Options 2005 Opening Tonight

Anybody who is anybody in our area's visual arts universe, and maybe even those who only frequent the same 2-3 galleries, but comment in general terms about all of our galleries and area artists, will be at the Options 2005 opening tonight.

I have my usual Thursday night martial arts class (and I missed last week's because of California travel), so I will miss the opening. The reception is from 6:30-8:30PM at the former Staples store in Georgetown (located at 3307 M Street, NW).

Someone please email me some comments and/or some photos of the opening.

New Blog

Andrew Wodzianski, who will be having his second solo exhibition with us opening next October 21st at our Georgetown gallery, will really be pushing the technology button in this coming exhibition through the use of innovative audio technology advances.

And in the next few weeks, our local media and you all will be hearing a lot in the DC area about Yellow Arrows.

More on that and Andrew's exhibition later; meanwhile, The Zodiac Group has a new variation on the art blog with Wodcast: A Blog dedicated to the use of technology for artist and audience interaction.

Visit Wodcast here.

Holy Cow!

I once warned people not to piss off that amazing human word-processing Carbon unit known as Bailey.

Read the evidence here.

Additions to the collection

Last night I went to the Art-O-Matic happy hour at Warehouse, and while there, I ran into Alexandra Silverthorne, who was busily hanging her show upstairs. Alexandra has one of the three second floor galleries; the other two being filled by the intelligent work of Joe Barbaccia and Pat Dunning.

So I went upstairs to look the work, and came away with two of Alexandra's photographs, which by the way: are a steal; and which by the way: are one of a kind Holga silverprints; and which by the way: she's donating half of the proceeds to Empower DC, Project Northstar, Charlie's Place, and other local organizations that provide services to DC's low-income and homeless residents.



The three person show is up for viewing now at Warehouse, and the opening reception is Thursday, October 13th, 6-8PM. Preview Alexandra's work here.

Looking for some couples

Chris Combs is a photojournalism intern at the Washingtonpost.Newsweek Interactive and a photojournalism student at the Corcoran College of Art and Design, and he's working on a project documenting both inter-racial (Caucasian, Black, Asian and Native American) and inter-ethnic (Hispanic, Arabic, Persian, Laplander, etc.) couples and "the struggles they face in a surprisingly skeptical society."

Interested couples can contact Chris via email or call him at 703/304.8241

Wanna go to an opening?

Tonight is the Art for Life preview and opening (6:30 to 8:30 pm) at the Toro Mata Gallery (2410 18th Street NW, Washington, DC). This is one of my favorite art auctions and a major fundraiser for the Whitman-Walker Clinic. See the work online here.

Tomorrow night is the opening for the long awaited WPA/C Options 2005 exhibition. The show and reception is at the former Staples store located at 3307 M Street, NW in Georgetown. The opening reception is Thursday, October 6, 2005, from 6:30-8:30 pm. I will have have to miss the opening to this important and long awaited show, as I have martial arts classes on Thursday nights, but I certainly plan to visit and review this show later on. Of the artists chosen by the curator (Dr. Libby Lumpkin), I am only familiar with the work of the fair Amanda Sauer, so it should be a refreshing exhibition (for me); the exhibiting artists are:

Julian Bayo Abiodun
Judy Baumann
Jorge Benitez
Anne Benolken
Sheila Blake
Chadd Caldwell
Kimberly Caputo-Heath
Tim DeVoe
Suzanna Fields
Lynn Galuzzo
Emily Hall
Lori Larusso
Ryan Mulligan
Mark Robarge
Lindsay Rogers
Amanda Sauer
Gary Thompson
George "Gia" Tkbladze
Randy Toy
Susan Noyes Vaughan

Friday is the first Friday of the month and thus the openings and extended hours for the galleries of Dupont Circle. On view through October 22 at Conner Contemporary is Julee Holcombe: "Homo Bulla (Man is a Bubble)" and Mary Coble: "Note to Self." A few steps down, Washington Printmakers Gallery has Earthprints, recent monotypes, monoprints, and linocuts by Jean Barnes Downs. At Gallery 10, I am looking forward to seeing "Fortune," an exhibition of new work by Carol Lukitsch. She is donating 30% of the proceeds from sales from the show to the Katrina Artists' Fund. Over at JET Artworks, it is the last chance to catch "Go Figure," which includes the work of the amazing Alessandra Torres. Read a review of Torres by Kriston Capps here. If I were ever to buy art solely as an investment, Alessandra Torres, is one of the artists whom I'd be stocking up on now. I predict an amazing future for this exceptionally talented and driven young artist (now living in New York).

In Bethesda, Justin Pyles will be exhibiting at the Orchard Gallery through October 14, 2005. A reception will be held on Friday, October 7, from 6-9pm. The gallery is located at 7917 Woodmont Avenue in Bethesda. Call 202/497-1912 for more information.

On Saturday, it is the Capitol Hill Art League's season opening show: "Poetry in Motion." This is a juried show, open to the League's membership and it is juried by Max-Karl Winkler, a printmaker and teacher at the Smithsonian and the Waldorf School. The opening reception is Saturday, October 8 from 5-7 pm. The gallery is located at 545 7th Street, SE, at the Capitol Hill Arts Workshop.

Also on Saturday, the Gallery at Pierce School Lofts hosts the opening reception of its exhibition of photographs by Secondsight member Antonia Macedo and paintings by Bev Ryan from at 4-7PM. The exhibition runs through November 6 and the gallery is located at 1375 Maryland Ave, NE, Washington, D.C. 20002 and phone is (202) 543-3379.

If you rather hang around Alexandria, then on Saturday, Pa Dian Accents has a reception for Autumn in Color, a collection of more than 20 works by Nigerian artist Lola Akimade and Lebanese artist Jinan Jaber. The opening reception is on Saturday, October 8 from 4:00 to 7:00 pm. The event will be sponsored by D Street Desserts and runs through the 14th.

If I've missed any openings, email me.

Money + Art - An Inside Look at the Art Market

The Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum offers a wide range of public programs and workshops, and on Thursday, October 20, at 7PM they will present what sounds like an interesting event: an illustrated lecture with collector Barbara Guggenheim titled: Money + Art - An Inside Look at the Art Market.

According to the news release, "Barbara Guggenheim, president of Guggenheim Asher Associates, gives us an insider's look into the complex and ever-changing art market. For more than twenty years, she has advised both private collectors and corporations on how to successfully build an art collection, and she regularly contributes articles with titles such as "How to Start an Art Collection" and "Adventures on eBay" to popular magazines. She will share her insights into what to do and what not to do for beginning collectors."

For additional information, email saamprograms@si.edu or call (202) 233-0667.

Irvine Contemporary at Scope Miami

Irvine Contemporary will be participating in the Scope Miami art fair, which is held concurrently with ArtBasel/Miami, December 1-4, 2005.

Their featured artist in Miami will be Bede Murphy, a Brooklyn-based artist who will also have a solo show at Irvine this coming January. A selection of works by other gallery artists will also be on view and available at Scope Miami.

Art-O-Matic Happy Hour

There will be an Art-O-Matic next year, and tonight there is a happy hour (6-8PM) gathering at Warehouse Cafe, Theatre and Gallery Complex on 7th Street, NW.

This informal gathering is a chance to catch up with AOM friends and like-minded artists. Come hear what has happened in 2005 and what is in the hopper for 2006.

There will be an event in 2006 -- they're aiming for the Fall of 2006. Come by tonight and find out how you can be a part of the 2006 AOM.

Congrats!

To area photographer Prescott Moore Lassman, whose photograph "White Horse" received the Gold Award in Black & White Magazine's prestigious first annual Single Image Contest.

Black & White Magazine is a nationally distributed art magazine that specializes in black & white photography.

According to Scott, the magazine received over 5,000 entries from over 900 individual photographers. The winning images are reproduced in B&W's Contest Annual, which just became available in bookstores and newsstands nationwide.

Traffic and Turtles

Talking (or actually writing) about traffic and hits, John Martin over at Art in the City points out an article by Kristin Royce in The Artrepreneur on how to increase traffic to your art blog.

Read "How to Increase Traffic to Your Artist Blog: 7 Free Ways to Promote Your Blog" online here.

John also has a posting announcing that the University of Maryland is now seeking artists to participate in a University sponsored public art project: "Fear the Turtle."

Maryland is going to be putting out 50 fiberglass sculptures of Testudo, the school mascot, as a means to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the school. Call for proposals is here and artists can get more info here. The deadline for proposals is October 7, 2005.

I can already hear the heartburn boiling inside a couple of wrathful art blogers (and an art critic or two), neither one of whom (I suspect), has ever set foot inside College Park.

Fear the Turtle! Man... Blake Gopnik is going to love this...

Shape of things to come

I've got a lot of openings and art stuff to discuss and promote as I try to get back into the art groove after spending over a week in the Left Coast with an ornery laptop. Come back later.

I'm also getting an unusually and constant high number of visitors today from all over the world. Wonder what triggered that? but to all new visitors: Hello and come back often!

A trip to Alexandria

Before I left for my latest left coast venture, I spent a few hours in Old Town Alexandria (as opposed to Old Town San Diego, which is really cool, not to say that Old Town Alexandria is not cool)... anyway, herewith some notes on that visit to our Southern suburb...

Count on the Art League to deliver a terrific group show each month. That should be an art aficionado’s mantra.

And the most recent juried show was selected by Howard Paine, the former art director of National Geographic Magazine, and a regular juror at the Art League (this is the 6th show that he has juried!).

And such an experienced juror brings some good advice to artists.

Payne states that he brings a selection process that is "intuitive, based on decades of looking and working with art, So I almost immediately know what seems right and what seems wrong, overall, or uncertain details of color, composition, perspective, or even framing."

Good for Payne! And this is often the main difference in a show selected by a new juror, as opposed to an experienced juror, and yet Paine walks right into one of my pet peeves in juried art shows when he says also: "I try to select a balance of subject matter and techniques." And while that it what most jurors go for, it is what I avoid personally. When I jury a show, whenever possible I aim to leave a focused show that leaves a footprint on what I like, and my shows disregard 100% of that stuff that I don’t appreciate (read "like") in art.

Paine selected a large semi-abstract painting by Marcia Dullum, titled "Tribute to Bonnard" as the winner of the Shayna Heisman Simkin Award and issued 16 Honorable Mentions.

After walking the show a couple of times, my own selections are a bit different (as usual), and I first of all, I was absolutely amazed by a brilliant oil by an artist named E. Atzl titled "Vidalia," and which depicts the famous onions in absolutely full and total mastery of the oil medium, but with that added touch of genius that takes such a mundane subject and elevates it to the sublime level.

Because I’ve never seen Atzl’s work before, I asked about the artist; and to my next level of astonishment, I was told that it was the work of the 17-year-old daughter of one of the Torpedo Factory artists. "Vidalia" is a classical painting, and perhaps that’s why it was ignored by Paine for an award. It is however; the best oil in the show, and although vastly overpriced at $1250, it represents an amazing new discovery of obviously a hugely talented young artist.

By the way, someone should check the water at the Factory; this is at least the third teenaged offspring of a Factory artist who has managed to astound me in the last few years. Prior to her I was left speechless when I first saw the watercolors by Jenny Davis, daughter of one of the Factory’s best watercolorists: Tanya Davis.

My other top choices for this show were Susan Herron’s "Road at Tilghman Island," an exquisite and loose landscape painting (and a steal at $400), and Sheep Jones’ "Allium Akaka." I cannot say enough good things as to how good both these artists are; their work is immediately recognizable as theirs, and it just keeps getting better and better.

I also liked Fae Penland-Gertsch’s sexy red shoes watercolor titled "Inner Soul," Jackie Saunders "Three Views of Alan," and a gorgeous charcoal drawing by M. Slater titled "Solitude."

"Solitude" was by far the best drawing in the show, but it was unfortunately badly framed under acidic double mats and the charcoal was not properly fixed, and had already begun to drip charcoal bits on the cut edge of the mat. Tsk, tsk...

In the Art League’s solo show, painter Michele Rea’s watercolors for "Urban Survivors" (the title of her show) had done exceptionally well. When I walked through, over half the large paintings had been sold. "Urban Survivors" focuses on exceptional city features of Rea’s two favorite places: New York and Chicago.

The Art League’s nearby neighbor, Target Gallery, had "Role Play: The Definition of Self in Contemporary Society," another juried exhibition. This one was curated by my good friend J.W. Mahoney, a well-known DC area artist, teacher, curator, and art critic for Art in America magazine.

Mahoney selected a mixed bag show, which is often the direct result of the pool of entries submitted for a juried competition. The best entry in the show (by far) are three macabre digital pieces by Stephanie Hocker titled "Fear 4,5,6."

I liked them because they are so adept at standing out in the show, and because they use the magic of digitalism well. I also liked Trish Klenow’s two entries "Reborn Self" and "Self Portrait in Yellow" because they were not only good paintings, but also because they gave me a peep into the artist herself. Also on my short list was Laurel Hausler "Paxil," a quirky painting that was funny and intelligent – sort of a modern "Las Dos Fridas."

Upstairs, after visiting Rosemary Feit Covey’s studio, and after going gaga over her last project, which involves the creation of whole new set of her amazing wood engravings focused on the theme of head operations, head trauma, the brain, etc., I came away, as I always do, realizing that Feit Covey is one of the most amazing artists in our area, and another one that the Corcoran should add to their short list of ignored area artists deserving a retrospective.

Still on cloud nine from Feit Covey’s works, I visited Multiple Exposures Gallery to see the landscape photographs of Colleen Spencer Henderson, and I was again very impressed how digitalism is making old things new.

There isn’t a single photograph in this show that doesn’t owe a debt to the great masters of landscape photography, but there isn’t a single photograph in this show that also doesn’t carve a new road for this talented photographer, who has flexed the power of digital color so as to blur the line between what nature offers the photographer and what Colleen has muscled in through the magic of ink and dyes and bits. For example, "Blue Moonlight," a tiny photograph ostensibly of clouds, is not about clouds at all, as the digital medium’s exaggerated colorization of the blue, has yielded an exceptional, intimate work that pushes deep into the realm of color and abstraction while seducing us with a hint of recognition.

Bravo Colleen!

Airborne today and heading back home with a ton of stuff to post and discuss!

Things that make me go Mmmmm...

Still in San Diego, working hard, but this weekend visiting some "galleries" in the San Diego and La Jolla area... and some thoughts about things that make me go mmmm...

• Art galleries that have a locked door and you have to be buzzed in, and once you are buzzed in, no one says a word to you.

• Art Bloger(s) who have a page counter, but then put it under a password to hide their number of visitors, lest we all discoverer what an insignificant number of people we all reach on a daily basis.

• Art galleries where it takes an Act of Congress to get a price list or a listing.

• Right wingers who opposed the invasion of the Balkan nations but who endorsed the invasion of Iraq.

• Left wingers who applauded the invasion of the Balkan nations but who opposed the invasion of Iraq.

• Washington museum curators who travel all over the world to see emerging artists' works, but who will not visit Washington galleries or area artists' studios.

• Newspaper culture editors who have seldom set foot inside a museum or art gallery in the city that they are supposed to cover.

• Newspaper art critics who do not write about their city's art and artists.

• Huge major local corporations who ignore local art groups pleas for help in funding, while some small businesses contribute generously.

• Art galleries with contracts where the artist is responsible for the cost(s) of an exhibition.

• Writers, commentators, critics and blogers who bitch about everything and anything without ever actually doing anything constructive to solve the issue at hand.

• Old right wingers who immediately dismiss anything that young liberals have to offer, while forgetting that most likely they were once young lefties.

• Young left wingers (who one day will most likely age into old right wingers) who boo and shout down anyone that they disagree with, all the while apparently espousing freedom of speech.

• People who have never run an art gallery, but who are always giving out advise on how to run one.

• Drivers who never use their turn signals.

• Senior citizens driving huge RVs, and who leave their turn signal on for miles and miles.

• Grubs who come into the gallery, head straight for the food and wine, grab some of each and go back outside without even a glance at the artwork.

• Otherwise law-abidding citizens who think it is OK to leave their dog shit on your lawn.

Boot Camp for Artists

On Sunday, Nov. 13, 2005, we will present another one of our highly successful "Success as an Artist" Seminars. This next seminar will be jointly hosted with the good people from Art-O-Matic, and the Warehouse Theater, Café and Gallery, on Sunday, Nov. 13, 2005 from 10:30-6PM, with lunch provided.

The seven hour seminar, which has been taken by over 2,000 artists and arts professionals from all over the Mid Atlantic is designed to deliver information, data and proven tactics to allow artists to develop and sustain a career in the fine arts. The seminar costs $80 (includes lunch) and is limited to 50 people. For more details please visit this website. For this seminar, sometimes called "Boot Camp for Artists" by the attendees, people as far as Arizona, California, New York and South Carolina have attended, including many, many university level art professionals.

In its seven hour format, the seminar covers a wide range of structured issues including:

1. Materials - Buying materials;strategies for lowering your costs, where and how to get it, etc.

2. Presentation – How to properly present your artwork including Conservation issues, Archival Matting and Framing, Longevity of materials, a discussion on Limited editions, signing and numbering, Prints vs. Reproduction, discussion on Iris Prints (Pros and Cons).

3. Creating a resume - Strategy for building your art resume, including how to write one, what should be in it, presentation, etc.

4. Juried Shows – An Insider's view and strategy to get in the competitions.

5. How to take slides and photographs of your artwork

6. Selling your art – A variety of avenues to actually selling your artwork, including fine arts festivals, corporate acquisitions, galleries, public arts, etc.

7. Creating a Body of Works

8. How to write a news release

9. Publicity – How to get in newspapers, magazines, etc. Plus handouts on email and addresses of newspaper critics, writers, etc.

10. Galleries – Discussion on area galleries including Vanity Galleries, Co-Operatives, Commercial Galleries, Non-profit Art spaces, etc.

11. How to approach a gallery – Realities of the business, Contracts, Gallery/Artist Relationship, Agents.

12. Outdoor Art Festivals – Discussion and advice on how to sell outwork at fine arts festivals, which to do, which to avoid, etc.

13. Resources - Display systems and tents, best juried shows and ones to avoid.

14. Accepting Credit cards – How to set up your art business.

15. Grants – Discussion on how to get grants in DC, Regional and National, including handouts on who and where and when.

16. Alternative Marketing - Cable TV, Local media

17. Internet – How to build your website at no cost, how to establish a wide and diverse Internet presence.

The seminar has been a spectacular success, and the feedback from artists can be read online at here and we continue to receive tremendous positive feedback on the practical success that this seminar has meant for those who have taken it.

You can sign up for the seminar at 301/718-9651 (starting next week) or via email (immediately) at info@thefrasergallery.com. Hurry, as the 50 spaces usually book very quickly, and we already have a bunch of people signed up (they already were on a wait-list from the last time that the seminar was offered and sold out).

Marianela de la Hoz

When I visited the Mirrors/Espejos exhibition currently at the Cultural Institute of Mexico, I immediately fell in love with the tiny paintings of Mexican artist Marianela de la Hoz.

Last night I had dinner with her (she lives in San Diego), and I am happy to report that we will be bringing her work to the DC area in the future; meanwhile go see her amazing work at the Institute.

Galleries in Mags

I haven't seen the magazines yet, but I am told that the Washington Flyer magazine has an excellent article on the 14th Street galleries. You can read that article online here. Other than one to-be-expected negative and typically ill informed, fact-less opinion/quote, it's a super article by Heather Morgan Shott, which describes the art scene around the many galleries now clustered around the 14th street corridor, and rightfully so focuses on the hard work of Sarah and Patrick of Fusebox in becoming the initial gallery magnet for that area.

And the first issue of the huge new super glossy DC, published by Modern Luxury is also out, and this first issue has a profile of the Hirshhorn's Olga Viso and also a profile and discussion of our upcoming Georgetown video/painting show by Scott Hutchison.

Let's hope that DC magazine continues to pay attention to our area's visual art scene, and let's also hope that Washington Flyer continues to discuss our city's widespread gallery pockets in future issues.

Well Done!

Tate, Cojones and Bailey

Edward Winkleman reports on the Tate's decision to remove artwork from an exhibit. Read it here.

Bailey reacts. Read that here.

In San Diego

Aaaargh! no time to write... more later!

But while I am here, someone asked me where I get my models and references for my work. I have worked a lot in the past from the live model, but these days and for years now, I've been working mostly from photographs (I have a huge set of photos of models in millions of poses that I've taken over the years) as well as reference books for artists. My favorite in these is Thomas Easley's The Figure in Motion, where many, many of my drawings come from.

Like a lot of postmodernist artists, I also appropriate a lot of images from many sources that assault my visual senses everyday and I keep a file of pages and images that have been taken from magazines, newspapers, catalogs, etc. to be re-worked at some point on a new idea, setting, process, etc.