My Artomatic picks
Now that I have visited Artomatic three times, I have finally managed to cover all nine floors of art of that mega art exhibition, easily the largest group art show on planet Earth.
Nine floors of artwork and 1,000 artists; not an easy task for anyone to review and interpret, much less critics used to gallery-sized art shows.
Last year's AOM set a new record with over 70,000 visitors, and I found out a few days ago that they are about 12,000 visitors ahead of last year's pace at this time. The show ends July 5.
This year I decided not only to pick my usual group of Top 10 artists there, but to isolate and keep that coveted list to ten "new" artists, or at least new to me, or newer. So I will skip all the blue chip artists in the show who obviously stand out. People like Laurel Lukaszewski, Kelly Towles, Tim Tate, Michael Janis and a Hamiltonian Fellow or two.
Instead, my focus will be ahhh... focused on a newer set of fresh artwork and names. But first, some special mentions to other people who caught my eye for other various and sundry reasons (including some who also made the Top 10 List).
Best Installation Award - Easily won by Deb Jansen's "Catharsis & Karma: An Open Thank You Letter to a Homewrecker" installation, dedication and not-a-revenge discussion of the world's most expensive blow job as Jansen thanks the "other" woman who freed her from an allegedly abusive and destructive marriage. This alone is worth a visit to AOM.
Best Female Nude Photography - There are dozens and dozens of female nude photographers at AOM, and curiously not so many male nude photogs. The vast majority of these female nudes pics are mildly interesting, some almost cross the soft porn border (unlike past AOM's where hardcore porn was almost always present), but most are in the OK category. The best in this vast offering of female flesh, and best by far, is the newer work of Fierce Sonia, an artist whose work I hadn't seen since I included her in "Seven" more than four years ago. Sonia's work has grown and matured into not only a seductive celebration of the female body, but also an intelligent marriage of digital manipulation of the figure that while still revealing that subtle erotic nature which is a key part of all of her work, it also begins to substantiate her work as photography that is pushing the boundaries of eroticism into a new digital valley of visual surprises.
Second Best Female Nude Photography - Abbie Miller; superbly sexy work.
Best Glass Artist - David D'Orio's latest from his "Feeder" project stands out in an Artomatic showcasing the work of some very good glass artists. It is no secret that the Greater DC area has become one of the great fine art glass magnets in the world, and in this abundant sea of glass talent, D'Orio's glasswork stands out in a singularly unique way. This is no small accomplishment when one also looks at the breath taking work of the British glass artists participating in this year's AOM as well as the many Washington Glass School artists and students in the show. Glass was possibly the strongest category in this year's AOM and D'Orio's work still managed to stand out.
Best Use of Aluminum - Clearly a homerun for Eve Hennessa's cool and clever sculptures. Also hottest-looking robot on "Meet the Artists" Night.
Weirdest Art - Steven Jones's oddly and slightly macabre human-chicken babies (is that what they are?). They've caught my eyes two years in a row and they fascinate me in a very odd way.
Best Monotypes - Jenny Walton's monotypes are elegant and deceptively minimalist.
Best Marriage of Genres - I don't know for sure. but I think that what Rania Hassan is doing in her marriage of knitting and painting is unique, maybe in the world. And it is not only clever, but also visually intriguing and breaks a very difficult three dimensionality aspect.
Most Blasphamous Art - Dana Ellyn's art takes no prisoners and her caustic observations though her skilled brush are always a sure pick. This year she takes on The Christ in many of her pieces. Now I want to see her bring Allah down a notch or two.
Second Most Blasphemous Art - "The Passion of Snoopy" by Will Mallon.
Best Portrait of Che Guevara - Yay for Matt Sesow, who brings the Argentinean psychopath to a very scary level as he tackles the 20th century's most famous face.
Best Portrait in General - Joe Granski.
Freshest New Portrait Artist - Greg Scott's portraits are very cool.
Worst Signature - Greg Scott; smaller Hancock's dude!
Best Large Work - The gorgeous wood work by Sergio Martinez.
Best Wall Sculpture - Leila Holtsman was my top AOM pick last year and since then her career has blossomed and her return to AOM this year didn't disappoint. Her large wall sculpture at AOM is the price steal of the show. One of you needs to go buy this piece right away.
Best New Painter - Although she doesn't have a very good spot at AOM, Jessica Van Brakle will be in 2-3 galleries around the Mid Atlantic by this time next year. Her refreshing work will also sell well at art fairs. Buy her paintings now.
Best Abstract Painting - I like the geometrical, textured work of Jorge Caligiuri.
Best Monochromatic Realist Painter - Superb works by James Halloran rank amongst the best paintings at AOM and showcase what a very good painter can do with a very restricted palette of colors.
Best Sculpture - Megan Van Wagoner's "Comforts of Home" are elegant and sophisticated works by an artist who is completely new to me. They showcase a level of skill in both delivering the art commodity itself as well as its presentation (a set of skills that many AOM artists need to learn desperately). This is an artist to keep an eye on.
Best Printmaker - Johanna Mueller's prints showcase an enviable set of printmaking skills married to a very active visual imagination. I am buying one of her pieces; her work is one of the best deals at AOM. She is a very talented artist and we will keep an eye on her work.
Artist Most Likely To Get Sued - Wait until the Dora, The Explorer people find out what Andrew Wodzianski's brilliant but disturbed mind has done to adorable Dora. Someone needs to buy that piece of art now, before it is confiscated by cartoon moguls.
Best Minimalist Sculpture - m. gert barkovic's refreshing employment of everyday objects, in this case sheets (I think), deliver a new twist on artists who re-use common objects to invent intelligent art forms. But in barkovic's case, they look like art, rather than cleverly titled junk in a gallery.
Best Barbie Art - This is a very tough category, as nearly all the Barbie artworks at AOM are clever and well-done. But Michele Banks' "Army of Terracotta Barbies" will one day, 100 years from now, befuddle and astound the art experts of the Antique Road Show. For now, I like it a lot! Hey Michelle: Wanna trade?
Best Repetitive Artwork - When I first saw Sean Welker's drawings, I thought that they were prints. When I returned and talked a little to Sean, I discovered that they were each an individual drawing expressing Welker's interest in sugar skulls, matryoshka dolls, maneki neko figures and other odd elements. Welker would have easily also won the "Best Skeleton Art" category, but it wouldn't be fair to give him two awards. This guy is one of the best artists at AOM.
Best Digital Manipulator - Suffice it to say that Mark Parascandola had me fooled. This guy belongs in the next 10 DC landscape photography shows; the photographs are clever and refreshing!
Best Neon Artist - Sarah Blood has some of the most memorable work in AOM this year. Her work is elegant and sophisticated, and easily amongst the best 3D work in the show, but she is in an universe by herself when it comes to the marriage of neon to glass and sculpture. Buy Sarah Blood.
Best Drawing - Tie between Rita Elsner and the amazing Ben Tolman.
Largest Penis Artwork - Easily won by many inches by the very skilled "Bip" Diggs.
Best Erotica - J.R. Harke.
Worst Erotica - Too many to mention!
Best Lovecraftian Artist - Jeannette Herrera has a wall full of gems and she's easily one of the key finds at AOM. Her Cthulhu reference gets her extra points.
Best Portrait - Margaret Dowell's portrait of Joseph Barbaccia runs away with this very competitive category.
Best Fruit Painting - "Fruit Bowl" by Nabila A. Isa-Odidi; the way the banana absorbs the space is terrific.
Best Pastel Artist - Ellen Cornett has superb mastery of this most difficult genre.
Best Small Oil - A series of georgeous small nudes by Christine Bailey.
Best Robot Art - This was not an easy category to win, as there are a lot of robots at AOM this year! But the best ones are the cute ones by Candace Keegan.
Best Skeleton - OK, so I lied and Jeannette Herrera wins this category too and wins two awards.
Best Combo Skeleton-Robot Art - Todd Gardner.
Best B&W Artist - Everytime that I see Ben Tolman's art I am more and more amazed.
Scariest Art in AOM - Mark Eason.
Most Minimalist Art in Show - A brilliant installation work by JT Kirkland. No one will ever do better.
Second Most Minimalist - Lisa K. Rosenstein.
Best New Realist - Susan La Mont did not disappoint when viewed up close.
Best Male Nude - Geoff Ault.
Scariest Painter of Babies - The most excellent work of Phyllis Mayes; she's a very good painter.
Best Statuary - Brian Lusher is a riot.
Artist Most Influenced by WGS - The glass work of Carlos Rodriguez.
Best Bugs - Erika Rubel.
Best Vegetable - "My Dancing Red Chili Peppers" by Soline Krug.
Harshest Model Pose - The naked women with massive breasts stretched out with their legs grappling the rough bark of trees in Bert HeNe's photo.
Best Video - Tim Tate.
Best Sculptural Drawings - Laurel Lukaszewski.
Scariest Monkey Painting - Jared Davis.
Potential Arsonist - Paula Katharina Rylands... I bet her favorite song is by the Ohio Players.
Second Best Arsonist - Andrea Noble.
Best Metal - Hamiltonian Fellow Michael Enn Sirvet.
Best Obama Likeness - Roy Utley.
Worst Obama - Joshua Tiktin from planet YoMomma.
Best Obama Deal - Kimberly Keyes Stark; great deal at $150 a piece.
Lustiest Obama Portrait - Roger James' piece which has Obama breathing into Michelle's ear.
Scariest Nudes - Elizabeth Crisman' they're good but scary... a little.
Most Illegal Art - "Merry Hollow Days" by Gary Irby.
Best Nipple-less Boobs - Torso by Howard Connelly.
Sexiest Photo in all of AOM - There's an image by Julia Mazur that depicts a gorgeous and voluptous woman sitting on a fire escape ladder and she seems to be peeping on a nude, skinny woman who is sitting on a window sill. The back lighting on the skinny woman is so strong that all the delicate hairs on her body are highlighted to such a harsh extreme that they make her look like a nude beast. It is an amazing photo!
Most Fragile Work - UK artist Steven Revely's spectacularly delicate work is a wonder of glass.
Best Female Ass - One of the pics by Rodney Mickle.
Best Vagina Art - Kerry Britton.
Best Artist Channeling Dali - Dejan Roncevic.
Best Animal Art - Caren Quinn
Best Artist Channeling Van Gogh - "Smoking Skull" by Eric Jaeckel.
Best Portrait Photographer - Matt Dunn.
Best Religious Art - WOW Jen Dixon!
Best New WGS Artist - Paula Hoffman
Best Landscape - Kathryn Trillas.
Second Best Landscape - Michael Pierce.
Best Pen & Ink and WC - Emily Sloat; superbly refreshing!
Best Teapots - Laura Peery.
Next: My AOM Top 10.
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Showing posts sorted by relevance for query best portrait photographer. Sort by date Show all posts
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Saturday, November 12, 2016
Artomatic 2016: The Review
Artomatic, the planet's greatest open visual arts show is back, this time in Montgomery County, Maryland, which is part of the Greater Washington, DC area, or as I dubbed it over a decade ago, the DMV (District-Maryland-Virginia).
And, because this is the smallest Artomatic ever (by Artomatic standards anyway) since it only has about 380 artists, it is perhaps the easiest to see, since it would only require 2-3 visits to see all the artists on the 5th and 6th floor of the Park Potomac building where it is being staged.
I'll start with work that caught my eye, my usual Artomatic "Best Awards" and finish it with my top ten picks, perhaps the hardest job that any art critic, or opiner on the arts ever has, since the trite saying "art is in the eyes of the beholder" has never been more applicable than after a visit to any Artomatic.
I'd also like to brag that (as many of you know) many of my past Artomatic Top Ten picks have gone on to become recognized, blue chip artists around the DMV; and some, such as Tim Tate, around the nation, and some, such as Frank Warren around the planet!
On the 6th floor I liked the paintings of William Tinto (great deals by the way - all around $300-$400), Nils Lofgren, Nancy Abeles and Praveen Thaivalappil. I also liked some very unusal paintings by Yumiko Hirokawa - I note "unusual" because they're on a substrate of aluminum paint and boast superb technical skills (as do all the previously noted painters) with a hard-to-pin-point sense of macabre to them. I also liked Joyce McCarten and Laurie Breen. I also liked the works of Chris Meer, who is unknowingly channeling Anne Cherubim and should probably meet her and see her paintings on the same floor!
I also liked Doug Stern and Roger James. Their locations on the 6th floor, next to each other is artist placement genius... enough said, you'll have to go see it to ... cough, cough... see what I mean.
On the 5th floor I liked the sculptures by Daniel Aaron Stuart, and many other artists which are mentioned below.
And now, the awards!
Artist Most Likely to Attract Gallerists: Kathy Lindert... I can't find a website for her, so I'm assuming that this talented painter is unrepresented... Get a website!!
Best Naive Art: Schroeder Cherry - this artist, located close to the elevators on the 5th floor, initially fooled me into thinking that he was a self-taught artist (he's not), until on my third visit to his booth, I did a closer examination of his works, and realized that he's perfectly accomplishing one of the most difficult tasks in the visual arts, which is to use a naive visual approach to deliver intelligent and resonant works of social commentary and narrative complexity. Cherry focuses on African-American themes that reflect powerful imagery, augmented by striking presentation (chopped frames, etc.), found objects, etc.
Best Animal Art: Sandra Perez-Ramos - She also gets the "Coolest Use of Pocket Protectors" award.
Best Mono-Chromatic Art: Alex L. Porter - Impressive what Porter can do with just black and white.
Best Portrait Artist: George Carr - He also gets the "Best Figure Painter" award - not an easy double award to get in two very hotly contested categories!
Best Textile Art: Diane Tuckman - a master of the craft!
Best Wall 3D Art: Erin Antognoli - Amazing 3D piece, right on the wall by the side of the elevator.
Best Furniture Art: Daniel Good - Overtly busy paintings in the shape of furniture... Dude it is 2016: Get a website!
Best Illustration Art: Annie Lunsford - She also "illustrated" her booth's drywall! This was a highly competitive category, as there is a lot of high quality illustrative work in this iteration of AOM.
Best Installation: Liliane Bloom - Her "Pink - A Cherry Blossom Fantasy" is not only mesmerizing to the eyes, but also a perhaps unintended tip of the hat to DMV installation artist Dan Steinhilber.
Best Glass Artist: Sherry Selevan - Opaque and mysterious works that stand from the usual glass menagerie of bowls and vessels. She shares the award with Trish Kent's very cool fused glass dresses (get a website!!).
Best Erotica: Jenny Wallace - She runs away with this coveted award, although I must also add that this Artomatic doesn't have the usual large numbers of erotica as part of its roster of artworks. I also noted that most artists working erotic themes have been cleverly located in corners of the spaces, with the images usually facing away from the main walkways. Wallace also wins the "Sexiest Image Award" with her photo titled Resignation. Wallace could be the best fetish-focused artist that I have ever seen. The second place for sexiest image goes to Julia Mazur's photo of a nude woman sitting on a window sill. The image is back-lit and highlights every single hair on her body, each one seductively outlined by the light.
Best Erotic Fruits: Tara O'Neil - Her sliced peaches got me all fuzzy!
Best Flag Art: Blue Robin and Lindsey D. Vance share this award. Blue Robin's use of the coqui on the Puerto Rican flag is genius!
Best "I Already Knew He Was Good" Award: Ric Garcia
Best Technical Skill: Branch School of Art
Best Color Pencil Artist: Amanda Spaid - Wonderful control and intelligent employment of color - really, really good at a very difficult technique..
Best Clay Artist: Kasse Andrews-Weller - Busy and intelligent! Another artist without a website...
Best "Is it Abstract or Not" Award: Anne Cherubim is one of the most interesting painters around the DMV, and her dream-like paintings are deceptive images which showcase her formidable painting skills - they leave the viewer wondering as to the subject matter, while all along Cherubim has been hypnotizing them with her mastery of the subtle psychological effects of color!
Best Standing Stones Photography: Peter del Toro - I know, I know... pretty slim category, but I love standing stones imagery, and as such I read once that I was one of the world's top authorities on the subject (I wrote it, then I read it.. cough, cough), and therefore I know good when I see it, and del Toro's photos are really superb!
Best "Painterly" Cars (or is it "Best Car Painter"?) Award: Michael Kent
Best Mobiles: Rita Mortellaro - This is a spectacular departure for this award, which is usually the domain of someone channeling Calder. Mortellaro rocks this category with mobiles made out of tiny metal and/or fiber hoodies with rocks and found objects!
Best Frida Kahlo Art: Marily Mojica - The Washington Post once called me a "Fridaphile" and I know my Fridas, and having curated two worldwide international homages to the Mexican icon, I really know artists working the Frida angle. And Mojica is easily one of the best that I have ever seen! Her approach is a clever re-invention of how we see Kahlo depicted (many times in her salon style hung booth).
Best Found Object Art: Seemeen Hashem... try to find it!
Is This Art? Award - Actually I have no idea is this is a sculptural installation, or just part of the construction on the floor, but it is kinda cool anyway! (see below image) Update: This installation is by artist Greg Braun!
Best "Better not have fallen asleep in Art History class" Award: Roger Cutler - This is not a surprise, as Cutler is a master of his genre, and his Duchamp's Bike Repair sculpture should be included in the next edition of Janson's!
Best Action Painting: Kim Foley - One can almost feel the energy pop out of her works!
Best Bug Art: Emily Uchytil - Surprisingly, although not for most AOM's, this was a highly contested award! The very talented Uchytil also gets second place in the "Best Birds Art" category; she has enviable painting skills!
Coolest Idea Award: Victoria Thompson - In her booth "Object", this photographer takes old vintage photos and then modifies them, exposing breasts here and there; a clever depiction of the objectification of women.
Best Horror Vacui Award: Rachel Ann Cross - Elegant wall sculptures that employ guitars, etc. fully adorned in full kenophobic splendor!
Best Flower Art: Malathi Jayawickrama - Superb use of light and very painterly - this is one of the toughest categories at AOM, as there are many flower aficionados.
Best Record Keeper Award: Greg Benge - His "Vinyl Countdown" series is very attractive and could also get the "Recyclable Art Award." Benge notes that he "found a really great deal on hundreds of scratched unplayable discs (don’t worry, I haven’t ruined any rare finds)." For older readers: "disc" = "LP" or "record."
Best Sculpture Award: Gloria Chapa - Her Placebo Pinata did it!
Best Encaustic Art: Marcie Wolf-Hubbard - easy pick when a master of the genre is in the show.
Best Art Deal Award: Suz Podrasky - At around $80 for original work that is intelligent and well presented - buy it! The award is shared with Rambo, Inc. on the 6th floor by the Artomatic office; they have artwork as low as $10 and it is superbly talented work. Also shared with Michael Auger; his very cool artwork can be acquired for around $50!
Best Steam Punk Art: Studio Detritus - They (Marcia and Randall Fry) also get the "Best Title Award" for Planck's Doorway 2!
Best Veggie Painter: Kathleen Carroll - Do not be deceived by the focus of the work; this is a really good painter!
Must See Award: Eeshan V. Melder - Do not miss the Eliot's Lunch installation and make sure that you read the wall text!
Scariest Painting Award: Josh Gorsky - The angry mandrill did it!
Angry Art Award: Artist Unknown - No name to the angry art with black fist and spent bullet casings.
Best Breast Award (try saying that three times in a row): Shanna Casey's ceramic vase, perhaps an homage to Günter Grass' The Flounder?
Best Student Art Award: Dionnia - From Holy Trinity Catholic School 7-2A class! Her use of color, and replay of the color on the ground, on the pyramids and in the sky is playful and attractive!
Best Landscape Artist: Sarah Wardell - Elegantly muted plein air landscapes, where one can feel the sunlight and smell the grass.
Top 10 Artists (in alphabetical order)
Shiri Achu - Powerful African art in a marriage of contemporary skills with strong African imagery from this Africa-born new American artist.
Ralph Baden - His ridiculous paintings are over the top!
George Carr - Spectacular painting skills! A total master of the figure and of the portrait.
Shanthi Chandrasekar - Over the years she has developed her own style of painting that is almost magic in context.
Schroeder Cherry - Read what I raved about him earlier.
Ellen Cornett - A spectacular artist! I'm so jealous of her drawing skills!
Ric Garcia - Continues to invent and define a new genre of Latino pop art.
Glen Kesler - An easy pick... and I think that I've picked him before in previous AOMs!
Kathy Lindert - Get a website!
Phyllis Mayes - Another repeat pick for me - one of the best painters around the DMV.
Artomatic 2016 is on through December 9, 2016.
Thursdays:
Fridays & Saturdays:
Sundays:
And, because this is the smallest Artomatic ever (by Artomatic standards anyway) since it only has about 380 artists, it is perhaps the easiest to see, since it would only require 2-3 visits to see all the artists on the 5th and 6th floor of the Park Potomac building where it is being staged.
I'll start with work that caught my eye, my usual Artomatic "Best Awards" and finish it with my top ten picks, perhaps the hardest job that any art critic, or opiner on the arts ever has, since the trite saying "art is in the eyes of the beholder" has never been more applicable than after a visit to any Artomatic.
I'd also like to brag that (as many of you know) many of my past Artomatic Top Ten picks have gone on to become recognized, blue chip artists around the DMV; and some, such as Tim Tate, around the nation, and some, such as Frank Warren around the planet!
On the 6th floor I liked the paintings of William Tinto (great deals by the way - all around $300-$400), Nils Lofgren, Nancy Abeles and Praveen Thaivalappil. I also liked some very unusal paintings by Yumiko Hirokawa - I note "unusual" because they're on a substrate of aluminum paint and boast superb technical skills (as do all the previously noted painters) with a hard-to-pin-point sense of macabre to them. I also liked Joyce McCarten and Laurie Breen. I also liked the works of Chris Meer, who is unknowingly channeling Anne Cherubim and should probably meet her and see her paintings on the same floor!
I also liked Doug Stern and Roger James. Their locations on the 6th floor, next to each other is artist placement genius... enough said, you'll have to go see it to ... cough, cough... see what I mean.
On the 5th floor I liked the sculptures by Daniel Aaron Stuart, and many other artists which are mentioned below.
And now, the awards!
Artist Most Likely to Attract Gallerists: Kathy Lindert... I can't find a website for her, so I'm assuming that this talented painter is unrepresented... Get a website!!
Best Naive Art: Schroeder Cherry - this artist, located close to the elevators on the 5th floor, initially fooled me into thinking that he was a self-taught artist (he's not), until on my third visit to his booth, I did a closer examination of his works, and realized that he's perfectly accomplishing one of the most difficult tasks in the visual arts, which is to use a naive visual approach to deliver intelligent and resonant works of social commentary and narrative complexity. Cherry focuses on African-American themes that reflect powerful imagery, augmented by striking presentation (chopped frames, etc.), found objects, etc.
 |
| Angel Can #42 by Schroeder Cherry |
Best Mono-Chromatic Art: Alex L. Porter - Impressive what Porter can do with just black and white.
Best Portrait Artist: George Carr - He also gets the "Best Figure Painter" award - not an easy double award to get in two very hotly contested categories!
Best Textile Art: Diane Tuckman - a master of the craft!
Best Wall 3D Art: Erin Antognoli - Amazing 3D piece, right on the wall by the side of the elevator.
Best Furniture Art: Daniel Good - Overtly busy paintings in the shape of furniture... Dude it is 2016: Get a website!
Best Illustration Art: Annie Lunsford - She also "illustrated" her booth's drywall! This was a highly competitive category, as there is a lot of high quality illustrative work in this iteration of AOM.
Best Installation: Liliane Bloom - Her "Pink - A Cherry Blossom Fantasy" is not only mesmerizing to the eyes, but also a perhaps unintended tip of the hat to DMV installation artist Dan Steinhilber.
Best Glass Artist: Sherry Selevan - Opaque and mysterious works that stand from the usual glass menagerie of bowls and vessels. She shares the award with Trish Kent's very cool fused glass dresses (get a website!!).
Best Erotica: Jenny Wallace - She runs away with this coveted award, although I must also add that this Artomatic doesn't have the usual large numbers of erotica as part of its roster of artworks. I also noted that most artists working erotic themes have been cleverly located in corners of the spaces, with the images usually facing away from the main walkways. Wallace also wins the "Sexiest Image Award" with her photo titled Resignation. Wallace could be the best fetish-focused artist that I have ever seen. The second place for sexiest image goes to Julia Mazur's photo of a nude woman sitting on a window sill. The image is back-lit and highlights every single hair on her body, each one seductively outlined by the light.
 |
| Photo by Julia Mazur |
Best Erotic Fruits: Tara O'Neil - Her sliced peaches got me all fuzzy!
 |
| Peach by Tara O'Neil |
Best Flag Art: Blue Robin and Lindsey D. Vance share this award. Blue Robin's use of the coqui on the Puerto Rican flag is genius!
Best "I Already Knew He Was Good" Award: Ric Garcia
Best Technical Skill: Branch School of Art
Best Color Pencil Artist: Amanda Spaid - Wonderful control and intelligent employment of color - really, really good at a very difficult technique..
Best Clay Artist: Kasse Andrews-Weller - Busy and intelligent! Another artist without a website...
Best "Is it Abstract or Not" Award: Anne Cherubim is one of the most interesting painters around the DMV, and her dream-like paintings are deceptive images which showcase her formidable painting skills - they leave the viewer wondering as to the subject matter, while all along Cherubim has been hypnotizing them with her mastery of the subtle psychological effects of color!
Best Standing Stones Photography: Peter del Toro - I know, I know... pretty slim category, but I love standing stones imagery, and as such I read once that I was one of the world's top authorities on the subject (I wrote it, then I read it.. cough, cough), and therefore I know good when I see it, and del Toro's photos are really superb!
Best "Painterly" Cars (or is it "Best Car Painter"?) Award: Michael Kent
Best Mobiles: Rita Mortellaro - This is a spectacular departure for this award, which is usually the domain of someone channeling Calder. Mortellaro rocks this category with mobiles made out of tiny metal and/or fiber hoodies with rocks and found objects!
 |
| Mobile by Rita Mortellaro |
Best Found Object Art: Seemeen Hashem... try to find it!
Is This Art? Award - Actually I have no idea is this is a sculptural installation, or just part of the construction on the floor, but it is kinda cool anyway! (see below image) Update: This installation is by artist Greg Braun!
Best "Better not have fallen asleep in Art History class" Award: Roger Cutler - This is not a surprise, as Cutler is a master of his genre, and his Duchamp's Bike Repair sculpture should be included in the next edition of Janson's!
 |
| Duchamp's Bike Repair by Roger Cutler |
Best Action Painting: Kim Foley - One can almost feel the energy pop out of her works!
Best Bug Art: Emily Uchytil - Surprisingly, although not for most AOM's, this was a highly contested award! The very talented Uchytil also gets second place in the "Best Birds Art" category; she has enviable painting skills!
Coolest Idea Award: Victoria Thompson - In her booth "Object", this photographer takes old vintage photos and then modifies them, exposing breasts here and there; a clever depiction of the objectification of women.
 |
| Object by Victoria Thompson |
Best Flower Art: Malathi Jayawickrama - Superb use of light and very painterly - this is one of the toughest categories at AOM, as there are many flower aficionados.
Best Record Keeper Award: Greg Benge - His "Vinyl Countdown" series is very attractive and could also get the "Recyclable Art Award." Benge notes that he "found a really great deal on hundreds of scratched unplayable discs (don’t worry, I haven’t ruined any rare finds)." For older readers: "disc" = "LP" or "record."
 |
| George Carlin by Greg Benge |
Best Encaustic Art: Marcie Wolf-Hubbard - easy pick when a master of the genre is in the show.
Best Art Deal Award: Suz Podrasky - At around $80 for original work that is intelligent and well presented - buy it! The award is shared with Rambo, Inc. on the 6th floor by the Artomatic office; they have artwork as low as $10 and it is superbly talented work. Also shared with Michael Auger; his very cool artwork can be acquired for around $50!
Best Steam Punk Art: Studio Detritus - They (Marcia and Randall Fry) also get the "Best Title Award" for Planck's Doorway 2!
Best Veggie Painter: Kathleen Carroll - Do not be deceived by the focus of the work; this is a really good painter!
Must See Award: Eeshan V. Melder - Do not miss the Eliot's Lunch installation and make sure that you read the wall text!
Scariest Painting Award: Josh Gorsky - The angry mandrill did it!
 |
| Mandrill by Peter Sibrin |
Best Breast Award (try saying that three times in a row): Shanna Casey's ceramic vase, perhaps an homage to Günter Grass' The Flounder?
 |
| Breast ceramic vase by Shanna Casey |
Best Student Art Award: Dionnia - From Holy Trinity Catholic School 7-2A class! Her use of color, and replay of the color on the ground, on the pyramids and in the sky is playful and attractive!
 |
| Untitled by Dionnia |
Top 10 Artists (in alphabetical order)
Shiri Achu - Powerful African art in a marriage of contemporary skills with strong African imagery from this Africa-born new American artist.
Ralph Baden - His ridiculous paintings are over the top!
George Carr - Spectacular painting skills! A total master of the figure and of the portrait.
Shanthi Chandrasekar - Over the years she has developed her own style of painting that is almost magic in context.
Schroeder Cherry - Read what I raved about him earlier.
Ellen Cornett - A spectacular artist! I'm so jealous of her drawing skills!
Ric Garcia - Continues to invent and define a new genre of Latino pop art.
Glen Kesler - An easy pick... and I think that I've picked him before in previous AOMs!
Kathy Lindert - Get a website!
Phyllis Mayes - Another repeat pick for me - one of the best painters around the DMV.
Artomatic 2016 is on through December 9, 2016.
When?
November 3 – December 9
Thursdays:
Noon – 10:00 PM
Fridays & Saturdays:
Noon – 12:00 midnight
Sundays:
Noon – 6:00 PM
Closed Monday – Wednesday & Thanksgiving Day
Where?
12435 Park Potomac Avenue, Potomac, MD 20854
Floors 5 & 6
Monday, June 04, 2012
AOM: The Review! (Updated)
Update: On my 4th AOM visit on Saturday, I discovered some new artists and spaces that I had missed the first time and thus, the AOM review and awards have been updated below. The updates have been mixed into the review so that you have to read the whole thing again...
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A few days ago I discussed my overall first impressions about Artomatic, and now, having returned to the gigantic exhibition twice, I remain with some of the same overall conclusions:
Enough of that.
As I've developed my AOM "eye" since 1999, each year I try to find the key new artists (new to me) in each show, and as difficult (well, really impossible) as it is, I also settle on my Top 10 Artists of the show, fastidiously avoiding any artist which has previously been awarded a DC Art News Top 10 Artomatic Award.
For many years now, I've also developed my own set of individual genre awards, and this year was a particularly good one for that.
Starting on the 11th floor, I liked Joe Granski's large and expressive portrait work; I've noticed Granski's work in previous AOM reviews as well. Also standing out on this floor is the glass work by well-known DMV artist Kirk Waldroff. Other artists not to miss are painters Marina Reiter and Todd Gardner, as well as Andrew Wodzianski and Jamie Caplinger, and the very cool installation by Gloria Chapa (which was vandalized on 23 May and subsequently restored by the artist, only to have it vandalized again on the 25th) and photos by Mark Parascandola. On the 10th floor go see Peter Duvall, Roger Cutler and Tracy Lee's kids mosaics of Legos and daughter's superb photography. On the 8th floor I liked the work of Melissa Badenhop and the elegant abstract works on birch by Ellen Hill and the nudes by Marcie Wolff-Hubbard and the cool etchings by Henrik Sundqvist (his Murcielago Santo is gorgeous). On the 9th floor do not miss Rania Hassan and Sean Hennessey (they're next to each other), also Nancy Donnelly (who's exploring some cool new concepts with her work and another artist that PG County needs to acquire), Rita Elsner, and Zofie Lang. I also liked Erin Antognoli's sharp new presentations.On the 5th floor I liked the nice charcoal nudes by the artist known as "Ray" and the really superb landscape oils by Parisa Tirnaz. On the 4th floor I liked Jamie Gerhold and Jessica Murray. and Frank Mancino. On the 3rd floor, even though he's in the corner of a giant room, Greg Minah's swirling works really stand out as do Susan LaMont's works; also go see Jessica Beels. On the 2nd floor, see Gregory Ferrand and Michael Janis and I really enjoyed the very nice paintings of Mary Catherine Starr (which are also a great price deal) and another great discovery was the work of Sue Ahn (who needs a website!). On the first floor, check out the always amazing dress metal sculptures by Donna McCullough. And while you're at AOM, don't miss Tim Tate's new video piece.
Best Conan Females - The artist known as Wolverine on the 11th floor. As a Frazetta fan, I bow to you sir.
Best Aerial Landscape - The electronic circuit boards and parts used in Eric Celarier on the 11th floor to make computer-age quilts. He really makes them work and stands out in a show over-populated with artists doing this sort of work. Eric needs to get a hold of the Microsoft Collection curator, as they collect art based on technology.
Best Clouds - Emily Piccirillo on the 11th floor. The cool presentation also makes the work stand out.
Best Use of Light - Sarah Louise Chittenden on the 11th floor. This was a tough category, as there are a lot of darkened rooms using light as part of their process.
Best Use of Black Light - Michael Auger on the 11th floor wins this subcategory.
Best Organic Sculpture - Liz Lescault wins a tough sub-category; there are a lot of good sculptures at AOM.
Best Glass Art - Joseph Corcoran squeaks by in the toughest category in AOM; there are a LOT of really good glass artists in this show. This is no surprise, as the DMV is one of the glass world's epicenters. He really should share this award with David D'Orio, but since D'Orio received a separate award, Corcoran gets to keep his award solo.
Scariest Picture of Obama - Easily won by hardworking DMV artists Matt Sesow.
Most Adoring Picture of Obama - Dike Harris on the 7th floor.
Best Odd Project - "15 Miles of Vanity," which are photos of vanity plates; it is sort of cool to read what people want the rest of the world to know.
Best Robot - "Robama 2012" by Benson Z. Anspach wins the always hotly contested robot art category.
Most Innovative Modernization of the Washington Color School - Nancy Donnelly's new work takes the color stripes from the canvas of the 1960s giants of DMV painting and re-invents it ina fresh new approach to a 21st century dialogue in glass and concrete. PG County needs to buy some of these.
Best Tool Artwork - Richard Appelt, Jr.
"I didn't know he was a racist award" - Won by Ishmail Basha Reaves, who has a display of really well done portraits of African American icons, civil rights leaders, etc. and somehow includes a painting of Che Guevara, who once wrote: "The Negro is indolent and lazy, and spends his money on frivolities, whereas the European is forward-looking, organized and intelligent." This is one of many such racist statements by the guy on the T-Shirt.
Scariest Artwork - Kasia Swierczek on the 11th floor dominates the art of the scary. Don't get me wrong, this is really good work, but even her name is a little scary to me.
Best Deal for $100 - Corey Oberndorfer paintings of donuts on color swatches are not only gorgeously painted, but a steal at $100 from a DMV blue chip artist.
Best Deal under $50 - Any of the "Obama Versus" series on the 10th floor; Fun ideas superbly presented, but I'm not sure who the photographer is, but this is his/her website.
Best Innovative Use of Star Wars Imagery - Isaac Lange's
"dARTH vay-dEER" is a gorgeous marriage of Star Wars with Frida Kahlo;
how could he not win? And this is a tough category as well, there are a
LOT of Star Wars in AOM.
Second Best Innovative Use of Star Wars Imagery - Princess Leia naked by Paul Oberle merits a mention and an award in this tough category! I always suspected that Leia had nice tits!
Best Innovative Use of Star Trek Imagery - Rob Sprouse has Mr. Worf as Marilyn Monroe; what else can I say but Brilliant!
Best Gay Use of Star Trek Imagery - Well, actually the only gay use of Star Trek imagery... do not miss Sarah Palaszynski's evolving Space Opera.
Best Adaptation of Another Artist's Work - Ric Garcia
has some really good pieces in AOM, and he has evolved Andy Warhol's
Campbell Soup cans motifs into a 21st century dialogue with his use of
Goya Black Bean soup cans. I think PG County needs to buy this guy's
work under their county art collection focus on AOM.
Best Channeling of Another Artist - Marti Deppa Kirkpatrick's elegant paintings from her "Channeling Rothko" series.
Made Me Hungry Award - Rebecca Gordon has unexpectedly beautiful photographs of bacon on the 10th floor.
Best WalMartist - Elizabeth Brown has some spectacular sculptures on the 10th floor that really stand out - especially the one using the light bulbs (how did she get those little notes inside the bulb?) and her Terminator prints on dollar bills.
Cool Use of the Nude Award - "Eye of Ra" photography on the 10th floor.
Best Nude on the Rocks - I don't know how Bert Pasquale got those nudes to climb those rocks, but the resulting photographs are eye catching and superbly well done; this is one fine photographer at work.
Most Unusual Use of the Nude - The artist known as "Ralph" on the 2nd floor has a wall full of nudes doing all sort of interesting things that people usually don't do in the nude, but probably should (play football, do synchronized peeing into the river, etc.).
Best Installation - Lilianne Blom
has a really cool installation in yet another dark room - it has sound,
lights and it all marries together with her digital paintings.
Worst Artomatic Presentation Ever - Whoever the artist is in the room located to the left of the bar on the 7th floor. See the picture below for an explanation.
Best Painter of Blues/Jazz Artists - There are a lot of people painting blues musicians and thus J. L. Hussey on the 2nd floor had a lot of competition, but wins jazz hands down.
Best Printmaker - Kathryn Trillas' sensitive monotypes are not only eye-catching in their softness and intimacy, but because of the latter draw you in like a magnet in order to verify the process and method.
Best Landscape Artist - This is one tough category in a building full of excellent landscapists, but I think that Sarah Wardell's intimate and superbly priced work on the 8th floor merits this highly contested award, which she shares with Jeff Wilson's beautiful oils (mostly of tornado events) on copper plates on the 4th floor.
Best Charcoal Landscape Artist - James Halloran on the 8th floor.
Best Political Art - Roy Utley's Manisfesto takes this hotly contested award away from a large continent of extremists' art; it is smart, well presented and very interesting.
Best Sexual Art - Jaden O'Doyle made it look easy with a series of very attractive and intelligent images on a wide range of taboo subjects. Someone left a comment that summarizes it all; the visitor wrote in the guest book: "You made me horny!"
Best Urban Landscapes - Pattee Hipschen has some very painterly works with a focus on urban imagery, but are really a riot of color.
Ignore the Subject Matter and Look at the Painting Skills Award - Cynthia Sheppard on the 8th floor displays superb painting skills. I actually like the subject matter, but I know that most of you pansies won't. In any event, this is a master painter working as an illustrator (I think), but still a really good painter.
Coolest Artist Name - Marie Dominique Bondet de la Bernardie, 3rd floor, gallery 210.
Best Sculpture - The bicycle sculpture by David D'Orio on the 8th floor manages to marry together such a discordant and different set of ideas and topics (coupled with a pristine presentation) and materials (the bike, gorgeous glass, an old radio, etc.) that it really stands out - as a local critic put it: "The radio atop is tuned to WMAL, a station that broadcasts the conservative points of view through conservative opinion broadcasters like Chris Plante and (the syndicated shows of) Rush Limbaugh and Mark Levin." I noticed during my second and third visits that someone had changed the radio station to a music station.
Best Image of Dicks - I was surprised how the
always popular subject of penises was not as prevalent in this AOM as in
the past. The artist known as Fr. Defenestrato was the top pinga in this category.
Largest Dick Award - Andrei Trach on the 3rd floor.
Best Looking Tits at AOM - Roy Utley's superb photo of model Angelina Leigh on the first floor. This model may in fact have the nicest looking tits in North America and possibly the whole New World.
Scariest Pussy Award - And Andrei Trach wins again with a sleep-robbing image of the scariest-looking vagina that I have ever seen; the thing actually projects out of the canvas, as if it wants to snap out of the linen and start crawling on the floor, making wet sounds and leaving a mucky trail behind it as it attacks viewers on the 3rd floor.
Best Giant Artwork - M. Helene Baribeau has several really well-crafted knitted pieces (and some prints made from her knitted work). The scale of the gloves is really attractive and they truly make an impact.
Best Pet Portrait Artist - Whoever "sheppardbear" is on the 3rd floor shares this coveted prize with Glen Kessler (I also liked his "Icon Series").
"I Don't Get It" Award - Artist Judith Claire's rambling installation - I'm not sure if it is anti or for racism, but it left me all confused.
Best DC Focus Art - Robert Kincheloe on the 3rd floor finally hits his stride with an awesome wall installation of individual glass pieces commemorating the capital's famed cherry blossoms. Kincheloe takes this potentially saccharine subject and hits an artistic grand slam. This is another PG County artist whose work needs to be acquired by the county.
Best Pastels - Ellen Cornett
takes on this most difficult of genres with pastel oils that are
vibrant and colorful - she really muscles a lot of power out of her
various subjects. Yet another PG artist for the county collection.
Best Abstract Art - Shanti Chandrasekar offers a pristine and elegant array of abstraction influenced by a variety of South Asian nuances. Her "Chakra" is a perfect example of what a talented artist can produced with a limited palette of cool colors. This is also the most improved artist in AOM.
Best All Over the Place Art - Nicolas Zimbro on the first floor is armed with an impressive set of painting and drawing skills. I love this guy! He reminds me of me, except that he can paint much better than I can. I loved how his subject matter meanders all over the place. Zimbro even meanders within a painting - there's hyper-realism, abstraction, maybe even manga mixed all in there.
Matt MacIntire
Nancy Donnelly
Ric Garcia
Robert Kincheloe
Ellen Cornett
Michael Janis
Jessica Murray
And after much haggling with myself, here are my recommendation as the Top 10 Artists of this year's AOM. This year I decided to focus the top ten on artists whom are either new to me or who have never been on my previous AOM Top 10 List. As I've noted earlier, I also noticed that there are a lot of well-known and very talented DMV area "gallery artists" in this year's AOM. In the past, I know for a fact that gallerists discouraged and even prohibited their represented artists from participating in AOM. It is a significant chunk of evidence to where AOM has come to in 2012 to see some of those well-known names show up in the world's largest free-for-all art group show.
Here are my Top 10 new finds in this year's AOM in alphabetical order:
Sue Ahn
Melissa Badenhop
Elizabeth Brown
Shanti Chandrasekar
Joseph Corcoran
Ellen Cornett
Bert Pasquale
Kathryn Trillas
Jeff Wilson
Nicolas Zimbro
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A few days ago I discussed my overall first impressions about Artomatic, and now, having returned to the gigantic exhibition twice, I remain with some of the same overall conclusions:
- Every year the overall "quality" of AOM improves and this year is noticeably better looking and more professional-looking than any other year.
- There are a lot of blackboards with blackboard art all over the place.
- There's a lot less porn in AOM this year. In fact, there's a lot less nudes of all kinds.
- The range of the quality of the work, even in a postmodern world where everything is art, still ranges from the mind-boggling bad to the artistically sublime.
- There are several brand new (at least to me) artists in AOM who can show anywhere right now.
- There is a lot of art about The Beatles and blues musicians.
- There's more video art than I expected.
- There are a lot more well-known DMV area "gallery" artists in this AOM than any previous one (except the first one in 1999).
- There's a lot of artists working with discarded computer boards and parts.
- There are a lot of glass artists and every single one of them is really good.
- There are a lot of dark room style galleries and a lot of "blue light" art.
- There is a lot of artwork about Obama.
- There is a lot of left-wing nuttery artwork.
- There are a lot of really good sculptures.
- There are a lot of artists who make it really hard for someone interested in buying their work to get the basic details (how much is it and how do I buy it?)
Enough of that.
As I've developed my AOM "eye" since 1999, each year I try to find the key new artists (new to me) in each show, and as difficult (well, really impossible) as it is, I also settle on my Top 10 Artists of the show, fastidiously avoiding any artist which has previously been awarded a DC Art News Top 10 Artomatic Award.
For many years now, I've also developed my own set of individual genre awards, and this year was a particularly good one for that.
Starting on the 11th floor, I liked Joe Granski's large and expressive portrait work; I've noticed Granski's work in previous AOM reviews as well. Also standing out on this floor is the glass work by well-known DMV artist Kirk Waldroff. Other artists not to miss are painters Marina Reiter and Todd Gardner, as well as Andrew Wodzianski and Jamie Caplinger, and the very cool installation by Gloria Chapa (which was vandalized on 23 May and subsequently restored by the artist, only to have it vandalized again on the 25th) and photos by Mark Parascandola. On the 10th floor go see Peter Duvall, Roger Cutler and Tracy Lee's kids mosaics of Legos and daughter's superb photography. On the 8th floor I liked the work of Melissa Badenhop and the elegant abstract works on birch by Ellen Hill and the nudes by Marcie Wolff-Hubbard and the cool etchings by Henrik Sundqvist (his Murcielago Santo is gorgeous). On the 9th floor do not miss Rania Hassan and Sean Hennessey (they're next to each other), also Nancy Donnelly (who's exploring some cool new concepts with her work and another artist that PG County needs to acquire), Rita Elsner, and Zofie Lang. I also liked Erin Antognoli's sharp new presentations.On the 5th floor I liked the nice charcoal nudes by the artist known as "Ray" and the really superb landscape oils by Parisa Tirnaz. On the 4th floor I liked Jamie Gerhold and Jessica Murray. and Frank Mancino. On the 3rd floor, even though he's in the corner of a giant room, Greg Minah's swirling works really stand out as do Susan LaMont's works; also go see Jessica Beels. On the 2nd floor, see Gregory Ferrand and Michael Janis and I really enjoyed the very nice paintings of Mary Catherine Starr (which are also a great price deal) and another great discovery was the work of Sue Ahn (who needs a website!). On the first floor, check out the always amazing dress metal sculptures by Donna McCullough. And while you're at AOM, don't miss Tim Tate's new video piece.
Best Conan Females - The artist known as Wolverine on the 11th floor. As a Frazetta fan, I bow to you sir.
Best Aerial Landscape - The electronic circuit boards and parts used in Eric Celarier on the 11th floor to make computer-age quilts. He really makes them work and stands out in a show over-populated with artists doing this sort of work. Eric needs to get a hold of the Microsoft Collection curator, as they collect art based on technology.
Best Clouds - Emily Piccirillo on the 11th floor. The cool presentation also makes the work stand out.
 |
| Clouds by Emily Piccirillo, 11th floor, AOM 2012 |
Best Use of Black Light - Michael Auger on the 11th floor wins this subcategory.
Best Organic Sculpture - Liz Lescault wins a tough sub-category; there are a lot of good sculptures at AOM.
Best Glass Art - Joseph Corcoran squeaks by in the toughest category in AOM; there are a LOT of really good glass artists in this show. This is no surprise, as the DMV is one of the glass world's epicenters. He really should share this award with David D'Orio, but since D'Orio received a separate award, Corcoran gets to keep his award solo.
Scariest Picture of Obama - Easily won by hardworking DMV artists Matt Sesow.
Most Adoring Picture of Obama - Dike Harris on the 7th floor.
Best Odd Project - "15 Miles of Vanity," which are photos of vanity plates; it is sort of cool to read what people want the rest of the world to know.
Best Robot - "Robama 2012" by Benson Z. Anspach wins the always hotly contested robot art category.
Most Innovative Modernization of the Washington Color School - Nancy Donnelly's new work takes the color stripes from the canvas of the 1960s giants of DMV painting and re-invents it ina fresh new approach to a 21st century dialogue in glass and concrete. PG County needs to buy some of these.
Best Tool Artwork - Richard Appelt, Jr.
"I didn't know he was a racist award" - Won by Ishmail Basha Reaves, who has a display of really well done portraits of African American icons, civil rights leaders, etc. and somehow includes a painting of Che Guevara, who once wrote: "The Negro is indolent and lazy, and spends his money on frivolities, whereas the European is forward-looking, organized and intelligent." This is one of many such racist statements by the guy on the T-Shirt.
Scariest Artwork - Kasia Swierczek on the 11th floor dominates the art of the scary. Don't get me wrong, this is really good work, but even her name is a little scary to me.
Best Deal for $100 - Corey Oberndorfer paintings of donuts on color swatches are not only gorgeously painted, but a steal at $100 from a DMV blue chip artist.
 |
| Corey Oberndorfer paintings of donuts at Artomatic 2012 |
 |
| "Obama Versus" photographs on the 10th floor of Artomatic 2012 |
 |
| dARTH vay-dEER by Isaac Lange, AOM 2012 |
Best Innovative Use of Star Trek Imagery - Rob Sprouse has Mr. Worf as Marilyn Monroe; what else can I say but Brilliant!
Best Gay Use of Star Trek Imagery - Well, actually the only gay use of Star Trek imagery... do not miss Sarah Palaszynski's evolving Space Opera.
 |
| Amok by Sarah Palaszynski |
 |
| Celia Cruz, Desi Arnaz and Goya Black Bean Soup, Ric Garcia, AOM 2012 |
Made Me Hungry Award - Rebecca Gordon has unexpectedly beautiful photographs of bacon on the 10th floor.
Best WalMartist - Elizabeth Brown has some spectacular sculptures on the 10th floor that really stand out - especially the one using the light bulbs (how did she get those little notes inside the bulb?) and her Terminator prints on dollar bills.
 |
| Detail of Elizabeth Brown's sculpture on the 10th floor of AOM 2012 |
Best Nude on the Rocks - I don't know how Bert Pasquale got those nudes to climb those rocks, but the resulting photographs are eye catching and superbly well done; this is one fine photographer at work.
Most Unusual Use of the Nude - The artist known as "Ralph" on the 2nd floor has a wall full of nudes doing all sort of interesting things that people usually don't do in the nude, but probably should (play football, do synchronized peeing into the river, etc.).
 |
| Painting of people peeing by Ralph, 2nd floor of Artomatic 2012 |
Worst Artomatic Presentation Ever - Whoever the artist is in the room located to the left of the bar on the 7th floor. See the picture below for an explanation.
 |
| The worst looking gallery room at Artomatic 2012 |
Best Printmaker - Kathryn Trillas' sensitive monotypes are not only eye-catching in their softness and intimacy, but because of the latter draw you in like a magnet in order to verify the process and method.
Best Landscape Artist - This is one tough category in a building full of excellent landscapists, but I think that Sarah Wardell's intimate and superbly priced work on the 8th floor merits this highly contested award, which she shares with Jeff Wilson's beautiful oils (mostly of tornado events) on copper plates on the 4th floor.
Best Charcoal Landscape Artist - James Halloran on the 8th floor.
Best Political Art - Roy Utley's Manisfesto takes this hotly contested award away from a large continent of extremists' art; it is smart, well presented and very interesting.
Best Sexual Art - Jaden O'Doyle made it look easy with a series of very attractive and intelligent images on a wide range of taboo subjects. Someone left a comment that summarizes it all; the visitor wrote in the guest book: "You made me horny!"
Best Urban Landscapes - Pattee Hipschen has some very painterly works with a focus on urban imagery, but are really a riot of color.
Ignore the Subject Matter and Look at the Painting Skills Award - Cynthia Sheppard on the 8th floor displays superb painting skills. I actually like the subject matter, but I know that most of you pansies won't. In any event, this is a master painter working as an illustrator (I think), but still a really good painter.
Coolest Artist Name - Marie Dominique Bondet de la Bernardie, 3rd floor, gallery 210.
Best Sculpture - The bicycle sculpture by David D'Orio on the 8th floor manages to marry together such a discordant and different set of ideas and topics (coupled with a pristine presentation) and materials (the bike, gorgeous glass, an old radio, etc.) that it really stands out - as a local critic put it: "The radio atop is tuned to WMAL, a station that broadcasts the conservative points of view through conservative opinion broadcasters like Chris Plante and (the syndicated shows of) Rush Limbaugh and Mark Levin." I noticed during my second and third visits that someone had changed the radio station to a music station.
 |
| Detail of David D'Orio's sculpture at Artomatic 2012 |
Largest Dick Award - Andrei Trach on the 3rd floor.
Best Looking Tits at AOM - Roy Utley's superb photo of model Angelina Leigh on the first floor. This model may in fact have the nicest looking tits in North America and possibly the whole New World.
Scariest Pussy Award - And Andrei Trach wins again with a sleep-robbing image of the scariest-looking vagina that I have ever seen; the thing actually projects out of the canvas, as if it wants to snap out of the linen and start crawling on the floor, making wet sounds and leaving a mucky trail behind it as it attacks viewers on the 3rd floor.
 |
| Painting by Andrei Trach on 3rd floor of Artomatic 2012 |
Best Giant Artwork - M. Helene Baribeau has several really well-crafted knitted pieces (and some prints made from her knitted work). The scale of the gloves is really attractive and they truly make an impact.
 |
| M. Helene Baribeau's Giant Gloves |
"I Don't Get It" Award - Artist Judith Claire's rambling installation - I'm not sure if it is anti or for racism, but it left me all confused.
Best DC Focus Art - Robert Kincheloe on the 3rd floor finally hits his stride with an awesome wall installation of individual glass pieces commemorating the capital's famed cherry blossoms. Kincheloe takes this potentially saccharine subject and hits an artistic grand slam. This is another PG County artist whose work needs to be acquired by the county.
 |
| Glass sculpture by Robert Kincheloe, 3rd floor Artomatic 2012 |
Best Abstract Art - Shanti Chandrasekar offers a pristine and elegant array of abstraction influenced by a variety of South Asian nuances. Her "Chakra" is a perfect example of what a talented artist can produced with a limited palette of cool colors. This is also the most improved artist in AOM.
Best All Over the Place Art - Nicolas Zimbro on the first floor is armed with an impressive set of painting and drawing skills. I love this guy! He reminds me of me, except that he can paint much better than I can. I loved how his subject matter meanders all over the place. Zimbro even meanders within a painting - there's hyper-realism, abstraction, maybe even manga mixed all in there.
 |
| Painting by Nicolas Zimbro, 1st floor Artomatic 2012 |
Best Flower Photography - Camille Mosley-Pasley on the 11th floor. This is new stuff from Camille and the work is not only fresh in a really popular subject, but also superbly priced.
Best Flower Art - Elizabeth Floyd's hyper-realistic flower paintings manage to capture this popular subject vividly with intelligent use of color and texture.
Best Drawing - Christian Tribastone showcases not only some fantastic drawings, but also some mixed media drawing/painting that stands out now that I've managed to discover it on my 4th visit.
Best Mixed Media - Stephanie Booth's "She Always Wanted to be a Blonde" series of photographs employ the artist showcasing her grandmothers' wigs - coupled with that is embroidered words that use Booth's hair and continues this talented artist's fascination with that product of the body.
Best Fabric Art - The amazing creations by Aeren Waters are all tucked into a small space, but nonetheless stand out for their ingenuity and detail.
As I discussed here, PG County announced their intention to make significant purchases of artwork by Prince George's County artists at this year's Artomatic. These are my recommendations for them to acquire:
Best Flower Art - Elizabeth Floyd's hyper-realistic flower paintings manage to capture this popular subject vividly with intelligent use of color and texture.
Best Drawing - Christian Tribastone showcases not only some fantastic drawings, but also some mixed media drawing/painting that stands out now that I've managed to discover it on my 4th visit.
Best Mixed Media - Stephanie Booth's "She Always Wanted to be a Blonde" series of photographs employ the artist showcasing her grandmothers' wigs - coupled with that is embroidered words that use Booth's hair and continues this talented artist's fascination with that product of the body.
 |
| Stephanie Booth (Detail from She Always Wanted to be a Blonde series) |
As I discussed here, PG County announced their intention to make significant purchases of artwork by Prince George's County artists at this year's Artomatic. These are my recommendations for them to acquire:
Matt MacIntire
Nancy Donnelly
Ric Garcia
Robert Kincheloe
Ellen Cornett
Michael Janis
Jessica Murray
And after much haggling with myself, here are my recommendation as the Top 10 Artists of this year's AOM. This year I decided to focus the top ten on artists whom are either new to me or who have never been on my previous AOM Top 10 List. As I've noted earlier, I also noticed that there are a lot of well-known and very talented DMV area "gallery artists" in this year's AOM. In the past, I know for a fact that gallerists discouraged and even prohibited their represented artists from participating in AOM. It is a significant chunk of evidence to where AOM has come to in 2012 to see some of those well-known names show up in the world's largest free-for-all art group show.
Here are my Top 10 new finds in this year's AOM in alphabetical order:
Sue Ahn
Melissa Badenhop
Elizabeth Brown
Shanti Chandrasekar
Joseph Corcoran
Ellen Cornett
Bert Pasquale
Kathryn Trillas
Jeff Wilson
Nicolas Zimbro
Friday, June 01, 2012
Artomatic 2012: The Review!
A few days ago I discussed my overall first impressions about Artomatic, and now, having returned to the gigantic exhibition twice, I remain with some of the same overall conclusions:
- Every year the overall "quality" of AOM improves and this year is noticeably better looking and more professional-looking than any other year.
- There are a lot of blackboards with blackboard art all over the place.
- There's a lot less porn in AOM this year. In fact, there's a lot less nudes of all kinds.
- The range of the quality of the work, even in a postmodern world where everything is art, still ranges from the mind-boggling bad to the artistically sublime.
- There are several brand new (at least to me) artists in AOM who can show anywhere right now.
- There is a lot of art about The Beatles and blues musicians.
- There's more video art than I expected.
- There are a lot more well-known DMV area "gallery" artists in this AOM than any previous one (except the first one in 1999).
- There's a lot of artists working with discarded computer boards and parts.
- There are a lot of glass artists and every single one of them is really good.
- There are a lot of dark room style galleries and a lot of "blue light" art.
- There is a lot of artwork about Obama.
- There is a lot of left-wing nuttery artwork.
- There are a lot of really good sculptures.
- There are a lot of artists who make it really hard for someone interested in buying their work to get the basic details (how much is it and how do I buy it?)
Enough of that.
As I've developed my AOM "eye" since 1999, each year I try to find the key new artists (new to me) in each show, and as difficult (well, really impossible) as it is, I also settle on my Top 10 Artists of the show, fastidiously avoiding any artist which has previously been awarded a DC Art News Top 10 Artomatic Award.
For many years now, I've also developed my own set of individual genre awards, and this year was a particularly good one for that.
Starting on the 11th floor, I liked Joe Granski's large and expressive portrait work; I've noticed Granski's work in previous AOM reviews as well. Also standing out on this floor is the glass work by well-known DMV artist Kirk Waldroff. Other artists not to miss are painters Marina Reiter and Todd Gardner, as well as Andrew Wodzianski and Jamie Caplinger, and the very cool installation by Gloria Chapa (which was vandalized on 23 May and subsequently restored by the artist, only to have it vandalized again on the 25th) and photos by Mark Parascandola. On the 10th floor go see Peter Duvall and Tracy Lee's kids drawings of Leggos. On the 8th floor I liked the work of Melissa Badenhop and the elegant abstract works on birch by Ellen Hill and the nudes by Marcie Wolff-Hubbard and the cool etchings by Henrik Sundqvist (his Murcielago Santo is gorgeous). On the 9th floor do not miss Rania Hassan and Sean Hennessey (they're next to each other), also Nancy Donnelly (who's exploring some cool new concepts with her work and another artist that PG County needs to acquire), Rita Elsner, Roger Cutler and Zofie Lang. I also liked Erin Antognoli's sharp new presentations.On the 5th floor I liked the nice charcoal nudes by the artist known as "Ray" and the really superb landscape oils by Parisa Tirnaz. On the 4th floor I liked Jamie Gerhold and Jessica Murray. and Frank Mancino. On the 3rd floor, even though he's in the corner of a giant room, Greg Minah's swirling works really stand out as do Susan LaMont's works; also go see Jessica Beels. On the 2nd floor, see Gregory Ferrand and Michael Janis and I really enjoyed the very nice paintings of Mary Catherine Starr (which are also a great price deal) and another great discovery was the work of Sue Ahn (who needs a website!). On the first floor, check out the always amazing dress metal sculptures by Donna McCullough. And while you're at AOM, don't miss Tim Tate's new video piece.
Best Conan Females - The artist known as Wolverine on the 11th floor. As a Frazetta fan, I bow to you sir.
Best Aerial Landscape - The electronic circuit boards and parts used in Eric Celarier on the 11th floor to make computer-age quilts. He really makes them work and stands out in a show over-populated with artists doing this sort of work. Eric needs to get a hold of the Microsoft Collection curator, as they collect art based on technology.
Best Clouds - Emily Piccirillo on the 11th floor. The cool presentation also makes the work stand out.
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| Clouds by Emily Piccirillo, 11th floor, AOM 2012 |
Best Use of Black Light - Michael Auger on the 11th floor wins this subcategory.
Best Organic Sculpture - Liz Lescault wins a tough sub-category; there are a lot of good sculptures at AOM.
Best Glass Art - Joseph Corcoran squeaks by in the toughest category in AOM; there are a LOT of really good glass artists in this show. This is no surprise, as the DMV is one of the glass world's epicenters. He really should share this award with David D'Orio, but since D'Orio received a separate award, Corcoran gets to keep his award solo.
Scariest Picture of Obama - Easily won by hardworking DMV artists Matt Sesow.
Most Adoring Picture of Obama - Dike Harris on the 7th floor.
Best Odd Project - "15 Miles of Vanity," which are photos of vanity plates; it is sort of cool to read what people want the rest of the world to know.
Best Robot - "Robama 2012" by Benson Z. Anspach wins the always hotly contested robot art category.
Most Innovative Modernization of the Washington Color School - Nancy Donnelly's new work takes the color stripes from the canvas of the 1960s giants of DMV painting and re-invents it ina fresh new approach to a 21st century dialogue in glass and concrete. PG County needs to buy some of these.
Best Tool Artwork - Richard Appelt, Jr.
"I didn't know he was a racist award" - Won by Ishmail Basha Reaves, who has a display of really well done portraits of African American icons, civil rights leaders, etc. and somehow includes a painting of Che Guevara, who once wrote: "The Negro is indolent and lazy, and spends his money on frivolities, whereas the European is forward-looking, organized and intelligent." This is one of many such racist statements by the guy on the T-Shirt.
Scariest Artwork - Kasia Swierczek on the 11th floor dominates the art of the scary. Don't get me wrong, this is really good work, but even her name is a little scary to me.
Best Deal for $100 - Corey Oberndorfer paintings of donuts on color swatches are not only gorgeously painted, but a steal at $100 from a DMV blue chip artist.
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| Corey Oberndorfer paintings of donuts at Artomatic 2012 |
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| "Obama Versus" photographs on the 10th floor of Artomatic 2012 |
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| dARTH vay-dEER by Isaac Lange, AOM 2012 |
Best Innovative Use of Star Trek Imagery - Rob Sprouse has Mr. Worf as Marilyn Monroe; what else can I say but Brilliant!
Best Gay Use of Star Trek Imagery - Well, actually the only gay use of Star Trek imagery... do not miss Sarah Palaszynski's evolving Space Opera.
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| Amok by Sarah Palaszynski |
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| Celia Cruz, Desi Arnaz and Goya Black Bean Soup, Ric Garcia, AOM 2012 |
Made Me Hungry Award - Rebecca Gordon has unexpectedly beautiful photographs of bacon on the 10th floor.
Best WalMartist - Elizabeth Brown (who is not in the AOM artists' listing for some reason and website-hard-to-find or non existent) has some spectacular sculptures on the 10th floor that really stand out - especially the one using the light bulbs (how did she get those little notes inside the bulb?) and her Terminator prints on dollar bills.
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| Detail of Elizabeth Brown's sculpture on the 10th floor of AOM 2012 |
Best Nude on the Rocks - I don't know how Bert Pasquale got those nudes to climb those rocks, but the resulting photographs are eye catching and superbly well done; this is one fine photographer at work.
Most Unusual Use of the Nude - The artist known as "Ralph" on the 2nd floor has a wall full of nudes doing all sort of interesting things that people usually don't do in the nude, but probably should (play football, do synchronized peeing into the river, etc.).
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| Painting of people peeing by Ralph, 2nd floor of Artomatic 2012 |
Worst Artomatic Presentation Ever - Whoever the artist is in the room located to the left of the bar on the 7th floor. See the picture below for an explanation.
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| The worst looking gallery room at Artomatic 2012 |
Best Printmaker - Kathryn Trillas' sensitive monotypes are not only eye-catching in their softness and intimacy, but because of the latter draw you in like a magnet in order to verify the process and method.
Best Landscape Artist - This is one tough category in a building full of excellent landscapists, but I think that Sarah Wardell's intimate and superbly priced work on the 8th floor merits this highly contested award, which she shares with Jeff Wilson's beautiful oils (mostly of tornado events) on copper plates on the 4th floor.
Best Charcoal Landscape Artist - James Halloran on the 8th floor.
Best Political Art - Roy Utley's Manisfesto takes this hotly contested award away from a large continent of extremists' art; it is smart, well presented and very interesting.
Best Sexual Art - Jaden O'Doyle made it look easy with a series of very attractive and intelligent images on a wide range of taboo subjects. Someone left a comment that summarizes it all; the visitor wrote in the guest book: "You made me horny!"
Best Urban Landscapes - Pattee Hipschen has some very painterly works with a focus on urban imagery, but are really a riot of color.
Ignore the Subject Matter and Look at the Painting Skills Award - Cynthia Sheppard on the 8th floor displays superb painting skills. I actually like the subject matter, but I know that most of you pansies won't. In any event, this is a master painter working as an illustrator (I think), but still a really good painter.
Coolest Artist Name - Marie Dominique Bondet de la Bernardie, 3rd floor, gallery 210.
Best Sculpture - The bicycle sculpture by David D'Orio on the 8th floor manages to marry together such a discordant and different set of ideas and topics (coupled with a pristine presentation) and materials (the bike, gorgeous glass, an old radio, etc.) that it really stands out - as a local critic put it: "The radio atop is tuned to WMAL, a station that broadcasts the conservative points of view through conservative opinion broadcasters like Chris Plante and (the syndicated shows of) Rush Limbaugh and Mark Levin." I noticed during my second and third visits that someone had changed the radio station to a music station.
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| Detail of David D'Orio's sculpture at Artomatic 2012 |
Largest Dick Award - Andrei Trach on the 3rd floor.
Best Looking Tits at AOM - Roy Utley's superb photo of model Angelina Leigh on the first floor. This model may in fact have the nicest looking tits in North America and possibly the whole New World.
Scariest Pussy Award - And Andrei Trach wins again with a sleep-robbing image of the scariest-looking vagina that I have ever seen; the thing actually projects out of the canvas, as if it wants to snap out of the linen and start crawling on the floor, making wet sounds and leaving a mucky trail behind it as it attacks viewers on the 3rd floor.
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| Painting by Andrei Trach on 3rd floor of Artomatic 2012 |
Best Giant Artwork - M. Helene Baribeau has several really well-crafted knitted pieces (and some prints made from her knitted work). The scale of the gloves is really attractive and they truly make an impact.
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| M. Helene Baribeau's Giant Gloves |
"I Don't Get It" Award - Artist Judith Claire's rambling installation - I'm not sure if it is anti or for racism, but it left me all confused.
Best DC Focus Art - Robert Kincheloe on the 3rd floor finally hits his stride with an awesome wall installation of individual glass pieces commemorating the capital's famed cherry blossoms. Kincheloe takes this potentially saccharine subject and hits an artistic grand slam. This is another PG County artist whose work needs to be acquired by the county.
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| Glass sculpture by Robert Kincheloe, 3rd floor Artomatic 2012 |
Best Abstract Art - Shanti Chandrasekar offers a pristine and elegant array of abstraction influenced by a variety of South Asian nuances. Her "Chakra" is a perfect example of what a talented artist can produced with a limited palette of cool colors. This is also the most improved artist in AOM.
Best All Over the Place Art - Nicolas Zimbro on the first floor is armed with an impressive set of painting and drawing skills. I love this guy! He reminds me of me, except that he can paint much better than I can. I loved how his subject matter meanders all over the place. Zimbro even meanders within a painting - there's hyper-realism, abstraction, maybe even manga mixed all in there.
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| Painting by Nicolas Zimbro, 1st floor Artomatic 2012 |
Best Flower Photography - Camille Mosley-Pasley
on the 11th floor. This is new stuff from Camille and the work is not
only fresh in a really popular subject, but also superbly priced.
Best Flower Art - Elizabeth Lloyd hyper-realistic flower paintings manage to capture this popular subject vividly with intelligent use of color and texture.
Best Drawing - Christian Tribastone showcases not only some fantastic drawings, but also some mixed media drawing/painting that stands out now that I've managed to discover it on my 4th visit.
Best Mixed Media - Stephanie Booth's "She Always Wanted to be a Blonde" series of photographs employ the artist showcasing her grandmothers' wigs - coupled with that is embroidered words that use Booth's hair and continues this talented artist's fascination with that product of the body.
Best Fabric Art - The amazing creations by Aeren Waters are all tucked into a small space, but nonetheless stand out for their ingenuity and detail.
As I discussed here, PG County announced their intention to make significant purchases of artwork by Prince George's County artists at this year's Artomatic. These are my recommendations for them to acquire:
Best Flower Art - Elizabeth Lloyd hyper-realistic flower paintings manage to capture this popular subject vividly with intelligent use of color and texture.
Best Drawing - Christian Tribastone showcases not only some fantastic drawings, but also some mixed media drawing/painting that stands out now that I've managed to discover it on my 4th visit.
Best Mixed Media - Stephanie Booth's "She Always Wanted to be a Blonde" series of photographs employ the artist showcasing her grandmothers' wigs - coupled with that is embroidered words that use Booth's hair and continues this talented artist's fascination with that product of the body.
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| Stephanie Booth (Detail from She Always Wanted to be a Blonde series) |
As I discussed here, PG County announced their intention to make significant purchases of artwork by Prince George's County artists at this year's Artomatic. These are my recommendations for them to acquire:
Matt MacIntire
Nancy Donnelly
Ric Garcia
Robert Kincheloe
Ellen Cornett
Michael Janis
Jessica Murray
And after much haggling with myself, here are my recommendation as the Top 10 Artists of this year's AOM. This year I decided to focus the top ten on artists whom are either new to me or who have never been on my previous AOM Top 10 List. As I've noted earlier, I also noticed that there are a lot of well-known and very talented DMV area "gallery artists" in this year's AOM. In the past, I know for a fact that gallerists discouraged and even prohibited their represented artists from participating in AOM. It is a significant chunk of evidence to where AOM has come to in 2012 to see some of those well-known names show up in the world's largest free-for-all art group show.
Here are my Top 10 new finds in this year's AOM in alphabetical order:
Sue Ahn
Melissa Badenhop
Elizabeth Brown
Shanti Chandrasekar
Joseph Corcoran
Ellen Cornett
Bert Pasquale
Kathryn Trillas
Jeff Wilson
Nicolas Zimbro
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