Dont join the masses, sell to them instead.

Last weekend I made a flying visit to Brisbane to see an art exhibition: “Picasso & His Collection” only to discover that, with only a few exceptions, it was ( in my humble opinion) a disappointing collection of second rate artworks.

But what I found more disappointing was the behavior of the crowds who had turned up to see it. After queuing to get in, I found myself repelled by the orderly queue inside the gallery, where everyone just shuffled along patiently waiting their turn to view the next piece of art.

Some people were pontificating over the flimsiest of sketches, analyzing each slash of the charcoal to educate, or more likely bore, their companions. And the people behind them in the queue, waiting their turn in front of the sketch, stood in placid acceptance.

Not me. I lasted about 2 minutes before breaking ranks and walking into the middle of the first exhibition room. I just ‘couldn’t’ join in with the masses. To me it seemed almost the opposite of art, or perhaps the queue itself was a surreal piece of artwork escaped from the brush of Dali, or flown in from the Tate Modern in London to stun the Australians into submission.

Perhaps the queue itself was a surreal piece of artwork escaped from the brush of Dali, or flown in from the Tate Modern in London

Two rooms on I found that the queue had dwindled, as people had lost patience or perhaps come to the conclusion that they were acting like sheep, or lemmings.

Meanwhile, I simply stood in the center of the rooms I wandered into, and scanned for something which grabbed my attention (perhaps a bold use of color, or the way that the eyes in some portraits seem to latch on to you) and I went over and looked at it.

This meant that I’d finished looking an hour before my companions, so I sat down on a central bench to write this.

And my main thought was that Picasso would probably have been amused, even laughed out loud, at the docility and lack of life on display in the queue.

This can – sort of – be related back to Internet Marketing. Well I’m going to try anyway

Here’s my attempt. And my true thoughts:

Don’t join the placid queue (the masses) and shuffle along.

Sell to the people in the queue instead

Find out where the demand is, meet that demand.That’s where the money lies. 

Simplistic, but true.

Picasso photo source Wikimedia.org