“Birds in the Park” coming to DC

“Birds in the Park” is a touring public project, which involves the one-day installation of thirty to sixty porcelain birdlike forms on the ground.

Central Park, New York
At first, people usually take them for oddly still pigeons. They are, in a sense, carrier pigeons, as the forms carry images, text, and other documents, which have been printed with cobalt blue and fired into the surface. The message they bear is an exploration of the beautiful and the horrible side by side. The creator, artist Christy Heng explains:

Originating with the shock and dismay I felt as the US government began the war with Iraq, and expanding to consider the phenomenon of war in general, the questions posed by the birds are about the humanness of us all. How we are connected, and also the unthinkable ways in which that bond is disregarded.

More specifically, I’m layering, and in some cases placing side by side, silk-screened images of children playing, love letters, poetry, recipes and prose… with silk-screened newspaper articles and photographs of the lead-up to and beginning of the current Iraq war, as well as other war-related documents, that tend to bring up the question, How can people do that to each other?! Among other things, I'm looking at how the initiation of a war is “sold” to regular people. Also, how discussions about the cold facts of war, weapons capabilities etc. can become detached from the human reality on the other end, creeping into everyday life as something normal, like birds in the park.

This work draws on years of experimentation with silk-screen printing onto clay. I create the silk screens from photographs and documents, and use them to apply the image and text onto wet porcelain. While the clay is still flexible, I form the birds -- each one is different -- and eventually fire them at a very high temperature.

The forms themselves are about a foot and a half each in length. Low to the ground, some are involved in their own search, while many appear to be in conversation with each other.

Although they are made from porcelain, the pieces are actually quite sturdy. They are positioned in such a way that people can wander among them, taking time to look and read.

I set them up in the morning and take them down at night. It’s out of the blue and somewhat fleeting, the better to catch the unsuspecting passerby’s curiosity. An important part of the project is the actual interaction with people, and I as the artist am always present during an installation, to answer questions, listen and converse.

The project began in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where in the spring of 2009 the birds landed in about thirty locations; places like the farmer's market, City Hall, various parks, cafes and libraries. Later, the birds began to fly farther afield, landing along the coast of California, in Central Park, NY, in a sculpture garden in New Orleans, at a University Plaza in Germany, in front of Chartres Cathedral in France, and even migrating so far as the Galapagos islands.

New birds continue to be born, often in response to the places that the birds have been or will be visiting. In addition to personal photography and images and text borrowed from public media, I am collaborating with writer and Vietnam War veteran Tim Origer, English poet Henry Shukman, Venezuelan photographer Maria de Las Casas, and my father Werner Hengst for some of the material that appears on the birds. One landing scheduled for July, 2010 is in Peenemünde, Germany, the site of the V-1 and V-2 rocket development during WWII; my grandfather was working there as a scientist then, and photographs of the lab town before and after its bombing, as well as quotes from Germans during that time, are making their way into some of the silkscreened images on the birds now.

The flight pattern continues to develop, and the project is expected to continue through fall 2010.

Now the birds are coming to DC! the schedule is:
Thursday, March 18th, on the center of the Mall at 9th street.
Friday, March 19th, Dupont Circle.
Sunday, March 21st, Upper Senate Park, by the Capitol.

Besthoff Sculpture Garden, New Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans, Louisiana
For pictures and location information, visit her website here. Past updates about the birds' travels can be found at www.birdsinthepark.blogspot.com.

Wanna go to a Georgetown opening tonite?

"Kinetics" is the latest solo show by the DC area's superbly talented artist Amy Lin. Seldom has an artist received the critical accolades and collector support that Lin has in the past.

The opening reception is tonite, Saturday, March 13, 5-7pm at Addison/Ripley Fine Art, 1670 Wisconsin Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20007. The exhibition dates: March 13-April 24, 2010.

See ya there!

Wanna go to an opening tonite in Bethesda?

Head out to Gallery Neptune, where works by Freya Grand are hanging and the gallery has a reception for the artist tonite, Saturday, March 13th, starting at 7 PM.

Kennicott on New Brow art exhibit 'G40: The Summit'

WaPo staff writer Philip Kennicott, who is not a visual arts critic, reviews 'G40: The Summit' in Crystal City.

He writes:

Critics generally organize their lives to avoid mediocrity, in part because there is so much of it, but mainly because it forces them to write with a negativity that alienates readers.

What am I missing here then?

It is clear that Kennicott, who doesn't generally write about the visual arts, finds the work in G40 mediocre, and perhaps even the concept or idea of "underground art" itself is mediocre?

And yet, it seems like he went out of his way to organize his life to take a specific negative aim at this show, in direct contradiction to the above quote.

And I don't really have a problem with that. My issue here is that Style editor after Style editor in the revolving Style editor door that has been the WaPo in the last few years, has told me that the reason that there isn't more visual arts coverage in the WaPo is due mostly to lack of newsprint space.

And I have this friend at the WaPo who is an administrative assistant type person (a secretary), who recently told me about how the Style section and the Weekend section were being directed to coordinate coverage to avoid duplication of coverage of the same stories, shows, movies, exhibitions, etc.

And just yesterday Michael O'Sullivan reviewed the G40 show in the Weekend section.

Thus my issue.

Seem like Kennicott went out of his way, in direct contradiction to his own words, and in direct conflict with the WaPo's policy to avoid duplication of coverage, to write a negative review about a show and an art movement that he considers mediocre.

Why? What am I missing here?

And where's the Style editor telling him: "Sorry Phil, but the Weekend section already wrote about this show."

Unless Kennicott replied: "Sorry Scott Vogel (or whoever is his editor), but I really hate this kind of art and really want to explain why."

But then, I've also got this nagging feeling about how Kennicott is so out of touch with what this genre of art is all about, what it encompasses, how it has reached the megastars of his high brow art world (think Takashi Murakami), that he is looking at this show and this genre of art through opera glasses from the expensive seats, and with his nose somewhere in the upper stratosphere.

Sort of like the old guys from the old Salons looked at the refuses, and we know how that turned out.

On the other hand, a bad review is better than no review at all, and two reviews in a art-review-poor newspaper such as the WaPo is, is quite a score for G40. So, in a Warholian sense, Kennicott is helping out the cause that he is attempting to diminish.

Asi es la vida!

O'Sullivan on G40

The WaPo's art critic Michael O'Sullivan reviews "G40: The Summit"

Some 2,000 art works by more than 500 artists are on view in a partially empty office building in Crystal City.

And no, it isn't Artomatic. Next question.

How is it different from that regular, open-to-all art show? For one thing, "G40: The Summit" is curated. That means that, with the exception of a handful of installation artists, one man -- Shane Pomajambo of the Art Whino Gallery -- has handpicked each artist for the 75,000-square-foot exhibition. It takes up four floors and part of the lobby level. (The rest of the first floor is used for a stage and bar.)

Read it here.

I love this quote: "These days, almost nobody draws like Ben Tolman, whose intricate pen drawings -- at once classical and subversive -- are a stand-out here. Nobody, that is, except half the artists in the West Wing of the National Gallery of Art."

Ben Tolman is amazing... see his stuff here.

Dawson reviews

The WaPo's Jessica Dawson with two very cool reviews on Jason Horowitz at Curator's Office and Titouan Lamazou at Adamson.

Wanna go to a Georgetown Opening tomorrow?

"Kinetics" is the latest solo show by the DC area's superbly talented artist Amy Lin. Seldom has an artist received the critical accolades and collector support that Lin has in the past.

The opening reception is tomorrow, Saturday, March 13, 5-7pm at Addison/Ripley Fine Art, 1670 Wisconsin Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20007. The exhibition dates: March 13-April 24, 2010.

Buy Amy Lin now.

Opportunity for Artists

Out of Order is the Maryland Art Place's Annual free-hung Benefit Exhibition, Silent Auction and Party!

Hanging Dates and Times: Beginning 9am, Tuesday, April 6th, ending 9am, Wednesday, April 7th That’s right—24 hours nonstop!

Silent Auction and Gala: 8pm, Friday, April 9, 2010. Join them for a fantastic evening of great art, music, food, and an open beer & wine bar.

Participation: There is a $10 participation fee to hang artwork in Out of Order. As a participating artist, you will be given one complimentary ticket to the gala on April 9th. ($40 value!). Proceeds will be split 50/50 between the artist and MAP.

Tickets: Tickets are free for event volunteers and current MAP members. If you wish to attend the event, simply join or renew your MAP membership and receive two complimentary tickets ($80 value), in addition to a host of incredible incentives throughout the year! Or, to buy tickets online, visit: brownpapertickets.org.

For More Details: access their website: www.mdartplace.org or call 410-962-8565.

Details for artists here.

Alexa Meade’s Living Still Lifes

I stumbled upon Alexa Meade’s installations a few weeks ago and it’s still sticking with me. This 23 year-old DC area native is doing something in art that I have never seen before in delivering a skilled marriage of painting, video and interactive installations and all I can say is, WOW!

When you look at this picture, what do you see? (Hint: You are not looking at an ordinary painting.)


Alexa created this piece by body painting a live model as if he were an oil painting.

Further blurring the lines between reality and illusion, she projected a live video feed of her painted model into a picture frame on the wall. Gallery patrons interacted with both the painted man sitting in the chair and the living painting next to him on the wall.


You have to see more of her living still lifes/portraits to believe it; visit her website here.

On April 2nd, Alexa is taking the project all the way to Postmasters Gallery in New York City. Congrats!

Keep an eye on this young new talent!

Sparkplug Artist Collective Seeks New Members

Sparkplug, a collective of emerging artists and curators sponsored by DC Arts Center, is currently seeking new members interested in participating as curators or artists.

Currently composed of nine DC area artists and curators, the Sparkplug collective meets regularly to discuss their work, explore common concerns, grow their community and dream up creative engagements both in DC and around the world.

Through its support of Sparkplug, DC Arts Center provides meeting space, legal and technical resources and exhibition opportunities to emerging artists and curators without current gallery representation or institutional employ. Via a continuing dialogue encompassing the theoretical and the practical, the group’s members share experiences, perspectives, preoccupations, challenges, and topics informing their ongoing artistic practice.

New members chosen during the Spring of 2010 should be prepared to participate in an exhibition this June and remain active members of the group for the next two years.

Members are expected to attend monthly meetings and participate in studio visits. Applicants should be 21 years of age, live in the DC metropolitan area and not currently have gallery representation or institutional employ as curators or art writers. The deadline for applications is April 5, 2010. Invitations for formal interviews will be extended on or before April 19. 2010. F

Go to the DCAC website for more information about Sparkplug and to view the full call and application requirements.

Photographs at Fraser

"Flying the Potomac" by George Borden, Potomac, Maryland
The 9th Annual International Photography Competition, hosted by the Fraser Gallery in Bethesda is having its opening reception and awards ceremony this Friday March 12, 6pm – 9pm.

This is always one of the best photography shows of the year.

Wanna go to a DC opening this week?

Project 4 has THE FANTASTICAL. Work by Justin Gibbens, Julie Hughes, Mel Kadel, Jordan Kasey and Sophie Ruspoli. Opening reception: Saturday, March 13, 2010 - 6:30 - 8:30PM.

"Project 4 presents a group exhibition of works that express scenes, realities and spaces peculiarly situated away from our familiar, everyday visual experience. Artists participating in The Fantastical exhibition present works where, either by revealing idiosyncrasies of the artist’s mind or by altering commonplace appearances to create new perspectives, fantastical realms arise in conjunction with existing curiosities and tension.

While each of these artists takes inspiration from natural, experiential reality, their imagination and emotional self bends the linearity of this reality. Northwest-based draftsman Justin Gibbens takes inspiration from thickets, undergrowth and odd fauna to create brilliantly imaginative Audubon reminiscent watercolors and collages. His treatment of the paper causes these pieces to appear as if they themselves come from a distant and strange domain. Also working on paper, Los Angeles based artist Mel Kadel’s enigmatic characters traverse transcendent and cerebral spaces while encountering curious challenges of the mind and body.

Expanding on the genre of landscape, Baltimore artist Jordan Kasey and Washington DC based photographer Sophie Ruspoli both create stages where mystifying phenomena can occur. Kasey’s immersive painting, “Sunrise” depicts a serene and extraordinary land, where existence seems eerily suspended. Ruspoli, using the factual medium of the camera lens, manipulates the architectural functions of a 4 x 5 camera to capture surreal views of nature, different from what the human eye is capable of naturally perceiving. A second floor sculptural installation by Los Angeles based artist Julie Hughes physically represents an other-worldly environment inspired by such terrestrial and complex structures such as human bone and mold, adding further dimension to this exhibit’s exploration of the fantastical space that exists just beyond rational thought."

Congrats!

To Washington Post art critic Michael O'Sullivan, who will get a very well-deserved Special Recognition Award as part of the 25th Annual Mayor’s Arts Awards on Monday, March 22, 2009 at 6:00 p.m. at the Historical Society of Washington. 

The Washington Project for the Arts will host Vjera Brozan, the third visiting curator in Information Exchange, a professional development program for artists organized by WPA with the International Studio and Curatorial Program in Brooklyn, NY.

In this ongoing series, WPA brings international curators to Washington to discuss ideas and projects in a public forum, followed by a day of one-on-one critiques or portfolio reviews with WPA member artists. The goal of the program is to expose artists and curators to each other's work, spurring new and continuing conversations, ideas, relationships, and projects which will carry on long after the initial exchange.

Vjera Brozan (Prague, Czech Republic) is a curator and art historian. She is currently a Ph.D. candidate at the Charles University, Prague, and fellow at tranzit, a network of autonomous initiatives in contemporary art in Austria, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia. Brozan was a curator at The National Gallery Prague (2003-2004) and was a research fellow at The Academy of Fine Arts in Prague (2000-2002). She taught at the Faculty of Fine Arts in Brno (2003-2007) and now is teaching Contemporary Art at the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague.

As an independent curator she has curated exhibitions and artist projects in Prague and elsewhere. Recent exhibitions include : Harun Farocki at tranzitdisplay, Prague (2009); Metaphysical - Ontological - Supertemporal- Absolut - Transcendence at JS Studio Gallery, Prague, (2008); and Invisible Thingsat Trafó gallery, Budapest (2007).

Please join the WPA for a presentation of past and current projects given by Vjera Brozan, followed by an open discussion on March 18, 2010 at 6:00pm at WPA (free and open to the public). Continue the discussion and mix and mingle with the other attendees at the post-talk reception at Darlington House, 1610 20th St. NW (appetizers and cash bar).

RSVP is required for the talk and reception. email to: kbilonick@wpadc.org

Trawick Prize Artists' Call

Deadline: Friday, April 9, 2010

The Bethesda Arts & Entertainment District is accepting submissions for The Trawick Prize: Bethesda Contemporary Art Awards. The annual juried contemporary art competition awards $14,000 in prize monies to four selected artists. Deadline for submissions is Friday, April 9, 2010 and up to 12 artists will be selected for a group exhibition during the month of September.

The competition will be juried by Harry Cooper, Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.; Robert Haywood, Deputy Director at the Contemporary Museum in Baltimore, MD and Emily Smith, Curatorial Fellow in Modern and Contemporary Art at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond, VA.

The first place winner will be awarded $10,000; second place will be honored with $2,000 and third place will be awarded $1,000. A “young” artist whose birth date is after April 10, 1978 may also be awarded $1,000.

Artists must be 18 years of age or older and residents of Maryland, Virginia or Washington, D.C. Original painting, drawing, photography, sculpture, fiber art, digital, mixed media and video are accepted. The maximum dimension should not exceed 96 inches in any direction. No reproductions. Selected artists must deliver artwork to exhibit site in Bethesda, MD. All works on paper must be framed to full conservation standards. Each artist must submit five slides or five images on CD, application and a non-refundable entry fee of $25.

The Human Rights Art Festival

The first ever Amnesty International Human Rights Art Festival, a multi-media event that fuses the passion of artists with the values of Amnesty International, will take place April 23-25, 2010 in Silver Spring, MD.

Details here.

And my own particular interest in the area of human rights; Click on the image for more details...

Peep & Strip Show - This Thursday

Join Rosemary Feit Covey
this Thursday for the opening reception of Peep and Strip Show at The Art League Gallery (in Old Town Alexandria) on March 11th at 6:30pm and enjoy a Cabaret Dance performance.

Feit Covey is easily one of the most talented print makers in our region, although the term prin tmaker is beginning to not be enough when discussing this artist, as her amazing installation a while back at the Arlington Arts Center proved; and this show will debut some "light boxes" that I'm really stoked to go and see.

From the press release:

When peering through a keyhole, we consciously know we’re viewing something that wasn’t meant for our eyes, and therefore it becomes exciting and forbidden. Rosemary Feit Covey’s provocative images forces the viewer into the role of voyeur, either by demanding the viewer to observe her engravings through a peep show box, or on a photographer’s light box. Suggestive rather than overtly explicit, her wood engravings subtly deal with obsession on many levels. Peep and Strip Show will be featured at The Art League Gallery at the Torpedo Factory March 11–April 5, 2010.

The “Strip” series focuses on obsession. The images Covey created are based on the relationship between an actual couple. Tantalizing and a little naughty, the viewer is left wondering what the story is behind these characters. The engravings are printed on Japanese papers and phone book pages, and then the vertical strips are encased in encaustic medium. The strips are presented on a light box like a photographer would use to dry negatives and prints and to view his/her work. When displayed in groups horizontally, the effect is akin to a dark comic book or graphic novel.

In Covey’s “Peep Show” series, she combines the secret, sexual world associated with the modern definition of “Peep Show” with the innocent world of Victorian-era peep show boxes. In order to view the engravings, the viewer must bend uncomfortably to glimpse through the peephole, which forces them into the role of voyeur. The prints in this series are evocative and suggestive rather than blatantly sexual. The boxes themselves are custom designed and beautifully handcrafted by a master cabinetmaker. These peep boxes are replicated and inspired by the elegant peep show boxes circa 1820.

Peep Show boxes date back as far as 500 years ago, designed by artists and scientists to portray a variety of subject matter. During the 18th and 19th Centuries, peep show viewing was a popular and innocent form of street entertainment. By using lenses and mirrors, a private, interior world was created by peering into a mysterious box. The term Peep Show ultimately came to be most closely associated with viewing pornographic films and live sex shows.

Casablanca

Claude Rains (Louis): What in heaven's name brought you to Casablanca?

Humphrey Bogart (Rick): My health. I came to Casablanca for the waters.

Claude Rains (Louis): The waters? What waters? We're in the desert.

Humphrey Bogart (Rick): I was misinformed.

Campello reviewed

Not me but my daughter Elise in The Wedding Singer:

The uber stand out was Elise Campello as Julia Sullivan. She is such a full package of talent. She brings everything to the show and makes it a tour-de-force every time the lights come on the stage.

Read the review here.

Contemporary Art Projects to Debut

Remember that I told you that the former Numark space was about to be re-used as a gallery space?

Amy Morton of Morton Fine Art introduces a pop-up project, a series of innovative, curated art exhibitions and events that “pop-up” at various locations throughout Washington, DC.

The concept for a pop-up project evolved from Morton’s desire to introduce strong and relevant contemporary artists to the Washington, DC area in a fresh and exciting format. The project emphasizes the development and exposure of high-quality contemporary artworks in innovative settings and locations. a pop-up project aims to develop and promote local DC talent alongside national talent.

a pop-up project will host pop-up group exhibitions, lectures and events at venues throughout the DC area. For its inaugural exhibition a pop-up project will open I Dream Awake from March 18 to May 28, 2010 in the former Numark Gallery space located in Penn Quarter at 625-627 E St NW.

I Dream Awake is a curated selection of works that presents original artist expressions which explore the link between awakened realities and unconscious dreams. The exhibition includes artwork in various media by New York artists, Mikel Glass, Kenichi Hoshine and Margaret Bowland; Los Angeles artists Vonn Sumner and Susan Burnstine; and local artists Rosemary Feit Covey, Laurel Hausler, Lizzie Newton and Tim Tate.

The formal opening reception with the artists in attendance will be held on Friday, March 26th from 6 - 9pm.