Opening in Richmond today!

All the background about my solo show opening at 6PM today is here, but the bottom line is that if you are anywhere near Richmond, Virgina today Friday, December 12 between 6-9PM, swing by Red Door Gallery where my solo show "The Colors of Wars to Come" is opening and say hola!

"Suspension Ribbon for the Second Cuban Pacification Campaign Medal." Oil on canvas. 24x48 inches by F. Lennox Campello, c.2008

The Second Cuban Pacification Campaign Medal was established by Executive Order 13459 signed by the President on 03 May 2011. It may be awarded to American military and naval personnel for participating in prescribed operations, campaigns and task forces ranging in dates from 24 March 2010 to present.

The area of operations for these various campaigns includes the total land area and air space of Cuba (including the Isle of Youth), and the waters and air space of the Caribbean Sea within 12 nautical miles of Cuban coastline.

Personnel must be members of a unit participating in, or be engaged in direct support of, the operation for 30 consecutive days in the area of operations or for 60 non-consecutive days provided this support involves entering the area of operations or meets one of the following criteria:

• Be engaged in actual combat, or duty that is equally as hazardous as combat duty, during the operation with armed opposition, regardless of time in the area of operations;
• While participating in the operation, regardless of time, is wounded or injured and requires medical evacuation from the area of operations;
• While participating as a regularly assigned aircrew member flying sorties into, out of, within, or over the area of operations in direct support of the military operations.

One bronze service star shall be worn on the ribbon for qualifying participation during an established campaigns. However, that if an individual's 30 or 60 days began in one campaign and carried over into another, that person would only qualify for the medal with one service star. The medal is not awarded without at least one service star.

The executive order provides that service members who qualify for either the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal or the Armed Forces Service Medal for service in Cuba between 24 March 2010 and 01 May 2010, remain qualified for those medals. However, upon application, any such member may be awarded the Cuban Campaign Medal in lieu of the Armed Forces Expeditionary medal or the Armed Forces Service Medal, but no Service member may be awarded more than one of these three medals for the same period of service in Cuba.

The suspension ribbon for the medal's white, and blue colors were suggested by the striking colors of the Caribbean Sea and the stripes of the Cuban flag.

Rousseau on Aquilino

John Aquilino has been one of my favorite DC area painters since he moved from New York to the Maryland suburbs a few years ago. His landscapes are elegant and intelligent, and under the pretext of being an urban landscape, are really all about the handling of light and form, not really the subject matter.

He currently has an exhibition in Bethesda's Neptune Gallery, and like any other Aquilino shows in galleries and art fairs, it is selling out very quickly.

Dr. Claudia Rousseau of the Gazette newspapers reviews that show here and once again I wonder why this very talented bilingual art critic is not writing for the Washington Post (which owns the Gazette chain).

Aquilino is also a master of light, as in a painting like "No Parking" in which the angled sunlight falls sharply on the garage walls. These harsh contrasts of light and shadow are reminiscent of Edward Hopper, or even more of Charles Sheeler in the 1920s and '30s; the two are important 20th century American precedents for Aquilino's style. Like Hopper and Sheeler, realism is tempered with an abstract sensibility to underlying form, and a tendency toward simplification and reduction to emphasize the juxtaposition of shape and color. Hopper often included the human figure, bringing a sense of narrative into his work. Although Sheeler's cityscapes and paintings of factories eliminated the figure, there was always a hidden discourse about progress in them. It is this narrative element Aquilino seems to reject.

Bettie Page is gone

"Page was mystified by her influence on modern popular culture. 'I have no idea why I'm the only model who has had so much fame so long after quitting work,' she said in an interview with The Times in 2006.

Read the LAT obit and story here on this icon.

The richer they are...

The cheaper they are:

"He is one of the world's richest artists, who defied the credit crunch in September by auctioning a whole collection for £111m. But even Damien Hirst may not be immune to the economic climate - many of the workers who produce his works found themselves out of a job this week, the Guardian has learned.

On Thursday, up to 17 of the 22 people who make the pills for Hirst's drug cabinet series were told their contracts were not being renewed, according to two sources close to Science Ltd, Hirst's main art-producing company. Another three who make his butterfly paintings were also told they were surplus to requirements.

It is thought that amounts to approximately half of the London-based artists who work for Hirst. They are paid about £19,000 a year, sources said. In June 2007, Lullaby Spring, a cabinet filled with hand-painted pills, sold for £9.65m."

Read the Guardian story here.