Last weekend my painting Peacemaker won Best in Show at WMAC’s inaugural exhibition. They asked me to write about how it felt to win:
“First, I have to say, I’m so excited to be a part of WMAC’s world. This first exhibition was as professionally conducted as I have ever seen.
How I felt about Best in Show? Well, at the time, honestly, I was shocked.
It’s not that I didn’t think my painting is good. As a professional artists mature, we know our good work from our less successful efforts — I think that’s a key part of being a professional. So I wasn’t surprised to have been included in the show.
When I arrived that evening and saw the body of work I was thrilled. Virtually every piece in the exhibition is good — very good. A couple of pieces took my breath away. So I felt particularly honored to be included. As an objective observer (if that’s possible), I’d have had a really hard time picking the best pieces.
With Peacemaker, I had pushed myself into a new space with portraiture. In my early work I tended to avoid background, contextual elements, thinking at the time that the subject should convey their story a priori — that the essence of the sitter should be codified in the presentation of their likeness, and if successful, the minimalist approach would say everything that needed to be said. So this new approach for me, including symbolic elements to tell the story, was a big leap.
How I feel about Best in Show now? I honestly feel … I guess the word is validated. I wasn’t sure if the piece worked. So now I’m really charged up about this new direction, and ready to take on more portrait-stories. And I’m so very grateful to WMAC for giving me a big hug along the way!”
I’m not sure what you are “supposed” to say about honors like this one, so I just told the truth. I also want to send a big shout out to my body man, Carey. He knew how disoriented I was at the time, and propped me up. Thanks for that.
