Just take that red dot and........

Filling out art show apps is so utterly time consuming. Admittedly, part of my problem is a lack of organization with my slides. Imagine a B-I-G hanging file with 5+ years worth of slides all dumped in a very piggly manner. Some in partial sleeves, some in full sheet sleeves, some just loose. I hope my photographer doesn't read this or he will come over here and smack me with a 2x4. I keep saying I am going to organize it one of these days but "one of these days" never arrives.

The other problem with apps and show entries is inconsistent requirements; nothing is standard in this biz and you have to carefully read the app to figure out what is needed. Hold the slide the way you would view it. Put your name on the top of the front. Full name or last name only or last name followed by first name or maybe last name and first initial. Centered or to the left. Mark an arrow to indicate the top of the slide. Oh no, make that a red dot and put it in the lower left hand corner. Oops, sorry, the dot goes in the upper right this time. Or hold the slide the way it would go in the projector, which is upside down. Then label so your name can be read. Submit an artist statement, no resume. Resume, no artist statement. 20 word statement, 21 word statement, 25 word statement outlining your process only.

You get the drift. Mind numbing details.

This is why Zapplication is so great. You load all your images onto their site, enter your information once and it is stored for your future use. A few click click clicks, the application is pre-filled with your data and presto it is done. Last year I got into nearly all the shows I entered off of Zapp. This year my success rate is zero. Which means I have spent nearly $250 on entry fees but have yet to be accepted into a Zapp show. Hmmm, what is wrong with this picture? Luckily I have a lot of other stuff going on, but that doesn't make it any less frustrating.
And in the misery loves company school, none of my friends are getting in the Zapp shows either. We are all scrambling to identify some alternate shows to enter. Which is what I was doing today of course.