Bethesda Painting Awards

Next week is the last week to see the Bethesda Painting Awards finalists and prizewinners at the Fraser Gallery in Bethesda. The show closes July 7.

This year's exhibition stirred quite a bit of controversy, which is always good for any art competition.

The Washington Post's Michael O'Sullivan was surprised at the award choices and raised a controversy about three sumi-ink drawings on Japanese paper by Richmond artist Fiona Ross. Read his review here.

The Gazette's Claudia Rousseau really liked the Best in Show prizewinner, but disliked the work of the other two award-winners. Read her review here.

DCist's Lynne Venart at first didn't like the Best in Show prizewinner, but when she looked a little closer, she discovered interesting nuances in Matthew Klos' works. Read her review here.

G.P. and Thinking About Art both jumped on the O'Sullivan controversy bandwagon and opined on the issue. Read Kriston here and J.T. here.

Go see the show before it closes.

Art in Heat



Art in Heat opens Saturday, June 30, 2007 from 7pm–11pm at the Warehouse Gallery and Theatre complex in DC. Lobsterboy will be on hand at 8pm and 11pm with his “Tiki Party from Hell.” DJ Adam will be keeping the party going in the upstairs gallery.

The exhibiting artists represent the best of DC’s Outsider, Lowbrow, and Pop Surrealist artists. They’re notable for creating work that’s fun, twisted, sexy, and just plain wrong. Featuring: Ed Bisese, Chris Bishop, Scott G. Brooks, Lisa Brotman, Anna U. Davis, Jared Davis, Alan Defibaugh, Margaret Dowell, Dana Ellyn, Gregory Ferrand, Linas Garsys, Laurel Hausler, Candace Keegan, John Lancaster, Emily Greene Liddle, Albert Schweitzer, Matt Sesow, and Ben Tolman.

Buy Ben Tolman now, as he's soon to leave DC and head out onto the graduate program at the Art Institute of Chicago.

In Summer The Song Sings Itself

In Summer The Song Sings Itself is the title of a summer group show presented by Pentimenti Gallery in Philly. The show introduces a group of new artists who bring variety, energy and important contemporary voices to the summer. The exhibition includes paintings, photographs and sculptures.

The exhibition includes work by Gabe Brown, Sarah Daub, Thomas Doyle, Cara Enteles, Matthew Fisher, Deborah Hamon, Kirk McCarthy and Scot Wittman. The opening reception is next Friday, July 6 from 6 - 8:30 PM.

The River Movers by Matthew Fisher

Academy 2007 at Conner Contemporary

Next Friday, July 6, Conner Contemporary Art in DC opens Academy 2007, the seventh year of their annual invitational survey dedicated to outstanding work by recent fine art graduates of the Washington - Baltimore area college art programs. The exhibition opens Friday, July 6th with a reception for the artists from 6:00 - 8:00 pm.

The following artists were invited to exhibit by curators Jamie Smith and former gallery director, Karyn Miller:

PAUL CHAPMAN (George Washington University)
GRAHAM CHILDS (American University)
RUSSELL KELBAUGH (Corcoran College of Art + Design)
MAGNOLIA LAURIE (Maryland Institute College of Art)
JODI LIEBURN (Maryland Institute College of Art)
ISAAC MAISELMAN (Corcoran College of Art + Design)
TIFFANY MIELCAREK (Maryland Institute College of Art)
CHRISTINA MOST (Maryland Institute College of Art)
NATALIA PANFILE (Maryland Institute College of Art)
SANDRA PARRA (Maryland Institute College of Art)
DEBORAH ROCK (Catholic University)
NATHANIEL ROGERS (Maryland Institute College of Art)
BRIAN SYKES (University of Maryland)
JESSICA VAN BRAKLE (Corcoran College of Art + Design)
OLIVIA WOLFE (Georgetown University)

Tomorrow at the Katzen

At the Katzen Arts Center in DC, in honor of its 50th anniversary, the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists (AAEC) presents this rare collection of current political cartoons about George W. Bush and his most trusted advisers. More than 80 cartoonists from newspapers across the country, including several Pulitzer Prize winners, have contributed their best cartoons, depicting the president, Dick Cheney, Karl Rove, Donald Rumsfeld, Condoleezza Rice, Alberto Gonzales and more. The challenge will be to figure out how many are pro and how many are con!

Also opening is "True Dutterer: The Work of William S. Dutterer." Bill Dutterer was an important and beloved Washington artist and teacher who moved to New York City in 1979 and continued to make powerful and innovative paintings until his death this past January.

The opening for both exhibitions is Saturday, June 30, 2007, 6 p.m. - 9 p.m. Free and open to the public.

Opportunity for Galleries for Portrait Paintings

The Department of Housing and Urban Development is interested in procuring the services of a contractor to provide corporate or official type standing oil painting portraits on canvas of the current and past Secretaries of HUD. This solicitation is a 100% small business set-aside. Details here.

Since this is a small business set-aside, this would be a great opportunity for a gallery to respond as a "contractor" and submit a proposal.

If you have any questions regarding this procurement, please email Karen Thomas at Karen.V.Thomas@hud.gov, Contracting Officer. You may also telephone Ms. Thomas at 202-402-2806. Please be sure to refer to Solicitation #R-OPC-23169 when requesting additional information.

Old Drawing

Below is one of my early 1990s charcoal and conte drawings of Mantonica Wilson, who was Wifredo Lam's formidable godmother and the woman who was probably the most direct influence for Lam ever becoming one of the best-known artists of the Surrealist movement, and perhaps of the 20th century, despite his later subservient, lackey attitude to Castro's repressive regime.

During the latter half of the 19th century, many immigrants arrived in Cuba, mostly from Europe, but also huge numbers from China. One such immigrant was a Cantonese man by the name of Lam Yam, who settled in Sagua La Grande in the province of Las Villas.

There Lam Yam married a much younger Cuban woman of African, European and Native American ancestry, and eight children were born from this marriage. In 1902, when Lam Yam was 84 years old, his eighth child was born: Wifredo Oscar de la Concepcion Lam y Castillo.

My drawing of Mantonica is derived from a 1900 photograph that shows a gigantic, strong woman, who also happened to be a powerful Santeria practitioner of pure Yoruba ancestry.

It was through her Santeria practices that the young Lam was introduced to the African-based rituals and images that would later influence and people his artwork. And it was probably at Wilson's urgings (and possible financial assistance), that the young Lam was sent to study art in Europe in order to avoid the Cuban societal limits set because of his race.

It is often through the strong will and influence of others, that genius takes seed and given an opportunity to grow. My drawing is an homage to such a person.

Philadelphia's First Friday Video Project

A new growing website (complete with videos) provides fascinating insights about Philadelphia's First Friday art scene -- and about how artists and galleries revitalized an urban neighborhood. You can check it out at www.firstfridaytv.com.

Wanna go to a DC art event tonight?

The WPA\C’s Experimental Media Series - ColorField.remix, Night #3, challenged artists to create experimental video, sound and performance pieces reinterpreting or inspired by Color-Field artists. Jurors, Richard Chartier and Brandon Morse, awarded the $1000 Kraft Media Prize to Erika Suderburg and Linda Besemer, and the $500 Honorable Mention to Alan Callander, based on the overall quality and innovation of the work, as it relates to Color-Field influences.

Tonight, from 7-9PM at The Armand Hammer Auditorium in the Corcoran, and free and open to the public, you can view the work created by Christina Battle, Gregg Biermann, Alan Callander, Rebecca Carter, John Davis, Eric Fleischauer, Kerry Laitala, Oliver Lyons, Tony Myatt, Kamran Sadeghi, Semiconductor, Erika Suderburg and Linda Besemer, Champneys Taylor and TeZ.

Beckman on Anonymous III

The WaPo's Rachel Beckman has a really good article on the recent "Anonymous III," annual exhibition by the Washington Project for the Arts\Corcoran, with a very readable story on ubercollector Fred Ognibene.

Wanna go to a DC opening this Saturday?

Irvine Contemporary has an exhibition of new and recent photographs by internationally acclaimed artists Kerry Skarbakka and Marla Rutherford. Opening Reception: Saturday June 30, 6-8 PM.

Marla Rutherford, Abandoned Housewife, 2006. C-Print

Right on target!

Via and thanks to www.comics.com

Cooper Carry hosts Art Show Fundraiser in Alexandria, VA

Deadline: Friday, July 27, 2007

Cooper Carry, a national architecture and design firm, is hosting its first biannual fundraiser and art exhibition in its award-winning Alexandria office. Cooper Carry is seeking artists from the Baltimore/Washington Metro area to display their work at the event. Sales will benefit the artists (60%) and the HSC Pediatric Center (40%).

The HSC Pediatric Center is a pediatric health care facility in Washington, D.C., that provides transitional care to children from infancy to age 21. For the entry form and prospectus, please visit this website. Phone: 202-492-7228; Email: liani.foster@gmail.com.

Opportunity for Artists

Deadline: August 17, 2007

The Curfman Gallery at Colorado State University announces a national call to artists for the 2009-2010 exhibition season. No entry fee. All work/exhibition proposals will be considered. Please send a SASE along with slides and or CD of high res. images of your work, as well as an artist CV and formal exhibition proposal to:

Curfman Gallery
8033 Campus Delivery
Fort Collins, CO 80523-8033

For more information contact Stanley Scott at lscarts2@lamar.colostate.edu or 970-491-2810.

And the Cane controversy begins

A few days ago I wrote my opinions on the new CBS series "Cane," which is sort of a new Sopranos-themed series with a powerful Cuban-American family running a sugar empire in Florida. I also told you that it appeared to me that the series was loosely based upon the powerful Fanjul Family billion dollar empire.

The Palm Beach Post seems to think so as well, and the Fanjuls are pissed. Read the story here.

Opportunity for Art Students

The Regional Museum in Stalowa Wola, Poland has a call for art students for the "International Competition Self-Portrait for Art Students." It is open to art students from universities, academies and colleges.

Additional information as well as complete instructions, forms that need filled out or to contact the exhibition coordinator directly visit this website, or the contact person is Ms. Monika Kuras, at mkuras@stalowawola.pl.

The Lorton Arts Foundation

Lorton Arts Foundation, Inc. (LAF) is leading an innovative “adaptive reuse” of the former Washington D.C. Lorton Correctional Complex. With the creation of the Workhouse Arts Center at Lorton, Virginia, this extraordinary 55-acre cultural arts center is designed to promote, facilitate and provide life-long arts education opportunities. They have a plan that will celebrate the architectural significance and convey the fascinating story of this historic landmark, while creating an inspirational center for artistic expression.

Plans include: 68 artist studios in seven studio buildings, art galleries, exhibition spaces, a 500 seat events center, a 300 seat theater, an outdoor music barn, classes and workshops for art education, a museum, restaurants, residences for artists, gardens and a visitors center. They are on track to open all of the artists’s studio buildings as well as the main gallery building in early 2008

Opportunity for Artists

Deadline: Postmarked by Sept. 4th, 2007

The Workhouse Arts Center is pleased to announce their first call to jury for the Workhouse Artist Association membership, and studio rental. The Workhouse Photographic Society is also issuing its call to jury for membership. Submittal deadline: postmarked by Sept. 4th, 2007.

All information about the Workhouse, jury packets and the many opportunities to be available in early 2008 are available on the web at www.lortonarts.org.

Applications may also be picked up at their office trailers on the site, 9601 Ox Road, Lorton, VA Monday – Friday 9AM to 4PM. Informational sessions & site tours are scheduled for July 14th and August 18th 10AM, setting is limited, so pre-registration is required. Registration and/or questions may be sent to Marti Kirkpatrick, Studio Manager at martikirkpatrick@lortonarts.org or phone 703 495-0001 ext 301.

Letter to the Editor

Theodora T. Tilton writes an interesting Letter to the Arts Editor about Blake Gopnik, art, and the Venice Biennale reporting.

Wanna go to a few DC area openings tonight?

A few cool DC area openings tonight are: District Fine Arts' "Summer Solstice," a group show of contemporary art from the United States and Turkey. It includes drawings by the amazing photographer Lida Moser, who says "It was so wonderful to discover the joys of drawing after more than forty years in photography!" The opening is Saturday June 23rd, from 5 p.m. - 8 p.m. and it features an acoustic set by Brad Radish at 7pm.

Up the road off Wisconsin Avenue in Bethesda, at Heineman Myers Contemporary Art, Zoe serves "Yummy," and exhibition by artists and their relationship to food and food issues. The opening is on Saturday, June 23rd with an artist talk at 4pm and a reception for the artists from 6 to 9pm.

And Randall Scott Gallery has Hiroyuki Hamada opening tonight, but I'll be willing to bet that the photographer in the back gallery, Elena Volkova, will steal the show. Her ethereal photographs are simply gorgeous and she has a singular eye and touch. Volkova lives in Baltimore and is completing her MFA at MICA in July, although she has already exhibited widely in the DC area. The reception will be held on June 23rd from 6-9pm.

Glass Onion

I told you about strawberry fields
You know the place where nothing is real
Well here's another place you can go
Where everything flows.

Looking through the bent backed tulips
To see how the other half live
Looking through a glass onion.

I told you about the walrus and me-man
You know that we're as close as can be-man
Well here's another clue for you all
The walrus was Paul.

Standing on the cast iron shore-yeah
Lady Madonna trying to make ends meet-yeah
Looking through a glass onion.

I told you about the fool on the hill
I tell you man he living there still
Well here's another place you can be
Listen to me.

Fixing a hole in the ocean
Trying to make a dove-tail joint-yeah
Looking through a glass onion.

- Lennon & McCartney

Cane on CBS

I guess because I am an American of Cuban ancestry someone sent me an advance (I guess) preview copy of the new CBS show Cane. This new TV series is about a Cuban-American family running a sugar empire from Florida.

Think "Sopranos" without all the cussing and better haircuts.

Thank you... I am honored.

And now some very pedantic and jingoist hits... The lead character is played by Jimmy Smits... great actor, but not what your typical Cuban sugar magnate would have looked liked in the racist Cuban society of the late 1950s and the Cuban-American refugee wave of the early 1960s.

CBS picked Smits, a brilliant actor, I guess based on their perception of what a Cuban looks like (Smits is not of Cuban ancestry... his father, Cornelis Smits, was a Surinamese immigrant from Dutch Guiana, and his mother, Emilina, is Puerto Rican).

This is what the person that Smits' character is loosely based upon really looks like...

That is him and his also Cuban wife to the left...but because, like a lot of Cubans, he looks too "Caucasian" and not enough of what Hollywood (and CBS) thinks that Latinos should look like, they hired a terrific Emmy-winning Surinamese actor who fits the sterotypical image of what Hollywood thinks Cubans should look like, to play the lead part.

HBO hired (for the most part), excellent Italian-American actors to play Italian-Americans for the Sopranos; it worked (awright, awright, so Jamie-Lynn DiScala, who played Meadow Soprano was actually a Cuban-American actress... ironic, uh?).

CBS has not only hired Smits to play the lead role, but also Puerto Rican actors Hector Elizondo, Eddie Matos, and Rita Moreno, Miss Colombia 1991 Paola Turbay, etc. to play other assorted Cubans.

And now for CBS: My list of actor candidates who are actually of Cuban ancestry and thus a shoe-in for the part and who actually fucking speak Spanish with a Cuban accent:

Andy Garcia (duh!!!! perfect for the part!... but probably too classy and too expensive to do TV).

Nestor Carbonell. OK, OK, he plays the nasty brother.

Mel Ferrer... ah!... I think he's dead.

Desi Arnaz... fine, fine... he's definately dead; but how about Desi Jr.?????

Jorge Perrugorria

Cesar Romero ... fine! I know that The Joker is definately dead.

George Alvarez...

OK, I'm off my pedantic box; it looks like a decent show - it's no "Sopranos" but let's give it a chance.

Opportunity for Artists

Deadline: July 31, 2007

Carol Lukisch, the former Director of Exhibitions/Curator at the Arlington Arts Center now plans to do some independent curatorial projects, the first of which will be "Fear and Hope" which will take place December 4, 2007 - January 19, 2008 at the Arlington Arts Center.

Mid-Atlantic artists who are doing interesting work in any media that deals with the subjects of Fear and or Hope, send some materials no later than July 31 to:

Carol Lukitsch
P.O. Box 4211
Alexandria, VA 22303 or online at caroluk2@aol.com.

Corcoran Curator Leaving

(Via RE) - Dr. Jonathan Binstock, whose thesis work in Philly was about DC artist Sam Gilliam, will be leaving his post as the Curator for Contemporary Art at the Corcoran in Washington, DC in order to join the corporate world at the Art Advisory Service at Citi (nee Citibank), where he will work as a senior vice president.

For almost 30 years, Citi has helped some of the Citigroup's customers find and collect art (since it's investment and banks and Samolians... I guess for investment goals) and a whole lot of other art services.

Their website implies "access" as a mean to penetrate the inside and outs of collecting artwork for fun and profit.

As a sideline, I advise and then buy artwork for two collectors, and have a $20,000 monthly budget to buy artwork for those two folks. This is not as easy as one would have imagined, and actually quite an arduous (but still fun) process.

What Citi does is a billion times harder, because they are somewhat promising investors a payoff and payback and return on their purchase price on artwork.

Jonathan Binstock is a sharp, hardworking and savvy dude, and DC and the Corcoran will miss him, but he's got a tough job in front of him, and I wish him the best of luck.

It will be fun to see if Jonathan pushes any DC artists. This will be somewhat difficult, as I suspect that this level of collecting seldom concerns itself with discovering artists who have not yet made it to the ranks of the secondary art market (only about 5-6 DC area artists (as far as I know) have done so... of those only 2-3 are alive.

Looking for a Curator

The Arlington Arts Center, a leading contemporary visual arts venue in the metropolitan Washington D.C. area, seeks a full-time Director of Exhibitions.

The ideal candidate will have extensive experience curating and coordinating exhibitions, communicating with artists, and developing creative collaborative initiatives. Strong knowledge of contemporary art, particularly in the Mid-Atlantic region, is essential.

Candidate will also have experience drafting contracts and exhibition agreements, coordinating installation and catalogue production, writing exhibition materials, and using contemporary marketing tools. Technical knowledge of new media and software applications are key assets. This person works closely with the Exhibitions Committee, and experience working with Boards will be helpful. Superior grant-writing skills are also extremely desirable.

BA required, MA or MFA preferred. The AAC is a fast-paced environment with a small staff that values flexibility, a team approach, and a sense of adventure. This position includes benefits. Competitive salary.

APPLICATION DEADLINE: Friday, July 13.

Please send resume, cover letter, and salary requirements to:

info@arlingtonartscenter.org, with “Director of Exhibitions” in the subject line, or by mail to:

Search Committee
Arlington Arts Center
3550 Wilson Blvd.
Arlington VA 22201

Bailey Flushes Gopnik

Nude Removed from Pennsylvania show

Now it's time for Pittsburgh to be embarrassed.

From the AP:

An artist's nude depiction of bathing with milk and honey has been removed from a popular Pittsburgh arts festival due to complaints by one of the city's largest businesses.

The video installation by Chilean artist Carolina Loyola-Garcia, titled "The need to wash the self with milk and honey," was covered up and unplugged over the weekend by PPG, which owns the plaza where the multimedia display was exhibited.

The controversial footage portrayed the naked artist bathing with milk and honey in the forest. It was part of the "Best of Pittsburgh 2007" exhibit. PPG found the display inappropriate.

This is within its "rights as a corporate partner to ask us to abide by guidelines they have," said Elizabeth Reiss, executive director of the Three Rivers Arts Festival, currently on display in downtown Pittsburgh.

Reiss told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette she had not seen the video herself, but was told the display included full frontal nudity.

"Nudity doesn't belong in street-front windows. For several years now, Three Rivers has worked hard to put important good work in galleries and responsible pieces on streets," Reiss said.

Art shown in street booths should have a "more family friendly value," she added.

And Mary Thomas writing in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette details a few other interesting issues with nudity by the festival (which I did a few years ago). Read her excellent article here.

Shame on you Pittsbugh.

Congrats

To Bailey, whose work "The Disintegration of the American Empire, A Disillusioned Triptych: In Memory of President Thomas Jefferson, In Memory of President Abraham Lincoln, In Memory of President John Fitzgerald Kennedy Kennedy", was just awarded Best in Photography at artReston 2007.

See all the award winners here.

Who says political art is dead?

Public Art Projects for the Nation's Capital

The Public Art Building Communities grant program offers funds to eligible artists and nonprofit organizations for the creation and installation of permanent public art projects with a life span of at least five (5) years.

Projects must be installed in the District of Columbia and should encourage the growth of quality public art throughout the city, support local artists and nonprofit organizations, and make public art accessible to District residents. Projects must provide exposure of public art to the broader community or to persons traditionally underserved or separated from the cultural mainstream due to geographic location, economic constraints, or disability. Eligible, projects include, but are not limited to: sculpture, mosaics, murals, paving patterns, custom benches, stained glass windows, artistic gates and railing, etc. Funding is available for all fees associated with the design, fabrication and installation of the artwork(s) including: artist fees, materials, insurance, engineering, shipping,
installation services, permit fees, and photographic documentation.

Opportunity for Artists

Deadline: September 20, 2007

Montgomery College – Rockville Art Department is accepting entries for the national juried exhibition: Rhythm & Blue. Artwork can be any medium that incorporates rhythm (visual or otherwise) and/or blue (color or feeling). The entry deadline is September 20, 2007. The exhibition will run November 14 – December 12, 2007. No entry fee. Download prospectus here.

Questions may be directed to Michael Sellmeyer, 240-567-7653, or email him at michael.sellmeyer@montgomerycollege.edu - The jurors are Professor Michael Sellmeyer and Professor Kay McCrohan of the Montgomery College-Rockville Art Department. The Montgomery College – Rockville Campus is located in Rockville Maryland, just north of Washington, D.C.

The Consistent Inconsistency of Beauty

Check out the amazing video below for a gorgeous trail of the West's depiction of beauty.

Grants for Maryland Artists

2008 Individual Artist Awards Deadline: July 26, 2007

The Maryland State Arts Council Individual Artist Awards are grants awarded to Maryland artists through an anonymous, competitive process to encourage and sustain their pursuit of artistic excellence.

2008 Artistic Categories

* Dance: Solo Performance
* Fiction
* Media
* Music: Solo Instrumental Performance
* Music: Solo Vocal Performance
* Theater: Solo Performance
* Visual Arts: Computer Arts
* Visual Arts: Installation and other genre
* Visual Arts: Painting
* Visual Arts: Works on Paper

The MSAC Individual Artist Awards Program is administered by the Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation. IAA applications will no longer be printed and mailed to you, you must read or download them from the Internet. All Individual Artist Award applicants now have the option to use eGRANT, an electronic grant application that allows you to submit your application via the Internet.

For information on the application and workshops, contact Adam Bernstein at the Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation at adam@midatlanticarts.org or call 410-539-6656, ext. 114. TTY Maryland Relay at 711.

New Gallery Blog

DC's Randall Scott Gallery has a new blog! Visit it often here.

Tonight in DC

Wanna go to what has been called "the wildest monthly art event in the DC metro area?"

It's "X at Bebar - A 21st Century Live-Art Happening" from 6 - 10 pm ($5 cover charge).

Bebar is at 1318 9th St NW, Washington, DC. Curated by Andrea Pollan, this month's X will feature live PA performances from Calmer (Brooklyn, Poly Vibe) and Luseq (DC, grafq) as well as work by graphic artists Alex Gold, Amit Kumar and Jon Sexton, a Performance by Belladona, Projections from Peter Parker, fashion by Beth B., and live painting by Sheldon Drake.

Congrats

To Maryland photographer Denee Barr, whose mixed media photograph "Trees and Path, Centennial Lake, Columbia, Maryland" appears in the Washington Post's Best Bets Howard Extra.

The image is part of her mini-retrospective Denee Barr Photographs Columbia, Maryland 1999-2006 at the Columbia Foundation in the American City Building on Lake Kittamaquandi, Columbia, Maryland. The year long exhibit is part of Columbia's 40 Birthday Celebrations and the Columbia Festival of the Arts, and also features Ellicott City, Maryland based artist Alice Webb watercolors and etchings.

Denee's blog Denee Barr Art News and More is also on the blogroll.

Congratulations

To Baltimore painter Matthew Klos, winner of the $10,000 Bethesda Painting Award. Loads of photos here.


Above is Matthew Klos with the amazing and generous Carol Trawick, who sponsors the annual painting prize. The 2007 winners are:

Best in Show: Matthew Klos
Second Place: Cara Ober
Third Place: Maggie Michael
I have not seen the show, but the Washington Post's Michael O'Sullivan did and he's written a terrific review of the exhibition which is due to be published tomorrow in the WaPo.

Read it here. O'Sullivan questions some of the award choices while lauding some of the artists and even throwing a pretty good jab at finalist David Krueger's painting.

O'Sullivan pick (I think) is Richmond artist Fiona Ross, and putting on a judge's hat, my pick would have been Baltimore artist Cara Ober. The jurors were Dr. Brandon Brame Fortune, Associate Curator of Painting and Sculpture at the National Portrait Gallery, Professor W.C. Richardson, Professor of Painting and Drawing at the University of Maryland and Professor Tanja Softic’, who is an Associate Professor of Art at the University of Richmond.

Regardless, any good art prize is always full of opinions and surprises, and this major painting prize is a good thing for area painters, for Bethesda, for the District and for art.

New DC Arts Blog

DC gallerina Rebecca Jones, who is the Assistant Director at Project 4, has just recently started a blog featuring both articles exploring the critical discourse of contemporary art, and posts promoting Project 4 events, shows and artists.

Visit Popcorn here.

Wanna go to a DC opening tomorrow?

The WPAC's Site Projects DC curated by Welmoed Laanstra (who just got hired to work for Arlington County's Arts division) and consisting of (con)temporary art installations, performances, and interactions on 14th street between P & V opens tomorrow at the Black Cat in DC in one of many events. 7-9pm with a tour by the curator, Welmoed Laanstra at 8pm.

Participating artists are Linda Hesh, Janis Goodman, Peter Winant, Tom Ashcraft, Kathryn Cornelius, Roberto Bocci, Michael Cataldi, Tom Greaves, Caroline Mayorga, Matthew McGuiness, Eliza Newman Saul, Franz Jantzen, Piero Passacantando, Michael Lease, Mary Coble and Elizabeth Lundberg Morisette.

See them all here.

New Drawing

While I was away in Colorado hiking in Littleton, one night I did a few drawings in my hotel room at night. Below is "Y Chromosome Nude About to Face an Unexpected Light" which is a charcoal on paper with a little conte crayon, about 13 x 9 inches. Drop me a note if you want it.

"Y Chromosome Nude About to Face an Unexpected Light"
by F. Lennox Campello, Charcoal and Conte on Paper, 13 x 9 inches c. 2007

Another St. Sebastian

A pretty well-known DC area art collector saw my recent St. Sebastian drawing, and he emailed me and reminded me that a few years ago he bought the below pen and ink wash drawing on the same subject. As I recall I think that he bought it at a Sotheby's auction, or maybe at a late 90s gallery show in DC.

Anyway... it's a pretty large drawing, maybe 40 inches long. It is titled "Saint Sebastian in a Desintegrating Gene Davis Landscape." I had forgotten all about it, and had even lost the image (thanks to a close-by lighting strike a few years ago that nuked my computer and with it a few hundred digital images of my work). Click on the image for a larger view.

Transform/Nation

There's something magnetic about the artwork of nations and people who are just beyond the reach of the average gallery and collector - thus the hot interest in Cuban and Iranian art for example.

Transform/Nation: Contemporary Art of Iran and Its Disapora opens June 21st, 2007 at the Ellipse Arts Center in Arlington, Virginia while a simultaneous, sister exhibition will be held at the Nikzad Gallery in Tehran, Iran, which implies (I assume) that the exhibitions have been blessed (no pun intended) by the heavy handed nutcase who rules that amazing and beautiful country.

Curated by Narges Bajoghli, Nikoo Paydar, Maryam Ovissi, and Leyla Pope, the exhibition runs through August 4, 2007 and the exhibiting artists are: Samira Abbassy, USA, Haleh Anvari, Iran, Kaya Behkalam, Germany, Mina Ghaziani, Iran, Pantea Karimi, USA, Bani Khoshnoudi, France, Haleh Niazmand, USA, Amir Rad, Iran, Afarin Rahmanifar, USA, Jairan Sadeghi, USA, Samineh Sarvghad, Iran, Farideh Shahsavarani, Iran, Samira Yamin, USA and Siamak Nasiri Ziba, Iran.

WalMarting a museum for Arkansas

Lately, with a rare exception here and there, it has become very fashionable among art writers, bloggers and critics to demonize the efforts of Alice Walton’s no nonsense, robber-baroness approach to give the people of Bentonville, Arkansas a world class collection of art.

Regardless of how one feels about Ms. Walton’s wealth (she's the 20th richest person on the planet) and approach to buying art, Bentonville (population: 29,538) is not a place in which many people live, much less visit, and practically no one in the art world cares about.

But needless to say, flyover states deserve a look at America's art historical tradition, too.

But other than an infectious and personal dislike by these writers for Ms. Walton’s approach, the barely hidden implication in their written words is that metropolitan areas like Seattle, Washington, Forth Worth, Texas, and St. Louis, Missouri - places that people will visit - are more natural and deserving destinations for high art for our public American masses outside of New York.

This is elitist nonsense on a major scale.

There are very few places left in this nation where the reach of internationalism doesn’t touch. Early last year I was gallivanting all around the nation, and one of the places that I visited (for the first time in my case) was Arkansas. It’s rural OK, but it’s not what urbanites visualize.

Bentonville's next door neighbor, Fayetteville (population around 67,000) is the home to the 420-acre campus of the University of Arkansas (the only comprehensive, doctoral degree-granting institution in the state). Their enrollment has more than 14,600 students (more than 12,000 in undergraduate programs) and a diverse student population with 650 international students representing 86 countries.

And this place is rated by Money magazine as one of the top ten most desirable places in the nation in which to live or work.

There are several other towns in the area. Springdale is one where the impact of Wal Mart is amazing to see — luxury retailers and gargantuan homes; a real population and cultural explosion is happening there.

It doesn’t take a futurist to predict that this area will see a major urban growth in the next few decades, and when it does, it will be grateful to the vision of Alice Walton, which is perhaps a throwback to that of the moneyed folks who a century earlier built the collections that she now shops from.

And so I think that I will step aside from the rest of the art lemmings and applaud Ms. Walton’s Soviet-style approach to art politics in her effort to give the folks of Arkansas a world class collection of art.

Not only because she has billions of dollars to do so, but also because I think that she sees the location of this museum as something positive for an America that although politicians (and both leftwing and rightwing nuts) are often quoting as underserved Americans, they all perceive as a backwater populated by people who don’t care about art.

And yet, I hope that no one will disagree in that this coming exposure of the fine arts to this hard-working, modest segment of our population, who haven't generally had the opportunity to have it so close at hand, will be a good thing.

This is something to be applauded.

You go Alice Walton!

Update: Nikolas Schiller reacts to my thoughts with some really good points of his own. Read them here.

The Power of the web

Sunday I wrote about ARCO's "Expanded Box" project being curated by Claudia Giannetti, and asked for some of DC's illuminati to contact Ms. Gianetti in order to bring to her attention some of the area artists who are working with technology as part of their art.

Last night, amongst the hundreds of emails that I am still trying to read, there was a new one from Ms. Giannetti, and she's very interested!

I will discuss with her about the area artists that I am familiar with and who work with technology, but if there's other artists out there, from Philly down to Richmond, who are working with technology to deliver works of art, please contact me (hurry!).

Somebody pinch me

Will the aliens who kidnapped WaPo art critic Blake Gopnik and replaced him with an art critic who all of a sudden likes painting, please return him accept our thanks!

Writing from the Venice Biennale, Blake is shocked and surprised to discover that he likes the paintings of Mustafa Hulusi.

Together with other "painting is dead" acolytes, the Gopnikmeister suddenly discovers that disliking an entire form of the fine arts is never a good thing.

Barbara and Aaron Levine, Renée Van Halm and Blake Gopnik: welcome to the real world where minds are open to all art forms, rather than only to slogans and agendas and ideas.

Read his report here.

Airborne again today and heading to Denver. More later...

Claudia Giannetti, ARCO and DC curators

ARCO tells me that in 2008 they will have "Expanded Box," a project curated by Claudia Giannetti, which is a new section that "embraces happening tendencies exploring the influence and/or use of technology in art. It is basically conceived for works requiring a non-conventional exhibition space, and to encourage their acceptance in the contemporary art market."

Once again, if I was a power museum curator in Washington, DC, I would contact Ms. Gianetti and ask her if she would be interested in being exposed to the work of a group of DC area artists who are doing amazing things with the influence and/or use of technology in art.

I am referring to the artwork being produced and delivered by the artists and symbiots of the group known as Dorkbot DC. From the amazing techno-art of Thomas Edwards, or Phillip Kohn's collaborative video installations, or the sensory art of the Brain Wave Chick.

Also known as Paras Kaul, or the DC area electronic artist known in the art scene as the "Brain Wave Chick."

A reader who was present at the past Dorkbot meeting tells me that the stuff that Kaul does on computers "is totally over my head, but she said her father was a hypnotist and took her into altered states then he died when she was 14 — she said 'he programmed me.'

So at the age of 14 she started studying altered states and brain waves because she desperately wanted to get back to 'these places' that her father took her. She then met the dolphin man John Lilly and did work with him (the movie Altered States is about him). See what she's doing with all that and sensors and brainwaves here.

Or take Thomas Edwards' Talking Hosts project: A server sits in a colocation facility, every few seconds bothered by Web requests from viewing hosts around the world. The hostnames of the visitors are cryptic representations of where the viewers are and which ISP they are using. "Talking Hosts" uses voice synthesis to speak the hostnames of visitors as they hit the site. It is a stream of humanity, at once personal, yet scarily unending. How many hundreds of thousands have passed through? How many more will come?

Or that annoying Sycophant from a few years ago.

If I was Claudia Giannetti I would be a very ugly and hairy woman, but I may also be curious to discover what these DC area dorkartists are doing with computers, and robotics, and programming, and animation, and ahhh... brainwaves.

And were she to get a call (and I have her number) from say Anne Ellegood or Kerry Brougher from the Hirshhorn or Jonathan Binstock from the Corcoran, maybe, just maybe, Claudia may get interested enough to contact Dorkbot and seeing and hearing, and sensing what they're all about.

It's a long shot, but a shot that a hardworking DC area museum curator with some "humpf" behind his or her title, should take on behalf of an amazing group of dorks from his/her home city.

Congrats

To Philly area artist Frank Hyder and his mural projects in Merida, Venezuela. Frank was invited to do a collaborative mural with the students from the University of the Andes, a university of 30,000 students, together with a group of students from the Moore College of Art and Design in Philadelphia, the Mural Arts Program of Philadelphia and CEVAM, the bi-national center of Merida. In two intense weeks the students and the artist realized two dynamic murals.

The first, entitled "Return to Nature," involved a Mural Arts-style transformation of an ordinary 150 ft long by about 15 ft high city building from unsightly to a painted must-see sight. The goal of this project was to teach the techniques of mural painting as it is practiced in Philadelphia, one of the nation's most expansive and successful urban mural programs, and to introduce the concept of how impactful a mural can be in an urban setting.

Congrats to Frank, the students from Moore College of Art and Design and the University of the Andes and to all those involved behind the scenes.

Frank Hyder is represented in the Philly area by Projects Gallery.

Kate baby!

A set of six Kate Moss prints by Chuck Close printed and published by DC's own Adamson Editions, Washington, DC sold for four times their top estimate at a May 31st, 2007 auction by Christie's International. Close's prints made from daguerreotype studies of the model took $166,000, compared with a high valuation of $40,000.

Adamson Editions published the series of six pigment print images of model Kate Moss, in an edition of 25 prints in 2005. In recognition of this new auction record the remaining complete sets will be priced at $80,000 for the next three sets, increasing in $20,000 increments until all remaining sets are sold.

You can view the prints online here.

Changes in Museum Admissions Price

The Philadelphia Museum of Art has announced changes to its pricing structure, effective July 1, 2007. The Museum is increasing general (adult) admission and discounted fees while retaining free admission to children 12 years old and younger, free admission to Philadelphia public school groups, and the popular “pay what you wish” for all visitors on Sundays. Details here.

Wanna go to an opening tomorrow in Arlington, VA?

"New Art Examined III" and "Firewave" opens tomorrow at the Arlington Arts Center in VA.

"Firewave" is a collaborative installation by David Carlson and PiT Brussel with music by Ashraf Fouad.

"New Arts Examined III" has artists selected from submissions by recent Master of Fine Arts graduates who attended universities in Virginia, Maryland, District of Columbia, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Delaware. They are: Milana Braslavsky, Kelly Egan, Ellen Ann Gallup, Steven, Michael Hadley II, Ronald J. Longsdorf, Richard Sawka, Nanda Soderberg, Chad States, David Waddell, and Elizabeth Wade.

Bethesda Artists Markets

The Bethesda Arts & Entertainment District is currently accepting applications for the next Bethesda Artist Market.

Bethesda Artist Markets are one-day events featuring 30 local and regional artists in the Bethesda Place Plaza. Applications can be downloaded from their website.

To request a hardcopy, please send a self-addressed stamped envelope to:

Bethesda Artist Market
c/o Bethesda Arts & Entertainment District
7700 Old Georgetown Road
Bethesda, MD 20814

The Bethesda Artist Market will be held from 10am – 5pm in the Bethesda Place Plaza located at 7700 Wisconsin Avenue in downtown Bethesda. The Bethesda Artist Market is produced by the Bethesda Arts & Entertainment District and is free to the public.

Artists must be 18 years of age or older. All fine art and fine craft are accepted including, but not limited to: painting, drawing, photography, sculpture, fiber art, digital, mixed media, clay, wearable fiber, furniture, glass, jewelry, leather, metal, paper, ceramics and wood are accepted. Reproductions are accepted. All booth space are 10’x10’ and all artists must provide their own white 10’X10’ tent. No staking is allowed and artists must bring their own weights.

Each artist must submit five slides of their work and one slide of their booth, application, a non-refundable entry fee of $10 and a separate check of $50 for the booth fee. Please call 301/215-6660, Ext. 17 with any questions.

Anonymous III

Washington Project for the Arts\Corcoran (WPA\C) returns to Flashpoint with ANONYMOUS III, showcasing "anonymous" artworks by 100 established and emerging area artists.

Ten established area artists were invited to create 2' x 2' pieces, and serve as curators by inviting nine more artists to do the same. The resulting 100 artworks will be hung without artist identification, with creators' names being revealed only after their pieces have been purchased, making ANONYMOUS III a playful survey of contemporary art in the greater DC area and a unique art buying experience.

EXHIBITION DATES: June 7 - 23, 2007
LOCATION: Gallery at Flashpoint, 916 G Street NW, Washington DC, 20001
GALLERY HOURS: 12 - 6 pm, Tuesday - Saturday

SPECIAL EVENTS:
* Opening Preview Reception*: Thursday, June 7, 6-8 pm (*no works will be sold at the Preview)

* First day to purchase artworks: Friday, June 8, 6-8 pm

CURATORS and ARTISTS:

Seth Adelsberger, Lauren Bender, Edward Fendley, Felipe Goncalves, Seth Goodman, Dale Ihnken, Ryan Jedlicka, Nicola Knight, D'Metrius Rice, Lu Zhang, Iona Rozeal Brown, Ken Ashton, Shante Bullock, Zoe Charlton, Dissident Display (Adrian Loving + Ayodamola Okunseinde), Torkwase Dyson, DJ Eurok, Antonio McAfee, Jefferson Pinder, Bill Warrell, Cynthia Connolly, Lely Constantinople, Ginger Farnham, Maureen George, Maremi Hooff, Elizabeth Morisette, Henrik Sundqvist, Lisa Marie Thalhammer, Antonia Tricarico, Jeff, Wilson, Travis Fullerton, George Allen, Maria Dubon, Suzanna Fields, Pamela Fox, Michael Lease, Ryan McLennan, Diego Sanchez, Rob Tarbell, Robert Walz, Ian Jehle, Alan Callander, Kathryn Cornelius, Nekisha Durrett, Kelly Egan, Jennifer Foley, Jiha Moon, Andy Moon Wilson, Sara Pomerance, Carrie Stubbs,, Ledelle Moe, Hannah Brancato, Zac Jackson, Peter Karis, Jackson Martin, Ben McKee, David Page, Neal Reinalda, Cory Wagner, May Wilson, Michael Platt, Aziza Claudia Gibson-Hunter, Gina Marie Lewis, Harlee Little, Alice Martin, Theresa Knight McFadden, Jessa McFarlane, Gwendalin Qi Aranya, Keven Reynolds, Stan Squirewell, Noelle Tan, Ina Archer, Lily Cox-Richard, Stephanie Kuykendal, Cara Ober, Athena Robles, Kirstyn Russell, Tracey, Peirce West, Michael West, Stefan Zaklin, the super-talented Alessandra Torres, Emily Barletta, Tim Devoe, Miriam Ewers, Janelle Iglesias, Kayo Nakamura, Diana Nowitzky, Tim Scofield, Annie Song, Robin Zwizanski, Heide Trepanier, Jamie Boling, Cece Cole, Madeline Hoch, Jack Lawrence, Matthew Lively, Adrian Meyer, Monica Palma, Bret Payne, and Bruce Wilhelm.

Funding For Professional Fine Artists And Their Families

Funding for fine artists is available during times of emergency, disability, or bereavement from the Artists' Fellowship.

The Fellowship does not accept requests from performance artists, filmmakers, craft artists, hobbyists, commercial artists, or commercial photographers. For more information, contact:

Artists' Fellowship, Inc.
47 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY 10003

Or call them at 646.230.9833 or visit their website here.

Hang in there...

A couple of hundred emails behind the power curve... hang in there and come back soon...

Job in the Arts

How about a paid Internship opportunity?

The Washington Glass School is looking for an intern to work with a glass artist and studio. This is a wonderful opportunity for someone to learn the business of art while broadening the scope of their material knowledge. The intern will be making molds, cutting glass, and casting glass among other duties. Prior knowledge of these techniques are not neccesary.

The appropriate candidate will possess the following skills:

~ incredible attention to detail
~ a willingness to learn new techniques and to get dirty learning them
~ an ability to work unsupervised at times
~ self motivation to do a good job
~ punctuality and ability to meet deadlines

Hours are flexable but most work must take place between Monday and Friday between 10 and 5pm. They are looking for someone to do at least 2 or 3 days a week. The salary will depend on what skills the candidate can bring to the job. Experience in glass, electronics, computers are all helpful but not required.

Please contact Tim Tate at TimTateGlass@aol.com and list your qualifications for consideration.

Beaching

Heading to the beach for the weekend. More later...

Wanna go to a DC opening tomorrow?

My good friend José Ruiz has a new installation (Descendents of Ascension) from June 2 through July 7, 2007 with an opening reception, Saturday June 2, 6:30 - 8:30 pm at DC's G Fine Art. The opening also features Lisa Marie Thalhammer and Vesna Pavlovic.

I know a major DC area (soon moving) ubercollector who has over thirty Jose Ruiz originals in his collection. Ruiz was also the first ever winner of the Trawick "Young Artist" award a few years ago.

Grants for Artists

Deadline: June 30, 2007

The George Sugarman Foundation offers annual grants to painters and sculptors who are engaged in creating new works of fine art, whose work shows promise, and who are in need of financial assistance. Grants awarded in 2006 ranged from $500 to $3,600, with the vast majority being in the $1,000 range.

Details here.