Beijing China, Day 19 - The Open House, Finally!

We got a good sleep and enjoyed breakfast before getting ready for the open house. It started at 2:30 and it was already 10:30. We had to buy more food, make sangria and figure out how to arrange the studio. I also had to tidy up my work space and hang all my paintings neatly on the walls. A lot to do and only a few hours left.

Arranging my paintings turned to be the longest part. A couple of the walls didn’t take nails because of a metal construction and I had to use lots of tape at the back to make sure nothing falls off. Becca did all the food and Sangria and I was very grateful. Luckily she enjoyed doing it.

We finished right at 2:30, when everyone started coming.

I had about 15 people at my artist talk, my first artist talk ever!

It was exciting to have an audience, mostly Chinese that wanted to know more about me as an artist and about my experience in China 🇨🇳 and in general. They asked me lots of questions at my presentation and even more questions after. I really appreciated that they were so deeply engaged. The museum photographer took pictures so hopefully I will have them soon.

She asked to take a picture with me :)

Becca’s workshop was next and was filmed by a camera man who came with a representative from the Australian embassy, Julia.

After the workshop, it was already 9 PM, and most people had left. Julia ordered a Didi home, and Becca suggested we should ride with her to town and celebrate. I was a little nervous as we have been celebrating all day, but thought I can play it by ear. If I get tired, I will take a Didi back home.

Becca’s friend Max, joined us too. He just came from Shanghai for a week, to visit Beijing. He is a resident artist from Buenos Aires, just like me.

First, we stopped by a street vendor and had this awesomely delicious pork sausage on a stick.

We ended up in town in a “dive” bar Becca called it, and I was super happy to be there, as I will probably never see anything like this again!

Becca made a new friend.

After a couple of drinks I started getting so sleepy and wanted to eat dumplings somewhere and go home. We started walking down the street to a burrito place instead, and got more surprises along the way.

We came upon this store, which neither of us could figure what it sells!

Becca sat on the floor and played with a litter of Puppigs ?!

After this encounter we got to the burrito place, which was in front of DADA a bar, where they were headed after. It was a Chinese version of burritos 🌯 but you need to have lots of imagination to actually call it a burrito. This time I didn’t dare to try. Pork on a stick earlier looked like a safer choice.

At that point it was 1 AM and I was ready to leave. I called a Didi and headed home. And Good thing I did, because Becca came home at 6 AM and regretted it all day the next day :)