Closing Party

Join the artists of the Washington Glass School as they celebrate their 10th Anniversary with a closing party / birthday bash at Long View Gallery.

The highly successful exhibit "Artists of the Washington Glass School: The First 10 Years" will close that night and the artists, art lovers, supporters and friends will gather for the anniversary event.

If you haven't seen the show that is an 'Editor's Pick' of the WaPo, and had the arts critic Michael O'Sullivan "feel like a monkey in front of a ball of shiny, shiny tin foil" - here is your chance!

Washington Glass School
10th Anniversary Party
Long View Gallery
1234 9th Street, NW
Washington, DC 20001
Sunday, June 19th, 2011
2-5 pm

See ya there!

Guess what arrived via FEDEX this afternoon?

The 100 Washington, DC Artists' advance copy just got delivered to my home today and the book is gorgeous!

And the back cover has quite a few pieces of art; work by Rik Freeman, Alexa Meade, Melissa Ichiuji, David D'Orio, Adam Bradley and others - this was a pleasant surprise, as I didn't know that they had chosen art for the back cover!

The publisher also shipped a bottle of Stargazer 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon to celebrate the release of the book - I'm touched by this class act!

Those of you who ordered books should get them soon, as they arrive in the publisher's warehouse in a few weeks.

Later: news of the book release party!

Azucar Moreno

The words to this international megahit by Spain's Azucar Moreno (the Salazar sisters) is what makes me wish that everyone could understand the beauty of Spanish as a lover's language. The title of the song is "Devour me again..." Enjoy the marriage of Spanish classical music with a contemporary beat:

Planning Process at AAC

While I was in the UK I got the news that I had been selected by Helen Allen (former creator and Executive Director of PULSE Art Fairs; former Executive Director of Ramsay Art Fairs; and current partner for the upcoming (e)merge art fair in Washington, DC) to exhibit at the Arlington Art Center's "Planning Process" exhibition.

What's this exhibition about? From the prospectus:

PLANNING PROCESS is a juried drawing show with a difference: All of the drawings selected for inclusion must be studies created in preparation for finished artworks. Winning studies will be shown alongside finished pieces in a variety of media: A sculptor or a painter could show sketches alongside finished objects . . . a video artist could show storyboards alongside video . . . an installation artists could show plans alongside photos documenting a finished project—or a recreation of that project onsite.

So for this show I will be doing an installation of my Hotel Art Intervention Project.

As many of you know, since 1977 I have been conducting a one man crusade to add original artwork to hotel rooms. As part of this process, when I travel I often bring a minimal set of art supplies as well as tools. Once I check into a hotel room, I identify a piece of hotel wall décor to be “improved” by the addition or substitution of original art. I usually disassemble the piece, and sometimes add imagery to the original piece. In some cases, whenever I feel that I can “get away with it,” (which depends on what other images are hanging in the room) I do a complete substitution of the original hotel piece (most often substituting it with an original drawing or watercolor).

For PLANNING PROCESS: Drawings and Finished Works, I proposed re-creating the Hotel Art Intervention process itself by recreating an entire hotel room at the Arlington Art Center (or at least a subset of it). There would be a bed and other hotel paraphernalia, including some usual hotel wall décor hanging on the wall, and one disassembled piece laying on the bed and been “intervened” upon. At various times during the exhibition period, this piece would be worked on and added to (by me), and at the end of the show the “finished artwork” would be hung back on the wall.

The artists selected by Allen for this exhibit are:

John James Anderson

F. Lennox Campello

R. L. Croft

Craig Kraft

Magnolia Laure

Jessie Lehson

Ephraim Russell

Samuel Scharf

Dan Tulk

Jessica Van Brakle

Tom Wagner

Andrew Wodzianski

Wards 7 or 8 artists

Are you an artist and live in either Ward 7 or 8? If so, drop me an email at lenny@lennycampello.com - I may have a good opportunity for you!

Flux Studios' New Emerging Artist Program

Flux Studios in the Gateway Arts District in Mount Rainier, MD has announced their new Emerging Artist Program.

Accepted applicants will receive a 45 square foot work space, 24 hour access with free parking, an annual solo exhibition at Flux, immersion in a professional art studio and the opportunity for mentorship in their art practice as well as in areas of professional development.

Cost is $200/month, one year commitment required.

Flux Studios is now accepting applications for this program. If interested in applying, please contact Novie Trump at info@fluxstudiosdc.com

Flux Studios LLC is a contemporary art space in Mt. Rainier, MD housing the professional studios of six artists and a small informal gallery space with rotating exhibitions.

Flux Studios has a visiting artist program, hosting artists from the US and abroad for residencies ranging from two weeks to three months. They also offer workshops taught by master artists in a variety of media, ranging from encaustic to ceramic sculpture.

Opportunities for Artists

Deadline: July 1, 2011

Each year, the Arlington Arts Center selects 10 to 14 artists from across the Mid-Atlantic region for solo exhibitions in AAC’s seven separate gallery spaces—or outside on the grounds. Proposals that specifically consider AAC’s space, layout, and surrounding environs are encouraged. Floors plans are available on their website. Any existing works must have been completed within the last 3 years in order to be considered.

Three guest panelists will lead the review process for SOLOS this year, and consider every artist application received: Klaus Ottman, Curator at Large and Director of the Center for the Study of Modern Art for the Phillips Collection; Karen Milbourne, curator for the Smithsonian African Art Museum; and JJ McCracken, DC based installation artist and art professor (and one of the artists in my 100 Washington, DC Artists book).

SOLOS 2012 applications can be found here.

Breaking News: Art-O-Matic in Frederick

A large building (belongs to the Frederick County Board of Education and has 27,000 sq feet) has been secured for a Frederick, MD based Art-O-Matic and the event, in all its glory, buzz, impact, detractors and career-making opportunities for artists is expected to take place in historic downtown Frederick in the fall.

I hear that Frederick artist Steven Dobbin and crew have the lead for this project.

I also hear that this will take a lot of leads and guidance from the DC area ArtOMatic.

Also, of special note - Frederick, MD was just rated the 8th top small town arts destination in the country; Congrats!

This kind of event may certainly spike that number!

Book almost here!

The 100 Washington, DC Artists book is almost here!

I am told by the publisher that the advances arrived on Monday and that I will get an advance copy by next week, as for arrival in the warehouse for distribution, they have it slated for arrival on or about June 30th.

Strictly Painting 8

This much anticipated biennial juried exhibition at McLean Project for the Arts presents the work of artists exploring the medium of painting who reside in the Mid-Atlantic region. Juried by Jayme McLellan, well-known curator and Director of Civilian Art Projects, the exhibit will include works by thirty-seven artists. Free and open to the public; Opening reception and talk: Thursday, June 16, 7 - 9 pm.

John Anderson
Maremi Andreozzi
David Barr
Marcus Beauregard
Jennifer Bishop
Bong Kyun Noh
Kathy Brady
Nancy Bruce
Thomas Bucci
Mike Cantwell
Carolyn Case
Leigh Anne Chambers
Karl Connolly
Brian Dang
Joel D'Orazio
Joy Every
Claire Feng
Cavan Fleming
E Garner
Seth Havercamp
Timothy Horjus
Margaret Huddy
Rachel Jeffers
Ryan Carr Johnson
J.T. Kirkland
Marni Lawson
Matthew Mann
Greg Minah
Michele Montalbo
Sarah Robbins
Nicole Santiago
Judy Southerland
Nora Sturges
Champ Taylor
Dan Treado
Jessica Van Brakle
Andrew Wodzianski

Airborne
Heading home today via Amsterdam... more later.

York, Walker and 30 pieces of silver

Today we took the train from Harrogate and spent the day walking around York, enjoying a nice sunny day in this picture postcard Northern English town. My focus was to try to see Cornelia Parker’s Thirty Pieces Of Silver, which had been re-installed (on loan from the Tate) at York St Mary’s medieval church.

And guess what?

The installation looks 1000% better in this medieval setting than in the Tate! In fact, the modern aspect of the flattened spoons, plates, musical instruments, etc. all really seem to make an "easier" leap to the famous biblical story when presented in this space full of a vast history of its own.

Heading back home tomorrow, via Amsterdam.

Ripley, North Yorkshire

Yesterday we took the number 36 bus from Harrogate to Ripley (Note to self: I had forgotten that in the UK, even if you're standing in the bus stop shelter waiting for the bus, they will just zoom on by unless you wave them down!) and not only discovered a lovely little village there with an exceptional art gallery, a historic fortified house (home of a gent who was knighted in the 1290s because he saved Edward III from the attack of a wild boar), an even more historic church, but also discovered that this village is the home of the world famous Ripley Ice Cream, which was without a doubt the yummiest and creamiest ice cream that I've ever had! And rumor has it that its secret formula is made from Soy milk!

That's Alida and Little Junes sitting on front of Ripley's Ice Cream (and also a really cool candy store).

In Ripley we chatted with Chris Braddon, owner of Chantry House Gallery, which was a pleasant discovery in this tiny village. I say "pleasant" because even though nearby Harrogate has several galleries, I must admit that I have not been too impressed with any of them.

I say this fully realizing that some of Harrogate's galleries cater to a very specific (and I'm about to generalize) English 19th century landscape type work that doesn't really ring my bell. On the other hand, it works for them, as some of these galleries have been around since the 1940s!

There are also at least two galleries which seem to be co-operatives, and those have the usual mix of very good artists with some less talented members. These co-ops seemed both to have quite a few sculptors, which is somewhat unusual in such numbers. Also different is a lot of animal sculpture (dogs, pigs, etc.) both in normal poses and also in whimsical, fantasy situations (dancing hares, etc.).

The rest are the sort of "galleries" that push a lot of signed reproductions on canvas and exhibit permanent displays of cutsey paintings of cows for the children's rooms alongside underwater nudes.

Chantry House also necessarily adapts to its environment, but some real talent stands aside in this space, such as the work of John Wheeler, whose initial training as a carpet designer have left profound and unique footprints on his visual fine art paintings and thus separate him immediately from the other hundreds of landscape painters in understandable love with one of the most beautiful regions in the world.

Peter Hicks is also a radical departure from other landscape artists in this lovely part of the planet.

His marriage of abstracted forms to deliver fleeting landscape descriptions is both different and refreshing. You can check out his gallery exhibit here.

Capps on MOCA DC

In the WCP, Kriston Capps reports on the woes of Georgetown's legendary "bad boy" gallery here.

Irvine Contemporary Moving from 14th Street

From Martin Irvine:

This summer marks the 10th anniversary of Irvine Contemporary and over 5 years at our 14th Street gallery location. As a result of unmanageable increases in rent in the current economy, Irvine Contemporary will be moving out of our 14th Street gallery space on August 30th. We have enjoyed a wonderful run of exhibitions, events, and achievements for our artists in this space, and we are fortunate to have the continued support of so many friends, collectors, artists, and colleagues in the Washington, DC community and beyond.

We want to conclude our time on 14th Street by celebrating our artists and recognizing the community that has been the life of the gallery at this location. Over the summer, we will present two exhibitions as a tribute to our artists. Artist Tribute Exhibition 1 will open on June 11, and Artist Tribute Exhibition 2 on July 23, and will include special events and talks with many of artists. We look forward to your continued patronage in supporting our artists in these final exhibitions on 14th Street, and invite you to join us in celebrating their great work and achievements.

While we are planning this move and transition, we are continuing to curate exhibitions and represent our artists through the fall of this year. We will soon announce the exciting exhibitions and events that we have planned in the fall.

Artist Tribute Exhibition 1
June 11 - July 16
Opening Reception, Saturday, June 11, 6-8PM

Old Peculier 5.6% ABV

Enjoying Theakston's Old Peculier at a pub in Harrogate, UK; this is one tasty brew!

I noticed Little Junes studying the juxtapositioning of the brew and his water. He looked at them, studied the angle of approach, studied me as I fiddled with the camera; a fraction of a second later he darted for the beer, but it takes a lot of skill to burglarize a beer from the Lenster, so I snatched it up a nanosecond ahead of him.

FCUK

French Connection United Kingdom - Seen at Boots drugstore in Harrogate, UK.

Is this brand sold in the US?

Tomorrow

“The Washington Glass School is known for its excellent student program and the quality of creative work its students produce. I wanted to celebrate their 10th anniversary by giving students an opportunity to exhibit their work in Gallery 555dc. Running and managing a school takes hard work, long hours and dedication – then more hard work. To celebrate a 10th Anniversary in the art world is a rare thing and a tribute to the founders and teachers of the Washington Glass School. ”

Jodi Walsh
Owner
Gallery 555dc

The gallery is at 555 12th Street NW Lobby, Washington DC 20004, 202-393-1409 or 240-447-6071 Gallery555dc.com. The reception is Saturday, June 4th, noon to 5pm; Artists present 3 – 5pm.

Sugar Therapy

Awesome shop in Harrogate, Yorkshire, UK.

Sugar Theraphy: Name says it all, and Charlotte, the very nice lady working the counter was one of those wizards who make yummy things not only delish but also little works of culinary sweet tooth art.

She also makes her own ice cream, and yesterday she had made pop corn ice cream! And as they say here: Brill!

When in Harrogate...

Little Junes and his mom...

Me?

Slamming some Black Sheep Best Bitter at Christie's Bar, Harrogate, Yorkshire, UK.

The School Chair

As I've noted before, for several years now I've been working on writing down my memories of my early childhood in Cuba, which is where I was born and lived my early years before my family escaped to the United States in the 60s. I hope to one day pitch it to some publisher. The below piece is a peek at a chapter draft somewhere in the beginning of the book. It is titled "The School Chair", and feedback, suggestions and criticism is welcome!

The School Chair

When I was about eight or so (I think), things began to change drastically in Cuba, and although most of it was invisible to me, some of the changes were apparent in the most obvious of places: school.

Like many middle class Cuban children, some years before actually attending formal schooling, my parents had placed me in some sort of private pre-school, run by a very nice lady who lived a couple of blocks from us. I remember her teaching me that the alphabet included an extra letter that represented Jesus.

At about that same time my grandmother had taken in a very young guajira (peasant girl) to help her around the house. Her name was Dora, and her father, who was a peasant somewhere in the mountains of Baracoa, where my grandmother's kin folks had settled when they first arrived from the Canary Islands, had sent her to my grandmother so that Dora could be taught how to sew and cook, etc. and thus prepare her for marriage in the old Cuban tradition.

As most guajiros of the time, Dora did not know how to read or write, and so my grandmother took it upon herself to teach Dora. Because I was always with them – Dora’s duties included being my nanny – I am told that as a very young tot I learned how to read and write and created quite a spectacle when I started kindergarten already not only being able to read and write, but also having already read many children's books from my grandfather’s small but well-stocked library.

My grandfather had some very nice, old illustrated copies of Milton’s Paradise Gained, Paradise Lost, and Don Quixote and also Dante’s Inferno. When I got a little older and was allowed to use them, I remember reading all of these at a very early age – mostly driven by the spectacular Dore illustrations in them. It was perhaps a seminal influence to my own artwork in years to come.

The discovery by my teachers that I could read and write at such an early age immediately stamped me as “muy inteligente” and I was always looked upon in a very positive light by all my teachers in the various schools that I went to in my childhood.

Unfortunately for my cousin Cesar, it was the exact opposite for him, and my poor cousin took the brunt of being the slow learner and was unfairly compared to me throughout his school years.

I seem to recall my first "real" school being called Rosendo Rossell, and it was two blocks down from our house and one block past where the paved streets in Calle Cuartel ended and the dirt streets and open sewers began.

I don’t recall much from the school itself, other than boys and girls were kept segregated in separate classrooms, except at recess time. The school had a huge open fenced field where we all played under the hot Cuban sun, and met kids from other neighborhoods, while jealously sticking together with our own little band of children from a two to three block area around our house.

Somewhere along that time the Revolution began to infiltrate the minds of children, and the “pioneers” were established.

The pioneers were school children who wore a special uniform and swore allegiance to the Revolution. This was peer pressure at its strongest and most evil – driven not only by your playmates, but also by your teachers and your government.

Why I wasn’t allowed to become a pioneer was a mystery to me at the time, and back then I didn’t truly understand that my father had decided to leave Cuba and thus we were marked as “gusanos” (worms) and as such not supporters of the Revolution. In retrospect I now realize that few, if any of my neighborhood friends were pioneers, and it is puzzling as to why they didn’t join or were coerced into joining.

I believe that during this time nearly every Cuban felt that Fidel Castro would not last much longer, and many families looked with distaste and disgust to such things as children being marched to and from school chanting revolutionary slogans. Also, because we lived in Guantanamo and the American base was nearby, we heard on an almost daily basis, about Cubans being killed trying to make a run or a swim from the Cuban side to the American side.

The only pioneer that I recall in our neighborhood was the daughter of a family who lived at the end of our block and whose family was the CDR (Committee for the Defense of the Revolution) in our block. Because of the CDR association, and because she was a girl, she never really played with us or was part of our group and thus was really an outsider in her own neighborhood.

At some point I recall children who were not pioneers being humiliated and made fun of publicly in school. But strangely enough, this never happened to me, and to the end I was allowed to attend school dressed in civilian clothes rather than in an uniform, and I was always allowed to be in the various school academic teams that competed against each other.

The only time that I recall the issue being a problem was when I was selected, along with another child, to participate in some academic competition now forgotten. My parents objected to this project in some manner or form. I cannot recall why, but I remember having to tell the freckled faced boy who was to be my academic partner in the team, that I would not be able to do it. He denounced me in class the next day as a “gusano,” but nothing came of it.

Another time that sticks in my mind oddly, was when the teacher was asking the class about all the wonderful new things the Revolution would build with the several hundred thousand tons of cement that had just arrived from the Soviet Union. Answers included schools, houses, parks and for some reason I answered “Churches.”

I remember how sad the face of the teacher turned. She visibly sighed and said, “No, not churches... the Revolution will not build Churches.” This puzzled me; both her answer and her sadness.

I remember that my grandfather built school chairs for Cesar and for me, and that we’d take them to school at the beginning of the school year and dutifully brought them back to our house at the end of the school year. My grandfather was very good with his hands, and the chairs were the best in our classroom; he had also, with exquisite penmanship, painted my last name CAMPELLO on the back of the chair in capital white letters.

One day the boy who sat behind me in the row at school, scratched out the “P” in my name, so that it read CAM ELLO or “camel.” I can’t recall his name, but I remember him as a redheaded, very gentle boy, especially in the barbaric world of Cuban boyhood, and I was astounded that he had the audacity to defile my grandfather’s work.

That day at recess I confronted him and demanded an apology. Instead he ran away yelling "CAMELLO!". I chased him, easily caught him and then gave him a resounding beating in the schoolyard, to the glee of the crowd of children that always surrounded the daily battles that took place at recess, under the noses of the teachers who would not step in until blood was drawn.

I knocked him to the ground and pounded him, and he would not fight back with any skill, but covered his face and mouth and refused to apologize to my grandfather.

I picked up a rock and smashed his mouth with it. Blood spouted and covered both him and I, and the crowd went silent in muted horror and finally the teachers stepped in and took us both to the school offices.

While the nurse tended to his bruised lip, two messengers were dispatched to our respective families, and it being the middle of the day, my father was at home and came in. When he arrived I burst into tears and the fight was detailed to him. I was truly afraid that my father would get into serious trouble – after all, we were gusanos and the boy that I had beaten up was a pioneer.

To my surprise my father was very bellicose and demanded that the boy and the teacher apologize for allowing my grandfather’s chair to be vandalized.

I was so proud of my father that day, as he suddenly became a threatening force to the school dictators. My father, who always had a reputation as a fighter and drinker, was well-known (and feared) in Guantanamo, and had some many friends in the city that I suspect that in those early days of the Revolution, when Castro's brutal police was still establishing a choke hold on Cuban society, the school principal did not want to cross him too much, even though he was a gusano.

In the end, the chair was fixed and no one ever called me “CAMELLO” again.

Tonight: Walking Off the Artistic Cliff

Wednesday, June 1, 7:00 - 9:00pm

Panel Discussion - Walking Off the Artistic Cliff
Making good art requires taking risks. Join Jack Rasmussen, Director of the American University Museum at the Katzen Center, Claudia Rousseau, Ph.D., Professohttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifr of Art History at Montgomery College and art critic for the Gazette Newspapers and Welmoed Laanstra, Curator of Public Art for Arlington County, and moderator Ellyn Weiss, as they discuss what it means to commit to the new and unknown.

Free. Open to the Public.

Brentwood Arts Exchange @ Gateway Arts Center
3901 Rhode Island Avenue
Brentwood, MD 20722
301-277-2863/ tty. 301-446-6802

Airborne
Airborne today and heading to Amsterdam and then to England... more from the Old World later.

Minute Wings

I said, I don’t like Yeats.
I only like Marti, Neruda, Borge and Paz.
You read this poem to me:

I did the dragon's will until you came
Because I had fancied love a casual
Improvisation, or a settled game
That followed if I let the kerchief fall:
Those deeds were best that gave the minute wings
And heavenly music if they gave it wit;
And then you stood among the dragon-rings.
I mocked, being crazy, but you mastered it
And broke the chain and set my ankles free,
Saint George or else a pagan Perseus;
And now we stare astonished at the sea,
And a miraculous strange bird shrieks at us.

I was scared by the dragon-rings,
and the will which I was doing,
and even by minute wings.
But you opened me,
and gave me my freedom,
and Yeats.

Memorial Day

Have a grand Memorial Day!

The DC Art card deck

Art in Hand™ is an arts publisher who was looking to bring their City Project Decks of cards to the city of Washington, DC.

They selected 54 artists who are currently living and working in the Washington, DC area to participate in their DC City Project Deck, which has just been published.

The Washington, DC Project is a deck of fully functional playing cards where each individual card in the deck (plus 2 jokers) is rendered in the typical style of the contributing artist. The project creates widespread exposure for participating artists while producing a unique, entertaining, functional and green product for the city of Washington, DC.

Check out the project and all the cards and associated artwork here.

The cards are available at many stores locally and also at most local museum stores, or you can order them online here.

My favorite card?

Judith Peck gets a winning hand with her gorgeous Queen of Spades.

You can buy Judith's painting here.

Just keeps on getting worse and worse...

On Thursday, Cuban pro-democracy activist Caridad Caballero was arrested by the Castro regime's Workers Paradise's police.

She has not been heard from since then and her whereabouts remain unknown.

Caballero, a member of the Ladies in White support group ("Damas de Apoyo"), was arrested for participating in a peaceful protest against the Castro regime.

Her family has been frantically searching for her in all known police and state security operation centers, but they refuse to reveal any information about her well-being or whereabouts.

As you can see from the video clip below of a previous arrest (in March 2011) of Caballero, the Castro regime is not shy about using repressive force against her and her family.

Campello at auction

A British antique art dealer has one of my drawings from eleven years ago up for auction. It starts at 195 pounds, so it's a great deal!


Check it out and bid on it here. Hurry! Only 14 hours left!

Planning Process

Just got the news that I've been selected by Helen Allen (former creator and Executive Director of PULSE Art Fairs; former Executive Director of Ramsay Art Fairs; and current partner for the upcoming (e)merge art fair in Washington, DC) to exhibit at the Arlington Art Center's "Planning Process" exhibition.

More later on what I'll be doing, but from the prospectus:

PLANNING PROCESS is a juried drawing show with a difference: All of the drawings selected for inclusion must be studies created in preparation for finished artworks. Winning studies will be shown alongside finished pieces in a variety of media: A sculptor or a painter could show sketches alongside finished objects . . . a video artist could show storyboards alongside video . . . an installation artists could show plans alongside photos documenting a finished project—or a recreation of that project onsite.

O'Sullivan on the Washington Glass School

No secret here that I am a HUGE fanboy of what the WGS and what many other DMV area glass artist have done to make the DMV one of the leading contemporary art glass centers on this planet (when are our "local" art museums going to "discover" this?)

And in reviewing "The Washington Glass School: The First 10 Years" , now on display at Long View Gallery in the District, the senior Washington Post visual arts critic, Michael O'Sullivan, eloquently interprets just what makes this substrate (glass) so special and yet so different.

On the one hand, glass is pretty. It's hard not to like the way it looks: the luminous color, the way it plays with light. On the other hand, maybe glass is only pretty. How do we know that the beauty is also capable of brains?

The rest of the show is proof that it is.

Read the O'Sullivan review here.

Diana Nyad, my Goddess of the day!

Diana Nyad, at age 61, prepares for second attempt to swim from Cuba to Key West

If the brutal and bloody and racist Cuban dictatorship would allow it, Nyad would be swimming in the wake of a few thousand Cubans attempting the same feat!

But seriously folks: WOW!

Read the WaPo article here.

Opportunity for Artists

Deadline: June 1, 2011

Call for Art - Superheroes: Icons of Good, Evil & Everything In Between

Superheroes is "a multi-media, group exhibition about heroes, villains and other less-definable examples of human possibility. Informed by pop culture notions of “Super” – both hero and villain – it examines the ways in which the Superhero and Supervillain archetypes are integrated into our culture, informing ideas of morality, civil responsibility and human achievement."

Curated by 516 ARTS and guest curator Neilie Johnson. Artists selected by invitation and this call. Deadline June 1. Show run: open 9/24 or 10/1 thru Dec. 17, 2011.

Email rhiannon@516arts.org to request complete submission details (recommended). Submissions: Send up to 8 jpg’s of available work (at least 4”x6”, 300dpi); include title, year, media, dimensions for each piece; a short artist biography in paragraph format; a short artist’s statement. Prefer EMAIL to: rhiannon@516arts.org or mail CD/DVD to:

516 ARTS
Attn: Rhiannon Mercer
516 Central Ave., SW
Albuquerque, NM 87102

American Contemporary

The latest issue of American Contemporary Art magazine is out and it has a nice column on DMV area shows (p. 14-15) and has DMV area artist Hadieh Shafie on the cover.

Read it online here.

The Power of the Web: The BBC listens

Eight years ago I started shouting that the whole idea of a museum focused on Latino art was a bad idea (so 20th century!).

Over the years since this well-intentioned but silly, segregationist idea first came out, I've posted my thoughts on the subject in many places.

No one in the US seems to care that one lonely voice in the Washington, DC area is not drinking the Kool-Aid on this subject - but the the BBC does!

If you can read Spanish, then read my thoughts on the subject in BBC Mundo here.

"Deberíamos enfocar los esfuerzos en colocar las contribuciones latinas en los museos generales, que tienen que ser unificadores. Crear categorías y rotularlos para ponerlos en compartimentos separados, sobre todo en arte, es una estrategia muy del siglo XX que debe ser superada"

And the winners are:

The ten award winners from the 200 artists at the 20th Annual Northern Virginia Fine Arts Festival are:

Jorge Caligiuri, Philadelphia, PA
Ronald Dekok, Belleville, WI
Elissa Farrow-Savos, Sterling, VA
Tom Hlas, Philadelphia, PA
Ning Lee, Livingston, NJ
Steven Olszewski, Pinckney, MI
John Petrey, Chattanooga, TN
Joyce Stratton, New Bern, NC
Gary Stretar, Spencer, OH
Andrew Zimmermann, Arlington, VA

WGS Students at Gallery 555DC

“The Washington Glass School is known for its excellent student program and the quality of creative work its students produce. I wanted to celebrate their 10th anniversary by giving students an opportunity to exhibit their work in Gallery 555dc. Running and managing a school takes hard work, long hours and dedication – then more hard work. To celebrate a 10th Anniversary in the art world is a rare thing and a tribute to the founders and teachers of the Washington Glass School. ”

Jodi Walsh
Owner
Gallery 555dc

The gallery is at 555 12th Street NW Lobby, Washington DC 20004, 202-393-1409 or 240-447-6071 Gallery555dc.com. The reception is Saturday, June 4th, noon to 5pm; Artists present 3 – 5pm.

Argentina

The Embassy of Argentina now has their first exhibition of the year, All Come in Color, celebrating the month of their May Independence Revolution.

The exhibit features abstract and figurative paintings created by local DMV Argentine artists. The show is on now through June 30th - check out all the other good stuff going on here.

Embassy of Argentina
1600 New Hampshire Ave, NW
Washington DC 20008

Fighting words

this post is from 2004 and yet artists, art dealers and other folks are still posting and arguing over it.

It's on the subject of "Vanity Galleries" and you can read it all here.

Top 10

Jamon Serrano: Quite possibly one of the top ten foods on planet Earth and one of the top 25 in this galaxy and one of the top 100 in the Universe.

MOCA DC Plea

After receiving the below press release from Georgetown's MOCA DC gallery, I asked its director, Dave Quammen, for permission to post it in this blog. Although it is raw and to the bone, and courageously reveals intimate personal issues, it also goes to show the amazing extent that some gallery owners go to in an effort to keep their art spaces open and running:

June Exhibit - Why Not?
The gallery has been in the same financial straits for a long time, but I could pick up the slack before. I can't do that anymore without major changes to the way that MOCA DC operates.

So, beginning with the June exhibit, I will accept one piece of art free from anyone, member or not. Art must be 36 x 40 max and meet the theme of the exhibit. Additional pieces may be entered for a nominal fee.

As of the June exhibit, I have kept the gallery open for 6 1/2 years, at a personal cost during that time well in excess of $25,000 - out of my pocket, not to mention the at least 70 hours per week, at no income from the gallery.

Well, folks - beginning right now, I ain't gonna do it anymore. Income this month and last has fallen a lot, mostly rental of the gallery, etc. If no one comes up with the $2,625 for rent by June 1, I ain't gonna pay it at all and let the chips fall where they may.

Same goes for the Figure Models Guild - which will be 10 years old this July. At the beginning, I made copies of the Model Registry, bought envelopes and paid the postage out of my own pocket. I also made copies of the guide I put together for models, held events and etc - all for nothing. No cost to models, no cost to all those who got a free ride - all the colleges, universities, schools, teachers, et al --- all for nothing.

I don't know how many know that in 2008 I was diagnosed with prostate and colon cancer - beat em both. In 2009, I had to have heart surgery on 2 different occasions. This year, or late last year, I was diagnosed with lung problems - emphysema and COPD, or pulmonary fibrosis. They put me on an inhaler for a while, but last month they changed it to a stronger one and added a 2nd. Problem is, this is one thing I can't beat, and it's a crap shoot as to how much time I have left - will be 72 in October, so I can't complain about longevity - I've done more in my life than most people do, so I don't have any regrets.

But I do have some other things I want to do, but I can't with this albatross around my neck. So if you want this to continue, figure out what these things are worth and come up with the cash, or I'm in the wind.

Well, Joe - this one's for you. Thanks for the push!

MOCA DC is one of the Canal Square Galleries at 1054 31st Street & M Street, NW in Georgetown.

Update: Kriston Capps reports on this issue here.

New Art Gallery in Georgetown

Today, the DMV welcomes its newest contemporary art gallery, Heiner Contemporary. The gallery is now open to the public, launching with a solo exhibition of work by Brooklyn-based artist Elizabeth Huey. The exhibition will run through July 2, 2011.

Located in the Book Hill neighborhood of Georgetown, "Heiner Contemporary features emerging and mid-career artists working in a range of media. The gallery is the culmination of owner and director Margaret Heiner’s long-term interest in promoting an understanding and appreciation of contemporary art. Her desire to make art accessible, which was at the heart of her business Aesthetica Art Consulting, remains an important facet of Heiner Contemporary."

“I want visitors to the gallery to feel the push-and-pull of the art displayed and to engage with the works on both a visual and emotional level,” says Heiner. “We want to forge connections and foster dialogue between individuals and artists, but we also want our clients to feel comfortable regardless of their collecting or art experience.”

In addition to exhibitions, Heiner Contemporary maintains an inventory of secondary market works available for sale. These pieces range from prints by well-established artists such as William Kentridge and Kara Walker, to paintings by up-and-comers including Allison Reimus.

Heiner Contemporary is located at 1675 Wisconsin Ave, NW. For more information about the gallery and upcoming exhibitions, email info@heinercontemporary.com or visit the website at www.heinercontemporary.com.

Next month!

The 100 Washington, DC Artists book should be out next month!

Pre-order your copy here.

This weekend

This weekend is the 20th Annual Northern Virginia Fine Arts Festival, one of the highest ranked outdoor art fairs in the nation.

Together with Judith Forst, who started it all 20 years ago and DMV area artist Erwin Timmers, I will be one of the judges awarding the prizes to the artists from all over the country who come down to Reston each year for this festival - expect around 50,000 people to come by over the weekend, as in addition to the fine arts and fine crafts there's all kinds of food and entertainment.

See ya there!

Read more about the festival here.

Tonight at Long View

I hear that about 300 people have RSVP'd to this opening tonight, so you may be a little crowded, but do not miss this show:

About the event: The Washington DC area has become internationally renowned as an emerging center of glass art. At the forefront of this charge is the Washington Glass School, where the instructors, artists and students have brought narrative and content into glass, dragging it away from decorative craft and into the rarefied atmosphere of the contemporary fine art scene. The Washington Glass School has produced artists whose art can be found in museums and collections world-wide and is advancing the Studio Glass Movement with its explorations of narrative, technology and skills. This represents the largest and most important movement in the Washington art scene since the Color School of the 70's/80's.

This May, the Washington Glass School celebrates a momentous milestone - its 10th year. DC’s Long View Gallery presents “Artists of the Washington Glass School – The First Ten Years” showcasing over 20 artists and 10 years of integrating glass into the contemporary art dialogue. While it recognizes the past and present, The First 10 Years is intended to instigate – and celebrate – the new directions contemporary glass is exploring through various artistic metaphors.

Featured artists include: Tim Tate, Michael Janis, Erwin Timmers, Elizabeth Mears, Syl Mathis, Lea Topping, Robert Kincheloe, Alison Sigethy, Dave D'Orio, Anne Plant, Jeffery Zimmer, Teddie Hathaway, Jackie Greeves, Kirk Waldroff, Debra Ruzinsky, Tex Forrest, Diane Cabe, Robert Wiener, Nancy Donnelly, Sean Hennessey, Cheryl Derricotte, Jennifer Lindstrom, Michael Mangiafico, Allegra Marquart and m.l.duffy.

In bringing The First 10 Years to Washington, DC, Long View asks artists and audience alike to cast aside traditional notions of glass art and participate in a new form of dialogue; one that looks to the future and not the past.

The Washington Glass School Movement has focused almost entirely on the narrative content aspects of glass, breaking away from the technique-driven vessel movement of the last millennium. By focusing on cross-over sculptural work, mixed media and new media (such as interactive electronics and video), the impact this movement has had on the work of contemporary art has been felt internationally. This is the perfect chance to see a cross section of artists who have led this evolution.

Washington Glass School: The First 10 Years
LongView Gallery
1234 9th Street, NW, Washington, DC
May 19 - June 19, Opening Reception, May 19th, 6:30-8:30 PM
Closing Reception Sunday June 19, 2-5 PM
phone: 202.232.4788
email :info@longviewgallery.com

Claire Huschle stepping down from the AAC

The Arlington Arts Center (AAC) has announced that its Executive Director, Claire Huschle, will step down as of August 1, 2011, after six years in that capacity.

What Huschle has done at the AAC over the last six years has been spectacular, to say the least. She took over the organization just after it had reopened after an unexpectedly prolonged renovation, and we're told, had limited earned income and very little foundation or corporate support.

Huschle not only turned that around, but she also put the AAC on the arts map of the DMV with a professional ferocity that nearly eclipsed everything else going on the visual arts in Arlington, and then (by example) led the way to make that city an unexpected rising artstar, some would say a leader, of the cultural tapestry of the greater DMV.

She leaves the AAC, a private, non-profit visual arts organization, on stable financial footing with a healthy operating reserve and respected exhibition, education, and studio residency programs. Board President Penne Nelson states, "The AAC has been privileged to have Claire Huschle serve as our Executive Director during the last six years. Her enthusiasm, professional leadership, and insight have guided the AAC through a period of incredible development, marked by increased community outreach and recognition. She has assembled a fantastic staff and cultivated new donors. The Board has enjoyed immensely working with Claire, and wishes her the best in her future endeavors."

Because I have known Huschle since she worked as the gallery director for the Target Gallery in Alexandria, and because I saw (over her tenure there) what a terrific job she did to change the rudder orders for that gallery and aim it in a direction which put Target at the head of all Alexandria galleries, that I knew that she was going to do great things at AAC when she took over that organization six years ago.

And because of what she has done now at AAC, I have little doubt that Claire Huschle will excel at whatever her next position or assignment is. I am told that "Huschle will continue teaching as an adjunct faculty member at George Mason University's Arts Administration graduate program and is considering a number of new projects in the arts."

A transition committee has been assembled and plans to appoint a new Executive Director this summer.

On behalf of all art fans around the DMV: Thank you Claire!

Tim Tate at the Taubman


See that gorgeous museum to the left that looks like it has been transplanted from Bilbao?

That's Virginia's breathtaking Taubman Museum of Art, and from Friday, June 3, 2011 through Sunday, August 14, 2011 they will be hosting Tim Tate's first museum solo show: "The Waking Dreams of Magdalena Moliere."

According to the museum press release:

For the Taubman project, Tate plans to create a room-sized environment, featuring his most ambitious video work to date, as well as five new glass reliquaries. Six projections will include three works referencing the films of surrealist artist Jean Cocteau, and three pieces continuing his interest in dreamers and sleepwalkers.

The Amazing Sharon Moody

The current issue of Elan magazine has the spectacular work of DMV artist and Georgetown faculty Sharon Moody. She fools your eye beyond "fooling" with a technical virtuosity that leaves the rest of us panting with envy.



Moody is represented nationally by Mayer Fine Art and in New York City by Bernarducci Meisel Gallery.

Celly Campello sings "Don't Cry For Me Argentina"

Celly Campello: Don't cry for me Argentina - Watch more Videos at Vodpod.

Open Studios

Today, Saturday, May 14th from 12 to 5pm the artists of The Washington Glass School and all the dozens of other artists in the Gateway Arts District will be having their annual spring open studio event in Mt. Rainier in the Gateway Arts District. The Washington Glass School figures prominently in this event, as well as such popular studios as Red Dirt and Flux Studio.

This will be a relaxed open house, featuring mostly the principal artists at Washington Glass School, Michael Janis, Erwin Timmers and Tim Tate. They will all be working on current projects.

Airborne
Heading back home from the Left Coast and flying on Friday the 13th... feh!

Washington Glass School: The First 10 Years

About the event: The Washington DC area has become internationally renowned as an emerging center of glass art. At the forefront of this charge is the Washington Glass School, where the instructors, artists and students have brought narrative and content into glass, dragging it away from decorative craft and into the rarefied atmosphere of the contemporary fine art scene. The Washington Glass School has produced artists whose art can be found in museums and collections world-wide and is advancing the Studio Glass Movement with its explorations of narrative, technology and skills. This represents the largest and most important movement in the Washington art scene since the Color School of the 70's/80's.

This May, the Washington Glass School celebrates a momentous milestone - its 10th year. DC’s Long View Gallery presents “Artists of the Washington Glass School – The First Ten Years” showcasing over 20 artists and 10 years of integrating glass into the contemporary art dialogue. While it recognizes the past and present, The First 10 Years is intended to instigate – and celebrate – the new directions contemporary glass is exploring through various artistic metaphors.

Featured artists include: Tim Tate, Michael Janis, Erwin Timmers, Elizabeth Mears, Syl Mathis, Lea Topping, Robert Kincheloe, Alison Sigethy, Dave D'Orio, Anne Plant, Jeffery Zimmer, Teddie Hathaway, Jackie Greeves, Kirk Waldroff, Debra Ruzinsky, Tex Forrest, Diane Cabe, Robert Wiener, Nancy Donnelly, Sean Hennessey, Cheryl Derricotte, Jennifer Lindstrom, Michael Mangiafico, Allegra Marquart and m.l.duffy.

In bringing The First 10 Years to Washington, DC, Long View asks artists and audience alike to cast aside traditional notions of glass art and participate in a new form of dialogue; one that looks to the future and not the past.

The Washington Glass School Movement has focused almost entirely on the narrative content aspects of glass, breaking away from the technique-driven vessel movement of the last millennium. By focusing on cross-over sculptural work, mixed media and new media (such as interactive electronics and video), the impact this movement has had on the work of contemporary art has been felt internationally. This is the perfect chance to see a cross section of artists who have led this evolution.

Washington Glass School: The First 10 Years
LongView Gallery
1234 9th Street, NW, Washington, DC
May 19 - June 19, Opening Reception, May 19th, 6:30-8:30 PM
Closing Reception Sunday June 19, 2-5 PM
phone: 202.232.4788
email :info@longviewgallery.com

Uh?

I don't know what's going on with Blogger, but it has been down for quite a while and now it seems like a bunch of posts have been deleted.

Critique the Critics

On the evening of Saturday, May 14, Arlington Arts Center (AAC) -- in partnership with DC Magazine -- hosts its annual Critique the Critics fundraiser.

Eight DC notables, opinion makers, and trendsetters go head-to-head in timed, amateur art competitions using childhood art supplies. In a mix of NCAA March Madness and American Idol, "critics" battle it out using play-doh, finger paints, legos, etc. Winners of each round are selected by the audience. The night will feature amazing contemporary art, an exciting silent auction, designer cocktails and open bar, delicious catering, and sexy tunes. Tickets are limited and can be purchased here.

This year's "Critics": ABC7/WJLA-TV's Maureen Bunyan, DC Magazine Publisher Peter Abrahams, the Newseum's Sonya Gavankar McKay, Delegate Patrick Hope from the VA House of Delegates, Svetlana Legetic from Brightest Young Things and Justin Young from Ready Set DC, Mary Beth Albright, contestant in the new season on Food Network Star, Kelly Rand and Ian Buckwalter, writers for DCist. Warming the "bench" will be David Foster from the VA Board of Education, and Peter Winant from WETA's Around Town. Philippa Hughes, the Pink Line Project's Chief Creative Contrarian will emcee the competition.

Firings at the WaPo

Just heard from a source who heard it from a friend who heard it from a cousin who is dating someone who works at the Washington Post that one of the freelancers who has been covering the DMV art scene has been fired.

Hard to tell who it is, since the WaPo employs so many different freelancers to cover various parts of the DMV art scene.

I've asked the WaPo for the name; let's see if they respond.

Enough is Enough!

It has been over a month since the Communist thugs who run China arrested artist Ai Weiwei and he hasn't been heard since.

It is time for all the museums and artists and art organizations which do business with China to boycott the ruthless bastards who run that beautiful nation. The fact that the ChiComs have brutalized their own people for generations, and that the world looks the other way in our thirst for cheap labor and commodities is the harsh reality.

But the art world should be better. We should all stop doing art business with China: no more art fair participation by non Chinese galleries, no more cultural exchanges, no more museum dealings, no more anything in the art world.

Boycott the whole damned gigantic country and send a small but powerful message to the criminals who run that Communist hell.

Hijos de puta!

Latino Art Museum: Still a Bad Idea!

Eight years ago, when the story first surfaced in the Washington Post about a Latino Museum on the National Mall, I opposed it.

Back then, Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-Calif.) introduced the bill to set up a commission to study the idea’s feasibility. The museum would be based in Washington, around the National Mall and “might be under the umbrella of the Smithsonian Institution.”

According to the 2003 article by Jacqueline Trescott, “This is one issue that unites our community,” said Raul Yzaguirre, the president of the National Council of La Raza.

In 2008, the Washington Post updated the issue and reported that “President Bush

... signed legislation yesterday establishing a commission to study the feasibility of a National Museum of the American Latino.

The measure, part of a larger legislative package, creates a 23-member bipartisan panel that will give the president and Congress recommendations about the scope of the project.

Over a two-year period, it will consider the location, the cost of construction and maintenance, and the presentation of art, history, politics, business and entertainment in American Latino life.

Since we're still arguing about it, let me once again disagree and state for the record that this is one of the worst, most divisive artsy ideas to have come out of creative Congressional & Hollywood minds in years.

Why have a separate, segregated museum for Latinos? Why not get more Latinos into the national museums, period.

I note once again, the use of the word “Latino” as opposed to the now almost not PC term- “Hispanic.” Otherwise we may have to take all the Picassos, and Dalis, and Miros, and Goyas and Velazquezs out of the mainstream museums and put them in a “Hispanic” museum…. gracias a Dios for that.

As it is now, we may have to take all the Wifredo Lams, Roberto Mattas, Frida Kahlos, etc. out of the “other museums” and put them in the “Latino Museum.”

But ooops! the Frida Kahlo in the nation’s capital is already in a segregated museum - in this case segregated by sex.

The misguided semantic/ethnic/racial debate about Latino or Hispanic is a good, if somewhat silly bucket of ignorant fun.

Anyway… Latino is (I think) now associated with people of Latin American ancestry… it apparently includes the millions of Central and South Americans of pure Native American blood (many of who do not even speak Spanish), and the millions of South Americans of Italian, German, Jewish, Middle Eastern and Japanese ancestry. It also includes the millions of Latin Americans of African ancestry.

It doesn’t include Spaniards, Portuguese, French or Italians…. you Europeans Latins are out!

According to the Post, “Felix Sanchez, the chairman of the National Hispanic Foundation for the Arts, said, “The museum is really a long-overdue concept. There is a void of presenting in one location a more in-depth representation of the culture and its presence in the mainstream of American consciousness.”

Mr. Sanchez: There is no such thing as a single “Latino culture.” In fact, I submit that there are twenty-something different “Latino” cultures in Latin America - none of which is the same as the various Latino mini-cultures in the US.

We "Latinos", no matter how hard you politicians and label-makers try to assemble and push us and label us into one monolithic group, are not such a group; we are as different from each other as the English-speaking peoples of the world are different from each other.

Call a Scotsman "English" and see what will happen to your face.

As an example, anyone who thinks that Mexico’s gorgeously rich and sometimes proud native heritage is similar to Argentina’s cultural heritage is simply ignorant at best. In fact Argentina purposefully nearly wiped out its own indigenous population in an effort (according to the war rallies of the times) “not to become another Mexico.”

And the cultural heritage of the Dominican Republic is as different from that of Bolivia and Peru as two/three countries that technically share a same language can be.

And for example, Mexican-Americans’ tastes in food, music, and politics, etc. are wildly different from Cuban-Americans and Dominican-Americans, etc.

Would anyone ever group Swedes, Danes, Germans and Norwegians and create a “Nordic-American Museum”? Ahhh… they have; silly ideas are not restricted to Congress, are they?

Or how about French, Spaniards, Rumanians and Italians for a “Latin-European-American Museum” - hang on - that doesn’t fit or does it? Makes my head hurt.

For the record, as I did in 2003 when I first learned about this issue, I still don’t believe in segregating artists according to ethnicity, race or religion. How about letting the art itself decide inclusion in a museum. And if not enough African American, or Native American, or Latino/Hispanic or “fill-in-the-blank”-American artists are in the mainstream American museums, then let’s fight that good fight and not just take the easy/hard route of having “our own” museum.

Comemierdas... What does Little Junes think about this issue?

Things we learned in New York

It never ceases to amaze me how often I run into stories of what I thought were ethical gallerists only to discover otherwise from artists.

One of the most common things that unethical art dealers do at art fairs is to inflate prices. This allows them to "deal" with interested buyers, and offer them discounts on the art. Facing galleries that inflate their prices up to 40% or more... in order to then appear to offer great deals, ethical gallerists then have to deal with collectors "used" to getting 40% price chops.

"I decided a while back to just add 40% more to my prices," confessed a dealer in New York last week. "I got tired of explaining to buyers that I couldn't give them a 40% discount."

Feh.

Then there's the very cool NYC photographer who has exhibited several times in DC. She relates the story of how her DC dealer sold some of her work, then decided to move from DC, and told her that he couldn't "afford to pay her." A few years later she's still waiting to get paid. "Now I just tell everyone that I know to stay away from this gallery," she adds.

Airborne


Heading to the Left Coast with an unenviable 5:25AM departure... more later.

AAFNYC: Sunday Report

Yesterday was the final day for the Affordable Art Fair NYC, and the fair was pretty packed with mothers all day long. Sales seemed to be brisk along our immediate area, with the British galleries that surrounded the Mayer Fine Art booth all doing gang buster sales.

MFA sold a few more of my drawings, two more wood engravings by DMV artist Rosemary Feit Covey and a very cool aluminum sculpture by Norfolk area artist and Old Dominion University professor John R.G. Roth.

The two DMV area galleries in the fair (Fraser Gallery and Honfleur Gallery) both reported excellent sales as well, so it seems like this fair paid off for the local galleries as well.

Tear down and packing was the usual nightmare when you have 80 galleries or so all trying to bring all their stuff down one elevator from the 11th floor down to the loading dock on super busy 35th street.

Back to the DMV by midnight and heading out to San Diego tomorrow.

AAF: The Saturday report

Yesterday was another well-attended day, with a good stream of visitors all day long, although they tapered off by 7PM.

Mayer Fine Art sold yet another sculpture by Norfolk artist Christine K. Harris, a wood engraving by DMV artist Rosemary Feit Covey and one more of my drawings.

Today is the last day of the fair.

AAFNYC: The Friday report

Yesterday there were good crowds again; and once again they picked up at night. Mayer Fine Art sold my largest drawing in the show, plus another sculpture by Norfolk artist Christine K. Harris and a painting by Russian painter Alexey Terenin.

Eve, Agonizing Over The Sin.
Charcoal on Paper. 13 x 49 inches.
Now in a private collection in New Jersey

Highlights from the Affordable Art Fair New York City

Founded 12 years ago by London gallerist Will Ramsay (who also does the Pulse Art Fair), the Affordable Art Fair New York City holds fairs not only in New York and London, but also Amsterdam, Bristol, Brussels, Melbourne, Milan, Paris, Singapore, Sydney and for the first time later this year, Los Angeles.

I've been attending this fair (the New York version) since 2006, and it has never disappointed me. With a price ceiling of $10,000 USD, the term "affordable" is relative in more ways than one, but one can find a lot of art in this fair which starts as low as $75!

This year there were quite a few European galleries (see the exhibitors' list here) as well as a variety of American galleries, including two from the DMV.

In walking around the fair, I particularly liked the photography of Giuseppe Mastromatteo at New York's emmanuel fremin gallery.

They are subtly surreal without being overtly commercial, as a lot of this sort of photography tends to be. This NYC gallery has a whole host of photographers that share this sensibility, and they all work together in a very elegant booth display.

Britain's Fairfax Gallery also has a standout in the technically breath-taking work of Mary Jane Ansell, who manages to capture a sexy Lolita feel to her portraits of young women with a play on stares deeply submerged in psychological innuendos.

Another European gallery with super work, in this case by a photographer, is Spain's Villa de Arte Gallery. The minimalist work of Marc Harrold.

Louise Lawton at New York's Stricoff Fine Art also fits within the same minimalist niche occupied by Harrold, but this brilliant work is charcoal on gesso board.

Finally, Michelle Mikesell's paintings, with Dallas' DeCorazon Gallery, get my vote for best in show.

Mikesell's work spans an interesting narrative offering full of hidden clues within her paintings. They are superbly well painted, and as a devoted fan of technical skill, that always becomes attractive to me.

Technical skill alone does not a great artist make, say the Yodas of the art world, and they are right.

That is why that hard to describe ability to marry technical mastery with intelligent composition and the magic to grab a corner of our minds, is such a key component of what makes an artist's work go beyond well executed to begin to reach the first steps of the ladder to being a true visual art gem that stands above the rest; Mikesell is way up that ladder.

The fair runs through Sunday.