lili and i (maya.rouvelle) have a show at a private gallery in baltimore, md, called die Botschaft 1628, owned by marcia hart. the show runs until september 23, features 6 new works, and is available by appointment only. none of the work is for sale, there was no opening, and no hype. we had several salon style discussions, and visits with interested viewers.
prior to our show we weren’t aware of people dedicating parts of their homes to occasional, private art exhibits.
the experience has been wonderful. before this opportunity we began the summer developing several works with no idea where they would eventually be shown – happily devoting our time to our work and process. in may we met marcia and visited die Botschaft 1628, and had a few subsequent discussions over the summer that lead to the opportunity.
we structured our time as a residency with an accompanying exhibit. we completed the works begun in our studio on-site, conditioned by the gallery, and after the works were completed, were able to spend mindful time with interested visitors and get their feedback. we gave a few gallery talks to small groups and had easy access to the space while managing when visitors would be there. we were able to visit the work privately to look at it installed at different times of the day (the gallery has two large windows so the lighting conditions change dramatically), document and learn from it.
the title we chose for the show was: a silent evocation of the society for private musical performance – a reference to the salon chamber music society of vienna in the early 20th century. that society was designed to permit a diverse array of new concert music the chance to be heard in an educated, critical environment of careful listening and thought (often works were performed twice on the same evening) as a foil to mounting public and journalistic confusion of popular trends, entertainment and privilege with art that were contributing to a harsh environment for the evolution of music as an art form.
our time at die Botschaft 1628 has shown us an ideal exhibition paradigm for our art practice and process, and we’ll leave the gallery focused and inspired. i’m writing about this because there may be others out there who feel similarly, either potential private gallerists or artists, and this may serve as an impetus to a deeply rewarding experience.
we’ll be posting documentation of our work here and on our shared site, mayarouvelle.com, in the coming weeks.