“Afloat” Image. Ceres Gallery. New York. Solo Show.

This a story of a prophesy.

The night of my opening, “AFLOAT: An Installation”, it snowed. Not many people came to the reception. Kris, my best friend from Rippowam High School in Stamford Connecticut, came! Big surprise!

We used to cut school together to go into the Village. We wanted to see what the real Village was like, during the week, without all the suburban kids (like us) hanging out. That Kris came to such a wonderful, big event for me, meant so much to me and made up for the scant turn out, due to the weather.

She lives in San Francisco now.

The shadowy installation with its rings and collages scattered over the walls like wreckage from a flood made it more obvious somehow that there were not many people there.

A man walked in. Reminiscing with Kris interrupted, I jumped up to greet him. He was dressed appropriately for a retirement community in Texas. Dark blue cap. Light weight, dark blue wind breaker jacket on.

My guess was, that he was an artist. He spoke with such authority about my work, the way male artists of a certain age do. They tend to barge in and expect you to listen. He went on and on and I asked him what his name was. An occupation? He said it did not matter. Just listen to him.

I glanced over to where Kris was sitting, aware that the next day we would be leaving for two separate cities and that we had little time together.

The man kept barging and talking to me, circling me and gesturing to the work in the room. He said, “As you get more successful, and you will, think of yourself rising up to the top of a pyramid. You are going to lose support from the people you know.” Then he glanced over his shoulder at a non-existent person who was supposed to be sitting at the gallery desk and said, “Be nice to this girl. She is going to need it!”

Who was this guy? His talking to the unmanned desk made me think he was a ghost.

Then I swear to you, he was gone.

Unfortunately his predictions came true. But, happily, I made new friends, more true. Less exploitive. I did feel the lack of support for a short time, but I felt like I was making some progress in the world.

Who was this guy? Where is he now? He could tell me what is coming next. He could be my reader and advisor!

Thank you, everyone, for coming to my virtual show! I really did post one hundred collages. I made a mistake, early on, and I counted two collages with the same number!