2020-08-21 - Ars Gratia Artis

"I've just got to make one stop, first," Vyv had said as he and Grant drove to dinner, and this turns out to be it.

Thus, two weeks after his first arrival there, Vyv returns to the gallery, just as planned. Again, it's that early evening Saturday realm, and again, he strides in dressed in an expensive and flawlessly tailored suit, this one a three piece pinstripe in a warm grey, with a mauve shirt, claret paisley tie, and polkadotted claret pocket square. Unlike the last time, however, he's not alone; this time, he's accompanied by a younger man with hair dyed in rich gradients of purple and blue. Certain gallery owners might be inclined to make some guesses as to who that might be, based on said last time.

"Ms. Foster," Vyv greets, giving the woman a faint smile when he spots her, and heads that way; he gives Bax a faintly impish sidelong look as he does, checking out how the gallery qua gallery seems to be being recieved. "Lovely to see you again," he says to her as he nears, "May I present Grant Baxter? Bax, this is Hera Foster. She owns the gallery."

All in all the day was entirely chill, It started great, the afternoon was really relaxed taking in a heist film, and now looking actually not like he's going to a funeral, Grant is wearing what is 'passable as a suit' though one dare not actually call it fashion. That one is Vyv in case anyone missed that. It's a work in progress!

Ah least his hair matches Vyv's suit as they're stepping out. But hey art gallery!

His eyebrow arches, hands in pockets to avoid touching everything. His eyes are fixed on that ceiling though. That is intense. He signs, ASL to Vyv which takes no interpreter to grasp: Woah dude, and 'look at that up there!' Clearly the realization that this is not Vyv's first time here has slows this reaction down not at all.

Attention dropping back to teh gallery owner there is an impressed, though not shocked look. Vyv's fancy and clearly knows, in Grant's mind, important people. The hand is offered with an easy enough smile. "This pleased is great. Place to meet you." There is a whole pause before hi stops and rolls that one back, "this place is great. Nice to meet you. Sorry. My brain was stuck in the Matisse tiles. Who made those? Those are super cool."

The famous gallery cat appears to stay off to the side. Many people come and go so the golden kitty is used to the traffic, even if it's only two gentlemen. One is a bit of a familiar scent than the other but the cat doesn't seem to pay any mind. That's a cat for you though but Hans, the dutiful dog, perks his sharp ears up to note who comes in. Vyv is not the most familiar smell but he IS familiar but Grant is given a bit of a strange look. A slight tilt to the dog's head shows that the German Shepherd is examining him though he doesn't make a move to do much else at the moment. Yes, people come and go, and no one has been meaning any harm so all is good.

Hans' alpha of course must make an appearance and that she does. She has on flats that are beige and a yellow summer dress dotted with pink flowers for a bit of a 'cheery' look. The temperature is a pleasant one in the gallery and it only adds to the pleasantness here. Immediately Hera brightens up herself when she sees the two and she offers a smile to both. "Hello!" she says to the gentlemen but her hand goes toward Grant, "So you are the amazing artist I have heard about? Your work put me in a state of awe when Vyv showed it to me before. It's got so much magic and power and it's just, utterly amazing. It's as if your art would reach out and touch hearts and sculpt minds and I am sure I have only seen the tip of the ice berg. It's such a pleasure to have you here and thank you for the compliments. The tiles well, I had them ordered. Internet shopping makes anything possible."

The dog's fur does not currently appear to be attempting to cover anything but the dog, and this is ideal from Vyv's point of view. The visible presence of the cat this time is also faintly pleasing, but not so much as Grant's reaction to the place. «Not bad, yes?» he signs back, and after the introductions, goes quiet to let them properly meet. Bax's temporary word issue makes the corner of his mouth twitch upward slightly, and though the smile itself doesn't increase any, he still gives the impression of being quite pleased with Hera's remarks to Bax. It's in the eyes, mostly.

After she's done, he waits a moment before adding casually, signed as well as spoken, "We wondered if you might be interested in doing a show."

Just because Grant is not surprised doesn't at all means he fails to be utterly impressed or astounded, attention lost still to the details of the place with an open look of wonder. And then, Hera starts to gush? One can almost hear the sound of his focus getting whiplash. His ears turn a nice shade of red and his expression turns to something else. He looks from her to Vyv to Hera and back to Vyv, and then makes the sign for Repeat? with the expression of come again!?

Slowly his hands press palm to palm and them to his mouth as he processes this having not seen that at all coming. He takes the moment to run his face and push both hands back through his hair, shifting his weight between his feet. "You're serious?!" More blinking, "I'm... That's-" he's at a loss for words but there is the sign Yes at least. "I'm floored, I dunno what to say, but now I'm really curious about what he showed you now. Yeah I'd...I'm honoured really..." He looks to Vyv, eyes watery, but the grin is there looking back up at the tiles again. "Wow. In a real gallery like this? No shit?" Biting his lip he watches the woman and then Vyv and back.

Talk about impacting the skate punk's little clerk world.

Hera takes a step in their direction and offers yet another charming smile. "Very serious." she replies as she nods to also confirm it. "He showed me some of your visions and yes, it's all clearly spellbinding. It would be an honor to try to showcase it to the public. " Hans looks over curiously as he watches his alpha continue on with the conversation. She seems happy but, she's not throwing a stick and she doesn't have bacon in her hand so it can't be THAT exciting really. These hoomans discuss really really strange things.

"I already started thinking of some frames if that's not too presumptuous really. That and a few special easels, I have some nicer ones in the back room. Though, the real specific medium is up to you. Simple frames might be warranted when the images are surreal but sometimes wider frames could make somethings pop out more. Of course I'm sure you have an eye for such a thing. Oh." she pauses at another aspect of how to show his work, "We could also simply upload some digital pictures too and depending on what you want, we could even see if something augmented could be setup. That VR thing is really popular. I'm not a huge techie but I'm definitely for showing new things in new ways. I guess it's all up to you though." Her eyes fall on Grant, "Do you want something casual, or formal? The more publicity the better I would say but, that's really your call."

«You heard her,» Vyv signs back to the 'repeat?', with a definite touch of amusement in his expression. He continues looking quietly but decidedly pleased as he watches Grant's reaction, and comes very close to smiling entirely for a moment when the younger man looks his way again with the watery eyes.

"Quite serious," he agrees, but leaves the discussion of just how things might be shown to the pair of them, for the time being; if he's going to chime in on presentation, it's likely to be at a rather later stage. He does, however, also agree that, "I'd think one would want a good deal of publicity, either way."

Grant looks floored. Clearly this is a surprise and it worked. He blink to Vyv and looks honestly stunned. He has no poker face so the show is all right there. Frame s though? His eyebrows arch. "Huh, hadn't thought about that. I mean, yeah. Yes! I'm... yeah I'm thrilled. Some of what I do is wall pieces or painting on mixed medium. But some? Yeah I... yeah, totally."

There's a pause and he gives Vyv that yooooou devil look now trying to parse out what she was shown. There's questions though he has to think about. Publicity's cool. Uhhh..." He looks to Vyv a bit whelmed and curious, "Should it be formal? I dunno. I think an urban Renaissance theme could be way cool. Concrete and steel and glass but stylized. I kinda dig the things we take for grated as banal being fantastical in...nature..." He pauses and looks to Vyv for some direction on that.

Hera manages to stifle a chuckle for a moment as she notices Grant's surprise. Knowing how artists can be enthralled with the simplest attention, she takes his response as a bit of a 'good' shock to his system. It's all good news though and she briefly watches the two gentleman give one another nonverbal messages until she tries to figure out the right time to speak.

"The streets are not much of a formal setting to say the least." Her tone of voice remains eloquent, but in the back of her mind she knows she speaks with certain knowledge on the subject. "I guess the event could be somewhat casual, but only if that's what you want. There's quite a few details to discuss but I do look forward to having things ironed out. I certainly don't mind reorganizing the main area here to have your work as the focus for your show then afterward, I could continue to showcase more of your art until either you decide to sell it or keep it around. An Urban Renaissance now that could even be a good name. " she snaps her fingers for a moment as something else immediately comes to mind, "Which leads to another question, music or no? This is /your/ show so you get what your want but if you are going to do music, I'd recommend simple background music so it wouldn't take away from your work. However, I will stress this is what you want." Obviously, she was impressed with his visual gifts enough to feature what Grant has to share with the world.

Vyv returns Grant's you-devil look with a briefly angelic one, though for the most part he just lets them talk. Still, when Bax is specifically looking to him, he gives a tiny shrug. "I think the degree of formality is largely a question of what you want, yes. Certainly at least formal enough to be taken seriously, but I wouldn't think entirely formal would be where you'd lean. Although I suppose it could make an interesting contrast. I do like that theme idea; it seems like a good setting for the work in general, and could tie things together nicely."

He glances from one of them to the other, and notes to Grant, "She's seen what of yours I had in my phone; I know there's more I've not got." The artist may recall what he's sent Vyv, or may not, but is memory can be refreshed later if the latter. "I think there's time to think about how just what you'd like to showcase and how -- nothing needs to be decided right now, after all. Except, I suppose, whether you'd like to do it. And I believe we've established that." A faint smile; he's quite pleased with this. "Mn. With that theme, you could even consider a soundscape that isn't quite music, or isn't only. City sounds, perhaps? Something to play with that idea of the fantastic within what we take for granted as banal from that angle as well?" Audio is even farther from his area of expertise, but surely that's something someone could do well. And he can probably find that person, in a pinch.

Grant is charmed as much as he is excited about this. "I think people should be comfortable however they want. I mean art's not supposed to be oppressive right? That's what Vyv tells me every time someone over-spices something and you can't taste anything else." He pays attention. It's not bothered him any, but he took notes.

He considers the rest looking around at the space still impressed. in that way people without stuff view people with stuff the professionals here. "Definitely music. I'll give you Sparrow's number. Sheeee is my music authority and knows the soul of my work. I want... to keep it close to street level. I want people to figure out what it means to them, to think, not about what other people see or thing when they see them. person in a suit? Club kids and space cadets? Whatever peeps want. I mean I think the fanciest thing I even have is," He looks to Vyv and says "Well, you."

Hera grins at the exchange between the two. The gentleman, at least in her mind, clearly seem to compliment and even contrast one another in pleasant ways. "Yes, what I did see on the phone is certainly amazing but, I can talk about that for a while. Sometimes the most amazing thing about art is watching how it affects those who partake of it, not necessarily those who create it. Audience is always a key factor some people don't take into consideration as much as they should. It's better when a crowd appreciates the gifts you have and you." she nods toward Grant, "Are certainly very well gifted. I'm quite excited about this event and Sparrow, I know I've heard of the name and if you want her involved, she will definitely be involved. I'm pretty open to how we approach this. I would just want the music to compliment your creations, not overpower it. Again, this showing should be about you but, I can't stress enough that I'm pretty open to what you want. I'll even put Queso upstairs when we show off your creations." Fortunately, the cat didn't understand that or else he would be hissing.

"Appropriate balance in all things," Vyv murmurs at the example given, and he can't help a small smile at being declared the fanciest thing Bax has. Far from the worst thing he's ever been called. The corner of the smile tilts up a little farther at the offer to put the cat upstairs for the duration of the show, though he refrains from any opinion as to whether one should.

"I expect you'll want to arrange another meeting, yes?" he asks of both of them, "After Grant's had an opportunity to think about what pieces he'd want involved, and work on the basic concepts for their display?" This appears to be a genuine question; his own art isn't generally presented to the public in quite this sort of way. "Or should more of it be arranged now? Is there a particular time you're thinking of having it, already, or is that a matter for later discussion?"

Grant listens taking in all the new information with a bit of restlessness and not certain where to start. This is the part of the territory where his brain may start to short out just a little bit. "I... I need to think and um, thank you- thanks I..." His brow furrows but there's a laugh there and a lopsided grin, "If you can email me a list with everything I'll figure it all out. I'm flummoxed." He grins back to Vyv, impressed and shakes his head, "Sly dog yooooou. Gimme at least until over dinner so I can process this and see all of what I have and then we can make a decision on that. If it's dry we can do up the walk outside coming in. God knows I've done enough sidewalks." Looking to Hera he is beaming, "Your... esteem means a lot to me. Thank you for all this."

Hera bows her head politely and then stands straight up to say, "It's a pleasure and an honor. You have a true gift and I look forward to showcasing it to the world. With people like you, we can reveal that the gifted are more than people who seem to be disconnected with life. In many ways, those like us are life." She is an artist herself for sure, even if she's more in the mode for business at the moment. "If you wish you two can think things over, figure out what approach you want best, set whatever day and time works and I'll try to get Queso to stay upstairs." Bah! But the cat is really the one that owns the place. "I'm fairly open as long as you." Her eyes briefly fall on Grant to say, "Are happy though yes, I do want to show everyone in the community your unique visions. After you think on things, just let me know. I'm flexible within reason."

Vyv glances from one of them to the other, and lightly brings his hands together. "Good. Then I think we have things sorted for now. An email with the various things to arrange would be helpful, and there'll be time to consider them. Thank you for seeing us, Ms. Foster. I look forward to seeing what the pair of you devise." All right, yes, he may well inject some input as well along the way, but this is meant to be Bax's baby, after all. "For now, though, I suppose we oughtn't miss our reservation. Have a good evening, mm?"