The Washington Project for the Arts (WPA) has a long and
storied history, and is without a doubt, one of the key components of the
tapestry that makes up the DMV’s art scene.
The WPA is, and has always been, about its artist members.
In their own words:
Washington Project for
the Arts (WPA) is an artist-driven contemporary art space in the heart of the
nation’s capital. We produce public projects, present artist-curated
performances and exhibitions, and host talks and workshops. Proceeds from this
benefit sale are split evenly between the participating artists and WPA.
The annual WPA Auction Gala, of which I am proud to have
been a part of multiple times in the past, is easily the organization’s key
event – both as a critical fundraiser and as an art event. Even in running this event the WPA is all
about its artist members. I say this because many other organizations that run
art auctions as fundraisers generally expect the artist to “donate” the
artwork; the WPA gives the artist 50% of the proceeds. You can see all the selected/invited artists' works here.
And the comments poured in!
Clearly Barbara Januszkiewicz touched a raw nerve in the visual arts
community!
“Why is WPA so heavily
promoting individual artists from outside of Washington? Seems like a fail”,
wrote an early commenter.
Another commenter explained that… “The WPA
has always shown a range of artists -- when I worked there we showed a lot
fewer Washingtonians, it was an artist-directed organization NOT primarily a
services-for-local-artists organization, like many in that movement. And the
focus of the auction has always been, what will sell, it's a fundraiser.
Although the program focus has changed a lot in the past 20 years, the auction
has often featured a high % of curators and artists from other places and
whether they had representation was not a consideration. I raised an eyebrow
when I saw this year's list but it's not a major shift.”
Peter Nesbett, the WPA’s Executive Director soon joined in
the discussion and that essentially developed into another whole angle as he
writes in this most public of forums:
Hey all, WPA here. So the old-timers in this conversation -- those who remember WPA from the 70s and 80s -- know that the org has always worked with artists both from and not from DC. Mapplethorpe wasn't from DC. Nancy Rubin wasn't either. Nor was CoLab, Meredith Monk, Robert Rauschenberg, Robert Ashley, the list goes on and on. WPA was founded as a place that welcomed great artists from where-ever, and the mixing of local and non-local was one of the things that made it valuable and interesting. (Note that over the past year, our programs have been driven almost entirely by artists from the DMV.) Mary, as to our mission: while we are grateful to have so many amazing artist members, we aren't a collaborative, like Foundry. Yes, we work hard to connect our artists with opportunities, often recommending them for commissions, teaching opportunities, etc, but our mission is not to serve the members by showing their work, which given the number of members (700) would be impossible. So we try to serve them in other ways. I would caution you all against thinking too narrowly about the role and impact a place like WPA can and should have on the community and not to judge it by whether or not it is showing your work. Embrace the bigger picture!
Also it is worth noting to the rest of you that the O has a bit of an axe to grind with me because when pressed by her on numerous occasions to visit her studio and to take a group show she had curated (that included her own work), I told her that I didn't really understand what she was up to in her work because it seemed to ape the work of others a-critically, and for that reason I didn't understand its value. So that is possibly what spurred her post. Who knows. I think it is important to be honest with each other so we don't waste each other's time.
I will close by saying that for the WPA auction this year my goals were to a) put artists in charge of the selections, b) introduce people to work they may not already know, and c) introduce artists from outside DC to artists from DC in an effort to strengthen and expand our community. I think the auction will do that.
Nesbett’s comment directed at Januszkiewicz’s potential
motives are one thing, but I found it odd that the Executive Director of an
artist-run organization would also take an open forum to criticize the artwork
of one of its artist members… and so I joined in:
With all due respect, I am a somewhat disturbed that the director of an artists' driven organization takes an open forum to personally criticize the artwork of one of its members - who by the way, as the intense series of comments testify to, has asked a very valid and clearly "needed" question. That is, if one is to judge that by the passion of the comments and thoughts. But what bothers me is that were one to also mimic your viewpoint of "ape the work of others a-critically", then I'd challenge anyone with a simple understanding of art history to not "see" a dozen artists in any and every group show on the planet, any major art fair, and any WPA Gala, regurgitating the concepts and ideas of others who came before them, which in an era of postmodernism - where anything and everything is art - I thought was not an issue... In fact it is often refreshing, as when in this year's WPA Gala I see Chuck Close, Basquiat, Jerry Uelsmann, Goldsworthy, etc. being channeled into new work. It is clear to me that this question poses an opportunity for the WPA to host a panel/discussion on the subject, and it is also clear to me that you owe Barbara Januszkiewicz an apology for angling the discussion to a personal angle... Respectfully, Lenny Campello
And that’s where we stand now… I think.
However, I also really think that it is a good idea for the
WPA to “listen” to what this thread of comments have revealed amongst its members,
not to explain it away. I am 100% sure that Peter Nesbett’s intentions and
daily drive is to make the WPA better in every possible way, and I suspect that
he will be open to hosting an open discussion, somewhere in the DMV to address
this question.
But it was when I was asked to curate for the WPA a show
that would eventually be titled “Seven” (it spread across seven different
galleries of the then Warehouse complex across from the then “new” Washington
Convention Center, that I really hit pay dirt, as it was there that I met the
person who would eventually become my wife.
“Seven” was a show designed (by me) to try to expose as many
WPA artist members as possible to collectors and gallery owners. The vast
majority of the artists selected by me had never before been “picked” by the
WPA for anything. I then personally walked area gallerists and collectors
through the show… eventually I lost count, but at some point nearly 20 of the
66 artists in “Seven” were picked up by galleries, and at least through 2009 it
was the highest grossing fundraiser for the WPA, as well as getting major
reviews in all the local newspapers and television attention from both local
and national (CNN) stations.
And if you would indulge me, below is the storyline of how
that show developed, fastidiously reported by me in DC Art News over the period
that it took place. In looking back at these posts (I think I have most of them) I was somewhat surprised by the sheer amount of coverage that the show received, especially in these austere days of visual arts coverage around the DMV.
The Story of "Seven"
