COME TO MY OPENING NIGHT PARTY!

When I was a Broadway producer one out of every four of my shows made money. That meant my batting average was .250. Fine for professional baseball but on Broadway it meant that every time I produced a new show the odds were four to one it would be a flop. With each new production I became more nervous. I spent opening nights in the nearest bar. Afterwards at the opening night party the investors were happy and drunk. Then the press agent arrived with early copies of the reviews. The party became a wake. The next morning there was a deathly silence in my office. I called it "The Four Wall Disease." The phone did not ring. I sat staring at the walls wondering what to do next.

As an artist I look forward to opening nights. My paintings don’t get sick or forget their lines and no press agent shows up to spoil the fun. And best of all the nearest bar is right in the gallery!

Come Dear Friends And Join Me
at
The Opening Night Party
for my
Paintings and Engravings
June 30th 2006
5-9 pm
at
The Four Starr Gallery
22 Bayview Avenue
Stonington, Connecticut
860 535 1844

OUTSIDER ART

After the exhibition of my paintings in London in 1990 I started looking for a gallery in New York. I showed my work to a gallery in Soho. “You’re too painterly for Soho,” said the owner. “You belong on Madison Avenue.” I went to a gallery on Madison Avenue. “You know what pays my rent?” asked the owner. “I’ll tell you. Classical Realism! Classical Realism pays my rent! You’re an Impressionist. You belong on Fifty-seventh Street.” “You know what you are doing?” asked a gallery owner on Fifty-seventh Street.” “No. What am I doing?” “You’re doing Outsider Art! Outsider artists are self taught, they are emotionally disturbed, and they’ve been in prison.” He gave me the address of an Outsider Art Gallery in Soho. I never went because I was only two-thirds qualified.