Blake Gopnik at his best

We all know a few things about Blake Gopnik, the Washington Post's Chief Art Critic:

- He doesn't like painting.
- He especially doesn't like representational painting.
- He very, very rarely reviews his hometown's art galleries, and focuses his reviews on museums all over the nation, biennials, etc.
- Some of his fellow newspaper critics don't think much of him.

But the Anglocentric, Oxford-educated Gopnik is also sharply equipped to skewer, debone and consume his visual art victims when he wants to make a point, and is especially effective when he has a valid one.

And Blake Gopnik makes a very valid point in "The Overripe Fruit of John Alexander's Labors," his current review of the John Alexander retrospective at the Smithsonian American Art Museum (the show will then go on to the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston - remember that).

After decimating Alexander's paintings during the first few lethal word descriptions of some of the work at the exhibition, and after re-channeling some often repeated Gopnikisms about painting and the tired "someone has already done this," or the "masters did it better," blah, blah, blah, Gopnik delivers a superbly clear message about one of the cornerstones of art throughout the ages: it's not just talent that gets ya there, it's also who you know! Gopnik executes the show when towards the end of the review, in discussing Alexander he writes:

I'd place him somewhere up there among the 5,000 or so best artists in the country. Which is more than enough to justify his continuing to paint and collectors' continuing to buy him. What I don't understand is why our national art museum, with such limited exhibition slots and an already iffy reputation for its contemporary programming, would want to highlight such a secondary figure. Alexander has barely had a significant museum show since the early 1980s, when his good friend Jane Livingston first displayed him at the Corcoran, where she was a talented chief curator. Livingston, now working freelance, also organized this show; her boss at the Corcoran, and again for the current survey, was Peter Marzio, now director of the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston.

By curating Alexander into our national museum, Livingston is billing him as one of our next Gilbert Stuarts, Edward Hoppers, Jackson Pollocks or Jenny Holzers. That's more than his modest talent can bear.

Bravo Mr. Gopnik!

Read the whole review here.

Gail Enns Favorite Artwork

California's Anton Gallery's owner and director Gail Enns responds to my call for readers' favorite artwork and she writes

I'll tell you that aside from the new work by Tony Sheeder, I love the work by Brazilian artist, Walter Goldfarb, now on view at MOLAA (Museum of Latin American Art) in Long Beach, CA. Title of the show is D + Lirium and it goes through May 18, 2008. Hope you get to see it.

Merry Xmas

Merry Christmas!


The Giving Season, by David FeBland, Oil on Canvas, 2007

What about art?

This article by the Washington Post's ombudsman Deborah Howell exemplifies the sort of stuff that drives me batty about the Washington Post's coverage of the visual arts.

While one one hand they claim that they deliver fair and appropriate coverage, and while new editors all promise to look into the complaints about lack of appropriate coverage, and while they also promise to expand it, the truth is that it continues to shrink while the WaPo tells us that if we "don't get it, we don't get it..."

Ms. Howell writes an interesting article titled "The Critics Have Their Critics," and it goes along like this:

Who decides whether a play, concert or dance performance gets reviewed in The Post and whether the review is favorable? Readers complain about the absence of a review, an unfavorable one, or a review they think is given insufficient length or prominence.

Post Arts Editor John Pancake says the chief critics, all based in Style, decide what to review and who will review it -- a staff writer or a freelancer. A critic's job is to be, well, critical. While culturally sophisticated people can disagree, the critics' decisions to review and the review itself are The Post's guide to readers in the performing arts. The critics also write news and feature stories.

She then goes on to quote, discuss and explain away the theatre, dance, classical music, and pop music.

Two questions:

What about art?

What about Blake Gopnik, Michael O'Sullivan (not based in Style, but nonetheless a Washington Post art critic) and freelancer Jessica Dawson?

The Post already has the most minimalist of arts coverage of any major newspaper in the US, and its Chief Art Critic is the only one that I know of who is allowed not to report on his city's art galleries, a job and task that he had in his previous art critic assignment for a Canadian newspaper.

Maybe Ms. Howell will soon be doing a separate article discussing the spectacular apathy that the Post exhibits towards its city's art galleries and artists.

Yeah...

Second question: My good friend John Pancake says "the chief critics, all based in Style, decide what to review and who will review it -- a staff writer or a freelancer."

This is interesting news to me, as it reflects a change in how gallery reviews were done in the past, where Jessica Dawson pretty much had a free hand on what she chose to review and who and what gallery she chose to ignore. Apparently, according to Pancake anyway, now Blake Gopnik tells Dawson what her assignment is...

Interesting uh?

Just like you were there...

Of all the Miami reports that I've seen so far, Joanne Mattera's is by far the best.

Read her report and see her images from her extensive coverage of the artistic orgasm that was Miami earlier this month here.

Elyse Harrison's Favorite Artwork

Elyse Harrison is the hardworking and talented gallery owner and director of Bethesda's Neptune Gallery, and she responds to my request for readers' favorite artworks. Elyse writes

Joan Miro's "The Farm" has been an important painting in my life. "The Farm" predates Miro's shift into higher abstraction yet contains numerous examples which interpret everyday objects as exquisite abstract compositions. I really enjoy the simultaneous views of exterior and interior spaces and the skill of his brush work. The palette is beautiful, extremely well balanced. I can gaze into this piece deeply, meeting the magic of Joan Miro over and over again. This work has made me want to be an artist.

"The Farm" by Joan Miro (Catalan, 1893 - 1983)

Chelsea Gallery Crawl

More on Amy Lin

The Amy Lin avalanche continues; not only has her commercial solo gallery debut has received heaps of critical press coverage, and sold well, but as several of you pointed out to me, it was covered by the rare television coverage as well.

Check out Amy Lin’s work on Maryland Public Television’s program “Artworks This Week” in the “Salon Highlight.” The show will broadcast again on Saturday, December 22 at 8:30am .

The Amy Lin show at Heineman-Myers in Bethesda closes this Sunday. Hurry!

Laura Roulet's Fave Artwork

Laura Roulet is an art historian and a terrific independent curator and writer, and she responds to my request for readers' favorite artworks. Laura writes:

Asking an art historian for her favorite art work is like asking a mother to choose her favorite child. Impossible!

But here are three Washington DC masterpieces that I love to revisit, always finding more to see and ponder: Leonardo da Vinci, Ginervra de Benci (the only da Vinci painting in the Americas) in the National Gallery of Art, Jackson Pollock, Number 1, 1950 (Lavender Mist), also the NGA and Maya Lin, the Vietnam Veterans' Memorial.

Ginevra de' Benci, c. 1474-1478, Leonardo da Vinci


Number 1, 1950 (Lavender Mist), 1950 by Jackson Pollock (American, 1912 - 1956)

Jeffry Cudlin's Fave Artwork

Jeffry Cudlin is a talented painter, the hard-to-please award-winning art critic for the Washington City Paper, a fellow blogger, and the curator at the Arlington Arts Center and he responds to my request for readers' favorite artworks. Jeffry writes:

None of the that answers I come up with seem sufficient. Maybe Bonnard's The Open Window at the Phillips -- or, really, any Diebenkorn that's handy. Bonnard's sense of light and temperature, the way he leans on saturated colors and analogous/complementary harmonies instead of tonal contrast --very tasty. Diebenkorn's compositions and ways of massing in color are just perfect -- he only makes a handful of decisions in every piece, and they're all correct.

At the NGA: El Greco's Laocoon, or maybe a Chardin -- Soap Bubbles? I always liked thinking of that Mannerist strategy of modelling your figures in clay before you paint them. I don't know if that's what El Greco did here, but his bodies have that strangely compelling unreality -- like lumpy, lighted figurines in a diorama. Chardin's just exquisite, period.

Wait, wait, maybe I want a Cezanne from the NGA instead -- I'll take either House in Provence or Chateau Noir.

And for purely sentimental reasons, a creepy painting from the Hirshhorn: The Golden Days, by Balthus. Wait, wait; maybe that painting of Leigh Bowery by Freud instead. Or those two studies for a portrait of Van Gogh by Bacon. None of those have anything to do with what I like about painting now, but when I first saw them, many years ago as an art undergrad, they made quite an impact on me.

Well, there you have it: ten paintings I can't really decide between, for wildly divergent and/or irrational reasons.

Laocoön, early 1610s, El Greco (Domenikos Theotokopoulos) (Greek-Spanish, 1541–1614)


The Open Window, 1921, Pierre Bonnard (French, 1867-1947)

Save the Date



As it has been widely announced, the Washington Project for the Arts (WPA) is returning to its roots and is separating from the Corcoran Gallery of Art as of December 31.

Another date to save is the 2008 WPA Art Auction Gala, which will take place on Friday, March 7, 7:00 pm – midnight at the Katzen Arts Center of American University.

The WPA Art Auctions are easily one of the DC region's top art nights with eclectic and interesting events that offers 150 works of new and established artistic talent , and more than 500 artists, collectors, patrons, business leaders and contemporaries for a night of fun and fundraising, and each year they sell out!

They are currently looking for advanced patrons; to get the Advance Patron Registration Form with options for participation, visit the WPA website or call them at 202/639-1828.

Kristian Kozul at Goff + Rosenthal Gallery in Chelsea

Read this!

If you are a painter who routinely gets brow-beaten by critics, writers and artists telling you that "painting is dead," then please read this.

The LA Times erudite art critic Christopher Knight nails the final nail in the coffin burying the "painting is dead" crowd, a couple of which seem to write for several mid Atlantic newspapers.

"Lingering animus toward painting is so end-of-the-20th century. Painting hasn't been the black sheep of the art family for a couple of decades now, except in academic backwaters of provincial thought."

Dios Mio!

Leigh Conner's Fave Artwork

Leigh Conner is the hardworking owner and Director of DC's Conner Contemporary Art and she responds to my request for readers' favorite artworks. Leigh writes:

My favorite artwork in a public collection – that is currently on view – is Mary Coble’s “Note to Self” at the Hirshhorn. If that were not on view …. Gerard David’s "Rest on the Flight to Egypt” would be the pick at the NGA or, close second, the Dan Flavin works in the East Wing.

Mary Coble, Note to Self


Mary Coble, Note to Self


The Rest on the Flight into Egypt, c. 1510 by Gerard David, Netherlandish, c. 1460 - 1523

Lisa Egeli's Fave Artwork

Lisa Egeli is a gifted Maryland painter and she responds to my request for readers' favorite artworks. Egeli writes:

It's a tie between Rosa Bonheur's "The Horse Fair" and Frederic Church's "Niagara" -- power, beauty, and energy both sublime and overwhelming.

The Horse Fair, 1853–55 by Rosa Bonheur (French, 1822–1899)


Niagara, 1857 by Frederic Edwin Church (American, 1826 -1900)

Bailey's Fave Artwork

James W. Bailey is the rabblerousing mad blogger at Black Cat Bone as well as a talented DC area photographer and he responds to my request for readers' favorite artworks. Bailey writes:

The one work of art that I have found myself mysteriously drawn to over the years is the bronze sculpture of a woman knocking at the door of the former crypt of one of the most famous madames of New Orleans, Josie Arlington.

This beautiful and haunting sculpture has become even more important to me since the tragic events of Katrina. I see the hope of resurrection for my beloved New Orleans when I visit the site of this moving work of art, a hope that is tempered by the bitter unimaginable realities of death and decay that have enveloped New Orleans since Katrina. None of us from New Orleans knows what is to be found on the other side of the door to our future, a door that we continue to struggle to push open. The Woman at the Tomb calmly approaches the door to her fate. She provides inspiration for me to do the same.

From Haunted New Orleans by Troy Taylor:

One of the city’s most fascinating tales comes from this graveyard and involves the ghost of Mrs. Josie Deubler, also known as Josie Arlington, the most colorful and infamous madam of New Orleans.

From 1897 to 1917, New Orleans was the site of America’s largest district of prostitution. The city officials always realized they could not get rid of prostitution, so they decided to segregate it instead. Based on a plan created by an alderman named Sidney Story a district was created which would control and license the prostitutes. Much to the alderman’s chagrin, it was dubbed “Storyville” in his honor.

It was here where Josie Arlington operated her house of ill repute and became very rich. The house was known as the finest bordello in the district, stocked with beautiful women; fine liquor; wonderful food; and exotic drugs. The women were all dressed in expensive French lingerie and entertained the cream of New Orleans society. Many of the men who came to Josie’s were politicians, judges, lawyers, bankers, doctors and even city officials. She had the friendship of some of the most influential men in the city, but was denied the one thing she really wanted... social acceptance.

She was shunned by the families of the city and even publicly ignored by the men she knew so well. Her money and charm meant nothing to the society circles of the city. But what Josie could not have in life, she would have in death. She got her revenge on the society snobs by electing to be buried in the most fashionable cemetery in New Orleans... Metairie Cemetery.

She purchased a plot on a small hill and had erected a red marble tomb, topped by two blazing pillars. On the steps of the tomb was placed a bronze statue which ascended the staircase with a bouquet of roses in the crook of her arm. The tomb was an amazing piece of funerary art, designed by an eminent architect named Albert Weiblen, and cost Josie a small fortune. Although from the scandal it created, it was well worth it in her eyes.

Tongues wagged all over the city and people, mostly women, complained that Josie should not be allowed to be buried in Metairie. But New Orleans is a city normally lacking of discrimination and nothing was ever said to her about it.

No sooner had the tomb been finished in 1911, than a strange story began making the rounds. Some curiosity-seekers had gone out to see the tomb and upon their arrival one evening, were greeted with a sight that sent them running. The tomb seemed to burst into flames before their very eyes! The smooth red marble shimmered with fire, and the tendrils of flame appeared to snake over the surface like shiny phantoms. The word quickly spread and people came in droves to witness the bizarre sight. The cemetery was overrun with people every evening which shocked the cemetery caretakers and the families of those buried on the grounds. Scandal followed Josie even to her death.

Josie passed away in 1914 and was interred in the “flaming tomb”, as it was often referred to. Soon, an alarming number of sightseers began to report another weird event, in addition to the glowing tomb. Many swore they had actually seen the statue on the front steps move. Even two of the cemetery gravediggers, a Mr. Todkins and a Mr. Anthony, swore they had witnessed the statue leaving her post and moving around the tombs. They claimed to follow her one night, only to see her suddenly disappear.

The tradition of the flaming tomb has been kept alive for many years, although most claim the phenomena was created by a nearby streetlight which would sway in the wind.

Regardless, no one has ever been able to provide an explanation for the eyewitness accounts of the “living” statue.

Perhaps Josie was never accepted in life... but she is certainly still on the minds of many in New Orleans long after her death!

A history of Josie Arlington’s famous bordello, The Arlington, can be read online here.

“Woman at the Tomb” by The Right Reverend James W. Bailey - Photographed at Metairie Cemetery in New Orleans

Borf's Dad?

Seen yesterday at W.34th and 9th Avenue in NYC:



Seen in DC everywhere a while back:

Kim Ward's Fave Artwork

Kim Ward is the hardworking Executive Director of DC's amazing Washington Project for the Arts and she responds to my request for readers' favorite artworks. Kim writes:

I have many local favorites, but if asked to pick one --- I am a huge fan of Louise Bourgeois' Spider in the NGA Sculpture Garden for several reasons; viewing it is free, it is a fabulous piece that you can see from many vantage points, it is appropriate in scale and placement---appearing as though some gigantic spider has crawled across the mall, yet mostly because it looks like it is advancing on the Archives building and will be walking across the street at any moment.

Louise Bourgeois - Spider, 1996, cast 1997
National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC
Gift of The Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation

Ashley Peel Pinkham's Fave Artwork

Ashley Peel Pinkham is the Asst. Director at Philly's acclaimed Print Center and she responds to my request for readers' favorite artworks. Ashley writes:

My pick would be Philadelphia artist Matthew Suib’s video Heston, 2004, from his solo exhibition, ReVisionist Cinema/Triple Feature that was on view at the Philadelphia Art Alliance from May 18 to August 8, 2004. Suib spliced video from the Hollywood Bible epic The Ten Commandments and created an awkwardly non-verbal, anti-climatic video of Moses parting the Red Sea. It kept you on the edge of your seat waiting for something to happen in some kind of oddly looped dimension.

Here’s the official blurb on the piece with installation image:

Heston, Matthew Suib, 2004 (from the ReVisionist Cinema series) Color video w/ Dolby Digital 5.1 surround audio on DVD for projection Running time: 11:00

Comprised of silent, interstitial moments from Demille’s The Ten Commandments (1956)--extended through subtle looping and matting--Heston critiques Judeo-Christian mythology’s claim of divine origin/inspiration. Building on concepts from Thomas Paine’s infamous 1794 tract The Age of Reason: Being an Investigation of Both True and Fabulous Theology, both “the words” and “The Word” have been excised from Demille’s epic, stranding American icon Charleston Heston (Moses) amidst the grandiose artifice of theology and Hollywood splendor. The awkward tension of these altered scenes makes mockery of the inherent profanity of theological portrayals and the conceit of the self-righteous.

Installation view of Matthew Suib’s exhibition ReVisionist Cinema/Triple Feature

Major International Fine Arts Glass Show Coming to DC in 2008

You saw it here first... and it needs a little background first...

First and foremost: There's an important International Fine Arts Glass Show coming to the DMV. This event's start is a bit complex, so pay attention!

The British sister city to Washington, DC is Sunderland.

Why Sunderland and not London? After all, most other sister cities to DC are the capitals of other countries - but Sunderland is George Washington's ancestral hometown, so that's why!

Sunderland is also where the United Kingdom has their National Glass Centre and, by the way, glass has been made in Sunderland for around 1,500 years.

George Koch is one of the District's true art icons: he's a talented painter, the founder of A. Salon, Ltd., a board member of the Cultural Development Corporation, a founding board member of the Cultural Alliance of Greater Washington, a Commissioner of the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, board member of Hamiltonian Artists, and the Board Chair of Artomatic.

They don't get much bigger, influential, or harder working for the District's artists and arts organizations than George Koch.

And George has been working very hard to get the British to bring the United Kingdom's premier glass artists to an exhibition in the US, while at the same time bring some attention to the many and talented glass artists working around the Greater DC region.

So Koch has been orchestrating the process to bring the Brits to DC in a major show, somehow tie it to the Artomatic organization, use it to showcase Washington area glass artists, and also tie the whole effort into a nascent Toledo, Ohio Artomatic-type organization.

If you paid attention in art school, then you know that Toledo, Ohio is also historically one of the glass centers of the colonies, and an important placeholder in art history.

In 1962, Harvey Littleton, Professor of Art at the University of Wisconsin, (and DC gallerist Maurine Littleton's father) and Dominick Labino (a glass scientist with the Johns-Manville Fiber Glass Corporation), presented a glass workshop in conjunction with the Toledo Museum of Art.

These men are recognized internationally as the "fathers" of the American Studio Glass Movement and certainly the first two to take the seminal steps to bring glass from the high end crafts to the fine arts world.

Convinced that it was finally possible for an individual artist to undertake glass art by working entirely alone - as compared to being part of a glass factory, Littleton and Labino provided information on furnace construction, glass formulas, tools, techniques, etc. They sowed the seeds that eventually sprouted thousands of individual kilns, furnaces and glass studios and schools around the United States and the world.

The Toledo workshop was the beginning of the American Studio Glass Movement. Since then, American glass artists are acknowledged worldwide as the undisputed leaders in creativity and originality and the continuing battle to bring glass to the fine arts dialogue.

The final key player in this showcase of three glass centers is the Washington Glass School, bringing to the show about 15 area glass artists who are instructors of the now nation wide famous content-driven art glass facility.

Bottom line: a historic event is about to take place in Washington, DC. Three educational leaders in today's Contemporary Art Glass movement are joining forces to present a representative survey of the exciting artists and techniques surfacing at these three facilities. Two of these institutions, the Toledo Glass Pavilion and Sunderland Glass School represent hundreds of years of a rich glass-making tradition while the Washington Glass School has emerged as a new and vibrant player on this field.

The show will take place at Georgetown Park Mall in Washington, DC from February 21, 2008 to March 16th, 2008 and this "International Glass Invitational" will be presented as a partnership with Art-O-Matic, the Sister City Program, etc. The opening date is set to coincide with the birthday of George Washington.

Mark your calendars for this one.