Tuesday, November 18, 2003

What goes for shocking in NYC and what goes for shocking in the DMV are two different things.

Our current exhibit of Caroline Danforth and Scott Hutchison paintings has raised the ugly issues of nudity and art and complaints and censorship.

Because of the visibility of the Bethesda Gallery, Scott Hutchison large nudes have apparently offended some people and we're apparently being complained about. This morning a Channel 7 news crew came and interviewed Catriona and will air a segment about the whole issue at 6 PM tonite.

Our landlord supports us, and so do some of our neighbors, but perhaps this is as good an opportunity as any to discuss this show from the perspective of what goes for "shocking" in the Washington area is still the human figure.

Opportunities for artists:

Deadline: January 31, 2004. The Marie Walsh Sharpe Art Foundation's "Space Program" offers free studio spaces in New York City's Tribeca neighborhood for visual artists 21 and over.

Studios are available beginning Sept. 1, 2004 for up to one year. Postmark deadline is January 31, 2004. Applications should include: 8 slides of recent work or video, an annotated slide list or video description, a resume, a one page statement on why studio is needed, and a SASE for return of slides.

Send applications to The Space Program, The Marie Walsh Sharpe Art Foundation, 830 North Tejon Street, Suite 120, Colorado Springs, CO 80903.

This coming Thursday is the third Thursday of the month, as as such Third Thursday extended hours by the downtown area galleries. See locations and details here.

And Friday is the third Friday of the month, and therefore the four Canal Square Galleries in Georgetown will have their new show openings from 6-9 PM. Openings are free and open to the public and catered by the Sea Catch Restaurant.

Thanks to Modern Art Notes for a great link to the images of the 8th Bienal de La Habana.

Aimée García, a very young Cuban artist being showcased at the Bienal, and whose first American solo show sold out last year at the Robert Berman Gallery in Santa Monica, will make her Washington, DC debut next November 2004 with a solo show at our Georgetown gallery.

The Washington Post website sports a new look today. Museums and galleries are now on this page. Their listing of 142 area art galleries is here.

When the Post first launched their website a couple of years ago, they used to augment their printed newspaper coverage of the visual arts by allowing a few freelance writers (myself included) as well as their "regular" galleries critic (at the time Ferdinand Protzman) to write additional weekly reviews of gallery and museum shows. Then their online Arts Editor (at the time John Poole) was promoted and the "job" was left open for a very long time and all the online gallery reviews ended.

Maura McCarthy is now the online Arts Editor and doing a pretty good job, but obviously the budget to have contract writers do additional gallery reviews no longer exists and she doesn't have the luxury to augment the print version's already skimpy coverage of area galleries and artists.