Washington Post to cut in half its gallery coverage

Today I called the Style desk at the WaPo and discovered that the Washington Post intends to reduce their already measly gallery coverage to only twice a month. This is a reduction from their one weekly column: "Galleries," which is published on most Thursdays, a day which according to the Style section's banner, is supposed to be a day focused on "Galleries and Art News."

Yeah...

"Galleries" has been written for the last few years by freelance writer Jessica Dawson (that's right... Jessica is not an employee of the Post, but a freelancer assigned that column). The task of writing a weekly column to review area shows is not an easy one, and it takes a lot of time, effort and driving around to see a lot of gallery shows in order to pick one or two a week. So Jessica wanted some time off, and thus the Post hired Glenn Dixon a few weeks ago.

The idea was for Jessica and Glenn to share the column and each write a review every two weeks and thus cover the gallery scene with a review a week. Measly coverage in comparison to the Post's excellent and in-depth coverage of our area's theater, music, clubs, dance and other performace art... but better than nothing.

But then something happened, and Dixon and the Post had a dispute and Dixon quit.

And now, someone at the Post has made the decision to cut down the column to just twice a month. I don't know if this is a temporary decision or not. I have emailed Gene Robinson (editor of Style) and Chip Crews (temporary Arts Editor while John Pancake, the Post's Arts Editor, is away on a teaching gig).

I am hoping that this is a temporary situation while the Post finds another freelancer to augment Dawson's biweekly coverage. I cannot, even in my darkest Post-bitching mood, fathom that the Post's editor would think that it is OK to write two columns a month to cover the nearly 100 new visual art shows that our area's galleries and artists offer each month.

Let's keep our collective fingers crossed. More on this issue as I find out more.

UPDATE: Chip Crews (who is the Post's acting Arts Editor) tells me that the decision about the "Galleries" column "may change at some point but there's no timetable. Our arts editor, John Pancake, is on sabbatical until mid-January, and it's highly unlikely any permanent action will be taken before then." I volunteered my services, but it was declined until Pancake returns to make a decision.

Michael O'Sullivan's Artomatic List

If anyone truly knows Washington art spaces, art scene and artists, it is Washington Post art critic Michael O'Sullivan. And in addition to his review of AOM, he submits the following list and notes about his top choices for this year's Art-O-Matic:

Michael O'Sullivan's Artomatic List

Best installations: Ira Tattelman/Kathryn Cornelius
Best Abstract Paintings: John Adams/Louise Kennelly
Best Portraiture: Allison Miner/Ian Jehle
Best Serendipitous Pairing: Kelly Towles/Dale Hunt
Best Thematic Spaces: Eye Candy/Girlz Club/Washington Glass School
Best Photography: Matt Dunn/Dennis Yankow (aka Dns Ynko)
Best Sculpture: Liz Duarte/Betsy Packard
Best Found-Object Sculpture: Elizabeth Lundberg Morisette/Joroko
Most Searing Use of Autobiography: Dylan Scholinski

And a couple of Bests (some of whom I [O'Sullivan] mentioned in my article) that aren't on anyone else's list:

Lynn Putney
Gregory Ferrand
Ben Claassen
Jen Dixon
Dave Savage
Kevin Irvin

...and finally, a special thanks to Brash, the poet who goes around writing
diamond-hard little poems in response to Artomatic artists, and then taping
them to the walls.

Rob Goodspeed's Artomatic Top List

Rob Goodspeed is one of the hardworking editors of DCist and he has his Artomatic 2004 Artists of Note List here and he lists:

Charlie Jones
Gregory Ferrand
Carol Spils
Michele Banks
J. Steve Strawn
Kevin T. Irvin
Dana Ellyn Kauffman
Sepideh Majd
Thomas Edwards

One of the best DC-centric sites on the web is DCist, and Rob Godspeed has DCist's take on Artomatic including a great image (to the left) of Mark Jenkins' brilliant tape sculptures approaching the Washington Post's building "asking for Blake Gopnik."

Gopnik must be feeling like Clement Greenberg in having fueled such an artist's response; too bad it was 180 degrees off from Greenberg's.

Read the spoof Jenkins take on the Gopnik tape men sculptures here.

Bravo Jenkins!

P.S. And Jenkins is in my Top 10 List!

There's some weird stuff going on at the Corcoran because of their ill advised plan to stage "An Evening at the Cuban Interests Section."

There should be story in the Washington Post about this in the next few days.

Some good shows to go see...

Amy Marx at The Sumner
The Sumner Museum presents paintings by Amy Marx through December 31. The Show is entitled "On Earth As It Is". The Sumner is located at 1201 17th St at M st NW. Hours are M-F 10-5 and Saturdays 10-4. Phone number is 202.442.6060. Amy Marx is a jeweler and a painter, and at least with her paintings, she is obsessed with weather. And her paintings of weather patterns, storms, clouds, tornadoes, etc. are absolutely stunning! She has painted herself into a unique niche, where she is mistress of her domain.

Erik Sandberg at Conner
This guy is one of my favorite area artists, and I could choke him for leaving us, but still admire his brilliant talent, dark mind and Boschian creativity. His latest show at Conner Contemporary runs through December 23, 2004. A catalogue will be available. For further information call Leigh at 202.588.8750, or email her at info@connercontemporary.com.

Chan Chao at Numark
I am glad that Chao has returned to his nude work, as I wasn't a big fan of the work that got him into the Whitney Biennial. The return to his earlier-type work is right on time! An artist book, Echo, accompanies the show. The exhibition at Numark Gallery goes on through December 18, 2004.

Elyse Harrison at Neptune
Harrison has been a critical spark around our area for many years, both as an artist and also as an arts activist. Her latest work is on exhibition at Gallery Neptune until December 4, 2004. More info at 301.718.0809.

Anonymous at WPA/C
The WPA/C concept of ANONYMOUS returns with an opening preview reception on Thursday, Dec. 9, 6:30-8:30pm and the first day to purchase artwork is Friday, Dec. 10, 6-8pm.

This is a second installment of this popular show concept featuring all new artists and curators. 100 artists create two feet by two feet works of art to be sold for $500 each. Buyers will not know the artist until the work has been purchased. No works will be sold at the preview reception and only one piece is allowed per patron. Curated by: John Aaron, K.B. Basseches, Mary Del Popolo, Djakarta, Chawky Frenn, David Jung, Prescott Moore Lassman, Anne Marchand, Marie Ringwald and Alan Simensky.

Location: 1027 33rd Street, NW (Georgetown)
Times: Thursday & Friday 12pm-8pm
Saturday & Sunday 12pm-6pm

Janis Goodman at District Fine Arts
"Ebb and Flow," recent paintings and drawings by Washingtonian Janis Goodman, (who teaches at the Corcoran) explores the universal theme of constancy. Goodman's new series is devoted to water and its insistent repetition, even as the rest of the world is in flux. Her intelligent renderings of water capture the artist's intense devotion to observation and meditation. "Ebb and Flow" will be on view at District Fine Arts from through December 11, 2004.

A $500,000 Art Commission!

Deadline: December 17, 2004

The recently established McCormick Museum Foundation in Chicago will design, build and operate a museum dedicated to America's freedoms, with a special emphasis on First Amendment rights, and the civic responsibilities that accompany those rights.

As a major component of this museum, the foundation will commission a defining work of art that will be selected through an open, international, two-stage competition.

This piece will serve as the centerpiece of the museum and will be permanently located in the museum's two-story rotunda. The budget for the completed work of art is more than $500,000. Please visit the McCormick Museum Foundation's website for more information. Or write to:

McCormick Museum Foundation
435 North Michigan Avenue
Suite 754
Chicago, IL 60611

Louisiana and Indiana Calls for Public Art

Six Exterior Niches Commission $64,000 - Louisiana
Entry Deadline: November 26, 2004

The Percent for Art Program for the state of Louisiana, administered through the Louisiana Division of the Arts (LDOA) announces two public art projects at two sites at the LaSalle Building, Baton Rouge, Louisiana. They are seeking an artist to create site specific works to fit within six existing niches in the building façade of the LaSalle Building located in downtown Baton Rouge. There are three niches above the East entrance to the building, and three niches above the North entrance. Each niche is 5'4" x 5'4", with a uniform top to bottom 12" depth. The sides are 6" deep with a 6" side step. The artist is asked to address each niche, but is not required to do so in the same fashion. For example, one niche may be completely filled with an artwork, while another niche may be occupied by a smaller work. The artist's budget for the commission is $64,000.00, and includes all costs such as travel, material, fabrication and installation, as well as engineering and conservation consultations. Artists are encouraged to visit the site before submitting their application. The physical address is 617 North Third Street. The pieces must be permanent in nature, and require very little long-term maintenance. All appropriate media will be considered for this commission. The fabrication of the artwork will be done off-site by the artist. The artist is also responsible for installing the work in the niches. The Call for Artists as well as images of the building and grounds are accessible for view on the Louisiana Division of the Arts website under the Percent for Art link.

Interior Wall Commission (29' x 10') $30,000
Entry Deadline: November 26, 2004.

The Percent for Art Program for the state of Louisiana, administered through the Louisiana Division of the Arts (LDOA) announces two public art projects at two sites at the LaSalle Building, Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Seeking an artist to create a site-specific permanent indoor wall piece for the main wall of the café in the LaSalle Building located at 617 North Third Street in downtown Baton Rouge. Because the café has many windows facing Third Street, this piece will be viewable from both the inside and the outside of the café. The total space available for the piece is 29' x 10', but the artist may designate smaller dimensions of the finished work or works. The artist's budget for the commission is $30,000.00, and includes all costs such as travel, material, fabrication, installation, as well as engineering and conservation consultation costs. The work must be permanent in nature, and require very little long-term maintenance. All appropriate media will be considered for this commission (not limited to 2-D). However, 3-D applicants should keep in mind that the wall was not constructed to bear an exceptional amount of weight. Artists are encouraged to visit the site before submitting their application. The fabrication of the work will be done off-site by the artist. The artist will be responsible for installing the work(s) on the wall when completed.The Call for Artists as well as images of the building and grounds are accessible for view on the Louisiana Division of the Arts website under the Percent for Art link.

Indianapolis Airport Authority, Indianapolis, Indiana.
Deadline: December 30, 2004

The Indianapolis Airport Authority, with Blackburn Architects, invites artists to submit their qualifications for design and design/fabrication opportunities at the New Indianapolis Airport. Projects include architectural enhancements and integrated, free-standing or hanging works of art. Artists should submit their qualifications under the RFQ for consideration for future opportunities. Finalists will receive RFPs and will be compensated for any proposal submissions. More than 7 million passengers traveled through the airport last year. The intent of the projects is to combine with services and design to create the most pleasant traveling experience possible. The artwork will also further the city's goals for cultural development and public art. The deadline for receipt of qualification packages is December 30, 2004. To download the RFQ in PDF format visit www.newindianapolisairport.com. For more information call (317) 875-5500 x230.

Software that Authenticates Art

(Thanks AJ). A new set of software tools, developed by a Dartmouth College team seems to be able to "fingerprint" the style of a painter's work and thus be able to detect fakes and imitations.

"There are properties in an artist's pen and brush strokes that aren't visible to the human eye, but that are there nonetheless. And we can find them, through mathematical, statistical analysis," said Dartmouth computer science professor Hany Farid, who developed the algorithms, along with math professor Daniel Rockmore and graduate student Siwei Lyu."

The article warns that:

"Museum curators and statisticians caution that the Dartmouth group's techniques have only begun to be tested. Using algorithms to back up scholars' suspicions is one thing; uncovering a fraud with just a computer, that's completely different. And in the art world, no scientific method is considered as sure as the eye of a seasoned connoisseur.

"This is very unusual," said Nadine Orenstein, the curator of the drawings and prints department at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. "We're all a bit skeptical."

Other artworld comments were just as skeptical:

"I’m highly skeptical of using the computer for this kind of approach," said Laurence Kanter, curator in charge of the Robert Lehman collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. "It’s very possible that a program like that could be exploited to great advantage, but I still need to be persuaded."

I suspect that they're all a bit scared actually, because they're about to (a) lose the gig of having the power to be able to authenticate something just by being a "seasoned connoisseur" and (b) about to (possibly) have an avalanche of their past "authenticated works" be reported as fakes.

Funky Furniture Auction

Remember the Funky Furniture controversy that made worldwide news?

Well, here's your chance to own some of the pieces from that newsmaking art exhibit... including one of the most famous paintings in the world.

This painting by our area's own Kayti Didriksen was seen by millions around the world in TV news, Jay Leno, and as part of one of the most downloaded images on the Internet a while back.

I will discuss this painting when I finish my all-comprehensive review of AOM later this week.

On Saturday, December 4th, 2004 at 9pm, all of the Funky Furniture works will be auctioned in a must-attend party/auction to be staged at the Funky Furniture display area at AOM. Admission to the cocktail pre-auction reception is $20 per couple, which also gets you a bidding badge.

Keep an eye on the Artomatic website, as they will soon have a pre-auction bidding website. And Funky Furniture's hardworking leader, Chad Alan sends the following:

"D.C. As It Was, Is, and Could Be

Five months ago a project began with a simple idea to create a modest collection of hand crafted furniture in the spirit of the approaching Artomatic. The exhibition was to take place in the City Museum one month before Artomatic in order to promote not only that event, but also the City Museum itself.

As the project moved forward, the collection grew substantially in size and importance. Artists created pieces that reflected their vision of how the District of Columbia can be seen in three distinct phases. Not everything is pretty or refined, but instead true.

All cities have dark sides that are often difficult to view, but those are some of the core elements that strive to make us become better citizens.

Upon the completion of the installation, it was decided that the collection needed to be removed from the City Museum for reasons varying from labels to suitability issues.

Twenty hours after the installation, the show had been dismantled and placed securely into storage. News of the cancellation hit the Associated Press and spread across the globe.

Many new venues for the show were considered, but it was determined to bring the collection home to reside in the 2004 Artomatic. Here you can view our ideas and concepts. Some of which you may agree, and many with which you may disagree, but that is what makes our city one of the world's greatest cities.

This collection will be put on the auction block on Saturday, December 4th at 9pm at Artomatic."

I hope a lot of people, a lot of artists and a lot of collectors come and see [and buy] these works; the artists will be there, and so will I.

Ann Marchand's Top 10 AOM List

Artist Ann Marchand, who is an exhibiting artist at AOM and has probably walked those dizzying halls many times now, sends in her top ten list:

John Aaron
Chuck Baxter
Frank Day
Lisa Farrell
G. Byron Peck
Betsy Packard
Matt Sesow
Ellyn Weiss
Angela White
Joyce Zipperer

Nevin Kelly, director and owner of the Nevin Kelly Gallery, whose Top 10 AOM list I posted earlier, sends in this thoughtful comment on AOM:

"I was really impressed by Art-o-Matic, awful art and everything. Gopnik clearly missed the point. Kudos to you for your blog. The event was perfect for sparking the discussion over "what is art?" and "what right does an artist (or self-perceived artist) have to exhibit?" The sheer energy of the event was art in itself. For a city that is not known elsewhere for its artistic community, this is truly a spectacular contribution."

Nevin Kelly's Top 10 Artomatic List

Nevin Kelly, director and owner of the Nevin Kelly Gallery walks Art-O-Matic and sends in a AOM Top 10 List. For disclosure purposes, Kelly states that the gallery currently represents Allison B. Miner and Sondra N. Arkin, and that Dylan Scholinski and Kelly have plans to cooperate in a 2005 exhibition.

Nevin Kelly Gallery Art-O-Matic Top 10 Picks

Sondra N. Arkin
Allison B. Miner
Dylan Scholinski
Ellyn Weiss
Christopher Edmunds
Michal Hunter
Kathryn Cornelius
Mary Beth Ramsey
Joyce Zipperer
Robert Cole

Honorable Mention

Scott Brooks
Will Winton
Joroko
Dns Ynko
Tom Wells
Lisa Shumaeir
Abby Freeman
Louise Kennelley
John Adams
Inga McCaslin Frick

Opportunities from WPA/C

The WPA/C has a couple of events coming up that should be of interest.

First of all, the WPA/C concept of ANONYMOUS returns with an opening preview reception on Thursday, Dec. 9, 6:30-8:30pm and the first day to purchase artwork is Friday, Dec. 10, 6-8pm.

This is a second installment of this popular show concept featuring all new artists and curators. 100 artists create two feet by two feet works of art to be sold for $500 each. Buyers will not know the artist until the work has been purchased. No works will be sold at the preview reception and only one piece is allowed per patron. Curated by: John Aaron, K.B. Basseches, Mary Del Popolo, Djakarta, Chawky Frenn, David Jung, Prescott Moore Lassman, Anne Marchand, Marie Ringwald and Alan Simensky.

Location: 1027 33rd Street, NW (Georgetown)
Times: Thursday & Friday 12pm-8pm
Saturday & Sunday 12pm-6pm

---

WPA/C OPTIONS 2005 Call for Artists

The WPA/C has the website for submitting works to be considered for OPTIONS 2005 ready. Visit the website here. The deadline is January 14, 2005.

Marsha Stein Art Project

Marsha Stein's art project is gathering attention from a lot of artists and some press and is being filmed for a potential "reality TV" series about art.

The next meeting for interested artists is at Fraser Gallery Bethesda tomorrow Monday, November 22 at 7pm.

Interested artists should contact Marsha Stein at Marshasart@aol.com.

Today I will be at the Rockville Arts Place as part of the The Artist and the Internet: A Panel Discussion from 1 to 2:30PM.

The panel is comprised of Malik Lloyd, publisher of FindArt Info Bank, web designer and artist Todd Baxter Dawson and yours truly.

The discussion will focus on ways in which artists can use the Internet as a valuable resource for information, community and self promotion.

The Panel discussion will preceed the opening of the exhibit "Minimum/Maximum" that same afternoon. The exhibition features work by Trawick Prize finalist Jo Smail.

The panel is free to Rockville Arts Place members and $10 to everyone else.

Commercial Galleries and Artomatic

We have decided to host a dual gallery show next January for the combination of my Top Ten List and Catriona Fraser's Top 10 List.

So we've re-shuffled our 2005 schedule a little bit and invited the following artists, and those who accept will be included in a dual gallery show at Fraser Gallery Georgetown and Fraser Gallery Bethesda concurrently during January 2005.

BJ Anderson
Joseph Barbaccia
John Bata
Margaret Dowell
Matt Dunn
Chris Edmunds
Thomas Edwards
M. Rion Hoffman
Michal Hunter
Michael Janis
Mark Jenkins
Syl Mathis
Allison B. Miner
Mary Beth Ramsey
Alison Sigethy
Ira Tattleman
Denise Wolff
Tim Tate

Separately from this exhibition, I am working with a few other commercial galleries that have stepped forward and volunteered their spaces, including the Anne C. Fisher Gallery, the new galleryconnect and Gallery Neptune to try to work out concurrent exhibitions of the "final" Artomatic Top Ten List, which will be compiled mathematically from all the lists that I have been getting from curators, critics and art dealers.

These other galleries have expressed interest in hosting a gallery show for the Artomatic artists listed in various Top Ten Lists here and as a result of my observations to the effect of the interesting coalescing of names from the various lists.

Any other commercial galleries, non-profits or art venues interested in this future AOM follow-up event, email me.

Anne C. Fisher's Top 10 Artomatic List

Anne C. Fisher is the director of the Anne C. Fisher Gallery in Georgetown. She sends me her Artomatic favorites with asterisks for top ten. The list is ordered alphabetically, not in order of preference.

* Chad Alan
* Jean Beebe
Elena C. Bland
* Jennifer Morgan Brill
* Aaron Quinn Brophy
Andrea Cybyk
Thomas Edwards
* eyecandy (Ian Allen, Allen B. Callander, Ian Jehle, Joan Topping)
Claudia Feldman
Pattie Porter Firestone
* Linda Hesh/Ami Martin Wilber
IDB Cultural Center Group
Judy Jashinsky
* Amy Marx
* Minna Newman Nathanson
Martha Olsson
* Mary Beth Ramsey
Kim Reyes
* G. Byron Peck
Lisa Schumaier
Luis Scotti (promising student)
Sunray (Ray Jacobs) (stated as personal healing through art)
Ira Tattelman
Colin Winterbottom

Claudia Rousseau's Artomatic Top Picks List

Dr. Claudia Rousseau is the art critic for the Gazette newspapers and while she lived in Latin America she was also one of the most recognized and respected Latin American newspaper art critics.

Dr. Rousseau visited Art-O-Matic and has the following list of her top picks:

1. Alison Sigethy
2. Mary Beth Ramsey
3. Chris Edmunds
4. Tim Tate
5. Michael Janis
6. Tiik Pollet
7. Syl Mathis
8. Inga McCaslin Frick
9. J.S. Adams
10. luckyghost (anonymous author of the Mysterious Bottles Project)

also noted by Dr. Rousseau were:

Joyce Zipperer
Richard Dana
John Olson
Adam Hoffberg
Shannon Chester

Rockville Arts Place Hosts Arts Panel on Sunday

The Rockville Arts Place will be hosting The Artist and the Internet: A Panel Discussion tomorrow, Sunday 21 November from 1 to 2:30PM.

The panel is comprised of Malik Lloyd, publisher of FindArt Info Bank, web designer and artist Todd Baxter Dawson and yours truly.

The discussion will focus on ways in which artists can use the Internet as a valuable resource for information, community and self promotion. I have been surprised as to the large number of Artomatic artists who have made it to various people's Top 10 List and yet have no website or footprint on the Web.

The Panel discussion will preceed the opening of the exhibit "Minimum/Maximum" that same afternoon. The exhibition features work by Trawick Prize finalist Jo Smail.

The panel is free to Rockville Arts Place members and $10 to everyone else.

Lou Stovall, Donna Oetzel and Daniel T. Brooking all have letters in today's Washington Post discussing Blake Gopnik's rootcanalization of Artomatic.

Brooking writes:

"As one of Artomatic's mediocre artists, I have to say that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I joined Artomatic because the work is not juried or censored. The great thing is that anyone can join and have their work displayed without having someone's prejudiced, narrow-minded precepts attempt to determine the worthiness of another's creativity.

Many of the established schools of art started out as a revolt against the status quo. Artomatic offers a range of art styles and mediums; I encourage the public to come out and see what is offered. Some of the work you'll like and some you won't, but you won't go away bored. It's been a long time since I've seen such vehemence in a review."

Please discover Weirdcurves. I just did and it is a welcome addition to the DC area arts BLOGsphere!

The Artomatic visit is here.

James W. Bailey's Art-O-Matic List

You didn't expect James W. Bailey to just send me a list of his top ten artists from Art-O-Matic, did you? Here is Bailey's list, at nearly 2,000 elegant and passionate words:

James W. Bailey’s Top List of Angels and Devils Working the Mystery of God in Art-O-Matic 2004

Art-O-Matic 2004 – A Mississippi-style Juke Joint of Art

The Religion of the Juke Joint

"The juke joints in Mississippi are the only place in the state where God and the Devil get equal time." James Edward Bailey, my great-grandfather.

"I’ve been to Art-O-Matic 2004 and I’ve been Slain in the Spirit. There are angels and devils working mischief in that building and thank God for it." James W. Bailey.

What does it mean to be Slain in the Spirit?

Being slain is a phenomenon that is sweeping through many Pentecostal-Charismatic churches in the South today. When "slain" people are knocked on the floor unconscious, some shake, some laugh, or lay paralyzed unable to move. Many Charismatic leaders are teaching that believers need to experience the "slaying" often. However, there are some reported extreme manifestations of this behavior where some "slain" individuals have stripped and exhibited lewd behavior. A few churches have even organized patrols to monitor their congregations because of the high amount of sexual immorality that has been manifested.

So the question is this: is being "slain" a God thing?

Catfish Alley – A Young Mississippi Boy’s Perspective on Cutting Edge Art

I was born and raised in a small, quiet genteel Mississippi town called Columbus. My hometown is famous for two things:

1. Being the birth place of Tennessee Williams.

2. Having a treasure trove collection of Ante-Bellum Greek Revival Plantation Mansions that were never destroyed during the Civil War because the Yankees decided at the last second to attack and destroy a nearby town called West Point.

As a young boy, however, the thing that interested me more than anything else in my hometown was the Black Culture and Music that was to be found in a blacks-only business and Juke Joint district called Catfish Alley; Catfish Alley was off-limits to whites. Whites partied in their bars and blacks partied in their Juke Joints and the two cultures never dared cross that racial line.

My father, however, was a fireman and I used to visit the mysterious and wild Juke Joints of Catfish Alley with him when he would make annual fire inspections.

The African-American community found its niche and prospered in Catfish Alley. Former post-Civil War era servants developed their own businesses and civic life from the part of town known as "Catfish Alley," which is actually a block on 4th Street South between College Street and Main Street.

According to the late Dr. E.J. Stringer, a Columbus, Mississippi, civil rights leader, politician, minister and dentist, Catfish Alley was the hub of activity for rural blacks who came into town to sell fresh vegetables and the catfish they caught along the way.

"Long before the 1940s, there were provisions to either sell the catfish uncooked, or cook it on the spot and sell it by the plate. When it was cooked, the aroma of the catfish filled the air, thus the name ‘Catfish Alley’. As long as I can remember, Catfish Alley served as a place where laborers gathered for transportation provided by employers, and it was a place where people congregated to talk and to exchange news and ideas. It was the site of black-owned businesses and professional offices, and a place for people who made a difference in the black community." Dr. E. J. Stringer.

Dr. Stringer, who once had his dental office in "The Alley," said that his greatest desire was to see people get along; to achieve oneness of community. He died in 1995.

When I was 8 years old I walked into a Juke Joint in Catfish Alley with my father on a fire inspection and was first Slain in the Spirit when I saw the most amazing collection of Mississippi African-American outsider and folk art that was hanging from every square inch of available wall space.

I had never seen anything like it. Standing in the presence of this incredible collection of art produced by people I had never heard off, featuring imagery I had never seen, left me breathless. I had never been exposed to the voices and imagination of black people in my home state in such a personal, powerful and emotive way. I knew that God was working through the people who created this art to send a message to the world. I stood there transfixed trying to understand what God was saying through these works of art.

The Blues of Art

Down in Mississippi, we have a saying, "You ain’t heard it if you ain’t listened to it." In the world of Blues music what this means is this: If you think you’re listening to the real Blues when you pay $500 for a scalped ticket to an intimate plush venue to hear an English "blues" guitarist sing the "blues" while you and your date sip on Heinekens, then you ain’t really ever heard the real Blues.

To hear the real deal, you’re gonna need to slip back in time, wind your way down South to Mississippi and find a Juke Joint. The real Blues is played by people you’ve never heard of: Musicians and singers like, "Preacher Peacock" Morgan, David "Three-Strings" Jones, Bill "Sunday School" Taylor, Johnny "T-Rex" Martin, etc. These people never had a recording contract, never cut a record, but played their hearts and souls out at Juke Joints that have long disappeared. But people did hear them, though. I am one who bears witness to voices of Angels.

Art-O-Matic 2004 – I Went Down Into The Diamond Mine To Find A Diamond And Discovered The Rough Instead

Art-O-Matic is a Mississippi-style Juke Joint of a Diamond Mine of Art. Sure, there’s a lot of rough stuff there; and there are some diamonds. But the rough stuff gives birth to the diamonds, not the other way around.

Lenny has mentioned that he has noticed a lot of the Top Ten Lists are gravitating toward a common theme. I have noticed that as well. That troubles me. It’s too easy to go into a diamond mine and shift the chafe for the wheat and pick out the diamonds that fall easily to the bottom of the basket.

No disrespect to the creators of the diamonds, many of whom I know and respect, but their diamonds have already been, for the most part, presented in the sanctuary of the white cube space. I climbed down into the diamond mine looking for the raw energy, the troubling elements, the fractured particles and the substance of the rough stuff that gives birth to the diamonds.

Walking into Art-O-Matic 2004 sent me reeling in the years back to being 8 years old and walking into that Juke Joint in Catfish Alley in Columbus, Mississippi. I found art and artists that I know God has spoken through.

I wasn’t looking for the diamonds to develop my list. I was looking for the Devil Himself to jump right out of a whiskey bottle and pop up in my face and dare me to drink that bottle. The works of the artists who have made my list did just that.

To have a personal conversation with God you have got to first dance with the Devil. These artists have put their vision ahead of every other consideration and have walked with the Devil and talked with the Lord.

I could have easily chosen another group to list. I went with the powerfully spiritual feeling that overwhelmed me with those works I saw during my two visits.

Most of these artists I don't know and have never heard of. A few I do know. One young woman, whose name I will not name out of respect for her privacy, has already tasted the sting of censorship with two beautiful nude photographs in a recent regional exhibition. Her two photographs in question are on exhibit at Art-O-Matic. Art-O-Matic is to be commended for supporting the exhibition of challenging works of art.

The Devil will not silence these artists.

If you’re looking for diamonds, they are some to be found at Art-O-Matic. If you’re looking, and willing, to explore deep into subterranean world of local art, you will see some amazing stuff.

For those artists, art critics, social critics, critic critics and others who spend more time destroying than creating, know that part of my Scots-Irish Mississippi personality wants to engage you in an endless debate over the merits of Art-O-Matic.

Indeed, I do have certain issues myself. But they related to organizational issues. I believe Art-O-Matic needs to become a artist member not for profit 501(c)3 organization because I believe the enormous energy of the artists who are so passionate about this event needs to be brought together in a more effective way to sustain, market and promote the event.

But for those relentless critics of Art-O-Matic who will never be satisfied, another part of my personality wants to just say what we say in the beautiful Magnolia State when we are just plain worn-out arguing with knuckle-heads over their stupidity. We cut them off with a big Rebel Yell and scream, "Fuck all Ya’ll!"

I offer my following list in the revolutionary spirit of radical anarchist activist, Abbie Hoffman, of "Steal This Book" fame.

I dedicate my list to the vision and integrity of Philip Barlow. May Mr. Barlow’s vision for OPTIONS 05 be presented sometime, somewhere, somehow. If I have selected just one artist who might represent just a particle of Mr. Barlow’s vision for OPTIONS 05, then I have done something important.

Steal This Art Today List! - The following artists present work worth the minimum risk of a serious art collector being charged with felony grand theft in their efforts to steal work from right out underneath the nose of the artist because these works show great potential of future increases in value. If you’re an asshole art collector, get the work of these artists now and pray the artist commits suicide in a very tragic and high-profile public fashion, thus driving up the value of your collection. These works are insanely under-priced for value. For those art collectors who care about deeper issues with the art they buy, know this: These artists are talking with God. Their conversations with Him are interesting.

My list is in alphabetic order, like the way my momma taught me. I choose the following:

Chuck Baxter
Shannon Chester
J. Coleman
Teresa Ghiglino
N. John Grunwell
R. Will Helms
Dale Hunt
M. Erin Hunter
G. Rashia Linendoll
M. Lisa McCarty
M. Iver Olson
Stefanie Pierpoint
Megan Raines
J. Kim Reyes
A. Bailey Rosen
D. Lisa Schumaier
Luis Scotti
Anna Shakeeva

To all the participating artists of Art-O-Matic 2004, I say stay true unto yourself and unto your vision.

Rock The Art!

James W. Bailey

Experimental Mississippi Photographer

Michael O'Sullivan reviews Art-O-Matic

O'Sullivan once more demonstrates that he has a finger on the pulse of the DC art scene and does so well in this review of Artomatic in today's Washington Post.

O'Sullivan touches a chord that had escaped me, in answering the question to of why so many artists of all talents and aspirations do this show:

"Or maybe, just maybe, you did it because, for just this once, there wasn't anyone telling you that you couldn't."

Bravo O'Sullivan!

Thinking About Art's Top 10 Artomatic List

JT over at Thinking About Art finally delivers his Top 10 Art-O-Matic list; he also makes a good point about most photography at the show.

B.J. Anderson
Richard Dana
Christopher Edmunds
Thomas Edwards
Linda Hesh
Syl Mathis
Allison B. Miner
Tim Tate
Kelly Towles
Rob Vander Zee

You read it here first

Glenn Dixon, the talented and opinionated writer who co-shared the "Galleries" column in the Washington Post (with Jessica Dawson) has quit because of an undisclosed dispute with the paper.

Canal Square Georgetown Openings Tonight

Tonight is the third Friday of the month, which means two things:

(a) It is the opening for the new shows of the five Canal Square Galleries in Georgetown. The galleries (Alla Rogers, Fraser, Parish, MOCA and Anne C. Fisher) will have their new shows and openings from 6-9PM. The openings are catered by the Sea Catch Restaurant and are free and open to the public.

(b) It will either rain, snow or one of those manhole covers will blow up in one of the nearby streets and the streets will be closed (this has happened three times in the last 18 months: each time on an opening night!)

See you there tonight!

And then tomorrow, join members of the "Girlz Club" at Artomatic for a tribute to Ana Mendieta.

"Girlz Club" members will make a silueta of pine cones and then paint leaves with a mixture of their blood and paint.

The tribute will on on Saturday, November 20th at Sunset on the grounds of Art-O-Matic. Follow the signs to the NW corner between the two big maple trees.

Artists to Meet on Monday

Marsha Stein's art project is getting a lot of attention and is being filmed for a potential "reality TV" series about art.

The next meeting for interested artists is at Fraser Gallery Bethesda on Monday, November 22 at 7pm.

Interested artists should contact Marsha Stein at Marshasart@aol.com.

New Gallery in Town

Galleryconnect is the new gallery space at 2103 O Street, NW in the Dupont Circle neighborhood. The gallery is currently showing "First Exposure," which is an exhibition curated by Lana Lyons, Director of the Studio Gallery.

The exhibition features Chandi Kelley and Rob Saccardi in their gallery debut. The show goes through December 19, 2004.

Jeffry Cudlin reviews Dan Flavin in the current issue of the City Paper, and Lou Jacobson dismisses Chan Chao's new (but really his old) work at Numark.

Chris Shott in the WCP has a really good article on the costs of staging Artomatic.

So far they are $56,197 in the hole.

Time for one of our area's generous donors or billion dollar corporations to step up to the plate?

Maybe the Washington Post?

I like irony.

Am I the only one noticing a pattern emerging from the diverse set of "top ten" lists of Artomatic artists that I have been getting and publishing?

Art is subjective, but you do not have to be a Cryptologist (I am) to detect the pattern beginning to emerge from the lists coming in from people with signifcantly diverse interests, backgrounds, tastes, and agendas.

I'll publish the definite Art-O-Matic Top 10 List at the end of the show. It will a list derived and mathematically compiled from the various lists that I have received and am still receiving.

Then I will see if I can figure out a way to get those artists in that list on a group show somewhere.

McLean Center for the Arts, Ellipse, Target Gallery, DCAC, Transformer, Corcoran (cough, cough) or any other art space out there... feel free to email me and offer your wall space next year; Gopnik review practically guaranteed!

For Women Photographers

The next Secondsight meeting for women photographers will be held on Thursday, December 2 at 6.30pm.

The meeting will take place at the Fraser Gallery, 7700 Wisconsin Avenue, Bethesda Place, MD 20814.

The Fraser Gallery is two blocks from the Bethesda metro station and there is ample free parking. The guest speaker will be Connie Reider.

Meetings are free for members, $10 for guests. Please visit www.secondsightdc.com for more information or call Catriona Fraser at 301 718-9651. Please RSVP to secondsight@hotmail.com.

Faith Flanagan's Top Ten Plus Artomatic List

Faith Flanagan is a local art fan, collector in the rough, and sometime guerilla curator. She has never been a particular fan of AOM, but strongly believes that it should not be dismissed in its entirety by those with the wit, charm, and intellect to know better.

Kathryn Cornelius
Liz Duarte
Matt Dunn
Djakarta
Dave Savage
Dylan Scholinski
Matt Sesow
Ira Tattelman
Kelly Towles
Bridget Vath

+ (cheating just a tad)

Overall Team Response: Eye Candy
Alan Callander, Ian Jehle and Karen Joan Topping

All about the Ladies: Girlz Club Members: Judy Jashisky, Lynda Hesh, Candace Keegan, and Ami Martin Wilbur.

Grammar.police Top Ten Artomatic List

Kriston from Grammar.police writes an eloquent review of his Artomatic visit and also delivers his top ten list:

Scott Brooks
Chris Edmunds
Nina Ferre
Linda Hesh
Ian Jehle
Syl Mathis
Allison Miner
Tim Tate
Kelly Towles
Amy Martin Wilber

Jesse Cohen mistyped the URL of DCARTNEWS (which is http://dcartnews.blogspot.com) and instead Jesse typed http://dcartnews.blogpsot.com.

This is what Jesse got instead of DC ARTNEWS.

Is that weird or what?

I love the Internet.

Jessica Dawson has a few mini-reviews in today's Style section of the Post.

Natalie Koss' Top Ten Artomatic List

Natalie Koss is the art critic for On Tap Magazine, and after several hours of walking through Art-O-Matic, she has selected and sent me the following list:

Chad Alan
Michele Taylor
Brett Davis
Thomas Edwards
Kayti Didriksen
Amy Marx
Mark Planisek
John Aaron
Laura Seldman
Tim Tate

Alex Katz will be delivering a lecture at the Corcoran on Monday, November 22, starting at 7:00pm.

In this evening, Alex Katz discusses the scope of his career from its beginnings in the 1960s and the major role he has played in the emergence of new perceptual realism in painting.

Jeff Blum over at DC Photo Scene visits Artomatic and offers some interesting words on the subject.

Jeff adds these eloquent thoughts to the dialogue:

"Artomatic felt more alive and vibrant than any other art event I've been to in DC, and I can't imagine it not being worth a couple of hours of anyone's time. Even if you end up hating everything in it, I can't imagine it being a waste of time to drop by. Lots of angst, gaudiness, crappy work, good work, earnestness, politics, thoughtfulness, whimsy, and an unbelievable amount of everything else not listed."

My "sources at the Post" (Oh please!) tell me that this coming Saturday the Washington Post's "Free for All" will have lots of letters and commentaries about Blake Gopnik vis-a-vis his rootcanalization of Art-O-Matic.

Keep an eye on the Saturday Post.

Artomatic was on NPR today at the Kojo Nnamdi show.

My kudos to Kojo for once again coming forth to highlight what is going on in the DC area art scene! Kojo has demonstrated (time and time again) the initiative that other "local" NPR shows seem to lack in helping to promote our area's visual arts.

Listen to the show here. It starts at around 13:32 in the show.

Busy day tomorrow...

First I'll be at the third and final day of my conference and then in the late afternoon I'll be briefing the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities on the advisory panel's recommendations for the Individual Grant awards to DC artists. My advance congratulations to all of the DC artists who will be getting $5,000 each, and my stern request that more of you apply in the coming years.

I am always shocked as to how few artists apply each year.

After that I will be hanging the spectacular debut of Cuban artist Aimee Garcia Marrero at Fraser Georgetown.

Aimee Garcia Marrero is a very young Cuban painter whose solo US debut in Los Angeles sold out in 2002 (a third of our show has already pre-sold before the opening). She then participated in the VIII Bienal de La Habana and since then has been working furiously to create this show.

The Garcia Marrero opening is this coming Friday, from 6-9 PM. We will have Cuban music, Cuba Libres and catering by the Sea Catch Restaurant. It's part of the opening night for the five Canal Square Galleries.

Come and say hi and I'll buy you a Cuba Libre, or as I call them: "Cuba Presa."

Fred Ognibene's Top Ten Artomatic List

Fred Ognibene is a DC area contemporary art collector; below are his top ten Artomatic finds:

Joseph Barbaccia
Scott Brooks
Frank Day
Nina Ferre’
Mark Jenkins
Syl Mathis
Allison B. Miner
Elizabeth Lundberg Morisette
Ruza Spak
Kelly Towles
Rob Vanderzee

Again, today I'll be at a conference most of the day today, so check back later for more top ten lists and other stuff.

Sidney Lawrence, who recently retired as the PR person at the Hirshhorn Museum, and who also used to exhibit at the former Gallery K, now writes for Artnet.com, and has this excellent round-up of Washington area shows.

Catriona Fraser's Top 10 Artomatic List

Catriona Fraser, Director and the hardworking co-owner of our two Fraser Galleries walked Art-O-Matic a few days ago and the below list reflects her top ten picks:

BJ Anderson
John Bata
Chris Edmunds
Thomas Edwards
M. Rion Huffmann
Michal Hunter
Syl Mathis
Mary Beth Ramsey
Alison Sigethy
Ira Tattlemann
Denise Wolff

Sarah Finlay and Patrick Murcia's Top Ten Artomatic List

Sarah Finlay and Patrick Murcia, the two hardworking directors of Fusebox Gallery, one of the best galleries in town, send in their top 10 AOM list:

Chad Alan
Kathryn Cornelius
Richard Dana
Frank Day
Nina Ferre’
Mansoora Hassan
Allison Miner
John Olson
Michael Platt
Kelly Towles

I'll be at a conference most of the day today, so check back later for more top ten lists and other stuff.

Tonight at 7PM is the opening reception/party for the artists showing in the fine art glass rooms at Artomatic. Even Gopnik in his root canal of the show had this to say about the glass:

"There may just be a few decent things hidden in the mix -- with so many thousands of objects on display, the law of averages says there must be. But three hours' worth of looking didn't spot too many. Some of the glasswork looked all right. (Glass is such a gorgeous medium it's hard to screw it up, and you need some basic training even to begin to work in it.)"

Talking about glass, the James Renwick Alliance Gala/Auction will be held on Saturday, April 16, 2005 at the Fairmont Hotel in Washington, D.C.

This is part of the Alliance's American Craft Masters Weekend 2005 which in addition to the Gala/Auction will feature a Sunday Brunch honoring William Morris/Glass; Judy Kensley McKie/Furniture; Robert Ebendorf/Jewelry; Lia Cook/Fiber and Wayne Higby/Ceramics at the Westin and a free fiber symposium at the Navy Auditorium in the morning of April 16th.

Tim Tate, whose work is represented by us and whose work is in the permanent collection at the Renwick Gallery, the nation's premier contemporary craft venue, will be a featured artist in the Live Auction.

His piece is titled "Nine Years.....Nine Memories" and consists of nine glass globes Tate calls "Reliquaries" which are his newest series. The pieces were acquired by the Renwick Alliance at the current Art-O-Matic and are currently on display at the glass rooms in that show.

"We are delighted to have such an important piece in our Live Auction" said Judith Weisman, James Renwick Alliance's Craft Weekend Chair. "Tim's work resonates with sophistication and meaning."

At the Art-O-Matic building, the glass rooms are at 32 Good Hope Road, Anacostia on your Art-O-Matic map.

Jean Lawlor Cohen's Top Ten Artomatic List

Jean Lawlor Cohen is the editor of Where DC Magazine. Below are her picks for the best from this year's Art-O-Matic.

Cardellino - A six-canvas group of dark landscapes/trees - for impact in small space.

Chris Edmunds — Sculptural heads (one on a spring!) — for irreverence.

Kathryn Cornelius — Audio installation in an ominous sinkroom with seeping water (a Tony Oursler confrontation without the dolls) — for mystery.

Nina Ferré — Bridge installation — for making do with difficult space.

Inga Frick — Couldn’t locate, but, according to her past work, merits hunting down — for whimsy.

Linda Hesh — A time travel alcove — for self-dramatization.

Judy Jashinsky — Cicada-coated homage to Noche Crist — for spirit of camaraderie.

Matt Sesow — Self-described “crumby art” that is Basquiat meets Golub — for fun.

Ruza Spak — Large skyscape paintings with dog / deer a flyin’, what Longo’s pets must dream — for disorientation.

Martha Olsson — Her bold, expressive canvases way up on the 5th floor — for daring.

And the Artomatic firestorm gathers more words!

James W. Bailey responds to Jamie Wimberly's posting:

"Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves," (Matthew 7:15).

It is unlikely that most will ever meet an artist who will say, "I am a false prophet, follow me."

A "spiritual" artist will present themselves as a true prophet; and they will indeed appear to be true. But when confronted by a false prophet artist, one must search deeper and examine the artistic, social, psychological and legal implications of their words and ideas. False prophet artists will speak their prophecies and teachings with a golden tongue that will seem true and desirable. The best method of discerning the truth of a false prophet artist is by subjecting their prophecies and teachings to a critical examination of the implications of their artistic vision. The truth will stand the strongest test; error will be exposed.

Mr. Wimberly would have us believe the art world has devolved and is corrupt; he is right. He would also have us believe that standards need to be implemented to salvage the concept of real art from the masses; he is wrong.

Mr. Wimberly laments the fact that too many non-real artists are polluting the universe with their un-real art through events such as Artomatic. If, in his world, we only had an Inter-Galactic Art Commission of learned art professionals who would design, develop and implement a legal code of professional art standards, enforced by a Federation Art Police, of course, then we could all safely enjoy the privilege of viewing, absorbing, contemplating, being inspired by and buying real art made by real artists.

No doubt, under Mr. Wimberly’s scheme for the rehabilitation and salvation of the art world, such an Inter-Galactic Art Commission would be legally empowered to issue Professional Art Licenses to real artists so that these licensed real artists would be legally permitted to ply their craft to a more culturally sensitive audience who would be protected by the knowledge that the artists who they are likely to buy from are safe, certified and state approved by an art regulatory agency that operates in everyone’s best interest.

No doubt Mr. Wimberly, because of his profound insight concerning the corruption of the definition, meaning and purpose of contemporary fine art, would also expect to be asked to serve in the capacity of Board Director of the Inter-Galatic Art Commission so that he could more effectively advocate for his art philosophy to be enshrined into a Felony Criminal Art Code that would be enforced against those unlicensed un-real artists who would dare to try to operate under the radar in the back alleys of the illegal art gallery districts around the world, including Artomatic.

Allow me to offer some down-home Mississippi no B.S. wisdom from the perspective of an artist who recognizes a false prophet when he sees one. What Mr. Wimberly is really concerned about is this: He and a bunch of "real" artists he knows ain’t makin’ enough money out there in the REAL world tryin’ to sell stuff they "create" that other people think is junk and just plain don’t wanna buy!

Do I believe the modern art world is corrupt? Let me put it this way: I basically believe that the modern art world has absolutely turned its back on the general population. It has for some time now been taken over and hijacked by an elitist element of art snobs and ethereal professionals who have done everything in their power to remove the context, purpose and vibrancy of art from the realm of the people and have placed it in the ivory tower cages of the museum and gallery structure.

The present art world system allows these self-anointed art gods, the Artfanistas as I call them, to build successful and well paid careers as museum directors, curators, art dealers, gallery owners, and yes, a handful of internationally celebrated artists such as Damien Hirst and Jeff Koons, who Mr. Wimberly properly despises.

The modern art system is one with a historic parallel: Being from Mississippi, I know all about the share-cropping system. What exists today in the art world, especially in this country, is an art version of the post-Civil War Mississippi Delta plantation. The plantation owners are the so-called leading art museums. The plantation foremen are the museum curators. The sharecroppers are the emerging artists who strive to be "real" artists under the definition of what is “real” that is defined by god knows who. What you have to do as an artist sharecropper, and as a human being, to elevate your self through the plantation system to artistic independence, to that coveted position of celebrated international artist superstar, is almost unspeakable. Selling out doesn't even begin to describe it.

The results for the artistic health of this country are horrible. The average American is absolutely alienated from contemporary art. They are alienated because they have been treated with contempt by the modern art establishment. The thinking that prevails in New York is that the average American is a cultural idiot who is too unsophisticated to understand the secret language of modern art.

"Therefore, considering how stupid most art ignorant Americans are, especially those idiots down South in the Red States, it would be an incredible waste of our valuable time and resources to share our wealth of secret knowledge with them to help them understand what they don't know and will never appreciate," New York Artfanista.

The fact of the matter is that the average American is damned smart and can smell bullshit from a thousand miles away, all the way up to the top floor of The Whitney Museum of Art in New York and right down the road to their local frustrated suburban upper-middle class white talent-challenged semi-depressed I-want-to-suffer-the-life-of-the-real-urban-poor-people-so-I-can-sensitively-present-the-painful-imagery-of-their-miserable-lives artist who sits in his or her rented inner-city crack-house basement “studio” whining and crying about how the world sucks because the concept of real art has been lost and nobody will support them as an artist and buy their crap!

The Gospel According to St. James the Photographer of Experiments:

Littoral Art: The Art of the Gift - I believe that an ethical artist who lives a life of integrity has a responsibility to share their art in a way that intersects with and becomes part of the life of their community, society and nation. I believe in the principles of moral art as articulated by Bruce Barber in his work, “Sentences on Littoral Art”. This is a radical position for art because it has nothing to do with art objects within the modern art milieu where it's all about getting your 15 minutes and $15 million for a “created” object.

The present modern art super-structure works against the principles of Littoral Art. The current system is set up to further the careers, artistic and professional, of those on the inside who are obsessed with art objects. The rewards for success are fame and money. At the end of the day, what does the art created do to make the world a better, safer more peaceful place? Nothing...because that is not even the goal under this system.

I strongly believe that artists have the power to change the world. Not just interpret it or represent it or create art objects about it. What I mean by that is that artists can use an expanded definition of art to advocate, instruct, share and involve people in demanding reforms of corrupt systems of power, whether political, social or cultural.

I believe that Artomatic, whatever its failings may be, is a step in the right direction to an expanded definition of art.

Mr. Wimberly’s views reflect the endless obsessions of far too many artists who have been left behind on planet Earth who pine for the day when high quality hand-crafted artistic art objects were the definition of art and were sought after and fought over by sophisticated art collectors; indeed, a beautiful era when a handful of expert artisans were elevated to near god-like status and enjoyed the wealth bestowed upon them by the spiritually enlightened with access to unlimited funds in Swiss bank accounts.

Some of us less nostalgic and less ambitious artists took advantage of mid-20th century space flight opportunities and traveled to distant stars and galaxies and have seen the power of art removed from the object. We have for some time now been sending encoded messages about radical art practices we have discovered on other planets back home to Earth. Some of these messages have been received and decoded by artists you may know. Be warned: Some of the artists who have decoded these messages and shared them with others may in fact be false prophet artists; indeed, some may in fact be false artists profiting as real artists.

The WORD has been given: There is no excuse to not recognize such false prophet artists now... indeed, I may be one myself, but at least I’m willing to admit to the possibility that I am.

Sincerely,

James W. Bailey
Experimental Photographer

The Artomatic firestorm rages on!

Joseph Barbaccia responds to Jamie Wimberly's posting:

I wish someone would explain to me why people feel that art needs to be defined, ruled or standardized. WTF?! Doing so is the antithesis of art. Does requiring artistic standards allow people to feel secure? By setting up narrow path to creating art are they defining their own way of creating and trying to impose it on others?

I understand the need for structure. Our lives would be chaos without it. But art, at least in my life, is one of the few remaining areas that are free of standards and rules. I value that fact immeasurably. This one area of unlimited creativity is a rarity in today’s over-regulated world. It allows us total freedom of expression.

My work doesn't have to be labeled Art. I really don’t care what it is called. Call it crap, call it interesting, or call it great. A label does not deny art's existence or its effect. Look at the history. As forms of expression change they must break from "standards" and stand on new ground. Of course, in a matter of time these changes become the "standard" themselves and must be changed again. Look at the history.

Jamie's "standards" are wonderful; for HIM to work under. I believe that setting up a structure, or defining art with a set of rules on a personal level is OK. It’s part of the process. Bring out your scales! Artists do the same with every decision we make when creating a single piece. We define the work by our choices. But I see no reason to lay my creative structure on anyone else. I would no sooner tell a person how to create art than I’d tell them how to be happy. I don’t mind getting a license and taking a test to drive a car, but please, allow me the freedom to make my art the way I believe it should be done. Anything else smells of sour grapes.

Pat Goslee's Artomatic List

Area artist Pat Goslee is a well-known, talented and widely exhibited artist, and she has participated in several past Art-O-Matics, but is not involved in this year's show.

I first came across Goslee's work in 1995 or 1996 when I wrote this small review of her solo show for Visions Magazine for the Arts.

Below is her own unique list of finds and awards in the 2004 edition of Art-O-Matic (after several visits).

KARMA AWARD = Charles Sthresley

REGARDING BEAUTY AWARD = Linda Hesh + Ami Martin Wilber

AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL AWARD = Dylan Scholisnki

RECYCLING AWARD = Elizabeth Lundberg Morisette

BEST VAGINA AWARD = Elena Patiño

FLOP AWARD = Dave Savage

SYCOPHANT AWARD = Thomas Edwards

BEST TITS AWARD = Nicolas Syracuse

SAFETY AWARD = Bridget Vath

SCULPTURE AWARD = Stephon Senegal

CICADA AWARD = Betsy Packard

WELCOME HOME AWARD = Inga Frick

BERLIN AWARD = Marla McLean

BEST BARGAIN = Denise Juliano “Funny Farm” $45

RENWICK AWARD = Tim Tate

SOUL AWARD = Michael Platt

BEST USE OF SPACE AWARD = Ira Tattelman

PRIORITY MALE AWARD = Kelly Towles

PORTRAIT AWARD = Ian Jehle

VOWELESS NAME RECOGNITION AWARD = dns ynko

A friend emailed me a note about the Sunday NY Times article about JT LeRoy and LeRoy's words about the first time that he was reviewed:

"I cut the article out and put it on my stomach like it would heal me," Mr. LeRoy said in a twang left over from his West Virginia childhood. "But it didn't heal me. The thing about attention is it's like drinking. One drink is too many, and a million isn't enough."

My friend also adds that "as humans, we are responsible for tending to our own wounds. Is anyone really looking to Blake Gopnik to heal them? Art can heal, but one must do it for one's self. Now turn off the computer and go to the studio!"

Leigh Conner's Top Ten List

Leigh Conner, the hardworking gallery owner of Conner Contemporary, easily one of the best galleries in the region, walked Art-O-Matic last Wednesday and picked her top ten picks. She matched a few from mine and offers her own selections in alphabetical order:

Overall top pick: The Union Station Music Stage Room + Main Entrance

- JTW Black
- Alan Callander
- Richard Dana
- Liz Duarte
- Matt Dunn
- Linda Hesh
- Michael K. Ross
- Tim Tate
- Kelly Towles
- Ami Martin Wilber

Photographer James W. Bailey steps into the Artomatic firestorm with the following very inventive note:

Is Blake Gopnick possibly sending the art world a coded message about Artomatic 2004?

Anterograde Amnesia

Anterograde amnesia is a selective memory deficit, resulting from brain injury, in which the individual is severely impaired in learning new information. Memories for events that occurred before the injury may be largely spared, but events that occurred since the injury may be lost. In practice, this means that an individual with amnesia may have good memory for childhood and for the years before the injury, but may remember little or nothing from the years since. Short-term memory is generally spared, which means that the individual may be able to carry on a conversation; but as soon as he is distracted, the memory of the conversation fades.

It is now becoming apparent that while anterograde amnesia devastates memory for facts or events, it may spare memory for skills or habits. Thus, an individual with amnesia can be taught a new skill, such as how to play a game or how to write backwards. The next day, the amnesic individual will claim to have no memory of the prior session, but when asked to try executing the skill, can often perform quite well - indicating that some memories have been formed. It is an important area of current research to document exactly which kinds of memory can be formed in amnesia, and how this may be used to help rehabilitate amnesic individuals.

Is it possible that Mr. Gopnick suffered a severe trauma incident at Artomatic 2002 that has resulted in him being unable to form post Artomatic 2002 memories?

Is it also possible that Mr. Gopnick has formed the new ability to write backward and that his review on Artomatic 2004 was thus written backward?

I have taken the liberty, inspired by William S. Burroughs’ Word Cut-Ups method, and repositioned Mr. Gopnick’s paragraphs in what I believe to be their proper sequence.

I believe Mr. Gopnick may be trying to send us all a coded message.

Hanging Artomatic 2004 Is Good for It, Too
By Blake Gopnik
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, November 11, 2004

Artomatic costs more than $100,000 to put on, drawing funds from the artists themselves as well as from the public and private sectors; it absorbs major gifts in kind and vast amounts of volunteer time; it gets plenty of media coverage and pulls in tens of thousands of visitors. And all the money and resources and attention that go Artomatic's way are, by definition, not going to serious art that needs a boost, and deserves a higher public profile. Artomatic isn't only good for nothing. It's bad for art that matters.

It's not as though we are a society that fiercely discourages the making of art, one that needs an Artomatic just to make sure anything gets made at all. More art schools turn out more trained artists every year, and they all have to compete for a slice of the same meager pie of patronage, funding and public attention.

What the District truly needs is more displays of carefully selected, quality contemporary art, so that local emerging artists -- and, just as importantly, their public -- would have more and better examples of how serious creativity can work. As things stand, too many local artists, as well as a few of our dealers, get attention they wouldn't get in any city where they faced some decent, savvy competition. The region needs its artistic bar raised another notch or two. Whereas Artomatic, of course, removes the bar entirely and invites anyone and everyone to stroll on in and strut their stuff.

Despite public perceptions, the art world isn't anything like a closed shop: Curators, dealers and critics are always on a desperate hunt for new makers of new kinds of art, and they'll take it absolutely anywhere they can get it. Well-known mid-career artists are the ones who tend to face neglect; the hot young things that no one's seen before are where the action is. I guarantee that anyone with talent who might be discovered at a show like Artomatic would have had a fine chance of being discovered anyway.

After all, there are already lots of institutions dedicated to finding and displaying novel talent in the arts. Several alternative and artist-run spaces in the Washington area -- DCAC, Flashpoint, Transformer and others -- consider almost anything that comes over the transom. Their organizers tell me that the problem isn't a surplus of submissions; programming tends to suffer because they have too few options to choose among.

There may be a remote chance that such a person has been laboring unrecognized in a garret somewhere in Washington and that only Artomatic could have coaxed him out of hiding. But it's about as likely as finding a genius cavity-filler lurking in our dental open house.

Real, worthwhile art, the kind that says something that hasn't been said a million times before, requires carefully honed, hard-to-acquire skills -- sometimes manual, always visual and intellectual. Almost all artists worth the time of day know what's come before them, understand what's being made around them, and then -- against the odds and with terrifically hard work -- manage, every now and then, to make an art object that can contribute to the larger cultural conversation.

But somehow, over several decades now, we've bought into the nutty idea that fine art matters so very little, and is such easy stuff, that everyone and anyone can make it. (Actually, the idea has disappeared almost entirely among the kind of art professionals and intellectuals who suggested it in the first place, around the turn of the last century. The idea of art-by-anyone at first met with stiff public opposition, even ridicule; I'm only sorry it finally managed to catch on.)

For almost the entire history of Western culture, art was not conceived as something just anyone could or should make. Imagine living in Renaissance Florence and telling one of your Medici pals that you were going to have the family altarpiece painted by Joe Blow the baker, who felt like giving it a try. It would have seemed a joke. An Artomatic would have seemed sheer lunacy. Ditto if you had lived in Rembrandt's Amsterdam, Gainsborough's London or the Paris of Monet. For most of the last 500 years, dentists have been seen as less professional a bunch than artists.

Or worse. A show like Artomatic, in theory organized and stocked by lovers and supporters of fine art, is actively insulting to all the genuinely talented artists who have managed the long slog to a professional career.

You'd think that the purpose of a public exhibition would be to give the public a fair chance of seeing interesting art. Or you might think that it could serve emerging artists, too, by giving them a chance to learn from the best work that's out there. But what useful purpose is served in showing work by anyone who wants to have it seen, however awful it may be? How can an art exhibition be counted as anything other than a dismal failure when it's so bad overall?

I don't blame the people who made this work, bad as it mostly is. This is, as they say, a free country, and if someone wants to mess around with art supplies at home, then only their nearest and dearest have the right to complain. It's the basic premise of this show that is so badly at fault.

There may just be a few decent things hidden in the mix -- with so many thousands of objects on display, the law of averages says there must be. But three hours' worth of looking didn't spot too many. Some of the glasswork looked all right. (Glass is such a gorgeous medium it's hard to screw it up, and you need some basic training even to begin to work in it.) There were a few political one-liners that had some heft. But with works hung pell-mell and cheek-by-jowl in every corner of five floors of shabby rooms and corridors -- lighted by fluorescent tubes and the cheapest clip-on floods -- anything good was bound to get obscured by mediocrity. There's not even an attempt to keep like works together, or to craft oases of somewhat more polished art.

I won't dwell on the art. And I certainly won't name names. No one needs to know who made the wallfuls of amateur watercolors, yards of incompetent oil paintings, acres of trite street photography and square miles of naive installation art that will be polluting this innocent old building for the next three weeks. There's something for everyone to hate. The rest are works only a mother could love.

The result is the second-worst display of art I've ever seen. The only one to beat it out, by the thinnest of split hairs, was the 2002 Artomatic, which was worse only by virtue of being even bigger and in an even more atrocious space, down by the waterfront in a vacant modern office building.

After all, it could hardly be more excruciating than this year's Artomatic, the fourth edition of the District's creative free-for-all, which opens tomorrow. Organizers have gotten about 600 local "artists" -- anyone who could ante up the $60 fee and 15 hours of his or her time, in fact -- to display their creations. They're on show in the sprawling, scruffy building in north Capitol Hill that once housed the Capital Children's Museum and several charter schools.

I'll be at the front of the line.

Here's a fine idea. Let's find an abandoned school and then invite local dentists to ply their trade, free of charge, in its crumbling classrooms, peeling corridors and dripping toilets. Okay, so maybe we won't get practicing dentists to come, but we might get some dental students, hygienists and retirees to join in our Happy Tooth festival. What the heck, let's not be elitists here: Why don't we just invite anyone with a yen for tooth work or some skill with drills to give it a go. Then we can all line up, open wide and see what happens.

MY [Bailey's] WORDS:

Let’s not be too rough on Mr. Gopnick. Antereograde Amnesia can be terribly debilitating and frequently leads to a great deal of confusion when communicating with a person who has lost the ability to form new memories.

Sincerely,

James W. Bailey

The Washington Post's online forum on Artomatic and Gopnik is finally accepting new comments. See them here.

J.T. Kirkland over at Thinking About Art steps into the Artomatic firestorm and gets an earful from his commenters. He also challenges Victoria McKernan's dismissal of Dan Flavin.

This is all a measure of Artomatic's success no matter what you think about the art. Both the BLOGsphere and the lamestream media are full of letters, comments, articles, etc. about the show.

This says that (regardless of how you feel about the art and the artists), this is the most important art event that happens in DC every couple of years.

And who knows whom the undiscovered jewels in this year's Artomatic are?

I have several top ten lists in the wings waiting to be published. Past Artomatics have given us people who are now well-known respected artists such as Dan Steinhilber, Tim Tate, Adam Bradley, Dumbacher Brothers, Richard Chartier, Scott Hutchison and many others.