Care package from Mark Ryden (or why sometimes it's better to not get what you want)

Remember when the mister and I drove to New York to see Mark Ryden and the Lost at Sea show and both galleries were inexplicably closed? Yeah, I was pretty upset (especially when I realized that had we pushed it back to the next weekend we could have seen both of those shows AND the Renegade Craft Fair in Brooklyn) but I couldn't be too upset for too long because that was also the weekend the mister and I got engaged! And I sent Mark Ryden a message on Facebook telling him about our fruitless trip, and he promised to send me some goodies in the mail to make up for it! Fast forward to today. Most days I've all but forgotten that I've been waiting on a package. It certainly hasn't been on the forefront of my mind, and when I saw the envelope in the mailbox I assumed it was the t-shirt I had ordered a couple weeks ago. But....

I ripped into it immediately, before I thought to take a photo.

And this is what I found. A horrible blurry cell phone photo, you ask? Yes, that and a whole bunch of Mark Ryden goodies! Let me give you a better idea of the amazingness of this package.

There's a teeny tiny (signed and hand numbered) book.

Some pins.

Some little prints.

A set of lots more prints.

A package of postcards (don't expect to be seeing these in the mail from me any time soon. I'm keeping these babies).

More.

And oh yeah, let's not forget about this: To Melissa, Love Mark Ryden.

And so I ask you this- how many times has anyone gone above and beyond to apologize for something that wasn't even their fault to begin with? Mark Ryden does not own the gallery that decided to close for the day. He doesn't even control the information provided on the gallery website that failed to warn us that they would be closed. He has nothing to do with it! (I'm assuming). And yet he decided to reach out to me, one disappointed fan, to make sure that I would not be disappointed. And I am not. I am exceedingly impressed, and pleased, and happy to call myself a fan.

In other news, it's almost the end of a pretty rough week and I'm looking forward to a little crabfest action this weekend!

why we drove 5 hours each way for pretty much no reason

I had been wanting to see the Mark Ryden show at Paul Kasmin Gallery, and the Lost at Sea show at Hanahou Gallery and they both happened to be going on at the same time, and coinciding with my long weekend. So we booked a hotel on Friday and headed out first thing Saturday morning for our exciting last minute NYC trip. We made the drive, checked in to the hotel, and headed out to Marl Ryden first. Had some difficulty with the address, but we finally got there. And this is what I saw.

Closed. No mention on their website of their being closed this weekend. No sign on the door explaining what was going on. Just closed. We ran into another couple in our same predicament who were just as baffled, but no word on whether they drove 5 hours to get there. 

So we moved on and headed back to the other side of the city for the Lost at Sea show. Find the address. Head upstairs. Closed.

So here's the thing guys. Yes, I could have called them to make sure they would be open, but when both websites clearly list Saturday hours and say nothing about particular Saturdays when they may or may not be closed, wouldn't you just assume they ought to be open? We had fun regardless, had some seriously yummy food, saw a cute movie (Micmacs, and I only fell asleep a little), stayed in a fancy hotel with an excellent view, and I had plenty of opportunities to play with my new Hipstamatic. Oh yeah, and I had a great time just wandering around the city with the bf.

In case you're interested, here's a bit of what we could have seen this weekend.

 

Looks like it would have been awesome, right??