Days of our lives

The Auckland Art Fair opened on a Wednesday evening. According to some of the people who were there it was all go, with a dog and some Australians as entertainment. That is when a lot of the big sales happened and by the time we turned up on Friday there had already been swarms of special groups through at unlikely hours like 8.00AM to get a sneak peak at the goods. Strangely, at the early-bird session the dealers were not present, which having heard some of the stories about the party on Thursday night, was probably just as well. And yes this is going somewhere.

The thing about attending art events in another town is that you really need them to be on a Friday or during the weekend. Unless you are on the tax payer or rate payer dime, a day off work is a big price to pay, and two or three all but impossible. And this Wednesday night opening trend is catching. We had booked well ahead to get cheap fares so we could catch what was to be the tripartite opening of Pick, etal. and van Hout at the Christchurch Art Gallery in July. Now we hear the date for two of the shows has been changed from Friday to, you guessed it, Wednesday.

If art museums are really interested in going beyond the local (and why wouldn’t they?) the Wednesday opening idea needs review. If there’d be a local revolt if the openings are on Friday, OK, the rest of us will have to suck it up, but it’s hard to believe. As we out-of-towners say, “Wednesday’s child is full of woe” (and, for the record, “Friday’s child is loving and giving.”)

Image: Jason, Patron Saint of Friday openings