Wednesday, March 25, 2009

International Arts Journalism Institute in the Visual Arts

From AU:

What: International Arts Journalism Institute in the Visual Arts sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts and the U.S. State Department
When: Friday, June 12th through Friday, June 26th
Where: American University, Washington, D.C.
Deadline: April 10th, 2009

American University Museum at the Katzen Art Center is pleased to announce the first National Endowment for the Art’s International Arts Journalism Institute in the Visual Arts. This program will provide mid-career art critics and writers the opportunity to participate in a two-week intensive institute at American University in Washington, DC. The institute, which runs from Friday, June 12th through Friday, June 26th, will consist of writing workshops, lectures, and travel to major East Coast art venues.

Up to twenty-four writers will be selected, twelve from the United States and twelve from the Middle East, Northern Africa, Asia, and other countries to participate in the institute. The selection will be based on the individual’s experience in critiquing or reporting on the visual arts through a recognized media outlet. Applicants should provide a brief cover letter explaining their experience in the arts, a resume, and a published writing sample.

Participants will enjoy a two-week expense-paid trip to Washington, DC, including airfare, lodging, meals, writing workshops and regional travel to museums and galleries. Applications must be received no later than April 10th, 2009.

Please email or mail applications to Attn: Arts Journalism Institute: visualartsinstitute@american.edu

American University Museum
4400 Massachusetts Ave. NW
Washington, D.C. 20016-8031

Contact:

Jack Rasmussen, Director and Curator
American University Museum
4400 Massachusetts Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20016-8031
202-885-2489
visualartsinstitute@american.edu
Is that a great opportunity for art writers or what?

Opportunity for Artists

Deadline: April 11, 2009

The 2009 Rawls Museum Arts Juried Exhibition, open to artists in DC, VA, MD, NC and on view June 4 – July 11, 2009. Juried by John Pollard, who is the founder of Richmond’s ADA Gallery where he has been exhibiting emerging and mid-career artists since 2003.

For an entry form send a SASE to:

Rawls Museum Arts
22376 Linden Street
Courtland, VA 23837

Or download the entry from here.

Opportunity for Artists

Deadline: March 27, 2009 (postmark).

The Fine Arts League of Cary is seeking entries for its 15th Annual Juried Art Exhibition to be held from May 8th to June 27th, 2009 in Cary/Raleigh, NC. Show awards and purchase awards will total over $5,000. Entries can only be mailed via CD. The postmark deadline for the mail-in registration is March 27, 2009. I will be the juror for this show.

Full details and a printable prospectus are available
on the web here or call Kathryn Cook at 919-345-0681.

Billy Bass in the WaPo today

Fish Pain by Thomas EdwardsThe Washington Post's Reliable Source picks up the story of the new McDonald's commercial and former DC area artist Thomas Edwards.

Read the WaPo story here.

Here's an idea for public art

Musician and composer Frank Zappa (1940-1993) was born in Baltimore, and spent boyhood years in a Park Heights Avenue row house and at nearby Edgewood Arsenal. His family moved to California in 1952, but Charm City plans to honor its native son with a statute from Lithuania, which will be placed somewhere in Fell’s Point.
Licht on "Zappa Returns to Baltimore, Via Vilnius." Read it here.

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Mayor's Arts Awards

I'm all hitzed that I couldn't go to the Mayor's Arts Awards last night, but I got a report from someone who did go:

The opening performance was OTT!

Titled "The Drum Unites Us," a West African Dance Company started it going - then the percussion sounds were joined by the steel drum band, the African dancers moved aside as Korean Dance Company danced to the continuing beat, who then stepped aside as Irish Steppers took center stage, who then moved aside for the Balinese Universe dance studio, who moved aside for the Turkish Silk Road Dance Company, who stepped aside for the BeatYa Feet dances, then the City at Peace dancers (both onstage and in the audience aisles) and then the breakdancers and rappers also took stage. A constant building of more and more - all to the drum beat.

Nice jazz performances; The rest was all good - the reception was the Watergate, where one of the Commissioners decried "the lack of pull for the visual artists in DC."
Sounds like a great time and maybe it will motivate all you unmotivated nebish folks to attend next year!

DCist superwoman Heather Goss has a great report and pics here. She also has the damn best review line of the year so far (describing the multi-ethnic dancing: "It was It's A Small World on the best kind of crack, providing an energetic start to the evening."

New Drawings

I've always been fascinated by the New Testament story of The Christ in Gethsemane, and His passion amongst the olives, and His doubt and fear.

That theme has been explored by me through many drawings over the years. Below are three very minimalist intepretations from 2009. There are all very small... about 3 inches wide by six or seven inches tall.

The Christ in Gethsemane by F. Lennox Campello


The Christ in Gethsemane, charcoal on paper. Circa 2009
By F. Lennox Campello


The Christ in Gethsemane by F. Lennox Campello

The Christ in Gethsemane II, charcoal on paper. Circa 2009
By F. Lennox Campello


The Christ in Gethsemane by F. Lennox Campello

The Christ in Gethsemane III, charcoal on paper. Circa 2009
By F. Lennox Campello


At the next art fair cycles in New York, I plan to have a wall full of these tiny drawings... most of them are under a few inches in size (framed). I think that it would be interesting to see 30-40 tiny drawings all crammed in one wall.

I also need to find a gallery interested in showing this small (and more affordable) work, rather than my usual, larger sized, "normal" work.

Wanna go to a DC opening this Friday?

Christian Platt, Paintings, has an Opening Reception Friday, March 27, 6-8:30 pm at Susan Calloway Fine Arts

"Young and new to the art world, Christian Platt focuses on large-scale oil landscapes, often inspired by his time as a wrangler in the Montana and Wyoming wilderness and the countryside surrounding his Virginia home, as well as large-scale still lifes."
Images here.

Monday, March 23, 2009

VFMA acquires new Cecilia Beaux

Alexander Harrison by Cecilia BeauxThe Virginia Museum of Fine Arts board of trustees have approved the acquisition of an 1888 oil on canvas portrait by American artist Cecilia Beaux, who was hailed at the turn of the 20th century as the “best woman painter in history.”

She is certainly one of my favorite painters, period.

The painting by Beaux (1855-1942) is a portrait of her fellow Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts alumni Alexander Harrison and measures 26 by 19-3/4 inches. An important transitional work, the portrait dates from Beaux’s formative period of study in Concarneau, an artist’s colony in Brittany, where she first began to lighten her palette and to paint outdoors.

According to Dr. Sylvia Yount, VMFA’s Louise B. and J. Harwood Cochrane Curator of American Art and an expert on Beaux’s work, the Philadelphia native was an internationally acclaimed figure painter and portraitist “who also happened to be the most successful woman artist working in turn-of-the-century America.”

Curators and dealers

As used as we all are to hear the whine from the negative perspective of the art dealer and museum curator symbiotic relationship, it is very refreshing to hear an excellent opinion married to a couple of good examples, but discussing when curators rely on art dealers and then give them zip credit.

Read Regina Hackett here.

Mel Chin lecture at Arlington Arts Center

On Tuesday, March 24 at 7pm the place to be in the Greater DC area is the Arlington Arts Center, which is "honored to welcome internationally-recognized artist Mel Chin to the Arlington Arts Center on Tuesday, March 24. Mr. Chin, whose work is socially and ecologically conscious, will be presenting a free lecture about his current public art project, Operation Paydirt."

The lecture will begin at 7pm.

To ensure adequate seating, please let them know if you will attend by calling 703.248.6800 or emailing information@arlingtonartscenter.org.

Is it me?, or has the Arlington Arts Center made giant strides forward since Claire Huschle took over as Executive Director and Jeffry Cudlin as Curator? You bet they have.

Wanna have a boatload of fun in DC tonight?

Join Mayor Fenty as award recipients are selected from among the finalists and announced live from the stage at the Mayor’s Arts Awards Ceremony tonight Monday, March 23, 2009 at 6:00 PM at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in the Concert Hall.

Admission is free and having been to many of them, it is a boatload of fun, with great live music and entertainment and loads of good food and drinks.

This is a huge event, and every year that I've been to them, I always look around and say to myself, as I see hundreds and hundreds of people in the audience having fun: "where are the usual suspects from the DC visual art world?"

Go for me this year and have fun!

Rousseau on Fiber

My good friend Dr. Claudia Rousseau reviews "BookEnds: The Book as Art" at Pyramid Atlantic in Silver Spring and "A Tribute to Fiber Art" in the Art Gallery at the BlackRock Center in Germantown. Read her Gazette review here.

AIPAD

The Association of International Photography Art Dealers (AIPAD) hosts the world's largest exposition of vintage and contemporary photography and is celebrating 29 years as the world's premiere exposition devoted to fine art photography. It all takes place in NYC March 26 – 29, 2009 at the Park Avenue Armory.

During the month of March artline® is featuring these dealers and selections from their inventories on the artline homepage. Preview hundreds of photographs - all clicking from this link... click on any highlighted name and scroll left to right.

Nudashank Grand Opening in Baltimore

Nudashank is the new independent, artist-run gallery space in Baltimore, Maryland.

Their first exhibition, Wise Guise, is a colossal group show featuring 23 young and emerging artists. Representing a diverse selection of work, ranging from the figurative to the abstract, Wise Guise presents a cross-section of visual themes from contemporary counter-culture. The works in the show include paintings, works on paper, screenprints and zines.

Exhibiting artists are: 6 Baltimore-based artists: Xavier Schipani, Mark Brown, D’Metrius Rice, Walter Carpenter, Noel Freibert, and Molly Colleen O’Connell. Three European artists: Arnaud Loumeau, Thomas Bernard and Miruki Tusko.

And 14 artists from throughout the US: Jason Redwood, Bonner Sale, Jon Clary, Reuben Breslar, Drew Beckmeyer, Edie Fake, Jordan Bernier, Caitlin Cunningham, Emily Nachison, Edward Max Fendley, Matt Lock, Chris Warthen, Andrew St. Lawrence and Kevin Hayden.

The opening is March 27th, with a reception from 7 pm – 9pm and an after-party in the adjacent Whole Gallery. Wise Guise will be on view through April 25th. The 1000 square foot gallery is located at 405 West Franklin Street, on the third floor of the H&H building in downtown Baltimore, which already houses the Whole Gallery, Gallery Four, and Floristree.

Call to Artists: In the Spirit of Frida Kahlo

Deadline: June 6, 2009

Frida Kahlo remains one of the most influential artists of the 20th century, but her spectacular life experiences, her writing and her views on life and art have also influenced many artists throughout the years.

From July 1 - August 29, 2009 The Joan Hisaoka Healing Arts Gallery at Smith Farm Center in Washington, DC will be hosting Finding Beauty In A Broken World: In the Spirit of Frida Kahlo.

Photo of Gallery by Michael K. WilkinsonThis exhibition hopes to showcase the work in all mediums of artists influenced not only by Kahlo’s art, but also by her biography, her thoughts, and her writing or any other aspect in the life and presence of this remarkable artist who can be interpreted through artwork.

This will be the third Kahlo show that I have juried in the last decade and we are seeking works of art that evoke the prolific range of expression, style and media like that which Frida Kahlo used as an outlet for her life’s experiences.

Get a copy of the prospectus by calling (202) 483-8600 or email gallery@smithfarm.com or download it here.

Opportunity for Artists

As many of you know, my good friend Jesse Cohen and artdc.org has started a new gallery in Hyattsville, MD. The space is about 500 square feet, and has movable walls.

They are going to do their first 12x12 show in May to coincide with the Hyattsville Arts Festival.

Artists can buy a spot for $12, and they hang your art. The way that it works is that a limited number of artists can now pre-register first come first serve; register now or at the day of the hanging, but first come, first served.

Either way, you can register now, or they'll see you at the door for the remaining spaces. It's their goal to hang at least 120 works of art.

The limitations: each work has to be 12"x12" and weight under 10 pounds, and they have a wire on the back suitable to be hung on a hook. Make your work professionally presentable.

To pre-register, check it out here.

All details are listed at the link above. Dates, location, and more. For now, they are going to limit pre-registration to 50 slots and I am told that registrations are coming in already.

Race in America at Widener University

Race MachineModern science tells us that the DNA of any two humans is 99.97 percent identical. And starting today the Division of Student Affairs at Widener University in Chester, Pennsylvania explores race in American society through a very interesting interactive exhibit.

The exhibit features informational tools to learn more about biological race and human variation, online activities, documentaries that confront race perceptions and racism, and the very cool Human Race Machine.

The Human Race Machine is an interactive tool that permits users to explore their own racial identity through images of themselves as other races. As one user expressed, "It's weird to see myself as Asian or Black. How would I think of myself differently and how would others see me?"

I'd like to think of the machine as a sort of machinated Linda Hesh.

The exhibit will be open for exploration and inquiry during the hours of 11:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. Monday-Friday, March 23-27 and housed in the Lower Level Lounge of University Center.

Sunday, March 22, 2009

Art Auction

There are some great works of art at some very low starting bids at the Habatat for Healing Auction to raise funds for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

It all starts April 1st at 12:00 p.m. and runs through April 7th at 5:00 p.m. but you can view the artwork and start bidding now. Details here.

You can bid on my donation (see below) here.

F. Lennox Campello drawing


Woman Jumping into the Void. Charcoal on Paper. 11x14 inches framed.
F. Lennox Campello, c. 2009.

Saturday, March 21, 2009

Congrats!

To my good friend Mark Jenkins, DC's own Tapedude, whose solo show opens in New York's Stricola Contemporary today with a solo show titled The Golden Ass.

From the press release:

Documentary photographs of characters, such as The Golden Ass, are extracted from their usual street environment, then montaged with found and altered landscapes. Jenkins sources his background environments from Google, which are then layered to create landscape ‘mashups’. In re-contextualizing his characters and their environments, Jenkins creates 2 dimensional versions of the absurdist visions dramatized in his street work. By sampling and remixing his own work in this way, Jenkins moves from street illusionist to story teller. At the same time, he extends the themes first seen in his 2006 Embed Series, merging his packing tape world and other hybridized figures into a physical-mythological composite.

The Golden Ass, a figure from Lucius Apuleius’ ancient Roman novel of the same name, is one of Jenkins’ reoccurring characters. The book relates the adventures of Lucius, a virile young man whose obsession with magic gets him transformed into an ass. Originally Jenkins’ Golden Ass statue appeared on a street in Barcelona, populated by tourists and living Statues, or people who pretend to be statues in hopes of earning a few euros. The irony of having a real statue competing for tips with false statues becomes completely absurd as pedestrians gather to ogle the Ass (The Golden Ass, Embed Series video, 2009).

This character now appears in Jenkins’ collages, silently watching as giant women perform felatio on a rainbow (Under the Rainblow, 2009). In the ancient novel and in Jenkins’ work, the Ass, like the Artist, stands as witness and commentator to humanities strange machinations.

Jenkins has shown on the streets and in the galleries of Tokyo, London, Sao Paulo, Los Angeles and his native city, Washington DC. His works have been featured in the book Hidden Track: How Visual Culture Is Going Places, Juxtapoz Magazine, and many other publications.

Congrats!

To the Maryland Art Place (MAP), which was recently recognized by the Baltimore City Paper as “Baltimore’s Best Art Gallery” of 2008.

Art of Glass II

Ten years ago, the major arts institutions of the Greater Hampton Roads area in Virginia joined together to put together of the most successful examples of region-wide art partnership events: The Art of Glass.

Across Norfolk and the Greater Tidewater area, through the Art of Glass, they proved that art has the power to be a transcendent force.

In April 2009, the Chrysler Museum of Art, the Contemporary Art Center of Virginia and the Virginia Arts Festival, as well as many of the Norfolk-area art galleries, will once again collaborate to create a landmark event for Hampton Roads: Art of Glass 2.

Anchored by The Art of Glass II, the Chrysler Museum of Art will have Lino Tagliapietra in Retrospect: A Modern Renaissance in Italian Glass. Held at the Chrysler Museum of Art. This is the first exhibition to thoroughly examine the career and art of Lino Tagliapietra. The exhibition presents 155 works from Tagliapietra’s 40-year career, including pivotal works from the artist’s own collection and collections around the world as well as designs made for industry and objects that have never before been exhibited.

The Chrysler Museum will also have Contemporary Glass Among the Classics, which features glass installations from four contemporary artists: Katherine Gray, Stephen Knapp, Karen LaMonte, and Beth Lipman. Focusing on each artist’s approach to the versatile material of glass, this exhibition will present new works inspired by the Chrysler’s collection. Gray, LaMonte, and Lipman’s works will be featured throughout various galleries alongside objects from the Museum’s collection.

The Contenporary Art Center of Virginia has a wide host of events and exhibitions lined up with Hank Murta Adams, Dante Marioni, and others; see them all here.

Several key DC area artists will be involved in the festivities as Mayer Fine Arts hosts Dialogues in Glass with the usual powerhouse names from the DC area. Click on below image for more details.

Mayer Fine Arts

Friday, March 20, 2009

Thomas on Huddy

The WaPo's Holly E. Thomas writes about The Torpedo Factory and Margaret Huddy.

Elise Campello reviewed again!

Elise Campello

"Showing great range as an actor, Campello goes from sexy and brash to tender and vulnerable in the bat of an eye.

She sets the tone for Ariel when, once out of her parent’s sight, she slips out of her modest clothes to reveal tight shorts and an exposed midriff and she then vamps wildly to 'The Girl Gets Around.'"
Read the News Tribune review here.

Is it just me?

School of Fish PainMaybe it is just me.

But doesn't the new McDonald's singing fish commercial look, feel and sound like the work of former DC area artist (and now in Los Angeles I think) Thomas Edwards's 2004 Artomatic entry "School of Fish Pain" which was subsequently exhibited at Fraser Gallery's 2005 show?

See Edwards' video of School of Fish Pain here. What Edwards did was to reprogram a whole set of Billy Bass talking fish to complain about being eaten and assorted other things.

Edwards is a superb technological artist; I think that MickeyDees needs to get in touch with him soon. See McD's fish commercial below. What McD's has done is to reprogram a Billy Bass talking fish to complain about being eaten.


Wanna go to a DC closing tomorrow?

Longview Gallery has a closing reception for Anna U. Davis's paintings of her made up "Frocasian" (from Afro and Caucasian) characters. Closing reception: 7-9 p.m. Saturday, March 21.

Hemingway's Cuban son

Details here.

Wanna go to an Alexandria, Virginia opening tomorrow?

"Private Arts: A Designer's Exhibition" is the event... don't miss this massive show of over 150 works by 40 artists. The opening is Saturday at Artery 717 in Alexandria from 7:30-11PM. There will also be Live Blues/Rock music, and of course, like most great gallery events it is all free!

Artery 717
With over 10,000 square feet of gallery and event space, Artery 717 is a world of art all by itself.

Congrats!

To my good friend Adam Griffiths, who is a new commissioner on the Takoma Park Arts and Humanities Commission.

They are having a public photo slideshow event tomorrow night in Takoma Park with live music, poetry, with a Word/Text Mural Workshop tonight that will be installed tomorrow. Click below image for more details.

Takoma park

Wanna go to a Baltimore opening tonight?

Gallery Imperato in Baltimore has Patterns of Obsession, a three-person show that brings into light the visual and behavioral patterns of each individual artist. On display will be Dana Reifler Amato's luminous and three-dimensional drawings, Chris Bathgate's precision made, metal sculptures, and Matthew Kern's mixed media Polaroid collages.

Join them tonight from 7-10pm for an opening reception. Meet the artists, view the work in person, enjoy a glass of wine and sample hors d'oeuvres courtesy of The Wine Market. Opening Reception: Friday, March 20, 7-10pm.

Wanna go to a DC opening tonight?

My good friend Nevin Kelly recently moved his outstanding gallery from its former U Street location to a new location in Columbia Heights (will have to visit soon), and the opening reception for "Atmospheric Conditions" tonight is the way to check out the new space!

Tonight's opening is for works by New Yorker H. Wesley Wheeler and takes place from 6-9PM. Details here.

Wanna go to a DC opening tomorrow?

Click for more details

Call for Artists

Deadline: March 27, 2009 (postmark).

Only a week left to submit your work!

I'm going to be jurying an art show for The Fine Arts League of Cary in North Carolina, and they are seeking entries for its 15th Annual Juried Art Exhibition to be held from May 8th to June 27th, 2009 in Cary/Raleigh, NC. Show awards and purchase awards will total over $5,000. Entries can only be mailed via CD. The postmark deadline for the mail-in registration is March 27, 2009.

Full details and a printable prospectus are available on the web here or call Kathryn Cook at 919-345-0681.

Breaking Through: Women Leading Museums

Breaking Through: Women Leading Museums is panel discussion celebrating Women's History Month 2009.

In celebration of Women's History month, four women who direct museums in Washington, D.C. will candidly explore the role of women in our nation's cultural life in a panel discussion at the National Museum of Women in the Arts at 6:30 p.m. on March 26, 2009.

The program is co-sponsored by ArtTable, the leadership organization for professional women in the visual arts, and the National Museum of Women in the Arts, dedicated to recognizing the contributions of women artists.

At the panel, nationally renowned interviewer and NPR Morning Edition special correspondent Susan Stamberg will moderate a lively conversation with directors whose institutions reflect Washington's broad range of museums:

* Camille Giraud Akeju, Director, Anacostia Community Museum, Smithsonian Institution

* Leslie Buhler, Executive Director, Tudor Place Historic House and Garden

* Dorothy Kosinski, Director, The Phillips Collection

* Susan Fisher Sterling, Director, National Museum of Women in the Arts

"Women are making extraordinary contributions to our nation's cultural life, but still face marked challenges, from the gender pay gap to work-life balance," said Elizabeth Ash, Chair of the D.C. Chapter of ArtTable. "These museum directors will offer their unique perspectives on how to succeed at the highest levels and what they wish they had known sooner."

During the evening, the panelists will share their professional journeys, offer advice to emerging professionals, and communicate their vision for leading museums today and beyond. Admission is $20 for ArtTable members, $25 for non-members, and $10 forstudents (with ID). Tickets are available at this website or 212-343-1735 x 25. For general information about the program, call 703-231-5242.

Opportunity for Artists

Deadline: May 27, 2009

Axis Gallery's 4th National Juried Competition Exhibition has a call for artists. The competition deadline is postmarked May 27, 2009.

The exhibition dates are August 1-30, 2009. This year's juror is Janet Bishop curator of Painting and Sculpture at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. This year's competition is open to artists residing in the US. Accepted media includes paintings, prints, drawings, sculpture, original digital images, and photo processes produced in the last two years.

The entry fee is $30 for 3 entries and $5.00 for each additional entry with a limit of 6 total. Entries must arrive in the form of a CD and must be in jpeg format. Please get a prospectus for details. The prospectus is available at www.axisgallery.org. Email: info@axisgallery.org. Phone: 916.443.9900.

Thursday, March 19, 2009

Businessing Art

To dig each other out of the current economic morass, a fundamental integration of the arts and business worlds is urgently needed. Instead of segregating each into right- and left-brain domains relegated to work versus leisure time, these two equally important elements must finally be united into one forceful whole.

Artists know how to look at the world — and problem solve — with fresh eyes. If businesses regularly invited photographers, crafters and writers to participate in brainstorming sessions and hold employee workshops, some new solutions and strategies might arise.
Read Andrea K. Hammer at the Bulletin here.

Is this awesome or what?

"Seems like Tyler School of Art is looking to stir something up: We got word this morning that, in an attempt to "end the age of silence," whatever that means, Temple kids have craftily constructed four Trojan Horses out of what looks like cardboard on wheels, and strategically placed them in the lobbies of UArts, PAFA, Moore College of Art & Design, and the Art Institute. How they got them in there without getting caught, no one knows."
Check it out here.

Their typewritten manifesto says:
"Within the tides and ideals of their own foundations, four rivers have been flourishing in the city of Philadelphia. The fifth river had existed within close proximity until now. Its channel has been rerouted to flow abreast the others and encroach on their territory. We, the students of Tyler School of Art, have been rerouted and relocated. However, our waters are as steady and strong as they have ever been.

Four gifts have been constructed ending the age of silence. As Apollo lifts the sun on the morning of March 18, 2009, these four gifts will be illuminated. On this morning we … declare war against thee and stand by our gates at full attention waiting for the battle to begin."
I love this!

Tyler recently (today was the first day I think) opened a brand new gallery in their new relocated spaces. More info and details from the Tylerists here.

See how the horses were constructed below:



Moore's response below!!!

De we have an 'arts czar'?

Late last week, the White House seems to have appointed an arts czar -- but no one seems to have noticed. His name is Kareem Dale, according to a short item in Saturday's New York Times. As of 1 p.m. on Monday, there's no press release on WhiteHouse.gov and no reports of the appointment at the Associated Press or Reuters.
Judith H. Dobrzynski reports here and ArtInfo.com reports here.

Bailey on Fake Twitter Gopnik

Only Bailey could somehow make sense out of not apologizing (yet) to Blake Gopnik over his identity theft over at Twitter.

Read it here.

Also Bailey made a really interesting point separately: it would be interesting to see if the Washington Post reports on this whole issue.

After all, this is a rather interesting development, and I am sure that Twitter does not condone identity theft, and I suspect that the WaPo wouldn't be too happy to see their employees' names and reputation taken in vain.

And why is the site still up? Shouldn't Blake complain and have the site removed? From what I can tell, with 175 followers, there could be 175 folks out there who still think that Blake Gopnik has a Twitter voice.

Update: The fake Twitter account has finally been suspended.

Wanna go to a DC opening tomorrow?

CHAW

March 20 (Friday), 6-8 p.m. at Capitol Hill Art and Frame, 623 Pennsylvania Ave SE, Washington, DC.

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Campello reviewed

In TMP director/choreographer Jon Douglas Rake’s presentation of “Footloose the Musical,” the dancing and singing are spot-on for all the main actors. Elise Campello is particularly impressive as the sassy yet sometimes sweet Ariel, wooing the boys with her cutoff shorts and sweater dresses when her father is not around.
Details here.

Blake Gopnik on Twitter: Did I call it or what?

Questioningly quasidentified by a less than reputable blog which never errs, art bloggers jumped all over the Twittering "Blake Gopnik" in the last few days.

When I first looked at it, it smelled fishy to me right away; and did I call it or what?

I was right! It wasn't Blake Gopnik!

I know Gopnik, and even though I seldom agree with his art viewpoints, sometimes question his art history training, and often vociferously criticize his apathy towards his own hometown artists and art galleries, I do respect him as a person and recognize his intellect and agenda.

The Twitter "Gopnik" falsehood was clear to the most casual observer, but only if you read Gopnik without a prejudiced eye and only if one takes the time to examine the silly Twitterings attributed to a very serious and composed and erudite person.

The good bloggers have already apologized, while the one who's never wrong, just shrugged it off... never mind past lecturing on "confirm before publishing."

That's the difference between a good journalist and someone who's not. When one fucks up, like we all do and like I have done many times in my life, one apologizes. It took me a long time to learn this. Regina and I have age and experience on our side.

To the fake Twitter Gopnik: what you have done has broken the law, and I'm about to loosen Carnivore on your ass; this should be fun.

Georgetown opening this Friday

The galleries at 1054 32st Street, NW in Georgetown in DC will have their usual third Friday openings this March 20, from 6-8PM.

Over at Cross MacKenzie, "Microworlds" looks really interesting. This is an exhibition of ceramic sculpture by renowned Canadian sculptor Neil Forrest paired with photographs by Johns Hopkins University Scientists, Norman Barker & Giraud Foster.

"These artists explore worlds unseen by the naked eye and through their original techniques create intricate representations of these invisible realms."

In the forward of the accompanying book, "Ancient Microworlds," Francis M. Hueber, Curator of Paleobotany at the Smithsonian says, "On film, they have captured the wondrous images they have encountered, presenting their exquisite photographs as stimulants for our own imaginations."

Wanna go to a Philly opening tomorrow?


Grand Opening of Temple Gallery and reception for their MFA Thesis Exhibitions Series, Thursday, March 19, 2008, 6 - 8 PM.

Temple University's Tyler School of Art will host a series of solo Masters of Fine Arts thesis exhibitions, occurring weekly from March 18 to May 9, 2009. The thesis exhibitions are the culmination of each student's two-year career at Tyler and represent, for many, their first professional one-person exhibition. The series includes students from all Tyler departments and an array of media: painting, sculpture, glass, printmaking, metals, graphic design, fibers, photography, ceramics, and more.

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Regina Hackett

When I was at art school in Seattle, we used to call the Seattle Post Intelligencer by another name: The Seattle Past Intelligence. It was the arrogance of children, of course. In fact in 1980 or 1981, a whole bunch of us got together and put together a spoof edition of the paper, which we sold on the streets of Seattle. My contribution was a cartoon take-off on Doonesbury, where one of the characters got a cartoon blow job.

That great Seattle newspaper bit the dust after 146 years and is no longer. The PI's loss releases the terrific Regina Hackett to continue her super blogging activities at Another Bouncing Ball.

Visit her often!

Come Again?

By entering, all entrants accept and agree to abide by and be bound by these official rules and the judge's decisions relating to this contest. Artwork entered must be accompanied by an official entry form, signed and dated by the artist and if under legal age, by the parent/guardian on behalf of, the child, and his/her heirs. By signing, all rights of origin and personal property are released to Enclave Silver Spring, Riverstone Management or Stellar Management (“Sponsor”) and its affiliates. Entries and other written correspondence become the property of Sponsor and will not be returned (my italics).
Discussion on this "become the property..." issue at artdc.org.

Copyright Infringement?

Cthulhu knows that I'm as guilty as any artist of "borrowing" more than my shares of images in the creation of art, or even this blog, in the early lawless days of the Internets.

But Bailey thinks that WaPo's Chief Art Critic Blake Gopnik's Twitter site has a case of the copyright infringement blues... Read Bailey here.

I don't know why, and I haven't asked Blake, but I get a nagging feeling that the Blake Gopnik Twitter site may be a spoof of sorts and not Blake's at all. Maybe I'm all wrong, but something doesn't "feel right" about some of the stuff that "Blake" writes in the site.

Any comments?

Jury Duty

Deadline: March 27, 2009 (postmark).

I'm going to be jurying an art show for The Fine Arts League of Cary in North Carolina, and they are seeking entries for its 15th Annual Juried Art Exhibition to be held from May 8th to June 27th, 2009 in Cary/Raleigh, NC. Show awards and purchase awards will total over $5,000. Entries can only be mailed via CD. The postmark deadline for the mail-in registration is March 27, 2009.

Full details and a printable prospectus are available on the web here or call Kathryn Cook at 919-345-0681.

Two DC galleries to close

In the world of art dealers and art galleries, most of them are run through the skin of one's teeth and are usually a labor of love on the part of the dealer. When a gallery "survives" for a few years and then establishes itself as a permanent fixture on a city's art scene, that cultural tapestry gains another member and we all benefit.

Two important and longstanding members of the Washington, DC area art scene will close their physical spaces in the near future. When we lose important galleries, all galleries and the art scene itself suffers.

Kathleen Ewing, considered by many for many years to be the premier photography gallery in the DC region, and whose owner was once dubbed by a national art magazine as one of the top 100 most influential persons in the international world of fine arts photography announces that:

For over 30 years, it has been my privilege to work with a great group of photographers, especially those in the DC area. It has been a community of mutual support and admiration. The aesthetic rewards have been extraordinary, but it has always been a challenge to meet the financial obligations of a public gallery space. For many years, the gallery was supported in part by my important position as Executive Director of the Association of International Photography Art Dealers [AIPAD]. That position ended in December 2007. Since that time, I’ve made every effort to find a new source of income and increase the sales in the gallery. The timing for these efforts could not have been worse.

Tough times unfortunately provoke tough decisions.

After much soul searching and with a serious reality check, I know the best decision for all of us is that the Kathleen Ewing Gallery will give up its public gallery space on P Street in Dupont Circle and move the operation back to my home in Cleveland Park. The Cleveland Park town house is where the gallery began and it will be a positive move to retrench in this location. Back in the mid 70s, Ben Forgey, writing for the Washington Post, reviewed a Mark Power exhibit on view in my private gallery. People came and enjoyed the show. Perhaps, the salon atmosphere of a private gallery will be once again appealing.

The concept in this new location will be to enhance the gallery’s website, work more directly with specific clients and use CD images for clients’ review. The very nature of operating an art gallery, here and everywhere, has changed dramatically in the past few years. From my point of view and from others in the field, the Internet and the proliferation of international art fairs have created a significant decline in gallery attendance. Additionally, maintaining an art gallery in Washington, DC has always been difficult. This move to becoming a gallery “open by appointment” is a reflection of the realities of the current climate.

I sincerely appreciate the support and camaraderie I have received from my photographers/artists, collectors and clients. The spirit of the gallery will continue into the future. Just in a different venue.

Best wishes to all. Kathleen Ewing
Jane Haslem, who has been running a gallery business for 50 years (Chapel Hill NC - Madison WI, & DC) will soon end her gallery operations and concentrate on www.artline.com which is coming up on 15 years old. Haslem was not only a positive fixture of the DC area art scene, but easily one of the first online explorers for the world of art in the new frontiers (back in the early 90s) of the Internet. It was because of her and artline.com that when I first opened our first gallery in Georgetown in 1996 that one of the first things that we did (even before we opened the physical spaces) was to create an online website for the gallery, which back in 1996 was a rather almost unique thing for a DC art gallery.

Back in 1992, when I first re-moved to the DC area, both these giants of art dealers befriended me as I freelanced my way to every newspaper and magazine which would take my gallery reviews (back then as many as 6-7 outlets a month). When four years later I became the co-owner of a tiny Georgetown gallery which eventually became two galleries over the years, it was often through their insight and advice that a novice gallerist moved forward.

We will all miss their physical spaces in the Dupont Circle area, but know that they will continue to do wonders for the DC area art scene in their own ways; Ewing with her private dealer space out of her home and Haslem with her pioneer online site.

Thank you Jane and Kathleen, for the many great years of art.

Monday, March 16, 2009

Art Fraud Alert

This person is going thru re-title.com and they believe that this person is involved in fraudulent activity such as ID fraud.

First Name: Steve
Last Name: Adams
Email: steveadams7189@yahoo.com

Message:
Hello to you out there. I am so excited that I came across of your work on internet search,I am interested in purchasing some creative artworks from you let me know their various prices.and how much discounts are you going to give? I will be happy to have these selected artworks hanged in our new home in South Africa. As well, I want you to take out the shipping cost.I have been in touch with a shipping firm that will be shipping other house decoratives, We are travelling from our Dallas home to our new apartment as soon as possible.On Paying for the artworks,I will be glad to pay you with a Bank draft or Cashier check in Euro funds that can be easily cashed at your local bank,please let me know on how to proceed, Have a wonderful day. Take Care, Mr Steve Adams....

Two DC galleries to close

As we all know, Zenith Gallery recently closed after 30 years on the DC art scene. I've just learned that two more long established DC art galleries will close soon as well.

More later.

Footloose Trooper

Elise CampelloThat's my baby daughter Elise to the left, and she just had an opening night for Footloose at the Tacoma Musical Playhouse in Tacoma, Washington.

She performed the opening in spite of having brochitis.

A little Campello trooper, no?

And she's also on the traveling "Mercer Girls" show for the 5th Avenue Theatre in Seattle.

Next at Hamiltonian

Click for more details

Congrats!

To Shanye (Ken) Huang, a Chinese-American artist, from Silver Spring, MD. Inspired by his artwork, an interesting music/ballet performance -- the world premier of "Chun Zhi Ge" (Spring Song Festival) will be held at 8pm on March 21 at the LaGuardia Performing Arts Center in New York, with one of his paintings "Tapestry of Dreams" as backdrop.

Details here.

Wanna go to a Morristown, NJ opening today?

I'm in this exhibition, with two pieces on the subject. The show is at the Therese A. Maloney Art Gallery at the College of St. Elizabeth in Morristown, New Jersey. Click on the image for more details. The opening is Monday, March 16, from 4:30-7:00PM.

Cuban Exhibition in New Jersey

See ya there!

Saturday, March 14, 2009

For Art Dealers and Galleries

Art in America magazine has finally gone online and the site is looking pretty decent.

Their annual comprehensive directory, which lists art galleries and dealers across the nation will be published in June. You can add your galleries' info here.

Opportunity for Artists

Deadline: March 27, 2009 (postmark).

The Fine Arts League of Cary is seeking entries for its 15th Annual Juried Art Exhibition to be held from May 8th to June 27th, 2009 in Cary/Raleigh, NC. Show awards and purchase awards will total over $5,000. Entries can only be mailed via CD. The postmark deadline for the mail-in registration is March 27, 2009. I will be the juror for this show.

Full details and a printable prospectus are available on the web at www.fineartsleagueofcary.org or call Kathryn Cook at 919-345-0681.

Friday, March 13, 2009

Hungary Comes to Washington

Two interesting exhibition with a Hungarian flavor to them come to the American University Museum at the Katzen Arts Center, Lajos Vajda: Bridge Builder and Another Time —Another Place: Contemporary Hungarian Video Artists. Both exhibitions showcase Hungarian art and open to the public Tuesday, March 17, and close, Sunday, April 19.

Vajda Lajos: Bridge Builder is the first comprehensive survey in the United States of the work of Vajda Lajos. The exhibition presents collages, paintings and graphic works from Vajda’s Parisian photomontages to his late monumental charcoal drawings, culled from mainly European private and public collections.

Another Time—Another Place: Contemporary Hungarian Video Artists is a selection of photo installations and video by young contemporary Hungarian artists.

The museum is open from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., Tuesday through Sunday. Admission is free. For more information call 202-885-ARTS (2787).

New York Art Fairs Roundup

Read and weep here.

Wanna go to a Bethesda Opening Tomorrow?

Connie Imboden

Still available

This past Saturday, the Washington Project for the Arts hosted the 28th Annual Art Auction Gala at the Katzen Arts Center. The event serves as WPA's major fundraising effort each year while also providing an opportunity to showcase the work of regional and national artists.

They sold over 80 works of art on Saturday and raised much needed funds for the organization. In spite of these sales, they fell short of their fundraising goals and are asking their supporters to considering purchasing one or more of the unsold works.

Their website has been updated to show the works that remain available and the current sales price. As of this moment there are 30 works available priced from $500 and up. In addition, they have 24 table sculptures available starting at $250.
Maggie Michael


Maggie Michael, Nail, Tuck, Pin, 2007 / $2400
Latex, ink, spray paint, pins, nails, and string on canvas / 20" x 16"
Courtesy of the Artist and G Fine Art

If you are interested in purchasing work, please direct all inquiries to the WPA: 202-234-7103 ext 4 or 5.

Responding to Cuba

Responding to Cuba

I'm in this exhibition, with two pieces on the subject. The show is at the Therese A. Maloney Art Gallery at the College of St. Elizabeth in Morristown, New Jersey. Click on the image for more details. The opening is March 16, from 4:30-7:00PM.

See ya there!

Thursday, March 12, 2009

Take a cab

WaPo's Chief Art Critic Blake Gopnik does something that he has never done in the city that he writes for and instead he takes a stroll through the galleries and spaces of Paris. Read it here.

And earlier, something that he also has never done for his own hometown: a review of gallery shows worth noting... in New York. Read that here.

Congrats!

To DC area artist Matt Seesow, who has been invited to participate in the 43rd annual "Meeting of Naive Artists" in Trebnje, Slovenia in June.

Represent!

Crystal Bridges to Be Delayed?

The opening of Wal-Mart heiress Alice Walton's Crystal Bridges museum of American art may be delayed by a year or so, the Associated Press reports.

The museum itself has not announced a delay to the original 2010 opening date, but Bob McCaslin, the mayor of Bentonville, where the museum is being built, said in a recent state of the city address that the museum would open in 2011. A subcontractor for the project, designed by Moshe Safdie, said that the job "will run through 2011."
Read the story here.

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Rent this Bethesda condo

C'mon people, you're hemming me up! Rent this condo already!

Pooks Hill Condo in Bethesda
This is a really nice two bedroom, two bath, three level condo in Bethesda in Pooks Hill, close to everything... minutes from the Beltway and I-270 and all the Bethesda restaurants and galleries and NIH and the Naval Hospital.... in a quiet Bethesda backstreet; see the listing here.

Things I'm Sick and Tired Of

Sorry about the dangling preposition, but I've just about had it with irony in contemporary art.

Suddenly, all of that work seems heavy handed and cheesy.

More Troubles...

A month after he was arrested on the way to his own exhibition opening at the Institute of Contemporary Art for tagging property with graffiti, street artist Shepard Fairey stands to face new charges in the Massachusetts capital.
Read the ArtInfo story here.

Get your Kahlo on

Frida Kahlo remains not only one of the most influential artists of the 20th century, but her spectacular life experiences, her writing and her views on life and art have also influenced many artists throughout the years.

The Washington Post once described me as a "Kahlophile since age 17," and since the very first time that I walked into a museum in Mexico City at that age and came across Kahlo's "Las Dos Fridas," I have been hypnotized and seduced by this most Mexican of Mexican viragos.

Frida Kahlo Wearing an Elvis T-Shirt


Frida Kahlo Wearing an Elvis T-Shirt.
1981. Ink Wash Drawing. 24 x 20 inches.
By F. Lennox Campello

In the past couple of decades I have curated two hugely successful international homages to Frida Kahlo, both in partnership with the Cultural Institute of Mexico in Washington, DC and the last one also in partnership with the Museo Frida Kahlo in Mexico City.

And later this year I will be doing it again, this time in partnership with the Joan Hisaoka Healing Arts Gallery at Smith Farm Center in Washington, DC. This exhibition hopes to showcase the work in all mediums of artists influenced not only by Kahlo’s art, but also by her biography, her thoughts, and her writing or any other aspect in the life and presence of this remarkable artist which can be interpreted through artwork.

More details on deadlines, prizes, etc. soon! The all media exhibition dates will be July 1 - August 29, 2009.

AOM Registration Opens Soon

Artomatic Registration to be part of Artomatic 2009 opens online Friday March 27th.

The tenth anniversary event will run from May 29 to July 5 at Half Street's 55 M Street, S.E. - blocks from Nationals Park - atop the Navy Yard metro in D.C.'s Capitol Riverfront neighborhood.

Artomatic is unjuried, unfettered, popular, crazy, and all artists are welcome. Registration is on a first-come, first-served basis and will end when space is filled. The artists and the public love this amazing art explosion, while the critics usually hate it in their Freudian need for a curatorial hand or someone in charge.

Artomatic.org will have all you need to know by March 27. For registration questions, e-mail register@artomatic.org. To volunteer, e-mail volunteer@artomatic.org.

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Major Art Fair coming to DC

Caribbean Art Fair
The third annual International Caribbean Art Fair is coming to the nation's capital later this year, a change of venue from its usual New York location, where ICAFair has been held for the last two years.

ICAFair, a first-of-its-kind art fair exclusively for the representation of Caribbean Art, will be held at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center from September 10-13, 2009.

ICAFair provides exhibition opportunities to galleries and art dealers representing artists of Caribbean heritage.

At $2,400 for a 12' x 12' booth, this fair is a steal compared to the booth prices of every other fair around, so it may attract enough galleries willing to take a chance in today's negative-driven economy. From what I hear, the fair has done well in the last couple of years.

If you're curious what constitutes "Caribbean heritage," see the definition here.

I also know that ICAFair organizers have already been working hard and have been meeting with Cultural Attaches at the Caribbean embassies in DC to forge partnerships and help create awareness in their home countries. They've also just announced a joint-lecture partnership with the IDB Cultural Center scheduled for June 11th at 6:30pm at their location in Washington, DC.

This is great news for the District's arts scene, and I really hope that some sponsors and the District of Columbia Commission on the Arts and Humanities step up to the plate to help make this art event a success.

Opportunity for Artists

Sign up Deadline: April 15th 2009
Postmark Deadline: July 1st 2009

The Canvas Project - Your work at the world's busiest airport!

Sign up to receive five 3"x3" canvases and a list of 5 user generated words that you are to interpret onto each canvas. The goal of the exhibition is to create a visual encyclopedia using mini canvases and artists from all over the world. At least one of your canvases will be published in an Art House book and one will be on display at the world's busiest airport, The Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.

Everyone who signs up and sends back their work will be included in the book and the exhibition. They do not jury any of the work. Art House is all about community and you don't have to be a professional artist to participate in the exhibition. This project is about being creative and inspiring yourself and others.

Fee: $18

Sign up Deadline: April 15th 2009

Postmark Deadline: July 1st 2009

To sign up to participate, visit this website.

Monday, March 09, 2009

Black and Italian and Beechcroftian

Brewing around for a couple of months...

Vanessa Beecroft had better prepare for some serious damage control, since director Pietra Brettkelly's documentary on Beecroft, The Art Star and the Sudanese Twins, opens at Sundance tonight. The doc cluster-bombs her faddish fascination with Sudanese orphans and paints Beecroft as a hypocritically self-aware, colossally colonial pomo narcissist. The film is brutally effective because it lets Beecroft hang herself with damaging quotes and appalling behavior.

The documentary explores Beecroft’s experiment in Sudan, in which she attempts to adopt two Sudanese orphans and use them as subjects in her work. Wise to theory, Beecroft says her adoption will be “not just fetishization of the blacks. It will be a beginning of a relationship with that country.” The film documents the significant gap between Beecroft's theory and her actions.

Upon her arrival in the Sudan, Beecroft hurries to set up a photo shoot, hiding the cameras from the orphanage's sisters, calling the babies “these poor creatures.” Which baby should she photograph? “Either one or the other,” she says, “it doesn’t matter.”

Repeatedly, Beecroft claims that she “loves this culture” — but, in the film’s most disturbing scene, sisters from the orphanage try to stop her from stripping the children nude inside their abbey for an elaborate photo shoot. Beecroft refuses, complains, starts shooting again, and eventually loses a physical confrontation with one of the sisters, who takes the children away from her, furious that Beecroft is stripping children naked inside a church. “Christ, these people,” Beecroft moans, as she barricades herself inside, pushing a pew up against the door to keep the sisters out of their own abbey.
Read the report in NY Magazine here and Black Cat Bone here and the WaPo here.



"Many people are enraged," Amnau Eele, head of the Black Artists Association, told Page Six. "She wants to be famous on the backs of poor black children."

Opportunity for Artists

Deadline: March 13, 2009

UNICEF is seeking artists of all levels (beginner to professional) to contribute artwork to promote the Tap Project — a campaign to provide clean drinking water to children around the world. All of the works submitted will be eligible for a $500 juried prize and exhibition during World Water Week, March 22-28, at the Pepco Edison Gallery located at 701 Ninth St., NW in DC. Submissions will also be considered for use in print and online advertising in the Washington, D.C. metro area.

During World Water Week participating restaurants will ask diners to voluntarily pay $1 for the tap water they would usually enjoy for free. For every dollar raised, a child will have clean drinking water for 40 days.

All artwork should pertain to drinking water. Due date is March 13. Details here.

At the D'Art Center in Norfolk


In the many years that I have been jurying or curating art exhibitions around the nation, I have never ceased to be impressed each and every time by the diversity of the human mind when putting pen to paper, or brush to canvas or chisel to stone, or eye to camera view finder.

And yet, after well over 300 exhibitions in which I have had a hand in orchestrating, I can say with an enthusiastic attitude that the recent exhibition for Norfolk's D’Art Center (which opened last Friday) provided me, the juror, with one of the most pleasant and interesting and intelligent juried competitions that it has been my honor to put together.

Hundreds of artists from 17 states submitted work for the competition, so the talent pool was diverse and geographically diverse.

My first pleasant surprise in jurying this exhibition was the high number of really good entries from which I was to select the exhibition, or better said, competition. Those artists which I selected really brought their best to the show and competed well. And having said that, there were at least a dozen more artists, had space allowed it, that could have been included.

My second surprise was the significant number of really good three dimensional entries in the pool of submissions. I express this as surprise because generally, most of these national level jury shows are comprised of 90% two-dimensional work and a handful of sculptures or other 3D pieces.

The 3D pieces competed well, also a pleasant change of pace for me and my experience on this subject. Super entries such as Lesley Hildreth’s “Hares, multiplying like rabbits while waiting for the Tortoise,” a remarkable clay piece with multiple sculptures which marry oddly zoomorphic imagery with intelligent composition and design and a superb title that would have made Barnett Newman proud of the often ignored art of titling art.

Or in an almost 180 degree artistic U-turn, Sarah Haven’s elegant and minimalist “Ideal,” a ceramic, glaze and decal sculpture which uses clues to have the viewer interpret her work, rather than forcing her ideas upon us.

Another unusual surprise came to me in the work of Virginia painter Mark Miltz, whose trompe l’oeil work is very familiar to me. In his sculptural installation “Game,” Miltz brings something new to me, and certainly sure to raise some eyebrows in Norfolk, or anywhere else for that matter.

Mark Miltz, The game


Mark Miltz. The Game. Sculptural Installation

Having said all that, the two dimensional artists represented themselves very well in this competition, from Chris Register’s superb “Vespa,” one of the best examples of how pen and ink can really flex its artistic muscles in the hands of a talented artist, to Art Werger’s flawless work, which really showcases what the art of printmaking can deliver in the gifted hands of a master printmaker.

In this postmodern world in which sometimes ideas and concepts receive more attention than the art itself, and where technical virtuosity is sometimes denigrated, Werger is a great example of how a real contemporary master can marry technical virtuosity with ideas, composition and creativity to deliver artwork of the highest caliber.

To those of you chosen for the exhibition, my congratulations on a well deserved accomplishment – it was a tough decision in a tough competition against your fellow artists. To those of you whose work did not make the show, I applaud your continued development as an artist and your desire to compete and show your work. It has been my honor and pleasure to look at all of your work.

Jury Duty

Deadline: March 27, 2009 (postmark).

I'm going to be jurying an art show for The Fine Arts League of Cary in North Carolina, and they are seeking entries for its 15th Annual Juried Art Exhibition to be held from May 8th to June 27th, 2009 in Cary/Raleigh, NC. Show awards and purchase awards will total over $5,000. Entries can only be mailed via CD. The postmark deadline for the mail-in registration is March 27, 2009.

Full details and a printable prospectus are available on the web here or call Kathryn Cook at 919-345-0681.

Sunday, March 08, 2009

Goldberg: The Woman Behind the Flame at Zenith Gallery

By Rosetta DeBerardinis

“Art is truth,” declares Margery Goldberg, the owner of Zenith Gallery in Washington, DC’s Penn Quarter who yesterday closed ONLY the doors to her downtown store front, but not her business. And, if it is truth you want, she is your lady. Ms. Goldberg is one of the most honest and outspoken members of the Greater DC art community.

“When you own your own business there is no sabbatical,” she sighs. “You work all the time.” She wants to make it perfectly clear that she is NOT closing her business, but merely changing the way she does business. The success of Zenith has been reliant upon her visibility and her relationships with the artist and art patrons along with its ties to the community. “I haven’t had a day off in years,” she declares. “I am exhausted!”

Many of the readers of this blog were not born yet when Ms. Goldberg opened the doors to her first gallery on 14th Street in 1978. There she rented a 50,000 sq. foot industrial space and nurtured and supported 50 artists. She relocated Zenith Gallery to its present location on Seventh Street in 1986. Many of the artists who began their careers with her remain affiliated with the gallery or return to exhibit in her annual anniversary show. When asked why she wanted to be responsible for the career and welfare of fifty artists, she shot back, “I always take care of everybody”. And, her care-taking extends to her family, her dog Max and to the needs of her now deceased father.

“This is a bitter-sweet moment,” she laments. “I have wanted to do this for years but I waited until I hit a good round number. Thirty is a good one, much better than 18 or twenty-five. I wanted to do it on my terms.” The petite woman with coiled hair, a boisterous voice and one of the best sock collections on the East Coast, is a tough business woman with a big heart.

She is concerned about the impact the closing will have on the downtown business district. “Zenith is more than a gallery is a close-knit part of the community,” she explains. When Zenith moved on 7th Street, it was not the upscale real estate district that it is today. The million dollar condos and the yuppie chains did not exist and the rents were reasonable. Today, it another part of the city where artists have pioneered through urban blight and can no longer afford to remain.

However, Zenith is not moving because of the absorbent rent increases. That is something Ms. Goldberg wants to drive-home. Unlike other downtown landlords and developers, hers has been most supportive and wishes the gallery would stay. Zenith is leaving its brick and mortar because its owner needs a rest and believes there is a new way to operate in the art world. Most of the staff will remain on the payroll and so will the majority of the artists it represents. Although, she did admit that this is an excellent time to sever ties with those artists who are either difficult to deal with or whose work isn’t in demand.

“When I first opened, I had this motto: Genius, good-looks and money are not an excuse to be an asshole,” she says laughing. So, if you are one of those she recommends that you find another gallery, not hers. In addition to her disdain for prima-donnas, she has no great admiration for urban developers, D.C. Mayor Fenty or the Washington Post critics since Paul Richards. She accuses the developers of raising rents sky-high making downtown real estate too expensive for small business owners and that the District of Columbia offers little support for its small businesses, especially the arts. Her mantra is, “I am mad as hell and can’t take it anymore!”

As artists continue to whine about declining sales, the absence of press coverage and high commissions few understand or care about the responsibilities of the art dealer or gallerist who is chained to a storefront operation from opening to closing, answering calls from artists and customers, paying the rent on the white cube and mounting show after show each year. She predicts that storefront commercial galleries will begin to disappear. “Nobody can afford the rent and it’s not safe anymore,” she says. It was surprising to learn that Zenith is robbed almost once a week. No, they don’t break the large glass windows that would be too obvious. Instead the thieves snatch a small piece or sculpture, a cell phone on a desk or a wallet buried deep inside an employee’s purse. Ms. Goldberg attributes the lack of police presence as part of the problem. And, when she calls the police they claim to be unable to find the gallery.

Since art dealers and gallerists are a pivotal link between artists and their public and between sellers and collectors, her prediction about the disappearance of storefronts will have a definite impact upon the local art market. If she is correct, art galleries will soon become destination points and few will be able survive in obscurity. Nor does she believe chain galleries can survive in there. When asked why so many galleries fail, she provides a direct and honest response. “Anyone can open an art gallery,” she admits. “But, they have no freaking idea how hard it is- the hard work and the hours. It is for people who need to make money, not for the rich. It is for those who need to earn a living and who have a fire in their belly.” According to Ms. Goldberg, even rich contacts are a restricted audience because patrons only purchase a limited amount of art annually. Then, there is the daily grind which is so demanding and that most people simply don’t want to work that hard, despite their love for art.

When she closes the doors to the glass fish-bowel this week, Zenith gallery will begin to operate its new format. With most of the staff continuing and the construction of a gallery in her home, Ms. Goldberg intends to cast her entrepreneurial net far and wide. She will continue to work with her stable of artists and retain a relationship with the 20,000 people in her database. Watch out, she is taking her show on the road doing traveling exhibitions, studio visits, art tours, promoting her foundation, producing and exhibiting more of her own sculpture and dreaming about the 100-acre art community she hopes to develop. She may say she is tired but her ‘to-do list’ is quite long. I predict that Margery Goldberg will sleep late a few mornings here and there and take off a day or two once in a while, but this woman with fire in her belly will remain a noticeable flame.

Airborne
Flying on Facebook - a cartoon by F. Lennox Campello c.2009

Heading home from Sedona... big news to come!