Tomorrow is the 3rd Friday of the month, which means that the four Canal Square Galleries in Georgetown (MOCA, Fraser, Alla Rogers and Parish) will be having their openings and/or extended hours.

The openings are catered by the Sea Catch Restaurant and we'll be also serving our world famous Sangria.

All free and open to the public. From 6-9 PM. The Canal Square is at 1054 31st Street, NW, Corner of M in Georgetown. See ya there!

BLOGger Tyler Green writes about DC artist Ian Whitmore on artnet.com. Its near the lower part of the page.

Whitmore is one of my favorite painters too. He came to my attention a while back when I reviewed him for DC One Magazine. It was the Strictly Painting show at McLean Center for the Arts.

He is now represented by Fusebox Gallery.

Jessica Dawson visits six spaces in today's Galleries column in the Post.

I like this mini-review approach that the Post has implemented in the last couple of years or so. In fact, a few years ago - before Dawson replaced Protzman as the Post's galleries' critic - I had suggested this mini-format directly to John Pancake (the Post's Arts editor) as a way to "spread the wealth" of the Post's very small print space dedicated to gallery reviews.

This is hard work on Dawson, who has to visit a lot of galleries, all over the city, just to produce one column. Too bad that the Post's online art pages, which used to run its own set of gallery reviews independent of the print section when John Poole used to be its Arts Editor, no longer does so.

This is puzzling to me, as at one point, when Poole was the Online Arts Editor, he had several additional writers (including Dawson) "augment" the print version of galleries and museum reviews with several freelance writers.

When Poole moved up the food chain and was promoted, his job was left vacant for a while, and when the Arts Editor job was finally filled a year later or so, whatever funds were available to pay the freelancers had probably been snatched by another department or cut, and thus the current Online Arts editor (Maura McCarthy) no longer has the luxury of augmenting the Post's meager gallery criticism with additional online writers.

LEXMARK EUROPEAN ART PRIZE 2004
Deadline: 31st March, 2004

The Lexmark European Art Prize is open to all artists of all painting genres. Launched in 2002, the Lexmark received over 2,000 entries from 33 countries in its first year. Designed to support the renaissance in painting, the Lexmarkis judged by an eight person panel of judges from across Europe chaired by Professor Brendan Neiland, Keeper of the Royal Academy.

The competition extends Lexmark's significant investment in the arts which
includes the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, the French Réunion des Musées
Nationaux and Lexmark's Art Education Program which introduced fine art to over 600 schools in the US

Entries are accepted until March 31st 2004. Visit the website here.

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WILDLIFE PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR COMPETITION
Deadline: Friday, 2 April 2004.

The aims of this competition are to find the best wildlife pictures taken by photographers worldwide, and to inspire photographers to produce visionary and expressive interpretations of nature. The judges will be looking first and foremost for aesthetic appeal and originality, and will also be placing an emphasis on photographs taken in wild and free conditions. With digital images now being accepted, the competition judges will also be looking for images that are a true representation of life on Earth. For the first time, the competition will be accepting digital images submitted on CD.

The competition is open to anyone, amateur or professional, of any age and of
any nationality. Full details and entry forms are available here

For Photographers Looking for Gallery Representation
Multiple Exposures Gallery is looking for a new photographer to join its unique cooperative. The gallery, located at the Torpedo Factory in Alexandria, Virginia, and represents fourteen award-winning photographers from the Washington area. For more information call 703-683-2205. Applications with portfolios are due April 25th, 2004.

FOR WOMEN PHOTOGRAPHERS
The next Secondsight meeting will be held on Friday, March 26 at 6.30pm. The guest speaker will be Ferdinand Protzman, former art critic for the Washington Post and author of Landscape; Photographs of Time and Place, a beautiful new book that investigates the ongoing evolution of landscape photography.

If you would like to reserve your signed, first edition copy, please call 301 718-9651. The book costs $50. Secondsight is an organization dedicated to the advancement of women photographers through support, communication and sharing of ideas and opportunities. For more information, visit www.secondsightdc.com.

Looks like both the Washington Post and Art & Antiques Magazine are picking up the Sandra Ramos visa denial story and will be publishing articles on the subject soon.

Art & Antiques had previously done a story on Cuban art, American art collectors and mentioned Sandra Ramos' works specifically.

Photoworks in Glen Echo Park has an upcoming series of "Digital Dialogue Evenings." . The first is with Jim Steele at the Photoworks Studio on Thursday, April 8 at 7:30 pm for the first in this series of conversations that will explore the realm of digital in the art of photography. Below is other scheduled speakers and dates.

"Digital Dialogues: Photographers Discuss Why Digital for their Art?"

Thursday Evenings, 7:30 - 8:30 pm at Photoworks Studio
April 8, Jim Steele
April 15, Eliot Cohen
April 22, Judy Karpinski and Patty Lake
April 29, Grace Taylor
May 6, Craig Sterling
May 13, Danny Conant

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Capitol Arts Network presents "The Human Figure" curated by Eric Westbrook. The show runs from April 9 - May 5, 2004 at The Washington School of Photography.

Not having seen the show yet, and at the risk of being very unfair to all the other accepted photographers, I nonetheless will tell you that this talented photographer, who seldom exhibits in the DC area (and should exhibit more) will probably steal the show.

I'll review this show later.

There's a really well-written, but no byline, review of photographer Glenn Friedel's recent work currently on exhibition at Bethesda's Gallery Neptune, run by the indefatigable Elyse Harrison.

A million thanks to ArtsJournal.com for publishing the issue of Sandra Ramos' visa denial.

We are hoping to enlist the help of Senator Barbara Mikulski to see if we can get Sandra Ramos a visa to attend her DC debut. Any help from any of you who'd like to email the Senator, would be appreciated as we take a stand against this puzzling policy of denying visas to Cuban artists - even when their work is not pro-Castro by any stretch of the imagination.

Photographers can link their photography website to About-Arts by filling out this form and adding a reciprocal link. The more links your site has, the higher your Google placement.

Through MAN a link to a very good discussion at Frolic of My Own about Eric Fischl, who recently came to DC and delivered a good lecture at the Hirshhorn.

For the last couple of months I have been curating a show at Alexandria's Target Gallery which honors the remaining artists from the original group of artists who started the Torpedo Factory, one of the great cultural jewels of our area's art scene, 30 years ago.

The show is called "Origins: 30 Years at the Torpedo Factory Arts Center" runs from April 28 through June 6, 2004. It will be hung salon-style, which I've always liked.

Maryland State Arts Council announces Grants

Deadline April 7 – Arts in Communities Grants

Deadline April 1 – Arts & Entertainment District

Deadline May 13, 2004 – For activities that will begin or take place between July 1, 2004 and June 30, 2005. Technical Assistance Program supports organizational development for County Arts Councils in Maryland and Professional Development Program encourages and supports continuing education of County Arts Council staff and board members in subject areas relevant to local Arts Council management.

For information on all grants, go to www.msac.org or call 410-767-6555.

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Deadline July 1, 2004
Outdoor Public Art Proposal Sought in Oregon. The Art Committee of the Eugene Japanese American Memorial Project is planning to invite artists to submit proposals for a permanent outdoor public art project to publicly acknowledge and commemorate the Japanese Americans who endured evacuation and internment during World War II. The memorial project will be located outside the Hult Center for Performing Arts (6th and Willamette) in Eugene, Oregon. Please contact: aikensae@comcast.net for more information.

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Deadline April 9, 2004
Outdoor Sculpture Exhibition Opportunity in Washington State.
The Bellevue Arts Commission, Bellevue, Washington, announces its 2004 Sculpture Exhibition. Up to 24 sculptures will be selected by the jury for outdoor exhibition in Bellevue's Downtown Park. The exhibition opens 6/26 and closes 10/10. Each accepted artist will receive an honorarium. There is no entry fee. Insurance and installation provided.

For entry information: e-mail bac@ci.bellevue.wa.us or call John Young, Prof. of Sculpture and Public Art, Univ. of Washington (my alma matter) at 206/543.0997.

Deadline May 24, 2004
The Delaplaine Visual Arts Education Center (DVAEC) in Frederick, Maryland, invites all artists living within a 75-mile radius of Frederick, MD, working in any media, to submit work for their annual Regional Juried Art Exhibition taking place June 5 - July 25.

The juror is Mr. Jay Fisher, Deputy Director of Curatorial Affairs, Senior Curator of Drawings, Prints and Photography, Baltimore Museum of Art.

Up to three pieces of work may be submitted to the Center for jurying Sunday, May 23 or Monday, May 24. Entry fee is $10 per piece for nonmembers or $7 per piece for DVAEC members. Awards: 1st Place: $150; 2nd Place: $100; 3rd Place: $75, Honorable Mention: $50. For more information, entry forms and directions send an e-mail to Diane Sibbison at dsibbison@delaplaine.org.

DC area sculptor Sarah Wegner, who made her solo gallery debut a few months ago in Georgetown, currently has a show at the Columbia Association Art Center's main gallery and gets a really good review in The Baltimore Sun.

Transformer has an opening this coming Saturday, March 20, 7-9pm.

The show is called "Daytrippers" and features work by four artists: Ryan Hill (New York, NY), Heide Trepanier (Richmond, VA), Bryan Whitson (Washington, DC), and Kate Woodliff (Richmond,VA).

The exhibition will be from March 20 – April 24, 2004.

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MOCA joins the frenzy for Cuban art by staging an exhibition curated by Adolfo V. Nodal titled "Havana Science Fiction."The show opened last week and runs until April 3, 2004.

Adolfo V. Nodal is the former director of the WPA/C a few directors ago. More recently he is one of several editors of the bible of Cuban art, titled Memoria: Cuban Art in the 20th Century.

MOCA's show features work by Los Animistas, Fidel Ernesto, Omar and Oscar Estrada, Jose Emilio Fuentes, Ernesto Pina, Alain Pinot and Harold Vazquez.

I found Vazquez's work to be the most interesting - and surprisingly enough (considering how bland most videos leave me) - it is a video!

His video - like most videos - has as its starting point an interesting idea/concept, which features the filming of a pretty Cuban girl standing in front of the camera, as if it were a still image and “stopping the clock” when her pose is broken. We stand looking at the video trying to see how long can she hold a perfectly still pose - as in a photo - until she blinks or moves, and the clock starts all over again.

Compete for a solo museum show...

Deadline: April 22, 2004.

The Rawls Museum Arts is hosting its 41st Annual Juried show, which will be juried this year by slide review.

This year's Juror is Virginia Museum of Fine Arts' Coordinator of Statewide Exhibitions, Eileen B. Mott.Slide submissions are due April 22, 2004. Please download the application from the museum's homepage. The show runs May 28 until July 15. Cash Prizes and a Solo Show will be awarded.

The NY Times has an article on Miami art collectors. In my earlier posting I discussed the lack of DC area collectors such as the NYT article discusses. In fact I mentioned these kind of art collectors and the dearth of them in our area - which nonetheless would appear to be a fertile ground (I think) for "growing" these type of art supporters (everywhere else!).

And yet we have more eligible potential collectors than Miami has? WHY don't our "people" buy art?

Cuban Artist Denied Entry Visa to Attend her Washington Debut

Cuban artist Sandra Ramos, considered by many to be the leading Cuban visual artist of her generation, has been working feverishly for the last year to finish off a series of new works which will be showcased in her Washington, DC debut show opening at our Fraser Gallery in Georgetown this coming May 21 for a month-long exhibition.

Since she has visited the US many times, both for previous shows in other American cities and for museum art conferences (as invited speaker), and since her work is in the permanent collection of many prestigious American museums, such as The Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) in New York and the Museum of Fine Arts (MFA) in Boston, it came to her as a shock when her visa to attend her Washington, DC opening was denied.

“This is an artist with a worldwide following and reputation,” said Catriona Fraser, Director and co-owner of our two Fraser Galleries in Georgetown and Bethesda. “It came to us as an unexpected shock as well when Sandra told us that she would not be able to travel to Washington for her opening reception.”

“To make it more irritating,” continues Fraser, “this is without a doubt our most important exhibition of the year, and artists of Ramos’ caliber and reputation are not only good for our gallery but for the Washington art scene in general.”

Just last year Ramos attended art conferences hosted by the Lowe Art Museum in Florida as well as visits to New York, Boston and Provincetown in Massachusetts, all related to art exhibitions or conferences.

Her work, which often delivers visceral commentaries dealing with taboo issues in Cuban society such as racism, mass migration, freedoms and liberties and the impact of Communism on the Cuban psyche, has placed Ramos at the very leading edge of a group of young Cuban artists who use their art as a narrative medium to describe, criticize and export the world in which they live and work.

Following nearly twenty highly successful solo exhibitions in Cuba, Japan, Mexico, Germany and Holland, Ramos had her first solo American show in Miami last year to high critical acclaim. The solo at Fraser Gallery will be her second American solo show as well as her Washington, DC debut.

Recent articles discussing her work in the ARTNews Newsletter, Art & Antiques Magazine, Art Business News, The Art Newspaper, as well as reviews in many national and international art magazines all led to a spectacular year for Ramos, who saw all of her entire production of 2003 paintings sell during the last months of the year as American art collectors made their way to Havana before the tightening of US policy on travel to Cuba.

“Sandra has been saving her most recent work for this solo,” says Fraser, “and we expect to have about a dozen new works in this show – all new important works dealing with her recurring issue of Cuba as a prison whose walls are made of water.”

One of Ramos’ most poignant works, in the collection of MOMA in New York best exemplifies the work that has made her famous. Titled in Spanish “The Damned Circumstance of Being Surrounded by Water,” Ramos transforms her image (as a little girl) onto the shape of Cuba, her body pinned to the island by bright red Royal Palms (the national tree of Cuba) changed from its natural color to the color of the Cuban Revolution.

“We will go ahead with the show,” declares Fraser. “And I intend to write to the Department of State to protest this visa denial to an artist with a proven history of not being a flight risk.”

WORLDWIDE PINHOLE DAY on Sunday 25th April, 2004.

Visit www.pinholeday.org. Last year 1082 people from 43 countries submitted entries.

Photographer and DCArtnews reader Joseph Barbaccia points out an interesting article by Roberta Smith in the NY Times on the subject of the popularity of art fairs and how well they do.

Smith mentions Paris, Berlin, Basel, London and, more recently, Miami, where the Art Basel crowd has staged two highly successful fairs.

And Barbaccia reasons that maybe what DC needs to kick start the idea is an art fair of its own.

It's a good idea, and many have tried to kindle that idea, but the obstacles (all circling the subject of money) have been great. A while back all galleries in the area received correspondence from an outfit trying to organize such a fair at the MCI Center or the New Convention Center. But the cost to participate was so prohibitive, that little was gained as far as attention from art dealers.

We've been courted for a couple of years now about Art Basel Miami Beach, but the costs of participating are more designed to attract a gallery that sells work in the hundreds of thousands of dollars rather than single thousands, like most DC area galleries.

Nonetheless, fairs at all levels in the art world food chain appear to be doing well. These include spectacularly huge and successful outdoor art fairs such as the legendary Coconut Grove Arts Festival also in Miami. Now celebrating its 41st anniversary in 2004, the Festival attracts over three-quarters of a million people annually from around the world to view and buy the works of over 330 artists and craftsmen from all over the planet. This is probably - in attendance numbers anyway - the largest art festival in the world.

Locally, a version of this outdoor type of art fair will be staged this coming May in Bethesda via the first ever Bethesda Fine Arts Festival, which will be held Saturday, May 15 and Sunday, May 16, 2004 in Bethesda's Woodmont Triangle along Norfolk and Auburn Avenues. The event will feature 150 national artists, live entertainment and food from the many world-class Bethesda restaurants.

But our area lacks the "other" kind of "upper crust" art fair that Roberta Smith discusses - a fair where art galleries and dealers - rather than the artists themselves - gather in one city to bring their art and artists for a few days in one place. The cost of organizing such an event is the major hurdle - but that hurdle would be easily resolved if an organizer (and art dealers) would think that DC art buyers would make their trip and costs justified through art sales.

And my honest opinion is that in the eight years since we opened our first gallery in Georgetown, and over 100 shows later in both Georgetown and Bethesda, and talking regularly to fellow dealers in our area, it is clear that (although the DC area has one of the highest income concentrations in the world), there are precious few "art collectors" or just plain people buying art in our region to attract a major league art fair.

It's a chicken and the egg thing...

High incomes are concentrated here; expensive homes are concentrated here; disposable income is abundant here; large educated masses are concentrated here - and yet we can't get significant numbers of "those" people to buy original art in the same manner and form that people in New York and Miami and Los Angeles apparently do.

I blame the media and their lack of coverage of area arts and artists and the inherent apathy created by "those" people not realizing - or caring - about the acquisition of art -- on the par with Harleys, and SUVs and those bigger-than-SUV things that look like USMC war vehicles.

I am sure that many of our well-known millionaires - such as the guy who owns the Redskins, and the guy who owns the Capitals, and the guy who owns Lockheed Martin, and the guys who own AOL, and the thousands of other guys and gals who own all those great companies in Northern Virginia and the 270 corridor, have art in their homes.

Or do they? And where do they get it? And how come among all the press about them, there's nothing about them being "art collectors"? Read the Miami press, or the NY press, or the LA press and once in a while you'll read a story about influential collectors.

Do we have "those" people around here?

Maybe, but I doubt it. And yet I think that "they" could be cultivated, and perhaps taught that instead of flying to NY or LA or Miami to buy artwork at one of those fairs, they could instead go to an opening once in a while in Georgetown, or 7th Street or Dupont Circle.

But "they" would have to know about our art scene, and for that we'd need the media, and here again we go with the "chicken and the egg" syndrome.

Makes my head hurt.

Anyway, later this year we'll be participating in our first art fair ever in New York. I'll let you know what happened.

Today is the second Friday of the month, which means that it is time for the Bethesda Art Walk. Several Bethesda galleries and art establishments participate, light food and refreshments are provided, as well as a free shuttle bus to take visitors around the galleries.

We will have (as usual) the Washington area's best Sangria, plus a terrific photography show curated by William F. Stapp, who served as the National Portrait Gallery's first curator of photographs (1976-1991) and is now an independent curator and consultant. Most recently he curated the traveling exhibition "Portrait of the Art World: A Century of ARTnews Photographs."

This year he curated the 2004 Bethesda International Photography Exhibition, and selected a couple of dozen photographers from over a thousand entries from all over the world.

The openings are from 6-9 PM and a a free shuttle bus is available to do the gallery hopping.

See ya there!

Just flew back from San Diego and on the way back I read another great book, which (at least for me) was not only informative, but incredibly educational and eye opening.

It is The Basque History of the World by Mark Kurlansky. It's absolutely a great read, especially if you are a history buff or interested in Europe's oldest people, the world's most unique language and the most stubborn nation without a country on this planet.

I learned that their ancient tongue (Euskera) is not only the oldest European language, but it is not related to any other language on Earth.

Councilmember Harold Brazil, chairperson of the Committee on Economic Development, announces a public hearing on Bill 15-636, “Arts Funding Improvement Task Force Establishment Act of 2003.”The hearing will be held at 3:00 p.m. on Wednesday, March 17, 2004, in the Council Chamber of 1350 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW (John A. Wilson Building).

Bill 15-636, “Arts Funding Improvement Task Force Establishment Act of 2003," if approved, would establish a taskforce that will focus on increasing funding for the Arts and Humanities. The task force would provide recommendations to the Commission on the Arts and Humanities, the Council, and the Mayor on ways to increase funding for arts and humanities programming and education in the District.

For more info call the Council of the District of Columbia at 202.724.8050

Opportunity for artists...

Deadline: Thursday, April 01

The Cultural Development Corporation (CuDC) is seeking proposals for The Gallery at Flashpoint.

Flashpoint is DC's first arts space dedicated to nurturing and growing emerging arts organizations and the Gallery at Flashpoint provides artists and arts organizations a place to show innovative, new works. Applications for the 2004-2005 Season are now being accepted from artists, curators and arts organizations. The Request for Proposals is available at their website.

Deadline: All proposals are due to the CuDC offices (916 G Street, Washington, DC 20001) by April 1, 2004 at 5:00pm. For more info call the Gallery at Flashpoint at 202/315-1310.

Hello from San Diego, in the middle of a very warm (almost 80s) winter!

But read this important announcement dealing with events back in DC:

Annual Arts Advocacy Day, Wednesday, March 31, 2004

Hard working art activists are presently organzing visits to all the DC Council Members to discuss the role of the arts in our community. In addition, the Budget Hearing for the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities at the Committee on Economic Development (chaired by Council Member Harold Brazil) is scheduled for Thursday, April 1, 2004. You are invited to an organizing meeting for Arts Advocacy Day and the Budget Hearing on Friday, March 19th, Noon-1:30 PM, at Flashpoint. At this meeting, members of the Steering Committee will present briefings on three topics: the arts as an economic generator, the arts and youth, and the arts as an attractor to life in our city.

They'll walk through the process of Arts Advocacy Day and the budget hearing. We strongly encourage you to come to this meeting as your participation will help create a coherent message and force for the advocates for Arts Advocacy Day and for the budget hearing. To summarize: Friday, March 19th, Noon-1:30 PM -- Briefing meeting. Wednesday, March 31st -- Meetings with Council Members (the meetings will go on throughout the day, each lasting about 15-30 minutes.) Thursday, April 1st -- Budget Hearing for DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities. If you have any questions, please contact Jill Strachan at jpstrach@aol.com.

Traveling all day - finally in San Diego. Over the last few years I have been here many times (and I've actually lived here in San Diego twice in my life). San Diego has maybe half a dozen decent, reputable art galleries, a decent museum and a terrific photography venue. Yet, in spite of those low numbers, these art venues seem to get more attention in national magazines such as ArtNews and Art in America than our DC area galleries.

I've always wondered why? How come half a dozen San Diego area art venues get more "back of the magazine" mini reviews than 100 good art venues in the DC area?

Part of the answer is that many of the writers who cover the DC area for those national magazines favor reviewing museum shows, at the expense of area galleries. And those same magazines usually give DC one mini-review a month period - so the galleries have little chance competing against our great museums.

But still... how come San Diego gets more numerical reviews in a calendar year than Washington when we have around ten times more art spaces than San Diego does?

P.S. - On the way here I read Waiting for Snow in Havana, by Carlos Eire, which is the National Book Award Winner. What a brilliant book! I highly recommend it.

NASA on Friday released the first pictures ever taken of an eclipse as seen from the surface of another planet, snapped by the Opportunity rover a day earlier. Art and history married in a photograph.

"First Annual Selected Figure Drawing Exhibition" call for entries.
Deadline: April 30, 2004
The New England Realist Art Center announces a call for entries for their "First Annual Selected Figure Drawing Exhibition". This International open exhibition will be held online. Open to all artists who work in a representational style in any graphic media (wet or dry). Up to $1,000 in awards. Juror will be renowned artist and portraitist Ted Seth Jacobs. Entry deadline is April 30, 2004. Entry fee: Up to 3 slides $25, $5 each additional. For more information contact Dennis Cheaney at info@newenglandrealistartcenter.com or visit their website.

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"Bold Expressions" call for entries.
Deadline: August 2, 2004.
Northern California Arts, Inc. invites you to enter their 49th Annual Open International Exhibition, "Bold Expressions," September 28 - October 17, 2004, at the Sacramento Fine Arts Center Galleries. Open to creators of original art. Mixed media, no photography, film or crafts. Best of Show $750, awards totaling $3500. Juror: Cynthia Hurley, well-known Northern California and international artist. Judged by slides. Fee: $30 for 1, 2 or 3 artworks, non refundable. Slide deadline is August 2, 2004. For information call Deb Johansen-Cook, Show Chair at 916-988-9417. Prospectus available from this website.

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"Alcyone" call for entries.
Deadline: May 15, 2004.
Pleiades Gallery of Contemporary Art in New York announces Alcyone, a juried competition being curated by Tracey Bashkoff of the Guggenheim Museum. All Media is eligible and fees are: $40 up to 3 slides, $5 each additional slide - no commission on sales. For info call the gallery at (646) 230-0056 or visit their website.

There's a very good article in Art Business News magazine about Cuban art and once again I am being quoted discussing our strong program promoting Cuban art and artists in our area.

Among the many artists discussed, Sandra Ramos, who will be making her DC debut next May in our Georgetown gallery, is highlighted.

Ramos' art deal with migration, exile, sex, and racism - all taboo subjects in Cuban society. She's in the permanent collection of MOMA, MFA Boston and a dozen other museums worldwide - and yet has never exhibited in DC.

I received a really nice note from Harrison Arnett, of the Tinwood Alliance about my review of the "Quilts of Gee's Bend." It was nice of him, as I was a little iffy as how the review would be received.

Please read this: Michelle Marder Kamhi on Rescuing Art from "Visual Culture Studies" at Aristos. Link thanks to ArtsJournal.

Art Chat is a quarterly informal gathering of arts groups and arts administrators, sponsored by the Alexandria Arts Forum (an arts advocacy group) and the Alexandria Commission for the Arts. The public is invited to the March Art Chat, to be held Thursday, March 11 at 7 p.m., a joint gathering of the Arlington and Alexandria Arts Commissions and arts groups. It will be held at the Torpedo Factory Art Center at 105 N. Union Street, Alexandria.

The Artist Help Network has launched a "Bulletin Board" to announce items of interest related to artist career development - including new publications, services, and resources. Go to their homepage and click "News of Interest" located at the top left-hand corner.

I really believe that if one is to write and discuss DC area artists, galleries and our "scene," then one must get out and go to openings, see show, talk to artists, visit museums, etc. As many and as varied as possible.

One of my pet peeves is a well-known writer from a weekly alternative free newspaper who for the last several years just continues to write about the same two or three museums or the same two or three galleries... over and over and over. Get your ass out and see some other shows, visit as many galleries as you can and expose yourself to DC artists and art - then write about it.

Tonite was the first Friday of the month, which of course means that the Dupont Circle Galleries had their extended hours from 6-8 PM and thus I trekked to a few and then had dinner (I had Veal Marsala, which was magnificent) at Anna Maria's on Connecticut, one of the best Italian restaurants in DC.

From the gallery crawl, what best sticks on my mind as memorable were the truly unusal, not even sure how to describe it, work by Dean Kessman at Conner Contemporary. Elegant, thin, and super minimalist perhaps? Or maybe a 21st century rebirth of the Washington Color School on Intel Steroids?

A few doors down, in the small space now shared by Troyer and Irvine Fine Arts there were some watercolors and gouaches by Roberto Matta never before seen in the United States.

Bethesda Arts and Entertainment District Announces 2nd Annual Trawick Prize - $14,000 in Prize Money to be Awarded

Deadline May 21, 2004. Don't leave this to the last minute! Start getting your slides ready now!

The Bethesda Arts and Entertainment District is accepting submissions for The Trawick Prize: Bethesda Contemporary Art Awards.

This is the largest cash award to area artists given by anyone in the area. The 2nd annual juried art competition awards $14,000 in prize monies to four selected artists. Deadline for slide submission is Friday, May 21, 2004 and up to fifteen artists will be invited to display their work from September 7, 2004 - October 2, 2004 in downtown Bethesda at Creative Partners Gallery.

The 2004 competition will be juried by Jeffrey W. Allison, the Paul Mellon Collection Educator at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond, VA; Peter Dubeau, Associate Dean of Continuing Studies at the Maryland Institute College of Art and Kristen Hileman, Assistant Curator at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden.

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 May 21, 1974 will 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 (VHS tapes only) are accepted.

The maximum dimension should not exceed 96 inches in any direction. No reproductions. Artwork must have been completed within the last 5 years. Selected artists must deliver artwork to exhibit site in Bethesda, MD. Each artist must submit five slides, application and a non-refundable entry fee of $25.

Please visit www.bethesda.org or send a self-addressed stamped envelope to:

Bethesda Urban Partnership, Inc.
c/o The Trawick Prize: Bethesda Contemporary Art Awards
7700 Old Georgetown Road
Bethesda, MD 20814.

For more information, please contact Stephanie Coppula at scoppula@bethesda.org or call 301.215.6660 ext. 20.

Comment: Considering some of the huge corporations that are headquarted in our area, and specifically in Bethesda (such as Lockheed), I find it amazing that it is a small woman-owned local business (Trawick and Associates) that ponies up most of the cash given out each year to help foster the visual arts environment in our area. Memo to Lockheed, and to AOL and to Giant and to the Post and others: How about adding $10,000 each to this annual prize?

$60,000 in prizes...

The 7th Annual L'Oreal Art & Science of Color Prize.

The Gold Prize is presented to one artist and carries with it an award of Euro 30,000. The Silver Prize is presented to one person and carries with it an award of Euro 20,000. The Bronze Prize is presented to one person and carries with it an award of Euro 10,000.

For additional information review this website.

21st Annual Art Competition sponsored by The Artist's Magazine
Deadline: May 1, 2004.

Compete and Win in five Categories!

PORTRAIT & FIGURE Portrait and figure entries can be individuals or groups, and will be judged on expressiveness, personality and draftsmanship.
STILL LIFE Entries will be judged on overall design, unique arrangement of subject matter, handling of medium, lighting and mood.
LANDSCAPE Any landscape, from city scenes to imaginary horizons, will be judged on the creative use of form, space, lighting and mood.
EXPERIMENTAL With unlimited subject matter, entries will be judged on creative use of design, texture, media, lighting or special techniques.
ANIMAL ART Any animal in any setting is fair game for this category. Entries will be judged on the innovative handling of the subject, the expression and rendering.

More than $25,000 in cash prizes. Winners will be featured in the December 2004 issue of The Artist's Magazine. Five First Place Awards: $2,500 each, five Second Place Awards: $1,250 each, five Third Place Awards: $750 each, and 15 Honorable Mentions: $100 each.

Winners will be featured in the December 2004 issue along with a list of 250 finalists. In addition, 10 finalists will be featured in the "Competition Spotlight" in The Artist's Magazine, 12 finalists will be featured as "Artist of the Month" in their web site, and all winners and finalists will receive a certificate suitable for framing.

For details and an entry form visit their website, or email them at art-competition@fwpubs.com or call Terri Boes at 513-531-2690 x1328.

I'm down in an interesting neck of the Maryland woods... around LaPlata, Indian Head and Waldorf... nursing either a nasty cold or pneumonia.

Anyway, Muriel Hasbun, one of Washington DC's art stars, and represented by Conner opens Thursday, March 11th with a show titled "Memento" at The Corcoran Gallery of Art. "Memento" will be on view March 6-June 7, 2004 and it is a survey of recent work including work showcased by Hasbun at the 50th Venice Biennale, where she represented her native El Salvador.

William Willis, Works on Paper, opens Wednesday, March 3 (6:00 - 8:00 PM) at Hemphill Fine Arts in Georgetown. The exhibition runs until April 10, 2004.

CuDC Call for Proposals...
Deadline: All proposals are due to the CuDC offices (916 G Street, Washington, DC 20001) by April 1, 2004 at 5:00pm.

The Cultural Development Corporation (CuDC) is seeking visual art proposals for The Gallery at Flashpoint.

Flashpoint is DC's first arts space dedicated to nurturing and growing emerging arts organizations and the Gallery at Flashpoint provides artists and arts organizations a place to show innovative, new works.

Applications for the 2004-2005 Season are now being accepted from artists, curators and arts organizations. The Request for Proposals is available at www.flashpointdc.org.

In case you missed it, the Post's Sunday Arts had a wonderful orgy of coverage about the restoration of Verrocchio's David.

Articles by Blake Gopnik, whose doctoral thesis was on ideas of realism in Renaissance Italy, and who as usual manages to shoot a few arrows into the genre of realism (he once described realism as a "vampire that refuses to die" at a Corcoran lecture on realism), plus articles by Nicolas Penny, who is a is curator of sculpture at the National Gallery of Art; an article by Mary D. Garrard, professor emerita at American University; and a somewhat suspicious piece (that I think Camille Paglia would have fun with) by James M. Saslow, a professor of art history and theater at Queens College and the Graduate Center, City University of New York, and the author of "Pictures and Passion: A History of Homosexuality in the Visual Arts."

We must be running out of graffiti hoodlums, because Jurg Lehni and Uli Franke have invented a graffiti robot. Cool or what?

Hektor fits in a suitcase, but can paint a wall-sized graffiti driven by Adobe illustrator. He is driven by two motors and between those motors hangs a can of spray paint, and a mechanism to press the cap!

Note to CNN's Al Matthews: Che Guevara was Argentinian - not Cuban!

Note to Larry Rinder, curator of the Whitney Biennial: Too bad Lehni and Uli are Swiss - they would have been a great pick for the 2004 show, uh?

Note to the Tate: Hello?

Just finished another great Success as an Artist business seminar to another satisfied group of artists - sore throat and all, we had a full turnout and a waiting list of 25 people for any cancellations, so we'll probably do another seminar in April.

Check out this cool website that allows one to create your own Jackson Pollock painting online. Another really cool art site is Debby Rebsch's Museum of Temporary Art, which delivers an interesting mix of online art and actual art storage and presentation, and offers a new challenge to our established concepts of art and museums.

You can have your artwork in the permanent collection of this innovative museum by:

1. Choose the object (size about 1.4 x 1.4 x 2.75 inches) you want to donate to the Museum of Temporary Art.

2. Download the exhibit sheet. Print it and fill out the fields Author, Description, Comments/Origin and Date. Don't forget to sign it.

3. Send both the form and artwork to:
The Museum of Temporary Art
c/o Debbie Rebsch
Vischerstr. 6/1
D-72072 Tübingen
Germany

4. You will receive one exhibit from the Museum and an authorized copy of the original exhibit sheet. Your contribution will be placed in the Museum (both real and virtual).

Deadline: None, it's an ongoing project.

The Quilts of Gee’s Bend

There are some museum exhibitions that almost from the first seeds of their conception are destined to great success. And thus I will reveal in the second sentence that I will join the chorus of art critics, writers and curators across America who have lavished nothing but praise on “The Quilts of Gee’s Bend,” currently on exhibition at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, DC until May 17, 2004.

But in addition to the visual power that this exhibition brings to the viewer, I believe that it also teaches several lessons that I think have so far been missed, or perhaps avoided, by all the reviews and articles that I have read about this show. I will thus concentrate on those aspects of this ground-breaking show, but first a little background.

The Quilts of Gee’s Bend display the craft produced by the women (mostly) of Gee’s Bend, Alabama, a very isolated, small African-American community in southwestern Alabama. As one of the quilters put it herself at the press preview, “the road ends in Gee’s Bend and there’s nothing else past us.” Descended from the former slaves of two area plantations, the inhabitants of Gee’s Bend (who call themselves “Benders”) have been historically an agricultural society that was geographically isolated and nearly self-sustaining at a bare survival level through agriculture.

And the women of Gee’s Bend not only plowed and planted and worked in the fields alongside their men, but also reared large families, cooked and kept house and made beautiful quilts; not as art, but out of necessity. These quilts first began to emerge outside Gee’s Bend in the 1960s, but are only now making a true impact across the rarified upper crust of the fine arts world; a world usually too pre-occupied by what’s new, rather than “discovering” the art of common people such as the wondrous ladies of Gee’s Bend.

And because the quilts were created out of necessity, and driven by the availability of material (a torn shirt here, a worn out pant-leg there, etc.) their designs grew out of practicality, rather than a conscious attempt to deliver art. This practicality, plus the physical constraints of making a quilt, then unexpectedly drives the designs of these quilts towards an astounding visual marriage with modernist abstract painting. But not by design, and not by intention – but by a combination of necessity, natural design talent and availability of materials.

Whodda thunk it? Art abstraction without art theory.

Ignore the fact that they are quilts, look at the exhibition and the Gee’s Bend quilts’ designs immediately “pass” for abstract paintings that can be absorbed into the modern abstract genre without a second thought. But unlike the work of abstract painters, schooled or browbeaten into art theory by curators and art critics, the quilts’ original designs come out of a “homegrown” and highly developed collective talent for structure, design and color. So much for “teaching” and force-feeding art theory.

“The quilts,” said Arlonzia Pettway, one of the quilters, “were made to keep us warm.” Art faculties all over the world should make a note of this.

The quilts are also now teaching us powerful lessons, not only about art, but also about American history, art criticism and political correctness.

The New York Times dubbed this show one of the “ten most important shows in the world,” and art critics who one would imagine would rather have their eyes poked out with a blunt butter knife than hang a quilt as “art” in their post-modernist flats have all lined up to applaud this show and connect the bridge between craft and fine art for the quilts of Gee’s Bend.

Is this honest art criticism? Are we applauding the artwork, or are we applauding the quilters?

I submit that they (and I) are doing the former not only because some of us recognize the visual power of the craft, but because we are also completely enthralled by the latter. Once you meet the beautiful, serene, elegant and honest women whose hands created these quilts, you cannot help but realize that there are no losers in their success.

Mary Lee Bendolph is 67 years old, and she responded to one of my questions by saying that when she was eight years old, her mother sold the quilts as cheap as $1.50 and even Mrs. Bendolph has sold them as cheap as $5.00. These days, an Arlonzia Pettway or Mary Lee Bendolph quilt can go for as much as $6,000, as the fame of the quilting community spreads around the world.

“The Good Lord provides,” they both say. You don’t hear that very often in a hoity-toity art gallery or museum.

Gee’s Bend is certainly not the only quilting community in the United States, probably not even the only African-American quilting community in the South, and as beautiful and historically important as the quilts are, they nonetheless fit right into the well-known “secret language” of visual arts among African Americans in the South – Gee’s Bend is a tiny, but important, component of that language.

I don’t think that this is a language that has been clearly understood by mainstream critics and curators so far, as it is a traditional language – far from the giddy, rarified atmosphere of contemporary art. Seldom is anything traditional in the radar of today’s art scene. And thus, this is a traditional visual arts language that has been largely ignored by most high brow art critics and institutions, so preoccupied and focused on what’s new, rather than what’s good.

It is thus ironic, given the Civil Rights history of the quilters, that the quilts of Gee’s Bend suddenly cross the art segregation line between craft and art; in fact a bridge that seldom a “craft” has crossed before, and also present an insurmountable dilemma to art critics and curators worldwide, as this is a show that would be suicide (because of today’s political correctness) to dislike via a bad review.

The quilts force tunnel-visioned art critics and curators to look outside the latest “trendy” videographer or back-lit photographer with mural sized boring photographs. This is an unrecognized accomplishment of this show.

And I also submit that these works should no longer be boxed into a segregated label of “African American art” or “fine crafts” or whatever – they are simply brilliant examples of what common people, without art theory, without labels, without “isms”, without agendas, without grants, without endowments and without college degrees can deliver: sublime fine art.

Great American art.

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The Quilts of Gee’s Bend is on view at the Corcoran Gallery of Art from February 14 through May 17, 2004.

See historical photographs from Gee's Bend from 1937-1939 here. By the way, most of these photos are from the collection of the Library of Congress and taken under Federal Government sponsorhip; therefore, if you like any of them, you can actually get them directly from the Library of Congress at a great deal!

Buy the catalog, books and CD's about the Quilts of Gee's Bend at Amazon or through the Tinwood Alliance. You can also buy the video through the Corcoran here and the catalog here.

Voices of Gee’s Bend: A Gospel Brunch - Sunday, February 29, 2004 at 10:30 am.
The Cafe des Artistes on the ground floor of the Corcoran is celebrating the exhibition The Quilts of Gee’s Bend with a special Gospel Brunch featuring vocalists from several of the choirs of Gee’s Bend, Alabama. The pricing for the Gee's Bend Gospel Brunch is $23.95 for adults and $10.95 for children under 12 and includes general admission to the museum. Reservations are now being taken for seatings at 10:30am, 12 noon or 1:30pm. Please call 202.639.1786 to make a reservation.

Freelancer writer Mark Jenkins has been writing the "On Exhibit" column at the Washington Post Weekend magazine lately. Today he delivers a pretty good review of the Douglas Gordon show at the Hishhorn.

Gordon was also reviewed earlier in the Post's Sunday Arts by Blake Gopnik.

Only a few days left to apply! The deadline is March 1, 2004.

The Bethesda Arts and Entertainment District is accepting applications for the 2004 Bethesda Fine Arts Festival, an outdoor Fine Art and Fine Craft festival that will take place in the Woodmont Triangle area of Bethesda, Maryland.

The festival will take place, rain or shine, on Saturday, May 15 and Sunday, May 16, 2004. 150 booth spaces are available, $275 for a 10' x 10' booth, $25 application fee. All original fine art and fine crafts are eligible, no mass produced or commercially manufactured products are allowed. $2,500 in prize money.

Deadline for applications is March 1, 2004. To download an application form, visit www.bethesda.org or send a SASE to:
Bethesda Urban Partnership
Bethesda Fine Arts Festival
7700 Old Georgetown Road
Bethesda, MD 20814

For more information contact the Festival Director, Catriona Fraser, at (301) 718-9651.

Note: This is a great opportunity for artists to take their artwork directly to the buying public. The top fine arts festivals, such as Coconut Grove in Florida get well over a million people in attendance, and this one, in its first year, will present area residents with a great opportunity to see 150 artists and fine artisans all in one place. Since it is a juried fine arts festival, only fine arts and fine crafts will be exhibited. One of the rare local opportunities where an art venue actually will get tens of thousands of visitors in two days.

For Marylanders...

The Maryland Humanities Council Has Two Grant Categories.

The MHC awards grants to support programs that engage public audiences in the Humanities - history; philosophy; languages; literature; ethics; linguistics; archaeology; comparative religion; jurisprudence; the history, theory, and criticism of the arts and architecture; and those aspects of the social sciences employing historical or philosophical approaches. The Council has recently revised the criteria and guidelines for its grant program, which can be found at their website.

There are two grant categories: Opportunity Grants (up to $1,200) which are accepted year-round on a rolling basis and Major Grants ($1,201 to $10,000) which are awarded in two competitive rounds per year. The next Major Grant round - for projects beginning on or after July 1,2004 - is about to start and Drafts Proposals are due March 1 to deadline April 15. For projects beginning on or after Jan 1, 2005, Drafts Proposals are due Sep 1 to deadline Oct 15, 2004. Earlier submissions are recommended so that they can give feedback or help. Complete information on Major Grants can be found at this website. If you have any questions or need further information, please contact Stephen Hardy at 410-771-0653 or email him at shardy@mdhc.org.

Oportunity for artists...

Deadline May 7, 2004
The City of Gaithersburg invites area artists to submit an application to exhibit in one of their four art galleries (Gaithersburg Arts Barn, Kentlands Mansion, Activity Center at Bohrer Park, and City Hall Gallery).

The exhibition season runs from October 2004 through September 2005. Applications are available as of March 1, 2004 and must be postmarked or received by 5 pm on May 7, 2004. For an application please call or email the Gallery Director, Andi Rosati at 301-258-6394 or email him at arosati@ci.gaithersburg.md.us.

Arts Club Call for Artists...

Deadline: March 15, 2004
The Arts Club of Washington issues an annual call for entry for monthly solo exhibitions from September to June of each year in three on-site galleries. The deadline for submission is March 15, 2004. Visit their website or call the Director of Development at (202) 331-7282 to have an application forwarded online or by mail.

The Curator/Juror will be Scip Barnhart, who is not only an Associate Professor of Printmaking and Drawing at the Corcoran College of Art and Design and an Associate Professorial Lecturer of Printmaking at the George Washington University, but also one of our area's best printmakers.

Today is "Galleries" day at the Washington Post's Style section and Jessica Dawson reviews Roberto Matta: An Architect of Surrealism, at the Art Museum of the Americas.

Brazilian artist Lara Oliveira (currently an MFA candidate at GMU) debuts with her first solo exhibition in the Washington, DC area. Originally from Sao Paulo, this contemporary artist explores and embodies trans-nationalism and contrasts not only through her key artistic themes, but through her lifestyle and artistic development as well.

The exhibition is titled Planalto: Abstract Oil Paintings by Lara Oliveira and it is at:
Latin American Cultural Space Inc.
Consulate of El Salvador
1724 20th Street, NW, Washington, DC 20009
Phone: (202) 667-6674

The exhibition runs from March 4 – 28, 2004 with an Opening on March 5, 2004, from 6 - 8pm.

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Glen Friedel opens at Gallery Neptune on March 12, from 6-9 PM with a show titled "Experiments in Radiance." Artist Reception Friday, March 12, 6-9 PM. Artist Talk, March 13, 5 PM.

John Perrault makes an eloquent case why figurative sculpture can often carry the content that truly abstract sculpture cannot.

After you read that posting by Perrault, then please also read an earlier one on an exhibition of figurative sculptures at the Met.

I find the huge variance around one theme fasciating, and a window into the humanity of an art critic - liking "X" here and disliking "X" there because of "fill-in-the-blank."

Just finished the radio show with Voice of America. I believe it will be broadcast on Sunday. In addition to Cuban art, I managed to also discuss the general Washington art scene, how deep and diverse it is, how many galleries there are, how our museums are among the best in the world, and more importantly in this crusade, how it is generally ignored and even dismissed by our own mainstream media.

Dr. Claudia Rousseau, who was one of Latin America's most respected art critics, and who now lives in Montgomery County and writes for the Gazette has written an excellent review of our current Figurative Painting Show now on exhibition at Fraser Gallery Bethesda.

I'll be interviewed by the Voice of America radio network later on today as part of their cultural broadcasts to the world. The interview will be about our current exhibition by Cuba's three leading female photographers.

These photographers's works are just sensational in my biased opinion, and this is certainly our key photography exhibition of the year for Georgetown. It's the debut in DC by two of them (Cirenaica Moreira and Marta Maria Perez Bravo as well as the second showing of Elsa Mora's photographs.

The exhibition hangs until March 17, 2004 at Fraser Gallery Georgetown. See my earlier posting here. The exhibition will also be reviewed by Lou Jacobson in tomorrow's Washington City Paper.

This is one of four Cuban art exhibitions that we have planned between the two galleries for 2004. Later on this year we'll have Sandra Ramos, then Aimee Garcia Marrero and then a second iteration of our highly acclaimed From Here and From There group exhibition of Cuban artists and artists of Cuban lineage from the Cuban Diaspora around the world.

President Bush’s proposed FY2005 budget recommends an increase of $55 million for the nation's cultural agencies. Proposed increases include $18 million for the National Endowment for the Arts for the new “American Masterpieces” initiative, $27 million for the National Endowment for the Humanities, and $10 million for the Office of Museum Services.

Nicole Bouknight is interested in learning about photography and is seeking an apprenticeship with a photographer in the Washington, DC area. She's interested in learning the basics in photography, including: lighting, composition and darkroom procedures, also interested in learning to use digital cameras. She is also interested in assisting a photographer with on-location and studio assignments for exchange in education. Contact Nicole Bouknight via email at oceansblu143@yahoo.com

Some International Photography Call for Artists:

Deadline: Friday 2 April 2004
WILDLIFE PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR COMPETITION.
The aims of this competition are to find the best wildlife pictures taken by photographers worldwide, and to inspire photographers to produce visionary and expressive interpretations of nature. The judges will be looking first and foremost for aesthetic appeal and originality, and will also be placing an emphasis on photographs taken in wild and free conditions. With digital images now being accepted, the competition judges will also be looking for images that are a true representation of life on Earth. Digital images submitted on CD are also accepted.

The competition is open to anyone, amateur or professional, of any age or nationality. Full details and entry forms are online here.

The 2003 exhibition is currently on display at The Natural History Museum, in London until 18th April, 2004.

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Deadline: 25th March 2004
ANNUAL CALENDAR COMPETITION
An opportunity to have your work promoted to the creative industry by having it picked for a 2005 Calendar Competition featuring the photography, digital imaging and mixed media work being used in advertising, design and the publishing market sectors.

Categories: Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter. Entry fees are 10% reduced if entries are received by 27 February 2004; however, if you reference "CN12Feb" the final deadline is 25th March 2004.

For entry forms e-mail info@refocus-now.co.uk and to read the guidelines visit this website.

Addison-Ripley in Georgetown has "Lost Images: Berlin Mitte," a photographic exhibition by Frank Hallam Day. The show goes on until March 27, 2004.

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Guillermo Silveira presents "The Cosmic Egg." This myth relates to the recent total solar eclipse. Silveira introduces us to an insane man who hopes to convince the audience that globalization will be possible if we all worship the Cosmic Egg. He sings, recites poetry, dances with cosmic chix, and creates a song with the audience, in his effort to find world unity and peace among nations and generations.

Location: The National Theatre
When: Monday, March 1, 2004 at 6:00pm and at 7:30pm

There are infuriating "high art" double standards that continue to bother me, as one discovers more and more variations upon the same theme.

The Theme:
J. Seward Johnson's "art" has been brutalized by the press everywhere. The reason given is not that Seward is a bad guy or even a bad artist, but that his concept of taking someone else's two-dimensional art works - in Seward's latest case the Impressionists - and making them into a three dimensional "new" work is both kitschy and reprehensible.

The Hypocrisy:
1. As I whined about it before, the British artist brothers Jake and Dinos Chapman's early work was based on the famous Goya etchings Disasters of War. Initially they used plastic figures to re-create Goya in a miniature three-dimensional form, and like Johnson (later on), one of these 83 scenes became a life-sized version using mannequins. Yet the Chapmans are darlings of the art world and were favorites in the last Tate show.

2. Whitney Biennial selectee Eve Sussman's "art" is to take Velasquez's Las Meninas and turn it into "ten minutes of a costume-drama feature film.”

3. Jane Simpson is one of Artnet.com's Artists to Watch for 2004. Her stellar reputation in the artworld has been acquired partially by her creation of sculptures based on Giorgio Morandi paintings.

Am I the only one who sees that all of these people are essentially working the same generic concept as J. Seward Johnson - but unlike Johnson, they are being lauded and praised?

What am I missing here?

Van Gogh Photograph

Purchased for one dollar in an antique store! Read the story here.

Photoworks at Glen Echo Hosts Portfolio Critique.

Photography enthusiasts are invited to bring their portfolios to Photoworks’ beautiful new studio space to be critiqued at no fee by professional photographers on the Photoworks faculty. Over coffee and bagels, photographers with all levels of experience will have the opportunity to share their work and receive feedback and comment and participate in fun and informal discussions with both amateur and professional photographers. Portfolios can consist of either digital or traditional work in either black and white or color.

When: Sunday, March 14, 2004 - 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 noon

Where: Photoworks, Glen Echo Park, Glen Echo, Maryland.

Founded in the early ‘70s, Photoworks is a self-funded photography program that offers classes, workshops, lectures, exhibit space and an open darkroom. The classes are designed to teach all levels of students camera, digital and darkroom skills and processes to make fine art photographs, and emphasizes a strong summer program for young people. All Photoworks teachers are professionals working in editorial, commercial and fine art fields, and Photoworks is proud to have launched the careers of many well-known area commercial and art photographers.

WETA's The Program radio show is supposed to be (according to their own description) about exploring "trends, events and issues in the Washington-area arts scene."

Sunday's program was about the story of Betsy, The Fingerpainting Chimp.

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The Call Box Project, a city wide project, is funded to make historical markers of the old, unused Fire and Police Call boxes. The Dupont Circle Citizen's Association (DCCA) has 23 boxes in the Dupont Circle Area and plans to mount a piece of art work in each box. DCCA does require that every picture include the fountain that is in the center of Dupont Circle, but the fountain doesn't have to be the only focus of the picture.

A description of the project, as well as the Artists' Call and Art Specs which give details on dates, times and methods of submitting art work, are available on this website.

Note: As the call documents state, the DCCA will not pay artists for their producing their work even if it is selected to be reproduced in a box. The artists who are chosen will still own their original art work and can sell, or do whatever they want, with it. Priority will be given to artists who live in, or work in, the Dupont Circle area. DCCA hopes to display art work from 23 different local artists, however, more than one piece may be accepted from an artist and art will also be accepted from artists who do not live or work in Dupont Circle. The level one submissions of art samples are due to March 31, but the deadline for final original art work that includes the fountain does not need to be submitted until the end of the year. More info: Carol Galaty carolgalaty@speakeasy.net.

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Deadline: Friday, April 2, 2004.
In2Words: Numbers & Words. An exhibition in two parts exploring the use of numbers and words in contemporary art. Hosted by Target Gallery in Alexandria.

Part One: Numbers, juried by Sarah Tanguy, Independent Curator, Washington, DC, exhibit dates: June 10-July 18, 2004.

Part Two: Words, juried by Krystyna Wasserman, National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, DC, exhibit dates: July 24-August 22, 2004.

Deadlines for both exhibitions is Friday, April 2, 2004. Fee is $25 for slides of up to 3 works. All artists/all media. Broad interpretations encouraged. Artists can apply to either or both exhibits. Awards up to $650.

Call 703.838.4565 ext. 4 or email Claire at targetgallery@torpedofactory.org or send SASE to:
In2Words
105 N.Union Street
Alexandria, VA 22314

Today's Sunday Arts in the Post is a rare treat with not only a Blake Gopnik review of Douglas Gordon at the Corcoran, but also an incredibly rare gallery review by Gopnik's predecessor, Paul Richard of a couple of area painters at Fusebox Gallery.

First Gopnik...

In his review of Gordon, Gopnik (who is a big fan of video art - in fact he was once asked "what should artists be doing today, if they are serious artists?" and he answered "only manipulated photography and video") gushes about Gordon. If the New York Times' Roberta Smith is giddy about Gordon, then Gopnik is nearly orgasmic as he heaves praise after praise on the Scottish artist's video work. You can also see a video of Blake discussing the show here. A video of a video show... if Blake slows it down to a video frame a minute... then is it great art redux?

I will visit this show next week and let you know which bodily function of mine it affects.

Paul Richard used to be the Post's Chief Art Critic until he retired a couple of years ago and was replaced by Gopnik. Unlike Gopnik, who rarely if ever visits area galleries and concentrates nearly exclusively on museum shows (at least so far), Richard's longevity at the Post allowed him to become deeply immersed in Washington area artists, galleries and scene. His review of Fusebox in today's Sunday Arts is a rare treat from the Post, and offers us an insight into a couple of things beyond the review itself.

First, this is the kind of visual arts coverage that the Post should be doing every Sunday, or at least once a month, not once or twice a year. Fusebox, which is a very hard-working gallery, gets the kind of coverage with this review that most area gallery owners would trade their first-born for (if any had children that is). That is good for Fusebox and for Washington art, and the Post should do it more often.

But the review itself is something else...

Richard uses his ample and first-hand knowledge of Washington art, artists and history to give painter Jason Gubbiotti something worse than a bad review (such as Jessica Dawson once gave painter Andrew Wodzianski when she destroyed him in this review). He gives Jason a patronizing review, expressing some interest here and there, but also handcuffing Gubbiotti too close to the Color School guys that Richard probably used to hang around with. He even dubs Jason's work as "fey."

I think that a review is good if it's really super passionate either way - such as Gopnik's glowing review of Gordon and Dawson's brutalizing of Wodzianski and C.M. Dupre or Gopnik's now famous destruction of J. Seward Johnson.

Richard treats Ian Whitmore, the other painter in the show, with less attention but a bit more kindness. I quite like Whitmore's work and have reviewed it favorably in the past, when he exhibited at "Strictly painting IV" at the McLean Project for the Arts - a show co-curated by Fusebox's Sarah Finlay.

But, in case you missed it, he also sends his successor, Blake Gopnik a not so subtle message in the last paragraph of the review. Blake's position on the issue of "painting is dead" is well-known. So Richard closes his review by writing:

"I liked these shows. What I liked best about them is that neither offers videos or blown-up back-lit photographs. It is nowadays a treat to encounter ambitious young artists who love the smell of paint."

Who says art criticism is boring? Am I the only one who'd love to read a review of the same show, independently done and written, by these two guys?

How about the The Quilts of Gee's Bend?

A week ago, someone named Will Haygood wrote a spectacular Washington Post review/article about the "Quilts of Gee's Bend" exhibition at the Corcoran.

It's not only well-written, but Haygood really gets to the human aspect of this exhibition - the strong, beautiful women of Gee's Bend - in a way that not many of us could. It is one of the best pieces of written art - about art - that I have read in the Post in years.

This was a major, multi-page review in Sunday Arts, and while it was brilliant, I am somewhat curious as to why this Post writer, rather than one of the Post's art critics, wrote the piece.

The New York Times dubbed this show one of the “ten most important shows in the world,” with high brow critics like Kimmelman heaping well-deserved praises all over it, and having seen it myself, I will tell you that it is without a doubt the best quilt show that I have ever seen.

So with a giddy endorsement from one of the most influential art critics in the nation, writing from the art pages of the most powerful newspaper in the world, it is curious that none of the Post's art critics covered this show (so far) and with the huge extravaganza of a review last Sunday, it seems that the Haygood review may be it.

Possibly because Blake Gopnik had reviewed the show earlier when it was in New York. And let me tell you - it is one of Gopnik's best written and more insightful reviews to date.

The show will be up at the Corcoran until May 17, 2004. Plenty of time for my theory (unlike Einstein's dark matter theory) to be proven wrong.

Einstein's prediction of the existence of "dark energy" (a force that works against gravity) has been confirmed.

Thus now we know that the Universe, which is about 13.7 billion years old, has about 30 billion years left before it "ends."

That's a long time for visual artists to try to come up with something that's "new" in order for them to be "good" in the eyes of many critics and curators.

I'll stick to drawing.

Health Insurance for Artists...
The Artists' Health Insurance Resource Center database was created in 1998 by The Actors’ Fund of America, with a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, as a health insurance resource for artists and people in the entertainment industry.

Since then, with support from The Commonwealth Fund, it has expanded to include resources for the self-employed, low-income workers, the under-insured, the uninsured who require medical care and many other groups.

Visit them here.

Earlier I posted about Douglas Gordon at the Hirshhorn...

Well... in a first for the Hirshhorn --- the Museum will open the Douglas Gordon exhibition for twenty-four consecutive hours, 24 Hour Psycho (1993), the artist's famous video installation that stretches the Hitchcock classic into a twenty-four experience, is the inspiration for this all-night happening. This unique museum drop-in event, will also include music, gallery discussions, and a "Meet the Artist" interview with Douglas Gordon conducted by the Hirshhorn Director of Art and Programs and Chief Curator Kerry Brougher on Sunday at 3 p.m. in the Ring Auditorium.

24 Hour Access for 24 Hour Psycho starts on Saturday, February 28, 5:30 p.m. through Sunday, February 29, 5:30 p.m.

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The Arlington Arts Center, currently under renovation, is taking applications for its eight individual artist studios. Deadline is March 1, 2004. Call 703-797-4573 or email artscenter@starpower.net for more information. The application can also be downloaded from the center's website at www.arlingtonartscenter.org.

Deadline February 28, 2004
Capitol Arts Network presents a National Figure Show “The Human Figure,” a Juried All-Media Exhibition, sponsored by the Washington Gallery of Photography & Virtual Pose, April 9-May 5, 2004.

All figurative work eligible, including painting, sculpture, photography, fiber art, and others. Cash awards and prizes. Eric Westbrook, juror. Slides or jpegs due Feb. 28. Entry fee: $25/4 entries, $5/each over. Prospectus at their website, or call 301-661-7590 for further info or email them at capitolarts@hotmail.com.

Exhibition held at Washington Gallery of Photography, 4850 Rugby Ave., Bethesda, MD 20814.

The Bethesda Arts and Entertainment District is accepting applications for the 2004 Bethesda Fine Arts Festival, an outdoor Fine Art and Fine Craft festival that will take place in the Woodmont Triangle area of Bethesda, Maryland.

The festival will take place, rain or shine, on Saturday, May 15 and Sunday, May 16, 2004. 150 booth spaces are available, $275 for a 10' x 10' booth, $25 application fee. All original fine art and fine crafts are eligible, no mass produced or commercially manufactured products are allowed. $2,500 in prize money.

Deadline for applications is March 1, 2004. To download an application form, visit www.bethesda.org or send a SASE to:
Bethesda Urban Partnership
Bethesda Fine Arts Festival
7700 Old Georgetown Road
Bethesda, MD 20814

For more information contact the Festival Director, Catriona Fraser, at (301) 718-9651.

Terry Parmelee's paintings and prints will be exhibited at Jane Haslem Gallery through mid-April. Opening reception is today, February 21st, noon to five, and by appointment. The show is held in conjunction with the publication of Parmelee's Catalogue Raisonne, "Terry Parmelee Prints, 1966-1999". The gallery is located at 2025 Hillyer Place NW, phone: (202) 232-4644.

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Kelly Towles will be featured in Taking Over the Art Store: A Group Show. Opening reception: tonite February 21 at 10pm. Location: the Art Store in Georgetown. 3019 M St, NW (Between 30th & 31st Street). 202/342-7030.

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"Black: A Celebration of a Culture", presents the vibrant panorama of 20th-century black culture in America and around the world in more than 500 photographs from the turn of the last century to the present day. Each photograph, hand-picked by Deborah Willis, one of America's leading historians of African-American photography, celebrates the world of music, art, fashion, sports, family, worship or play.

Willis is a MacArthur Fellow and author of The Black Female Bodyand Reflections in Black. Her latest book is A Small Nation of People.

At Vertigo Books, 7346 Baltimore Ave. College Park MD 20740 Tel: 301-779-9300

New York Times' art critic Roberta Smith is absolutely giddy about the Douglas Gordon show at the Hirshhorn.

I haven't seen the show yet (but will) and I will be honest enough to admit that I am already predisposed to dislike it, or rather to be bored by it, which is what happens to me with a large percentage of video "art."

The reason (I think) is that often the concept of the video artist's "art" is a lot more interesting than the final product. Add to that that "video art" is more often than not a combination of video and still photography - really a traditional mish mash of genres, and by the second or third video in a row by the same guy, I find myself just reading the wall text and looking at the still photographs and just barely glancing at the actual home movie... oops! I mean "video art."

But not Ms. Smith, who finds that Gordon's work "can trigger an almost giddy optimism about the general state of contemporary art and refresh your confidence in the possibility of artistic progress, even in these postmodern times."

Gordon's most famous and acclaimed work — famous indeed, but I wonder how many people have actually seen it in its entirety — is "24 Hour Psycho," an installation in which Alfred Hitchcock's famous movie thriller is extended to 24 hours, instead of proceeding at the usual speed of 24 frames per second. You can see it at the Hirshhorn - pop corn prohibited.

Progress is progress...

Today is the third Friday of the month and thus the Canal Square Galleries (31st Street NW and M Street in Georgetown) will have their monthly openings. We will have what I consider our key photography show of the year.

It is work by three of Cuba's most gifted female photographers: Elsa Mora, Marta Maria Perez Bravo and Cirenaica Moreira.

The openings go from 6-9 PM and are catered by the Sea Catch Restaurant. They are free and open to the public. Also tonight, instead of our usual Sangria, we will be serving Cuba Libres (Rum & Coke), and playing Benny More music to get in the Cuban mood.

See ya there!

Sometime tomorrow morning this site will receive its 5,000th visitor!