PAYOLA

The reason Baby-Baby was sitting at that front table all alone was her boyfriend happened to be playing bass in the band up on the stage. I left with her phone number and within a matter of weeks the boyfriend was out of the picture. We had actually met a couple of years earlier. BB was an artist and held down a job as the desk person at one of the more successful galleries- International With Monument. I remembered. She didn't. She had completely blown me off when i came in with my slides under my arm. I didn't hold it against her. I had done the same thing to almost everyone who came in my gallery with the same agenda. I just dealt with it differently.
Being sensitive to any artist looking to show work, I decided to present an option to anyone coming in with slides. It would go something like this- They would ask "Are you considering any new artists?"
I would respond "No. I'm sorry we aren't"
"Can you at least just look at my slides and resume?""No." (It's very uncomfortable to look at someone's work while they are standing in front of you.) "But, I'll tell you what i will do. I'll rent you wall space at $30 per square foot."
Blank stare. Then I would proceed to tell them about a show I was putting together called PAYOLA. For a minimum of $30 you could show a small work in a group show. Want to show a larger painting? Pony up the cash.
"Don't you want to see my slides first?"
"No. That's OK. You can show anything you want."
I made about $3000 that month and got reviewed by the Village Voice. They said it was no worse than any carefully curated group show.
My relationship with BB was a good one on many levels. She was from the same area upstate who, like me, had left to become an artist. Her Italian family ran a florist shop and sold Xmas trees around the holidays. She was a classic beauty, with dark hair and eyes and a good teeth. She also had a prominent nose. BB had a much better show career than I. She was connected and it made me jealous. Even though I was stepping back from that world i still wanted its approval. It was a constant point of contention between us. We didn't live together but rarely spent the night apart. She kept her apartment on E11th and I kept mine on E6th. The band was happening. The church was growing. Summer was coming. I had a new girlfriend. Maybe a Wolf Lake retreat was in order.