Vanity galleries

A vanity gallery is an art gallery that "rents" its space to artists in order for the artist to have a show. Thus, the main driver in having a show at a vanity gallery is not necessarily the quality of the artwork, but the artist's ability to pay the gallery to host his/her artwork.

New York is crawling with vanity galleries, and the vast majority of European galleries are vanity galleries. In the US however, vanity galleries are often looked down upon by everyone, since they are essentially a "rental" gallery. A knowledgeable art critic or curator knows which galleries in his/her town are vanity galleries, and often ignore them, much like book critics ignore most self-published writers, who use "vanity publishers."

An interesting fact, at least here in Washington, is the fact that I have seen "reputable" galleries which sometimes cross the line and become "charge the artist" galleries or vanity galleries once in a while, as the mighty dollar (or lack thereof) calls.

Sometimes, at Fraser Gallery, we'd get a phone call from an embassy, or from the agent of a Hollywood actor who's also a "painter" or "photographer," or from an individual "artist," and they'll ask us how much would we charge to host a show by their "artist."

When we'd inform them that we do not rent the gallery for artists to have shows, they'd thank us and hang up. Then a few months later I'd see that "Hollywood artist" or "embassy artist" exhibiting in one of the area's "reputable" art galleries, and immediately recognize that - at least for that month - that gallery is making ends meet by renting the space to someone.

While I understand that most galleries are labors of love, and often run by the skin of one's teeth, I still find it somewhat distasteful, and dishonest - to appear (on the surface) to be a gallery that shows work based on merit, while at the same time showing work based on an artist, or a corporation's ability to pay.

And it's not just commercial art spaces. Several years ago, the WCP profiled a then a local non-profit, which inadvertently admitted charging a multinational corporation a hefty fee to put up an art show at the "reputable" non-profit art spaces.

One can even make the case that even some museums sometimes cross the line and become "vanity museums."

A few years ago I was astounded when a Culture Minister from one of the embassies in DC told me that they had finished a deal with a local museum to host the first ever retrospective of one of that country's artists for a fee of four million dollars! To him, it was "business as usual," while to me it was distasteful and dishonest and left a bad taste in my mouth about that museum for the longest time.

Do you want to know what Magdalenian Art is?

Charles Downey, at Ionarts, has the best review that I've read so far on The Passion of The Christ.

A strategy for saving money on framing costs...

According to some stats I read a few years ago in a framing trade magazine, the average cost of framing in the Greater DC region was $67 an hour. It’s probably more than that now.

Other than time, framing two-dimensional work is often the most expensive step in organizing an exhibition (to the artist), and it’s astounding how little most art schools prepare students (and faculty) for avoiding the trap of spending a lot of money on framing.

There are some steps that artists can take to significantly reduce the cost of framing. Here I will try to list the most common mistakes, how to avoid them, and more importantly, how to get your artwork framed for a lot less than taking it to a framing shop to get it framed.

First and foremost: Prepare! Do not leave your framing to the very last minute. Having said that, I know that most of you will leave the framing to the last minute and then panic – go to your neighborhood framing shop, and drop way too much money to get custom frames made for your artwork. If you can afford it, and the price history of you artwork can sustain it – then skip this posting. But if you want to save a lot of money on framing, then prepare!

Do not, under any circumstances let the gallery or a second party take care of your framing unless you have the full costs ahead of time and in writing. Otherwise you will get stuck at the end of your exhibition with a framing bill rather than a commission check.

First of all: If (and only if) you can, work in standard sizes. Most photographers and painters already do. But unless your compositional demands call for it (like mine do), avoid working in one of a kind sizes. American and European standard sizes are different, but US sizes cover a huge range of sizes, such as 5x7, 8x10, 11x14, 12x16, 20x24, etc. If you can work within one of those sizes – i.e. do your watercolor on a sheet in one of those sizes, or print your photo on paper that size, etc. then half the battle is won, as then you should be able to buy ready-made frames that will automatically accommodate your matted work. This is important, as a good frame from any craft store, or from any art catalog, is usually a lot less than having one built from scratch! For example, a 16x20 metal molding frame, back metal brace/clips, wire, glass, pH-balanced acid free mat, hanging wire and acid free foam core backing is anywhere from $20 - $30 in any art catalog or locally from Apex in Alexandria. Having the exact same frame hand-made in a frame shop is around $100.

If your work, because of composition or whatever, doesn’t fit into a standard size mat or frame, then another tactic is to go and shop for a ready-made frame that is larger than your artwork – at least three inches all around the diameter of the artwork. Then take that frame and your artwork to a frame shop and have them cut the mat for you. Now you are only paying for the labor and materials to cut a mat – not to build everything from scratch.

If you can’t find a frame in a shop that fits your unique sizes, then shop through art supply catalogs and have them make you one. The savings over storefront framers is still significant. I personally buy a lot of frames from this place. Once you sign up, you get their catalogs as well, and then I hit them when they have a sale going on! From any supplier you can order moldings in one inch increments, so if your work is 18x30 inches, then you'd order a set of 18 inch molding, a set of 30 inch molding and it will be delivered with the hardware needed to assemble it - all you'll need is a screwdriver. Then visit your local glass shop for a piece of glass.

Because most solo shows involve a larger number of works, you should start thinking way ahead of time as to the number of frames that you will need. If you can decide that you will need twenty frames for your show, and you know what size they will all be, then go shopping for ready-made frames in any of our local area arts and crafts stores, or other stores that stock frames, such as IKEA or Bed, Bath and Beyond. Once you find a frame that you like, turn it over and see who makes them. Write the manufacturer’s information down, and when you get home, call the manufacturer of the frame and place an order for the number of frames that you will need. You are now buying the frames wholesale and saving yourself the entire store mark-up!

Don’t let the process of establishing an account with the frame manufacturer scare you. They may require an Employee Identification Number (EIN) – you can give them your social security number-- and they will have a minimum purchase (usually $250) – but by the time that you purchase 20-25 frames, that will be easy to meet. All you are doing is ordering the frame directly from the manufacturer rather than buying them through a store – it’s perfectly legal and saves you a considerable amount of money.

If you work on canvas, you may not even need to frame them. Ask the gallery owner – a lot of galleries will be happy to hang canvasses that are “gallery dressed.” That means that the edge of the canvas wraps to the back and that’s where it is stapled – rather than the side. We actually prefer to show canvas paintings that way.

Do not cheapen your artwork by choosing cheap materials. At all costs avoid using acidic mats (use only pH-balanced, acid free mats) and do not use cardboard to back the work – use acid free foam core. Using cheap materials not only damages the work eventually (as the acid migrates to the artwork) but also tells a potential collector that you are not serious as an artist to properly display your work. I am shocked at the number of badly hand-cut mats in acidic mats that I see in galleries all over the country – a lot of time is just plain ignorance of the business side of the fine arts – and the importance of presentation of artwork in a professional environment – such as a reputable fine arts gallery should be.

If you are an artist that moves a lot of work a year, then you should seriously consider learning how to cut your own mats. A sheet of museum quality archival 32x40 inches mat board is around $6-8 and you can get four 16x20 inches mats from it. To have one 16x20 archival mat cut in a frame shop will be around $20. You can buy a decent mat cutter for around $150, and it comes with a video to teach you how to cut mats.

The bottom line is that minimizing framing costs not only reduces the amount of money that an artist has to invest in offering a show, but also reduces the price point of the artwork – a very important issue, especially for young, emerging artists without a sales history track.

OK, OK no more emails about my posting on how artists can save money on framing their artwork.

Rather than answer each one individually, I will post the suggestions here later. By the way, I teach that as part of the Success as an Artist seminars. There's one coming soon (date will be announced soon) - they book up almost immediately and there's already a waiting list.

Check later and I'll post a series of steps that will reduce your framing costs by 80%.

I've received a deluge of emails (in addition to the usual ones trying to sell me Viagra, Cialis and dates with bored housewives) from people who want me to post more on Bad Things Galleries/Artists do to each other.

OK.... here's some more:

Bad Things Galleries Do to Artists: A young emerging artist approaches a "gallery" that is also a framing business. The "gallery" agrees to give the artist a show and has the artist deliver the work to the place. The gallery tells the artist that they will do the framing. At the end of the show, the artist expects a check from the gallery for his 50% commission on all sales, but instead gets a bill for the framing. This is because the "gallery" has framed all of the artist's works - but maybe only 2-3 pieces have sold - and yet the artist is stuck with the framing bill for all of the work. This is another reason why artists must have a written contract prior to exhibiting work, specifying who and to what standards the work must be framed to. And, whenever possible avoid galleries that "offer" to frame your work as part of the exhibition. The average cost of framing artwork in the DC area is $67 an hour just for labor! If are an artist that has a show coming, you can plan your framing ahead of time and save about 80% of what a framing shop or store would charge you by following a simple set of steps... if you want to know what those steps are, email me.

Bad Things Artists Do To Galleries: A gallery offers an artist a show, and trusting the artist, operates on a handshake, rather than a written agreement. As most galleries plan their shows months in advance, the gallery plans the year several shows in advance and expects the artist to deliver the artworks for the show at the specified date. The gallery keeps in touch with the artist, who assures the gallery that everything is on track. A few months before the show, the gallery requests some images for publicity purposes, which the artist dutifully provides. However, a week before the show, the panicked artist calls and says that "he doesn't have enough work for the show" and, by the way, that he has also already sold some of the works that he had provided images to the gallery earlier (and which the gallery has used to advertise the show). On the night before the show opening, the artist shows up with a lot less work than expected, and the gallery discovers that the work is presented in less-than-professional standards: badly-cut acidic mats backed by brown cardboard, scratched framed and scratched plexiglass, and canvasses with nailed on pine boards. An hour before the opening, the artist is still finishing up painting touches on some of his oil paintings. As a result, some of his pieces are still wet at the opening, and someone accidentally brushes up against one of the wet paintings and smears it. The scandalized artist makes a scene, and later sues the gallery for "failing to protect his painting." It all goes to court, to great expense to the gallery and the artist, until the judge throws the case out as ridiculous. The artist is blacklisted by art dealers and never shows in town again.

By the way.... the above is a true story and happened to one of our Canal Square neighbors.

Gallery jurying for artists...

Touchstone Gallery will be jurying for new members on April 28th.The gallery is located at 406 7th Street, NW, 2nd floor, Washington, DC 20004. (202) 347-2787 - fax 202-347-3339. Please call the gallery for details or send an e-mail to info@touchstonegallery.com

Open Studios...

The artists of NoMA (for North of Massachusetts Ave.) open their studios to the public only twice a year. During this Open Studios Weekend on Saturday and Sunday May 1-2 from noon-5pm, artists meet with the public, discuss their work and offer art for sale directly to their visitors. The Open Studios, which include live music and refreshments, take place in four buildings - 57 N Street NW, 443 I Street NW, 52 O Street NW and 411 New York Avenue NE.

Senior Exhibit at the Corcoran...

The Corcoran School of Art All Senior Show features work by Rahshia Linendoll, Djkarta, and Katie Donegan. Reception for the artists on May 6, 6-8 pm at the Corcoran. The work is on exhibit May 5 - 17, 2004.

Georgetown Third Friday Openings...
The four Canal Square Galleries (MOCA, Fraser, Alla Rogers and Parish) will be having their joint openings/extended hours this coming Friday, April 16 from 6-9 PM. The openings are catered by the Sea Catch Restaurant and are free and open to the public. The Canal Square is at 1054 31st Street, corner of M Street, NW in Georgetown.

Alastair Bolton at St. Elmo's

British ex-pat Alastair Bolton has an exhibition of his work currently in the back gallery of St. Elmo's Fire Gallery in Bethesda.

Emergency Grants to Visual Artists...

Change, Inc. provides one-time $1,000 emergency grants to visual artists of any discipline who are facing possible eviction, unpaid bills, fire damage or any other emergency the Change board deems worthy. Applicants must be professional artists who can demonstrate need. Send a letter of need, proof of inability to pay bills or rent, a resume, any reviews or press releases of past exhibitions, photos or slides of work and two reference letters from others in the field. Grant applications should be sent to Change, Inc, PO Box 54, Captiva, FL 33924 (212) 473-3742.

Trawick Prize for Area Artists...

The Trawick Prize: Bethesda Contemporary Art Awards. Deadline for slide submission is Friday, May 21, 2004. The 2nd annual juried art competition awards $14,000 in prize monies to four selected artists. 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; 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 (donated by Fraser Gallery). 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. For more information, please contact Stephanie Coppula at scoppula@bethesda.org or call 301.215.6660 ext. 20. Website: www.bethesda.org.

Need to make slides from your digital files? Visit Slides.com

I'm rushing around today - trying to tie some loose knots in closing a house for me. Check later...

I've been asked to serve as a juror for the 2004 Ida F. Haimovicz Visual Arts Award. It is always an honor in being asked to jury artists, and jurying artwork is one of the best ways to learn not only about the diversity of art, but also about the interesting manner in which art selection committees work.

Museum Exhibition Opportunity for Artists...

Deadline May 1, 2004

The Contemporary Crafts Museum and Gallery in Oregon is accepting applications for its 2005 exhibition schedule. In order to be considered for a solo exhibition, please submit: Cover letter stating your interest in a solo exhibition; Current Resume; Artist Statement; 10-20 slides; SASE for return of slides.

The Exhibition Planning Committee meets twice a year to review portfolios and schedules are usually completed one to two years in advance. Please forward applications to:

Lisa Conte
Exhibition Coordinator
Contemporary Crafts Museum & Gallery
3934 SW Corbett Avenue
Portland, OR 97239

Just when you think there's nothing new in art...

I received an email from British artist Martin Allen. In the email, Mr. Allen points me to an Ebay page, and once you go to that page, the page itself is the art!

In other words, the Ebay page is a work in progress, and by visiting the page, all visitors help to change and create the work of art by changing the Andale counter at the bottom of the page.

Allen writes:

"You are bidding to purchase this page - my latest one-off REALITY ART piece, (which as I have already said, you are actually helping to create just by reading this!) The starting price is 1 penny - with no reserve - and the postage and packing is free, anywhere - worldwide.".

I think this is smart and new, and not only pushes the definition of art - just when we thought it couldn't be pushed any further - but also employs the "anything is art" postmodernist mandate to his own interpretation.

Well done to Martin Allen!

Opportunity for artists...

Deadline May 13
Creative Partners Gallery has openings for exhibitions for 2005. The next jurying of work will be May 13. If interested please request a prospectus by calling 301/718 8520 or 301/493 8830.

For Women Photographers...

Deadline: July 1, 2004

Women In Photography International (WIPI) announces an international call for entries for virtual * visual : people - places - things, an international juried online photographic exhibition of works by female photographers.

Deadline for entries is 1st July 2004 midnight PST. Exhibition will run from August 1- October 1, 2004 at this website.

Prizes will be awarded for Best of Show, People’s Choice, and Best Professional (USA and Foreign) and Amateur (USA and Foreign). Open to all female photographers using any photographic process.

Entries must be submitted as digital files via the online form available here.

For complete entry guidelines visit this site.

Robert Hughes, perhaps the world's most influential art and eloquent art critic, recently wrote that Lucian Freud's new exhibition proves he is Britain's greatest living artist.

Statements like that are (of course) very subjective and attract immediate responses pro and con. I think that, as brilliant as Lucian Freud is, he wouldn't be my choice for the UK's greatest living artist - maybe number two. My top choice would be David Hockney.

But that's not the point of this posting. It got me to thinking... who would be our area's greatest living artist?

It seems a silly thought at first, and falls dangerously close to provincializing artists to a region or city or whatever. But it is an interesting and subjective question - loaded with close calls and ways of answering it.

There are a few of artists whose names float around as soon as this unanswerable question is asked... Manon Cleary, Joe Shannon, Anne Truitt...

But the answer, in my opinion is Sam Gilliam.

And yet, incredibly enough, this artist has never had a museum retrospective in his long, illustrious career, although there's currently one in the works and as soon as I have confirmation and dates, I will pass it along.

Bad things galleries do to artists: Unethical galleries will take in a piece of artwork by an artist, and when the price is discussed, the gallery says: "What's the price?" and the artist says: "$1000" The gallery nods OK and the artist leaves, knowing that if sold, he'll get $500 (most galleries in the DC area charge 50% commission (in NYC some are as high as 70%). The gallery then sells the piece, but for $2,000, sends the artist a check for $500 and pockets the extra $1,000. That is why artists should insist on having a contract with a gallery, and the contract must specifically address that the artist will get 50% of the actual sale price.

Bad things artists to do galleries: A reputable gallery gives an artist a show, and goes through all the various expenses associated with doing so (rent, electricity, staff salaries, publicity, ads, post cards, opening reception catering, etc.) So far the gallery has put forth a considerable investment in presenting the artist's works. An interested novice collector meets the artist at the opening and expresses interest (to the artist) in buying some of his artwork. The artist, wishing to stiff the gallery for their commission says: "See me after the show and I'll sell it to you directly and save myself the gallery commission." This is not only unethical, but it's also guaranteed to ruin the artist's reputation in the city, as these things always come out in the wash, and soon no gallery will exhibit any work by this artist.

People who know me well, know that I am an absolute and devoted fan of Camille Paglia. In my prejudiced opion she's one of my contenders for the title of "Most Brilliant Human Being Alive On the Planet."

Passion aside, she has a brilliant essay that should be a must read for anyone interested in the arts and/or education, and especially for anyone who curates, organizes, teaches, or writes about the arts. The article is an expanded version of a lecture delivered at a conference, "Living Literacies: What Does it Mean to Read and Write Now?," at York University, Toronto, Canada.

It is titled The Magic of Images: Word and Picture in a Media Age and here's an insightful paragraph:

"Post-structuralism and postmodernism do not understand magic or mystique, which are intrinsic to art and imagination. It is no coincidence that since postmodernist terminology seeped into the art world in the 1980s, the fine arts have receded as a major cultural force."

Go read it now.

Our art scene is just bursting with activity!

There's a great profile of artist Mark Clark in this weeks Washington City Paper. Can't read it online, as WCP does not archive - so go get the paper while it's out this week. Mark Clark is in the middle of a really interesting project to document his neighbors. Mark is the brother of Michael Clark, who runs MOCA in Georgetown, and who I am told fell a few days ago and broke his shoulder.

Tonite is the Bethesda Art Walk from 6-9 pm featuring 14 downtown Bethesda galleries and studios.

Studio Gallery will jury for new artists on Thurs, April 15, 2004, at 6:30pm. $35 jury fee. For info, call Lana Lyons, Director, at 202-232-8734.

Austrian Photographs (The Estate of Inge Morath. Curators: Kurt Kaindl and Brigitte Blueml) Reading by Honor Moore: "The Photographer and the Poet: A Friendship" is opening Thursday, April 15, 2004 7:30 pm at the Embassy of Austria. At the opening of the exhibit, American poet, Honor Moore, will read poems about Inge Morath and talk about their mutually inspiring friendship. The exhibition will be on display until June 10, 2004, weekdays from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm at the Embassy of Austria, 3524 International Court N.W., Washington, D.C. 20008 (Van Ness Metro Stop). RSVP for opening reception required: (202) 895-6776.

Mark Jenkins has a nice review of Muriel Hasbun in the Weekend Section of today's Post. Hasbun, who teaches at the Corcoran College of Art, has "Memento: Muriel Hasbun Photographs," an exhibition at the Corcoran Gallery of Art. Hasbun, who is from El Salvador, represented her country at the last Venice Biennale. She is represented locally by Conner Contemporary. One of my pet peeves with the Weekend section is their lack of attention to DC art galleries. Their reviews, by a huge percentage, concentrate on museum shows, often repeating a review that the Style section critics have already covered. I really wish that Weekend section editor Joyce Jones was a bit more receptive (or firm) in letting her "On Exhibit" writer also write about DC area art galleries. Either Michael O'Sullivan (who is now reviewing movies) or Mark Jenkins (who is now freelancing the "On Exhibit" column on Weekend) are well-versed and quite knowledgeable about our area's artists and galleries, so c'mon Joyce!

The 2004 Senior Thesis Exhibitions at the Corcoran are on until May 17, 2004. They consist of a series of ten, week-long, rotating exhibitions featuring photography, fine art and graphic design produced by members of the Corcoran graduating class, grouped by major. They are at the Hemicycle Gallery of the Corcoran. I will soon be swinging by to look at the current exhibit and will discuss it back here.

Here's an early look at at book that I am working on on the subject of Cuban baseball. Have a couple of publishers interested, but still shopping.

How readable is art writing?

Thanks to Terry Teachout: Golden Rule Jones has run 17 arts blogs through an on-line tool that tests Web sites or WORD documents for "readability."

According to the creator of the tool in question, "The Fog index has been developed by Robert Gunning. Its value is a school grade. The "ideal" Fog Index level is 7 or 8. A level above 12 indicates the writing sample is too hard for most people to read."

DCARTNEWS received a Fog Index of 12. That means that you'd need at least a high school education to read and understand my writing. Just for fun I ran some other area art critics and writers through it and in order of easier readability (from requiring less education to read to requiring more education according to the Fog Index):

Tyler Green in Modern Art Notes: 9.7

Joe Shannon, Art in America DC critic: 9.9

Jessica Dawson's review today: 11.3

Ferdinand Protzman in the Post: 11.9

Michael O'Sullivan review in the Post: 12.2

Paul Richard in the Post: 12.5

Mark Jenkins in the Post Weekend: 13.6

Blake Gopnik's last review in the Post: 13.7

Sidney Lawrence in Artnet.com: 13.7

Louis Jacobson in the City Paper: 14

Claudia Rousseau in the Gazette: 14.3

Joanna Shaw-Eagle in the Washington Times: 14.5

J.W. Mahoney, Art in America DC critic: 15.2

And at a whoopingly unreadable 19.3:

A Glenn Dixon review in the City Paper: 19.3

The Gazette newspaper (which is owned by the Washington Post) has an article on the subject of the tremendous success of the Bethesda Art Walk.

We're described as showing "bold and sometimes bawdy work." Can't recall the last time I've seen a gallery described as "bawdy."

I do share Elyse Harrison's concerns that one problem with the Bethesda Art Walk is that there are a few too many decorative, chain galleries on the "walk" - the type of galleries that sell decorative art and also do exorbitant framing to tack onto their "gyclees on canvas" reproductions of artists well-worth their owner's desperate resell attempts at Ebay.

The next Artwalk is tomorrow, Friday April 9, from 6-9 PM. See you there.

In the Post, Jessica Dawson takes off her gloves and puts artist Leith Eaton in her place. Eaton claims that her work is a new kind of "ism" and Jessica doesn't buy it - I agree with Dawson. This is a very good review that shows that art criticism can and should have teeth - and when intelligently applied, as in this review, it shows passion and opinion! Leith Eaton is at Foxhall Gallery through April 17, 2004.

Dawson also reviews one of my favorite DC area painters: Sheep Jones at Target Gallery. Jones' work at Target Gallery is a significant, if not huge, departure and new direction for Jones, whose work had previously concentrated in giving the viewer a sort of subterranean look at vegetables and roots. The new work opens a new path for this talented painter as we enter a dark and interesting door in her artistic discourse. I also agree with Dawson in Jessica's recommendation that Sheep lose the verbiage in her paintings.

Sheep Jones, is the Friends of the Torpedo Factory 2003 Artist of the Year. Washington printmaker Lou Stovall selected Jones as recipient of the award.

File this one in the "Stupid Things People Do" category.

Why do these Hellboy movie stills remind me so much of (OMIGOD has he already been forgotten?) Matthew Barney's stuff?

Volunteer Opportunity

The Bethesda Fine Arts Festival is currently looking for volunteers to help assist artists and patrons at this year's inaugural festival.

The event, with over 120 artists from all over the country, is expected to attract thousands of art lovers to downtown Bethesda, and will be held on Saturday May 15 from 10am - 6pm and Sunday May 16 from 10am - 5pm. For more information, contact festival Director, Catriona Fraser at CFraser@Bethesda.org or call 301/718-9651.

Washington Post photography critic Frank Van Riper has a good essay on the rekindling of his own art by his teaching of a photography course.

I've always noted that the best way to get your creative juices flowing is by being around artists, in fact art students are often the most fearless and enthusiastic, and enthusiasm and passsion about the arts is contagious.

Call For Erotic Artists...
Deadline: May 1, 2004

Juried show: Art @ Large, a New York City Erotic/Figurative Art Gallery, has a call for erotic artists. Juror: Grady T. Turner, New York based art critic, curator and author of "NYC Sex: How New York City Transformed Sex in America." All media and orientations in Erotic Art, Nudes, Sexuality - demure to explicit. Best of Show to receive solo exhibition in 2005. Send SASE for Prospectus to:

Art @ Large
630 Ninth Ave #707
New York NY 10036

Or download via web: www.artatlarge.com

When everything becomes art...

Cory Arcangel is a New York-based artist who hacks Nintendo game cartridges and then changes their images and sounds under the name BEIGE. His piece Super Mario Clouds v2k3 (2003) is in the 2004 Whitney Biennial. Arcangel kept a diary for NYFA Current detailing the periods just before and just after the opening of the Whitney Biennial on March 9, 2004. Read it here.

Another new art venue in town...

Celebration of Women: Vision and Movement, curated by Gerald Malitz opens Thursday, April 8, 2004, with a reception from 6:00 - 9:00 pm at the new Pepco Art Center: Edison Place Gallery. This new space has been in operation since November 2002 and this exhibit will help launch it as another great addition the DC arts scene.

For more details, visit the exhibition website here. The show includes 81 pieces by 23 area artists. Included in the show are Susanne Carmack, Gloria Cesal, Victor Ekpuk, Patsy Fleming, Elsa Gebreyesus, Mina Hanig, Ahmed Kachmar, Barbara Kerne, Sofia Kifle, Sharon Killian, Lu Lan, Stephanie Lane, Susan Makara, Ruth Marcus, Andrea P. McCluskey, Leslie Oberdorfer, Muatasim Omer, Anna Otchin, Dot Procter, Anastasia R. Simes, Lida Stifel, Patricia Underwood and Helen Zughaib.

This coming Friday, April 9th is the second Friday of the month and thus the Bethesda Art Walk from 6-9 pm featuring 14 downtown Bethesda galleries and studios: paintings, sculpture, photography, pottery, jewelry and mixed media. Participating galleries showcase artwork created locally, nationally and internationally. Enjoy free refreshments. Art Walk attendees may walk throughout downtown Bethesda’s streets or take the free shuttle that will stop at each individual gallery. For more information, please visit www.bethesda.org or call (301) 215-6660.

We will have a group show of contemporary realism, featuring work by New York painters David FeBland, John Jacobsmeyer and Laurel Wells, plus work by our own area's John Winslow, Chawky Frenn, Heather Neill and others. We'll also have European artist Zigymantas Augustinas, a prizewinner in the 2002 BP Portrait Prize at the National Portrait Gallery in London.

Among the many excuses that the Washington Post has given me in the past for not having more extensive gallery coverage in our area is lack of printspace.

Today, their Chief Art Critic, who seldom writes about DC area art galleries' shows, gives us a review of a lamp show in London.

The 2004 Pulitzer Prize winners - Congratulations to all the winners!

Whitney Biennial Curator Lawrence Rinder will be in DC on Friday, April 23 to participate in a Hirshhorn Museum forum that "explores the artists' role in creating healing images and their power to influence a community. A process that starts with the artists' self-expression - continues with the individual viewers' response - and finally has the potential to inspire healing in a community."

The forum is on Friday, April 23,2004 at 2:00pm at the Hirshhorn (3rd Floor). In addition to Mr. Rinder, the forum also includes sculptor Tim Tate, Director of the Washington Glass School (and whose solo opens May 14 at Fraser Gallery Bethesda), and Curator Ken Trapp, former Curator of the Renwick Gallery.

This forum is part of a conference by the Society for Arts in Healthcare taking place in DC on April 21 - 24, 2004.

Exhibition Proposals Wanted...
Deadline: May 1, 2004

The Hoyt Institute of Fine Arts is reviewing exhibition proposals for 2005-2006. Solo and Collaborative Exhibitions. All Media. Open to US residents 21+ in Mid-Atlantic States including PA, OH, NY, NJ, MD, DE, and Washinton,DC.

$25.00 review fee. 30% Commission. Insurance. Send SASE for a prospectus to:

Bob Karstadt
The Hoyt Institute of Fine Arts
124 E Leasure Av
New Castle PA 16101

Or call 724-652-2882 or visit their website.

Washington, DC sculptor Robert Cole, whose piece "Madre DellaPace" (Mother of Peace) was exhibited at the 2003 Florence Biennale, and won the Lorenzo di Medici Gold Medal there, is having an open studio to allow people to view the 16 foot sculpture and other work. The sculpture will then be moved to Merriweather Post Pavillion, where it will be on exhibit along with several other pieces by Cole.

The Open Studio is April 17 and 18 , 2004 from 12-6 PM. The Cole studio is located at 1714 15th St., (rear) NW. See a map and more details on his website.

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For Photographers...

Deadline: April 15, 2004
The Center for Fine Art Photography is hosting its International Fine Art Photography Exhibition that is open to professional and amateur photographers, for all forms of fine art photography created in black and white or color, using traditional or digital methods or elements of both processes. Total awards over $6,200. The Exhibition is from June 29 through August 21 in Fort Collins, CO. View and download the prospectus at this website and visit the Center's web site here.

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Deadline: April 30, 2004

9th Annual Photographic Competition Exhibition. Title: Visual Proof, Juror: Roy L Flukinger, Senior Curator of Film & Photography, Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center, Univ. of Texas at Austin. Open to all photographers, all photographic processes and all themes.

Entry Fee: $25 (for first three slides), $5 for each thereafter-up to ten slides total. Awards: $1000, $500, $250. Exhibition in Seattle at PCNW July 16 - Aug 29.

Visit their website for submission guidelines and entry form or send a 6 x 9 SASE to:

Photographic Center Northwest
Attn - 9th Annual Contest
900 12th Avenue
Seattle WA 98122

Questions? Contact Gallery Director: Ann Pallesen, email her at gallery@pcnw.org or call her at 206-720-7222x102

The artist that I'd like to highlight today is photographer Colby Caldwell, represented locally by Hemphill Fine Arts.

I first came across Caldwell's work back in the early 90's, when I wrote this review for Visions Magazine for the Arts. Since then, I've reviewed him a few more times, although I've never met Mr. Caldwell in person yet.

Meanwhile, Caldwell has continued to push the frontier of photography, and he can almost no longer be classified as just a "photographer," as he has accomplished an extraordinary variety of methods to deliver visual art that, although connected to photography in some sense, is still novel in both concept and presentation.

In his most recent showings, Caldwell re-discovery of old super 8 movies became the catalyst for photographs derived from those old movies.

And as noted in Washingtonian Magazine's 100 People to Watch:

Colby Caldwell was 15 credits away from a history degree when his buddies started a band. Lacking musical ability, Caldwell took a photograph that became the band's poster and decided he wanted to be a photographer, not a history teacher. Caldwell transferred to the Corcoran art school and had his first show at the Kathleen Ewing gallery. Twenty-three shows later, Caldwell, 34, teaches photography and fine arts at his alma mater.

Colby has already done nearly all that he can do in Washington. He has exhibited in the best galleries in this city, and he has exhibited in many of the non-profit venues, and he has exhibited in his alma mater, and every art critic in town has copiously praised Caldwell's work. It is well deserved as this is one of Washington's top talents.

This is a visual artist that I feel would truly benefit now by having a foot print in New York and Los Angeles and more exposure in those cities - more exposure outside of Washington - would be the next logical step for this talented and intelligent artist.

I am NOT saying by any means that Caldwell should move or leave Washington, as Blake Gopnik once recommended that a young DC artist do, but I am thinking out loud about an artist at the top of his form, whose work should be on the radar range of influential curators and collectors. Colby is one of the talents that "our local" curators should be discussing with their fellow curators in other cities at their curator get-togethers...

You get my point?
PS - Colby Caldwell also really needs to get a stronger footprint on the Internet - After I Googled him all I could come up with was this image. Get some photos out there!

The saying goes that if you "want to make a million dollars in the art market, then start with five."

Later tonight I'll be going to the grand opening of Light Street Gallery in Baltimore, which is being opened by my good friends Steve and Linda Krensky.

The Krenskys have (by far) the largest private art collection that I have ever seen in anyone's home in all my life. In fact, the Krensky house is so full of original artwork by DC area artists and artists from all over the world, so that nearly every inch of their ceilings are also covered in paintings, as they've long ago ran out of wall space!

Light Street Gallery will be a great addition to Baltimore's cultural tapestry and to our region. The gallery is located at 1448 Light Street in Baltimore, and can be reached at 410/254-0047 or on the web at www.lightstreetgallery.com.

The love of art by collectors often leads to them opening art galleries, such as Cheryl Numark and Numark Gallery, and now the Krenskys with Light Street Gallery. This is all good news to our art scene.

Starting today, I will try to highlight one DC area artist every few days or so, and discuss his or her work, and tell you why I like or dislike their work, and put up an image of their work (and maybe of them if I can find one or get one) here.

Check later today for my first pick to start the roll call of the Washington area's visual artists that have made an impression on me and why.

Opportunity for artists...
Deadline: 1 June 2004

The 2004 Eight Annual Georgetown International Art Competition is an opportunity for artists to exhibit two dimensional art in our Georgetown space.

We have had tremendous success with the previous juried exhibitions, which were widely reviewed in various local art magazines and local and national newspapers. See some of our reviews here. This exhibition has in several cases also opened up additional exhibition opportunites for artists in the DC area, and we've also picked up several artists to represent from the work submitted.

The 2004 juror is Kristen Hileman, Assistant Curator for Contemporary Art at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Gardens.

Read the prospectus and download the entry from here.

Another beauty in the "someone shoot me now" category.

My message to Dan Castellaneta (Homer), Nancy Cartwright (Bart), Yeardley Smith (sister Lisa), Julie Kavner (family matriarch Marge), Hank Azaria (bartender Moe and Apu the convenience store clerk) and Harry Shearer (Homer’s tyrannical boss, Mr. Burns and Bible-toting neighbor Ned Flanders)......

Oh forget it... I guess you do deserve $8 million a season to do voice overs for cartoons....

Someone shoot me now...

I'll be goddamned if this is not what I've been bitching about for the last 11 years that I've been living in the Washington, DC area!!!!

"The failure to challenge is a fundamental flaw in US arts journalism..... And how did this happen? Because there are few cities with multiple critical voices."

I've been frothing at the mouth about having more than one writer reviewing all 200-plus art galleries, non-profit art spaces, embassies and alternative art venues in our area - and a freelancer at that! -- it's not fair to Jessica Dawson, and it's not fair to Washington Post readers, and it's not fair to artists, and it's not fair to gallerists! (I ignore the Washington Times because Joanna Shaw-Eagle is seldom allowed to review local area artists - although I do thank the Times (and bite the hand that reviewed the dog) because they gave me a great review in my last art show).

But --- the point is that we need more than one point of view when it comes to galleries criticism - why don't our Art Editors (in both the Post and Times) get that when it comes to the (galleries) visual arts criticism/reviews?

There's several movie critics, several music critics, several visual art museum critics, several dance critics, a whole pride, bevy, ton, tribe... of theatre critics.... why only one gallery critic? The Post has many talented and qualified writers already: Wiltz, Trescott, Frey, Lewis,... plus freelancers like Protzman, Jacobson, Shannon, Mahoney. There's no lack of qualified art critics! It's ironic that the only paper that article author Norman Lebrecht praises is the Washington Post - but then, from a music perspective, the Post does offer superb critical coverage of music.

And yes - I do realize that once in a blue moon Blake Gopnik, or Michael O'Sullivan (or his freelance replacement on Weekend), is "allowed" to review a local gallery - but the bottom line is that we need more than ONE point of view.

Nobody asked me, but my opinion nonetheless...

We don't have a Artes Mundi Prize equivalent around here, but we do have the $14,000 Trawick Art Prize, and all Virginia, Maryland and DC area artists are eligible to apply for it. Visit this website for details. The deadline is May 21, 2004. Hurry!

The 2003 winners were Richard Cleaver, a sculptor from Baltimore, MD, who was awarded the top honor with $10,000; James Huckenpahler who was named second place and was given $2,000; Linn Meyers of Washington, DC who was bestowed third place and received $1,000 and the “Young Artist” award of $1,000 (and sponsored by us) was given to Jose Ruiz of Washington, D.C.

The 2004 jury members for the Trawick Prize are Jeffrey W. Allison, The Paul Mellon Collection Educator at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts; 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.

Anyone wishing to add funds to this regional art prize structure should contact Stephanie Coppula at (301) 215-6660. Time for some of our area's megacompanies to step up.

Why most modern art sucks:

The winner of the first £40,000 Artes Mundi Prize is a message written in dust. Martin Gaylord, writing in The Telegraph wonders "What has art become? It's hard to answer that question, except to say, "Very weird."

And Ben Issario, writing in the NY Times discusses the fact that "Internet Art" is dead and has reached digital exhaustion. Yet it wasn't that long ago that curators and critics - enamoured of what's new rather than what's good - were labeling Internet Art projects as the "new king of art."

This is what happens when novelty (sometimes coupled with shock or gimmick) is allowed to rule exclusively.

Both above links thanks to ArtsJournal.com.

Jessica Dawson's "Galleries" column in today's Post "scraps the art criticism and talks religion instead."

Jessica reviews Lane Twitchell at G Fine Art, in Georgetown (Annie, please update your website!).

She asks: "After all, religion and art can't occupy the same conversational space, can they?"

Catriona pointed out to me: How about America's best selling "artist"? Now that Thomas Kinkade is having a solo at a "real" art gallery, we've all faced with the question of the legitimacy of America's best-selling painter as an artist. And isn't Kinkade's huge success because of his marriage of art and religion?

I do not like it, will never like it and don't understand people who amass Kinkade's "art," but now that the "artworld" has cracked the door open for him, the ensuing dialogue (and food fight) that will follow, will be both interesting and good for art.

In fact, if any gallerist in Washington (not us, thank you) wants to really make the national headlines, they should contact Kinkade and offer him his first solo in a commercial fine arts space. Then we'd let Blake and Dixon loose on him, and the rest would be great publicity and probably a sell-out show.

Hey! Maybe that's what those missing DC art collectors are buying?

Pilfered from Art Addict: The greatest mistakes of this well-known art collector are the works that she didn't buy!

By the way - Art Addict is a must read BLOG.

So far, it looks like the rest of America thinks that it is a good idea to keep the Whitney Biennial in New York and not infect the rest of us with it.

I disagree.

Read the original idea by Tyler Green here and the responses here.

I was on the radio again today, on Voice of America broadcasting to all of Latin America in Spanish.

I was discussing the impact of Cuban painter Jose Maria Mijares, who died in Miami a few days ago - read the Miami Herald story here.

Mijares, who won the Cuban National Painting Prize in 1950, lived for a while in New York, where the Abstract movement had a tremendous impression on his work.

When he escaped Castro's jailed island in 1968, Mijares returned to representation to express the loss of his homeland and his work became very important to the powerful Cuban footprint on American art.

He will be missed.

Some spectacular (and famous) works of art will be auctioned by Sotheby's on May 15 in New York. They are 44 paintings from the collection of Mr. & Mrs. John Hay Whitney and they have the secondary art world market watering at the mouth. See some of them here.

Some DC area artists in past Sotheby's auctions:

Gene Davis

Sam Gilliam

Catriona Fraser

Maxwell MacKenzie

You can also find a lot of more detailed auction records at Askart.com

Guerrilla FilmFest IV this coming Saturday...

The Guerrilla Film Fest (GFF) was established to provide an alternative venue for independent and foreign filmmakers who work outside the Hollywood & Indywood system (and who are therefore largely marginalized by the mainstream entertainment industry in the United States).

Next showings:
Carnegie Institution (1530 P Street - NW)
and Resources for the Future Bldg. (1616 P St - NW), Wash., DC
When: Saturday, April 3, 5:00pm to 10:30pm

TICKETS:
--$10 for Shorts or Feature Program
--$15 for both Shorts AND Feature Programs
--Ticket includes RECEPTION
--Buy tickets at door to Carnegie Institution or buy online in advance here and pick it up at the door.

Check out the film schedule at the website.

The feature film, being shown at the Carnegie Institution from 8:15PM - 10:00PM is "The Creature of the Sunny Side-Up Trailer Park." . Starring our own (she lives in Potomac) Lynda Carter ("Wonder Woman"), Shirley Jones ("The Partridge Family"), Bernie Koppel ("The Love Boat"), and Frank Gorshin ("Batman")..... gotta go see The Riddler!

After the screening, Director Christopher Coppola will be available for Q&A. Coppola began his film making career at an early age by creating Super 8mm films that starred his brother, Nicolas Cage. Since then, he has completed eight feature films.

For further info, contact John Hanshaw, Director, Guerrilla Film Fest at gfilmfest@yahoo.com or call him at 202/ 234 2889.

I'd show this guy in a New York second.

A trade for John Currin perhaps?

Last night I was at a cocktail party in the home of Dr. David Levy, Director of the Corcoran. The party was to host all the local alumni of the Sotheby's Institute of Art.

I also came away with the impression that the Corcoran College of Art & Design may be working together in the future with the Sotheby's Institute of Art.

My good friend and Washington Post photographer Rebecca D'Angelo is having an exhibition of her photographs at Cornerstone Architects, 23 West Broad in Richmond. Opening reception is April 2 from 7-10 PM.

DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities FY 2005 grant applications now available online.

The DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities announces that the FY 2005 grant applications are now available online. To obtain a copy, you may download them from their website. Hard copies of the applications will be available after April 15, 2004 and will only be mailed out upon request by calling (202) 724-5613.

Tyler Green, Washington's first art BLOGger, has an excellent idea for the Whitney Biennial. Read it here first.

His idea to send the Whitney Biennial on the road is an interesting idea that deserves a hard look by the new Whitney director Adam Weinberg.

The idea of traveling art shows is nothing new, but the idea of America's best known group show hitting the road is a novel way not only to expose what the leading lights of today's curating cadre see as the "state of the arts" in America, but also to get a reaction about what the "rest of us" outside New York City think about their choices.

Is there art (and opinions) outside of NYC, LA, SF and DC? Let's find out!

I disagree that the Biennial would become stronger by culling it to a dozen artists. True that a Biennial of 108 artists spans a wider range of art, artists and visual offerings - but that's precisely the great challenge of a good group show! It doesn't dilute it - it just offers more to see, discuss and form an opinion about.

This is even more important since today's Biennials - especially this one - are the 19th century's salons with a new name.

The name has changed, but the gist is the same... a select a chosen few – back then the academicians, and now the "hot" curators - pick who and what they feel represents the best of what is "good" in art. But the more the better, maybe not for the Biennial, but for art itself.

Today’s Biennial is supposed to take a "pulse" of the art state of the nation, our nation, and then the complaining begins. Not everyone is happy with a group show, any group show (I’ve curated many, many of them). But especially if it's one with the power and pull of what the Whitney has managed to accomplish all of these years.

And a lot of times (back in the 19th century and also now) the curators are wrong, off-base, out of tune, nearsighted and not in touch with the front battle lines of art. And sometimes they are dead on! But wouldn't it be fun, and good for American art, to find out what Seattle thinks about the show, as opposed to what San Diego thinks?

A salon, I mean Biennial, with 15 or 20 different cities in the schedule, and those cities' regional critics giving their opinions, and making people interested in art again, and maybe making true art stars of a local boy picked for the show.... but wait, Mmmm... Not too many artists outside of New York, or LA, or SF, or wherever the curator is from, are seldom included in this "pulse of American art" of a show.

Hey! That could be another benefit of a traveling Biennial!

Imagine curators, or critics, or artists, or dealers from Columbus, or Boise, or Phoenix or Detroit adding to the mix by bringing forth "their" local artists, who may have never otherwise come to the attention of a Whitney curator.

Then the Whitney Biennial may truly, one day become an American salon, I mean Biennial. And perhaps finally accomplish what it has been failing to do all these years: Survey New American art and perhaps upset a whole nation instead of a few high brow critics in a few cities – and this would all be good for art!

Sometime this week, DCARTNEWS will receive its 10,000th page view! This proves the tremendous amount of interest on the visual arts and issues revolving around the visual arts in our area.

Why the mainstream media doesn't get it has been the subject of much of my verbosity for the last few months...

Just received the Corcoran's extended show schedule. Next year includes the 2005 Biennial, which is being curated now by Dr. Jonathan Binstock. He is the Corcoran's Curator for Contemporary Art.

The Biennial used to be the only Biennial left in the country which was all about painting. This made it stand out; however, Binstock's predecessor was one of those who seemed to agree with the "painting is dead" crowd and "expanded" the Biennial to include everything else that goes for art these days. In my opinion, that vastly diluted the uniqueness of the Biennial.

Anyway, Binstock has already established a reputation as a curator who actually goes to gallery openings and visits artists' studios, etc. This is a great improvement over his predecessor.

He included one area artist in the last Corcoran Biennial (and the first that he curated), and we all certainly hope that he continues to expand on that. One of the biggest complaints that gallerists and area artists have, is the fact that historically a lot of our area museum curators have ignored their own back garden, something I discussed on air the last time I was a guest at the Kojo Nnamdi Show on WAMU.

Who would have thought that a painting exhibition by a DC area art professor would have out-controversied Damien Hirst when they both exhibited concurrently at Dartmouth University?

Read the story published in The Dartmouth here.

The controversy was started by this article written by a student guest columnist to The Dartmouth.

Another student then responded with this letter.

And this letter, also published in The Dartmouth, from the exhibition's curator, responding to the debate caused by the above two, can be read here.

A few postings ago, I was sort of kidding when I talked about Thomas Kinkade having an art show outside his kitschy mall stores and in a real art gallery or museum.

I'll be goddamned if "the painter of light" proved my joke posting right... read it and weep.

Kinkade's paintings are to be on exhibition at the Grand Central Art Center, California State University at Fullerton (CSUF) and that city's main art gallery.

Grand Central - CSUF's funky facility in Santa Ana's Artists Village - has "steadily built a reputation for hosting cutting-edge exhibits of outsider, noncommercial art. And the Main Art Gallery has showcased student and faculty work for years." And Richard Chang from The Orange County Register further writes:

"Mike McGee, CSUF gallery director and professor.... explained that the Kinkade show is being curated by Jeffrey Vallance, an internationally respected curator (and "cultural provocateur," McGee said) known for placing popular phenomena in a contemporary art context....

Vallance's plan is to create a life-size Kinkade chapel and fill it with the artist's Christian art. He also aims to build a Kinkade living room, dining room, bedroom and Bridge of Faith. Kinkade knickknacks will abound.

"There's no financial motivation for us to do this," McGee said. "It's for the sake of stirring things up, creating dialogue."

The scary part is that.... it will probably work, and whoever painted all those big-eyed kid paintings for Sears when I was a kid, or the dogs playing pool, or Elvis-on-velvet, better start contacting Vallance, as I think this may be the next big trend in art.

Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight....

C'mon Blake.... go to California and review this show for us... please!!!

Thanks to ArtsJournal.com...

Since the economy is booming, the art market is apparently very hot. The secondary art market that is!

A while back I had a rant about wealthy DC area people and their art collecting habits.... from my viewpoint (and generalizing).

Another case in point. Our recent Three Cuban Female Photographers show was a spectacular success. It received a couple of nice reviews in the press; it was one of our most visited shows ever, and it sold well.

All but one of the sales was to someone not from around here... New York, Great Britain, etc. Sales to private collectors and museums alike.

With the exception of one very sharp collector, and although the show was very heavily-attended by locals, only one photo was sold locally.

The price ranges were $600 to $1500, which for contemporary photography, by photographers in museum collections worldwide, is more than a fair price.

Blake Gopnik, writing all the way from London, delivers a superb review and an art lesson history with his review of the Donald Judd retrospective at the Tate.

Why isn't this show coming to America?

This paragraph from the review is how I've always seen Judd's work:

"Describe the [Judd] piece and it sounds terribly, even ridiculously simple. It can even sound like some conceptual-art trick meant to test precisely how little it takes to make an object count as art -- Judd's sculpture sometimes gets billed as working like Marcel Duchamp's urinal, only using objects even less inviting to the eye. But experience the work in person, and things get much more complex than that. "

An yet, by the time Gopnik finishes the review, he's actually convinced me that I've been looking at Judd's work completely wrong all these years!

I won't blow the ending... read the review here.

And in order to see how art criticism can differ, you should also the Adrian Searle review in The Guardian.

The retrospective was curated by Tate director Nicholas Serota, a Judd fan since 1970. Read his viewpoint from a fan's point of view, here.

On the flight back from San Diego I read Mi Moto Fidel, by Brit ex-pat Christopher P. Baker and published by the National Geographic. I found it boorish, vulgar and somewhat racist.

Let's not mince words. After reading this book my immediate reaction was one of distaste. Not just because of the constant sexual encounters with very young Cuban women that make up a large part of the book, or the extraordinary stereotyping of Cubans present throoughout the entire book, or the spectacular lack of knowledge of Cuban history shown by the writer (this book is supposed to be, I think, a travel guide of sorts).

It was mainly because I kept thinking that a lot of the dialogue between the author and the locals, seemed... well... made up and just not believable.

Baker starts as a Castro apologist with an interesting twist to his apologies. He recognizes somewhat the brutal yoke that the Cuban Revolution has become upon its people - but hey! it's OK, because Cubans are a fun, sexual, libertine people!

Towards the end of the book he has somewhat of an epiphany where he realizes that Castro has been "using" the embargo, helping to maintain it and making sure it sticks and stays on - as an excuse to always have an ever present excuse for the miseries of Cuban life and thus further abuse the Cuban people he has imperiously brutalized for over 40 years.

And when the 40something Baker tells a 14-year-old-Cuban girl that he finds sexually attractive: "I'll be back in two years" .... well, I think he means it. Perhaps his next "travel book" should be on Thailand.

Sandra Ramos in the news...

ArtNet has a piece on the Sandra Ramos' visa denial story. Read it here. Furthermore, the visa denial story has been picking up steam and Senator Mikulski's staff has now entered the fray.

The Latest Museum Acquisition in Town...

The Collectors Committee at the National Gallery of Art is the NGA's patrons' group, which has been financing some acquisitions there since the mid 1970's. They have decided to buy a 1962 sculpture by Lee Bontecou.

The National Gallery now will own an untitled 1962 work that will be the second Bonteccou sculpture in the collection.

"We only had a small sculpture in our collection," said Earl A. Powell III, the gallery's director.

Opening this Saturday...

Fusebox will have a new show opening this coming Saturday: Pop-Agenda: Siemon Allen and Dominic McGill in the main space and the Dumbacher Brothers in the project space.

Both exhibitions open Saturday, March 27 and run through May 8, 2004. A reception for the artists will be held Saturday, March 27, from 6:00 to 8:00 pm.

Don't miss it on March 29, 2004: Art Panel

Art Table Panel in Conjunction with Arts Advocacy Day on March 29 presents Taxes on the Table: A Win/Win Recipe for the Arts
Who: Bill Ivey, President of the Curb Center for Art, Enterprise, and Public Policy Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, Panel Moderator Karen Carolan, Chief, Art Appraisal Services/Chair, Commissioner's IRS, Washington, DC. Linda Downs, Director of Davenport Museum of Art, Davenport, IA Ann Garfinkle, Whiteford, Taylor and Preston, Attorneys at Law, Washington, DC
When: Monday, March 29, 2004 4:15 - 5:30 p.m. FREE.
Where: Jury's Hotel, Doyle Room A, 1500 New Hampshire Ave NW; Washington, DC
The Issue: This lively panel discussion will make taxes palatable by focusing on the various ways that tax policy affects the arts, and why federal legislation on tax policy is important to the arts. The panel will provide a diverse menu of useful items to make tax laws work for both artists and contributors to the arts.

Topics will include: charitable giving; appreciated property; estate planning; inside the IRS; future legislation on the artist fair market value deduction bill and the IRA rollover.

For Photographers

Deadline: June 16, 2004.
The Camera Club of New York announces its 2004 National Photography Competition. The competition is open to all US residents 18 years or older except members of the Camera Club of New York or their families, and employees. Freestanding pieces will not be accepted. Phtographer Ralph Gibson is the Juror. An entry will consist of 6 slides with a fee of $30.00. Chosen artists will receive a one-person exhibition in the Alfred Lowenherz Gallery and a cash award of $250.00. Other finalists will participate in a group show. Send self addressed stamped envelope for prospectus to:
2004 National Photography Competition
Camera Club of New York
853 Broadway
New York, NY 10003

Or visit their website to download an entry form and view the complete rules and information about The Camera Club of New York.

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Grants for Artists

Open Deadline
The George Sugarman Foundation makes grants available for artists in need of financial assistance. Award amounts are open, but the artist must provide a budget for the amount requested. For information, contact the George Sugarman Foundation, 448 Ignacio Blvd., Novato, CA 94949; phone: 415/713-8167; email: ardensugarman@hotmail.com.

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Fellowships

Deadline May 4, 2004
Kala Artist Fellowship Award, Kala Art Institute in California. Eight Fellowship awards will be given to artists working in the realms of printmaking, book arts and digital media. Award includes studio residency for up to six months in Kala's expansive print studio and Electronic Media Center, a $2000. stipend and an exhibition at the Kala gallery. Award does not include housing. Application Date: May 4, 2004. See their website or contact Lauren Davies, Program Manager at lauren@kala.org.

Congratulations!

Loide Marwanga of Richard Montgomery High School in Rockville is the winner of the 23rd Annual Congressional Art Competition. Her entry, a colored pencil sketch entitled I Am Africa, will be on display in the United States Capitol, beginning in June, for one year.

Nothing to do with art or DC, but for some reason, some of you emailed me and wanted to know what I read on the flight to San Diego. It was Semper Fidel by Michael J. Mazarr, a somewhat academic book about US and Cuban relations from 1776-1988. Amazing how many times Cuba "almost" became a US state - in fact it seems that the main reason that it didn't was because Northerners did not want to add another slave-owning state to the Union and defeated the South's efforts through the years to annex or buy Cuba from Spain. Later many Cubans, including a woman disguised as a man in a weird Fidelio-like story, served in the Confederate Army.

By the way, we are still writing and calling and emailing everyone that we can think of to help reverse the visa denial to Cuban artist Sandra Ramos.

In the last few years (since completely by accident I walked into his first-ever exhibition in Edinburgh, Scotland) I've been following the debate in Britain about the art of Scottish miner turned artist Jack Vettriano. In fact I've even penned a few articles on the subject myself.

Now The Guardian delivers a great must read as the story asks: Why Pop Art but not Popular Art?

Is this a good question to ask our own elitist museums? Witness the debates caused by the hugely successful tour of Norman Rockwell's works - even though it eventually led to Rockwell being "discovered" as an "artist" - rather than an "illustrator" - in our label-crazy art world.

But even yours truly is not sure that I am ready for Thomas Kinkade anywhere else but our local neighborhood mall.

Update: Another Jack Vettriano story here.

Greetings from foggy San Diego... some opportunities below:
For Photographers...
Deadline: March 31, 2004

Photography Exhibit, "Multiple Exposures", June 4-27, 2004. All photographic medium. Entry deadline April 1, 2004. Juror: Tom Strider, Collections Manager, Jersey City Museum. 5 slides $35. Awards-exhibit opportunities. For a prospectus send a #10 SASE to: Makeready's Gallery, 214 ArtSpace, 214 Glenridge Av, Montclair NJ 07042 or visit their website here.

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For Video Artists...
Deadline: May 15, 2004

New Screen Broadcasting is a newly formed television station that was created to offer a unique opportunity for artists to showcase their film and video projects in an unprecedented way. They are currently accepting film and video submissions for our initial programming that will be broadcast on WRCF-TV Channel 29, Orlando. They are looking for works that explore a wide range of topics, from a wide range of applicants. In keeping with the goal of providing a venue that is open and accessible, all forms of video and film will be considered. Accepted works may also have a 30 to 60 second clip included in the SOLO Arts online video library. For more information contact New Screen Broadcasting here

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For Sculptors...
Deadline: March 31, 2004

The Sculpture Salmagundi VIII: Indoor/Outdoor Sculpture Exhibition. $7,800 in prizes and honorariums. Outdoor Juror: John M Weidman, internationally renowned sculptor and Director of the Andres Institute of Art. Visit Weidman's website for more information about the juror. Indoor works selected by Arts Center staff and will be by invitation only. Postmark deadline for slide entry is April 19, 2004. Outdoor Exhibition Dates: July 10, 2004 - June 10, 2005. Indoor Exhibition Dates: July 10, 2004 - August 29, 2004. Download a prospectus here (click Artists Opportunities). Or e-mail your street address to: Rockky Wigent. Rocky Mounts Arts Center is located in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, and you can also call 252/972-1163.

I'm heading off to San Diego again for the rest of this week... seems like I've practically been living down there!

One of the best art reviews that I have ever read in the Washington Post is in today's Sunday Arts.

It is by Pulitzer prize winning writer Henry Allen and he does a masterful job of reviewing Jim Dine at the NGA.

Here's the sheer elegance in words of the first paragraph:

"The drawing of a line is one of the thrilling gestures in art, like a Charlie Parker solo in jazz or a Nureyev leap in ballet, full of surprise and inevitability at the same time, a miracle that had to happen. (Watching it done is like watching magic -- think about documentary footage of Picasso or R. Crumb, and their confidence as they pull rabbits out of a hat that's nothing more than a piece of paper.) "

By the way, I submit that if Jim Dine had to hide his technical virtuosity in the 60's --- that hasn't changed! Technical virtuosity, with a handful of very rare exceptions, is generally still something that has to be "hidden."

Theory - rather than technique or skill - is what schools want to teach (mostly because a lot of academics couldn't draw a line to save their lives).

And thus if we look at some of our own area schools, such as GMU, we find a school that once had an art department that included both theory pushers and also professors able to actually teach a student how to stretch watercolor paper and how to mix two colors to get a third one.

But now, as seen from afar, it appears that since Margarida Kendall retired from GMU, the theory pushers have slowly but surely re-directed that art school focus to the theory agenda of art professors who can neither paint nor draw.

GMU is lucky to have two of the best painters in the nation in its staff. They are Chawky Frenn (represented by us) and Erik Sandberg (represented by Conner Contemporary).

While Frenn (the last DC area artist in years to have been reviewed by the New York Times - at least in my memory) does teach some painting classes, one would assume that a painter of Sandberg's reputation and technical virtuosity would also be teaching painting.

But he is not, and I would bet money that Sandberg would just love to teach painting.

And because (with some rare exceptions) the theory pushers are teaching painting, and with Frenn's exception, dominate the curriculum, GMU art students are the losers. Visit their MFA exhibits and the proof is in the work.

Nobody asked me.... but my opinion nonetheless.

A new quarterly visual arts magazine will soon come out in our region. Expect the first issue of "In the Arts" to cover the visual arts of the Mid Atlantic region. It is edited by Bruce McNeill and designed by Ed Towles Graphic Design in Baltimore.

The magazine will be distributed free to galleries and other art venues. As soon as the first issue comes out, I'll let everyone know.

I almost forgot!

Freelancer Mark Jenkins, who writes (mostly about movies) for the Washington City Paper, is filling in and is suddenly writing art reviews for the Washington Post Weekend section while Michael O'Sullivan writes about movies for Weekend.

O'Sullivan is probably one of only two DC art critics who truly knows the DC art scene and who our artists and gallery dealers know (personally) and trust and who has the pulse of our art scene.

Are we all on the same page now?

Anyway.... Jenkins, who is a pretty good theater reviewer and a really good writer, delivers a third (or maybe fourth) Post-published review; this time in the "print-space-poor---that's-why-we-don't-do-more-galleries" Weekend section of the Post for the Quilt Show at the Corcoran.

C'mon guys (C'mon Joyce Jones - editor of Weekend) ... isn't three reviews of one show by one newspaper (that claims that lack of print space is the reason that they do not do more reviews) enough?

OK, OK, I reviewed it too because it is a damned good show and it is a show that teaches us lessons about art, political correctness, and how hypocritical art critics can be.... read my review here, which by the way, has been picked up by five Spanish language newspapers in the US and Latin America.

Gunk Foundation Grants
Deadline: April 30, 2004

Grants are provided for "works" of art (not, for example, art festivals, group exhibitions or general operating support for public art organizations).

Anyone can apply­­: individuals, groups, or organizations, and there is no need for a fiscal sponsor. International projects and artists are encouraged.

How to Apply: Grant proposals must include:
Application form, Resume(s) of the project participant(s)

Example of previous work done (preferably one slide sheet, 1-2 videos. No original work please!)

One or two page summary of the proposed project (This should be separate from the application form, and should be an elaboration upon the questions asked in the form, or should include any other relevant material not covered by the form.)

Budget and time line (predicted costs, source of other funds if needed, and when the project will be presented.

Call or write for Application:

The Gunk Foundation
P.O. Box 333
Gardiner, NY 12525
(845) 255-8252

Celebrity sighting at the Georgetown Canal Square Galleries 3rd Friday openings tonite: None other than Fran Drescher, TV's "Nanny," was hanging around the galleries talking to the artists and admiring the art.

She's tiny!

Tonite's must read artlink (somewhat art I guess) comes via photographer and video artist Darin Boville.