Earlier chapters

by Mike Schwarcz, text and art

The idyllic weather and clean air of Santa Fe became a distant memory when Aisha stepped out her door and the New York's summer malaise slapped her like a wet towel of misery. The walk to her office allowed her time to build a case for what she had accomplished in Santa Fe. Cece had all but said she would sign. From Aisha's point of view, considering Cece was blindsided by Miguel's little stunt proved she could improvise without losing her cool. A necessary trait when dealing with unpredictable, high net worth individuals. She agreed with Mary Goodman, Cece had the goods to succeed at SpACE.

Every other Monday, Hayden occupied Aisha's boardroom for the day to hold video conferences with all the gallery managers. The day started early and ended late in New York, while the managers, on their day off, only had to keep their device handy for the call, when it came.
Hayden used the time to issue edicts about whatever came into his head: It could be a hot new artist, or the cleanliness of the loos in the London Gallery. It was impossible to tell what was coming next, so these were stressful days for Aisha and her staff.
Passing the boardroom on the way to her office, she smiled at Hayden, who was on the phone. She waved, holding up her purse and jacket to show she would return after depositing them in her office.

When she returned, Hayden got right to the topic of the day.
"How was your meeting in Santa Fe?"
She highlighted the main points for him and went on to explain where they stood with each of them.
"I'm confident Cece will say yes. But Miguel's a little hesitant; he's torn. He wants to, but he doesn't. I think his wife is putting up roadblocks, and her agenda is unknown at this point," Aisha said.
Hayden was silent for a moment. "Well, don't give up on him, you can make it happen," he urged her.
"I'm on it, I have a few ideas up my sleeve, I'm going to meet with Alissa today, I'll give you an update later," Aisha replied.
She caught one of Hayden's looks, but was unable to decipher it.

In her office, Aisha began working the phone.
"Is Alissa in today?" she asked Anne, her assistant.
"I saw her earlier, I'll text her, and see what she's up to.
"Tell her I need her ASAP. I want to see her in my office after lunch."
"Got it," Anne answered.
"I'm going to lunch with James from SpACE. Tell Alissa I need ideas on how we can get a critic to review Miguel Angelo's current show in Santa Fe. Also, I heard a rumor there is a GMA spot we may be able to land. If that's true, I want the details. It's important," Aisha said.

At lunch Aisha walked over to SpACE Gallery in Chelsea to look in on James, the General Manager. His probationary six months were now over. She had decided to take him to lunch to celebrate his permanent employee status.
"Hi, Lynn, I'm here for James," She told the receptionist.
"Let me call him, he's waiting for you," she picked up the intercom and dialed.
James came walking down the hall a few seconds later with his jacket over his shoulder, obviously in a good mood.
"How was Santa Fe?" were the first words out of his mouth.
"Alien," was all she said.
James laughed, "I was wondering what you would think. It's dry and dusty, that's for sure."
"You're not kidding, but at least they have a Four Seasons,"
"Should we go Mediterranean?" James asked.
"It's your choice today. We're celebrating your graduation to a permanent employee," she answered.
"Okay, Mediterranean it is," James said as they headed up the street.

Over lunch, Aisha filled James in about Cece, not everything, only that if they were successful in recruiting her, she would be training under James.
"Mary speaks highly of her, believes she has a lot of potential," James said.
"She's poised and very professional, she's also a beauty, she must have native American blood or something, quite exotic, especially to a Brit," Aisha remarked.
"She would have to be crazy not to sign, right?" James said.
"I think so, but only time will tell. In the meantime, back to business, what's going on at the gallery, anything I should know about?" she asked.
"Nothing comes to mind. I have my hands full with receiving the pieces for August's show, and some of them are just gigantic. It takes six people and a cart to move them!" James lamented.
"Have Mary or George been in much?" Aisha loved the Goodmans, but their best days were behind them. They were spending less and less time at the gallery, preferring the charity circuit parties and visiting galleries seeking out young, promising artists instead of actual work. Everyone assumed the Goodmans still owned SpACE Gallery, but they had secretly sold Rookwood a controlling interest years ago, and now Hayden held the purse strings at SpACE.
"Mary shows up one day, or a half day a week, usually. She's not a bother, but rather sweet, bringing me cookies and pound cake. She did mention something about a sculpture that an art advisor had sold, but when I pressed her, she said it was nothing, and Hayden was handling it," James said.
Aisha filed that bit of info to process later.
"Well, congratulations on your new position, James. Let's get back to work, we can't set a bad example, I have Hayden in the office all day." Aisha took the bill and gave over her card.

On her return, she found a memo on her desk saying Ron Hagen had called to inform her that Cece Corners had agreed to sign with SpACE. Alissa was also waiting with the good news that the rumors about SpACE landing a slot on Good Morning America were possibly true.
With Cece now in the bag, Aisha could turn her focus to what was needed to sway Miguel. Her ammo included a slot on Good Morning America, a favorable review of his show in a major New Mexico paper, and finally, a tour of his temporary studio. She planned to make him an offer he couldn't refuse. Secretly, she was curious how he would respond.

Alissa's contact at GMA was Matt, a segment producer. They had met at the GMA studios last week, when Alissa had delivered a pitch about SpACE helping them produce more art-oriented content as a public service. Matt was on board, Alissa said, and his Executive Producer had promised them a date sometime in July.

The challenge to recruit Miguel had become personal for Aisha; she wanted a win whenever Hayden expected her to come up short. She considered Hayden's judgment of Miguel's talents to be overblown, and the idea of Miguel flopping and raining on Hayden's parade was okay with her.
Aisha called Cece and asked her to give Miguel a tour of the temporary studio he would occupy until the new studio/gallery complex was completed. The idea of getting into a real studio might be a strong inducement, she hoped.

Cece took Aisha's call as she was parking outside her gallery. She liked the idea of giving Miguel a concrete taste of what this new situation could do for him. She was curious herself; since she would be sharing the space with him after her gallery closed.
"Aisha, I don't have an address or a key," Cece pointed out.
"I'll text you the address. There is a key in the light fixture at the back door, just return it when you're done," Aisha said.
After hanging up, Cece decided to take a walk around the block surrounding the old hacienda. She had never done this before, but now she could plainly see something big was afoot. On the street, she was surprised by how many commercial buildings were boarded up or had their windows painted white. A gas station stood vacant on one corner. Nothing looked blighted; it was all very tidy, but it was largely vacant. What she had learned at the dinner with Aisha was now obvious. A new complex was taking shape, right under her nose.
The hacienda was a corner property with a historic designation, so it was safe from demolition. Perhaps they planned to enlarge or build around it to create a much larger complex. She wondered what the plan was, but it didn't matter; she was part of it. That much she was happy about, losing her gallery, her baby, less so.

The reality was that her never-huge trust fund was getting stretched at this point, and Miguel's show had saved her arse, as Aisha would say. Not worrying about workman's comp, liability insurance, payroll, etc, ad nauseam was sounding really sweet to her these days. She hoped she might even be able to relax enough to find time for a social life.
She shot Miguel a text: "Meet me at the gallery in an hour, we're going for a walk."

Miguel took the River Trail to the gallery and asked Cece where they were going.
"To show you what will be the temporary offices and artist's studio," she said, leading him through the gallery courtyard and up the street. "Aisha sent me an address. The key is inside a light fixture, so I might need your help. It's to be my temporary office. I'm curious to see it, I thought you might be, also," Cece said.

The address, when they found it, proved to be a defunct Tesla service and delivery facility. But Miguel concluded that it had started life as an old Ford or Chevrolet dealership, in the 40s judging by the construction. Fifteen thousand square feet, he estimated, with a barrel vault roof, skylights, and concrete floors.
"Cool."
"Let's see if we can find the key."
Once inside, Miguel asked Cece, "When's the final day for the gallery?"
"Oh, right, they didn't tell you, the gallery will close after your show, mid- to end of June. And I should mention, I've decided to sign with SpACE. I wish you would also. I could use some moral support," Cece said.
"I'm not surprised, it's too good to pass up. Cece, you're making the right choice," said Miguel.
"I'll only have an office here. They were planning a studio for you also. This is just temporary, imagine what the new, permanent studio will be like." Cece said.
"Did you know SpACE's NYC gallery is like sixty thousand square feet?" Miguel was still awed by its size and the amount of cash it must take to support that kind of showroom.
"I knew it was big, but 60,000 square feet. That's huge," Cece said
"This place is huge, listen to the echo," Miguel announced.
"I think we could segregate half the space for art storage," said Cece, trying to get Miguel's imagination stirring.
"Okay, that would help. What about your office? How big do you need?"
"A desk and a couple of chairs are fine. We can have a lounge area with some couches, right?" Cece was getting into it, too.
"Sure, and an espresso bar and wine fridge," added Miguel.
"Approved. At least we can be in charge in our imagination, no interference from New York," said Cece wistfully.

That evening, after dinner, Miguel got a call from Ron. "Have you seen The Albuquerque Journal?"
"No, why?" Miguel asked.
"There's a nice write-up about you and your show in their Arts and Culture section," Ron said.
"Nobody's talked to me about it, I wonder how that happened? Would they publish a review without even talking to me?" Miguel asked.
"It is rather strange, I would think they would want a couple of quotes at least," Ron remarked.
"Are there pictures?" Miguel asked.
"One, a picture of a painting aflame which looks like they got it off the internet," Ron said.
"It's obviously Aisha's behind it. I don't see what her plan is though, why put in so much effort when she isn't even sure I'm signing? What's her game?" Miguel asked.

Questionnaire on the story

To be continued

**************

Mike Schwarcz was born in Stockholm and immigrated to the United States in 1956.

His mother was an artist, who exposed him to the world of the arts and artists growing up in Southern California. A regular part of his youth were visits to her artist friends' studios.

He sold his first painting in 1968 – for $10. By 1982 he had married and opened a poster and frame shop in Venice Beach, CA. It was during this period that he published his first posters under the Speedway Graphics banner.

In 2021 he immigrated again, this time to San Miguel de Allende where he now paints and writes.

**************
*****

Please contribute to Lokkal,
SMA's online collective:

***

Discover Lokkal: Mission

Visit SMA's Social Network

Contact / Contactar