Maggie Michael at G Fine Art

By Katie Tuss

Washington, DC based artist Maggie Michael's third solo show with G Fine Art, "Open End," draws to a close with a party this Saturday from 6-8 pm at the 14th Street gallery.

Michael derived her new body of work from an explosion drawing she exhibited in September 2005. The paintings are expansive and complex, controlled and graceful, and executed with thoughtful precision.

The majority of the paintings featured in Open End are composed as if in momentary suspension between restraint and release. Michael uses latex house paint to create thick, organic forms that often read as internal organs or body extensions. These forms create disparate, yet cohesive images that overlap and merge bold colors, with frequent black accents, across a uniform neutral background.

Spray-painted details and meticulously placed contour lines further define the drips, tendrils, and masses of paint that fill the canvas. These meandering lines become veins, musculature, or just visual infrastructure along the way.

"Valley: bat" is one of the smaller pieces in the show, but has one of the heaviest applications of paint, which Michael allowed to run off and gather on the side of the canvas. A portion of the top layer of paint has been peeled away from the painting like a used bandage or a flap of skin, and is held in place by a piece of tape. The layer underneath is exposed and vulnerable, showing strings of paint that seem to be entrails.

Michael uses this partial deconstruction of a thoroughly crafted piece and subsequent revelation of a vulnerable layer to maintain a delicate balance between growth and deconstruction, healing and injury.

"Cage," another painting in the exhibition, is a tightly executed cascade of irregular shapes, drips, and lines moving down the center of the canvas. The dominant black heart shape anchors the composition, with its tail streaming behind it, transient yet momentarily frozen.

G Fine Art is located at 1515 14th St. NW, Washington, DC.

Baltimore gallery space option

Light Street Gallery in Baltimore has two gallery spaces, one of which is located upstairs above the Main Floor Gallery. This upstairs space is available for sublet to artists and craftspeople to exhibit their artwork.

The space is available to artists, art dealers, artist representatives, art brokers, and independent curators. The space can be used for a solo exhibit or a group show, wherein the artists share the rental expenses, and it is not necessary for Artists to live within the region to sublet the gallery.

For more information, check out their website at www.lightstreetgallery.com or contact Linda Krensky, Owner & Gallery Director at 410.234.0047

LRA Online

Chawky Frenn recently juried the The League of Reston Artists Annual Judged All Media Theme Exhibition in Reston, VA and you can see his selections in a cool slide show here.

And if you think that serious political art is not being made by DC area artists, then you haven't seen the work of Professor Frenn!

Go Vote

Do not forget to go vote today - otherwise your bitching rights are rescinded.

I voted for the first time as a Pennsylvanian today and was somewhat surprised by the fact that I just walked in, they asked my name, found it in the book, had me sign it, and that was it.

"Don't you need to see some sort of ID," I asked.

They looked scared, as if I was setting them up.

"No," said the lady; 90 seconds later I was done.

Interesting... I find it amazing that you need ID to buy cigarrettes or booze if you look anything under 30 (although I still haven't figured out where I can get a six pack in this state), and you need ID to cash a check, and you need ID to get on a plane, and my local supermarket wants ID if you charge over $80 to your credit card, but no ID is needed to vote.

City Hall Art Collection Comments

I've been overwhelmed by the number of comments that you have emailed me about the new City Hall Art Collection, and have somewhat fallen behind posting them. Below are a few, with more to come. I am also told that Jessica Dawson will have a review in the Washington Post this coming Saturday and there will be an article in the WaPo's Metro section on Thursday -- I think in the District Extra.

Comments:

Tim Tate wrote:

"At the opening last night at the Wilson building it was community building at its finest. Probably 3/4 of the artists represented were in attendance.... and they represented a comprehensive and thoughtful cross section of the Washington art scene, from the old guard to the newest burgeoning faces.

Sondra Arkin once again pulled off a wonderful flawless event with all the enthusiasm that she puts into Art-o-matic. While is was great to see surprises around every corner (from new artists you weren't familiar with to new directions from artists we knew), the real pleasure was to see work from the artists we've come to know well in DC. it somehow felt comfortable, as the city's collection should feel.

My favorite wall included works by Rima Schulkind, Margaret Boozer and Sean Hennessey. Each of these pieces worked incredibly well together and represented an established artist, a new artist and a new direction for another established artist.

Some of the work you hoped top see was there.... William Christenbery, Sam Gilliam and six wonderful Gene Davis pieces. Also some of the older school had some great pieces like Judy Jashinsky, and Richard Dana and Ellen Weiss.

Two smaller repetitive works had a great sense of discovery about them. One was from Georgie Deal and one from Lynn Putney, who share a similar sensibility. Also two smaller paintings by Andrew Wodzianski had all the depth and lusciousness of his larger works.

The collection as a whole was spectacular and extremely professionally well done. It seemed to have always belonged in that space. I hear there will be a second round of purchasing, so all those who didn't have work ready for the last call will be getting another chance. I'm sure Lenny will post it on his this site!"

Adam Griffiths wrote:

"Sorry to hear you didn't make the opening, it was pretty great. A lot of abstract work, but quite a variety of stuff. Presentation was great, although some pieces were tucked away in offices that weren't open until halfway through the night.

Wow! There was a lot of art to look at, and all of the selections were exceptional. There was an excellent Gilliam piece on the first floor, and two nice Renee Stouts.

And while I don't seek to make a large point of it, there really wasn't that much representational work in the show. In addition, it seems that wall-friendly work took priority over 3D artworks. There seemed to be plenty of places for sculpture to go in the building, but I guess when the building was remodeled, no one thought to put in more than the few 1st floor niches for future artworks. Otherwise, I must say I was quite pleased with it.

The complimentary catalogue was very beautiful and is definitely worth seeking out if you know someone who got one.

The place was really packed by 7pm and you could barely move in the center hall. Lots of people watched the opening remarks from balconies all the way from the 5th floor. Linda Cropp gave a speech that I could barely hear from the back of the room, but people were quite excited by it. Otherwise, the energy was pleasant just about everywhere I went, I saw some artists talking to folks about their work, and people eating the yummy fruit and buffalo wings from Whole Foods (there was a line at each table setting on every floor and the food lasted about an hour from 6pm to 7pm)."

Andrew Wodzianski wrote:

"The reception was a blast, and the collection is truly awesome in scope/breadth. I have only three
criticisms:

1) While a majority of the artwork had gorgeous frames, a few pieces suffered from poor presentation. Glare from glass was a main culprit.

2) I don't recall the submission requirements, but there were too few sculptures (in the round).

3) Political back slapping. Linda Cropp and Anthony Williams are windbags.

Still, those are minor complaints for such a large exhibit in such a large venue."

Karen Joan Topping wrote:

"Frankly, I'm impressed and amazed at the wonderful job that has been done with presenting the first group in the city's art collection.

The range of style displayed in the actual art objects purchased was professional, daring, and spot on. With only, what-153 pieces?, from established and emerging artists alike it is a collection that is ready to expose DC artists to a broader audience. From Margaret Boozer's process-oriented clay relief wall hanging to Judy Jashinsky's character portraits, to Pat Goslee's abstract encaustic painting, all in addition to some household 'names', the collection definitively gives voice to the great range and depth of talent that has been present in DC for decades.

Yet, as a 15 year artist-resident of DC, what I am most refreshed by is that while the art scene in DC may have been provincial in the past, this collection stands as tangible proof that the actual art & artists are not and never have been the P-word. It seems like the rest of the city is finally catching up with what those of us practicing in 'the field' already knew.

I was quite amazed to see the number of catalogs and maps that were given away at the opening. The business side of my brain says BRAVO - commitment to that kind of documentation will do wonders for promoting the city and no doubt inject a new fire into a 'scene' that has come a long, long way. That kind of fancy paper is one of the best ways to get non-artists on the outside of the scene to come on in because it lets them bring the experience into their home and life in a tangible way. Bravo to the city for financially making it happen.

I've only read about half of the catalog. There's a surprising amount of text, though given the weird color on a few of reproductions, I guess they had artist’s provide their own reproductions. I’d be curious to know.

If I have any criticism, it is that while each of these authors that contributed has done a great job capturing a slice of the collection, the fact that one section reads like an art history text, another like a press release, another a scientific manual; I find it a bit jarring. Turns out I know a few of these authors, so while I know why their piece sounds like it does, maybe a little more than a job title by each authors' name would have introduced each specific POV.

I'm being uber-critical here because the catalog is really, really nice and having worked at a museum and been on the fringes of the trials involved in making this kind of document, what is present in this HeART of DC catalog is an aspiration for producing a catalog nothing short of the gold ring, it just so happens on this first time around they only got the silver.

But that is just in terms of the catalog, which is a fleeting document at best. I'll say it again, the conceptual work that went into these first purchases and the quality of the art objects-SPOT ON!"

Also, JT Kirkland has a quick set of comments here.

And later this week, together with several DC area art museum curators, I'll be walking the collection myself, and hope to provide you with my and their comments.

Mama Love

DMV photographer Camille Pasley is one of the District's hardest working photographers in all her incarnations. Photos from her soon to be published book "Mama Love" go on view this week at Touchstone Gallery in Downtown DC. The opening reception is Friday, November 10, 6-8:30pm and the 3rd Thursday Gallery Walk is November 16, 6-8pm.

This is an opportunity for collectors to acquire images from the book at pre publication prices. Visit here for details.

Shock & Awe: Artists Look at War

Since according to what the press and pollsters have been hammering into our collective voting will for months now, the election is all but over, and Nancy Pelosi is packing up her office for her move down the hall, and DC area moving companies are in a hiring frenzy to pick up all those hard-working guys who hang around Casa de Maryland, tomorrow, after you vote, then go to the Warehouse in DC, for a good ole political art show: "Shock & Awe: Artists Look at War."

Artwork hangs in all of Warehouse's eight galleries, and the reception is from 6-8PM, although Molly is also having an election night party to watch the victorious returns on the tube -- with drink specials - all night!

"Shock and Awe" features work by 32 artists: John Aaron, Sondra Arkin, Paul Bishow, Laura Elkins, Gabriella Bulisova, Tom Drymon, Dana Ellyn, Garth Gardner, Seth Gomoljak, Jason Gottlieb, Ken Gwira, J Gavin Heck, Michael Janis, Mark Jenkins, Joroko, Joanne Kent, Karl Kressbach, Heather Levy, Carolina Mayorga, Paul Notzold, Piero Passacantando, Dino Paxenos, Mark Planisek, Rima Schulkind, Matt Sesow, Erwin Timmers, Ruth Trevarrow, The Scroll Project*, Joanne Wasserman, Ellyn Weiss, Andrew Wodzianski and Peter Wood.

Hirshhorn Looking for New Art Curator

The Hirshhorn is looking for a new Associate Art curator! Salary range is $54,272 - $70,558.

The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, seeks an experienced museum professional to serve as Associate Curator with a focus on modern art. This position is responsible for conducting research relevant to the understanding, use, loan, display, and care of works of art in the collection, with particular emphasis on modern works (up to 1959).

Candidates should also have an interest in and familiarity with contemporary art. Position identifies international work for potential and organizes temporary exhibitions and collection installations. In addition, position serves as coordinator for exhibitions organized by other institutions traveling to the Hirshhorn.

Please see announcement # 07JW-7007 at www.sihr.si.edu for the full description and application instructions/procedures. This is a federal position that closes November 20, 2006. The Smithsonian Institution is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

13

"My Secret" - the new PostSecret book by Frank Warren - hit the # 13 spot on the New York Times Bestseller list this past week.

Camera Works

I know that I'm constantly hammering the WaPo for their miserable and pathetic coverage of the Greater DC area visual art scene, especially when viewed in the context of their decent coverage of theatre, dance and music, and their unexplainable orgasmic coverage of fashion shows.

But as a good friend pointed out to me recently, they do deserve some kudos for their exceptional Camera Works feature on their online site.

This slideshow of the photography of Korda is perhaps the best example of what can be done online when a newspaper's leadership wants to do something different and right.

Tangent: Most of Korda's original vintage photographs, the ones which he actually kept for his own private records, and which he gave to one of his daughters a few years before his passing, made their way to the United States when the daughter escaped from Castro's island prison. They are now in the possession of a private collector in Bethesda, as well as many letters and notes from Korda. I mention this in case some DC-based (or any place) curator ever wants to mount a Korda retrospective in the US and wants access to the original vintage work.

Back to Camera Works.

I also share my friend's favorite online column: Frank Van Riper on Photography.

His recent article discusses vintage photographs and a previous article by Frank Van Riper: "The Wet Room Lives!" was also extremely informative and interesting.

F.L. Wall at Ewing Gallery

Remember Seven? The massive seven gallery show which I curated (with the exceptional help of Sandra Fernandez and Adrian Schneck) for the WPA/Corcoran last year?

In the past, I've been sharing with you the various emerging artists who picked up gallery representation through exposure via that huge exhibition.

Add another one: F.L. Wall opens tomorrow, Friday, November 3rd with a reception from 6 - 8 pm at the Kathleen Ewing Gallery in DC, and Wall writes to me that he was picked up by my good friend Kathleen based in part on his exposure via "Seven."

Wall's show runs through December 22, 2006.

Kanchan Balse's first solo

It's always a memorable event in an artist's career when that first solo show takes place, and next Saturday November 4, with an opening from 6:30-8pm at Dumbarton Concert Gallery in Georgetown, Kanchan Balse is doing exactly that! The show runs through Nov. 12, 2006.

Gurus on City Hall Art Collection's Opening

The WaPo's Julia Beizer, who is one of the "Going Out Gurus" for the Washington Post's blog of the same name, has a nice mini review and visit to the City Hall Art Collection's opening last Tuesday.

Read her post here.

Marchand on City Hall Art Collection

Anne Marchand has a terrific report and a ton of photos of the huge opening for the City Hall Art Collection. Read her report and see the photos here.

Katie Tuss makes her debut

Katie Tuss will be writing regularly for Mid Atlantic Art News, covering DC area galleries and museums and any other places that she travels to. Below is her review of "An Impressionist Sensibility: The Halff Collection," at The Smithsonian American Art Museum.

An Impressionist Sensibility
By Katie Tuss

Although the mention of impressionism may be considered a sure way to create record exhibition turnout, Chief Curator Eleanor Jones Harvey explained that the Smithsonian American Art Museum did not choose the title "An Impressionist Sensibility" lightly. Each one of the 26 American Impressionist paintings featured in the exhibition, however diverse, is distinctly dependent on the "modern impulses found in impressionism."

It is this sensibility that collectors Marie and Hugh Halff have focused on while creating their standout private collection of late 19th-and early 20th-century American Art, which makes up the exhibition in its entirety. All of the artists featured studied in France and Europe between the 1870s and the 1920s, providing them with the groundwork to interpret impressionism in a uniquely American way.

Childe Hassam's "Clearing Sunset (Corner of Berkeley Street and Columbus Avenue)" illustrates the emerging modernism of the time with its rising buildings, bustling passersby, and puffs of steam from a distant engine. American art was coming of age and asserting that the US could stand tall next to European progress.

It was these times that launched an "aesthetic revolt," according to Harvey, which shifted the interests of American artists away from the National Academy of Design and moved them beyond subject matter. Artists were freed to focus on the act of painting.

Color and brushstroke are celebrated in William Merritt Chase's "Shinnecock Landscape with Figures." The striking image of his daughter in red serves as the focal point amongst the immediacy of the markings that constitute the landscape.

The Halff Collection also features John Singer Sargent's much sought after "The Sulphur Match" and the rarely viewed Winslow Homer "Houses on a Hillside."

"An Impressionist Sensibility" is on view through February 4, 2007.

Day One

And so last night Washington, DC experienced what was perhaps the largest art opening in its history, and today - the first day after the event - the WaPo is silent about it (as far as I can dig into it any way).

But the WaPo's Style section has a column on George Allen's campaign, ironically someone with the last name Duke writes about Pieter Botha, and David Segal discusses the New York housing market, and there are stories and reviews on The Folger Theatre's "A Midsummer Night's Dream", the other Mark Jenkins has a music review of the Black Cat, there's a piece on the Kennedy Center Concert Hall's tribute to Mary Day, Washington's first lady of ballet, another on neighborhood bars in Baltimore, Chanticleer's performance on Monday night at the Library of Congress's Coolidge Auditorium, a few more theatre reviews by Jane Horwitz, another theatre review of the Washington Stage Guild production of "An Inspector Calls," by Cecilia Wren (note how the Style editor thinks that it is important to have multiple reviews of DC area theatre plays by different writers, but only allows one DC area gallery review by only one freelancer every two weeks), one book review, one dance review, a story about the Day of the Dead, and the usual regular fluff.

But we know that the deadlines for WaPo pieces are a few days before they are published, so perhaps by the end of the week the Style section will have a piece on the new City Hall Art Collection and the huge opening last night.

Breath being held.

Scary

I had a scary Halloween yesterday. On the way to the City Hall Art Collection opening last night, we instead had to rush to the emergency room, where we spent most of the night while emergency room doctors at Suburban Hospital did a terrific job on a suspected blood clot (not me) and decided against it.

Everyone is OK, but we missed the opening. I hear over 1,000 people attended - I'd like to hear some comments, both pro and con, about the collection - email me and I'll post them here.

Liz Spayd for WaPo.com

Liz Spayd, an assistant managing editor in charge of national news for The Washington Post, has been named editor of washingtonpost.com.

Spayd's upcoming editorialship has been called in an official WaPo statement as "another sign that our Web site is a journalistic force that will play a large part in shaping The Post's future."

Spayd joined the WaPo in 1988.

A little history:

When the washingtonpost.com first got started, one of the first things that it did was to augment the galleries and visual arts coverage by adding a group of freelance writers who would write reviews and profiles to augment the print version's scant coverage of the DC area's galleries and artists.

This is how Jessica Dawson first connected with the Washington Post bosses. Previous to that, she used to write for the Washington City Paper as a freelancer working for then WCP Arts Editor Glenn Dixon Brad McKee.

At the washingtonpost.com, under editor John Poole (who was then the site's online Arts Editor), the arts coverage by the WaPo online flourished and there were dozens and dozens of gallery reviews, which have unfortunately mostly disappeared from the WaPo's online presence, as well as many gallery profiles, most of which have also vanished, although a few still remain.

At once point, even the print version critics, such as Jessica Dawson's predecessor for the Galleries column (Ferdinand Protzman) and Michael O'Sullivan, authored online articles and reviews for washingtonpost.com which were only available online.

And for a short period of time, there was happiness in the air, as the WaPo finally appeared to be delivering gallery coverage, if just through its expanded online presence.

And then John Poole got promoted and went on to bigger and better things.

And then it took a looooong time to find a replacement online Arts editor. And by the time she was hired, she had a tight budget and no allowance for online art critics, and a bare bones coverage of the art scene.

And then the WaPo's Chief Art Critic (Paul Richard) retired, and Ferd Protzman got pissed that he didn't get promoted to that job and quit, and Jessica got hired as a freelancer to replace Protzman and back then the Galleries column was a weekly column.

And then Gopnik got hired from some Canadian newspaper where he used to write for after the Post's first choice (a New York Times critic) turned the job offer down and recommended Blake, who apparently was outside the Post's radar at that time.

And the "augmented" online visual arts coverage ended, other than the random Gopnik video here and there.

Liz Spayd, if you read this: can you bring back some other critical voices to the DC art scene and renew the online art reviews?

Position Your Artwork

Abstract Earth Gallery has a unique feature that allow the viewer to preview what a work would look like on a wall (allowing you to position the work). You can even upload pictures of your own wall to see what the work could look like in your home or office.

Just click on any of their artists' names and then click the "on the wall" option.

I bet the jury is out on just what this does to the whole "art buying process," -- and this coming from one of the world's worst art hangers, never really thinking how it looks on my wall, or if it fits a motiff or whatever - I buy artwork for many reasons, key amongst them is "do I like it?" but never "will it look good in my house."

But then more often than not, I just hang it, or if undecided, it just stays around forever waiting for a decision - such as my "decades-long waiting-to-hang" of a really nice Vija Celmins drawing that I've had for ages and it has never hung yet!

Exposing the Ripper

And nu, during my recent flying to and from New Mexico and then to and from New Hampshire, I read "Portrait of a Killer: Jack the Ripper -- Case Closed" by Patricia Cornwell, who's not only a bestselling author, but also the Virginia Institute of Forensic Science and Medicine chairman of the board.

In the book, Cornwell accumulates a spectacular amount of circumstantial evidence to prove that British painter Walter Sickert was the infamous Whitechapel serial killer, including some interesting analysis of Sickert's paintings.

Although Ms. Cornwell's detractors and Sickert's defenders are many, the tantalizing evidence of DNA is too hard to dismiss, and I for one do not believe in coincidences. Apparently, Sickert has been a suspect for many years, and Cornwell has just tied the case into a tight, if not so neat, package.

This book is a terrific read, and Cornwell has convinced me that the case is closed!