SOFA Chicago VIP Opening

While Artomatic opened last night in the DMV, the SOFA Art Fair had their VIP opening in Chicago last night as well. 

And the DMV's own  Audrey Wilson is leading the pack there as the gallery showcases Lori Katz, Dulce Pinzon, Elissa Farrow Savos, Alma Selimovic, Tim Vermeulen and me! 

And Audrey Wilson was rocking the opening: Multiple sales of Lori Katz's work, and of Audrey's own work, as well as breaking the ice for me, and for Dulce, and Elissa!

Call for video art

Deadline: November 15, 2016.


Videos not in excess of 15 minutes are requested for inclusion in Frame & Frequency 3, an international video art exchange, presented as a series of screenings and exhibitions held concurrently in Medellin, Colombia at the PLECTO Galeria and at VisArts in Rockville, MD in November and December of 2016.


Video, film, and new media work will be accepted: experimental, documentary, animation, narrative, non-narrative, multimedia, digital imaging, net art, interactive media, sound art, etc. All foreign language artworks must have English subtitles.


Please send email submissions including - Video links(vimeo), Artwork Synopsis, Bio, CV and


Contact Information to: frank@frankmccauley.com. Frank McCauley, Exhibition Coordinator, VisArts at Rockville, www.visartscenter.org; www.plectogaleria.com

Why do art critics hate Artomatic? Let me explain...

Artomatic, as I once noted on the Kojo Nmandi show, is the visual arts extravaganza that everyone loves, but art critics hate.

Why do they hate AOM? In 2009 I explained it thus, referencing the 2009 AOM version:

Criticism, Journalism ethics and AOM

I've been reviewing art shows since the beginning of the 80s decade during the last century, when I started doing so as an art student at the University of Washington School of Art.

Since then I have moved at least 25 times, lived twice in California, twice in Rhode Island, twice in Europe and twice in the Greater Washington, DC area, to highlight a few of those moves. And throughout all those years I have been involved in the arts, usually as an artist, quite often as a dealer, but always as a writer.

And as part of those experiences I have met dozens and dozens of art critics and writers who write about art, and using those experiences I feel that I can form a pretty decent and sound opinion about what I will discuss next.

Most writers who write about contemporary art shows start by physically visiting the gallery, or museum, or space where the show is being held, in order to look at the artwork (I say most because I know of at least two well-known writers, one a critic for a major newspaper and one a well-known blogger, who wrote reviews as if they'd been to the shows, but it was later proven that they had never visited the space nor seen the show).

Is it the case that some reviews are being written after simply viewing an art show online? Probably, but let's say that generally speaking, most art writers and art critics (there's a difference by the way), start by visiting the space where the show is being held.

If they are lucky enough to write for a publication which pays them to review shows, they either get a flat, per review payment, or a per-word payment (usually also associated with a maximum number of words limit). Some also write the reviews for free, just to be published.

So a typical writer either (maybe even and/or):
(a) Get's a flat payment for a review - let's say $500 in our forthcoming example
(b) Get's a per word payment for a review - Let's say $1 per word with a limit of 600 words
(c) Does it for free

So let's say Billy Artsy writes for a publication which uses either (a) or (b) above, and usually Billy goes to a gallery to see a show that interests him, or is assigned to cover a new museum show. It's a little different in either case (museums usually have press previews with all kinds of packages and hand-outs and discussions and opportunities to meet the curators and/or artists and ask questions.

But in the case of galleries, Billy either drives to the gallery, or takes the subway or bikes to the gallery, arrives and enters the space. In the Greater DC area, your average gallery's group show probably has 30-35 works of art hanging by maybe 15-20 artists. Some juried competitions may have as many of 50 artists. The largest (non AOM) group show that I can recall in our region was "Seven," which I curated a few years ago for the WPA and which had 66 artists in the seven galleries of the Warehouse spaces on 7th Street. There were around 200 works of art in that show, as well as a couple of installations and several performances.

But your average gallery group show that Billy is used to seeing and reviewing, and getting paid for is about 30-35 pieces of art by a dozen or so artists. That is his average reference point for a group show.

Once he arrives at the gallery, the owner or attendant recognizes Billy, gets up and greets him (heaven forbid that Billy is not recognized and treated a little special by the dealer). Depending on several variables, Billy can either be aloof or very friendly to the dealer.

Some art writers see art dealers as the "enemy," while others are mature and understand that just like the writers, the dealer is a key part of the art world universe.

Billy then spends about 15 or 20 minutes looking at the artwork, reading any press materials that he may have been handed, and taking notes on his forming opinions on the show. He may ask a question or two, or simply ignore everyone and focus all his attention on the art at hand. If Billy is especially tuned to a show, he may spend longer there, but let's say that all the artists are new to Billy and after 15 minutes he leaves.

Let's do a little Math and let's keep the numbers simple for simplicity sake. We're accelerating Billy a bit (in my own experience as a gallerist, our DC area critics hang around closer to 30 minutes per visit), but he takes 15 minutes to look at 30 works of art; this equals 30 seconds per work of art.

Later Billy submits the review, and a couple of weeks later he gets a check for $500.

A few weeks later Billy's editor emails Billy and asks Billy to do a review on Artomatic, as the editor keeps hearing about this "Artomatic thing" and getting dozens of letters (cleverly being written to the editor by the Artomatic artists) asking why the editor's newspaper hasn't covered Artomatic.

Billy takes the subway to go see AOM, as he has never really driven around SE and the AOM website tells him that the event is located in a building right on top of a subway exit.

When Billy arrives he is greeted by two volunteers who hand him material on AOM, and neither of the volunteers recognize Billy, nor he them. He asks on which floor the show is, and the volunteers suggest that Billy start on the 9th floor and work his way down. Billy finds it hard to believe that there are nine floors of art.

Billy takes the elevator to the 9th floor and comes out to face yet another volunteer sitting on a desk by the elevators. The volunteer smiles at Billy, but does not recognize him.

Billy begins walking the 9th floor. Already, on this floor alone, is the biggest group show that Billy has ever been to; it hasn't hit Billy yet, but soon he'll realize that there are eight more floors to go.

Billy is a little overwhelmed from the very beginning, and because of the large number of artwork and artists, he comes across a lot of what he considers really bad art: lots of tasteless nudies, loads of unsophisticated beginner art, terrible portraiture including more boudoir portraits in one place that Billy has ever seen in his life.

Billy is seeing a lot of the type and level of artwork which Billy has never seen and most probably would never see in the galleries that Billy tends to favor.

Because of the way the artists' booth are, Billy started (pre-conditioned from his many gallery visits) by weaving a sine wave walking pattern around the gallery walls and working his way around the floor and looking at each artist's gallery individually.

An hour later Billy realizes that he's not even three quarters of the way through the 9th floor and he still has 8 more floors to go.

And so Billy begins to (as humans do) adapt to the sheer size of the art show in front of him, and begins to speed up a little. He no longer visits each artist's gallery wall, but walks at a fast clip between the walls and glancing from the middle left and right covering 8-10 artists at a glance and only pausing to look at the work a little closer if something catches his eye from afar.

He begins to miss details and also misses entire groups of artists. When he walks by the Barbies, he doesn't realize that there are multiple artists in that set of Barbie artwork. He also misses the nuances of David D'Orio's wonderfully minimalist glass sculptures of recycled materials. As he makes the turn into a new aisle, his speeded up sightseeing is directed to one side at that moment and he completely misses Rania Hassan's deceptively complex marriage of painting with 3D sculpture.

By the time Billy finishes the 9th floor, he's sure of four things:

(a) no way that he can cover nine floors of art in this one visit unless he speeds up considerably.
(b) most of the work in the show is dreck.
(c) his notes are all from the first hour on the floor
(d) None of these artists are really good enough to show in a gallery and that's why they are here.

He walks down to the 8th floor, where the AOM floor attendant smiles at him, but once again does not recognize Billy.

He is now in full speed mode; if the artist's work doesn't grab Billy from ten feet away, forget it. At this point all that Billy is seeing are robots, skulls and a lot of bad photos of nude women, plus an annoying huge number of bad portrait artists. he is also missing a lot of intelligent, good art, a lot of it.

And then Billy is recognized by an AOM artist, and to Billy's dismay the artist wants to make sure that Billy sees his work. Billy promises to swing by, but in a nice way tells the artist that he is busy and needs to move on.

There's a small crowd of people in front of Deb Jansen's amazing revenge installation on this floor, and Billy, attracted by the crowd, slows down to see what the fuss is all about. He is hypnotized by what Jansen has done and Billy makes some notes about this installation. It's the first time that he has stopped to actually look at work closely on the 8th floor. Had not there been a crowd in front of Jansen's installation, Billy would have missed it as well.

Fifteen minutes later Billy has finished his whirlwind walk through of the 8th floor. It still took him half an hour, and in that 30 minutes he has "reviewed" about 100 artists and about 2500 works of art. He has completely missed the work of nearly a dozen artists on this floor who are already in the collection of major museums and represented by galleries all over the US and Europe. Blue chip artists in a plebian art show.

He also misses several "new" artists who will soon move on to galleries, museums and other such high art places.

By this time Billy's mind is made up. Nothing in the remaining seven floors can save AOM from the wrath of Billy's review.

He debates if it is even worth it for him to look at the rest of the show, but Billy's ethical side wins out and he descends to the 7th floor, where he is greeted by yet another floor attendant who doesn't know Billy from her aunt Elvira.

Billy finishes the 7th floor in 15 minutes, a new floor record. He only stops to glance at the glass displays by the British Sunderland artists because the displays caught his eyes as very "gallery like." The professional-looking displays put Billy in his comfort zone.

But he has already been at AOM for over two hours and has only seen three floors.

He debates skipping the six other floors, and "just to be fair," decides to pick one more floor at random, to "see if anything is different."

He decides on the 5th floor. By now it's getting a little into the evening and Billy is surprised at to how many people are viewing the show. Billy has never seen more than a couple dozen people in an art show at any time in any gallery, and even on the rare openings that he goes to, not more that 30-40 people in at once.

At AOM Billy sees hundreds and hundreds of people pouring in, and the elevators are getting crowded and slow and a tired Billy has to wait for an elevator to take him down.

On the ride down Billy decides on the 3rd floor and gets out. He sort of glances around and tries to absorb the entire floor from the edge of the elevators' entry points.

Billy decides to pack it and go home to write his review of Artomatic. He has seen more artwork in the last three hours that he has all year round. Most of it quite forgettable to Billy, atrocious even. In the process he has also missed seeing more artwork than most critics see in a year. And his visually overloaded mind has not seen the truly outstanding work of dozens and dozens of new and established good artists.

But Billy will write a review about the entire show, including the 700 plus artists whose work Billy never saw. Had Billy known about the scope of this huge show, Billy would have studied the artists' list ahead of time and highlighted the well-known artists whom Billy has already reviewed in the past, when they showed in the galleries that Billy frequents. That way Billy covers his own review foot prints.

But Billy missed them, and he's about to carpet bomb the entire show, including artists who Billy actually likes and whose gallery shows he has reviewed in a positive light.

Billy goes home and he is tired. Because it is now rush hour the subways are crowded and by the time Billy gets home, he is exhausted, both physically and mentally overloaded.

A couple of glasses of wine from a wine box helps Billy to relax a little as he sits in front of his laptop and Googles the web to see what other critics have written about AOM. After all, Billy wants to ensure that he is aligned with his elder critics and with the faddish new ones from the art blogs.

Almost to a man (woman) they all write bad things about AOM's artwork. What Billy doesn't realize is that many of them saw AOM in the same manner that Billy did. Some of them have never even visited AOM, but they still trashed it.

Billy revs up his trendy Mac and begins to earn his $500, which is what he would have been paid if he just went and had reviewed a "regular" gallery show, with maybe one artist's solo or a dozen artists' group show.

Billy trashes AOM, lest he be ever asked to do that much work again.

When the review is published, Billy's editor is surprised by the large outpouring of hate letters and emails and comments about the review. They come mostly from AOM artists, disgusted with Billy's review of the show. But they are unaware that they're about to help with Billy's career at the paper.

Billy's editor is pleased to discover that Billy has so many readers; after all, a letter is a letter, and Billy's AOM review column has received more letters and comments than all of Billy's previous columns added together.

This becomes a good checkmark on Billy's record with his editor. Who knew that Billy's gallery review column had some many followers?

Billy is pleasantly surprised by the positive outcome of an otherwise exhausting event.

Sometimes it bothers Billy to recall that he never really saw all the work in the manner that it deserved, but he does a little Math and he feels better when he discovers that in order to review AOM in the way that he reviews all other art shows, he would have had to spend a dozen hours there just to give each artist about 3/4 of a minute. That's an impossible task, if you ask Billy, especially for a measly $500 bucks.

That makes Billy sleep better at night and feel like he's still an ethical writer.

Artomatic Opens Tonight!

The greatest visual art show on the planet...Artomatic opens tonight... be there or miss 350 artists! 

The greatest open art show on Earth opens tonight folks! 

After my first quick look: Start on the 6th floor and wind your way down... my review and top 10 picks coming! 

Visitors will enjoy easy access to Artomatic from the Montrose West Exit off I-270. The Park Potomac community, with its colorful floral mural is a landmark. Enter the complex by the lane marked for Park Potomac Avenue, circle the round-a-bout, and follow the signs to Artomatic at 12435 Park Potomac Avenue. Plentiful two hour free garage and surface parking is on site.

Or come by Metro via Red Line and transfer to RideOn buses 42 or 47. Check WMATA Trip Planner for further information, and see the Artomatic website about Foulger-Pratt weekday shuttle service from White Flint Metro Station direct to Artomatic.

For the latest information about Artomatic 2016, how to participate in the future, when to visit, the activities and events calendar, subscribe to Artomatic by email or Facebook and visit www.artomatic.org.


What: Artomatic 2016, an arts spectacular at Park Potomac in Montgomery County.
When: Thursday, November 3 – Friday, December 9, 2016:


Thursdays: Noon – 10 pm

Fridays: Noon – Midnight

Saturdays: Noon - Midnight

Sunday: Noon – 6 pm

Closed on Thanksgiving Day
Where: 12435 Park Potomac Avenue, Potomac, Maryland, Floors 5 and 6.
Who: For everyone and for free. Persons under 18 must be accompanied by an adult.
Performance: For information about how to perform at Artomatic, visit:


http://www.artomatic.org/participate/artists/performing
Website: www.artomatic.org
Social Media: Facebook: Facebook.com/Artomatic Twitter: @ARTOMATIC

Wanna go to an opening?

39th Street Gallery/Gateway Arts Center

3901 Rhode Isalnd Ave.Brentwood MD, 20722

(Second Floor 39th Street entrance)

In the Visionary Art tradition, the 39th Street Gallery is pleased to present six self-taught artists in the upcoming exhibitions.

Artist Reception - November 5 from 5-8PM.

Please come out and help the 39th Street Gallery support and welcome these wonderful aritists. Free and open to the public

Kanika Sircar at Waverly Street

WAVERLY STREET GALLERY

presents

 

KANIKA SIRCAR

MapQuest:

new work in clay

November 8 – December 3, 2016

Reception: Friday, November 11^th, 6 – 9 pm

Artist Talk: Saturday, November 19^th, 3 pm

Meet the Artist: Saturdays during the show

Kanika Sircar makes use of maps and texts as central images in her sculptural vessels and tiles. Prints of charts and excerpts of poetry are layered over slips, stains and pencil drawings. Maps are employed to evoke both certainty and doubt, pointing to where we assume we are and the arbitrary nature of that assumption. Thought provoking and beautiful, her pieces variously reference Vedic cosmography, diagrams of the Copernican universe, drawings of Martian topography, and the documents and plans of India’s partition.

www.kanikasircar.wordpress.com

kanikas@starpower.net

 

4600 East West Highway

Bethesda, MD 20814

(301)951-9441

Gallery Hours: Tues – Sat, 12 – 6 pm

www.waverlystreetgallery.com/mapquest

SOFA Chicago 2016

That's the very talented DMV artist Audrey Wilson, who is Alida Anderson Art Projects' gallery director, setting up the booth at SOFA Chicago 2016.


We're in booth 500 - send us a note for complimentary passes.


Showcasing work by Lori Katz, Dulce Pinzon, Tim Vermeulen, Alma Selimovic, Elissa Farrow-Savos, Audrey Wilson, Davin Ebanks and me!

Lori Katz setting up her wall at SOFA Chicago 2016
Booth 500 with Alida Anderson Art Projects, LLC

Audrey WIlson setting up her work at SOFA Chicago 2016
Booth 500 with Alida Anderson Art Projects, LLC

Picasso’s Widow Accused of Hiding Hundreds of Artworks from Picasso's Heirs

On Monday, 77-year-old Pierre Le Guennec told a French appeals court that he lied about how he came to be in the possession of hundreds of works on paper by Pablo Picasso. The retired electrician, hired by Picasso in the 1970s for a series of odd jobs, originally claimed that the painter’s then-wife Jacqueline had gifted him a box full of artworks in 1971 or 1972. Le Guennec now says Jacqueline Picasso (who committed suicide in 1986) stored between 15 and 17 trash bags full of Picasso collages, prints, and watercolors at his home in 1973 following the artist’s death, leaving one behind as a thank-you when she reclaimed the works.

Read the whole article here. 

This Thursday: Artomatic 2016 Opens!

Artomatic 2016 comes to Montgomery County, Maryland, for the first time in its nearly seventeen year history, for its signature free arts event to be held from November 3 - December 9.


Yep! The planet's largest free and open group art show... the show that artists and the public loves - and art critics hate - is back!


Artomatic 2016 comes to Park Potomac, a Montgomery County neighborhood.


Park Potomac is located where Montrose Road crosses I-270; Artomatic will be held at 12435 Park Potomac Avenue. With 45,000 square feet of display space on the 5th and 6th floors featuring 380 artists, Artomatic will include a special opening weekend celebration beginning on Thursday, November 3.



"By artists and for everyone," Artomatic is well-known for temporarily transforming empty spaces into vibrant arts events that celebrate creativity and create a unique and exciting opportunity for tens of thousands of visitors. This is the show that we all love, and art critics hate (mostly because they usually don't have the mental batteries to write about an art show that can include 1,000 non-juried artists!).

Anyone and everyone can present their art at Artomatic, and presentation spaces are always selected on a first-come, first serve basis -- so it’s a great way to discover new art and artists. This is what makes this show unique on the planet - it is a great charging of artistic batteries for artists, and a great place for beginner and experienced collectors to pick among the 100s of artists to find that gem!


Perfect timing if you wanna see artwork that will range form the sublime to the mundane! Artomatic is about to open up again... It's a little smaller than usual, but still around 350 artists!! Details at http://www.artomatic.org/
 
I'll repeat: It's easily the best place to find the wildest range of art on the planet! See a review of one from 2012 here: http://dcartnews.blogspot.com/2012/06/artomatic-2012-review.html
This one from 2009: http://dcartnews.blogspot.com/2009/07/final-artomatic-top-10-artists-of-2009.html and here: http://dcartnews.blogspot.com/2009/06/my-artomatic-picks-now-that-i-have.html
2011: http://dcartnews.blogspot.com/2011/10/artomatic-frederick-i-finally-made-it.html
2004: http://dcartnews.blogspot.com/2004/12/artomatic-2004-review-slightly.html
Wann know why art critics hate Artomatic, but everyone else loves it: http://dcartnews.blogspot.com/2009/06/criticism-journalism-ethics-and-aom-ive.html and also: http://dcartnews.blogspot.com/2009/05/artomatic-opens-tomorrow-if-you-are.html

At a time of regional transformation, people are looking for art and gathering destinations right where they live, and Artomatic brings this "New Suburbanism" place-making to Montgomery County. People want a sense of interaction; Artomatic has shown that it can catalyze a sense of greater community within a community that transforms people and places. This is why Maryland National Capital Park and Planning Commission and the Arts & Humanities County of Montgomery County are Artomatic’s enthusiastic sponsors.

Every day and night of the event, people visit Artomatic to discover new art, engage other likeminded visitors, bring friends, grab a drink, listen to music, and mingle with the creative community and get to know the surrounding community of Park Potomac. Says Lisa Wood of Foulger Pratt, "We’re always looking for ways to introduce Park Potomac’s uniqueness and engage with our wonderful community. 

This is an amazing opportunity and we are excited to host this innovative organization." Artomatic’s online calendar lists performances times and special events, including Saturday workshops for parents and kids. No matter what kind of creative events you or your friends and family like, you’ll find something to enjoy at Artomatic.

Visitors will enjoy easy access to Artomatic from the Montrose West Exit off I-270. The Park Potomac community, with its colorful floral mural is a landmark. Enter the complex by the lane marked for Park Potomac Avenue, circle the round-a-bout, and follow the signs to Artomatic at 12435 Park Potomac Avenue. Plentiful two hour free garage and surface parking is on site.

Or come by Metro via Red Line and transfer to RideOn buses 42 or 47. Check WMATA Trip Planner for further information, and see the Artomatic website about Foulger-Pratt weekday shuttle service from White Flint Metro Station direct to Artomatic.

For the latest information about Artomatic 2016, how to participate in the future, when to visit, the activities and events calendar, subscribe to Artomatic by email or Facebook and visit www.artomatic.org.


What: Artomatic 2016, an arts spectacular at Park Potomac in Montgomery County.

When: Thursday, November 3 – Friday, December 9, 2016:


Thursdays: Noon – 10 pm

Fridays: Noon – Midnight

Saturdays: Noon - Midnight

Sunday: Noon – 6 pm

Closed on Thanksgiving Day
Where: 12435 Park Potomac Avenue, Potomac, Maryland, Floors 5 and 6.

Who: For everyone and for free. Persons under 18 must be accompanied by an adult.

Performance: For information about how to perform at Artomatic, visit:


http://www.artomatic.org/participate/artists/performing
Website: www.artomatic.org

Social Media: Facebook: Facebook.com/Artomatic Twitter: @ARTOMATIC

Open Studio this Saturday

McNamara Design is pleased to host an open studio night to present the work of two artists, Art by Aaron Hill and Chelsea Kaplan Design. This event is free and open to the public. There will be snacks, drinks and music to accompany the exhibition. Art displayed will include fine art, design, and furniture rehab.

McNamara Design
4216B Howard Avenue
Kensington, MD 20895http://www.mcnamara-design.com/

Saturday, 11/5
8:30-10:30pm
Free and open to the public

https://www.facebook.com/events/996741763785364/?ti=ia

Brian Williams was there

Juicy Fruit Perfume: An American Remembers his Cuban Childhood

Below is a peek from Juicy Fruit Perfume: An American Remembers his Cuban Childhood, my biography, which is currently scheduled to be published in 2020.

Depending on who you believe, the mother of all rock fights started with either a push, or a slip into the dirty, sewage waters of the Guaso River in Guantanamo, Cuba.



Even now, nearly fifty years later, it stands out as vividly, as spectacular, as surreal and as immensely impossible, as on the day that it happened.



Sometimes in the early 1960’s a new baseball stadium was built in the outskirts of Guantanamo, in a neighborhood back then known as San Justo. At the time, to us children it was beautiful new place, a shrine to the love of baseball that all Cubans have. We didn’t notice or care, that all seats were made of cement, and that it was a grim, stark and bare bones space, as if an East German architect had designed it.



But at least to us boys it was a wonderful, beautiful place, where once in a while even the Orientales, the provincial team that represented our honor in the national baseball leagues (and always seemed to lose to the hated Havana teams), played.



My father also loved baseball, and he was the un-official baseball escort for all the boys in the neighborhood, and often he would lead a dozen of us ruffians to a game at the stadium, which was named Van Troi, in honor of a shadowy slain North Vietnamese guerrilla fighter who had been killed in the Viet Nam war.



Why name a baseball stadium after a man who probably never heard of baseball was also a mystery to us, especially since we all knew the names of all the real baseball gods, both Cuban and Americans. But more on baseball later.



As I said, Van Troi Stadium was a few miles outside of the city, and we all usually caught the bus that stopped at the bottom of Second Street, directly across from side of our house that ran downhill through that street. We took that bus to the edge of the city and from there we all walked, usually with hundreds of other people, to the Stadium.



From Guantanamo the trek to the Stadium could be made via two different routes. The longer and safer route was through the metal bridge that spanned the Guaso River. Crossing this bridge was always a thrilling adventure to me. The bridge was a metal arch, and the walkways on either side were made of metal grilles that allowed you to see the river below you as one crossed the bridge.



Because the bridge was – at least in my eyes – just a few feet above the rushing water, there was always a sense of immediacy – and danger – from the fast flowing Guaso River rushing underneath your feet. It was also quite a long crossing, as the Guaso was a rather wide river at that point and often, when augmented by tropical rains (as when the Flora hurricane passed through Oriente province in the early 60’s), would flood the edges of the city. In fact, the metal bridge of my memories may have been a "new" bridge built after Flora, which may have wiped out the older bridge.



Anyway, the bridge crossing was adventurous, and I would always plan it ahead at the beginning of the crossing. I always had a strategy in case I fell off the bridge or in case the bridge collapsed while I was in the middle of it. This always demanded knowing exactly where on the bridge I was, and which direction (backwards or forwards) was the shortest path to land.



Once we crossed the bridge, the road to the Stadium was through a slightly hilly unpaved street, almost a country road, and sometimes we would stop and rest at a house where my father was friends with the family who lived there.



There we would always buy a bottle of pru, which is a homemade Cuban soft drink. We would usually bring the drinks along the rest of the walk to the stadium and sometimes carry extra bottles with us to drink later.



Once, my cousin Cesar had the task of carrying all the extra bottles, and when we arrived at the Stadium, we discovered that he had drunk all of them on the way to the ballpark.



As pru is actually some kind of a fermented non-alcoholic drink, and being homemade, possibly not the purest of drinks, he immediately developed a tremendous case of diarrhea halfway through the game and never made it to the stadium’s bathroom, and managed to shit all over his pants, much to his embarrassment and to our delight.



In any event, this route was the safer, but the longer of the two ways to get to Van Troi Stadium. The second route was a short cut that involved crossing the river though a series of rocks that had been strategically placed at a narrower portion of the river, about half a mile downriver from the bridge.



Now, these weren’t (by any stretch of the imagination), large, flat rocks, but a series of mossy, slippery rocks which sometimes even demanded a slight jump from rock to rock, rather than just steps. In fact sometimes, one could actually step from rock to rock, while other times you needed a synchronized ballet to jump to a small rock, and use it as a spring to the next, larger safer rock, as there was no room in the small rock to actually land and stabilize one’s body. It was a dangerous and almost incredible risk, and yet at the time it seemed as natural as crossing the bridge.



The choice was always based on the availability of the rocks themselves. If the river was too high, then we took the bridge, if the river was low and the rocks exposed, then we’d all cross the river at the rock crossing. Hundreds of people, usually all men and boys, would use this alternate route, all heading to the game through the river shortcut.



To add an ever greater sense of danger to this crossing, was the repugnant fact that the city’s raw sewer lines came out somewhere between the bridge and the rock crossing.



And this was completely untreated, raw sewage at its most luxuriant stage of smell and visibility. The river, which was clean and clear when we looked at it from the bridge, became shit brown and foul by the time it arrived at the rock crossing and turds floated like brown torpedoes all around you as you gingerly made your way across the rocks.



It never occurred to us why the rock crossing had been built after the sewage lines, rather than before it – who knows, perhaps it pre-dated the sewage lines, but the immense danger of crossing the river by skipping across slippery, mossy rocks was multiplied by a million when one considered what would happen if one had the misfortune to slip and fall into the shit water.



And it did happen quite often! Someone would be a little too cavalier in the crossing, or sometimes someone too tipsy from drinking too much beer at the games, lose concentration, slip and fall, to the cheers and laughter and applause of the rest of us. And falling near the riverbed was the worst, as the shit tended to concentrate there, while the river current, although faster and more dangerous in the middle, tended to keep the middle of the river cleaner.



The edges were absolutely gross. A luxuriant, rich, thick mixture of shit and mud demanded strict attention and concentration. In response to this, whoever had originally placed the rocks to build the crossing, had thankfully placed larger rocks at the edges, some of which actually could accommodate several persons at once. This had an indirect cause in the overall accumulations of tiny events that all led to the greatest rock fight in history.



I always recall the crossing of the river at this point as a true adventure.


Sometimes I was a pirate, usually Emilio Salgari's El Corsario Negro, getting away from the Spanish soldiers; at other times I was an astronaut discovering another planet. But I was always in a high state of concentration, always ensuring that I never slipped and always focusing on the next rock, especially when we neared the edges, and the river became a mass of mojones, which is what we called turds, and birds eating all the gross insect life that lived amongst it.



Sometimes a particularly spectacular mojon would float by, or a fleet of mojones, to the delight of us kids crossing the river. We would shout in unison and point to the mojones and exaggerate their sizes and speed. The word mojon is an interesting one, and I’m not sure where it comes from, or if it is a Cuban slang or a true Castilian word. It literally means someone or something that is wet, and has no relation that I can think of to the Spanish word for shit, which is mierda.



Regardless, the river at this point was full of mojones, and stinking of mierda and we would always be alert and I never recall any of our gang falling into the river.



Until the greatest rock fight in history. Truly the mother of all rock fights.



On that particular day, we had all trekked to the stadium not to watch a baseball game, but to watch something different in our perception of sports, at least to Cubans: a soccer match.



While soccer is a big thing in nearly all Latin American countries, in fact nearly a religion in most, it was and probably still is, a curiosity and ignored as a sport by most Cubans.



This arises from the fact that soccer – like bullfights – was a "Spanish sport" enjoyed by Spaniards in Cuba, and thus disliked immediately by Cubans, who wished to remove all things Spanish from the young republic. Spaniards like soccer and bullfights while Cubans preferred baseball and cockfights; Spaniards drank wine, Cubans drank beer and rum, etc.



Anyway, on the day of the greatest rock fight in history, there was a soccer match staged at Van Troi stadium, and as most of us had never seen a soccer match before, a curious crowd of several thousand local men and boys made the trip, either through the bridge or through the rock crossing, and congregated at the ballpark to watch the game.



It was a disaster.



One of the teams had traveled from Havana, and included many Russian players. It was on a nationwide tour to help spread soccer among Cubans. The second team was made up at the last minute from Guantanamo men from the Institute (the local junior college) or local baseball players who had not been selected for any of the national league teams. I bet that for some of the locals, it was the first time that they had ever actually played soccer.



It was the most boring sports spectacle that I recall ever witnessing, played on a baseball field, with the pitching mound still in place, and soccer lines marked at the last minute with white chalk lines.



I recall the entire game consisting of the ball being kicked from one extreme end of the field to the other, with little of the precision and foot skills that only experienced soccer players can display. One just can’t show up one day and decide to dribble with your feet – it just doesn’t happen, and it showed.



And Cubans are just not culturally designed to play soccer, which demands precise teamwork and strategy, as opposed to individualism on the field, which is what the inept soccer players on the soccer pitch, I mean baseball field turned soccer pitch for that day, attempted to do.



The crowd was bored and delighted us by hurling insults at the players, and booing throughout, and only applauding when a fight broke out on the field, which was practically every few minutes, when aggressive, inept Cuban men kicked each other’s shins in futile attempts to get to the ball.



The soccer experiment was a boring disaster, and when the game ended, scoreless as I recall, the crowd was in a dark mood as it left the Stadium and headed back to the city, most of us through the river rock crossing.



And this mood was the second ingredient in the recipe for the chain of events that led to the greatest rock fight in history.



Here is what happened.



I had just crossed the river, and along with my father behind me, begun the slight climb from the river slopes towards the streets above it. At that point, one had a great view of the river and I recall turning around to see the long line of people, like ants, crossing the river, jumping rocks, and making their way back to the city.



And then it happened.



Monguito fell into the shit water; not the middle, cleaner part of the river, with fast moving water and smaller rocks, but near the banks of the river, with turgid, stagnant mud and shit.



Whether he slipped or fell is a matter of debate. As I noted before, these bank rocks were larger and thus "safer" than the smaller, middle-of-the-river rocks, and Monguito claims that as he was standing on one of these rocks, Gustavito, who lived in the house directly below our house on Second Street, and who was a perennial enemy of the Monguito brothers, pushed him from behind.



Gustavito, who was a feisty (and always ready to pick a fight), scruffy, short bulldog of a boy, with a flat top blonde haircut, and he looked like a miniature of his father, who was a professional boxer, has always denied pushing Monguito, claiming that he was nowhere near Monguito when Monguito fell or was pushed in.



Anyway, Monguito emerged from the river completely covered in shit and mud and looking for revenge. The people who were still on the rocks were dying of laughter as he made his way up the banks of the river, and the crossing momentarily stopped as the elder of the two Monguito brothers emerged from the muck. I say "the elder of the two Monguito brothers", as he and his brother Pepin, were always, for some odd reason, referred to as "the Monguito brothers."



Monguito turned to face his laughing tormentors, and he was looking for revenge.



He then spotted Gustavito, still on a rock on the river, also laughing and in fact doubled over with laughter. And in Monguito’s mind, somehow, it became clear that his archenemy had some hand in his fall.



And he picked up a rock, and with the brilliant aim of someone with a thousand previous rock fights of experience, lobbed it in a long arch towards Gustavito, who was too lost in laughter to notice the incoming missile as it hit him and made him fall into the river.



Now the other river crossers really exploded in laughter – this was too much! Two falls in one crossing – this alone was worth the boring experience of the soccer game!



But Gustavito, who had not seen who had thrown the rock, emerged from the river also looking for revenge, and incredibly enough began picking up rocks from the river itself and pelting the crowd with shit covered missiles.



And suddenly pandemonium broke out as people began to fall into the river and more rock throwers were added to the battle. From our safe side on the land, we all joined in to try to nail those still clinging to the relative safety of the rocks.



Some tried to turn back and head to the other side, colliding with crossers coming over and more and more people fell into the water, creating several water battles as men fought each other in the water, on rocks and on the shore.


And the people already on the banks of the rivers were also good targets for us, as we were higher above them on the streets that ran parallel to the river.



And thus, from the relative safety of those streets above the river, we were on a superior position to rain rocks on all of those unfortunate souls below us while being able to dodge all incoming rocks; all except Pepin, who as usual got his head cracked open by a rock, even though he was with us on the streets, desperately, from his superior position, trying to help his brother Monguito below.



And for a glorious ten minutes or so, the greatest rock fight in history went on along the shitty shores of the Guaso River, involving perhaps one hundred men and boys of all ages, with the distinct advantage to those on the shore, many of which were covered in shit, having at one point been on rocks and knocked off either trying to avoid a rock, or being hit by one or pushed by another person attempting to cling to the rock.



If the latter was the case, then it was a matter of honor to get to the shore and attempt to knock off your pusher by nailing him with a rock.



At some point in the battle, even flying turds were being lobbed, to the horror of some of the participants, already covered in shit, who were now being pelted by flying turds and mud.



I cannot remember how and when the greatest rock fight in history ended, perhaps the militia or the cops showed up, but I do recall walking back all the way from the edge of the city to our neighborhood, because there were three in our group completely covered in shit: Monguito, Gustavito and Cesar, who somehow had ended up in the river as well, and Pepin covered in blood from his head wound.



Because of shit and blood, the bus driver would not allow them in, and my father couldn’t leave them to walk alone from that far. It was quite an interesting trek, and we made them walk downwind behind us, only stopping once in a while to break up the occasional fights between Monguito and Gustavito.



When we got home, my grandmother gave my father hell over his supervision of us, and Elba, Pepin’s mother, swore blue murder at my father for not taking Pepin directly to the hospital.



My grandmother then took Cesar to the back garden, where he was hosed down with the garden hose, while the rest of us, less the other two who had fallen in, and Pepin who was on his way to the hospital for his usual visit to stitch up his head, climbed to the roof of the house to watch Cesar being scrubbed clean from head to toe while we drank cold lemonade that my mother had just made.



Thus truly ended the greatest rock fight in history.

Teaching Students with Autism

I would like to reach out to you constant readers about an upcoming webinar series of free lunchtime ‘lightening’ (10-15 min) talks on the topic of drama and Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) sponsored by the Kennedy Center/VSA.

 

You can find information about the presenters and free registration in the Kennedy Center’s link below for November’s webinar series on drama and ASD.

 

The lightening talks are designed to be short presentations at 12 noon on Tuesdays in November, followed by Q and A's with participants.

 

When you register, you will have access to all of the speakers’ materials and the video/transcriptions from the webinars in case you cannot attend live and would still like to receive the information.

Teaching Students with Autism: What Teaching Theater Teaches Us

Tuesdays in November from 12:30 p.m. to 12:45 p.m.

 

Join the Kennedy Center this November as they kick off a four part, mini-series of FREE lunchtime webinars on Teaching Students with Autism: What Teaching Theater Teaches Us. In this series, three psychologists will share insights from their research on how theater activities affect cognitive and social skills in children with autism spectrum disorders. On the final webinar, a special educator will discuss how those findings impact classroom practice. Details here.

Art Money, a New Startup, Is Offering Collectors Money to Buy Art

Gallery-hopping in Chelsea on a Thursday night or strolling through the booths of an art fair can be a masterclass in window shopping. For most people, the pieces on sale are simply impossible to afford or financially irresponsible to buy. Even for those with means, who would technically be capable of purchasing pieces at the lower end of the market, $1,000 to $50,000 can feel like a prohibitively expensive amount to spend all at once. But Art Money, a company that launched in the U.S. during EXPO Chicago, is looking to change the mental math behind buying a work of art.

Read the whole article here. 

Wanna go to an opening tonight?

Opening Reception

Thursday, October 27th, 6:30 - 8:00pm
 RSVP at the facebook event page

Show Dates

October 27 - November 27

Long View Gallery’s newest exhibition, PAPER, features new work by some of the gallery’s favorites including Amy Genser, Gian Garofalo, Colin Winterbottom, Eve Stockton and Joelle Dietrick as well as exciting new artists Elizabeth Graeber and Gunjan Aylawadi.

 Long View Gallery

1234 Ninth St NW, Washington, DC 20001longviewgallerydc.com
info@longviewgallery.com | 202.232.4788facebook page

Crystal Bridges Museum on Lida Moser

Although not as well known as Diane Arbus or Dorthea Lang, Lida Moser’s persistence in furthering her career in a male-dominated field and refusal to be relegated to shooting one type of photography, continues to be an inspiration to photographers.

Read the whole piece here.