DCist has a nice write-up of the new AOM artists show that opened last weekend at the Anne C. Fisher Gallery in Georgetown.

This is the first of a triple gallery show about AOM artists. Next Friday we will open most of the artists from our lists with a show opening Friday, October 14 from 6-9PM at Fraser Bethesda, and the Friday after that opening at Fraser Georgetown.

And wait until you see the installation that Ira Tattelman has done in our Bethesda gallery!

And (Yawn) Painting is Hot Again...

Because Blake Gopnik firmly believes that painting is dead, he is going to hate this, but like it happens every few years, all the critical voices are aligning again to say: "sorry, we were wrong and painting is not dead... so sorry."

Tap, tap... Critical alignment happening here... Watch for art critics and curators who have dismissed painting over the last few years now try to re-invent themselves and desperately try to catch up. And art mogul Saatchi has already publicly chastised Blake Gopnik for having such a traditional and outdated view of painting's death.

This Telegraph article discusses that:

To suggest that painting has triumphed over other media would require a rather outdated notion of hierarchy. But it is certainly receiving a flurry of attention. The art periodicals Contemporary Art, Flash Art and Modern Painters all broke with regular practice and ran large special issues on it last year. Remarkably, it was Modern Painters' first ever issue devoted exclusively to painting.

Even painters themselves, who won't admit that painting ever went away, agree that it is back in focus. "There are always artists making interesting paintings – sometimes they attract little attention, sometimes, as now, a lot," wrote Michael Craig Martin in the New Statesman this month.

"There's certainly a lot of talk about painting being back," says Pablo Lafuente, curator of a much smaller painting show than Saatchi's now on at London's Haunch of Venison gallery. "It suffered a lot during the 1990s, but in the last few years it's been changing: there's a buzz in both the market and museum worlds. Before, painters used to explain that they also worked in other media. Now, there's an unapologetic-ness."

Read the whole article here.

Critical Alignment

One fact that has been quite evident to me for many years (at least from anecdotal evidence), is that fact that in almost all genres of the arts, more often than not, popularity tends to have an equally inverse relationship with formal critical acclaim.

If you are an extraordinarily popular visual artist with the masses, such as Jack Vettriano is in Great Britain, then usually you are either ignored or maligned by the critical world. In Vettriano's case it has actually worked to his advantage, making him even more popular, and he currently has the record for the highest price for a Scottish painting ever to be sold at auction.

I guess our equivalent here would be Norman Rockwell, although his "re-discovery" in the last few years has somewhat surprised me. But for most of my life, Rockwell has been tremendously popular with the American public, but snobbed and disdained by the critical mafia.

But when art critics do focus positively on someone, as they did for a while on John Currin, it appears to me that they tend to cluster in a communal group think about an artist. Conversely, when a "reversal" or negativity about an artist begins to surface (such as for John Currin now), it certainly appears, at least from the ten thousand foot level, to be a "group U-turn" and we all begin to savage the new victim.

I could be wrong, and it is clearly an observation not cast in concrete nor backed up by scientific and numerical facts, but it is how it appears to me.

But I also recall that in Peter Schjeldahl's (art critic for The New Yorker) 2004 lecture at George Washington University's Lisner Auditorium as part of that year's Clarice Smith Distinguished Lectures in American Art, and according to Ionarts:

"One of Schjeldahl's major points on the topic he chose ('What Art Is For Now') was that the snob appeal of art is one of the 'underestimated engines of culture,' that for now he has 'no desire to swell the size of the tent' of those who love art. In his view, there is no reason to bring art to the masses. Those who want it will find it, and 'if somebody doesn't want art, bully for them.' However, as Schjeldahl also noted, the audience for art worldwide may be larger now than it ever has been, and the art market is a booming business. This may help explain the gulf that can be observed between major art critics and the art-going public, in the case of the J. Seward Johnson sculptures at the Corcoran, for example."

And now David Sterritt, who is the film critic for The Christian Science Monitor, is concerned because so many of his choices for the best films, year after year, match so closely with his fellow movie critics, but often are never aligned with the public's choices. He writes:

"Don't get me wrong. The last thing we critics should do is try to echo the taste of some hypothetical 'average moviegoer' or twist our 10-best lists to mirror the box office. What concerns me is that there's so much agreement among reviewers, whose goals ought to include challenging one another's tastes, habits, and assumptions."

Read his article here.

Kelly Towles is hot!

A friend at the Washington Times tells me that the Times' senior art critic, Joanna Shaw-Eagle, will be reviewing Kelly Towles debut solo at David Adamson.

This is good not only for Towles, but also for our area art scene, to see three major art critics all focus on one talented artist. With three major endorsements like O'Sullivan, Dawson and Shaw-Eagle, Towles has gotten off to a spectacular start, following his also stellar Artomatic debut.

This is a strong signal to our museum curators (Brougher and Hileman at the Hirshhorn and Binstock and Schmidt at the Corcoran) that perhaps this "local" artist deserves some of their attention as well.

And if Kelly moves to Brooklyn, then maybe Blake will also write about him.

Anyway... Bravo Kelly!

Gallery looking for new members

Touchstone Gallery, one of the oldest and largest artists' cooperatives in the Greater DC area, is looking for new members. Interested artists should contact Touchstone Gallery at 202/347-2787.

A couple of new photography shows to open soon

January 9 - February 1, 2005
Glenview Mansion Art Gallery

Prescott Moore Lassman will be exhibiting 15 to 20 photographs from his "Domesticated Animals" series in a three-person show at the Glenview Mansion Art Gallery. The exhibition, which also features artists Elke Seefeldt and L.S. King, runs from January 9 through February 1, 2005. There will be an opening reception on Sunday, January 9 from 1-4 p.m., in conjunction with a jazz concert by The Lovejoy Group from 2-3 p.m. There will also be an artist's talk on Thursday, January 20 beginning at 7:30 p.m.

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January 12 - February 11, 2005
"Stealing Dead Souls"

Rough Edge Photography by national award-winning experimental Mississippi photographer, James W. Bailey, which explores the concept of photography and its mystical ability to steal the life of the non-living. Opening Reception on Saturday, January 15, from 5:00 - 7:00 pm at the Black Rock Center for the Arts in Germantown, Maryland.

The Top 100 Artists

(Thanks AJ) A British website, ArtFacts, has come up with a way to rank artists by the exhibitions they've been shown in since 1999.

The Artist Ranking reflects the artists exhibition career from 1999 to today as seen from the perspective of the organizing curators of museums and private galleries.

Basically the artist ranking weights exhibitions by a special algorithm. Each exhibition gains automatically a certain value. See the ranking system explained here and the current Top 100 here.

The Super Art Thief Goes on Trial

Thirty-something French waiter Stephane Breitwieser has admitted stealing 239 works of art (including several priceless masterpieces) in seven European countries between 1995-2001.

It gets better... His mother is also on trial for having destroyed more than 200 of the works stolen by her son, who apparently stored them at her home.

Read it and weep.

P.S. Does anyone named Breitwieser live in Reston?

The Thursday Reviews

The WaPo's Jacqueline Trescott usually writes about museum news and issues. Today she has a piece that covers some museum going-ons dealing with special exhibits around Dubya's inauguration.

Jessica Dawson does something that rarely happens in the WaPo: She reviews an artist who was already reviewed last week! No doubt that Kelly Towles is hot! The review is (as usual) all over the place, sometimes doling out the feeling that it is a good review, other times throwing a bucket of cold water all over the reader. She also covers and offers a description of Time and Materials at Irvine Contemporary Art.

I'd like to see the WaPo's first threepeat and hereby call for Blake Gopnik to also review this show. Maybe a second visit to a single and talented Art-O-Matic artist will cause a shift in Blake's rootcanalization of AOM?

In the WCP, Louis Jacobson reviews "The Staged Body: Contemporary Photography," (which Jessica reviewed December 16) at Andrea Pollan's Curator's Office.

Hemphill Fine Arts has an opening this Saturday, January 8, of two of my favorite DC area artists: Martin Kotler and John Dreyfuss.

These are two of my favorite area artists. I included Kotler a few years ago into a massive show that I curated in 2001 for the Athenaeum in Alexandria. The show was titled "A Survey of Washington Area Realists" and had over 120 artists hanging salon-style in that beautiful Greek Revival building that is so architecturally out of place in Old Town Alexandria. He's an intelligent and gifted painter.

Dreyfuss' sculptures (and the studio where he makes them) have to be seen to be believed, from the massive plum bob that he last exhibited at Hemphill's old Georgetown space, to small, delicate neo Classic pieces that are all over his studio space. He will have seven new sculptures in this show.

The reception is Saturday, January 8, 2005 from 6:30 - 8:30 PM.

SYNERGY: DC Artists Unite!

Call for Artists
Deadline: March 15, 2005

Synergy is a collaborative community art project that will bring artists of the DC/MD/VA area together to create unique works of art. Synergy will revive and inspire an entire new art scene for the Washington D.C. Metropolitan area.

Evolving Perceptions (EP) is seeking teams of 2-4 artists to submit submissions for consideration. A jury panel will select the final teams and each team will receive a stipend for the artists as well as for materials. The teams will be asked to create a work of artwork(s) within a 6 week period.

The process of creation among the team artists’ will be documented and shared as part of the final exhibition. The exhibition will launch in Fall 2005/Winter 2006 at a local gallery in Washington D.C.

ELIGIBILITY: Visual artist(s) working/living within a 50 mile radius of Washington D.C. No age limit, encourage teams to include artists of diverse cultural heritages and artists with disabilities.

ENTRY INSTRUCTIONS: Artists may submit as:
1) teams of 2-4 artists
2) individuals who would like to be placed on a team
3) art organizations, galleries, museums who would like to submit a team, i.e., "the Torpedo Factory team"

To obtain an entry form please email Marsha Stein, Synergy Coordinator at marshasart@aol.com.

Each artist(s) on a team or applying as an individual must submit:
1. Resume
2. Statement about Why the collaborative art process is of interest to you? What do you hope to contribute and gain from this experience?
3. SASE
4. 5 Slides or digital images on a CD-ROM with print outs

POSTMARK DEADLINE: March 15, 2005
Teams announced in May 2005

Please send your submission to:

Synergy
11118 Lakespray Way
Reston, VA 20191

I'll be away most of the day today, and will be posting later in the day. Don't forget that tomorrow is the first Friday of the month and thus the Dupont Circle Galleries will be having their openings and/or extended hours from 6-8 PM in most cases.

Numark Gallery also has an opening tomorrow night from 6:30-8PM: Sharon Louden: The Motley Tails and also David Ryan: Batteries Can't Help Now in the gallery's Project Room.

Sharon Louden's installations and drawings "give character to individual
gestures through the illusion of movement, placement, and direction of marks.
The Motley Tails, Louden's second one-person exhibition at Numark Gallery, features a large-scale installation. A garden of hanging, hairy anthropomorphic and jungle-like forms, assembled with thousands of strands of monofilament (fishing line) clamped by cage clips, hangs from the ceiling of the main gallery space and brushes along the floor."

Las Vegas-based artist David Ryan creates his three-dimensional painted wall
constructions by referencing the design of mass-produced industrial products, automobiles, home stereos and computers.

A couple of days ago I had the honor to jury the annual monthly juried show for the 1600 plus artists who are members of the Art League.

About 600 works in all genres and medias were submitted for my review and I selected 120 of them for exhibition in the Art League Gallery on the first floor of the Torpedo Factory in Old Town Alexandria.

Jurying an art show is a very time consuming, and arduous task. There were some absolutely brilliant works, a lot of OK work and a few head scratchers. But the sublime pleasure of being surrounded by artwork from artists of all ranges, ages and skills, is unequaled. This is what the love of visual arts is all about!

As I've noted, seldom is the task of jurying an art show an easy task, and even though I have juried many shows over the last twenty years, I always approach the task with the realization that a lot of effort and work must be delivered in order to do a proper job.

And jurying a show for The Art League must be one of the most challenging tasks that a juror in our area faces. With such a rich pool of artists, by far one of the largest in the nation, abounding with talent, creativity and intelligence, a juror must come prepared to work hard and smartly.

And I’ve prepared for this task for many years and through many ways. As I've noted, I was a member of The Art League when I first moved to the Washington area many years ago, and believe me: I know first-hand the elation of being accepted and the sighs that accompany being rejected.

Then, as an art critic, I have been visiting and writing about Art League shows for many years. I know first-hand the amazing variety of art and artists, of styles and genres, of creativity and intelligence, as well as their weaknesses. And finally, as an art critic and curator, I have curated and organized over 100 shows in our area, and have been thus exposed to the work of many Art League members that way. I was ready for this task.

If you were accepted: Congratulations! It was a challenging task.

By far, you’ll see that most of the work that I selected falls within the representational genre, which I allow to dominate my personal dialogue with art. I admire technical ability, but usually when properly coupled with smart composition, good visual ideas, intelligence and creativity. The award winners all in one sense or another pushed some of these buttons, from the spectacular simplicity and elegance of Jim Steele’s photographs, to the bubbling burst of prowess of the very young Jenny Davis’ watercolors, to Jackie Saunders’ mastery of the figure.

The Art League’s monthly competitions are excellent ways to sharpen your artistic muscles, to learn to accept rejection, and to hone your instinct and experience in the art world. The best thing for art is more art – keep creating!

Oh yeah... the photo on the left won the First Prize!

How to Achieve Instant World Fame

Warning: If porn offends you, even "fine art porn," do not visit any of the links below.

Terry Richardson is one lucky stiff (pun intended) who becomes famous in the rarified upper crust of the art world while getting his fine art porn exhibitied in New York, London and Paris.

I'd love to see what would happen if one of our museums or galleries had a Terry Richardson exhibition around here.

In fact, it would make Richardson world famous on a level achieved by the Mapplethorpes and Serranos and Ofilis of the past. I am sure that the exhibition would be most likely shut down by the DC cops, which would bring the ACLU into action and thus Congress would have a collective heart attack, and start trying to pass all kind of laws, etc. You can't buy publicity like that.

Hey, at least we'd get some bi-partisan work!

A Terry Richardson exhibition in Washington, DC would make the Mapplethorpe controversy pale in comparison, of that I am sure.

In fact, this is such a good idea for a local up-and-coming struggling art space: instant fame through fine art porn!

In fact redux, I've got a couple of tentative places (cough, cough) in mind that could use the bright angry light of the public's ire and salacious mentions in the Congressional record.

Washington, DC making an artist world famous!

Terry baby... call me; I'll tell you how to get a show in DC.

New DC Art Site

Tracy Lee, a superb photographer whose photos are simply too sensual for any DC art gallery to handle (so far), and who is now in the middle of an MFA program at GWU, has a new (to me) and really interesting online journal.

Visit it often; great insight on the mind of a creative photographer struggling to keep her identity through a seminal academic photography program.

I say that Tracy's work is too sensual for any DC gallery to handle simply because of the fact that her work has (so far) explored the sensuality of the nude figure, and we all know what kind of reception nudes get around here (read this and also this).

Artnet Reviews 2005

Walter Robinson has an excellent, sexy review of the 2004 art year at Artnet.com.

Opportunities for Artists

Deadline: January 28, 2005
Bethesda Fine Arts Festival

The Bethesda Arts & Entertainment District is currently accepting applications for the 2005 Bethesda Fine Arts Festival. The event is scheduled for Saturday, May 14 and Sunday, May 15, 2005. The deadline for submissions is January 28, 2005. 150 artists will be invited to exhibit, and last year around 40,000 people attented the inaugural festival, and more are expected this year. This is an excellent opportunity for artists to bring their artwork directly to the public (I did this show last year and plan to do it again). Only original artwork, photography, fine crafts, sculpture and hand-made furniture allowed. $2,500 in cash awards, and breakfast and lunch is provided for exhibiting artists. Download the application form here or call 301/718-9651 or send a SASE to:
Bethesda Fine Arts Festival
c/o Bethesda Arts & Entertainment District
7700 Old Georgetown Road
Bethesda, MD 20814

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Deadline: February 3, 2005
Louisiana Watercolor Society 35th International Show.

A juried exhibition of original waterbased media on paper is open to water media artists. Paintings must be unvarnished and executed in the last three years. Up to five slides can be entered. The first three are $14/per slide. Download or send a SASE for a prospectus. Slides must be postmarked by February 3 or hand delivered by February 7, 2005.
Louisiana Watercolor Society
P.O. Box 850287
New Orleans, LA 70185-0287

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Deadline: February 3, 2005
Fourth Annual Bethesda International Photography Prize

Exhibition dates: March 11 - 6 April, 2005. Open to all photographers 18 years and older. All photography not previously exhibited at the Fraser Gallery. The maximum dimension (including frame) should not exceed 40 inches in any direction. Iris or Giclee entries are acceptable. All work must be presented professionally to conservation standards. Juried by Connie Imboden. $950 in cash awards, plus Best of Show winner will receive a solo show in 2005. First, Second and Third Prize winners and the three Honorable Mention winners will be invited to exhibit in one of the the gallery's various group shows in 2005. An entry fee of $25 U.S. Dollars entitles the artist to submit three slides. For the prospectus, visit the website, or call 301/718-9651 or send a SASE to:
Bethesda International Photography
Fraser Gallery
7700 Wisconsin Avenue
Suite E
Bethesda, MD 20814

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Deadline: February 4, 2005
15th Annual Faces of Woman Show

March 4-April 1, 2005. Faces of Woman 15th Annual National Juried Art Show. All art media. Original works exploring some aspect of the feminine symbolic or representational form, completed within the last two years. $1,000 in cash prizes of awarded. Open to all amateur and professional artists. Entries (slides) due by February 4, 2005. For registration form and info send legal SASE to:
Las Vegas Arts Council
Box 2603
Las Vegas NM 87701
Phone: 505.425.1085

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Deadline: February 25, 2005
16th National Drawing & Print Competitive Exhibition

Gormley Gallery/College of Notre Dame of Maryland 16th National Drawing & Print Competitive Exhibition. A minimum of $1500 available in purchase prize money. Drawings and prints (not photography) in any medium are eligible. A non-refundable entry fee of $30 entitles the artist to submit up to three slide entries. Slide entries and fee due February 25. For prospectus visit their website or SASE to:
National Drawing and Print Competitive Exhibition
Attn: Geoff Delanoy
College of Notre Dame of Maryland
4701 North Charles Street
Baltimore, MD 21210
Contact: gormleygallery@ndm.edu

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Deadline: February 12, 2005
2005 Alexander Rutsch Award and Exhibition For Painting

For US based artists 19 years of age or older. All work submitted to competition must be available for exhibit May 6-June 19, 2005. Entry fee is $20 and all accepted work must be ready to hang. The prize winner will be awarded a solo exhibition and a cash award of $5,000. For more information, call (914) 738-2525, email, or visit the website.

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Deadline: February 25, 2005
Bethesda Artists Market
The Bethesda Arts & Entertainment District is currently accepting applications for the June 12 and July 10, 2005 Bethesda Artist Markets. I usually exhibit at this venue, which has been getting more and more visitors each time it is held. The spaces are juried by slides and there's no entry fee and a $50 booth fee for accepted artists. The artists markets are held about six Sundays a year. Download the application here or send a SASE to:
Bethesda Artists Market
c/o Bethesda Arts & Entertainment District
7700 Old Georgetown Road
Bethesda, MD 20814

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Deadline: March 11, 2005
Bethesda Painting Awards

The Bethesda Arts & Entertainment District has announced the inaugural Bethesda Painting Awards, a juried competition honoring four selected painters with $14,000 in prize monies. Up to eight finalists will be invited to display their work from June 10 – July 6, 2005 in downtown Bethesda at the Fraser Gallery. The 1st place winner will be awarded $10,000; 2nd place will be honored with $2,000 and 3rd place will be awarded $1,000. A "young" artist whose birth date is after March 11, 2005 will also be awarded $1,000. Artists must be 18 years of age or older and residents of Maryland, Virginia or Washington, D.C. All original 2-D painting including oil, acrylic, watercolor, gouache, encaustic and mixed media will be accepted. The maximum dimension should not exceed 60 inches in width. No reproductions. Artwork must have been completed within the last two years and must be available for the duration of the exhibition. Selected artists must deliver or ship artwork to exhibit site in Bethesda, Maryland. Each artist must submit five slides, application and a non-refundable entry fee of $25. The Bethesda Painting Awards has been established by local business owner Carol Trawick. To download a complete submission form, please visit this website or send a self-addressed stamped envelope to:
Bethesda Painting Awards
c/o Bethesda Arts & Entertainment District
7700 Old Georgetown Road
Bethesda, MD 20814

The Power of the Web

A while back, Thinking About Art was rightfully so ranting about artists not responding to his online project and how some artists and a lot of dealers do not understand the power and importance of having a web presence.

I agree with J.T., and every once in while I try to point out just what the Internet can help to accomplish in the business of art business and establishing a foot print as an artist.

An immediate and personal example is through my current exhibition in Georgetown. In the last couple of weeks, of the 20 or so drawings in the exhibition and others, 9 drawings (and two prints) have so far sold. Of those sales, six have been through the Internet, and four drawings are heading to Ireland!

Update: AJ brings to light a a study by PEW/Internet that adds evidence to the importance of the web for artists.

2004 Gallery Report

This past weekend we met with our accountant to review 2004 and the galleries' business.

Two years ago, Sotheby's decided, without much warning, to end its online art business. We were one of only two or three DC area galleries who were Sothebys Associates, and very quickly Sotheby's became our largest sales process, accounting for well over 60% of our art sales for three or four years in a row.

Then they decided a couple of years ago to end their online business (don't even get me started on how Sotheby's screwed this all up) and we held our breath!

Somehow we recovered, and I am happy to report that 2004 was our best year ever!

In 2004, with the exception of Sandra Ramos, whose Georgetown show sold out, and Aimee Garcia Marrero, whose Georgetown show sold quite well, the vast majority of our business took place in the Bethesda gallery and about a third of the business was strictly an online affair.

In 2004 we had three reviews in the Washington Post, two reviews in the Washington Times, six reviews in the Washington City Paper, three reviews in the Gazette, two reviews in the Georgetowner and six reviews in other national and international magazines and newspapers.

It is clear to me that our area's visual art scene is growing in leap and bounds, and even the business of art seems to be growing. Any other area gallerist who'd like to share some words as how 2004 was for them, is welcomed to email me and I'll publish it here.

2005 opens on January 14 in our Bethesda gallery and on January 21 at our Georgetown gallery with two group shows of the best of Art-O-Matic 2004 from our perspective.

See ya there!

Dan Flavin, minimalism, store-bought art materials, flourescent light bulbs, the seduction of money, provenances, and the Dark Side of Success (thanks Jesse).

"One factor in valuing a Flavin, however, dwarfs all others: the certificate that accompanied its production. To those who wonder what the difference is between a Flavin and the lights in their office, the certificate, more or less, is the answer.

Each of the more than 750 light sculptures that Flavin designed - usually in editions of three or five - were listed on index cards and filed away. When one sold, the buyer received a certificate containing a diagram of the work, its title and the artist's signature and stamp. If someone showed up with a certificate and a damaged fixture, Flavin would replace it. But without a certificate, the owner was out of luck. Today, Christie's won't even consider a Flavin sculpture unless it's accompanied by an original document."

Read Greg Allen's whole article here.

Update: Todd Gibson points out that Allen followed up the NYT article in his BLOG with excerpts from two additional interviews (curator and collector Emily Rauh Pulitzer and son Stephen Flavin, who now controls the Flavin Estate) that took place after the Allen article went to press.