Florida Gallery Seeking Exhibition Proposals

The Downstairs Gallery in Melbourne, Florida is seeking proposals from all 2-D and 3-D artists, for exhibitions for Oct 2006, and for Jan, Mar, and May 2007. No entry fee.

Contact Renee Decator at decatjr@aol.com.

New Gallery Looking for Director

Long View Gallery has just opened a new space at 1302 Ninth Street NW, Washington DC 20001,(202) 232-4788 and they are looking for both a gallery director and a gallery assistant.

This is the second location for the gallery, as they have another gallery in Sperryville, Virginia. Compensation is base salary plus commission. Please send resume and salary history to william_waybourn@longviewgallery.com or via fax at 202-318-1173.

Welcome to DC!

Cloaca Poop

When a DC Art News reader sent me a link that then led to this site, at first I though that it was a joke.

It isn't.

Belgian artist Wim Delvoye has created a machine that reproduces the series of organic events that takes place in the human digestive system when a person eats, starting from swallowing the food via the mouth to discarding the fecal matter through your rear orifice.

Delvoye calls his machine the Cloaca.

He feeds the Cloaca ordinary food and eventually shit comes out from the other end. This Cloaca shit is then wrapped in plastic and sold to "art collectors."

And according to the Cloaca website, the shit is sold out! And the "remaining 100 feces have been held back for future capitalisation [sic]."

See the machine(s) here. Note that a couple of the shitmakingmachine logos are certainly within striking range of a lawsuit from Coke or Mr. Clean.

Update: Last year Charles Downey in Ionarts had this terrific piece on Delvoye and the machine and other projects, including the translation of an informative interview with the artist.

Mural Artist Wanted

The DC Primary Care Association is looking for a mural artist to fill large wall space in their office. They are looking for an artist that has a real feel for the overall energy of DC.

They are imagining a cityscape mural at a bird’s eye view that would highlight the health centers in DC. Please e-mail Lauren at Lmardirosian@dcpca.org if you are interested. Commission fee is negotiable.

Call for Artists

Deadline: October 15, 2006

The Howard County Arts Council has an open call for artists for proposals for their 2008-2009 gallery season at the Howard County Arts Council gallery.

You can download the prospectus here or call them at 410-313-ARTS.

Best Bets

The Washington Post has announced the winners of their 2006 "Best Bets" and they can be seen online here.

As it has been the case for the past four years, there was not a gallery category to vote for, although some of the other categories were quite diverse, shall we say.

If you don't get it, you don't get it.

Cleaning House

Or I should really say: "Cleaning the studio," as DC area artist Chris Goodwin has decided to start from scratch and is offering on Ebay "a buttload of paintings" for one price in order to clear his studio of work and previous influences.

See then here.

Tube Link

While I was gone in Norfolk, the NBC4 story on DC Art News and me was shown on Channel 4 News.

You can see the video online here. Welcome to all the new visitors!

Opportunity for Photographers

Deadline: September 30, 2006

Richmond's Gallery of Art & Design has a call for photographers for Colors of Life, a photography competition open to national and international photographers.

Prospectus and details here or call the gallery at 804/355-0102.

In Norfolk

I'm in Virginia Beach; heading back home tomorrow.

9/11 Artwork

Thinking About Art and others have been discussing the interesting issue of "art that responds to Sept. 11."

I raise my hand and say that the work of New Yorker David FeBland responded directly to 9/11 because David's work essentially is all about New York as widely discussed in his many reviews both here and abroad.


David is a non-stop painter, and his work on 9/11 was about NYC as it is every other day.

Because his daily vocation is to paint New York, and New Yorkers and events that he observes in NYC, on 9/11 he he climbed to the roof of his studio building and painted the NYC landscape that he saw from his rooftop, and later that day, as he and thousands escaped the island via the ferry, he quickly sketched his fellow New Yorkers and later he painted the people on the ferry. And a year later he came back to the ferry and painted Afterlife.

On the days immediately after 9/11 he painted the people working in and around Ground Zero, such as the workers who were volunteering as food service workers to the construction guys clearing the area, and the construction volunteers who came from all over the country to help.

So in essence a New Yorker, painting New York, as he does every day, recorded 9/11 as any other event that he would do, about NYC on that day.

Opportunity for Artists

Deadline: Now!

The Lorton Arts Foundation has issued an open call for a judged exhibition of fine art titled "A New Palette For The Workhouse," in celebration of the transformation of the Occoquan Workhouse at the old Lorton Prison into a terrific regional cultural arts center.

This is a judged show, not a juried show, so all work will be hung. I repeat: ALL WORK will be hung.

The following prize money will be awarded: Best in Show, $500, two Equal Merits of $200 each, and a People's Choice of $100, plus non-monetary Honorable Mentions.

The exhibition will run from Sept. 8 to Nov. 3, 2006 at the University of Phoenix in Reston, Virginia. All artwork must be delivered on Sept. 8, 2006.

All show details and entry forms can be downloaded from the Lorton Arts Foundation website. If you have any questions please call Marti Kirkpatrick at (301) 349-0806.

On the tube - part II

Busy all day today.

And because of the events that almost happened today, the DC Arts News and my profile that was scheduled to air today was rightly so delayed and now will be on at NBC on Friday, August 11, 2006. I am told that it will air at 4PM and that it can also be seen online at nbc4.com.

And let us all give thanks to those both here and abroad whose hard work once again defeated the barbarism of those with mass murder as their objective.

On the tube

DC Arts News and its author will be profiled at NBC tomorrow. I am told that it will air at 4PM and that it can also be seen online at nbc4.com.

July painters

Since 2003 DC area artist Dana Ellyn has been doing a project called "31 Days in July," where she creates one new painting every day in July in response to the daily news - capturing each day of the month in a total of 31 unique paintings.

And also since 2003 DC area artist Matt Sesow has been doing a project also called "31 Days in July," where he creates his own one new painting every day in July in response to the daily news - capturing each day of the month in a total of his own 31 unique paintings.

See Dana's work here and Matt's work here.

Opportunity for Still Life Artists

Deadline: Nov. 1, 2006

The Richeson School of Art & Gallery (a division of major art manufacturer Jack Richeson & Co.) announces its first semi-annual visual arts competition/exhibit!

Over $10,000 worth of prizes. Subject matter for this competition is limited to Still Life (future competitions will focus on other genres). All 2-D original art (except photography) is eligible. Full details and entry form are online at www.richesonart.com.

Contact information:

Richeson School of Art & Gallery
557 Marcella St.
P.O. Box160
Kimberly, WI 54136-0160
Phone: 920-738-0744 or 800-233-2404

Day Painters

First there was Duane Kaiser with his one-a-day paintings, and we all know what a spectacular success he has enjoyed since.

And now DC area artist Josh Smithson has taken the daily brush to a painting-a-day task and begun a daily painting regime. See his work here.

A Great Gray Lady Sunk

Unless you consider the drama of the event as some sort of mega performance, this has little to do with the visual arts as we understand it (I think), but here it is nonetheless, as it packs some pretty powerful visuals for me:

I got this from an old Navy friend:

"Ex-USS Belleau Wood (LHA-3) was sunk by USS Mobile Bay as part of a Navy exercise. They fired the first Harpoon at her yesterday and today EOD (Navy Seals) set off bombs. It only took an hour after that, but previously she had been taking hits all day yesterday from the other ships.... she just wouldn't sink.


She wasn't designed to sink.


She was designed to fight, to stay afloat, and carry her crew through the perils of enemy hostilities. How confusing the last moments must have been for this great lady to have the guns of those she once held so dear be the ones which fired the fatal blows that would carry her to the depths of darkness.

May she rest in peace, and may all those who served upon her feel her presence with each misty spray of ocean breeze. Farewell USS BELLEAU WOOD (LHA-3)."

Vote

Channel 9's A-List is a local contest where the public votes and determine the Washington D.C. area's best local businesses. More than 900 businesses within the DC area have been nominated so far.

So far only four art galleries and one wall decor venue have been nominated. See them here.

Anyone can nominate a gallery here. Unless you are part of the state of Louisiana or city of Chicago multiple-voting dispensations, please only vote once.

I'll let you know which gallery gathers the most votes once the public decides (provided that some secret Channel 9 vote doesn't change the tally).

Statuary Controversy

I couple of days ago I was listening to WTOP News, which like all other radio and TV stations in our area (with the posssible exception of WAMU) rarely if ever, reports on anything dealing with the visual arts, although they do an excellent job delivering free publicity and reports for movies, concerts and theatre. Like nearly all of our main media outlets, WTOP probably believes that their listening public does not care about our area gallery shows as much as they do about who is playing next at Blues Alley.

Anyway, they had a story on a controversy surrounding the Statuary Hall sculpture selection process to add two new sculptures of prominent Washingtonians that could be displayed in the United States Capitol's Statuary Hall, where every state in the Union is represented by two statues of prominent people from the state's past. The District of Columbia is not represented by anyone, and so the DC public was apparently invited to vote as to which prominent Washingtonians should be added to the collection.

Residents cast around 3,000 votes based on the following criteria: "The person must have a record of distinguished service to the city; must be a U.S. citizen; and must be deceased."

Frederick Douglass, the former slave-turned-newspaper publisher received the most votes (311) and musician Duke Ellington (238 votes) came in second. Both men were also on a list of recommendations made by the D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities steering committee.

This is where the controversy apparently starts.

According to WTOP News:

A selection committee created by the D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities made their own recommendations, and the commission had the final say in the selection.

And

Minutes from a May 2006 meeting reveal the commissioners were unanimous in the first choice of Frederick Douglass, the former slave-turned-newspaper publisher.

But...

...the minutes from the May meeting show the commissioners could not decide on the second choice, and delayed the vote for one month.

Prior to adjourning, commissioner Gail Berry West made a motion to add Pierre L'Enfant to the list of finalists.

L'Enfant came in 10th in the public voting, with 107 votes -- well behind Duke Ellington, Thurgood Marshall and Benjamin Banneker, but 16 votes ahead Mayor Washington.

When the commission reconvened in June, they made a rare move of taking the remaining votes by secret ballot.

Commission Chair Dorothy McSweeny told WTOP she couldn't recall the last time the commission voted in secret, but added she supported the move.

Mayor Tony Williams has said he was "disappointed" with the selection of L'Enfant. In a written statement, Williams' spokesperson Vince Morris tells WTOP:

The mayor has already made it clear that L'Enfant was not his top choice. While it's important for boards and commissions to operate independently, the mayor also likes to see decisions made that reflect popular opinion.

Another problem with the L'Enfant choice is his nationality. One of the requirements to be selected was U.S. citizenship. Technically, the French-born L'Enfant was not a U.S. citizen.

It will be interesting to see which two Washingtonians actually end up in the Hall, and even more interesting to see (in the event that one of them is L'Enfant), what he looks like, since as far as we know, and if I recall correctly, there's some controversy as to what he truly looked like.