Photo Exhibition #2 - Taste Budd's Café

Displayed during February and March of 2017. 

Invigorated by my somewhat-successful photography show at the Crafted Kup (wherein I managed to sell a number of prints), I recalled another prominent cafe that displayed local artwork...a cafe which I had only been to once before in 2014...on a date (a bit of a trend, it would seem). 

Taste Budd's Cafe is located in Red Hook, NY...not the neighborhood in Brooklyn, mind you...we're talking further upstate, in between Poughkeepsie and Albany. Unlike most other cafes in the area, Taste Budd's had a well established schedule of events, with open mics several times a week, poetry slams, book readings, and-the like. In addition, it was placed close to Bard college, and had a steady influx of students. These factors gave the town, in my opinion, even more of an "artsy" vibe than the Vassar area...and I thought there was a good chance I might have an even more successful showing than the last.

This wouldn't turn out to be the case, as heavily foreshadowed by my early phone conversation with Daniel Budd, the owner and founder of the establishment. In an almost comically matter-of-fact fashion, he emphasized the infrequency of which displaying artists ever actually sold anything. "Well, maybe I'll get lucky", I thought to myself immediately post-conversation. 

I had grown quite bored of many of the images I had used in the previous show..having spent countless hours working to get them printed, matted, hung, advertised, sold, etc. Meanwhile, my photo-taking rate had also remained steady that year, and I had a number of new photos I wanted to display. Of course that meant returning to the previous, laborious process of acquiring all of the necessary acrylic, paper prints, and hanging supplies to accommodate the different environment. 

A quick side note regarding the acrylic... On both occasions, I had ordered custom-sized pre-cut acrylic sheets from AIN Plastics/ThyssenKrupp in Westchester. While I had no complaints regarding the product quality itself, I cannot emphasize enough the negligence, stupidity, and sheer incompetence presented by most of the staff I dealt with. On both occasions they managed to mangle my order; not cutting all of the sheets to the right size, missing some completely, delaying the order several times, discarding the scraps (despite that I was paying for the order per full sheet, and had specifically requested the leftovers), and forcing me to wait for long stretches of time while they haphazardly tried to correct my order on the spot...this after undertaking the hour-long drive to get there. Suffice it to say I had a lightly heated chat with the floor manager. Did they ever follow up with me to discuss possible compensation? No, and I figured they wouldn't... However the experience as a whole has completely put me off ever wanting to do business with that company again. 

But I digress... 

Now, six months following the previous display, and having the benefit of experience...I, with the much-needed help of my seasoned father and my best friend were able to set up *most* of the show within the time-frame I estimated in advance. While Taste Budds is a smaller place than the Crafted Kup, and I wouldn't have to put up as many pictures, the process was complicated by having to navigate around furniture and doorways, requiring us to climb chairs, couches, and a ladder in certain areas. Furthermore, we had generally less freedom to nail the photos to the wall. While it became necessary in certain areas, it was Dan's preference that we used the pre-existing hanging tracks, which required us to jerry-rig a system comprised of carefully measured fishing line and s-hooks.  We returned the following night to complete the last few. 

The ensuing two months could best be described as lackluster. I received zero calls or comments regarding the prints, or my services as a photographer. I hung a container of 25 business cards and 10 pamphlets on the prominently displayed event cork-board by the door. By the end, 11 business cards remained along with 2 pamphlets...meaning 14 of the former and 8 of the latter were taken in total. By comparison, I began the Crafted Kup showing with 25 business cards and 15 pamphlets. All of the business cards were taken within the first week, along with half of the pamphlets. Over the course of that show, I restocked both a couple of times. By the end I must've gone through close to the full 50 business cards I had on hand. None of these resulted in further inquires, sadly...but the difference in general interest between the two cafes was staggering. 

And of course, to top everything off...a day before the show was to come down, I received an e-mail from Dan informing me that they were going to begin repainting the walls, and "some" of my art had been taken down early. Given the delicateness of the frames, I was a little unnerved that I hadn't been informed in advance so I could do it myself...but I figured that I could spare getting worked up over a few pieces. 

I arrived the next morning to discover that "some" actually meant that every single image had been removed and stored tightly in a box behind the counter, with little padding to prevent scratching. I irritably repackaged everything and went on my way, leaving with an unfortunately sour experience, from beginning to end.