RedShift Gallery, Denver

Is there such a thing as etiquette for an art-show opening? Not to be Miss Manners, but the thought occurred to me after my opening Friday night. What is the proper behavior?

Let’s say you go to a friend’s opening. What is the first thing you do when you see your friend? You say your hellos, get a glass of wine (well, that’s what I always like to do), and then what? Don’t you then say something like, “Where are your paintings” or “Show me your paintings”? That’s always a good starting point.

But what is the proper etiquette if you don’t particularly like their paintings/artwork? Do you find something nice to say about the pieces anyway? Or do you just ask lots of questions, like, “What was your inspiration for this piece?” “How did you choose these colors?” “Tell me about this,” etc.

I actually welcome people’s comments and suggestions. In fact, I had someone offer a critique of one of my paintings Friday night. (Strangely, I’d never even met this artist!) He pointed out an area of my painting that needed an improvement. I had seen the same thing and had thought I’d corrected it, but hanging there on the wall I could see that my fix didn’t work like I had thought! (I’ll have to sneak my paints in there next week…)

What do you do when someone comes to your show, at your invitation, and tries to be the star of the show, telling everyone about their work and their galleries, their shows, etc.? Have you ever had that happen?

I am reminded of a friend who came to a show/sale I had at my house. He brought some of his work to show me. It seemed like an odd time to show me his new work, but I tried to steal a little time to be interested. Then he proceeded to use my show to show everyone his work and drum up business! Very strange – I had to chalk it up to ignorance.

Have you had strange things happen at your openings? What do you like to have happen at your shows, i.e. what do you think is proper etiquette?