New Baltimore Gallery

TAG Gallery is a new space that opened last year in Baltimore. They're located at 732 S. Broadway, Baltimore, MD 21231.

Visit them online here.

Review of Aqui Estamos

Aqui Estamos, the group show of Cuban art that I curated for Projects Gallery in Philadelphia and which is currently on display at that Northern Liberties' gallery gets a cool review in Fallon & Rosof's Artblog.

Juego de Roles (Role Game). Oil on canvas by Aimee Garcia Marrero
Read the review here.

TAKI 183

Graffiti artists all around the world know the name that started it all: TAKI 183.

As a High School student who lived in Brooklyn but went to High School in Queens, I had about a 90 minute subway ride each morning and each evening going and coming from my High School in Long Island City. It all started in the LL line and finished in the number 7 Flushing Line. All along those trains I was very familiar with TAKI 183's tag, which seemed to be all over and everywhere at once. In fact, I even developed my own little tag back then. I would draw (with a magic marker) a little tombstone and write UNDERTAKER ASH underneath it. I have no idea how I came up with it and what it meant, or even if I had seen it somewhere, but back then any train or subway station that I used to ride had both TAKI 183 and UNDERTAKER ASH all over them.

TAKI 183 was then a kid from 183rd Street in upper Manhattan, TAKI 183’s simple signature (he said it was a diminutive of his Greek name Demetrius) captured the attention of a reporter and, on July 21, 1971, the article “TAKI 183 Spawns Pen Pals” appeared in The New York Times.

Just like that, TAKI 183 became a graffiti legend, but TAKI 183 remained silent. Now, almost four decades later, TAKI 183 has emerged to tell his story.

This new website includes photos of TAKI 183’s work, images of his friends and contemporaries, his true story and, for the first time, official TAKI 183 limited-edition screenprints.

Check the first graffitti superstar here.

Congrats!

The Association for Alternative Newsweeklies announced finalists for its annual prizes today, selecting the Washington City Paper as a top contender in four categories: Photography, Arts Criticism, Media Reporting/Criticism, and Innovation/Format Buster.

My good bud and theory knucklehead and superb painter Jeffry Cudlin, who won the top prize for arts criticism last year, was again named a finalist for 2009. Yay Jeffry!

The great photographer Darrow Montgomery, who’s been shooting for City Paper for 23 years is also a nominee! This is the fourth time Montgomery has been a finalist.

Janis at Duane Reed


That shot above is a partial view of DC's own Michael Janis, whose solo show opened in St. Louis' Duane Reed Gallery's brand new space last Friday.

I hear that Reed's new space in SL is perhaps the most attractive new gallery space in the city. Reed is a powerhouse in the art glass world, but with Janis they have acquired an artist who will help their gallery make the jump from a glass gallery to a fine arts gallery, period.

Buy Michael Janis now.

Opportunity for Artists

Deadline: Saturday May 31, 2009.

Introductions5 at Irvine Contemporary. An exhibition of works by recent art school graduates in August 2009.

Notification: No later than June 21, 2009.

Eligibility: Artists who have graduated in 2008 or 2009 and are available for gallery exhibition. Application must include:

- Artist’s statement.
- Artist’s resume.
- A CD-ROM of up to ten images. For New Media and Time Based Media (Sound, Film/Video, etc) please submit only ten minutes worth of work.
- Self-addressed stamped envelope – required to have submitted materials returned.

Submitted materials will be handled with care, but Irvine Contemporary cannot assume responsibility for lost or damaged materials.

Send to:
Lauren Gentile
Director of Sales
Irvine Contemporary
1412 14th Street, NW
Washington, DC 20005

Call for Presenters for VSA arts International Conference

Submission Deadline: May 29, 2009

VSA arts is seeking presentation proposals from policy-makers, artists, school and program administrators, art organizations, researchers, and educators around the world for its international conference, to be held in Washington, D.C., June 10-12, 2010.

The conference will discuss “Advancing Inclusive Education and 21st-Century Learning Skills Through the Arts”. It will also provide a “Career Development: forum to assist artists with disabilities as they pursue their careers.

Keynote speakers include Kenneth Eklindh, the head of the UNESCO EFA flagship program “The Right to Education for Persons with Disabilities: Towards Inclusion,” Dame Evelyn Glennie, an internationally acclaimed soloist, and Sir Ken Robinson, a renowned expert in the field of creativity.

The conference is part of the 2010 International VSA arts Festival, an international and multicultural event celebrating the accomplishments of artists with disabilities.

Proposed presentations for the conference should reflect the following themes/thematic tracks: the arts and 21st-Century learning skills; inclusive arts curriculum, instruction, and assessment; and career development for artists with disabilities. They should share the presenter’s experience and include evidence-based knowledge of effective research methodology and innovative practices.

Education proposals may include successful arts-education programs within the regular school day, arts-integrated curriculum across the general curriculum, and extracurricular arts activities beyond the regular school day. Topics of discussion for the career development forum will include encouraging business skills and portfolio development, benefits planning, and increasing cultural access and funding. Each session will be in lecture, roundtable, panel, or workshop format. A review committee will select proposals based on their learning objectives and outcomes, expertise on the topic, level of participant involvement, and relevance to the conference’s theme and target audience.

To submit an application, go to vsarts.org for instructions. For questions regarding the conference, please contact Géraldine Simonnet at 1-800-933-8721 or 1-202-628-2800 (voice), 1-202-737-0645 (TTY), or via e-mail at conference@vsarts.org.