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In a follow-up e-mail to the same media outlets on Monday, February 15, Logsdon contradicted her original message to Shapiro about the show's cancellation: "Now, Mikal Shapiro for some reason took up the belief that she was to be given carte blanche access to MY building, and that for some reason 'her show' was to be hung for the entire month. This has never been the case, in any show, ever. In fact, my goal has always been to get the best art before the public on first Fridays, and then to do private showings by appointment only. This time, with Mikal, I said we could have some time on Saturday for viewing (noon to 3pm). The fact that we took down the show and moved it to the basement was in no way a hindrance to this process, as we intended on allowing the public to see the show in a flat file format."
But Logsdon's first e-mail to Shapiro declared that the show was over. If, in fact, Ripe was intended to have been an appointment-only show in flat-file viewing format, then Logsdon's offer to return the art to Shapiro's home does little to bolster her position. Press releases — including one still posted on Logsdon's MySpace blog as The Pitch goes to press — still list public viewing hours on Saturdays through February. Meanwhile, Shapiro and dozens of artists, who had the impression that their works would be displayed and for sale throughout the month, were caught flat-footed amid a confusing flurry of statements from the Keyhole.
According to Shapiro, buyers at the opening expressed interest in purchasing individual pieces, but no money changed hands. "There was interest, but the show was taken down before we could sell anything," she says.
The Leedy-Voulkos Art Center resurrects Ripe (including the damaged works) March 5. "I'm personally not too interested in finding out the details of why or how the exhibit ended," says Leedy-Voulkos gallery director Holly Swangstu. "I was notified, through a few channels, of their desire to extend the exhibition, and it was a rare opportunity that I was able to move some things around, and I had appropriate space to put the show up for another few weeks. I really wanted to help out the artists who put so much work into it, but also provide an opportunity for an audience to view it."
"All of this could've been largely avoided if the Keyhole people had just gone about requesting the show be taken down in a professional, civil way," Casanova tells The Pitch in an e-mail. "Or they could've just sat on their hands and the show would've run its course, with no drama or professional, financial or material damage to anyone. Then again, when your panties are in a knot and you're ripping art off the walls, you're probably not thinking about the big picture."
And Ripe is a big picture: a large group exhibition with around 120 displayed works representing untold hours of work by the creators, the curator and the gallery's management. Art is labor-intensive, venues are difficult to establish, and audiences are hard enough to find. But personalities have to mesh, too. Whatever else the parties dispute, Shapiro and Logsdon never saw eye to eye about Ripe.
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