About a month ago I used, in one of my blogs, the Italian phrase “Ogni morte del Papa”, meaning “Every death of a Pope”, and the equivalent of the English, “Once in a blue moon.” In other words, very rarely indeed. This phrase came into my head again today when I met a friend and follow artist in the street. She was elated to tell me that her recent exhibition had actually sold out! I don’t think that I have ever encountered that before. Naturally I was delighted on her behalf. I managed to see the show before our holiday in Italy, and I have to admit that her work is very good.
How should I best respond to this remarkable event? Should I feel sad because no exhibition including my work has ever come close to that degree of success? Or should I feel encouraged by the knowledge that it can happen? I think that perhaps I’m inclined to take the second view, because this will motivate me to put some effort into preparation for my own exhibitions later in the summer and autumn. As Ella Fitzgerald put it in one of her songs, “It can be done. It can be done!”