In case you haven't seen it...

Plein Air Easton, Part I is here... and the art market is not dead in Easton!

Art Talk Tonight

Tonight at 7PM I will be at the Academy Art Museum in Easton, Maryland giving a spirited talk on art history and collecting art.

See ya there!

No breasts allowed to be seen in Norfolk, Virginia

You may recall that a while back I curated a student show titled "Early Look" for the Longview Gallery in DC.

That show featured work by undergrad art students from schools along the Mid Atlantic, and although ignored completely by the Washington press, it did rather well and sold a few key pieces at the show.

It also sparkled the interest of a second gallery in Norfolk, Virginia, Mayer Fine Arts, which offered the students a chance to exhibit their work in Norfolk.

This is how one of the student's work (Martyrdom by Philadelphia artist Erika Risko) was displayed in DC without any issues, and how it was then also hung and displayed for a few days in Norfolk:


Soon after the opening, the gallery owner received official communications directing was directed by the building's management to cover up the offending breasts. This is what they look like now:



And yet once again: Norfolk, please take the troglodyte spot light and be embarrassed in front of all America and the world.

Update: The owner has clarified to me that the building management's request to her to move the piece was because "people had complained about the nudity," and not because the management initiated the issue.

Inn at 202 Dover

Arrived today for my working stint at Plein Air Easton.

What a gorgeous little town this place has turned out to be: essentially a town made up of art galleries, cool restaurants, mom & pop shops, a town theatre, a couple of museums, and an amazing inn.

We're staying at the Inn at 202 Dover... a gorgeous place to stay and clearly a place where the owners have placed a lot of love and effort in refurbishing this 19th century home into a beautiful inn with a classy restaurant (which just happens to have a Cuban-born chef!).

We're staying at the Asian Suite, as each room in this world class inn has a specific motiff and focus. The room is decorated with beautiful Asian furniture and original Ukiyo-e woodblocks on the walls as well as a couple of rare antique Asian puppets.

And a steam shower... and a lounge room with a hi def TV and a decanter with sherry...

So far I am most definitely impressed. Just on day one this place gets my highest endorsement.

At 5:30PM we hung around for happy hour at the inn... and it didn't disappoint, as the chef popped in with some tasty food, which included what can be best described as my first exposure of what happens when Southern cooking (let's say fritters) meet Cuban food (let's say WOW!).

Then I walked over to a local restaurant called ... ah... called Restaurant Local, where we had some good happy hour vittles on their sidewalk tables, listening to a local play the guitar, and you won't believe this: a $5 pitcher of beer in a fancy restaurant!

So far Easton gets a rave review from me, and the Inn at 202 Dover is certainly the special place to stay if you ever come by to visit this beautiful Maryland spot.

We saw quite a few artists already painting out on the streets; more tomorrow as we begin to focus on the visual arts.

New Art Law

A committee in San Francisco’s city government has introduced a bill that would allow misdemeanour or felony criminal charges to be brought against any artist or financial backer who causes “the death, abuse or suffering of an animal” when making a work of art.

Read the Art Newspaper report here.

Things that I don't understand

When the price of oil goes up, about 16.75 seconds later it is reflected in the price of gasoline.

Oil has gone down $22 a barrel in the last couple of weeks (supply and demand as we're all driving a lot less!) - but I'm still waiting for the lower price to be really reflected in a lower price of gasoline.

Tough job

I am currently reviewing work and jurying the "8th Annual American Landscape" show for the Maryland Federation of Art, and let me tell you, with over 700 entries from around the nation, this is one tough jurying job, considering that about 30 pieces will be selected by me.

There's enough good photography in there alone to have just a terrific photography show! The opening reception will be September 14, 3-6 pm at the MFA's Circle Gallery in Annapolis.

Borrowing

With the stock market volatile and housing in a slump, many wealthy individuals are looking to tap another kind of equity — the kind hanging on their walls. Specialists at banks and auction houses say that more of their clients recently are interested in borrowing against their art collections.

Read the NY Sun story here.

Master Swindler

"A True Story of Vermeer, Nazis, and the Greatest Art Hoax of the Twentieth Century"

Read the WaPo review here and then buy the book here for $17.79.

Man Threatens to Impale Himself on Calder Sculpture

Mike Licht has the story here.

Saint Sebastian



New St. Sebastian drawing, charcoal, colored pencils and conte on paper. Matted and framed to 24x20 inches and still one of my recurring images.

Wanna arm wrestle an actual DC roller derby girl?

The Pink Line Project and Scion bring you Barrelhouse Magazine's Roller Derby issue launch this coming Friday, July 25, 6 - 10 pm at the District's Hillyer Art Space (behind the Phillips Collection on 21st Street, NW, between Q and R Street).

Check it out; there will be:
- a night of amazing roller derby themed stories and poems
- one gigantic roller derby mural (by Cory Oberndorfer)
- food eating
- beer (provided by Flying Dog Brewery) and wine drinking
- DJ dancing (music by DJ Adrian)
- video watching (Kyle Brannon!)
- Barrelhouse magazine buying.

All for a mere $10.

And of course, a rare opportunity to arm wrestle an actual DC roller derby girl!

Wanna go to a DC opening tomorrow?

Zenith's Alternative Gallery Space at 1111 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in the nation's capital has an interesting show opening tomorrow curated by the ubercollector couple of Steve and Linda Krensky.

The show is titled "Reincarnations" as it features artworks created from found objects and recycled materials.

Meet the artists tomorrow, Wednesday, July 23, 5:30-8:30pm - the exhibition goes through September 28, 2008.

Work by Grif Bates, Chuck Baxter, Chris Bransome, Melissa Burley, Carolyn Cates, Scott Cawood, Randall Cleaver, Lee Connah, Rosetta DeBerardinis, Laura Dixon, Roger Doyle, Kristin Eager, Ed Gross, Jason Higgins, Andrew Krieger, SuAnne Lasher, Ara Laughlin, Susan Makara, Forrest McCluer, Bodil Meleney, Bogdan Miscevic, Elizabeth Morisette, John Pack, Jane Petit, Caitlin Phillips, George Sakkal, Rima Schulkind, Irma Spencer, Brad Taylor, Erwin Timmers, Mariano Perez Vivanco, Jodi Walsh, and Will Winton.

Commenting on the exhibit, Linda Krensky said, “For the most part, we chose the pieces based on the artists’ unusual interpretations and ability to create art from rather ordinary materials. Some of the pieces are beautiful, some amuse and others amaze.”

Mayor Nutter does good

Exciting news from Philly's City Hall Friday, as Mayor Michael Nutter announced the opening of the Office of Arts, Culture and the Creative Economy (Henceforth, OACCE), a Frankenversion of the old Office of Arts and Culture (OAC).

Read the post from Drama Queen here.

Names needed!

A while back I had this call for artists to donate to an auction for a great cause.

The AIDS Action Committee of Massachusetts has a major arts fundraising event coming up called ARTcetera 2008.

So many of you donated artwork that they will be arranging a DC area pick-up and need to know the names of the DC area artists who will be interested in having their work picked up at a central location. If you donated a piece to ARTcetera, please drop me an email at lenny at lennycampello.com soonest!

ARTcetera is a biennial creative black-tie contemporary art auction created and supported by a unique partnership between the visual arts community and the AIDS Action Committee. Guests enjoy fine food and beverages and bid on more than three hundred fresh works by acclaimed local, national and international artists. An exciting live auction and two silent auctions present works in a variety of media, sizes, and styles.

To donate work you had to fill out this form by July 3rd, 2008.

Let me know if you donated work.

Save the date

If you click on the image below, you'll get all the details on the coming production, "Hijos del Limbo" at Gala in DC.

Why am I promoting a theatre production in a visual arts blog? Because it involves the work of artist Alessandra Torres, who moved back to D.C. several weeks ago to work on this play, and has done all of the set designs, promotional photos, and designed the limited edition print below for the play. One of her photos appeared in the July 4th Weekend Section of the Washington Post, for upcoming entertainment events in the D.C. area.


It’s interesting to note that Alessandra, and the star of the show, Gabriela Fernandez, were good friends in Puerto Rico when they were children, and are now collaborating on this theater production in Washington, D.C., as adults! Needless to say, they are very excited about their work together, and I thought that you might like to come to one of the performances if you happen to be in D.C. from July 23-26. I think you would find the improvisational nature of the play interesting, and the theme intriguing!

This Week: Easton, MD

As I've discussed before, just four years ago Plein Air Easton got started as artists worldwide have begun to return to painting in the Plein Air style, and once again, as they did in 19th century Europe, are leaving their studios to paint and draw outside... on roadsides, on the beach, on top of mountains, in their gardens and yards, and even in city streets to capture landscapes, still lifes, figures and architecture in their natural elements.



I've said that I thought that the resurgence of this movement, much like it happened in Europe in the 19th century, may be a reaction to the overwhelming presence of technology in our daily lives. And that's OK; there's room for plein air painter and digital photographers and technogeeks artists in the art world.

The festival goes from Monday, July 21 - Sunday, July 27, 7:00am-5pm... but there are tons of associated events in the gorgeous and tiny Maryland village. All the details are here.

I will be speaking at 7PM at the Academy Art Museum on the subject of contemporary art, collecting, artists and art in general. I promise to make you laugh if you come by and you may just also learn a few things about art.

So, come on Saturday, July 26, 7:00pm - details here (scroll down).

See ya there!

Mattera on Kapoor

Joanne Mattera on Anish Kapoor: Read it here.

Goss on Figurative/Narrative

Sizzling Heather Goss reviews Figurative/Narrative at DC's Healing Arts Gallery. Read it here.

Inactive Art Career Syndrome

The WPA in DC is hosting some workshops for a new program called No Artist Left Behind, which will help artists to learn all the basics of documenting their work, including some tip and tricks to photographing their work, saving in correct file formats, and helping WPA members set up their ArtFile Online portfolios. The workshops are coming up soon, July 28 and 29.

Contact them here.