Don't be that guy

I have met SOOOO many people over the course of the last year who have just been fabulous. Everyone that comes in to my booth and decides to take something home, Thank you! You’re keeping my dream alive. But even if you don’t take something home but you like my stuff and just aren’t in a position to buy something right now, I understand, my house has wheels, I’m not buying art right now either, I totally still appreciate you! And even if you come in and you maybe aren’t that into my stuff but we have a nice conversation and I think you’re cool, that’s awesome too.  But then there’s another group of people, the unsolicited opinion people, and even offering an unsolicited opinion doesn’t really affect me, I probably don’t really care who you are or what you say, but who really grinds my gears (to quote peter griffin) are the unsolicited opinion people with absolutely no concern for the conversation I am currently having with collectors or potential collectors or friends or whoever and just butt in their unfiltered verbal bullshit over a productive conversation I’m already engaged in.  Did your parents or teachers or elders never tell you its rude to interrupt when other people are speaking? Especially when I’m clearly invested in a serious conversation with someone else.  And more importantly, what are your qualifications that support this unwanted opinion.  Because, I for one, ask advice from those who have the results which I am seeking.  If I am looking for a personal trainer, I’m not going to hire someone who I am in better shape than or a nutritionist who eats worse than me. I wouldn’t hire an accountant who can’t help me pay less taxes than I already pay. So what I really want to say to rude unsolicited opinion guy, what is your expertise on this subject? Do you have a degree in art of some sort? Are you a museum curator? Are you a Marine Biologist if you’re criticizing the anatomical correctness of my animals (which has never happened for the record but this is preemptive)? I have done 48 shows so far, have you done 49? I love getting advice from qualified people, I ask artists all the time about everything from what shows they recommend to where to buy canvases to whatever, but if you haven’t a clue what you’re talking about and I’m talking to someone else, this is not the right time, don’t interrupt my collectors! 

So what prompted this blog post was two experiences my friend who had her first show this weekend mentioned to me, I also had one this weekend and I of course have many more from prior shows. 
Some lady ( I would be willing to bet that she’s painfully unqualified to offer advice) cruised up to my friend Sarah while she was talking to some potential collectors and proceeded to ask her what type of paint she uses and then loudly tell her that her paint is super low quality (which is not true) loudly enough to scare away potential collectors.  Serioulsy, WTF??
Someone else came up right in the middle of what she thought was a definite sale of an original and started lecturing her on how to improve her technique etc. blah blah blah, even if you are qualified to give such advice, actually, especially if you are qualified to give such advice you would absolutely know that this is not an appropriate time to have this conversation.

So my story for the weekend which for some reason totally creeped my out, I was in the middle of talking to a really nice couple about aluminum prints of my most popular piece Honu Moon. I have 2 sizes, they are holding both trying to decide which size will work best for the space they are thinking (which almost always means they getting one) and some dude walks right up behind me, I didn’t notice because I’m invested in conversation with this couple, and he like puts his head over my shoulder and starts asking questions about aluminum printing with complete disregard for the fact that I’m already talking to someone.  And seriously, who gets so close behind someone that you have never met that you can put your head over their shoulder!?!?! I turned around and I don’t know what I said but probably a more politically correct show version of what I was thinking which was “what the fuck are you doing you jackass?!?” Not only did he totally invade my personal space and creep me out but he also stole a sale from me. Jerk. 

Another noteworthy story which I have from a few months ago, I was in the middle of working out the details of a sale of this huge giclee which was the first one I had ever done, so I was sort of figuring things out as I was going and trying to explain something to this couple who just totally weren’t understanding a couple details of this sale and some asshole reaches his phone-in-hand between us mid conversation and blurts out, “if you want to paint a pelican more realistically, here’s a photo I took, See? There’s pink on the feathers”  I cannot even fathom being that insulting and rude and what I wanted to say, but couldn’t because of my situation with finishing this sale, was to explain to him that the reason his pelican has pink on the feathers is because they are reflective and theres a pink sunset whereas my pelican is flying over a blue wave midday, ergo, no pink. Asshole. 
If I were a psychologist, which I’m not, I would probably guess he was super proud of that pelican picture and had no one else to show it to and didn’t care what he had to do to give himself this pat on the back. 

Sooo… Don’t be that guy….
And the rest of you are AWESOME!!!