Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Blee on Cleary

Lyrical, and full of grace and light, the recent pastels of Manon Cleary dazzle with their technical bravura at the Addison/Ripley Gallery in Georgetown (1670 Wisconsin Ave. N.W., Tuesday-Saturday 11 a.m.-6 p.m.) Who else can make a rat’s ear (literally!) into a visual poem? And who could possibly make it as beautiful?
John Blee is such an elegant art critic... and it takes elegance and depth of historical knowledge of the DC area art scene to know what a powerful presence Manon Cleary has been in DC for decades.

Manon Cleary photo by Tom Wolff

Manon Cleary photo by Tom Wolff

Cleary is perhaps the capital region's most talented incarnation of a Renaissance master whose brush translates the greatest achievements of Western realism into a modern contemporary dialogue and whose art mortally wounds the argument of those who claim that painting is dead.

Read Blee's review here and do not miss this show! It goes through August 22.

What kind of print is it?

Join Susan Calloway for Happy Hours in Georgetown abd some art education!

Today, July 29, from 3 pm - 7 pm: What kind of print is it? Caroline Adams, a local artist who studied printmaking at the Rhode Island School of Design, explains the different printmaking processes which produce etchings, engravings, lithographs, mezzotints, etc. Also, take 20% off all antique prints that day.

www.callowayart.com
www.georgetowndc.com

--
Susan Calloway Fine Arts
V 202.965.4601 F 202.338.1660
gallery@callowayart.com

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Emily Lyons on DC artists

The advice for would-be collectors is endless: Buy the best art you can afford. Buy what challenges you. Buy what makes you feel at peace. Buy from artists you know and admire. Buy work your mind revisits days after you’ve seen it. Buy with a sentimental eye.

Whatever your strategy, art can be a wise investment, producing happy returns. If well-selected and cared for, its value will likely increase.
Read Lyons in Washington Spaces here.

Mellema on Best of AOM

Kevin Mellema reviews the current AOM pick show at Fraser. Read his review (scroll down) here.

Saturday, July 25, 2009

Things I don't understand

Why do couples bring their kids to Las Vegas? From rugrats to pre-teens to teens all wondering around the halls adjacent to the gaming areas.

I guess this is how the gambling seed is planted on the young: shine all the pretty lights and sounds of gambling in front of their eyes, but forbid them from entering the area.

And as soon as the right age is achieved: booze and chips galore!

Friday, July 24, 2009

Las Vegasing

For the weekend anyway... below is the view from my room of one of the oddest cities on the planet and one of the Universe's most unique spots, visited, as I have noticed, by many aliens and mutants.

New York, New York, Las Vegas

Thursday, July 23, 2009

Trawick Prize Finalists Announced

Well, nobody told me or sent me a press release... but they are announced and online here.

Congrats to all the finalists! The eight finalists for the 2009 Trawick Prize Awards will be on exhibit at the Fraser Gallery in Bethesda from September 2 - October 3, 2009.

My bet is on Molly Springfield with Laure Drogoul also a strong contender.

Wiki Wars

Drawing up battle lines – art gallery takes on Wikipedia

The appearance of some of the world's most famous portraits on a website could create a legal landmark
Read about it here.

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Opportunity for artists

Deadline: Friday, August 21, 2009 at 5:30pm.

The DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities (DCCAH) in collaboration with District of Columbia Public Libraries (DCPL) is seeking East-of-the-River artists, including writers, to submit proposals for four prominent areas inside the new Benning and Anacostia Libraries which are expected to open in the spring of 2010. The proposed artwork sites provide artists and writers the opportunity to display their work in a large-scale format in a public building. Artist Honorarium: $2,500. For more information about the project contact Rachel Dickerson at rachel.dickerson@dc.gov or (202) 724-5613. To obtain an application go to www.dcart.dc.gov (Public Art - Current Calls to Artists)

For more information about the libraries go to www.dcpl.dc.gov (DCPL Construction Projects).

ACA online

American Contemporary Art magazineThe new American Contemporary Art magazine is now online.

This art magazine is different (at least to me) in that it really covers the country (not just NYC galleries) and there are quite a few DC area gallery reviews and a "focus DC" article by yours truly.

Read it all here.

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Cy Katzen

We are sorry to learn of the passing of Cy Katzen. He was a great man and a true ubersupporter of the arts, a good friend, and a great friend of DC area artists. He will be greatly missed but his name lives in the gorgeous American University museum that bears his name.

Desert days

I never expected the constant heat of the desert to be so malleable. One minute it is killing you slowly, and the next minute, and only after you've been hours inside an air conditioned space and slightly chilled out, as you step outside it envelops you in a baking oven of earth heat.

It feels really good, almost sensual as your body gives up the chill and warms up all at once. Soon your cheeks begin to tingle... a tingle like you get when you drink Bacardi 151 by accident thinking that it is regular rum and suddenly your cheeks go numb.

Wanna go to an artist's talk in DC?

Margaret Boozer: Dirt Drawings

When: July 25, 2:00pm
Katzen AU Museum Show dates: Jun 27 – August 16
Hours: (Admission is free) 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., Tue–Sun
Location: AU Museum at the Katzen, 4400 Massachusetts Ave, Washington, DC.

Boozer is one of DC's rising uberartists and I will be visiting this exhibition (I've been seeing bits and pieces of it in Boozer's studio over the past few months when I've visited her). If you want to see how a great contemporary artist handles a very traditional media and takes it headfirst into the 21st century, go see this show.

Boozer is represented locally by Project 4 Gallery.

Monday, July 20, 2009

Wanna go to a reception in Baltimore this week?

School 33, click for a bigger image

Saturday, July 25, 2009 between 6-9pm for the closing reception of the School 33 Studio Artists’ Exhibition.

Opportunity for Artists and/or Curators

Deadline: December 30, 2009

The Sumter County Gallery of Art (SCGA) is now accepting exhibition proposals for its 2010 exhibition schedule. SCGA is an innovative non-profit art institution that features leading-edge exhibitions and public programs showcasing new perspectives in traditional and contemporary art that pushes boundaries in its treatment of materials and subject matter. Located in stunning galleries within Sumter's landmark Cultural Center, in a newly renovated state of the art facility adjacent to Patriot Hall, SCGA presents work in a range of media by influential national and international artists as well as local and emerging artists. The gallery will accept proposals from emerging and established artists residing in the continental United States for group and solo exhibitions. All media will be considered. No entry fee is required. Please submit a proposal that includes 10-20 jpg images numbered on a CD/DVD. Please include a hard copy of the numbered image checklist (Include: title, media, dimensions, and date), artist statement, bio, resume/cv, and cover letter that describes proposed exhibit and scheduling information to:

Frank McCauley
Curator, SCGA
PO Box 1316, Sumter, SC 29151

Please include a SASE for notification and return of materials.

Moonlanding

Apollo 11 footprint40 years ago today, the most amazing feat in human history occurred when an American civilian of Scottish ancestry set foot on the moon and became the first human to leave his footprint somewhere else than Earth (at least that we know about).

This was not only a magnificent scientific achievement, but also a spectacular source of artistic images and we first viewed our world (in a photograph) from another celestial body. The images and objects that those brave men brought from the moon are not just scientific paraphernalia, but some of our nation's greatest works of art.

I hereby call for the Obama administration to renew the historical Kennedy call for the exploration of space.

It can once again become the greatest scientific, explorational and artistic achievement of this planet.

Sunday, July 19, 2009

Airborne
Flying Cartoon by Campello
Heading back to the Left Coast for some rediscovering, scorpion-and-black widow-avoiding (and brown recluses) in the deserts of California for some sweating (it's a dry heat) and desert drawings for the next two weeks.

Those of you who have my cell number: for the next two weeks, until July 31st, I will be on West Coast time, so if you call me at 6AM my time...

More later.

Opportunity for Artists and/or Curators

Deadline: August 1st, 2009

The Greater Reston Arts Center is requesting proposals for exhibitions for its main gallery space for periods of approximately 4-6 weeks. Proposals will be accepted from artists, independent curators, or arts organizations.

Full prospectus here.

Opportunity for Artists

Deadline: August 28, 2009.

The Easter Seals 2010 Art Competition is on and they're accepting works for consideration on an upcoming stamps. Works should be a vertical drawing or painting of a lily, in watercolor, oil, pastels, colored pencil, or computer generated image. Size limitations: no smaller than 8-1/2” x 11” and no larger than 18” x 24”. White or off-white stock is preferred. No entry fee. For more information, contact:

Easter Seals
Attn: Lisa Skaggs
233 South Wacker Drive., Ste. 2400
Chicago, IL 60606

Phone: (312) 726-6200; or check website: www.easterseals.com.

Airport Tales

Five Guys BurgersI'm heading back to California, and this time I am flying out of Dulles, which has one of the most beautiful terminals on the planet.

Earlier this morning (I'm in Dallas now waiting for my connecting flight) I was starving by the time I got to my gate, and was pleasantly surprised to find that right across from Gate 71-73 there's a new Five Guys Burgers restaurant, one of the premier burgers in this Universe. And so I order their showcase slider with grilled onions, pickles, mayo, ketchup and grilled mushrooms. I get number 62.

The guy behind me in line (there's a large line as it is around 10:30AM and the breakfast crowd is too late for breakfast and the lunch crowd is beginning to agitate) orders a grilled cheese, fries and water. He gets number 63.

The scene behind the counter is in a frenzy of fast food cooking activity. The Russian lady who is taking orders is firing them to the three cooks behind them at breakneck speed as hungry travellers pass through her order point.

The two African and Central American immigrant ladies doing the cooking are working at a frenetic speed grilling burgers and frying potatoes and getting the orders ready and yelling out numbers as they are ready.

It is a constant process, as quickly as can be done by three people cooking all at once, but there's a necessary delay in cooking the burgers, and none are pre-cooked and there's a large number of people in line and waiting for earlier orders.

But in about 5-6 minutes, they're up to number 59; these ladies are busting their asses to move the food.

The grilled cheese and fries and water guy who is number 63 is clearly impatient; let's call him GCFWG for grilled cheese and fries and water guy.

He approaches the counter and shouts to the back cooks, "Excuse me, how much longer will it be?"

The little Central American cook stops packaging ready orders and comes to him, she looks at him puzzled. "What is your number?" she asks.

"63," he responds rolling his eyes, "I've been waiting for like ten minutes."

I'm trying really hard to stay out of this, knowing that I will fail. GCFWG is very tall and slim, wearing a very, very tight white T-shirt that showcases his slimness and very tight black pants with really ugly, clunky black shoes. He has one of those large man purses and those nerdy, black glasses.

"You're only a couple of orders behind," responds Central American cook lady.

He rolls his eyes.

I can't handle it anymore. "Is your flight departure getting close?" I ask as he returns to waiting.

He looks at me a second before answering. People aren't used to strangers addressing them in airports, or anywhere else for that matter.

"No," he says, "But this is ridiculous," he snaps, looking at the cooks again and pointing his little chin at them.

"How would you speed the process?" I ask him. "Looks to me like those women are busting their asses cooking as fast as they can."

He looks at me and I stare back, looking hard.

"Ahh..." he stammers. "They need more people."

Again, there are three cooks on duty plus a order-taker.

"How many more?", I press him. "One more, two more?"

He looks at me again, this time he seems a little worried. My number is called and I pick up my bag. I return to him. He is now really looking a little agitated.

"Did you decide?" I ask him. "One or two more cooks?"

"Ahh..." He's looking around, and his number is called. He picks it up and I once again come close to him, look at him and smile.

"I think that three is the optimum number back there," I say gesturing to the cooking area. "And those women are busting their ass," I repeat myself. Now the small Central American woman is observing and listening in.

"I got to go." He says very nervous now, and leaves.

The Central American cook and the Russian order-taker smile and continue working their butts off while GCFWG moves on, hopefully having learned a lesson in manners.

Comemierda!