by Neil W. McCabe

A local art impresario is presenting an exhibit of Somerville artists at Diesel Café in Davis Square.

“At the heart of it, there is so little exhibit space in the city and so few places that have as much wall space and foot traffic at Diesel,” said Seth H. Goldstein, the exhibit’s creator.

Goldstein said he worked with Diesel’s co-owner Jennifer Park to put the show together. “Jen asked me if I wanted to get involved with what they are doing here.

“The art scene needs to have an organized way of presenting themselves, so Diesel is a resource that needs to be exploited,” he said.

The 20-odd pieces were created by six artists from the city: Tova Speter, Mike Riley, Jorg Fraske, Kieth Maddy and Kelvy Bird and Catherine Bowen, were all recruited from the Vernon Street Studios. The six artists and their works were chosen because they shared the same vibe, he said.

Goldstein, who worked on former mayor Dorothy A. Kelly Gay’s communication staff, said he ran his own gallery in Hawaii.

Six years in Hawaii taught him to roll with the waves, he said. “I’ve shown pieces whose paint wasn’t dry until a half-hour after the show opened. We had to put them flat on the floor and people thought it was on purpose.”

Two days before the show, Goldstein’s Hawaii nerves were put to the test, he said. “I was told that the wall was going to get repainted, but I assumed it was going to be touched up and still remain blue. Then the day before hanging the show I saw the green and I thought Jen was trying give me a nervous breakdown.
“It worked out great though, in the end all the artists were fighting to be on the new lime green wall,” he said.