Letter to the President

At the beginning of the year , through an acquaintance,  a friend and I were encouaraged to join and artists' association . 'The United Artists ' And what may one ask is the 'United Society of Artists '?

The United Society of Artists

About our Society:

The United Society of Artists (UA) exhibits high quality works of art at its London Annual Open Exhibition and its Members' Only Satellite Exhibitions held at various sites during the year.
What is the UA?
The UA is an independent, non profit making society. Founded in 1921 it originally gave artists living outside London a chance to exhibit in the capital. Now there are no geographical restrictions to exhibiting and Satellite Exhibitions have greatly increased its range of activity.
What does the UA exhibit?
Figurative and non figurative works in two or three dimensions in any medium are welcome.*
Why should I join the UA?
UA exhibitions attract exhibitors of international quality and provide excellent exposure to the world of affordable and collectable art. Members may each submit up to six works free of charge for selection.

Only UA members can exhibit in UA Satellite Exhibitions.

Well , in the beginning of  2012 , Ari , a friend of mine and I applied to join the 'UA'

We both submitted examples of our work and eventually we were accepted as members. We paid our membership fees which exceeded £100.00 for the year and also  , after not making any contribution to their exhibitions or indeed having reaped any benefits from the organisation , we eventually managed to take part in an exhibition they organised in Carshalton , Surrey , in October 2012.Yes we even had to pay extra for this privilege of exhibiting up to 5 works in a Gallery called 'The  Mine Gallery' in  an quaint Surrey  village , Carshalton .

In mid Ocotber we handed in our works and after some very appealing e-mail messages asking us to 'steward' the exhibition . In good faith we offered our services for one afternoon. of the 12 day show.
On the occasion , we arrived on time after a two hour journey by train and asked the  UA members who we were relieving , to allow us at least 15 minutes to eat something in a local cafe before we come and relieve them.

The exhibition was a complete flop. That afternoon , not one pair of feet walked into the gallery , not even a single  insect  passed by to show some respect to a collection of reasonably interesting and varied works of relatively good standard.

I was quite disillusioned yet again with an artistic opportunity that withered and died ... .But to add insult   to injury , I received a letter from 'The President' . a few weeks after to whole damned  fiasco .

I was quite incensed , after reading it a few times in amazement , I drafted this reply , which I eventually withdrew in favour of a lighter  . more diplomatic version . Yet the sentiment in this letter  was genuine and really felt I should have releasede it:  

'Dear Ann

 I refer to the  identical letter you wrote to  Ari Aresti and myself  dated  20^th November  2012, transcripted below :

 

 

‘Dear Jimmy /Ari  

 

I am writing to you with regard to the incident at the Mine Gallery , Carlshalton.

 

At any  exhibition , if you steward , you are guaranteeing to arrive on time to open up or to relieve other stewards. You should ensure that you have luncheon   or provisions to be eaten on site so as to cause no offence   to other stewards who are dependent on your  attendance .

 

 

I was sorry to see that the work you presented for showing was not of the standard we expect and would therefore recommend that you would gain more experience from joining , perhaps , the Enfield Art Circle  and later re-apply to join the  the United Society of Artists. 

 

Do keep developing your art.

 

Yours Faithfully

 

Ann P Keeble'

As new members to the UA we both found your letter unnecessarily   personal , judgemental  and puzzling  . The ‘incident‘ as you call it refers to the fact that when we arrived at the Mine Gallery , on time, after a two and a half hour journey , we requested of the other stewards to allow as at least 15 minutes to go to a café and eat something before we relieved  them, unfortunately we exceeded the 15 minutes and did delay the persons  who had finished their period of stewarding. This was not intentional and was   regrettable.  However we found   the words in your letter quite harsh , we did volunteer after all ,   bearing in mind that not all UA  members  did so.

Secondly the comment concerning   the   standard  of our art work is quite disconcerting  . You made a quality judgement on the standard of the   works we both   exhibited:

 A; It appears that the standard of   our work was of sufficient quality to allow us to join the  UA in the first place and you were happy to accept our membership fees.

B: You also accepted the works offered for the show   at the Mine Gallery  and  again accepted   fees for allowing us the  privilege of exhibiting at the Mine Gallery.

 C: You then stated that our work was  ‘ Not of the standard that you expect’ and furthermore  suggested that we‘ ‘Join the ‘Enfield  Art Circle   to gain more experience  and  later re-apply to join the UA’  , suggesting that you have terminated our membership? 

 

Ann,  with the greatest of   respect  we found the comments in your letter   inconsistent with the decisions made by the UA board and also very  hurtful .

 

Neither Ari or myself are beginners  . We   are both serious artists and have  worked   professionally in the past ,and therefore   have  a realistic evaluation of our own individual worth as artists.

 

After receiving your  letter  we would like to respond   constructively and creatively and  issue you with an artistic challenge:

 

We propose that we arrange an art  exhibition ( outside the auspices of the UA)  with the theme of a competition of quality ( similar to the contest between Zeuxis and Parrhasius of ancient Greece) where the theme of the exhibition would be  to exhibit ten works each, recent or old , on any theme  in any medium or style , and to invite the public to judge whether your work is of  superior to the work exhibited by either of us.

 

We have not had the privilege to view your art work , and issuing this challenge

Without seeing your work  actually puts us at a disadvantage. But  maybe , your are not an artist? and as president your credentials could be as art historian or critic? , if however  you do see your self as an artist , Ari and myself will be willing to arrange the exhibition and share any costs with you . We offer this challenge blindly in expectation, from the comments you made that you are of formidable talent, experience   and ability .

 

The result would be very informative and educational for us , it may be that your point will be proved and we can then take your advice and join  the organisation you suggested to gain more experience. On the other hand it may even   prove otherwise .

 

Either way we think it is an exciting challenge and are already motivated   to arrange this  as soon as we can gain your consent

 

We   eagerly look forward to your reply

 

If however you refuse the challenge or  we do not receive a reply  , we , and  anybody reading this  letter can draw their own conclusions.

 

Kindest regards

 

Sincerely

 

Jimmy  Pellas      Ari Aresti

CC ( as many UA members as we can  find e-mail addresses of)




Eventually  after cooling down and considering it carefully  sent her the following letter and did  not copy it to  the hundred or so members:

                                                                                             

                                                                               Jimmy Pellas    Ari Aresti

    
' Dear Ann
 

I  refer to the  identical letter you wrote to  Ari Aresti and myself  dated  20^th November  2012.  

As new members to the UA we both found your letter unnecessarily   personal , judgemental  and puzzling  . The ‘incident‘ as you call it refers to the fact that when we arrived at the Mine Gallery , on time, after a two and a half hour journey , we requested of the other stewards to allow as at least 15 minutes to go to a café and eat something before we relieved  them, unfortunately we exceeded the 15 minutes and did delay the persons  who had finished their period of stewarding. This was not intentional and was   regrettable and we both sincerely apologise 

However, we found   the words in your letter quite harsh. As  new members who had not previously exhibited in any other UA Show , we did offer to make our contribution by being present at the gallery  .
 

The comment concerning   the   standard  of our art work is intentionally hurtful and appears to be subjectively related to the ‘incident’ . 

Ann,  neither Ari or myself are beginners  . We   are both serious artists and have  worked   professionally in the past ,and therefore   have  a realistic evaluation of our own individual worth as artists regardless of your opinion.

After receiving your letter neither us feel that the UA  has anything to offer us in future  although we did contribute to the organisation and  supported it financially  .

 

Good bye

 

Sincerely '

 

Jimmy  Pellas      Ari Aresti

So glad  to see the back of that pathetic group of 'artists' .What a waste of time and effort , damn them!