The Girlie Show
Some of my friends from Norman drove up to the City Friday night and we checked out "The Girlie Show" over at the Farmer's Market.
I have mixed emotions about it~ probably because I spent $16 dollars to get in and still can not figure out why exactly the ticket was so expensive...not to say that I don't respect the female artists who had their booths set up~ I love me some art and I admire the gals who do it, but $16 dollars? Gimme a break.
As soon as we walked in I felt it~ that vibe a girl gets when she walks into a huge room full of women and the amount of estrogen wafting around is almost suffocating...in front of you awaits a sea of judgment and you can tell that all the females are sizing one another up, checking everyone's outfits, hair, make up , tattoos, shoes, EVERYTHING out...
I was a little disappointed. I'm not quite sure what I was expecting, but I noticed very similar themes running throughout the booths...the underlying theme seemed to almost all of the art/crafts was "retro, vintage, pin up, eclectic, edgy, alternative."
I love "retro, vintage, pin up, eclectic, edgy, alternative" creative goodness, but I was hoping for a wider variety of ideas. I think that the originality in all of it would have stood out more and been more prominent had there been a mixture of other themes included.
It was all also RIDICULOUSLY expensive. If I were an emerging artist trying to get my shit sold, I would be practically giving my stuff away to get my name/work out there. Some of the artists had this attitude like they were Picasso or something, or perhaps they mistook Oklahoma City for New York City by accident...and honestly, only one of the booths with paintings had art that was worthy of such high dollar prices.
I came across a painting I liked~ walked over to it to admire it~ then realized that I was looking at a $400 painting of swirls and lines.
I found some really funky jewelry that I liked~ got a necklace for mom's retirement gift and one for myself. The girl who designed them and sold them to me wasn't particularly friendly, but I liked her work. She had a weird look in her eye when I tried to make conversation.
I'm picky and I stood there forever contemplating my purchases. Maybe she thought I was going to steal something. Who knows.
The only "import" beer was Corona (bleaughghgh) and all of the food was gone by around 10:30 p.m. (which, I am guessing, might have contributed to the expensive ticket, and MIGHT have made the show more worthwhile had they had more food).
It also seemed as if most of the people who were there were there for the "scene" and not so much for the artists themselves. So many people standing around socializing, drinking and talking and hawk eye'ing every one milling around.
But maybe that is just my lack of understanding the art show niche~ perhaps that's what people do at those kinds of events. Like at football games~ people watch the games, but half the appeal is the socializing aspect.
I love the idea of having an all-girl's art show, especially here in Oklahoma where I feel that we are in desperate need of a wider variety of things to do~ and more exposure to diversity, but Friday night's GIRLIE SHOW was DEFINATELY not worth $16.
I wish that I could have gone the next day when tickets were only $5 and the bands were playing, but mom's ceremony was that afternoon and of course that took the cake in regards to importance!
The bands alone would have made the show worth $16! I LOVE live rock music!
Much more so than techno noise spinning off turn tables...actually. I don't care much for techno music anyways, whether it's on turn tables or anything else.
