turns out, he had just been looking at my work and was fascinated with it, and we got to talking about my work and his work and how there may be a project that we could work on together. Long story short, we met again for lunch and are now planning out this project coming 2022 with Organic Decline!

I may not have sold anything, but I managed to make a lot of friends, business connections, add something to my CV, and book a job! All in all it was a very positive experience and I’m glad (and hopeful) that things like this are going to be a part of my life and career now. In terms of THE EVAC, everyone who worked there was so friendly and accommodating and truly cares about the work that they’re doing. If you’re looking for a spot to submit your work to, I couldn’t recommend them more. 

PS. There were a total of 212 people there for the opening night party! Wow!