Today's Sunday Arts in the Washington Post gives me yet another opportunity to vent two of my primary pet peeves against the world's second largest newspaper.

The first is why their Chief Art Critic is identified as "Washington Post Staff Writer" instead of "Washington Post Chief Art Critic." I know, I know... it's a Virgo thing, but I think Gopnik deserves to be separated in title from the guy who writes the obituaries, or stories for the Kid's Post. I betcha it has something to do with some silly union rule about all writers being equal.

The second peeve is why The Washington Post's Chief Art Critic seldom if ever writes about Washington, DC galleries. Today he does a magnificent job of writing about New York galleries.

Hey! The New York Times already does a great job of doing that, and I am glad that Blake is affording us to chance to get a view of what's going on around New York galleries.

But.

How about a quarterly article like this one about Washington, DC galleries?

Dupont Circle, Georgetown and downtown DC are a lot closer than Chelsea, and I seriously doubt that the New York Times will send their Chief Art Critic to DC to do a round-up of DC galleries.

Darth Vader Grotesque in the National Cathedral

I kid you not.

Grammar.police has a really funny posting discovering that there's a grotesque of Darth Vader in the National Cathedral!

I didn't know this!

It was sculpted by our own Jay Hall Carpenter (who is a damned good sculptor by the way), carved by Takoma Park's Patrick J. Plunkett and placed high upon the northwest tower of the Cathedral.

Makes my head hurt.

I have to eat some crow in reference to some of the issues raised in my earlier posting defending Art-O-Matic; I've since corrected those particular issues. My recollections as to the sequence of events and causes involving Glenn Dixon's on-air comments on the Kojo Nmandi show and the reasons for his subsequent review of the show in the WCP were incorrect, and Dixon pointed this out to me.

I have apologized to Dixon, corrected the posting, and below now publish Dixon's email to me in order to clarify the issue:

Dear Mr. Campello:

I'm writing regarding your posting yesterday about Art-O-Matic. Although you didn't identify me by name, it is no secret that I was the Washington City Paper critic who spoke about the 2002 exhibition on the Kojo Nnamdi Show in November of that year.

You are guilty of misrepresenting my comments and distorting the facts.

That I had not yet attended that year's Art-O-Matic was not something I hid from listeners. In fact, I prefaced my comments with a disclaimer:

"I've gotta say, I have not seen the current Art-O-Matic yet, but I've been to the first one, and it nearly killed me. There is a serious quality issue. It's not a very kind show to viewers. You have to wade through a lot of dross to get a few gems. The first year there were maybe two or three artists out of all of them that I really cared about."

I hadn't intended to weigh in on Art-O-Matic, but found myself in a situation where to keep mum would have been to offer tacit approval to the rather boosterish comments of my fellow guests, Joe Barber and Peter Fay.

By the time my 2002 wrap-up appeared in City Paper in late December, I had seen Art-O-Matic--not at the urging of my editor or because of some supposed scandal, but because I wanted to know if my misgivings were justified. What I wrote was this:

"After dragging myself through Art-O-Matic the first year, I vowed I'd never repeat the experience. But I went again, largely because I felt a little guilty about warning Kojo Nnamdi Show listeners off it sight unseen (although I was upfront about not having visited the exhibition at that point). I needn't have been so scrupulous. If anything, Art-O-Matic, as a visual-art event, had gotten even worse, more sprawling and more amateurish."

Again, note that I was completely forthcoming about the fact that I hadn't seen the show at the time of the broadcast.

The fact that streams and tapes of the Kojo Nnamdi Show and full texts of my writing for City Paper can easily be accessed or ordered online suggests that you made no attempt to check your mistaken recollections against the facts.

This little flap is indeed the result of an ethical lapse, but it is yours alone. You owe your readers a retraction and me an apology.

Sincerely,

Glenn Dixon

Want to go to an opening tonight?

Curated by Faith Flanagan and Allison Cohen, and opening tonight at Dot Projects & Artwork (501 Ninth Street - NE, Washington, DC Phone: 202-546-0334) Saturday, September 25, 6:00pm to 9:00pm is a preview of the exhibition Hot Damn - Fresh Art featuring work by:

Noah Angell, Virginia Arrisueno, Ken Ashton, Lisa Bertnick, Christine Carr, Franck Cordes, Kathryn Cornelius (performance at 7:30 p.m.), Mary Early, Djakarta, Kevin Kepple, Peter Loge, Jayme McLellan, Dylan Scholinski, Trish Tillman, Kelly Towles, Leigh Van Duzer, and Joan Van Sledright.

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And next Saturday, the Museum of Modern ARF in Arlington has an opening reception on October 2 from 6-9 PM for "Breaking the Silence II: Questioning Power Now More Than Ever."

The show, which runs until November 14, includes work by Martyn Turner, Claudia Olivos, Helen Zughaib, Scott Brooks, Steve Lewis, Kathleen Stevenson, Negar Assari Samimi, Richard Notkin, Jim Magner, Ruth Trevarrow, Mark Planisek, Tara Campbell, Joroko, Roger Cutler, Ruth Kling, Chris Britt, Chad Allan, John Aaron, Eliza Brewster, Daniel Penaloza, and Young Artists from Palestine and Israel.

The Museum of Modern ARF is located at 1116 N. Hudson St. Arlington, VA 22201 and can be reached at 703/528-4800.

Ionarts has a terrific recap of the Peter Schjeldahl (art critic for The New Yorker) lecture at George Washington University's Lisner Auditorium as part of this year's Clarice Smith Distinguished Lectures in American Art.

Downey writes:

"One of Schjeldahl's major points on the topic he chose ("What Art Is For Now") was that the snob appeal of art is one of the "underestimated engines of culture," that for now he has "no desire to swell the size of the tent" of those who love art. In his view, there is no reason to bring art to the masses. Those who want it will find it, and "if somebody doesn't want art, bully for them." However, as Schjeldahl also noted, the audience for art worldwide may be larger now than it ever has been, and the art market is a booming business. This may help explain the gulf that can be observed between major art critics and the art-going public, in the case of the J. Seward Johnson sculptures at the Corcoran, for example (see [his]post from September 14, 2003)."

Defending Art-O-Matic

I've been mulling Christ Schott's Sept 3, 2004 "Show and Tell" column in the WCP titled The Artsy Thing That Swallowed DC on the subject of Art-O-Matic.

Two letters in the current issue (one by Judy Jashinsky and one by Philip Barlow) express their disagreement with Schott's view of Art-O-Matic.

Let me start by saying that I am not very objective when it comes to Art-O-Matic. I think that it is the best thing that happens to the Washington visual art scene every couple of years; whatever is in second place is a distant second.

I am also rather sick and tired of the way (because of its size, energy and open attitude towards hanging any and all artwork as long as the artist is willing to help run the show) that it gets bashed by some in the lamestream media, the alternative media and even the BLOGosphere.

Such as when a WCP writer cruelly bashed the 2002 Art-O-Matic on the Kojo Nmandi Show. He admitted that he had not actually been to that year's exhibition (and thus pre-formed an opinion about that year's Art-O-Matic based on his dislike of the previous one). In his defense, he then felt guilty and actually visited the show, which he then brutalized again on paper.

And much like the current CBS Rathergate, some of the past Art-O-Matic bashing didn't really pass the journalistic ethics test.

Such as when a Washington Post art critic wrote a dismissive small pre-opening review, again without actually ever setting foot in the place.

So, I think that it is not just the bad art that they dislike; I believe that they also resent the democraticization of the art process, the joyfulness and uniqueness of the event, the huge public success that it enjoys and the fact that it takes place in our own backyard.

And they miss the key ingredient that the event adds to our cultural tapestry: an incredible amount of artistic energy and a vast amount of attention to the visual arts. Anytime that you get over 1,000 artists to organize something of this magnitude, the footprint and its impact will be vast.

And, as far as I know, there's nothing like it anywhere else in the nation, possibly the world. And here's where the key to Art-O-Matic bashing lies: If the event took place in London, or New York, or Madrid, or LA or San Francisco or even Chicago, it would be lauded as a good thing for contemporary art and artists. I can see the headlines now: "Los Angeles' Art-O-Matic is The Place to Discover the Next Generation of LA's Artists."

So what if it is growing? The 2002 version brought out 40,000 visitors; can we envision a future Art-O-Matic where it is an international open show, where artists from all over the world can participate and a quarter of a million visitors from all over the planet converge on DC to see the exhibition? I can.

So what if it is non juried? That way it allows people like me to go and see work by artists and artist-wannabes that otherwise I would never see because they are way off the radar of our curators and galleries. Granted, a lot of the work in past Art-O-Matics I have found amateurish, bland and forgettable. This puts Art-O-Matic in the same company as many recent shows in the Hirshhorn, the Corcoran and the last few Venice Biennales and Whitney Biennials.

And unlike those exhibitions, and as Barlow eloquently points out in his letter, many of today's top DC artists have Art-O-Matic in their resume: Manon Cleary, Dan Steinhilber, Adam Bradley, Scott Hutchison, the Dumbacher brothers, Renee Stout, Tim Tate, Michael Clark, Allison Miner, Jordan Tierney, Richard Dana, Graham Cladwell,Judy Jashinsky, Richard Chartier, and many, many others.

I am looking forward to Art-O-Matic 2004, and 2006, and 2008...

Louis Jacobson reviews Antonia Macedo at Touchstone Gallery in the current issue of the WCP.

The same issue has picked up my bit about the grubs and has it in their Letters to the Editor.

Just found a great new BLOG: Grammar.police - please go visit often.

One of the most eloquent and qualified art critics in our region, Dr. Claudia Rousseau, delivers a third review of our current exhibition of paintings by controversial GMU Professor Chawky Frenn.

Read the earlier Washington Post review here and the Washington City Paper profile of Frenn here.

AJ points to a story in The Guardian that reveals that Dinos and Jake Chapman are about to rebuild one of their dioramas that was destroyed in the Momart storage unit fire in London last May.

That makes an analysis I made a while back about the infuriating "high art" double standards (applied not only to artists, but also to processes and art). These double standards are even more infuriating as one discovers more and more variations upon the same theme. Here it is again:

The Theme:
J. Seward Johnson is a very rich man and his "art" has been brutalized by the press everywhere. I don't like Mr. Seward's work, but the main reason given in the reviewing of his work is not that Seward is a bad guy (he's very generous with his wealth towards the art world) or even a bad sculptor, but that his concept of taking someone else's two-dimensional art works - in Seward's latest case the Impressionists - and making them into a three dimensional "new" work is both kitschy and reprehensible.

The Hypocrisy:
1. As I whined about it before, the British artist brothers Jake and Dinos Chapman's best known works are based on the famous Goya etchings Disasters of War. Initially they used plastic figures to re-create Goya in a miniature three-dimensional form, and like Johnson (later on), one of these 83 scenes became a life-sized version using mannequins. Yet the Chapmans are darlings of the art world and were favorites in the last Tate show.

2. Whitney Biennial selectee Eve Sussman's "art" is to take Velasquez's Las Meninas and turn it into "ten minutes of a costume-drama feature film." It was actually quite good by the way.

3. Jane Simpson is one of Artnet.com's Artists to Watch for 2004. Her stellar reputation in the artworld has been acquired partially by her creation of sculptures based on Giorgio Morandi paintings.

Am I the only one who sees that all of these people are essentially working the same generic concept as J. Seward Johnson - but unlike Johnson, they are being lauded and praised?

What am I missing here?

Take the Encarta Art Quiz here.

Today's Washington Post has a really.... uh... odd Roxanne-Roberts-type article by "Galleries" critic Jessica Dawson about "Tony and Heather Podesta [being] a Study in Power Collecting."

"But the Podestas' stock of artists know well the benefits of securing such politically connected patronage. Uniquely capable of advocating for their artists using the lobbying skills of their day jobs, Tony and Heather can secure access, lend advice and connect artists to curators and coveted museum shows. It's backing more valuable, at times, than dollars.

...To keep themselves in pictures, Tony and Heather jet to art fairs and biennials from Sao Paolo to San Sebastian -- often just for the weekend. Theirs is a life led breathlessly, moving from airport to dinner party. The art is an extravagance that occasionally gives Heather pause.

... During last year's Venice Biennale, they threw parties night after night, renting out their favorite restaurant and packing it with artists and a gallerist or two. Here in Washington, they've hosted art parties with Patricia Puccini, Cathy de Monchaux, Anna Gaskell, Frank Thiel, Annee Olofsson, Nikki Lee and others. Curators from the Hirshhorn Museum and Corcoran Gallery of Art, top Washington collectors and the city's best dealers regularly show up. Podesta parties are where connections are made."

So that's where those Hirshhorn and Corcoran curators are hanging out!

Anyway... inside the Style section, Jessica then delivers a surprisingly bland[ish] review of Avish Khebrehzadeh's show at Conner Contemporary Art, calling it "sweet and bracingly sentimental" with a weird tie-in to her Podesta article.

The review left me thoroughly confused. I've seen this show and to me it simply reflects the sudden discovery by the upper crust "high art" world of world-class artists that can actually draw.

Curators and critics here seem to be still trying to catch up to the fact that drawing is hot!

Pilfered from DCist:

The Washington Post seems to be having a comic strip racial controversy!

Gene Weingarten's online chat at the Post's website discusses that:

"The Washington Post has decided not to run this week's episode of Boondocks, instead substituting an old sequence. Moreover, when this chat requested permission to LINK to the censored material, which is available to any and all on the Boondocks website, permission was denied.

The Washington Post has decided that it is inappropriate to disseminate this material in any way. Personally, this chat takes no position, pro or con, on this ruling, inasmuch as taking a position would amount to insubordination, a quality abhorrent to this chat."

You can view the controversial comics here. The censored series started on Sept. 20 and goes throughout this week, so after viewing the first set of strips, click on "next date" to see the others.

It is not the first time that the Post has decided to cancel Boondocks because of perceived offensive content.

Call for Public Art

Deadline: October 4, 2004

Kansas City Convention Center. Kansas City, Missouri's One-Percent-for-Art program is seeking artists or artist collaborations to develop innovative, original artwork for the Kansas City Convention Center renovation and expansion. The Convention Center spans eight city blocks in downtown Kansas City.

Interested artists should submit qualifications by Monday, October 4, 2004, at 5:00pm Central Daylight Time. For more information related to this project and to download the complete Request for Qualifications, please go to this website.

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Opportunity for Artists - $44,000 in awards

Deadline: December 15, 2004

The Art Renewal Center seeks applicants for its 2nd Annual International Salon Competition. Over $44,000 in cash awards; $10,000 Best in Show, and featured online gallery.

Send #10 SASE for prospectus to: Karen McCormack, Art Renewal Center, Box 837, Glenham NY 12527; E-mail: arcprogram@aol.com

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Design Competition - $2,500 Prize

Deadline: OCtober 15, 2004.

The National Symphony Orchestra is seeking an artist or graphic designer to create original visual art to commemorate its 75th Anniversary Season in 2005-2006. The NSO is coordinating this competition in partnership with the D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities.

The competition is open to all artists and graphic designers; however, preference will be given to residents of the greater Washington, D.C. metropolitan area.

The winner will receive an honorarium of $2,500. Applications and additional information are available at this website. For additional information call: Jennifer Leed, Special Projects Manager: 202-416-8112.

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Grants for Painters

Deadline: October 15, 2004

The George and Helen Segal Foundation is accepting applications for grants ranging from $5,000 to $10,000 for painters only. Applications may be found on the Foundation's website or you may contact the Segal Foundation, 136 Davidson's Mill Rd., N Brunswick, NJ 08902.

The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) has a very interesting exhibition of "casta" paintings detailing racial mixing among eighteenth-century Mexico’s native Indian, European, and African populations.

The exhibition reflects what many upper-class Spaniards thought about race, class and skin color during the 1700s, when Mexico was a colony of Spain.

Another sign that some sanity may be returning to contemporary art:

The 2004 Jerwood Drawing Prize actually went to... a drawing!

An actual, real drawing won, despite "the judges declaring that they were prepared to stretch the definition to breaking point."

Past shortlisted entries have included drawings in dust, string, and moving light recorded by a video camera.

But this year, the first prize of £5,000 went to a real drawing by Sarah Woodfine.

See all the prizewinners here.

For Women Photographers

The next Secondsight meeting will be held this coming Thursday, September 23 at 6.30pm in Bethesda, MD. The guest speaker will be Amy Lamb, a very successful fine arts photographer and highly respected scientist. For more information, visit www.secondsightdc.com or call Catriona Fraser at (301) 718-9651. Meetings are free for members - $10 for guests.

Secondsight is an organization dedicated to the advancement of women photographers through support, communication and sharing of ideas and opportunities. Secondsight is committed to supporting photographers at every stage of their careers, from students to professionals. Each bi-monthly meeting includes an introductory session, a guest speaker, portfolio sharing and discussion groups. Each photographer will have the opportunity to present their work within a small group of other photographers, ask for constructive criticism, gain knowledge or simply share their artistic vision and techniques.

Tonight, Annie Adjchavanich, Executive Director of WPA\Corcoran, will present an overview of the Artist Directory and Artfile, the organization's most recent publication, the "2004-2005 Washington Project for the Arts\Corcoran Artist Directory," the 540-page, full-color publication lists 500 artists living and working in the DC, Maryland and Virginia region. Its usefulness as an invaluable resource for finding art, locating artists to create commissioned work will be addressed. Some artists included in the directory will be available to talk about their artwork (bringing a sample with them) and share success stories with the WPA\C and the Artist Directory.

September 21, 2004 6:30pm-9:00pm
Design Within Reach Georgetown Studio
3307 Cady's Alley, Washington, DC 20007
(Near Hemphill Fine Arts) - FREE
RSVP: wpainfo@corcoran.org

Fifteen artists around the Dupont Circle and Logan Circle areas of DC are opening their studios to the public this coming weekend; great opportunity to meet the artists!

The artists participating include:

The Vastu Studios (1829 14th street, 14th street between T and S - enter through Vastu Gallery):
Kristina Bilonick
Colin Winterbottom
Brian Petro
Saturday and Sunday - noon till 5 PM

In the studios next to Maison 14 (1327 14th street)
Gary Fisher
Charlie Jones
T Santora
John Talkington
Glenn Fry
1 pm - 4 pm Saturday and Sunday

In the studio of Sondra Arkin (1764 Church Street)
1 pm - 4 pm Saturday and Sunday

The studios of Kelly Towles and Virginia Arrisueño at 1643 13th street, NW, #1
Sunday 1- 4 PM

The studio of Nicolas Shi (1500 P street, NW)
Saturday and Sunday 10am - 5 PM

The studio of Robert Cole (1714 15th street)
Saturday and Sunday 1 - 4 PM

The studio of Peter Alexander Romero (1320 Wallach Place - between T and U)
Saturday 12 - 5 PM
Sunday 12 - 4 PM

The studio of Gina Miele at Raven Arts (1833 14th street, #201)
Saturday 11 - 6 and Sunday 11 - 5 PM

This website has some really good advise for artists on how to apply for grants.

By the way, there's no better resource in the world for connecting artists and grants than the Foundation Center, which happens to have a local office here in Washington, DC.

They also offer a CD ROM (for $75) titled Guide to Greater Washington D.C. Grantmakers that features profiles of over 2,500 grantmakers located in the DC region and funders in 40 different states that have an interest in funding DC-area projects.