Cuban Gothic

These are my paternal grandparents: Manuel Campello Comba and Rita Alonso Marcos.

They were both immigrants to Cuba from Galicia, the ancient Celtic kingdom in Northern Spain; he was from some village up in the mountains and she was from Lugo. He was a stowaway on a Spanish ship, and arrived in Cuba with his brother (both penniless) in the 1920s. They both started out as ditch diggers, saved money, bought a cow, sold milk, bought more cows, saved more money.

They started a milk farm and lost everything in the market crash of the 1930s and then started again from scratch... by 1959 he was one of the largest milk producers in the country, and then he lost everything again, this time to the Communists of Fidel Castro's Workers Paradise... within a few years, there was no milk available to anyone in the area. 

He had 11 children with my grandmother!

The Catcher in the Rye

Below is "The Catcher in the Rye," a brand new charcoal and conte drawing from my "Written on The Body" series.

The Catcher in the Rye
Charcoal and Conte on Paper.
Framed to 28x24 inches. 2014 by F. Lennox Campello
In a private collection in Virginia Beach, VA

Lumen Prize

The Lumen Prize Exhibition, the global award and tour for digitally created art, opens its call for entries 1 April 2014 and closes 30 June 2014.

There are seven prizes to be won:

The Lumen Prize Winner - £3000
The Lumen Prize Silver - £1000
The Lumen Prize Bronze - £750
The Founder's Prize - £250
People's Choice Award - £250
The Lumen Animate Award - £250 (special award for animation, in Partnership with Animate Projects)
The Creative Coding Award - £250 (special award for Creative Coding & Programming, in partnership with Artists & Algorists)

The 25 exhibition works, including the 7 prize winners, will be part of a global exhibition tour that will visit Athens, Cardiff, Amsterdam, NYC and London.

Photo-montage, photo-manipulation, iPad art, iPhoneography, creative coding, interactive installation, glitch art, HTML/CSS art, web based art, animation, moving image, digital collage, app art, digital sculpture, 3D rendering… show us what you've got.

1 entry fee costs US$40 and allows the submission of 2 works. A percentage of each entry fee goes to our partner charity Peace Direct

Go to www.lumenprize.com to register.

Spark and Stubble

What: Spark and Stubble: A show of recent paintings by Tom Hill

When: Opening Reception: Friday, June 6, 2014, from 6:00-9:00 pm

(Exhibits runs through June 28, 2014)

Where: Hillyer Art Space

9 Hillyer Court NW Washington, DC 20008

202.938.0680

www.hillyerartspace.org

Tom Hill on his work:

For me, making art has always been a balance between expression and communication. As a proud gay man in long-term recovery from addiction, I have spent considerable time learning about and educating others on the connections between addiction, sexuality, and oppression. I have done this in simultaneous roles as activist, community organizer, and artist. In recent years, I have used my art to examine my life as it has been lifted from a foundation of marginalization, self-contempt, and shame. This process of healing and liberation has led towards a raised consciousness regarding the harmful and often traumatic effects that sexism and homophobia have had on my life, as well as the lives of others. It is in this spirit that I make work that directly addresses these as life and death issues. The work has yielded tremendous rewards, despite the costs and consequences of revealing truths that ultimately create discomfort in those who have secured a great investment in lies. A compelling insistence on honesty and authenticity ultimately erodes forces that are designed to control and deaden our bodies, our lives, and our souls.

These paintings are infused with a long personal history of an evolving feminist and queer sensibility and contain references and influences from a diverse variety of cultural sources. These influences include dada and surrealism, pop art, propaganda and political art, pulp fiction illustration, roadway signage, psychedelic and punk rock graphics, muscle car detailing, and vintage physique magazines. Over time, I have developed a visual vocabulary, formal skills, and working methods that are closely aligned with my chosen subject matter. My love of bold and lurid colors is infused with the restless throb of a masculine sex drive. For me, these colors evoke carnival amusement rides, seaside motels, and the recklessness of a drug-induced young manhood. I layer surfaces with candy and metalflake glazes, iridescent overlays, and crystalline veneers. These form skins of sugary sweetness that barely conceal the meat and gristle underneath, embedded with the coarse grit of testosterone, the unmistakable tang of male sweat, and the potent urgency of semen. These images are lifted and altered from advertising and gay erotica, combined with words and symbols to suggest poetic yearnings, amorous quests, and off-color urges. Magnetically drawn to the spark and stubble of sullen youth and rough men, my interest remains tied to developing and defining a queer masculinity that is sturdy, tough, and unwavering, while exuding a spirit of tenderness, grace, and utter fabulousness

Pike Place Market Drawings

I was a full scholarship student at the University of Washington School of Art in Seattle between 1977-1981. While I was there, I used to sell all my art school assignments (once they were graded) at the Pike Place Market in downtown Seattle.

These sketches are a few out of dozens and dozens from my art journal and simply by age, have now become somewhat historical pieces about Seattle's wonderful market. I also used to draw these sort of drawings on the columns of the market (usually out of boredom).

I left Seattle in 1981, and while I was gone the Pike Place Market was refurbished and cleaned up. When I returned for a visit in 1992, I went to the market for a stroll. To my surprise, my drawings on the columns had been preserved and they had "painted" around them when the columns got their refurbishing coat of paint. I don't know if they are still there, but the ones below I did in my journal.

"Wino and Girl, Pike Place Market, Seattle." 8.5 x 11 inches. Pen and Ink. 1979.

"Jewelry Craftsman, Pike Place Market, Seattle." 8.5 x 11 inches. Pen and Ink. 1979.

"Market People, Pike Place Market, Seattle." 8.5 x 11 inches. Pen and Ink. 1979.

"Market People," Pike Place Market, Seattle." 8.5 x 11 inches. Pen and Ink. 1979.

"Market People, Pike Place Market, Seattle." 8.5 x 11 inches. Pen and Ink. 1979.

"Market People, Pike Place Market, Seattle." 8.5 x 11 inches. Pen and Ink. 1979.

"Market Items, Pike Place Market, Seattle." 8.5 x 11 inches. Pen and Ink. 1979.

Scam Alert!

Beware of this scammer trying to rip off artists:

From: James Adam

Hello,

I am making enquiry if you sell and ship internationally, 

specifically to our location here in the Bahamas.

In addition, I will appreciate if you can get back to me with your price list.

I had a look on your website already and you have a very 

good collection on there.

Looking forward to your quick response.

James Adam.

Stone Lithos from Art School

These were all done in a printmaking class at the University of Washington School of Art in 1980. The assignment was portraiture; they are all stone lithographs.

"Bogey." Stone Litho. 1980. 5x5 inches. Edition of Five.

"Marylin Monroe." Stone Litho. 1980. Edition of 5

"Ernesto Guevara de La Serna Lynch." Stone Litho. 1980. Edition of 5

"Marylin Monroe." Stone Litho. 1980. Edition of 5

Cross MacKenzie Moves

Georgetown's Cross MacKenzie Gallery has moved to1675 Wisconsin Avenue NW and they're having a Grand Opening of their new space on June 6th from 6-8pm.

"We look forward to presenting our monthly exhibitions of exceptional emerging and established, local and nationally known artists, in this new space where the architecture creates a new context for the art we present. Architect William Teass designed a working space with every amenity from moving walls to an outdoor sculpture garden. Cross MacKenzie Gallery invites the community to join us for the inaugural exhibition."

 Their program for the 2014- 2015 Season:

July - August        Mary Armstrong & Angie To - Paintings
September -          Lyn Horton Drawings & Maren Kloppman clay sculpture
October -               Carole Bolsey Paintings, Sheryl Zacharia & StacySnyder ceramics
November -           GAS "Generic Art Solutions", photography interpreting art history
December -           Contemporary French Artists, with the Embassy of France
January   -             Hyun Kyung Yoon - Ceramics after Ai Wei Wei
March -                  Patrick Bermingham, "Bridges", Engineered and non-functional
June -                    Walter McConnell and Ferrin Contemporary's Jingdezhen potters

Small is Beautiful

Andy Warhol

I remember this litho - it was done when I was a student at the University of Washington School of Art as part of printmaking class as a portrait assignment.

"Andy Warhol." Lithograph. Edition of 5. 4x5 inches, circa 1980

Dear Ebay: I told you so!

“Sir,” said the Ebay Support person on the phone, “We’re Ebay, and we’re pretty sure that no one can hack into our system.”

A few months ago, she was responding to my alarmed phone call, as I was pretty sure that someone was hacking into Ebay’s software and system to manipulate the online auction giant and further “hide” already hidden fake auctions designed as a smart phishing effort via Ebay’s apparent ironclad software.

As you may have read recently, a few days ago Ebay requested that all of its users change their passwords. This was as a result of a data breach in which “hackers figured out eBay employee credentials, which helped them gain access to the eBay database.”

Ebays admits now that “email addresses, phone numbers and other details were hacked.” 

But I have evidence from the recent past that hackers also potentially may have manipulated the Ebay auction software to use the auction site as a phishing vehicle.

This is how it all started, and here submitted for your consideration:

On January 27, 2014, I was sitting in Glen Echo while my son was in his music class. I was bored and surfing the net and logged onto Ebay. To my surprise I noticed almost a dozen messages in my Ebay inbox. I write “to my surprise,” because whenever I get an Ebay-generated message (either from Ebay or from an Ebay user sending the email from their Ebay account) I have a rule that automatically forwards it to my personal email account.

That’s exhibit (a) – There were multiple messages from Ebay users to my account, all dealing with the same 3-4 Ebay auctions and messages that were never forwarded to me. If I hadn’t logged onto my Ebay account, I would not have seen them... until it was too late! By the way, all auctions were about to end - they were seven day auctions and all were in day 5 or 6.

All the messages referred to the same assorted “auctions” that had been posted as if coming from my account. I have the word "auctions" in quotes because none of the auctions were mine, and also because all of them were cleverly designed to phish people out of their money. I quickly responded to all the emails warning the users that the auctions were a scam and had nothing to do with me.

The fake auctions had been created without my knowledge and had also somehow circumvented the Ebay notification system that sent an email to my account each time that a real auction lot is created under my account.

That’s exhibit (b) – Someone was able to create an Ebay listing under my account and at the same time prevented the Ebay software from notifying me that a new lot had been created.

The fake listings offered tech goods at ridiculous prices, such as Apple MacBook Pro Retina 15.4" GeForce, or a new Samsung 65" 3D Smart TV.

The hacker had cleverly inserted his email address (4iph55@gmail.com) into the image of the item being offered, highlighted it in yellow, and requested that interested bidders contact him directly prior to bidding. The incoming emails that were in my Ebay inbox (but not being forwarded to my regular email) were from interested bidders wanting to know why they needed to contact the person offering the lots. From reading the threads it was easy to see why…

The phishing scam artist was asking interested parties to wire him money directly, instead of bidding through the Ebay system. When users balked at this, and instead bid the “normal” way via the Ebay lot, he was then able to generate a fake Ebay email from checkout@ebayprotection.com to every single bidder, announcing to the victim that they had won the auction and requesting payment. He also offered next day UPS shipping at no additional cost.

Pretty cool uh? Dude is able to ship a 65" flat screen TV via next day UPS at no additional cost!

I immediately reported the fake auctions to Ebay, and they immediately cancelled them. Subsequently, throughout all this process, I was reporting all of these issues to Ebay via email, and receiving canned email responses from them. I then tried several times to report the issue via telephone, but each time I was assured by the Ebay telephone operator that there was no way that what I was describing could actually have taken place. They told me to change my password (Nevermind that I use really hard passwords: 16-20 mixed characters, and change them several times a year), but refused the logic of the events, or could not explain the technical reasons why these lots had all been posted without generating emails to me, or how the emails to my Ebay account had not been forwarded to me, and even more important --- and the key evidence of hacking into Ebay’s software: why these listings were not visible as my listings in MyEbay!

Exhibit (c) – The hacker was able to create listings using my account and yet they were not listed in MyEbay as my listings.

Working with some of the Ebay users who were nearly scammed, I was also able to piece together the identity of the scammer.

Name: Victor Stan Cornel
Email: 4iph55@gmail.com
Address : Al Solidarnisci Nr. 118/2 00-140 Warsaw Poland.
Bank Name : Millenium Bank
Bank Address : ul.Stanislawa Zaryna 2A 02-593 Warszawa Poland.
IBAN : PL 16 1160 2201 0000 0002 4729 3383
SWIFT : BIGBPLW

I passed all this information to Ebay, who ignored it… at least as far as I know, since I never received a response from them. I also contacted Millenium Bank in Poland and advised them of the issue. They promptly replied to me and passed that they were sending my email to the “right unit of our bank” and advised me to “report it to law enforcement bodies.” And thus I reported the whole event to Interpol, since this phishing mutant apparently lives (or at least has a bank account in Poland). I also tried a dozen ways to report to Google that a phishing scheme was being run from a Gmail account; not sure if I was successful.

Every single thing that I’ve written here has been exhaustively reported to Ebay. When the first telephone operator dismissed me, I called back, got a different operator and reported it all over again from scratch. When that also failed, I did it a third time.

After that I gave up.

And then a few days ago I read about the Ebay system breach. It apparently happened a while back, but Ebay just confirmed it.

Do you think these that two issues are related?

And this is why...

In the past I've harped as to the danger of grouping the Hispanic or Latino vote into one block, as if all people from the twenty-plus nations south of the border and in the Caribbean are all alike and all think alike.

Spanish is a perfect example... Below is an image of something being sold in a local Supermarket which caters to Central American shoppers... The item being offered is "chocho" - which I have no idea what this is, but I do know, that this is also the Puerto Rican slang for, ahem... a woman's private parts and easily a word forbidden on Spanish language radio on the island.

I Googled the word in Google Images, just for fun, and got a boatload of porn.

But here's a Central/South American "chocho"... cough, cough...

Dress for Success Benefit

Happy Memorial Day!

American Flag by Jonathan S. Woods, which was part of Artomatic 2012

DC Judge rules in favor of DC gallery

From DC's Charles Krause Reporting:

After two years of threats, refusing to meet with me or even tell me the nature of the complaints they had received, the Solo Piazza Condominium Board  where I live filed suit on March 16 to shut down the gallery I opened in December 2011.

The issue before the Court was whether an art gallery was an "accessory office use" permitted by the condominium's by-laws, which I was bound by when I purchased my apartment seven years ago. In letters to my attorney, Benny Kass, and to me before the suit was filed, the board changed its story a number of times about why it  was so opposed to allowing me to operate the gallery---especially after it learned that I had obtained a permit from the DC government giving me the right to do so.

Nonetheless, the board clearly expected to win the suit, allocating only $500 for legal fees in the building's 2014 budget (because the bylaws say that if the board has to go to court to enforce the bylaws and wins, the co-owner who loses has to pay both his own legal fees and the condominium's legal fees as well).

Pushing its luck even further, the board filed a motion for summary judgment shortly after it filed its complaint, arguing that since an art gallery  is obviously not an "office," the judge should execute summarily; obviously, they were thinking the judge would make short work of my gallery, not their credibility.

As it turned out, however, the only thing that was obvious about the board's complaint and its motion for summary judgment was that neither they nor their attorney had bothered to do the most basic legal research to determine how the word "office" is defined.  

What my attorneys at Kass, Mitek & Kass discovered, much to their surprise and very much to their credit, was that the word "office" had never been litigated before-- in which case the DC courts rely on Webster's Unabridged Dictionary to define legally undefined words for them.

And sure enough, Webster's defines "office" as "a place where a particular kind of business or  service for others is transacted."

So, dear friends and art aficionados, the judge denied the board's motion for a summary judgment and, instead, ruled in my favor. It's official: my home is now an office and my office is now a place where I can show and sell art that might not otherwise have a home if DC Superior Judge Michael O'Keefe hadn't found that the condo board where I have my home, my gallery and my office hasn't a clue what the bylaws mean nor the wit to look in a dictionary before they file a mean-spirited and expensive lawsuit contending that an art gallery isn't an office and therefore isn't a permitted "accessory office use" of my home office which, by the way, is located in a section of Washington that's an officially designated arts zone.

Is this the end? Probably not. But it's a good beginning.

Read the review of their current exhibit by Mark Jenkins in the WaPo here.

The Lilith

"The Lilith." Watercolor on Paper. 7x5 inches matted and framed to 10x8 inches.

Congrats!

To DMV artist Tim Tate, winner of the 2014 Brilliance Award. Details here.

Opportunity for Artomatic 2012 Artists

Artists who participated in Artomatic 2012 are invited to exhibit in Artomatic Takes Flight opening July 25 in The Gallery Walk at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. 

They'll send an email soon with details about the call for entries, online artist registration at noon on May 31, art drop off on the evening of July 18 and the morning of July 21 at the airport, and the reception on July 25.

2015 Maryland Individual Artist Awards

The 2015 Maryland Individual Artist Award guidelines and application are now available. Applicants must be full-time Maryland residents. The funding categories for 2015 include: 

• Non-Classical Music: Composition
• Non-Classical Music: Solo Performance
• Playwriting  
• Visual Arts: Crafts 
• Visual Arts: Photography   

All applications must be submitted online. Applicants can click here  to access the guidelines and application. The deadline for 2015 applications is 4:30 PM on Thursday, July 24, 2014.

The Maryland State Arts Council and Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation will offer three webinars for prospective Individual Artist Award applicants that will:

  

• Address applicant eligibility, discipline categories, and work sample formats;
• Provide instructions on how to complete the online application; and
• Provide information on the submission of digital images for visual artists

Advance registration is required.

To register, please follow the link listed next to your desired webinar date.  

WEBINAR 1: June 19, 2014
2:00 PM - 3:30 PM

https://www3.gotomeeting.com/register/533270558 

  

WEBINAR 2: June 21, 2014 

10:00 AM - 11:30 AM 

https://www3.gotomeeting.com/register/676216598

WEBINAR 3: June 25, 2014 

10:00 AM - 11:30 AM 

https://www3.gotomeeting.com/register/831610854 

  

An instructional video to assist artists with the application process and work sample preparation guide is also available online here. 

Questions about Fellowships or webinar registration?

Please contact Kimberly Steinle-Super at kimberly@midatlanticarts.org 

(e)merge art fair deadline approaching!

(e)merge art fair NOW ACCEPTING GALLERY, 

ARTIST APPLICATIONS ONLINE

The fourth edition of the (e)merge art fair will take place October 2-5, 2014, in Washington, DC, at the Rubell Family’s Capitol Skyline Hotel.

The DC region is home to one of the nation’s wealthiest, youngest, most highly educated populations. (e)merge provides inside access to a rapidly expanding cultural market with immense economic power.

EXHIBITOR PROSPECTUS (CLICK HERE)

ONLINE APPLICATIONS ARE NOW BEING ACCEPTED

GALLERY PLATFORM APPLICATION (CLICK HERE)
The Gallery Platform application deadline is May 30 and notifications will be sent out in June.

Additional information on the EXHIBITOR SERVICES page: CLICK HERE

For additional questions/information: info@emergeartfair.com