Overdue thank you and update.
The Wilma Martinez Exhibit was a HUGE success. I had hundreds of delighted, confused and entertained people come through the booth at Artscape. I was also singled out by Vince Peranio who mentioned me and Wilma on NPR, and had a photo and mention in the City Paper (below).
A fews after the Wilma Martinez Exhibit at Artscape, I posted this note on Facebook:
I want to thank everyone who stopped by to see the Wilma booth at Artscape and to give an especially big thanks to everyone who participated in this fun project. I also want to thank Vince Peranio for all of his support and appreciation of this project, Lania D’Agostino and Andy Gore for his amazing work printing the Wilma Warhol shirt!
For the past few months I have been wondering how people would react to this exhibit and the responses did not disappoint. There was a great diversity in reaction to the booth and an incredible amount of positive feedback. Some of the things people said on exiting included:
“Genius!”, “Brilliant!”, “Outstanding!”, “Awesome!”, “Awe-inspiring!”, “Hilarious!”, “Miraculous!” and on and on…it was fantastic.
These reactions came from people who gave the exhibit more than a passing glance and actually took a little time to digest what I was doing. They were the ones who got the most out of it and understood it.
Other reactions were typical, “What’s wrong with her lips?”, “Weird.”, “Scary.” and multitudes of sour-looking faces from girls between the ages of 13-23…they hated it!
My favorite reaction came from a woman who thought Wilma was a disfigured freak who I was helping. She thought I was doing such a good deed helping this poor, unfortunate creature get work and gain recognition for her efforts. “This is so wonderful what you are doing.” she said, shaking her head in sincere sadnes.
Vince Peranio and Delores Deluxe
I also want to give a huge thank you to Lawrence Snelly, who designed the Wilma Make-Up Doll and Dave Erlich whose copywriting talents on the “mail in coupon” entertained many visitors to the Wilma Exhibit. I was so preoccupied with meeting and greeting the throngs of people coming through the Midway that I did not get a decent photo of Larry’s awesome creation which stood under a bell jar on a rotating mirrored platform…it was a real crowd pleaser. If anyone has a good photo of the doll in the booth, please let me know.
Thanks again everyone.
As to Wilma, she is still busy and I will update her next little project in the following entry. Continue reading →