Getting My Art Into a Gallery

Mission Accomplished ✅

This year, while unemployed, I’ve been taking art more seriously. I’ve been practicing daily (checkout brush.reggi.com) and visiting different galleries. One small goal I had this year was to see if I could get a piece featured in an art gallery. Back in March, I received an email with the subject line "CALL FOR ART: The Itty-Bitty Art Show" from a local pottery studio in Astoria (AlterWork Studios). The requirements for the show were that works could not exceed 6" in any direction, and frames could not extend beyond 1" from the work. Other than that, any medium would be considered.

I was inspired to create a work for this specific show. I was in a dollar store when I found these 5”x5” wood panels and I grabbed a couple - I had my canvases. I kept these wood boards out for a couple of days and considered the limitations of the show. I had an urge to glue things to the board that would extend far beyond that 1” limit.

I love 99¢ stores. I absolutely love them. I have an encyclopedic knowledge of the usual items all the stores in my neighborhood have. I usually have intrinsic knowledge of how they will be organized when exploring them for the first time. My favorite aisles are the trinisonic wall of electronic components, the wall of housing hardware and tools, and the toy aisle. I’m heavily inspired by bad toys, most likely influenced by the artist Sucklord. Once, when exploring, I found miniature play money and bought some to use for a collage. I’d play with a stack of bills on my desk, and I also tried different weathering techniques similar to how Adam Savage weathers fake money for theatrical and prop use.

So when it came time to come up with a work for the show, I looked around my studio and started to play around with different ideas. March was a weird time - there were several bank failures, including the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank. I started to create a collage of the money, overlaying the bills and creating a good base. I also wanted to add in some more texture, so I lit some of the bills on fire, put them out with water, and dried them. I built up a good background. With the background set, I wanted a centerpiece. Originally, I was going to draw in a bank emoji on fire, heavily inspired by the work of Alex Schaefer. Rather than drawing, I resorted to stencil text of the words “Don’t Panic” - the iconic words from “The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy”. In reality, these words are what the government and everyone with capital want to scream at the top of their lungs. Money is fake and only when we all believe in it, the system is stable.

Anyway this is my little story about how I got into an art gallery, I hope it inspires you to set a goal and chase after it.

Here’s my work:

Here’s the entire show:

Here’s an archive of the graphics / webpage:

AlterWork Studios is excited to present our first group exhibition of 2023. We thank the 45 participating artists for their time and talent and all of the artists who submitted work through our open call. The exhibition is free and open to the public every day from 12PM to 9PM until Saturday, May 6th. 

Opening Reception:
Saturday, April 15th from 5-9PM

Curated by:
Tim Kelly and Tina Stipanovic

Participating artists include:
Klara Sedlo, Yelitza Galan, L Kellner, Michael Poast, Beth Bailis, Angelene Quintana, Conner Reddan, Leda Brittenham, Jacqueline Gurgui, Judi Keeshan, Zachary David Palmer, Evan Brown, Kiyomitsu Saito, Benjamin Weaver, Alejandro Pinzón, Tina Glavan, OrigameCrazy, Meryl Shapiro, Andriana Kourkoumelis, Luke Hollifield, Zachary Eric Federbush, Carmela Creus, Labdhi Shah, Emma Schwarz, David O. Rogers, Sophie Morgani, Carolina Gimenez, Elizabeth Levy, Diana Alsip, Elena Rivera, Robert Lobe, Craig Kane, Rachel Wease, June Kosloff, Vanessa Gonzalez-Bunster, Ann Cofta, Jody MacDonald, Stella Psillides, Thomas Reggi, Daniel Cordani, Eva Nelson-Torres, Alvi Schmidt, Mary Pinto, Margarita Sturla, and Tina Stipanovic.