Last night I had the pleasure of participating in ARTRA Curatorial’s MAS Attack 7 at the Santa Monica Art Studios. MAS Attack is coined as the “Mutual Appreciation Society,” about artists and for artists. It is an amazing event where your friends, other artists, curators, gallerists and collectors (we hope) can see your work and chat with you in person. The best part about MAS Attack is that all of the artists wear name tags.
How many times do you go to openings and wish that everyone had a name tag? I am going to be very honest here and say that I have a horrible memory. Now as someone who runs a PR company, I know this is probably not the best thing to admit and share. But, it is something I am working on. So when I arrived at MAS Attack and found that the artists were wearing name tags… well I won’t use a cliche here, but I was very happy.
I often go to openings with my friends. I have worked out a little deal that if they are my wing(women) I will be theirs. If I am talking to someone and say Hi It’s so great to see you again and I don’t say their name, my friend will introduce themselves so the other person has to say their name. This seems to work really well. I so hate to not remember people’s names. And I feel bad if I forget.
My grandma used to always say, “you have to exercise your brain.” She used to write down all of the questions and answers on the Jeopardy TV show. When we would go on road trips we would play the usual name the states and capital games, learn Spanish with her and listen to audio books (on tape). Right before she passed away last year, we were in the hospital with her watching Jeopardy. I knew she appreciated that even if she couldn’t tell us. She would be proud that I am playing my own games to exercise my memory.
With social media, especially Facebook, We get to know people so well, so fast and sometimes so deep, that we often don’t remember what they look like. (well you know what I mean) Thankfully with our friends, Eric Minh Swenson and Marlene Picard, we can play those games of tagging people and putting names to faces. Now all we need is to have virtual names above our heads like some video games.