Sunday scribbles #35: Exhibit in an old clinic.

Thank you, thank you and thank you. Two weeks ago the local art group in our town organised a local exhibit. This was held in a building which has functioned as a clinic in the past, but which is nowadays used as a community institution for young people. The building itself will be demolished to make place for a renewed one. Days before demolition work begins, an exhibit was held with about 35 artists of our town. I had been fortunate enough to have been invited as well. I want to start off these scribbles by sharing how I actually got the invite, since it holds an important message.

Last year I held my very first solo exhibit in the church of a nearby town. This was held on the day I turned thirty, hence the theme you may remember "Thriving thirties". The idea came to me months before holding the event. Displaying thirty paintings, on the thirtieth of November, on my thirtieth birthday. I won't go too much into detail about how it all came together, but before ending up in that specific church, I asked our local administration if I could use the cultural center for my exhibit. Unfortunately there were already events planned on the date(s) I wanted, so I had to look for something else. After contacting the woman in charge, she shared my question with the local art group, hoping they might have had a good idea for a building to use. None were available, so I continued my search elsewhere. During this process, I became a 'member' of the local art community. Okay, fun, but I didn't expect anything insane coming out of this. Fast forward about a month of four, I got an e-mail with the invitation to be part of the exhibit in the old clinic which was to be demolished afterwards. Why do I like sharing this story? Well, I want to show you that even though you are not getting what you want or need at the moment, it is of most importance that you keep trying. One day, your efforts of putting in the work and reaching out will pay off, and often in ways you won't expect. I was determined to organize my Thriving thirties, and because of that dedication, I got to be part of another amazing event: Kunst in d'Oude Zande (KuZ, Art in the old clinic).

The exhibit was held two weeks ago: opening on Friday evening (invite only), followed by two days open to the public (free of charge). On the day of the opening I invited two friends. These are friends who work at one of Belgiums leading art galleries. I get to know them through another job I do by working as a host, but they became real friends along the way. Since they are art lovers, I wanted to invite them to this special day: my first public exhibit. As the opening was mainly intended for exhibiting artists, the local administration and their guests, it wasn't very easy to get them on the list, but their gallery name eventually did the trick. Funny thing: due to obligations they arrived late and could only attend the reception in a hall outside of the actual building. Apart of the reception being good to talk to the local administration and politicians, there were two big things which came out of it: the successful giveaway of mixing cups, and my live performances.

Upon inviting those friends who work at a gallery, I didn't have any expectations aside from having fun with them. Something I am not even thinking about expecting is their gallery displaying my paintings. The gallery they work for deals in art far above the prices I am even intending for my paintings. Yes, you read that right: I've got an idea of which prices I want to reach with my paintings, and 50k EUR/painting isn't my goal. I am blessed to be able to make many paintings. So within the affordable price range I tend to balance out keeping it financially manageable, and add color to as many households as possible. Now I showed my set-up to them, and one of these friends told me I should give people, who are interested in my art, one of the mixing cups displayed. This turned out to be a huge succes! We gave away mixing cups to people who we had a good chat with, and children. We didn't hang a sign saying they are free to take, because then they would end up with the wrong audience. But, people whom we connected with, who showed real interest in what I do, could choose a mixing up to take home. With children we made an exception: every child we saw looking at the cups, we asked if they wanted to choose one. There's just something so pure about a child's smile we couldn't resist. We gave away about 200 cups! Next time I'm going to add stickers to them, to add a bit of marketing (yeah, to keep this going I need to think financially as well).

Later that evening at about 10 o'clock, one fellow artist came up to me at the reception to tell me there still are some empty rooms in the building. Hearing her say this, I already felt it coming. "Would you mind making something live in front of an audience this weekend, and also go live on Instagram?" she asked. I hadn't really thought of this yet, since my mobile arena isn't ready, nor am I. This is something I am going to start doing this year, just not yet. In my head I was thinking about the mobile arena not being ready yet, me not being ready yet to do this, I had never gone live on Instagram yet, I'd have to prepare my paint and it's already late in the evening, I'd have to set everything up, bla bla bla, excuses, excuses. "Euhm... of course!" I replied. "We'd have to check if it's okay for the contractor and stuff, but if I get a go from the officials, I'm down", I added. Very important to note here: whenever you get a chance, and you hear yourself starting to sum up excuses in your head, know that's the universe telling you to grab that chance. After agreeing to do this, I left the reception about twenty minutes later to start preparing my paint at home. I got home and started mixing my paint, only to finish at 2 am. I then got to bed, set my alarm clock and saw I would get about 4.5 hours of sleep in. "Why am I doing this to myself?" I thought. Waking up at 6:30 am, I got out of bed and started my day with my morning routine. Yes, even though I had few sleep, this routine is golden so I don't like skipping it. Ten minutes of meditation, twenty minutes on the bike, 5 minutes stretching exercises and one cold shower later, I continued preparing for my live performance. About an hour or 5 later, everything was moved to the location and all was set up.

About both the live performances and the exhibit in general there's much more I would love to share, but sometimes it's important to keep things strong and short, so I'll conclude with the most important thing to say: thank you, thank you and thank you!!

Thank you to the local administration for allowing this local event.

Thank you to the local art group for making this possible.

Thank you to my friends from the art gallery for both the great cups idea, and the support.

Thank you to my fellow artist for challenging me to get out of my comfort zone and perform live before I was ready.

Thank you to friends and family who payed us a visit and for the continued support.

Thank you to everyone who showed appreciation for what I do, and thank you for your many kind words.

Thank you to everyone who bought a piece of art, both live and in the webshop.

Thank you to my Instagram community. You're more important than you might think.

Thank you to the universe giving me these opportunities.

Thank you to myself, for believing in me and grabbing chances when you don't really dare.

And last but not least: thank you to my lovely girlfriend who's supporting me in every way possible (and for being the hottest sales in the building).

If you're reading this, and you're thinking I might have forgotten thanking you: thank you. Chances are that if you think I forgot you, I am genuinely grateful for something you did, are doing or just for your existence.

Thank you for reading, and enjoy some pictures of the amazing event (and a room covered in paint splatter ^.^)