Mayor's Arts Awards

I'm all hitzed that I couldn't go to the Mayor's Arts Awards last night, but I got a report from someone who did go:

The opening performance was OTT!

Titled "The Drum Unites Us," a West African Dance Company started it going - then the percussion sounds were joined by the steel drum band, the African dancers moved aside as Korean Dance Company danced to the continuing beat, who then stepped aside as Irish Steppers took center stage, who then moved aside for the Balinese Universe dance studio, who moved aside for the Turkish Silk Road Dance Company, who stepped aside for the BeatYa Feet dances, then the City at Peace dancers (both onstage and in the audience aisles) and then the breakdancers and rappers also took stage. A constant building of more and more - all to the drum beat.

Nice jazz performances; The rest was all good - the reception was the Watergate, where one of the Commissioners decried "the lack of pull for the visual artists in DC."

Sounds like a great time and maybe it will motivate all you unmotivated nebish folks to attend next year!

DCist superwoman Heather Goss has a great report and pics here. She also has the damn best review line of the year so far (describing the multi-ethnic dancing: "It was It's A Small World on the best kind of crack, providing an energetic start to the evening."

New Drawings

I've always been fascinated by the New Testament story of The Christ in Gethsemane, and His passion amongst the olives, and His doubt and fear.

That theme has been explored by me through many drawings over the years. Below are three very minimalist intepretations from 2009. There are all very small... about 3 inches wide by six or seven inches tall.

The Christ in Gethsemane, charcoal on paper. Circa 2009
By F. Lennox Campello


The Christ in Gethsemane II, charcoal on paper. Circa 2009
By F. Lennox Campello


The Christ in Gethsemane III, charcoal on paper. Circa 2009
By F. Lennox Campello

At the next art fair cycles in New York, I plan to have a wall full of these tiny drawings... most of them are under a few inches in size (framed). I think that it would be interesting to see 30-40 tiny drawings all crammed in one wall.

I also need to find a gallery interested in showing this small (and more affordable) work, rather than my usual, larger sized, "normal" work.

Wanna go to a DC opening this Friday?

Christian Platt, Paintings, has an Opening Reception Friday, March 27, 6-8:30 pm at Susan Calloway Fine Arts

"Young and new to the art world, Christian Platt focuses on large-scale oil landscapes, often inspired by his time as a wrangler in the Montana and Wyoming wilderness and the countryside surrounding his Virginia home, as well as large-scale still lifes."

Images here.

VFMA acquires new Cecilia Beaux

The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts board of trustees have approved the acquisition of an 1888 oil on canvas portrait by American artist Cecilia Beaux, who was hailed at the turn of the 20th century as the “best woman painter in history.”

She is certainly one of my favorite painters, period.

The painting by Beaux (1855-1942) is a portrait of her fellow Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts alumni Alexander Harrison and measures 26 by 19-3/4 inches. An important transitional work, the portrait dates from Beaux’s formative period of study in Concarneau, an artist’s colony in Brittany, where she first began to lighten her palette and to paint outdoors.

According to Dr. Sylvia Yount, VMFA’s Louise B. and J. Harwood Cochrane Curator of American Art and an expert on Beaux’s work, the Philadelphia native was an internationally acclaimed figure painter and portraitist “who also happened to be the most successful woman artist working in turn-of-the-century America.”

Curators and dealers

As used as we all are to hear the whine from the negative perspective of the art dealer and museum curator symbiotic relationship, it is very refreshing to hear an excellent opinion married to a couple of good examples, but discussing when curators rely on art dealers and then give them zip credit.

Read Regina Hackett here.

Mel Chin lecture at Arlington Arts Center

On Tuesday, March 24 at 7pm the place to be in the Greater DC area is the Arlington Arts Center, which is "honored to welcome internationally-recognized artist Mel Chin to the Arlington Arts Center on Tuesday, March 24. Mr. Chin, whose work is socially and ecologically conscious, will be presenting a free lecture about his current public art project, Operation Paydirt."

The lecture will begin at 7pm.

To ensure adequate seating, please let them know if you will attend by calling 703.248.6800 or emailing information@arlingtonartscenter.org.

Is it me?, or has the Arlington Arts Center made giant strides forward since Claire Huschle took over as Executive Director and Jeffry Cudlin as Curator? You bet they have.

Wanna have a boatload of fun in DC tonight?

Join Mayor Fenty as award recipients are selected from among the finalists and announced live from the stage at the Mayor’s Arts Awards Ceremony tonight Monday, March 23, 2009 at 6:00 PM at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in the Concert Hall.

Admission is free and having been to many of them, it is a boatload of fun, with great live music and entertainment and loads of good food and drinks.

This is a huge event, and every year that I've been to them, I always look around and say to myself, as I see hundreds and hundreds of people in the audience having fun: "where are the usual suspects from the DC visual art world?"

Go for me this year and have fun!

Rousseau on Fiber

My good friend Dr. Claudia Rousseau reviews "BookEnds: The Book as Art" at Pyramid Atlantic in Silver Spring and "A Tribute to Fiber Art" in the Art Gallery at the BlackRock Center in Germantown. Read her Gazette review here.

AIPAD

The Association of International Photography Art Dealers (AIPAD) hosts the world's largest exposition of vintage and contemporary photography and is celebrating 29 years as the world's premiere exposition devoted to fine art photography. It all takes place in NYC March 26 – 29, 2009 at the Park Avenue Armory.

During the month of March artline® is featuring these dealers and selections from their inventories on the artline homepage. Preview hundreds of photographs - all clicking from this link... click on any highlighted name and scroll left to right.

Nudashank Grand Opening in Baltimore

Nudashank is the new independent, artist-run gallery space in Baltimore, Maryland.

Their first exhibition, Wise Guise, is a colossal group show featuring 23 young and emerging artists. Representing a diverse selection of work, ranging from the figurative to the abstract, Wise Guise presents a cross-section of visual themes from contemporary counter-culture. The works in the show include paintings, works on paper, screenprints and zines.

Exhibiting artists are: 6 Baltimore-based artists: Xavier Schipani, Mark Brown, D’Metrius Rice, Walter Carpenter, Noel Freibert, and Molly Colleen O’Connell. Three European artists: Arnaud Loumeau, Thomas Bernard and Miruki Tusko.

And 14 artists from throughout the US: Jason Redwood, Bonner Sale, Jon Clary, Reuben Breslar, Drew Beckmeyer, Edie Fake, Jordan Bernier, Caitlin Cunningham, Emily Nachison, Edward Max Fendley, Matt Lock, Chris Warthen, Andrew St. Lawrence and Kevin Hayden.

The opening is March 27th, with a reception from 7 pm – 9pm and an after-party in the adjacent Whole Gallery. Wise Guise will be on view through April 25th. The 1000 square foot gallery is located at 405 West Franklin Street, on the third floor of the H&H building in downtown Baltimore, which already houses the Whole Gallery, Gallery Four, and Floristree.

Call to Artists: In the Spirit of Frida Kahlo

Deadline: June 6, 2009

Frida Kahlo remains one of the most influential artists of the 20th century, but her spectacular life experiences, her writing and her views on life and art have also influenced many artists throughout the years.

From July 1 - August 29, 2009 The Joan Hisaoka Healing Arts Gallery at Smith Farm Center in Washington, DC will be hosting Finding Beauty In A Broken World: In the Spirit of Frida Kahlo.

This exhibition hopes to showcase the work in all mediums of artists influenced not only by Kahlo’s art, but also by her biography, her thoughts, and her writing or any other aspect in the life and presence of this remarkable artist who can be interpreted through artwork.

This will be the third Kahlo show that I have juried in the last decade and we are seeking works of art that evoke the prolific range of expression, style and media like that which Frida Kahlo used as an outlet for her life’s experiences.

Get a copy of the prospectus by calling (202) 483-8600 or email gallery@smithfarm.com or download it here.

Opportunity for Artists

As many of you know, my good friend Jesse Cohen and artdc.org has started a new gallery in Hyattsville, MD. The space is about 500 square feet, and has movable walls.

They are going to do their first 12x12 show in May to coincide with the Hyattsville Arts Festival.

Artists can buy a spot for $12, and they hang your art. The way that it works is that a limited number of artists can now pre-register first come first serve; register now or at the day of the hanging, but first come, first served.

Either way, you can register now, or they'll see you at the door for the remaining spaces. It's their goal to hang at least 120 works of art.

The limitations: each work has to be 12"x12" and weight under 10 pounds, and they have a wire on the back suitable to be hung on a hook. Make your work professionally presentable.

To pre-register, check it out here.

All details are listed at the link above. Dates, location, and more. For now, they are going to limit pre-registration to 50 slots and I am told that registrations are coming in already.

Race in America at Widener University

Modern science tells us that the DNA of any two humans is 99.97 percent identical. And starting today the Division of Student Affairs at Widener University in Chester, Pennsylvania explores race in American society through a very interesting interactive exhibit.

The exhibit features informational tools to learn more about biological race and human variation, online activities, documentaries that confront race perceptions and racism, and the very cool Human Race Machine.

The Human Race Machine is an interactive tool that permits users to explore their own racial identity through images of themselves as other races. As one user expressed, "It's weird to see myself as Asian or Black. How would I think of myself differently and how would others see me?"

I'd like to think of the machine as a sort of machinated Linda Hesh.

The exhibit will be open for exploration and inquiry during the hours of 11:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. Monday-Friday, March 23-27 and housed in the Lower Level Lounge of University Center.

Art Auction

There are some great works of art at some very low starting bids at the Habatat for Healing Auction to raise funds for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

It all starts April 1st at 12:00 p.m. and runs through April 7th at 5:00 p.m. but you can view the artwork and start bidding now. Details here.

You can bid on my donation (see below) here.

Woman Jumping into the Void. Charcoal on Paper. 11x14 inches framed.
F. Lennox Campello, c. 2009.

Congrats!

To my good friend Mark Jenkins, DC's own Tapedude, whose solo show opens in New York's Stricola Contemporary today with a solo show titled The Golden Ass.

From the press release:

Documentary photographs of characters, such as The Golden Ass, are extracted from their usual street environment, then montaged with found and altered landscapes. Jenkins sources his background environments from Google, which are then layered to create landscape ‘mashups’. In re-contextualizing his characters and their environments, Jenkins creates 2 dimensional versions of the absurdist visions dramatized in his street work. By sampling and remixing his own work in this way, Jenkins moves from street illusionist to story teller. At the same time, he extends the themes first seen in his 2006 Embed Series, merging his packing tape world and other hybridized figures into a physical-mythological composite.

The Golden Ass, a figure from Lucius Apuleius’ ancient Roman novel of the same name, is one of Jenkins’ reoccurring characters. The book relates the adventures of Lucius, a virile young man whose obsession with magic gets him transformed into an ass. Originally Jenkins’ Golden Ass statue appeared on a street in Barcelona, populated by tourists and living Statues, or people who pretend to be statues in hopes of earning a few euros. The irony of having a real statue competing for tips with false statues becomes completely absurd as pedestrians gather to ogle the Ass (The Golden Ass, Embed Series video, 2009).

This character now appears in Jenkins’ collages, silently watching as giant women perform felatio on a rainbow (Under the Rainblow, 2009). In the ancient novel and in Jenkins’ work, the Ass, like the Artist, stands as witness and commentator to humanities strange machinations.

Jenkins has shown on the streets and in the galleries of Tokyo, London, Sao Paulo, Los Angeles and his native city, Washington DC. His works have been featured in the book Hidden Track: How Visual Culture Is Going Places, Juxtapoz Magazine, and many other publications.

Congrats!

To the Maryland Art Place (MAP), which was recently recognized by the Baltimore City Paper as “Baltimore’s Best Art Gallery” of 2008.

Art of Glass II

Ten years ago, the major arts institutions of the Greater Hampton Roads area in Virginia joined together to put together of the most successful examples of region-wide art partnership events: The Art of Glass.

Across Norfolk and the Greater Tidewater area, through the Art of Glass, they proved that art has the power to be a transcendent force.

In April 2009, the Chrysler Museum of Art, the Contemporary Art Center of Virginia and the Virginia Arts Festival, as well as many of the Norfolk-area art galleries, will once again collaborate to create a landmark event for Hampton Roads: Art of Glass 2.

Anchored by The Art of Glass II, the Chrysler Museum of Art will have Lino Tagliapietra in Retrospect: A Modern Renaissance in Italian Glass. Held at the Chrysler Museum of Art. This is the first exhibition to thoroughly examine the career and art of Lino Tagliapietra. The exhibition presents 155 works from Tagliapietra’s 40-year career, including pivotal works from the artist’s own collection and collections around the world as well as designs made for industry and objects that have never before been exhibited.

The Chrysler Museum will also have Contemporary Glass Among the Classics, which features glass installations from four contemporary artists: Katherine Gray, Stephen Knapp, Karen LaMonte, and Beth Lipman. Focusing on each artist’s approach to the versatile material of glass, this exhibition will present new works inspired by the Chrysler’s collection. Gray, LaMonte, and Lipman’s works will be featured throughout various galleries alongside objects from the Museum’s collection.

The Contenporary Art Center of Virginia has a wide host of events and exhibitions lined up with Hank Murta Adams, Dante Marioni, and others; see them all here.

Several key DC area artists will be involved in the festivities as Mayer Fine Arts hosts Dialogues in Glass with the usual powerhouse names from the DC area. Click on below image for more details.

Thomas on Huddy

The WaPo's Holly E. Thomas writes about The Torpedo Factory and Margaret Huddy.

Elise Campello reviewed again!

"Showing great range as an actor, Campello goes from sexy and brash to tender and vulnerable in the bat of an eye.

She sets the tone for Ariel when, once out of her parent’s sight, she slips out of her modest clothes to reveal tight shorts and an exposed midriff and she then vamps wildly to 'The Girl Gets Around.'"

Read the News Tribune review here.

Is it just me?

Maybe it is just me.

But doesn't the new McDonald's singing fish commercial look, feel and sound like the work of former DC area artist (and now in Los Angeles I think) Thomas Edwards's 2004 Artomatic entry "School of Fish Pain" which was subsequently exhibited at Fraser Gallery's 2005 show?

See Edwards' video of School of Fish Pain here. What Edwards did was to reprogram a whole set of Billy Bass talking fish to complain about being eaten and assorted other things.

Edwards is a superb technological artist; I think that MickeyDees needs to get in touch with him soon. See McD's fish commercial below. What McD's has done is to reprogram a Billy Bass talking fish to complain about being eaten.