Manon Cleary finally in the SAAM

Recently the Smithsonian American Art Museum accepted two of Manon Cleary's epic Men in Plastic Bags series graphite drawings for its permanent collection.

This is great and most richly deserved for an artist whose impact, both personal and artistic, upon the Greater DC area art scene, as well as the national art scene in some sectors, more than deserve her placement among her peers at the SAAM.

And even after her passing Manon continues to have an impact upon the DMV art scene because this acquisition should now bring to the forefront the fact that the SAAM, much like all the other local DMV museums has a chronic problem with looking in its own backyard for worthy artists.

I once noted on NPR radio that our "local" museums, because they tend to think of themselves as "national" museums, would rather have its curatorial staff take a cab to Dulles for a flight to Berlin to then visit artists' studios to look at the work of emerging artists in Berlin, than to take a cab to Georgetown, or Kalorama, or Alexandria, or Mt Rainier or wherever in the DMV to visit some local studios.

Manon Cleary should have been in the collection of the SAAM decades ago, and mutliple generations of SAAM curators have perpetuated and continue to cement a gargantuan offense against their own neighborhood by ignoring generation after generation of DMV artists, DMV galleries and the DMV visual art scene in general.

For the Hirshhorn: the same disservice applies; shame on your curators as well.

Thank you Manoncita.

Courage Unmasked Pics

Some pics from the recent Courage Unmasked event at American University's Katzen Museum.

Bridget Lambert, Elyse Harrison and The Lenster

Bill Harris and yours truly

Jack Rasmussen and I

Painted cows

(Via)

The three cows and calves in Bancroft were painted as skeletons overnight last week, The Parks Trust, the charity which maintains them, said.

Read the whole thing here.... and here's the artist's response.

Jarvis Grant on (e)merge

In case you missed it, Jarvis Grant has a really interesting article/review on the impact of Photoshop on some of the work on exhibit at the recently concluded (e)merge art fair.

Check it out here.

MacKenzie at the AIA

“ Helter ~ Shelter “ 

An exploration into the Organization of Temporary Communities 

Photographs by Maxwell MacKenzie 

An Exhibition at the AIA Headquarters Gallery  

1735 New York Avenue   WDC   20006 

Opening Reception:   Thursday, November 1st    5:30 - 8:30 pm 

Exhibition continues through January 2013 

~ helter-skelter:  in a haphazard manner, chaotic,  lacking a visible order or plan 

“ Architecture is inhabited sculpture. “  - Constantin Brancusi 

In this exhibition, noted architectural photographer Maxwell MacKenzie journeys out into the wilder parts of California, Nevada, Minnesota, West Virginia and Florida to explore  

what “community” means once one leaves the city and its suburbs.  He presents diverse examples of how people create temporary structures, both factory-built and homemade, to protect themselves from the elements, and then organize these shelters into larger communities, while projecting through design and decoration, their own individual identities and personalities.   Some of these communities stand for decades, until the river floods and they are trucked away to higher ground, and others are only in existence for a long weekend.  

Included in “ Helter-Shelter “ are mural-size panoramic photographs that illustrate a variety of solutions to the challenge of temporary housing in sometimes raw and hostile rural environments.   Whether on wheels, floats, or skids, these tiny dwellings live lightly on the Earth, taking the “Not-So-Big-House-Movement” to the extreme, at the lowest possible cost, with minimum impact on the environment.  

“Burning Man,“ an extraordinary explosion of human creativity and imagination, takes place every August in the Nevada desert and is the largest arts festival in the country.   The 55,000+ inhabitants of Burning Man bring tents, domes and RVs and work together to construct the meticulously planned, pedestrian and bike-only, “Black Rock City,” which lasts exactly seven days.   Participants, following Burning Man’s principle of ”Extreme Self-Reliance,“ bring all their food and water into the city with them,  “Leaving No Trace“ when they depart, making Burning Man a remarkable example of sustainability, and environmentally responsible community. 

Coming across hundreds of  RVs with their motorcycle trailers gathered in the baking windswept California desert near the Salton Sea, at first one perceives only chaos.  But look more closely: familiar patterns emerge, and again traces of an underlying organic order become apparent.  However temporary, a kind of town is being built.  The need for community is being expressed.  Just as the wagon trains of the pioneers circled for protection, the RVs and “motor-homes “ are similarly situated, parked around a horseshoe arena and the communal picnic table, creating a central, protected “urban square” where people gather. 

Another large group of Americans, from all social strata, often retired, have abandoned their permanent homes altogether, whether voluntarily or to foreclosure, and taken to the road for good.  They have become migratory, like waterfowl, and follow the seasons, adapting to life in a ten-foot wide, metal-encased, pre-fab mobile world.  Downsizing and concentrating their resources, some barely survive and others live much more luxuriously in their custom, marble-floored, multi-slide-out $ 400,000 motor coaches than they did before. 

From the desert domes out west, and the colorful ice-house and houseboat communities in Minnesota to Airstream rallies in Florida, like-minded people gather in their temporary camps for a hundred different reasons; to escape cities & immerse themselves in nature, to share sporting and cultural interests, to escape the winter heating bills up north, or simply just to wander. 

People find and unite with their respective tribes, claim a piece of ground and make it home. 

The American Institute of Architects 

1735 New York Avenue, NW 

Washington, DC   20006 

202.626.7312

(e)merge's performance and critics

I've been scrubbing what art critics have been writing about the second iteration of DC's (e)merge art fair, which...
(a) they all agree has become the world's leading "performance art fair" and
(b) mostly get overwhelmed by sooooo much performance offerings that they get Artomatic Syndrome and
(c) are unable to have the brain power to process sooooo much performance,
 and then shut down after the first two or three and call it a day some, (such as the CP's fired-then-rehired art scribe), even make some newbie reporting mistakes (but hey - not the first time... right?). You get what you pay for...

But - and this is a nice surprise - the Pink Line Project's Eames Armstrong delivers what is the best piece on (e)merge's spectacular delivery of performance art. It is clear that Armstrong didn't just hang around the Skyline's Hotel's cool bar, drinking on the job after just watching a couple of performances, but returned to (e)merge a few times, watched several artists and then put down some intelligent thoughts for a superlative and insightful review of (e)merge's best offerings in their surprising unique strenght: performance art.

Bravo Zulu Eames! Check him out here.

Read this...

When he dies, his skin will be cut up and framed. His family had to agree to it. Steiner says he doesn’t care what happens after he dies.

 Read the whole thing here.

Who's on Second?

(Via)

Although Switzerland’s Art Basel is still incontestably the top fair for contemporary art, London’s Frieze, which took place last week at Regent's Park, and Paris's FIAC, which begins Thursday, are now sharing the  second place on the podium.

"Each fair has a different identity and energy. Paris is more established, while London is younger. The different languages spoken attract buyers from different geographical regions," says Olivier Belot, director of the Yvon Lambert gallery, which is exhibiting at both fairs.

Frieze London is more hip and focused on contemporary art, while FIAC, more prestigious in its beautiful Grand Palais museum setting, shows a wider spectrum, from modern to contemporary art. It features international galleries and "bankable" artists, although it also includes some promising younger artists, for collectors looking for the next big thing.

Read the whole story here.

For Halloween

Remember the world's worst ever art restoration?

In 2008, it was Sarah Palin. In 2011, it was Amy Winehouse. This year, pundits are predicting that the Halloween costume of choice will be none other than Cecilia Gimenez’s bastardized “Ecce Homo.” Widely known as “Beast Jesus,” the Spanish octogenatian’s botched restoration of a 19th-century fresco gained worldwide fame last month, just in time to inspire scores of homemade costumes like this one in advance of Halloween. If you still need help with your costume, ARTINFO has compiled three different methods to recreate “Beast Jesus” with minimal effort and maximum effect.

Read all about it here.