Curators' Picks: Emerging - Selected by the Team at Artsy
flowers blooming, things happening slowly then all at once
Well look who it is…
This Saturday as I was getting ready for my morning routine (pick up sourdough bread at the local coffee shop, check my PO box, get to the Farmers’ Market before the mushrooms are sold out…) I got a text from my friend Sandy, with a video of Artsy’s Curators’ Picks: Emerging collection.
If you’re not familiar, Artsy is an (the) online platform for the traditional art world. It’s where notable galleries and artists publish and sell their work; to be an artist on Artsy, you have to be in a show with a gallery on Artsy. And to be a gallery on Artsy, you need to apply. Which is a subtle way of saying — it’s a feat even to have an artist profile on Artsy, as it is some indication of your ascension up the opaque art world ranks. Going on 3 years in, it was a feat I only accomplished last Thursday (yay) when Galeria Azur’s ACT I show opened.
So imagine my surprise only 2 days later, when, flipping through the Curators’ Picks — a collection I have often flipped through often — I saw none other than my own painting! Hah! Below the caption:
“These rising talents are gaining recognition for their fresh, exciting, and experimental work—and their careers are just getting started.
Below, explore our favorite works by emerging artists. Come back every other week for new picks.”
!!!!
My artistic journey isn’t about the external validation; if it was I would have already quit — the journey is mostly solitary and desperately self-motivated and validation, outside of social media likes, is few and far between. But when it does come, I have to admit — especially like this, out of nowhere, truly unexpected — it does feel damn good.
The timing is not lost on me, also, that less than an hour before I posted this. A confessional of sorts on practice, on prayer, on the sacred tilling of the space around my art. Call it a coincidence or call it hard work or call it the flower that bloomed from a seed I planted a year ago, ready for harvest as I bowed down.
This painting, oddly enough, is one of the oldest I still have, and is probably the one most inquired about that still hasn’t sold. I’ve often wondered what she was still doing here… can’t help but think, maybe she was just waiting for her place on the homepage. :)
Anyway, it’s a nice little acknowledgement and one I share with you all in gratitude for your support so far. So much more to come… thanks so much for being here.
THE DESERT WILL HOLD YOU II is available via Galeria Azur. For inquiries, please e-mail miami@galeriaazur.com.
P.S. I’m reworking my website over the next month — if you’re interested in available work in the meantime, just reply to this e-mail or send a note to studio@alexmaceda.studio and I’ll send you the catalog.