I have seen the announcement before; for an "Equine Art Show" at Emerald Downs, the local horse racing track. I have been curious enough to check it out, but never applied because it is such a rip-off. First, the show is only for five days, at a racing track, and costs $30 for one entry, $20 for each additional. Also, they have a cap of 250 entrants. When they reach 250 entrants, they stop accepting work. It doesn't matter what it looks like, in fact they don't accept images with your entry form and check. If your check is one of the first 250 to reach them, you are in. Due to this extremely high cheese factor, last year I didn't enter anything into the show.
This year, however, I got a bee in my bonnet I needed a group show for 2006 on my CV, and this one would look great, right? And who besides me would know it was such a weird deal?
Well now I have done it, so I never have to do it again. First off, the work is hung on those fabric coverd panel things they make cubicles out of. And there was not even a token attempt to light any of the pieces, at all. It was in a dark breezeway thing, in front of the betting windows. Then, there were little yellow stickers with a hand-written number stuck on each entry. Not on the wall beside the work - on the painting. Lastly, I think I was the only democrat in a five-mile radius, and felt more than a little bit threatened. (ok I exaggerate.) But still; Republicans.
I am glad I did it, and even more glad it is over. I took some photos, but not nearly enough. Some were way too dark for photoshop to rescue. Check it out -Equine Art Show 2006.
A lot of the paintings were super sentimental treatments of childeren with horses, or mares and foals. But
people really like to paint horses coming out of the gate.
