The Holehouse Post

After work yesterday there was an open house of sorts at the new café behind our office. They had snacks, free coffee and lots of executive types milling about. Not being a fan off coffee or ties, I wasn’t that impressed. However next door to the café is an art gallery that was also having an open house of sorts. An artist by the name of Jim Gerard Holehouse was having a show at his brother’s gallery. His brother specializes in elaborate framing, while Jim works with canvas, so together they put out some interesting pieces. Hung around talking with the guy for a good half hour sipping on a beer they sent my way and had a nice time listening about each of the paintings. He gave me a poster sized print when we left and offered to sign it too which was pretty cool. The original is pictured below. It was a pretty cool, if not unexpected experience. They offered to frame my canvases from me too and give me a discount if I wanted to sell my work through them. Personally I don’t think any of my 20-dollar Michael’s canvases are worth a $1,000 frame job… nor am I comfortable enough with the quality of work to sell anything… but its cool to have the offer made.

I recently posted a few shots of my recent canvas attempts on Facebook to show my buddy some of my work, and received much unexpected praise from my friends-list. It’s very flattering when art students and old friends all want to own some of my work. I like the idea of having a friend put some of my work up on their wall, and will gladly paint pieces for anyone who would like one (who wouldn’t mind paying for the supplies and shipping also). The one stipulation I’d have is that you have to display the work prominently (over the mantel, the front foyer, in place of pictures of loved ones etc.) and whenever anyone asked about it you’d have to not only say you know the artist personally and he’s a good friend, but you have to ad some exaggerated story to go along with it. Like he painted this while wrestling nazi-aliens in WW2 or something. So if you make me look good, I’ll make your wall look good (or at least try to).