Jenkins on Gopnik's Idea

Mark Jenkins checks in with some thoughts on Gopnik's Corcoran idea:

Thomas Paine vs. Blake Gopnik

By Mark Jenkins

I admit I didn't make it through Gopnik's whole read.

I kept thinking of what a "common sense" decision it was for the Corcoran to do such a thing. And that got me to thinking about Thomas Paine's Common Sense: "these are the times that try men's souls..." the impassioned pamphlet (or memo if you will) that helped ignite the American Revolution.

And then I saw the irony since Gopnik has talked this same talk: "With so much courtly dissolution on show in art these days, you have to wonder if a revolution isn't due. And if it comes, will Whitmore put his classy talents at the service of the rebels?"

This is from Ian Whitmore's review at the Fusebox. Another review I read of his talked about awaiting the next artquake and I sent him a link to Banksy's pranks in NYC. No reply.

What I have noticed is that the Corcoran is doing art out on the street. I saw a chalk drawing on the sidewalk by a student, and this upcoming piece Stripped, ditto.

Instead of getting a Gehry addition (zzzz....) the Corcoran might do better to take the top off the museum, pave a road through it and let the students do street art. I'm sure the students would perk up at the idea.

Really, DC has enough museums; It is a museum Mecca.

And they're all conveniently located on the National Mall so that tourists never have to set foot outside it. If it wasn't for the National Zoo tourists probably wouldnt travel further North than the White House.

That being the case, even if the Corcoran gets hyper trendy with photography, gets a Gehry piece, it may still atrophy just because its just a few feet too far removed from the Mall and you have to pay to get in.

Mostly for me though, the Corcoran is known for their revolutionary school, and so to me its a school first and a museum second. Corcoran is also the only museum where a local artist has a shot at getting works on display. Turn it into a photography museum and await an Ansel Adam's show? Well, the Corcoran might hang on and survive but I don't think it will be birthing any "artquakes." But I don't think Gopnik looks to DC to do anything for the art world, but instead sees it as a container to showcase it. And if the Corcoran takes his advice I think he may be right.

Bailey on Gopnik's Corcoran Idea (and on Levy's response)

Ask and ye shall receive; From J.W. Bailey:

Memo to: Blake Gopnik

Re: I'm a local photographer and I don't do prints!

Blake Gopnik's wickedly cynical and sarcastic memo to the Corcoran Gallery of Art, in which he boldly goes where no man has gone before and outlines its science fiction titanium-clad Frank O. Gehry-future as a tourist-friendly blue-collar-fanfare-for-the-common-man low-art-literate repository of the questionable high art practices of "accessible" photography, almost rises to the level of a comedic masterpiece.

But Gopnik’s clear distaste for throw away representational photography as a legitimate form of high art is glaringly transparent and he’s no doubt very serious; Therefore, the understory of his mildly insulting views about the saccharine appeal of Kodak-moment photos to the non-MFA card carrying uneducated masses are enough to compel a local photographer to respond.

Gopnik says "Because most photographs exist in multiple prints, getting the images you need doesn’t put you at the mercy of a single collection that happens not to lend."

Really?

Perhaps if Gopnik spent more time with his eyes and ears attuned to local photographers (as well as their collectors) he would know that many of us aren’t into the mass-production multiple print aesthetic that he seems to loathe and actually do create one of a kind photographic works of art. But where Gopnik really gets going in his subtle ploy in support of the exhausted arguments declaring the weaknesses of photography as a legitimate art form is having Sarah Greenough, Curator of Photography at the National Gallery of Art, confirm that "casual visitors seem to find photography more ‘approachable’ than more esoteric, and explicitly artistic, media."

From the grassy knoll Gopnik attempts to triangulate the assassination of the legitimacy of photography as a high art form by having Malcolm Daniel of the Met echo that "People don’t feel they need to take an art history course to appreciate photography."

Translation of the above curatorial/art critic conspiratorial drivel: Although the American masses are intellectually incapable of understanding and appreciating the serious challenges of critically celebrated postmodern fine art painting, even the most uneducated illiterate backwoods hard core anti-postmodern-art-hating hillbilly tourist from the most culturally deprived area of the most remote coal mining country of West Virginia can at least enjoy and appreciate looking at a nicely framed photograph of a rock in Yosemite National Park shot by Ansel Adams – in fact, these déclassé trash de blanc Disney World-Florida-vacation-dreaming fools may even be willing to pull cash out of their Wal-Mart purchased Harley-Davidson motorcycle chain wallets to pay for an admittance ticket for the privilege of stepping inside a chrome plated Gehry building so they can drool all over easily accessible patriotic representational photographs of American flags flapping in the breeze over Arlington Cemetery, snap-shot panoramic impressions of purple mountains majesty, and digitally enhanced scenes of mallard ducks floating on a pond in which the polluted waters have been scrubbed blue through the magic of Abode Photoshop, as well as old photographs of just about anything remotely Americana.

This is priceless!

Here we are several years into the 21st Century and the Chief Art Critic from the Washington Post is still questioning the place of photography in the pantheon of great art. It makes me mad enough to want to burn my camera, as well as my film and prints!

But the real joke with Gopnik’s silly proposition is that his opinion is not the one that counts. Frank O. Gehry is the one who signed on to design a new addition to the Corcoran Gallery of Art, not Gopnik. And you can bet the last worthless multiple print in your museum-worthy donor-friendly photographic collection culled from the discount bins of Salvation Army Thrift Stores that Gehry did not sign on to design a tourist-friendly holding area for low brow photographs.

All one has to do is take a very close look at Gehry’s body of architectural work, as well as his definition of art – save yourself a lot of research and understand that Gehry and Gopnik worship at the same high-tech high art painting church - to see whether or not he would ever agree to this photographic scheme.

To Gopnik’s credit, he opens his ridiculously funny piece by informing all what is common knowledge to everyone in the art world, and especially in Washington, D.C.: that being that the Corcoran Gallery of Art has deep problems at every level.

What a shame Gopnik wasted so much space on his trivial vision for the rehabilitation of the prestige of the Corcoran Gallery of Art, rather than detailing the true extent of the Corcoran’s problems and suggesting real solutions.

Gopnik is a creative art critic/writer and can no doubt produce multiple print solutions for the Corcoran all day long – perhaps when he gets serious, he’ll come up with a creative one of a kind photographic image of a solution that everybody will agree is a work of art.


Sincerely,

James W. Bailey
P.S.

Memo to: Dr. David Levy

RE: Corcoran BS Detector – Would You Care to Tell Us What Frank Really Thinks about Blake’s Idea?

Dr. David Levy, President and Director of the Corcoran Gallery of Art, has weighed in with his polite corporate art speak Letter to the Editor to the Washington Post responding to Gopnik’s idea. I’ll weigh in with my Corcoran BS detector and offer the following translation of Levy’s letter, paragraph by paragraph:

We are grateful to Blake Gopnik for his interesting May 1 think piece, "Memo to: The Corcoran; Re: Sharpening Your Focus." His timing is apposite. Over the past few months, task forces composed of our Trustees, Boards of Overseers and staff have been assigned to think creatively about our institution's future.

Translation: We appreciate you attempting to embarrass us with your lame proposal, but as powerful a member of the DC art elite that you are, much more powerful powers (and certainly much bigger donors than you) are calling future programmatic shots right now in order to secure the needed additional funding to get this Gehry thing to the ground breaking stage.

We find Gopnik's suggestion to focus more sharply on a single programmatic area -- in this case, photography -- to be a provocative and interesting idea. And we agree that such an approach could help us strengthen our identity in a city that sometimes seems to have more museums than residents. After all, the Corcoran has a long history of distinguished photography exhibitions and a pioneering tradition of photographic education at its College of Art + Design.

Translation: Some members of the Corcoran’s staff have children; and just like most kids, we also think photographs can be fun, enjoyable and accessible and wouldn’t necessarily object to having more child-like residents of DC walk into our museum to see more accessible photographs, as long as these children can afford to live in the area of the city where museums do indeed out number residents. It might be problematic for us to have certain problematic residents from certain problematic areas of the city that have no museums to flock en mass to the Corcoran to see overly accessible photographs; so, for security reasons we, would naturally under your proposal have to temper that potential problem by keeping the photographic exhibitions accessible, but not too accessible – for example, we probably would not entertain a photography exhibit titled, "The Massacre," that examines a day in the thug life of 50 Cent. We strive to be ‘bout it ‘bout it, as much as possible in a predominately African-American city such as Washington, D.C., but please give us a break and let’s get our board more diversified first. Once we have a board that truly reflects the demographics of Washington, D.C., then we’ll see what we can do increase visitation to the museum among the young DC resident African-American youth members of 50 Cent’s posse and fan club. Although we briefly flirted with the OPTIONS 05 concept of providing a credible exhibition opportunity for area minority and marginalized artists whose works touch on radical, provocative and disturbing themes, concepts and philosophies through the curatorial direction of Philip Barlow, fortunately cooler heads prevailed in the interests of not rocking the DC government approved TIF (Tax Increment Financing) district for the Gehry project (I think we fired his ass), and, although we know it’s a cop out, we’ll all now look forward to the new OPTIONS 05 curator Libby Lumpkin’s safe choices of predominately white MFA graduate students who are recycling ad infinitum non-confrontational imagery served up by the more easily digestible forms of minimalism that are perfectly suited for display in museums like the Corcoran, but also in the marble foyers of McMansions in Northern Virginia.

In fact, there was an effort some five years ago to establish a National Museum of Photography on the old convention center site, based on the great photography collection amassed by Howard Gilman. When this plan did not materialize, we proposed that the Gilman Foundation join us in the creation of a National Photography Center at the Corcoran, housed in our new Frank Gehry building. Although ultimately this idea did not work out, it would have built on the strength of our important photographic holdings and would have been very much in keeping with the spirit of Gopnik's ideas. Faced with another such opportunity, we would enthusiastically explore it.

Translation: Oh know you didn’t, dog! Props up, bro! You ain’t the first, Blake, to suggest this wonderful idea so don’t go gettin’ all high and mighty and actin’ a fool up in here like you did – uh, actually, I tried and, yes, I do admit that I failed. If somebody wants to pick up the ball and kick it around this time, I might be interested, but I would have to vet the idea, again, with Frank…and I think we all know where that will go, again.

Taken in its entirety, Gopnik's proposal might be hard to reconcile with our continuing mission to present the Corcoran's choice collection of American art (of particular resonance in this capital city) or with its very strong educational and community orientation. Still, he suggests a promising direction, not just for this museum but for our city and our national patrimony.

Translation: Look, man, all of us at the Corcoran know we have problems (and, by the way, I would like to personally thank you and the editorial staff of the Washington Post very much for not going into too much detail about all that history), but, as you know, we’re really all about real high art at the Corcoran, not exhibiting multiple prints or scavenging around in abandoned attics looking for old historic photographic stuff to display. Although there’s no chance in hell we (Frank) will every go along with your scheme, we do appreciate you taking the time to devote a full page to your ego and its idea, rather than excoriating us in painful detail over other serious matters. The potential commercial success of your brilliant concept would probably be much better realized through a for profit corporate enterprise like that which built the International Spy Museum. I personally know the folks over there and would be happy to set you up for a lunch date with them. You can reach me anytime on my Blackberry.

J.W. Bailey

A BLOG Revolution?

"The hype comes from unemployed or partially employed marketing professionals and people who never made it as journalists wanting to believe," he said. "They want to believe there's going to be this new revolution and their lives are going to be changed."

Read the New York Times story here.

Levy on Gopnik

Dr. David Levy, Director of the Corcoran, responds today in the WaPo to Blake Gopnik's interesting and provocative idea (from last week) that the Corcoran ought to establish a separate identity by focusing (no pun intended) on photography.

Blake here and Levy's response here.

I am curious what people think about Gopnik's idea. I think that it has some merit and I agree that Philip Brookman has done an extraordinary job as the Corcoran's photography curator. And Gopnik is right in the fact that there are some excellent photography collections, both public and private, in our area; why not have a museum for the genre?

From a commercial perspective it makes sense too; at least half of our shows for the last couple of years have been photography shows. In fact this year, we probably had more like 75% photography shows. Our sales have consistently been at least 50% photography.

Email me your thoughts and comments on this subject and I'll publish them here.

Stripped
While at the Corcoran yesterday I ran into an interesting card announcing a "36 hour non-performance in front of the Corcoran Gallery of Art on the corner of 17th Street and New York Avenue in Washington, DC."

The non performance, by Corcoran student, actress, former WPA/C intern and dancer Melissa Ichiuji, is titled Stripped and asks the question "How much would you loose to appreciate what you have?"

Stripped will take place May 10 starting at 6AM and finish May 11 at 6PM. More info here.

Artsy Friday

There are a ton of great art openings and art parties going on all over town tonight! If you've got nothing to do, then you haven't been paying attention!

I'll be at the Warehouse Gallery party for artists who donated works for their fundraiser.

See ya there!

The Thursday Reviews

In the City Paper, Louis Jacobson reviews William Christenberry at Adamson.

In the WaPo, Jessica Dawson's Galleries column reviews a museum show as she writes about Tim Rollins + K.O.S. show at the Kreeger Museum.

In the Gazette, Chris Slattery reviews Elisabeth Lescault at Creative Partners.

League of Reston Artists (LRA) Juried Show

I will be jurying the LRA Annual Juried Show this coming June. The deadline is May 31, 2005.

This annual Juried Exhibition will take place at the Reston Community Center at Lake Anne's Jo Ann Rose Gallery in Reston, Virginia from June 6 – July 4, 2005.

The competition is open to all Washington, D.C. Greater metropolitan area artists working in all media and there is a $500 Jo Ann Rose Award and $1,000 in Equal Merit Awards.

Details, entry forms, etc. here.

More Opportunities for Artists at the Arlington Arts Center

In addition to the great opportunity first posted here, the newly renovated Arlington Arts Center has a couple more excellent opportunities for artists:

Art from Arlington: July 19 - August 27, 2005. Application Deadline May 25, 2005. All artists living or working in Arlington, Virginia are invited to apply for this group exhibition of artworks in all media. Prospectus may be downloaded at AAC's website.

2005 M.F.A Graduates Exhibition: July 19 - August 27, 2005. Application Deadline May 25, 2005. Open to 2005 M.F.A. Graduates studying in Virginia, Washington DC and Maryland. Artworks in all media will be considered. Floor plans and prospectus may be downloaded on AAC's website or call 703.248.6800, ext 12.

Wen Ma Video

Shigeko Bork mu project will next showcase Jennifer Wen Ma's video installation and performance, "Flight and Cleansing Walk."

Wen Ma's work is like a one-person funerary procession. It is a quiet demonstration of loss and grief, and (at the same time), a personal ritualistic cleansing and purging. The opening reception for the artist will be on May 11 from 6 - 8pm.

The video installation will be on view from May 11 till May 27, 2005. Ms.Ma will perform "Cleansing Walk" in Washington, DC from May 6 - 9.

For the time and location of her performance, please call the gallery. Shigeko Bork mu project is located on 1521 Wisconsin Ave., N. W. No. 2, Washington, DC 20007. The phone number is 202.333.4119

Gallery Openings This Friday

This is the First Friday of the month... and of course that means that the galleries around the Dupont Circle area will have their extended openings. By the way... whoever maintains this website needs to really update it! Some of these galleries have closed while others have opened!

Anyway...Specially interesting will be the opening at Conner Contemporary, where Leigh will have Kehinde Wiley and Sabeen Raja. If you have time for only one show, go see this one.

BLOGs

The Examiner checks in with a timely article on the impact of BLOGS.

Tuesday Arts Agenda

The DCist Tuesday Arts Agenda is here.

Silverthorne Opening

Alexandra Silverthorne's photography exhibition "No More Hiroshimas! No more Nagasakis!" (which is co-organized by the Hiroshima/Nagasaki Peace Committee of the National Capital Area) opens this Thursday at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Library located at 901 G Street, NW in Washington. The opening reception is on the 2nd Floor, goes from 6:30 to 8PM and refreshments will be served.

The exhibition runs through May 29, 2005. For more information visit her website.

Opportunity for Artists

Solo Exhibitions for 2006 in Arlington Arts Center
Deadline: Friday, July 01, 2005

Ten to fifteen artists will be selected for solo exhibitions to take place in 2006 in one of Arlington Arts Center's newly renovated galleries.

All artists living or working in Virginia, Washington DC, Maryland, West Virginia, Delaware, and Pennsylvania are invited to submit slides. Artworks in all media will be considered.

For more info visit this website or contact them at:

Arlington Arts Center
3550 Wilson Blvd
Arlington, VA 22201

Walsh at Nevin Kelly

I've been hearing some very good things about the current exhibition of paintings by Thomas Walsh at Nevin Kelly Gallery.

Walsh's show runs through May 8, and I certainly hope to be able to drop by and take a look before it closes.

Manassas Opening

One of the best watercolorists in our area is Chris Krupinski, and she'll be having a new exhibition at the Center for the Arts' Caton Merchant Gallery in Manassas.

The exhibition opens this Friday as part of the Manassas Gallery Walk from 6-9PM. The reception for the artist is next May 14 from 6-8PM. Free and open to the public, but RSVP requited to 703/330-2787.

Watkins Opening

Julia Rommel's thesis exhibition is opening at American University's Watkins Gallery this coming Thursday with an opening reception from 7-9PM.

Rommel's work has (so far) been my favorite from the MFA thesis shows exhibited at AU.

The exhibition closes on May 11, so hurry!

One Night Stand

Samantha Wolov is putting on a one night erotic photo installation this coming Friday, May 6, from 6-9PM, at the Washington Gallery of Photography.

Its called "One Night Stand", and it is a one night-only installation and Wolov says about her work that

"Essentially, I wanted to create sexually arousing imagery without using the techniques used in modern pornographic magazines -- i.e., no posing, no acknowledgment of the camera, etc. Looking back at art history, the techniques used in Playboy, for example, actually had the opposite, more "sobering" effect.

I am hoping to make a form of "anti-porn" that was still arousing; no posing, complete disregard for the camera, very spur of the moment."

Wolov plans to set up an intimate viewing area, and her photos will then be projected onto the gallery walls.

The installation is free and open to the public and for more information, please email Wolov here.

Century Opening

There's only one gallery in our area that concentrates exclusively on classical realism, and that's Century Gallery in Alexandria.

And Century is hosting a reception this Saturday May 7, 2005 from 6-9PM for four area artists who have achieved a lot of recognition for their classical work; they are: John Murray, Dan Thompson, Randy Melick and Rick Weaver.

Porn as Art

The last great taboo barrier is apparently coming down as porn enters the rarified atmosphere of high art. The NYT has an interesting article on the latest and greatest here. You can get a password for the NYT site from Bugmenot here.

In 1997 I did an exhibition of my portraits of porn movie stars and starlets, and although it did really well (they all sold, and some are in the permanent collection of the Museum of Sex), it still received a rather prudish review in the Washington Post.

I wonder what the reaction would be now?

New Exhibit Up

A new solo Art exhibition featuring the works of Afrika Midnight Asha Abney is currently on exhibition at Norton Kirby Advertising, 2410 18th St NW in Washington, DC.

Hours are Monday - Friday, 10am - 8pm, and weekends by appointments only. The show has been curated by Collin Klamper, Afrika Midnight Asha Abney and David Dyer of Art N Deed. For more information send an email to Aashawarrior@aol.com or call 202/538-3403.

Jacobson on Pluta

While I was away, the City Paper's Lou Jacobson reviewed our current Andrzej Pluta photography show in our Bethesda gallery.

Read the review here.

Kirkland Opens Today

One of the bennies you get by being an arts blogger is that we all read each others' BLOGs and thus everyone who is anyone in the BLOGsphere knows that my good friend J.T. Kirkland is opening his first ever solo show today.

What: "Studies in Organic Minimalism" -– J.T. Kirkland solo art exhibition

Who: Presented by the League of Reston Artists and the University of Phoenix Northern Virginia Campus

When: May 2 – June 25, 2005
Special Reception for the artist: Friday, May 13, 2005 – 6:00 – 9:00pm

Where: University of Phoenix Northern Virginia Campus
11730 Plaza America Drive, Suite 200
Reston, Virginia
For directions, see the LRA's website.

Viewing: Exhibition is free and open to the public during regular business hours
Monday – Thursday 9:00am – 10:00pm
Friday 9:00am – 5:00pm
Saturday 9:00am – 1:00pm

Bailey on Gopnik on Barclay

Just back from an exhausting (but successful weekend art fair), and just in time to catch another great episode of Deadwood. Have a few hundred emails and a ten days of the WaPo and others to catch up on.

And leave it to Bailey to help me out with my lack of recent posting and give us some good reading and excellent discussion points as he responds to Blake Gopnik's piece on Christian Marclay's video work (filed all the way from London).

"How About an Art Exhibit Inspired by an Art Critic Who’s Dragged Behind a Pickup Truck in Texas?"
By J.W. Bailey

One of the emblems of postmodern art is its insulated obsession with distilling unimaginable human tragedy down to a clever relativist art trick that is appropriate for display in the sanitized environment of the white cube space – and the larger the scale of the tragedy, the more the art trick seems to revolve around the distorted use of multi-media to convey the horrors of the deaths of the usually nameless and faceless victims that are symbolized through the art.

In his review of Christian Marclay’s seminal postmodern work, "Guitar Drag," Blake Gopnik takes the trouble to inform us that the video of the guitar being dragged behind a pickup truck for 14 minutes along a rural road echoes the death of James Byrd, Jr., at the hands of vicious racists in Texas (mind you that Gopnik doesn’t actually mention the vicious racists part, though).

Gopnik, a refined genteel member of the Washington, D.C., art elite, and a person we can safely assume has never spent more than three seconds riding in the back bed of a pickup truck in Texas with a perverted gang of drunken good ole’ boy racist rednecks looking for trouble, let alone ever being dragged behind that pickup as an African-American victim of their sick and monstrous joyride, tells us that watching Marclay’s stirring musical piece made him feel the pain of James Byrd, Jr.

Of course, the only important thing about Mr. Byrd’s actual life and death that Gopnik can muster to say in his review is that Mr. Byrd was "a black man dragged along a Texas road until his body fell apart."

Hopefully, postmodern art critics will never be licensed as forensic examiners – but I do have my doubts about that as they seem to be self-qualified to speak as experts on just about every other subject.

For the forensic art record, here’s just part of what happened to Mr. James Byrd, Jr.:

An African-American man, James Bryd, Jr., was brutally murdered by being kidnapped, beaten unconscious, spray-painted in the face with black paint, tied to the back of a pick-up truck, pants dropped down to his ankles, dragged 2.5 miles over pavement through a rural black community in Jasper County called Huff Creek, leaving his skin, blood, arms, head, genitalia, and other parts of his body strewn along the highway. His remains were dumped in front of a black cemetery.

Mr. Byrd was also member of a large family and had three sons. Following Mr. Byrd’s death, the Byrd family emerged as one of the nation's most powerful voices fighting for all people, including gay and lesbian Americans, against hate and intolerance. Mr.Byrd's sister, Louvon Harris, and his nephew, Darrell Verrett, who also serves as the executive director of the James Byrd Jr. Foundation, have been key advocates for both state and federal hate crime legislation. The family has spoken in support of the Hate Crimes Prevention Act at press conferences with HRC and appeared at Equality Rocks to promote their message of ending hate violence in America.

Marclay wants to present us with a trivial and stupid work of postmodern art that capitalizes on the death of another human being – that should come as no surprise as the world of high art loves touting this culture of death stuff. Gopnik wants to tell us about how painful that experience Byrd went through must have been after watching Marclay’s guitar fall apart – there’s no surprise there either as most art critics, no matter what their postmodern philosophical shortcomings, must at least appear to be somewhat human to their readers by giving lip service to a human disaster that is the supposed inspiration for a positively reviewed work of art.

Perhaps one day Christian Marclay will arrange for a private screening of "Guitar Drag" for all the friends and family members of Mr. James Byrd, Jr. – maybe Marclay will also invite Blake Gopnik to come back to the gallery and review that audience’s reactions to his masterpiece. And if Gopnik can sit still for long enough and actually listen to what they think and have to say about this piece of "art," there might not be enough column space in a lifetime’s supply of the Washington Post to review those reactions.

But that’s a big question – I think we would be lucky to have Gopnik sit for more than 14 minutes in the safety of the air-conditioned white cube space screening room surrounded by the traumatized emotions of people who knew and loved Mr. Byrd, Jr. (and who saw what his body really looked like after being dragged along that Texas back road) before he would get bored and have to move on to the next great piece of postmodern art to review.

A quick exit from the insensitive and manipulative "Guitar Drag" would certainly be understandable from those who personally knew Mr. Bryd, Jr. and could not stomach watching and listening to the excesses of its wretched and exploitative symbolism.

If only the world of high art could so easily exit itself from its self-created excesses by shallow artists that are propped up by an army of gullible critics that the rest of us can’t stomach from time to time, who refuse to break with the party line of postmodernism in their reviews no matter how outrageous the exploitation of the death of another human being through the art they are philosophically required to celebrate.

Sincerely,

James W. Bailey

Away at the Fair

Still in Richmond for a weekend of trying to sell some art. In spite of the rain, it was a surprising good start today, with a few nice sales.

Also ran into an old friend, the fair Rebecca D'Angelo, who photographs for the Washington Post and others and was covering the fair.

Kirkland on Art Blogging

JT has a good piece on the state of the art (Blogging) in DCist. Read it here.

New Art BLOG

Alexandra Silverthorne has a new art-focused BLOG. It is called Solarize This and you should all visit often

P.S. See... I didn't mispell your last name!

NNE Gallery

A new (at least new to me) gallery is NNE Gallery, located at 1312 8th Street, NW, Washington DC 20001 and phone is 202-276-4540.

NNE Gallery had an opening reception tonite (I wish I'd had the press release earlier) for Washington DC artist, Nooni Reatig.

Per the release, Reatig first gained recognition in 1998 at the age of seventeen for a series of controversial paintings entitled, Red Alert. It was reviewed in The Washington Post, "A Young Artist's Naked Ambition," where Nooni claimed that she would "make a difference" (in the art world).

Upon graduation from The Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore in 2002, and then a brief stint at The Corcoran College of Art and Design, she has been working on series of sculptures showcased in this exhibition.

Welcome aboard!

Airborne today

Hellooooooooo Betty!

I'm heading home late tonight; on the redeye to Dulles.

On the flight home I will be finishing Brian Greene's The Elegant Universe.

Busy weekend, as I arrive early tomorrow morning and then immediately drive south for an art fair over the weekend.

Should be fairly exhausted by Monday...

2005 Lucelia Award Announced

A few days ago the Smithsonian sent a news release to everyone announcing the winner of the Lucelia Award:

The Smithsonian American Art Museum announced today that Andrea Zittel is the fifth annual winner of its Lucelia Artist Award, established by the museum in 2001 to encourage leading contemporary American artists. This award is part of the museum's commitment to contemporary art and artists through awards and acquisitions.

An independent panel of jurors chose Zittel for the award in recognition of her ability to "create objects and total settings that reconsider the relationships between art and life. A utopian yet rigorously formal sensibility dominates."

"The timing of the Smithsonian American Art Museum couldn't have been better," said Zittel. "I have been working on a number of new ideas recently and the Lucelia Artist Award will really help me continue with the projects."

"Andrea Zittel has shown a sustained commitment to distinctive work that challenges conventional thinking and expectations about the nature of art, which is exactly what the Lucelia Artist Award is intended to celebrate and support," said Elizabeth Broun, the museum's Margaret and Terry Stent Director.

The jurors continue in their statement, "Zittel's art is shaped by a serial-based comprehensiveness in which discrete works are part of ongoing experiments and the continuous development of ideas. An investigatory attitude prevails. Her practice embraces the recycling of materials and large-scale, public-art projects as much as the creation of custom-made objects and an extreme attention to personal, particularizing details. She has become a leading figure in the international art world and a strong influence on generations of artists worldwide."

Locally, the three jurors are now in the second phase of downselecting from the first set of semi-semifinalists for the $14,000 Trawick Prize.

Ms. Trawick has also added another $10,000 for the Bethesda Painting Awards, also being selected now.

Today Bake Gopnik in the WaPo has a nice story about the award. It would be nice if Gopnik also did a piece on whoever gets selected as the Trawick Prize winner; this would give Gopnik a chance to actually focus some of his printspace on an area art event of some significance.

Congratulations

To our own Tim Tate (represented by us), who recently signed on with WeissPollack Galleries in New York, which will represent his work there.

Tate will also create an installation for WeissPollack Galleries for SOFA New York, this coming June.

Important Opening this Weekend

"I really want to see..." a group show of new work or work never shown in the area by Laura Amussen, Maria Anasazi, Noah Angell, Ken Ashton, Mark Behme, Natalia Blanch, Margaret Boozer, Hsin-Hsi Chen, Noche Christ, Lynden Cline, John Dumbacher, Joseph Dumbacher, Susan Fenton, Thom Flynn, Inga McCaslin Frick, Marc Ganzglass, Francie Hester, Jason Hughes, Berta Koltenuik, Maggie Michael, Galo Moncayo, Brandon
Morse, Lee Newman, Foon Sham, Claire Sherwood, Richard Vosseller and John Winslow.

Reception to meet the artists: Saturday, April 30, 2005 6 - 9pm. Free and open to the public. Gallery Four, 405 West Franklin St. 4th Floor, Baltimore, MD, or call 410/962.8941.

San Diego

Spent all day indoors lecturing... but last night I visited my usual secret dining spot, Ortega's again for my fix of poblano mole and of Carnitas.

Tuesday Arts Agenda

The DCist Tuesday Arts Agenda is here.

Anderson on Flynn

Thom Flynn at Osuna Gallery
By John Anderson

For some the talk of collage in art receives a yawn and a "been there, done that." And though their applications have probably been beaten like a dead horse well throughout the last hundred years - since Picasso glued the caned backing of a chair to a canvas and framed it with rope - there is still something intriguing about a bunch of trash glued and stapled together into something. Or, at least, when it is done well it is intriguing, and sometimes seductive.

This seems to be the case for Thom Flynn, who currently has work on display at Osuna Gallery in Bethesda, MD through May 12, 2005.

Though ample work is not on display throughout the space, it does command the gallery well enough to attract attention at the very least from the simple curiosity of the people, if not some time for reflection.

While initial glances at Flynn’s work might evoke the work of artists like Mimmo Rotella and Jacques Villéglé, the relationship ends with poster material and some method of adhesive. Whereas Rotella and Villéglé were prone at times to treat their décollage as found objects, Flynn’s compositions involve both additive and subtractive elements of collage and décollage until so much of the image is lost in the development that what remains is a series of rips across the picture plane.

Flynn’s work reads as drawing. The rips are gestural across the surface with their varied thicks and thins. And, like the master draftsman he is with these rips, Flynn mixes it up just enough to keep the eye moving throughout the composition, yet controlling enough to maintain our attention in the gallery.

Sometimes the rips repeat, piling up one after the other. They intersect, lines lost in the overlap. Flynn lets us know just how much control he has over the compositions, and the compositions do not lose intensity and fall apart with a shift in scale.

The other point of major interest is the thickness of his pieces. They are constructed like topographical maps, with so many peaks and valleys the surface is begging to be touched. Guests of the gallery can often be seen looking from one side of the piece to the other to determine just how thick the pieces are, and how many layers back they can see.

Where things become problematic is twofold. First is the simple way the pieces are unified.

Constructed with staples adhering layer to layer, the final piece is shellacked with a gel medium that provides additional bonding strength to the staples, and arguably holds the whole piece together. While this act of preservation offers an interesting dialogue in contrast to the deteriorating condition in which these posters were found, as a solution it feels "too quickly arrived upon" and not as well planned in consideration to additional issues of texture, variety of surface throughout the composition.

Secondly is a more pressing issue, where does the work go from here? In the last few years Flynn has demonstrated his ability to work in this method throughout several exhibitions. While some might be frustrated trying to "read" the piece through the fragmentary images, it is obviously not necessary, as it is not the artist’s intention. Unfortunately, in the quest to see what information is peering around the tears becomes akin to a Where’s Waldo game, searching for what might be some random body part. In addition, without this style moving forward, it is likely to be relegated as furniture.

Airborne Today

Heading to the Left Coast once again... come back later and I should have some postings once I get to California.

Wanna Ask John Currin a Question?

Do you want to interview John Currin? Is there something you'd like to ask him?

With Flash Art, now you can.

This spring, Flash Art is giving you the opportunity to interview John Currin. Flash Art is now soliciting questions from anyone, the readers of Flash Art and the Flash Art newsletter.

They will present the best of these questions to John Currin, and he will respond to them in an exclusive interview published later this year.

Please e-mail all questions to Matt before the deadline - Wednesday, 4 May, 2005.

Gopnik on Steinhilber

Gopnik doesn't pay too much attention to DC galleries, so make sure that when he does, we do as well... read it here.

Jenkins on Steinhilber

Guest Review by Mark Jenkins

I work beside Numark Gallery and have been passing by this exhibit daily and so thought to contribute a brief piece about my reaction to it in this blog -- just for fun.

The first work that grabbed me in this show is a large canvas on the ground tilted against the wall with a small orange ball centered on its edge that seems to light up the wall behind it. The friend I was there with wondered if it was a light as I’m sure many will.

I won’t ruin the secret of it, but if you can jump as high as me -- I barely dunked a basketball some years ago, but that was some years ago -- you’ll see it too. It was this act -- perhaps a reward for my effort and for not caring if I looked a little bit like a fool -- that enabled me to begin to understand the way Steinhilber’s mind enjoys reality. He does so by creating or uncovering simplistic enigmas of the everyday item.

I remember in one of the Dune books Frank Herbert said something about a character The Changer: "He illuminates the banal in a way that terrifies."

While Steinhilber hardly terrifies he certainly illuminates the ordinary in a way that gets you thinking. The caterpillar made from forks and plates, the cardboard boxes that seem like a family of acrobats, the sorrowful kite riled by a fan like a chained canary, and a small tape metropolis with one tower deconstructing itself, all share this Changed spirit.

One other thing to mention or rather advise -- go to the show on a full stomach or you’ll find yourself seriously considering taking a bite out of the giant cheeto.

Kirkland on Steinhilber

JT's review can be read in DCist here.

For next week...

Creating from Within by Tricia Ratliff, Silvia Santiago and Shannon Chester is an exhibition of original paintings, collage and photography to create awareness about EP's innovative public art project- Synergy!

The opening is this coming Wed. April 27 , from 6-8 p.m. at Karma Lounge (19th and I Street in DC). Artwork will be on view through May 14th.

This showing is a fundraiser for Synergy. With each purchase, you'll receive free ($40) tickets to The Artists Reality Show, a very unique performance event to be held on May 14, at The Dennis and Phillip Ratner Museum, in Bethesda, Maryland.

Tickets and information about The Artists Reality Show will be available at the opening.

Katzen Arts Center

American University's Katzen Arts Center is about to open, and it includes a new gallery with 30,000 square feet of exhibition space, which is certain to become one of the key exhibition venues in the whole Eastern seaboard.

This will be a great new addition to our area's art scene, and lucky for us, it will be guided by a steady and experienced hand in the person of Jack Rasmussen, who as most of us know, is a highly experienced arts professional with a very deep knowledge of the DC area and Blatimore area art scenes.

And Jack steps into the new job with a brand new BLOG! Is that cool or what?

Visit the new BLOG here.

The Thursday Reviews

In the City Paper, Louis Jacobson reviews Barbara Probst at G Fine Art and also Maria Friberg at Conner Contemporary.

In the WaPo, Jessica Dawson has her usual third Thursdays set of mini reviews. Also in the Post, Jacqueline Trescott has a story on The National Endowment for the Arts' "scaling back" their initiative to "send the best of American culture around the country and is starting with only a tour of visual arts." Trescott reveals that the "NEA announced yesterday that it is giving the Phillips a grant of $100,000 to support a traveling exhibition of 20th-century painter [and my former art professor] Jacob Lawrence."

In DCist, Kirkland reviewed Victor Schrager at Adamson and JT tells me that later today DCist will have his review of Dan Steinhilber at Numark.

In the Gazette, Karen Schaffer has an article on Sandra Pope's Colour Art Studio and Gallery, a new art space in Silver Spring.

Also in the Gazette, a byline-less article discusses that as part of the Montgomery College annual Holocaust Commemoration program, Montgomery College Professors Jon Goell and Brian Jones, former Montgomery College students John Hoover and Susan Maldon Stregack, and Holocaust survivor Nesse Godin will discuss their participation in the exhibit "Portraits of Life."

Goell and Jones acted as project leaders and chief photographers of the exhibit, photographing and interviewing local Holocaust survivors in their homes. The professors were assisted by Montgomery College adjunct faculty member Rollin Fraser, students and former students, who acted as photo assistants, interviewers and photographers. Jane Knaus, the college's creative services director, designed the exhibit and coordinated its production.

More than 30 Holocaust survivors have been photographed for "Portraits of Life," creating a lasting legacy of their lives and their stories of survival.

The "Portraits of Life" photography exhibit will be on display at the college's Communication Arts Technologies (CAT) Gallery. It will officially open at the Holocaust Commemoration event and will remain on display through the end of April.

Arts Talk Today

Curator Susana Torruella Leval, Director Emerita, El Museo Del Barrio, New York, will lead a roundtable discussion on "Latin American" Art: Expectation and Reality, today at the Arlington Arts Center starting at 7PM. Free and open to the public.

The exhibition "Art with Accent: Latin Americans in the Mid-Atlantic States," which was curated by Torruella Leval, is currently on exhibition at the Center and showcases work by Aldo Badano, Juan Bernal, Gute Brandao, Mark Caicedo, Ana Cavalcanti, Irene Clouthier, Pepe Coronado, Gerard de la Cruz, Felisa Federman, Luis Flores, Eva Holz, Tamara Kostianovsky, Rosana Lopez, Carolina Mayorga, Lara Oliveira, Alessandra Ramirez, Victoria Restrepo, Helga Thomson and Maria Velez.

The 6th annual Bethesda Literary Festival starts tomorrow, Friday, April 22 through Sunday, April 24, 2005 throughout downtown Bethesda's art galleries, bookstores, restaurants, arts organizations and venues and retail businesses.

The festival will bring together novelists, poets, journalists, nonfiction writers and children's authors and illustrators who represent the rich diversity of modern literature. The Bethesda Literary Festival also features essay contests, poetry slams, kids' and youth book parties and the 2nd annual Play In A Day.

On Saturday, April 23rd from 1-2PM we will host Alexandra Robbins, author of Quarterlife Crisis and its sequel Conquering Your Quarterlife Crisis and Jen Chaney, the Washington Post's DVD and movie columnist. Robbins and Chaney will join together to share their insight on modern day living.

And then, on that same day from 2:30-4PM, we will host authors Jim Grimsley (Comfort & Joy); Susan Leonardi (And Then They Were Nuns); Michael Mancilla (Love In The Time of HIV: The Gay Man's Guide to Sex, Dating, and Relationships); and Kathi Wolfe, a local poet. The authors and poet will offer a look inside gay and lesbian literature.

See ya there!

Opportunity for Artists

Call for entries, Gateway Georgia Avenue, and Jesse Cohen's Artdc.org Art in Transition.

Info here, Although you have to log in to read it, but it only takes a second or two to create an account. Below is the gist of the call for artists.

An Artdc.org proposal has been accepted, and they have received permission from the owners of a Georgia Avenue property near Takoma Park to conduct an art show and exhibition.

This show will allow them to represent all or most of Artdc.org’s membership, that they can fit. It will present the opportunity for a semi-curated show. All those who apply will be allowed to hang at least one piece on a first come first serve basis limited by the space available on the install date.

The works will be hung in salon style to take advantage of nearly 1300 square feet of open office space. There is the opportunity for use of a balcony for 3D and other weather proof or performance art. If artists have ideas for an event, please contact Artdc.org. They are interested in developing master classes, studio days, and music events. The more the ideas, the better.

The call for entries will be 100% digital. Submit via CD, images must be at least 4" by 6" at 300 dpi. They are interested in all types of art. 2D, 3D, and more. Submit at the meeting this coming weekend; exact time, date and location TBA.

What: Gateway Georgia Avenue, and Artdc.org--Art in Transition

Where: Off of Georgia Avenue, MD in Raw Transitional but Empty Office Space.

When: Install May 14, 2005 Opening May 21, 2005 Closing June 17, 2005

Theme: What does it mean to EMERGE!

Requirements to show:

-Must be registered at Artdc.org with completed profile including username, interests, webpage if available.

-Must live with in 150 miles of Washington, DC.

-Must submit a CD of at least 1 to 5 images of available work. They will select at least one image. (4" by 6" at 300 dpi or larger).

-A $20 dollar Hanging Fee which will be applied to marketing costs, show maintenance, and possibly the development of the next show.

-Volunteer time to gallery sit or help install and de-install, Canvas neighborhoods, or develop programs. (They are flexible 3-6 hours total or more if you like).

-A resume and/or artist statement with completed application.

-Most important, include a paragraph or poem to be displayed with your work about the meaning of emerging within the art world, and the effect it has had on you. Be personal.

-You may consider yourself emerging or established to apply.

-Self promotion and flyer posting. Each artist should post at least 10 flyers for the event.

-Artists should attend the openings.

-Please limit the size of your work to allow room for other artists.

MOCA Opening this Saturday

"Forgotten Memories" opens with a reception this coming Saturday at MOCA in Georgetown's Canal Square from 6 to 9pm. The exhibition includes Michael Dax Iacovone's Experimental Photography and Ben Premeaux's Mixed Media Paintings. The Exhibition runs Saturday, April 30th.

Craghead on Bailey on Botero

Warren Craghead's excellent Drawer has a counterpoint to Bailey's Botero Letter, and also a couple of comments by Bailey. Read it all here.

Bailey on Botero

That word-processing living machine known as J.W. Bailey responds to my call for reviews and art commentary with the below open letter in response to AP reporter Dan Molinski’s article, "Botero’s Latest Muse: Abu Ghraib," as published in the Washington Post. Comments welcomed:

"The Deconstructed Portrait of a Postmodern Art History Teacher"
By James W. Bailey

The postmodern art theorists (translate: anti-American French and wannabe French "art philosophers") must be having a field day around the world preparing their glowing reviews of Colombian artist Fernando Botero’s new series of propagandistic Abu Ghraib paintings in which he predictably pours gasoline on the exaggerated horrors of the unfortunate documented abuses of some Iraqi prisoners by a handful of American soldiers.

One can easily picture Botero’s sycophant leftist art fans standing at the ready outside museums in Paris anxiously awaiting the arrival of this vapid artistic pabulum while passing the time muttering their memorized anti-Bush screeds in clever but meaningless French art speak phrases, with lit Gitanes cigarettes hanging from their cynical lips prepared to flick them onto the inflammable canvas of art and politics that Botero has composed for his choir.

Botero is quoted by the AP as saying the following: "No one would have ever remembered the horrors of Guernica if not for painting." What self-serving deluded narcissistic tripe! Only the relativist philosophy of postmodernism would be so bold as to ludicrously encourage us to believe that wrapping a female panty around a male Iraqi prisoner’s head equates to Franco and Hitler conspiring to kill more than 1,700 innocent people in the Basque region of Spain by bombing and shooting them to death.

But then again, only such a shallow philosophy as postmodernism could inspire an aging super-famous mega-wealthy artist living in an ivory tower penthouse who longs to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize before he dies to say something like that and expect it to be taken seriously by anyone but a burned-out religious convert to the fraudulent philosophy of postmodernism in the first place.

However, to play Botero’s art history game: If Botero is so concerned about horrors being preserved and presented in art so that it can serve as a leftist platform for politically correct history lessons, where are his paintings of the innocent Iraqis who dared to dissent with the ruling elite and were tortured to death by Saddam Hussein and his gang of thugs? Where are his paintings of the Kurds being gassed to death? Where are his one million paintings of the one million Rwandans being hacked to death while Bill Clinton and his gang of State Department cronies diddled around trying to parse the United Nations’ international definition of genocide?

Closer to his native land, where are his paintings of innocent Colombians being blown to bits in Medellin by wealthy drug lords? Are they still in the hands of wealthy private collectors locked away for private viewing? (Some of Colombia’s cocaine barons have no doubt long been enamored of Botero’s strained ruminations on the invented mythology of America’s endless abuse of power throughout the world because their own rabidly anti-American positions on international terrorism seem to dovetail so nicely with his – considering that Botero has already painted a sympathetic portrayal of Pablo Escobar being killed by Colombian police, they’re also probably on his collector’s list as every true mass-murdering gangster longs to be celebrated in art by a famous sympathetic artist at some point in his life, or death.)

I find it quite interesting that Botero, in a classic postmodern art theorist move, has numbered his Abu Ghraib series from 1 to 50, rather than taking the time to research the names and identities of those prisoners he painted that he claims were "tortured." Undoubtedly, Botero’s international art attorney advised him that to attribute names to the faces in his paintings would raise the troubling issue of exploitation of unlicensed imagery for financial gain – that is, royalties might have to be paid out of Botero’s back pocket to those "victims" he's so concerned about.

Of course, good postmodern art theory does not allow for the "innocent victim" of a right wing government to object to their image being used by a leftist artist without their permission if such use advances an exploitative anti-American opinion that intersects with an impending world museum tour – no, such theories better suggest that the leftist artist in question just keep the names, identities, facts and truth out of the whole picture... and keep all the profits once that fraudulent picture is sold to the world by a compliant media all to himself.

But God help you if you happen to be a real innocent victim of a left wing government – the true French postmodern art theorists will never remember your death because they are not about to condone, let alone critically review, any artist that would dare to stray from the party line and paint that aesthetically confusing picture. They would much prefer that history lesson never be remembered and taught through art.

Sincerely

James W. Bailey
Experimental Photographer
Force Majeure Studios

Opposing views on this subject:
Mike Whitney at Counterpunch and also at Al Jazeerah.

Elizabeth Nash at The Independent.

Tuesday Arts Agenda

DCist's Tuesday Arts Agenda is here.

Kirkland on Schrager

J.T. Kirkland reviews Victor Schrager at Adamson Gallery on DCist.

Correcting Green

From Tyler Green's Modern Art Notes:

Here in DC I've noticed that people are doing less talking and more writing. DCist, part of the often poorly-behaved -ist empire, has rounded up a few arts bloggers and encouraged them to review area shows for publication on DCist. Sure, DCist had a false start or two -- notably a gallery owner and dealer wrote reviews until blogger Kriston Capps called DCist on it --

Sigh...

I am the linkless "gallery owner and dealer" that Green mentions (he conveniently omitted blogger), but considering that Green once wrote that "I [Green] make sure that items... are accurate before they go up on MAN. It doesn't go on MAN if it is wrong, could be wrong or might be wrong. It only goes on MAN if it is solid and accurate. I check things."

Mr. Green: I've never written a review for DCist.

What I did do for DCist, for about four or five weeks, was to provide them with a listing of gallery openings and visual arts events cut and pasted from the many news releases that the galleries send me. It was an attempt on my part to help spread the word, through DCist's huge reading public, about the DC art scene.

What Green regurgitates today is that last March blogger Kriston Capps on G.P. wrote that:

"It's bitchy of me to say— and I don't know the extent to which Lenny Campello of DC Art News contributes or what Cyndi Spain [the DCist Arts Editor] has to say on the subject— but I twitch whenever I see a feature with Lenny's name attached on DCist about work on display at the gallery he operates. I don't doubt the conviction Lenny clearly feels about the art he represents or enjoys, and I don't think that it's unreasonable that he writes about artists he represents on his own blog. But you really can't don the critic's cap when you're a producer in the community."

Rather than drag DCist through an unwarranted ethics debate, I immediately quit contributing directly to DCist, who published this statement.

After nearly sixty back and forth comments in response to that G.P posting, including several by Green (including a childish one on March 14 at 7:40PM), I believe that some issues had been ironed out, and I did and still disagree with the premise that a gallery owner cannot write art criticism (which I never did for DCIst) is flawed and ridiculous.

Unlike Green's own writing career, which started four or five years ago and was succinctly profiled by the Washington City Paper, I've been writing about art since 1977 (and about DC art since 1993) and have no intention of stopping on his or anyone else's account. At the time, I thought that my contributions to DCist, which were simply listings of other galleries shows, would be good for our art scene.

You see, what a self-proclaimed elitist, and an arts newbie and gallery-world outsider like Green does not know yet (he'll learn with experience), is that the best thing for art galleries, is more art galleries.

And in order to have more art galleries, then all galleries have to do well, and then a city's cultural tapestry grows and becomes stronger. In helping to promote other galleries via what I do here at DC Art News and what was being used by the DCist Arts Editor to publicize openings, etc., I had hoped to help expand our area's gallery scene and this helps all galleries, including mine.

But now Green, who although living here in DC, generally manages to avoid informing his 900 or so daily online visitors about anything dealing with the DC art scene, other than the DC museum show here or there, or bitching about pandas and Corcoran conspiracies, has wasted his precious informative online resources to add unwarranted negativity aimed at DCist and at me.

I've never met Tyler Green and have no idea what he looks like; I've corresponded with him via email and even once or twice invited him out for a beer.

Enough niceties; I hope that I never meet him and will avoid doing so, for at any given place the plebian Brooklyn in me may resurface and he may now be one beer away from a well-deserved ass kicking.

Kino Jewels

The New York Times' Carol Kino has a couple of really good pieces in the New York Times. User ID is logos and password times (thanks to Bugmenot.com).

In the first article: Trendy Artists Pick Up an Old-Fashioned Habit, Kino reveals the surprising list of contemporary artists returning to live model drawing.

In the second piece: When the Work Is a Workstation, she discusses that "if you buy a work from Lucas Samaras's current show at the PaceWildenstein and Pace/MacGill galleries, you'll need $15,000 - and a small moving truck. For your money, you'll get not just 4,432 photographs and 60 movies, but also the Mac Mini computer on which they're stored (as iPhoto and iMovie files), an Apple Cinema HD display, an Ikea Hannes desk and two Design Within Reach chairs."

New Kids on the Block

Most of the area's universities have their senior and MFA Thesis exhibitions hanging right now. This is a good opportunity for an early look at this year's crop of art students and graduates. There are shows at American University's Watkins Gallery, and at GWU's Dimock Gallery, and a new show opens at Catholic University's Salve Regina Gallery on Thursday.

Wanna go to an Opening Today?

The League of Reston Artists Annual Judged Fine Art Exhibition has an opening reception today from 2-4 pm, with a musical performance by Just Friends.

The reception is at the JoAnn Rose Gallery, Reston Community Center at Lake Anne. The exhibition runs until May 3, 2005 and is free and open to the public. Info and direction here.

Another choice is at Photoworks at Glen Echo Park, where "Creative Digital Printmakers" feautures six artists showing scrolls, frescoes and prints on handmade paper and glass. The artists are Rona Eisner, Sandy Lebrun-Evans, Carol Leadbetter, Sheila Meyer, Dorie Silber and Grace Taylor. The exhibition runs until May 23, and the reception is today from 2-4PM. At Glen Echo Park, 7300 MacArthur Blvd.

Use me

Once again I'd like to renew my offer to have anyone email me area art reviews, comments on our area arts, interviews, etc. for publication here.

Sent a letter to the Arts Editor and it never got published? Send them here and provided that it contributes to our area's art dialogue, I'll publish them here.

Last Night

Last night I went with Tim Tate to the Renwick Alliance fundraising auction.

I was very pleasantly surprised at the generosity of the bidders, as I often find that most art fundraising auctions end up being give aways. Not with this crowd (a lot of whom came from as far as Los Angeles for the function). In fact, a set of Tate's reliquiaries went for over $6,000, and a piece by William Morris broke $60,000.

True Stories from the Gallery World

Setting: A group show of 25 or so artists from around the US, Europe, Latin America and the region. A casually dressed couple, having just finished dinner at the Sea Catch Restaurant in Georgetown step into the gallery.

Him: Can we come in?

Me: Yes of course, welcome to the gallery.

Him: Does it cost anything to come in?

Me: Of course not! Come on in and look around, let me know if you have any questions.

They come in, and start looking at the works on exhibit, which as with any group show, include a variety of styles, genres, and subjects.

Her: We didn't know there were any art galleries here...

Him: Are these all by the same artist?

Me: Uh... no, it's a group show by artists from all over the US, some from Europe and some area artists.

Her (pointing to a large etching): I really like this piece.

Me: It's an intaglio etching by --

Him (looking closely at the wall label with title, artist and price info): Is that the best that you can do?

Me: It is the price for the work sir, this etching is an edition of 10, and several pieces have already sold and --

Her (Looking at a small drawing): I really like this one too.

Him: Is that the same artist?

Me: No, that's a graphite drawing by --

Him: How come it is the same price as the other one (pointing to the etching)? That other one is at least twice as big.

Me: This is an original drawing; it is one of a kind, and the other piece that you liked is a limited edition print, and there are 10 of them, although there are only three left in the edition.

Him (looking incredulous): Somebody bought all the others?

Her: I really like both of these... they're much more interesting than all the stuff that you have hanging at the house.

Him: If we buy both of them, will you give us a deal?

Me: Well, they're very fairly priced as they are, but if you buy both of them, we will gladly offer you a 10% collector's discount.

Him (adding up the Math in his head): How about $1500 for both of them?

Me: Sorry sir, that's more like a 50% discount - you wouldn't want to do business with any art gallery that has a price structure where you can obtain "art" at half price.

Him: I always get at least 40% at other art stores.

Me (clearing my throat): We don't exhibit work that can be ethically discounted to those extremes, and most reputable art dealers do not either; it hurts both the artist and the collector.

Her (staring hard at him): I really like both of these; I've never seen work like this before and I really like them.

Him (beginning to get the message): How about 25% off?

Me: With a 10% collector's discount you are getting a very fair price for two framed works of real... art.

Her: Just get them...

Him: Awright... We'll get them if you deliver them to Virginia and that way it will save us the sales tax.

Me (hoping that my eyes are not rolling): Where in Virginia?

Her: Great Falls.

I swallow hard, do the paperwork, and after explaining to them that they'll have to wait until after the exhibition is over, close the sale. A couple of weeks later, I contact them to arrange the delivery.

Using our delivery service (in other words me), I drive to Great Falls, and find their home, or shall I say mansion, one of those monster houses with acres of lawn. I knock on the door.

A Filipino maid actually wearing one of those French maid outfits opens the door. I explain to her that I am delivering two pieces of artwork, and after she stares at me and the two pieces of art, she lets me in, and shouts something in Tegalog towards the upstairs. A second uniformed Filipino maid comes down, and speaking in English says that the owners are out, but left a message for me just to leave the two pieces of art.

I do so, and ask her if it is OK for me to look at the owner's art collection. She nods and leaves.

And I look at wall, after wall full of gaudily-framed decorative work... you know: Impressionistic women in Victorian dresses with umbrellas in the wind, large Parisian scenes in thick, bright oil paints, men and women in hats that cover their eyes playing pool, seductive-eyed vixens staring dreamily into the viewer, Kinkaidian landscapes, and strangely enough at least six huge photos of those dog portraits by Wegman.

I sigh, thinking of all the tens of thousands of dollars spent in "wall decor," and almost feel as if I am leaving two small hostages behind.

The English speaking maid checks up on me, as I leave.

Me: Who usually buys the... uh... artwork?

Maid: These are all Mr. ____'s.

She points to the two that I've left behind.

Maid: Those are the first two that his new wife has bought.

I drive away with a tiny bit of relief; very tiny.

Wanna go to a Gallery Opening Tonight?

Fusebox Gallery will open an exhibition titled "Freedom Works," showcasing the the artwork of Rollins and K.O.S. with an opening reception tonight from 6-8PM.

Kirkland on Probst

J.T. Kirkland reviews Barbara Probst at G Fine Art in DCist.

The Chelsea Manifesto

DC Arts Center is launching a series of Sunday Discussion Forums and tomorrow, April 17, 2005, Christopher Lee will lead "The Chelsea Manifesto," an engaging and humorous look at the contemporary artworld.

Session One: DADA TO PRADA begins at 7:30pm, it is preceeded by "The ARTROCK Social Hour"... a chance to meet old and new friends while grooving to the sounds of art rock classics from the Talking Heads, Nico, Laurie Anderson, the B52's and more - 6:30pm-7:30pm.

Please visit the DCAC website for details on the Sunday Discussion Forums.

K & Connecticut


Mark Jenkins strikes again.

WPA/C Artists' Directory

The WPA/C is beginning to gather artists' info for the new 2006 WPA\C Artist Directory. Details and info for the 2006 WPA\C Artist Directory can be obtained here.

This will be the third issue of the Directory, and it is one of the great assets and resources that area artists have. I encourage area artists to participate (I do).

OPTIONS 2005

Dr. Libby Lumpkin, curator of the OPTIONS 2005 exhibition has scheduled her second visit to the area later this month. She will be continuing her tour of graduate programs in the area, as well as reviewing remaining written submissions in the WPA/C office.

Light Up The Warehouse

On May 14th, Warehouse is hosting a "Light up the Warehouse" party to raise funds to pay for new lights and sound equipment for the theater and they need your help.

Warehouse Theater and Gallery is another one of the great jewels in the cultural tapestry of our region.

I intend to donate a piece of art and so do the following DC area artists (so far):

Jim Adams, Tommy Adams, Felix Angel, Sondra Arkin, Scott Brooks, Gabriela Bulisova, Beth Cartland, Chez Chez, Mark Clark, Kevin Cowl, Lily Cox-Richard, Richard Dana, John De Fabbio, Margaret Dowell, Michael Dumlao, Dara Friel, Christopher Goodwin, Pat Goslee, Stuart Gosswein, Carlos Graupera, Ryan Hackett, Michael Wm Hall, Eric Hammesfahr, Bing Huang, Brece Honeycutt, Joroko, Mariah Josephy, Seth Kaplan, Jenufa Kent, Karey Kessler, Richard Kightlinger, Soumiya Krishnaswamy, Bridget Lambert, Chris Lee, Marian Lemle, Heather Levy, Mike Lowrey, Tim Martin, Rosetta McPherson, Ryan Miller, Isabel Manalo, Tim Martin, Elizabeth Morisette, Dan Murray, Noonieneon, Frederick Nunley, Steven Ochs, Dino Paxenos, Gail Peck, Mark Planisek, Philip Pradier, Mary Beth Ramsey, Karie Reinertson, Jose Ruiz, Charles St Charles, Andy Scott, Jessica Shull, Alexandra Silverthorne, Stoff Smulson, Steven Stichter, Randy Stolfus, Elena Strunk, JD Talasek, Tim Tate, Ira Tattleman, Ruth Travarrow, Susanna Thornton, Trish Tillman, Anita Walsh, Justin Winokur, Peter Wood, and Ellyn Weiss.

A preview party honoring the artists will be held May 6th. Artists wishing to donate a work of art should email Molly Ruppert at ruppertm@erols.com.

Then, on May 14, the "Light Up the Warehouse" Fundraising party will take place at Warehouse. They are planning to sell 100 Sponsor tickets at $150.00 each, which will include and original work of art. Each $150.00 ticket holder may then buy a companion ticket for $50.00 entitling the companion to the dinner, drinks, music, live and silent actions. There are also general tickets available for $100.00 for dinner, drinks, music, live and silent actions. The special artist price for the same is $50.00.

Again, artists wishing to donate a work of art, or collectors who'd like to get a ticket, should email Molly Ruppert at ruppertm@erols.com or contact her at 202/257 5989 or 202/783-8263 or 202/783-3933.

The Weekend Reviews

At the WaPo, O'Sullivan reviews "On Music: Tim Rollins + K.O.S. (Kids of Survival)" at the Kreeger Museum

As I noted here, on Saturday, Fusebox Gallery will open a show of paintings called "Freedom Works," putting the art of Rollins and K.O.S. in a different, broader context. An opening reception is scheduled from 6-8PM.

O'Sullivan also has a really good review of Collaboration as a Medium: 25 Years of Pyramid Atlantic

Powerless Critics

In the popular imagination, the art critic seems a commanding figure, making and breaking careers at will, but one hard look at today’s contemporary art system reveals this notion to be delusional. "When I entered the art world, famous critics had an aura of power," recalls ArtBasel director Samuel Keller. "Now they’re more like philosophers— respected, but not as powerful as collectors, dealers or curators. Nobody fears critics any more, which is a real danger sign for the profession."

Read the Art Newspaper article (by Marc Spiegler) here.

"The role of the critic has been gradually taken over by the curator," notes Stockholm’s Power Ekroth, who writes criticism for artforum.com, edits Site magazine, and also curates exhibitions. "The curator builds up a career by becoming the new stronghold for validation of taste. The curator is also closer to the artist, because where the critic is trying to be 'objective' the curator is clearly subjective."

Here we go again...

Painting is dead, painting is hot... the never ending, boring debate....

Secret Service Visits Art Show

This story is a little scary.

Organizers of a politically charged art exhibit at Columbia College's Glass Curtain Gallery thought their show might draw controversy.

But they didn't expect two U.S. Secret Service agents would be among the show's first visitors.

Read the whole story here.

Secrets in the CP

Frank Warren's PostSecret project continues to grow.

Page 150 of the current edition of the Washington City Paper has one of Frank's cards and will run a new one each week; Very cool!

Frank is also working on a book deal for the project.

DC Collectors

We just closed our most successful photography exhibition ever, featuring 50 years of photography by Lida Moser. The exhibition received extensive press coverage (here and in New York), both in the mainstream media, online and on television.

And yet, it shows (again) the puzzling side of DC area "collectors." Most sales were made to New York (several pieces), Los Angeles (most expensive piece), Miami and Great Britain (multiples). In spite of all the press and really good numbers of people who came to see the exhibition, only three DC collectors (if we exclude Holly, our gallery attendant, who purchased a piece) acquired work. And the other two collectors told us that it was the "first time that they had actually bought photography from a DC area gallery."

This continues a trend (for us) that sees a rather sizeable number of our art sales going to New York and West Coast collectors, while the DC "collector" market remains hard to identify in the numbers that our area's wealth and numbers should support.

New BLOG

Colby Caldwell, whom I interviewed for ArtsMedia News recently, has a new BLOG called Notes from the Fieldhouse. Visit him often.