Unthinkable
Something that I thought would never happen just happened! I had lousy matzoh ball soup in a Jewish deli in New York City!
Walking along Broadway, around W. 38th Street is the culprit. A good looking Jewish Kosher Deli, with several Hassidic families happily eating inside, and so I thought to myself: "Mmmmm... matzoh ball soup..."
I sat down and was promptly given a complimentary small dish with four or five nice pickles and some excellent coleslaw... nice!
I then ordered the soup, enjoyed looking at all the happy customers and awaited my feast. Then I noticed that this was a combo Jewish Kosher deli and Sushi bar. A slight alarm went off, but then I figured that maybe it was Kosher sushi, if there is such a thing.
When the soup arrived I was shocked! Not only was it thin and watery chicken soup, but it also looked and tasted like those soups that one makes from powder... you know, the Lipton soup packet types that have those tiny, almost invisible noodles? Yep... that bad.
The matzoh was gigantic and tasteless - essentially plain dough.
I was shocked.
The matzoh ball soup at the Parkway Diner on Grubb Rd in Silver Spring, right past Chevy Chase off East-West Hwy in DMV is a gazillion times better!
In fact, the matzoh ball soup that my shiksa wife makes is a thousand times better than this crap that I had in NYC tonight.
What's going on here New York?
Tuesday, May 04, 2010
Style Resignation
Scott Vogel, the Arts editor at the Post, just resigned. From the WaPo:
We are sad to announce that Scott Vogel has resigned as fine arts editor. Scott is a masterful editor, passionate about his reporters, the arts and the newspaper. He has been a wonderful colleague, whose humor, talent and devotion will be missed and not easily replaced. We wish him well.
Shortly we will post for Scott's position, one of the most demanding and most rewarding in the newsroom, working with outstanding talent to cover this city's ever-evolving arts world. If anyone has suggestions for people who would build on our momentum, please let us know. In the interim, the also wonderful and talented Peter Kaufman will come help.
Bethesda Fine Arts Festival
This weekend is the Bethesda Fine Arts Festival, the highest ranked outdoor fine arts festival in Maryland and one of the top in the nation. About 30,000 people will enjoy and buy art from 140 juried fine artists and crafts folk from around the nation.
Saturday, May 8, from 10am - 6pm
Sunday, May 9, from 10am - 5pm
Bethesda's Woodmont Triangle, Norfolk & Auburn Avenues
Check out the juried artists here.
Want free tickets to the art fair?
The Affordable Art Fair NYC is this week, opening on Thursday in New York. Drop me an email if you want me to set you up with a couple of free tickets to the fair.
If you go to the fair, swing by and say hi... I'll be with Mayer Fine Art. Reports coming as time allows.
Monday, May 03, 2010
Art Criticism, Texas Style
Some nuts in Texas...
Are protesting a sculpture on the Texas Tech campus in Lubbock. They have mounted an instantaneous online petition a mere six years after the artwork was installed.Details from Mike Licht here.
YCT says the work, ”Tornado of Ideas” by Tom Otterness, commits sacrilege against the Masked Rider, a revered Texas Tech idol, depicting Him using a javelin to commit gross indecencies on a police officer. The work is also said to show two lesbians actually sitting together.
Sunday, May 02, 2010
Bethesda Fine Arts Festival
Next weekend is the Bethesda Fine Arts Festival, the highest ranked outdoor fine arts festival in Maryland and one of the top in the nation. About 30,000 people will enjoy and buy art from 140 juried fine artists and crafts folk from around the nation.
Saturday, May 8, from 10am - 6pm
Sunday, May 9, from 10am - 5pm
Bethesda's Woodmont Triangle, Norfolk & Auburn Avenues
Check out the juried artists here.
Saturday, May 01, 2010
Friday, April 30, 2010
Judkis on Wodzianski
With the exception of the interviews and the constant influx of well-wishers, Wodzianski is sleeping a little lighter, painting a little less, but still spending his mornings with the Washington Post and the Diane Rehm Show over a cup of coffee. “This is the most boring porn ever,” one commenter remarked on his live stream.The City Paper's Maura Judkis has a fascinating piece on the current Andrew Wodzianski performance going on in his 100sq. ft. residence. Read it here.
Wanna go to an opening this Saturday?
Addison/Ripley Fine Art in Geortgetown presents "an uncompromising selection of new works by Washington artist, Dan Treado. This work continues to surprise and delight with the artist's signature serial imagery; layers of color, light as air, add dreamy associations and an impossible depth to the lush surfaces. In some of the paintings, appropriated samples from selected illustrations and texts provide tense contrast. In others, a crazy quilt of disparate organic images is woven together by this talented painter. At once cryptic and mesmerizing, the paintings in this third exhibition by the artist at Addison/Ripley demonstrate a rich complexity and accomplished maturity."
The reception is Saturday, May 1st, 5-7pm.
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Supergirl Flying Naked
The latest offering from my naked super heroes series. And just to stop the question: no, I'm not doing a drawing of Krypto, the super dog who belongs to Superman, and no, I'm not doing Superboy either, just in case.
Supergirl Flying Naked Above Gotham, c. 2010. Charcoal and color pencils on paper. 24 x 20 inches.
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
At the Katzen
Convergence: New Art from Lebanon, the first comprehensive North American exhibition of art made in the aftermath of that country’s tumultuous civil war (1975-1990), is currently on exhibition at the American University Museum at the Katzen Arts Center in Washington, D.C. It continues through Sunday, May 16.
In case you haven't noticed, this show has been getting a lot of critical attention both locally and nationally.
The exhibition includes nearly 50 paintings, sculptures, installations, photographs and media-based art by 29 artists—more than a third of them women—based primarily in Beirut. "Reflecting the memories, hopes, dreams and political and religious realities of a culture seeking to reclaim itself, the exhibition introduces Americans to the vitality and volatility of today’s art from Lebanon."
Locals are well represented in the show by work from GMU professor Chawky Frenn.
Let me say this again: The Katzen's exhibition agenda continues to impress me by its diverse mix of shows that not only bring international art and artists to the DC area - often setting such firsts as this one - but also has become the DMV's only museum space that pays attention to its own backyard.
Kudos to Jack Rasmussen.
By the way, this Friday, in in the Katzen Arts Center Rotunda, is the opening of the First-year MFA students exhibition.
LEF Foundation Grants
LEF Foundation Grants offers funding for contemporary works in the visual arts, performing arts, literary arts, architecture, design, film and new media. The intent of the grants are to provide opportunities to produce and present new work; to honor creative merit and foster critical discourse; encourage dissemination of work by emerging and under-recognized artists; increase exposure of established artists in regions where they have not been widely represented; to promote new concepts, technologies, and approaches that are experimental or innovative; to support work that may be considered controversial or provocative; and to enhance the voices of marginalized cultures.
Interested applicants should send a one page Letter of Intent. Applications accepted on an ongoing basis. For more information or program guidelines, contact:
LEF Foundation
945 Greene St.
San Francisco, CA 94133
Wanna go to an artist's talk tomorrow?
*a pop-up project invites you to join them for an upcoming artist talk with NYC artist Mikel Glass at 6 pm on Thursday, April 29th. The talk will be held in the former Numark Gallery space at 625 E St, NW Washington, DC 20004.
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Mary Coble at Conner
One of my favorite artists on this planet is Mary Coble and her upcoming solo show "Source" and performance at Conner Contemporary Art in Washington, DC opens on Saturday, May 15th, 6-8pm.
Important News follow: Mary Coble's performance begins at 2pm and will continue on into the opening which is from 6-8pm. Coble will also be showing video, photography and an installation piece as part of the exhibition.
New video and photographs by New Yorker Janet Biggs in an exhibition titled Nobody Rides for Free will also be on display. This is Biggs' first solo exhibition with the gallery.
Be there!
New Art Market in Alexandria
The Opening day of a new art market in Alexandria, Virginia is June 5th!
Kimberley Bush is the creator and market coordinator for the Alexandria Art Market, or as she calls it: "your monthly dose of art in the heart of Del Ray."
The monthly market will be held on the 1st Saturday of June, July, August, September and November from 10-4pm at Colasanto Park at 2704 Mount Vernon Ave in the Del Ray neighborhood of Alexandria, VA.
Bush brought a proposal to the board of Directors to create an Art Market in December 2009 and the Board gave me approval to move forward in March 2010...and now they are set to go live June 5th!
She reports that she has many artists who have applied and expect the Opening Day on June 5th at Colasanto Park at the Del Ray Artisans Gallery to be huge. They also expect to have yummy eats and several multicultural performance groups. It is all free and open to the public.
Monday, April 26, 2010
Ladies in White
Why is the Cuban government so afraid of the current six women members — down from nine last week after the brutal beating by Castro's thugs — of the Damas de Blanco (Ladies in White):
After seven years of peaceful protests following Mass in Havana's upscale Miramar neighborhood, Cuba has begun blocking the "Ladies in White" from marching since the group never obtained written permission to do so.Details here.
This is their leader, an elderly lady named Laura Pollan, who is the wife of jailed Cuban dissident Hector Maseda Gutierrez.
Libertad!
Miami art critics fired
I don't know the who's and what's of the issue (yet anyway) are, but an email drive is underway to try to restore three art critics fired from the Miami Spanish language newspaper El Nuevo Herald. Here's the letter:
As people of the arts, we write to express our disappointment and frustration having learned about the decision of El Nuevo Herald to discontinue the collaborations of the art critics Ms. Janet Batet, Ms. Adriana Herrera and Mr. Carlos M. Luis, based on unfounded allegations of “conflict of interest”, brought by the owner of a local art gallery, who advertises in the art pages of El Nuevo Herald.
Ms. Batet, Ms. Herrera and Mr. Luis are recognized scholars of a long and distinguished careers in the field of the arts, in Miami and in other Latin American countries. Most relevant in this instance, is the fact that they have conducted their academic and journalistic work with the most rigorous ethics.
Losing their contribution to the paper, will certainly diminish the level of interest and intellectual impact of your publication.
The decision of El Nuevo Herald’s management has seriously compromised its editorial integrity, and its credibility damaged. We encourage you to reconsider this issue and provide a mutually agreeable solution for all the parties involved, and reinstate your readers trust in El Nuevo Herald.
