Dear Certain Segment of the Leather Community…

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

In one of the lj communities I’m part of I just read about an open call for artistst to submit their work for an upcoming Leather Conference. Intrigued, and musing on the possibility of sending some frisky gnome drawings out into the world, I went to the registration site to check out the call. What I saw got me well steamed.

Here’s the deal: Any artist can submit up to three pieces. For every piece submitted, they must pay a $10 dollar application fee. Then if the piece is accepted for inclusion in their show they must pay to have the piece framed and ready to hang in time for the show, and they must pay postage both ways. Not such a big deal, but here’s the kicker: every artist selected for the show must also donate an item to the event’s silent auction.

So I pay you thirty bucks for the the privilege of your panel looking at my three jpegs, I pay to frame and ship and hang and then I help underwrite your event by donating something else?

Is this standard practice for these events? If so, why? People talk about the New York art world being rapacious but at least Larry Gagosian doesn’t bill himself as being a “Family Gathering of Heart and Spirit”.

“Join us as we share the expressions of heart and spirit created by the artists in our leather tribe.”

Thanks, I’ll pass.

Leave a Reply +

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.