He’d tried to find a gallery willing to show the best of his photos, but none would. Then he contacted the landlords of several downtown buildings. Did they have space to rent to an artist? Sure, if he had a couple of thousand dollars.
Kevin Dowling complained to a friend, a fellow artist. The other guy laughed.
“Just put it in the back of a truck, man.”
What followed created a windfall for a guy who would have been thrilled to pocket a few bucks. It also prompted what may be America's pre-eminent truck-rental company, U-Haul, to rethink how its trucks can be used. And, yes, it cast Dowling into a role he never anticipated: vanguard of a new way to market art.
Even now, a year after he rented that U-Haul truck, Dowling still looks surprised about how things turned out.
“I just wanted to get my photos an audience,” he said. “This has been…”
Dowling, 32, shrugged. Maybe this is a good place to back up.
December 2013: The Decatur resident had compiled a series of black-and-white photos he’d taken around Atlanta. A lot of them depicted space in some of the city’s most notable buildings. Others captured moments at MARTA train stops.
His favorite: an early morning shot at the Kensington MARTA station, taken in the fall of 2013. The rising sun cuts a brilliant diagonal across a series of columns, cleaving the space into light and shadow. Standing to one side is a passenger. The image is reminiscent of a National Geographic photo from a century ago: the station, an ancient temple; the passenger, a priest.
He chose that photo, and 19 more, for a showing. Dowling then alerted everyone he knew, in every way he knew how, to tell them he would have his first gallery showing. No, he didn’t have a space lined up. But that wouldn’t be a problem. Would it?
“I felt if I put pressure on myself, that would make it (gallery) happen.”
That’s when dream collided with reality. No gallery wanted to let him show his work; none knew him. He contacted property managers for several downtown buildings, asking to rent space. But who had two grand for a one-night event?
When Dowling complained to a pal, his friend’s jesting suggestion suddenly made a lot of sense.
In the dwindling days before his show, Dowling went to his favorite bar, the Elliott Street Deli & Pub. He asked the owner if he could park an art-filled truck outside. Oh, and would it be OK if a hundred or so friends came by to look? A hundred or so thirsty friends? The owner said yes.
Next, he called a local U-Haul affiliate. He ordered the company’s largest hauler, 26 feet long. It was a local job, he said; Dowling would return it the next day.
Dowling picked up the truck 12 hours before the show was to start. He, his fiancée, Briel Ritter, and couple of buddies strung the interior with string. They clamped portable lights inside. Then they hung his images. They had it ready with time to spare.
The pub sold a lot of beer that night. Dowling sold a lot of art, too — $20,000 worth, everything he had.
As an afterthought, Dowling emailed a digital photo of his rolling gallery to U-Haul, which promptly reprinted it on the side of a 26-foot truck. It’s probably whizzing down an interstate right now.
Dowling's photo is one of thousands submitted to U-Haul Famous, a program the rental company recently started. Customers can electronically share photos of themselves (and their U-Haul truck) with U-Haul. For every photo submitted between Nov. 15 and the last day of this year, U-Haul will donate $1 to the American Red Cross.
When he heard about Dowling’s gallery, Stuart Shoen, grandson of U-Haul’s founder, was tickled. “Isn’t that a cool story?” he asked. “It’s wonderful to be a part of that.”
The photos, Shoen said, highlight a cosmetic change for the company, which will celebrate its 70th anniversary next year. In the mid-1980s, it began featuring American cities and towns on the sides of trucks. Surely you've searched for your hometown on one of U-Haul's trucks or trailers?
“We’re transitioning from specific places,” said Shoen, the company’s executive vice president. “But we don’t know what we’re transitioning to.”
Dowling, meantime, has been visiting the Georgia mountains every chance he gets, photographing scenes from Appalachia. If he comes up with enough photos he likes, Dowling knows where he can rent a truck.
