One of the things I love most about visiting all the art galleries and artist shows is that I have developed a reference point for myself to ask artist questions others wouldn't know to ask.  At Zip 37 gallery I saw the new show by Kate McGuinness who is a well known monoprint artist.  I introduced you to Kate a while back when she spoke at Regis University's O'Sullivan Gallery. 

I really like Kate.  I think she's one of the most unpretentious artists I've met in the past couple of years.  There's an earnest quality and an authenticity that comes through when you talk with her.  You can tell by her stories and the work in the show how unwavering her commitment is to her art, the process and her art business.  I wanted to thank her for her honesty to the students who attended her lecture at Regis because I believe emerging artists need to get past the fantasy and have some touchstone with reality about life as a working artist.

The biggest question of my time with Kate was around the title's of her artwork...there weren't any.  I was curious because  when I saw the show at the O'Sullivan Gallery the work had titles, so where did they go?  Kate told me that she's reverted to naming her figurative work but with her abstract work she's choosing for now to leave them anonymous.  Her experience with people interested in her work went something like this...they would look at the work, create an idea about the work  look at the title and then say to themselves or to Kate, "Oh I was wrong".  Keeping the work untitled seems to allow the patron/collector/admirer to attribute their own projections on the work creating a deeper connection to the work and hopefully increasing the likelihood that they will buy the work.

I'm glad you keep you anonymity to your paintings!

Full of splendor...
Greg