Affordable Art Fair



Organized by the same outfit that presents the Pulse Art Fairs, in my opinion the Affordable Art Fairs are one of the prime international art fairs to explore... if you are a new or beginning collector, or a collector on a limited budget.

From my past experience loads of experienced collectors also attend and buy, since the artwork ranges from $100 to $10,000 for original artwork from around 80 galleries from around the world are invited to exhibit. Click on the image below for details or visit this website. The fair will be in NYC on June 12-15, 2008.

If you want a free pass to the fair, send me an email and I will send you one.



See ya there!

ARTtistics

A while back I teased you with some big news to come... OK so it is big news for me.

I'm going national!

Not "Daily Campello Art News" - we're staying here and we're gonna be here for a long time, but I have joined a three person team of visual art bloggers over at ARTtistics to begin something new and interesting in the visual arts blogsphere.

Together with Annette Monier from Philly's Fallon & Rosof artblog and Connecticut's Bill Gusky, we've been fotunate enough to have been invited by Mind's Eye to begin a new blog that will allow us to be funded to travel around to see exhibitions and artists around the nation, review them, interview them, discuss them, etc.

I will be posting there often, so make sure that part of your daily ritual, after you check in here, is to visit Arttistics every day.

Goin' Nat!

Another art scam revealed

Email received this morning (no editing, displayed as received):

From: jack tom (tjacktom@hotmail.com)

Hello
How are you doing? my name is Jack tom i live and based in australia i am interested in ordering some of your artwork and ship them to me here in australia my method of payment is via my credit card details kindly let me know if you can assist me with the order ,kindly get back to me with your website address or photos of some of your works you have instock so that we can proceed with this transaction I will await your prompt response as soon as you receive this mail,i will be be very glad if you treat this email with good concern
Thanks with Regards
Jack tom.

My response:

Dear Jack,

Thank you for your interest. I am honored by your interest in my work.

I must advise you that I am very choosy as to whom I allow to own my work, and will need to know a little about you and your family and also where you intend to display and hang my art. I also need to know how you intend to frame it.

My prices range from $1,000 to $100,000 - what price range are you interested in?

Before I decide to allow you to own one of my pieces, and you can only buy one per family, I'd like to know a little more about you and what you do in Australia.

Have a G'day!

The Lenster

Let's see if he bites.

Penis Guy

Amanda Hess of the Washington City Paper has an interesting article about an even more interesting controversy at the current Artomatic.

Seems like Eduardo Rodriguez, a DC area artist who has been known as Artomatic’s "Penis Guy," had a rules issue in nearly rule-less AOM. Hess writes:

Why did Penis Guy take down his penis pictures? The controversy originated in the spot adjacent to Rodriguez’s now-abandoned space (at NW B1 on the 9th floor) where Moore Photography, a mother-daughter team, exhibit their work. Photos of flowers, butterflies, and fireworks are carefully matted and labeled with titles like “Reflections,” “Delectable,” and “Simply Elegant.” Rodriguez’s Cocksure Series was a bit different: neck-down nudes, mostly male, with message-inscribed torsos — easy to swallow reads one. Another: i am not hung.

The visual irony of a 15-year-old’s flora mounted alongside Rodriguez’s phallic extravaganza wasn’t part of Artomatic’s vision and juxtaposition sets up a vintage Artomatic drama. This one plays out in the following sequence:

• On Wednesday, May 7, the last day of Artomatic’s two-week installation period, Rodriguez enters the Artomatic building at 1200 First St. NE and begins hanging his Cocksure Series.

• The next day, Rodriguez reenters the building, officially closed to artists, to apply some finishing touches.

• In the meantime, another artist notices Rodriguez’s last-minute installation and notifies Moore Photography of the content. The Moore family, unimpressed by Penis Guy’s pedigree, complains to Artomatic without having seen Rodriguez’s work.

• Artomatic officials confront Rodriguez at his space. On the night before Artomatic’s opening, two hours before the building’s close, Rodriguez is asked to remount his penis pictures in another spot, away from a minor.

Read the whole article here.

Even a free for all extravaganza like AOM has a few rules and sounds like Rodriguez may have had his share of ignoring some of them, but I also think that artists should be able to work out things like this between themselves... and by artists I include the hardworking volunteers who run AOM, Rodriguez and the Mom & Daughter team.

So... someone in this mini drama is an asshole. A lot of the commenting masses in the CP think that Rodriguez is the asshole as do a lot of comments at the ArtDC forum... maybe they're right, maybe 80% right... maybe 50%.

The power of representational visual art to offend is immense; it is one of its key ingredients and an easy way to your 15 minutes of fame for a lot of artists. Over the years AOM has had what a lot of people may consider offensive art. I'm familiar with Rodriguez's imagery from past AOMs and it doesn't offend me at all.

But I have seen a lot of visual art imagery of erect and flaccid penises in my lifetime.

But I can also see a mother's desire in delaying her daughter's discovery of penis imagery and thus not desiring to be next to the "Penis Guy." And then again, she should also have known that AOM features all kinds of imagery - in my first visit I saw a lot of penises, a lot of vaginas, and a lot of tits. So her minor daughter is probably going to be exposed to them anyway.

But I can see that mom doesn't want to be "next" to a constant visual barrage of a male's reproductive organ in various states of excitement.

This should have been an easy thing to solve; the two neighboring artists should have worked this out and one of them should have moved. This year's AOM is in an amazing, huge, spacious environment and there are hundreds of great spots open.

If Mom & Daughter didn't want to be next to Rodriguez, then if Rodriguez is the "non confrontational" guy that he says he is, then for penis' sakes, take the fucking high road and move your penis photos to another spot. Rodriguez already screwed up by not following the set-up time rules to start with, so clearly set-up was not an issue for him.

If Mom & Daughter didn't want to be next to Rodriguez, then for daughter's sake take the fucking high road and move your nice photos to another spot.

Problem solved.

An event of the size of AOM always has mini dramas and controversy... some of us recall Kathryn Cornelius' closing her installation at an AOM a few years ago because of water issues and someone destroying JW Mahoney's swastikas on the wall.

Go see AOM and buy some art.

Tonite

I will be judging the Lorton Arts Foundation exhibition at the University of Phoenix, Reston, VA (11730 Plaza American Drive, Suite 200, Reston, Virginia 20190).

The opening for the show is tonight, Friday, May 23rd from 7 - 9pm. Come and say hi...