National Portrait Gallery responds

A while back I raised some issues concerning the acquisition by the National Portrait Gallery of the iconic Shepard Fairey portrait of President Obama. Today I received a response from the NPG:

Visual appropriation, a technique for adapting borrowed imagery which Shepard Fairey admits to using, has a long, time-honored tradition. Religious and political graphics have especially relied over the centuries on this sort of repetition. James Montgomery Flagg’s famous “I want you for the U. S. Army,” recruiting poster, for example, was “borrowed” without credit from British artist Alfred Leete’s image of a pointing-finger Lord Kitchener. Appropriation became a common tool of fine art in the 1960s in the hands of Andy Warhol and various pop artists. Fairey’s description for this approach is ““hijacking something with cultural relevance and switching it up.” Of course, wholesale borrowing can violate copyright issues legally and ethically if you are not “switching it up.” But in the case of Fairey’s portrait of Obama, his adaptation and translation of the face into something quite different falls squarely into the “fair use” category.

It is also true that the Portrait Gallery staff values pictures “from life” that represent an artist’s direct interpretation of a known subject. But there are exceptions to that standard. The engravers of George Washington’s day copied paintings for their prints; Currier and Ives’ political cartoons were based on photographic faces; designers of movie posters and political graphics typically adapt film stills and photographs. We consider all these forms valid, authentic expressions produced during the sitter’s lifetime and rich with biographical information.

Therefore, when I was told a few years ago that in order to be considered for acquisition by the NPG, a contemporary portrait had to be done from the live subject, that was wrong.

I thank the NPG for their response, but on a separate issue, I still think that Garcia's photo should accompany the Fairey artwork and that the wall plaque should detail the entire story for future generations.

Congrats!

To Philadelphia-born artist Barbara Steinberg, whose solo shows opens with a private view 19th February 6 - 9pm and an opening on 20th February, 2009 at London's Signal Gallery.

Barbara was born in Philadelphia and she studied at Smith College in Massachusetts, where she won a scholarship to study at Yale University summer school. On graduating from Smith, she received a grant to study sculpture in England, first with Ralph Brown at the West of England College of Art, then privately with Michael Ayrton in London. She returned briefly to America, to teach sculpture and take a Master of Fine Arts Degree at California State University at Long Beach, before settling permanently in London. She has exhibited across the UK in group and solo shows, most notably her solo exhibition at the Queen’s Hall in Edinburgh. This is her first solo show at Signal Gallery.

Brandeis

Most likely some of you are aware of this news about the decision to close the Rose Art Museum at Brandeis, and to sell off their extensive collection.

If you haven't already seen this, and are so inclined, here is a petition circulating in opposition to the decision.

Before you sign the petition, read why Mike Licht doesn't see why everybody else has missed the positive side of the Rose Art Museum closure at Brandeis.

Opportunity for artists with disabilities

Deadline: April 30, 2009

VSA arts, is seeking artwork by artists with disabilities for display at the Smithsonian Institution’s International Gallery in the S. Dillon Ripley Center in Washington, D.C. from June through September 2010. Artists are asked to consider the theme “Revealing Culture” as it relates to their work. Accepted mediums include two- and three-dimensional art, craft, digital art, installation, and time-based media. Work that is not selected for this exhibition will be considered for alternative spaces throughout Washington, D.C. during the 2010 International VSA arts Festival.

VSA arts’ International Festival is the largest arts and disability event in the world attracting thousands of participants. The festival will take place in Washington, D.C., June 6–12, 2010. Venues across the city will play host to artists from all media—visual arts, performing arts, literary arts, and media arts. This signature event features the achievements of people with disabilities, as well as the diversity of the arts and cultures of the participants.

Visit their website for additional information.

Another look at Soderbergh's Che

Ernesto “Che” Guevara, the Cuban revolution’s grim executioner, put people to death and wrecked Cuba’s economy. Steven Soderbergh’s two-part epic puts people to sleep and wastes their time.

In an interview given to the London Daily Worker in 1962, Che Guevara said that "if the nuclear missiles had remained we would have used them against the very heart of America, including New York City... we will march the path of victory, even if it costs millions of atomic victims... we keep our hatred alive and fan it to paroxysm."

All of the dark side of the man who once urged "atomic extermination" for American "hyenas" is missing from the two current films about his life. I've got another review of the Che movies here.

Museum troubles

After splurging on new facilities, expanded staffs and blockbuster exhibitions that drew millions of new visitors, museums are now confronted by shrunken endowments, less-wealthy benefactors and cuts in government funding, experts say.

The roughly 17,500 museums in the United States receive 850 million visitors annually.

Read Andrew Stern on Reuters here.

Opportunity for Artists

Deadline: February 1, 2009

Therese A. Maloney Art Gallery/College of Saint Elizabeth. For an exhibition opening on March 15, 2009, The Maloney Art Gallery is interested in receiving digital (jpg) submissions of art in any medium that constitutes a response to Cuba, its art and culture, people, history, landscape, geography etc. Please send up to 5 jpgs labeled with last name and title of work, a one-page resume, an artist's statement about the submitted work, and an object list with title of work, date, size (h x w x d"), weight (if over 10 lbs), owner, location. Please send to Dr. Ginny Butera, Director, by email to: artgallery@cse.edu.

An Old, Bad Idea for the Arts

Many will say (often in a testy voice) that the arts deserve a cabinet-level presence because they are just as important to the country as the Defense Department. While that's something of an apples and oranges comparison, the deeper problem is that it assumes that the country's defense and its arts can be furthered via the same sort of bureaucratic means. But while our nation's defense would collapse in the absence of the centralized power of our Defense Department, having a Department of Culture -- or even a "Cultural Czar," to use that awful label we've apparently become so fond of -- would be neither an effective nor necessary way to guarantee the health of cultural expression in America.

Read David Smith in the WSJ here.

Get Mannie Garcia's Photo at the NPG

By now the story on the fact that DC photographer Mannie Garcia was the uncredited original source for Shepard Fairey's iconic portrait of President Obama has been all over the internets (although curiously out of the dead tree mainstream press as far as I can detect).



The above photo by Joe Tresh captures the unveiling and installation of the Obama portrait by Shepard Fairey at the National Portrait Gallery on Saturday, January 17, 2009. Street artist Fairey is the gentleman in the sharkskin grey suit.

A while back I asked the NPG for clarification on its acquisition policy. It is my understanding that contemporary portraits could only be considered for acquisition if the portrait was done by the artist from the actual living subject. At least that's what I was told by an NPG curator a few years ago when I sold a portrait to the NPG. My recent question to the NPG has been elevated to the curator and I am waiting for a response. The NPG response should be an easy one. They can either say:

(a) Mr. Campello, you are right in that it is the policy of the NPG to acquire contemporary portraits only when the portrait has been done directly from the subject. However, because of the historical importance of this piece, the NPG made an exception to this policy as it would with any important contemporary portraits.

(b) Mr. Campello, you are incorrect when you ask if it is the policy of the National Portrait Gallery to only acquire those contemporary portraits which are done directly from the subject.

In any event, since the Fairey piece is now in the permanent collection of the National Portrait Gallery, through the generous donation of the DC area's ubercollectors Heather and Tony Podesta, I think that it is only fair that Garcia's photograph also hang next to Fairey's piece and that the wall text reflect the process via which the ubiquitous Fairey work was created.

After all, the piece is sort of a 21st century collaboration, right? And I bet that I can even help to get one an original photo for the NPG.

And this has nothing to do with any opinions on the issue of Fairey's use of Garcia's photograph. Artists have been "sampling" other artists' works and other people's images for generations (including me) and technically what the brilliant Fairley did is probably legal, as Richard Lacayo in Looking Around writes, "in lawsuits over image appropriation, judges commonly try to decide whether an artist's re-use of earlier material is 'transformative'. If the new image passes that test, the appropriation is protected by the fair use doctrine, which permits limited reproduction of copyrighted material."

And according to Michael Scherer:

"Garcia, who now works at the White House for Bloomberg, says he hopes to get in touch with Fairey so he can talk over the image that has exploded into a pop culture icon. 'Photographers are always getting ripped off,' said Garcia, who quickly added that he was not angry or seeking money from the artist who appropriated his image. 'You see it everywhere. You see it on everything.'

'I'd like to talk to Fairey,' Garcia continued. 'As gentlemen we can work this out. . . . I don't want it to get ugly.'"

It is also clear that at the time that he sampled the Garcia photograph, Fairey had no idea who the photographer was.

But is its also clear to the most casual observer that by now he must know!

That's between them; to me what is also clear, is that this 21st century artistic collaboration, unravelled by 21st century Internet sleuthing, are now and forever intermingled, and the story of the Obama poster now includes the name Mannie Garcia, and Tom Gralish, and Steve Simula, and several others.


Barack Obama photograph by Mannie Garcia
I plan to write Martin Sullivan, the NPG director a letter on this subject and I hope that some of you do as well. Or you can email Mr. Sullivan at SullivanM@si.edu.

Write to:

Martin Sullivan
Director
National Portrait Gallery
Smithsonian Institution
PO Box 37012
Victor Building–Suite 4100 MRC 973
Washington, DC, 20013-7012

New Conservator at VFMA

The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts has named Stephen D. Bonadies to be its chief conservator and deputy director for collections management, VMFA Director Alex Nyerges has announced.

A 27-year veteran of museum work, Bonadies comes to Richmond from the Cincinnati Art Museum, where he held positions including chief conservator, director of museum services, deputy director and interim co-director. He will begin work at VMFA March 2, 2009.

I am fascinated by the conservation process and at the same time shocked how little many art schools spend teaching its art students about conservation materials (or about art materials period).

My favorite read on this subject is Jonathan Harr's superb The Lost Painting. The book is the story, told by Harr masterfully as an art detective story of sorts, of the discovery of Caravaggio's The Taking of the Christ in a Jesuit residence in Ireland.

Digital Change

Now that Barack Obama has officially assumed the presidency, the nation anxiously anticipates his fulfillment of his promise of change.

But before the new legislative agenda takes shape, several transformations have already occurred. Former visual representations of our presidents rarely ventured beyond press photos or political cartoons. But Obama artwork has already encroached upon new realms.

For the first time in history, Obama's official presidential portrait was captured by a digital camera. Pete Souza, the White House's new photographer, snapped the shot on Jan. 13. He used a Canon 5D Mark II and took the picture without using a flash.

Read the article by Jennifer Gambrell in The Davidsonian here.

It doesn't make sense to me

The Washington Post's erudite chief art critic is Blake Gopnik, the brother of New Yorker magazine art critic Adam Gopnik.

For some reason, the Washington Post's editors allow their chief art critic to ignore the Greater Washington area art galleries and only focus on museums. By now Washingtonians have grumbled about that odd process for years, but are resigned to it.

But when Gopnik goes through New York City galleries and provides an entire page of mini reviews of NYC galleries, each with a nice color image, something which he has never done for his own hometown art galleries, the message is very clear to the Washington area art galleries.

The message is: "You are not good enough for my time."

And the message that the Washington Post sends to its core readers and hometown is: "Your art scene is not worthy of Blake Gopnik's time."

Shame on the Washington Post, you suck.

Opportunity for Artists

Deadline: February 15, 2009

The Hoyt Institute of Fine Arts in New Castle, PA is currently seeking artists to fill its 2010-2011 Solo Exhibition Schedule. Artists living in the Mid Atlantic region (PA, OH, NY, NJ, MD, VA, W.VA, DE and Washington DC) are invited to apply. Please submit a proposal that includes contact information, exhibition statement, 10-20 images on CD(jpeg format 500kb max) or slides, image list (including title, media and dimensions), resume or curriculum vitae, SASE for return of materials and $30.00 review fee to:

Solo Exhibition Proposals
Hoyt Institute of Fine Arts
124 East Leasure Ave
New Castle, PA 16101

Register for Artists' Boot Camp

Mannie Garcia's Source Photo of Obama Poster Found

First we thought that the below item had solved the mystery of the source of Shepard Fairey’s image of President Barack Obama that became an icon and is now in the permanent collection of the National Portrait Gallery.

"Blogger Michael Cramer created the composite photo above after sifting through countless images to find a match. The poster has Obama facing the opposite direction; Cramer flipped it to correspond with the original source photo."

Read the Reuter story here.

However Philadelphia Inquirer photographer and blogger Tom Gralish then found another potential source discovered by Steve Simula here!



And in the comments section of Simula's Flickr page, Cramer writes "You definitely found the right one. My match was close, but you got it spot on. Congrats."

Good detective work by Simula.

It gets better; after Simula identified the photograph (it was reproduced in this blog without any references so no one knew who the photographer was), the Inky's Tom Gralish began diggging around and he found that the original photograph was "made by freelance photographer Mannie Garcia who was on assignment for the AP in April of 2006." Details here.

Good detective work by Gralish.

Mannie Garcia is a DC-based photographer!

So Mannie Garcia is the uncredited source for Fairey’s artwork now at the NPG.

I think that Mannie's photograph should accompany the artwork and that the NPG should exhibit them side by side.

And thus I hereby call for the National Portrait Gallery to acquire the original Mannie Garcia photograph.

And kudos to Gralish and Simula.

Update: Brian Sherwin, Senior Editor at MyArtSpace.co Blog has some words on how this whole issue relates to copyright and Orphan Works Legislation.

Update 2: Mannie Garcia writes in his website: "The Danziger Gallery which represents the artistic works of Mr. Fairey contacted me on the 21st of January 2009 to inform me that my photograph was in fact the basis for the artwork that has become better known now as the “HOPE” and “PROGRESS” posters"

Virginian Waves

New Waves 2009 is the title of the exhibition of Virginia artists at the Contemporary Art Center of Virginia which says that "New Waves 2009 is an opportunity for CAC to support the work of Virginia artists by assisting them in garnering recognition from the public and nationally recognized galleries and collectors."

The opening reception is from 7-9pm on Friday, January 23, 2009 and the New York and Atlanta gallery-owner jurors selected Susana Almuina, Clover Archer, Nicole Baumann, Stephanie Bingham, Mikael Elliot Broth, Travis Childers, RJ Clark, Derek Cote, davmo, Miriam Ellen Ewers, Peter Geiger, Kirsten Kindler, Lisa McCarty, Megan Mueller, Michael Ohgren, Kristen Rego, and Rainham D.M.H. Rowe.

Because from of all those names I recognize only two (and I think that I have a pretty good handle on a lot of Virginia artists) I am really curious as to whom the jurors selected. In fact, I'm going to visit this show and see what the works looks like.

As outsiders, the two jurors would have brought in a couple of fresh, unprejudiced eyes to the selection process, rather than a priori knowledge to the process.

I'm a little surprised in that I think that this is a good thing.

In fact, the more that I think about it, the more that I think that other jurying processes or award processes that are regional in nature, should employ as jurors qualified outsiders who look only at the work and its visual and collective merit, rather than "recognize" the work and thus the artist and thus bring in immediate opinions and prejudices to the contest.

The drawback would be when an outsider fails to recognize a copycat artist. In the card below I see at least someone channeling Dan Steinhilber and half a dozen Art0matic artists of the past.



But I think that the gains from clear, unprejudiced eyes, outweigh the occasional copycat from getting into the list. It could even be a case of remarkable confluence.

The reason that I have been able to predict a lot of direct hits at such major regional awards such as the Trawick Prize is because that very prestigious award employs local jurors for their process, and so far it has been my impression that many, not all, of the jurors bring in too much knowledge, and too close a relationship in a few cases, with some of the award winners.

It would be interesting to see the Trawick employ three jurors this year from other neighboring states, rather than a Virginia, Maryland and DC juror. In fact, they could switch off every year.

One year DC, MD and VA jurors; the next year other states, and so on.

I bet that more interesting results would come out, instead of the usual suspects getting the award almost every year.

Chia Obama

(Via ArtofObama.com)

You can buy it from Chia for $20 bucks...

Grants for Arlington County, Virginia artists

Deadline: Tuesday, January 27, 2009 at 9:00 PM

Spotlight Grants are intended to encourage Arlington-based Visual, Media and Performing Artists to develop and present innovative new arts projects or programs that benefit Arlington County and its residents, increase access to and involvement in arts experiences for Arlington residents, and respond to diverse community needs.

Details and application here.

Christina's World on view

The family of Andrew Wyeth and the Brandywine River Museum invite the public to a celebration of the life and work of Andrew Wyeth, who died on January 16. This special event will be held Saturday, January 31, from 9:30 to 4:30 p.m. Complementary admission will be offered to all visitors on this day.

Andrew Wyeth's most famous painting, the iconic Christina's World, will be on view at the Museum for the celebration.* On loan from The Museum of Modern Art in New York, this is the first time the painting has been on view in the region. It is rarely seen outside New York City. The Brandywine River Museum currently displays 38 other paintings and watercolors by the artist.

"Andrew Wyeth once told an interviewer that 'Painting has been my one interest, nothing else but art,'" recalled Jim Duff, Director of the Brandywine River Museum. "The finest way to honor him is to enjoy the art he created."

The documentary film, Self Portrait: Snow Hill, produced by Betsy James Wyeth and narrated by Stacy Keach, will be shown in the Museum's Lecture Room every hour on the hour starting at 10 a.m. Incorporating many of Andrew Wyeth's works of art along with family photographs, home movies, personal letters and footage of Andrew Wyeth, this moving program provides insight into his private world.

In addition, memory books in which visitors can leave their thoughts will be located in the museum.

Exhibiting American art in a 19th-century grist mill, the Brandywine River Museum is internationally known for its unparalleled collection of works by three generations of Wyeths and its fine collection of American illustration, still life and landscape painting.

The Brandywine River Museum is located on U.S. Route 1 in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania. The museum is open daily, except Christmas Day, from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Visit the museum's website here.

Tim Tate at the LA Art Show

Shasta McBride at the LA Art Scene Examiner reviews the LA Art Show and highlights DC artist Tim Tate.

Read it here.