Video Feedback

David A. Ross, the President of the Artist Pension Trust reponds to my Video Killed the Radio (and Art?) Star posting with the following:

As a curator working with video since 1971, I have encountered your argument several time before. As you may imagine, since the early days of video, the concern -- voiced in the Wash Po piece and in your response, has been the same: "Why watch video in a gallery when it is best viewed at home?"

On a certain level, that is true, if the work is intended for the social context provided by home viewing (on line or on TV). Or, if the work does not demand the formal support of a sculptural space (i.e. multiple monitors, live video components, projected work with complex sound elements, etc. etc.).

But finally it is also the social context of an environment that is not a theater and not a living room, but some other space generally (or formerly) reserved for the quiet contemplation of art objects that appeals to some artists using video to place information some may deem non-artistic (like documentary footage of everyday life). The friction of this mismatch is often a central element of the work, and not just a curatorial or artistic conceit.

But of course, when an artwork fails then all bets are off, and it can be revealed as lacking in many ways-- including it's use of gallery space.

David A. Ross

MSNBC

DC Art News on MSNBC (scroll down... way down)

What to do and see this week

Wednesday: Time for the ArtHelps Silent Auction from 5pm–10pm at the offices of JAM Communications. Cocktails and hors d'ouvres will be served and it's all free and open to the public. See the donated artwork here.

Also on Wednesday, from 6-8pm, Art-O-Matic is hosting a happy hour at Warehouse Galleries and Theatre complex. The swirl for the 2006 show is beginning! They’re gearing up for a 2006 event. Catch up with friends and like-minded artists. Find out how you can be a part of the 2006 AOM sensation. Special beer prices.

Thursday: There is an artist reception on Thursday evening 6-8PM, at Studio Gallery in Dupont Circle. The title of the show is "Classical Themes/Contemporary Artists" (an image of Michael Janis' glass piece Amnesiac is to the left). Also, in order to raise money for this not-for-profit artist collaborative, the rear gallery at Studio features artwork available for a tax deductible donation (starting at $200) to the gallery - a chance to collect some of the Studio artists work at bargain rates!

Also on Thursday, Provisions Library hosts Provisions 101, a special reception from 6-8 pm. This is an opportunity to meet the Provisions staff, find out more about what they do and see their current exhibit (DeeDee Does Utopia: Propaganda Collage by Deborah Faye Lawrence). Refreshments will be served. Their hosts for the evening are Dru Ryan and Lalitha Gopalan. Dru is Editor of The Journal of Hip-Hop and teaches at George Mason University and Lalitha is Associate Professor at Georgetown University specializing in film and cinema studies. Dru and Lalitha will share their insights into alternative education and the links between art, activism and academia with special emphasis on film, media and visual culture. RSVP to Katy Otto at kotto@provisionslibrary.org or call 202-299-0460.

And at the McLean Project for the Arts' Emerson Gallery, Seeds: Gail Gorlitzz and Karin Birch opens on Thursday with a reception and gallery talk from 7-9PM.

Friday: This is the second Friday of the month and thus it's the Bethesda Art Walk with 13 participating venues and with free guided tours. And we will have our annual Winter Group Show, featuring an entire gallery full of new work by the artists that we represent ("Not Kansas" by New York painter David FeBland -- he's our best-selling American painter and the guy in the ballcap driving the car -- is to the right).

Also on Friday, there's an opening reception for "i found your photo" from 6:00 – 9:00 PM on the 2nd Floor of the University of Phoenix Northern Virginia Campus at 11710 Plaza America Drive, Reston, VA 20190. For directions, please see the League of Reston Artists website. The "i found your photo" exhibition is a special benefit exhibition of donated found photographs that is presented by the League of Reston Artists. All found photographs that have been donated to this project will be placed into a handmade photography book after the exhibition closes. This book will be designed and created by photographer and book artist, Melanie De Cola. The one-of-a-kind "i found your photo" photography book will be auctioned on E-bay in May 2006 to fund a photography scholarship through the League of Reston Artists. The scholarship will be awarded to a Washington, D.C. area at-risk high school senior who aspires to be a photographer, to help him or her attend art school.

And back in DC, Irvine Contemporary has and opening for Sean Foley and Gina Brocker from 6-8 PM, and there's also an artist's talk on Sat. Dec. 10 starting at 2 PM.

And there's also an opening at the Capitol Hill Arts workshop this Friday for a "budget-priced-for-the-holidays" show entitled Wrap it Up. The opening is Friday from 5-7pm, and the all day sale is Saturday from 10 am-7 pm.

Saturday: A.Salon has a holiday art show from 5-8PM at Willow Street Gallery (6925 Willow Street, NW in DC).

Also on Saturday, December 10 and Sunday, December 11 from 12:00 - 6:00PM, Hemphill Fine Arts has booksignings for recent publications from fine art book publisher Nazraeli Press. William Christenberry, Joseph Mills and Tanya Marcuse will be in attendance for book signings on Saturday, December 10 from 12:00 - 2:00PM. Hot Cider and Cookies!

The Urban Arts Gallery at the Pierce School Lofts is having the opening for "Pattern" on Saturday, December 10 from 4-7pm. This month’s featured artists are Roberta Glick, Amy Lin, and Emily Dean. The Urban Arts Gallery is located on Capitol Hill at 1375 Maryland Avenue NE, Washington, DC and "Pattern" will be on exhibit through December 30, 2005.

And Union Printmakers Atalier has OH HO 05: A Holiday Exhibition of Contemporary Art opening on Saturday from 6-9PM. The group show brings together many well known artists from the Washington, Maryland, and Virginia area along with some new faces to the area's art scene. Expect to see prints, drawings, paintings, sculpture and photographs reflecting a variety of styles and approaches to each medium through January 28th, 2006. Lots of very talented artists participating including: Julia Bloom, Joseph Barbaccia, Chantal Bernicky, Iona Brown, Rosalind Burns, David Chung, William Christenberry, Warren Craghead, Dymph de Wild, Ben Ferry, Susan Finsen, Jenny Freestone, Pat Goslee, Susan Hostetler, Pauline Jakobsberg, J.T. Kirkland, Andrew Krieger, Judith Kahn, Alex Mayer, Kerry McAleer-Keeler, Michele Montalbano, Jody Mussoff, Robert Nelson, William Newman, Judith Nulty, Turker Ozdogan, Betsy Packard, Margaret Adams Parker, Randall Packer, Michael Pierce, Beverly Ress, Charles Ritchie, Russel Richards, Beverly Ryan, Clarice Smith, Terry Svat, R.L.Tillman, Helga Thomson, F.L. Wall, Mark Wamaling, Max-Karl Winkler, Ellen Winkler, Frank Wright and Scip Barnhart (the director of Union Printmakers and one of DC's top artists and art professors).

Art Show/DC Surfrider has a fundraiser at FC Gallery 7pm-2am ($5 suggested donation). The gallery is located at 916 Blagden Alley. Featured Artist: Steve Olson (LA Underground/Skateboard Overlord). Also features a massive interactive installation piece by Ben Ashworth, Anthony Smallwood and Dan Zeman; music, food and drink provided.

Also on Saturday and Sunday, The Arlington Arts Center has a Holiday Art Bazaar from 11-4PM. Drop by the AAC to find the perfect piece of art or craft for a holiday gift from 19 artists in the greater metropolitan area. The diverse media represented include ceramics, photography, jewelry, fiber, and much more.

And on Saturday Transformer hosts an opening reception from 7-9PM for "Little Creatures" through January 14, 2006 and featuring Marci Branagan, Julie Jenkinson, Thomas M. Lowery and Maki Maruyama. There's also an artists' talk on Saturday, January 7, 2006, at 4 pm.

Studio One Eight presents "Fully Loaded: New Work by Lisa Marie Thalhammer." The opening reception is on December 10th from 7-10 PM. Thalhammer has created, using her stylized approach to portraiture, an army of DC women that embodies the subjectivity of the contemporary American female.

Sunday: Carolyn Dutky Romano has an opening from 2-4PM for "Eye on the Underground" at The Art League Gallery in Alexandria. There's also an artist talk on Thursday, December 8 at 7PM (the show actually opens on Dec. 8).

I am sure that I missed some events... if so email me the details.

Arts Journal Expansion

Arts Journal is one of my daily must-reads, and often the source of stories, comments and links here in DC Art News.

And now it's undergoing a site face lift and major expansion right before our eyes.

Visit them often.

Arts Agenda

DCist's Arts Agenda is up.

Read it here.

DCist has been looking for months for someone to write about the visual arts and augment the weekly arts agenda.

So far they're doing an outstanding job of covering music, theatre, sports, restaurants and politics, but they are still lacking a voice to write some art reviews.

It's not easy uh?

Interested writers and would-be art critics should contact DCist at dcist-core@googlegroups.com

Busy Week

There are loads of openings and visual art events happening this week. Check later and I'll be posting them.

Congratulations

To our own Tim Tate, whose "Positive Reliquaries" series of three glass sculptures has been acquired by The Mint Museum of Art in Charlotte, North Carolina.

"Positive Reliquaries" consists of a set of three hand blown domes with spun glass nests and dotted eggs inside. The eggs in the nests are dotted to mimic the dots on dice, and signify the gamble of Tate's daily challenge with being HIV positive; the nests themselves are a recurring theme in his work representing rebirth and hope. The crown of each dome is topped with a red cast glass "positive" (+) symbol.

Etched onto the surface of each reliquary is the story in three parts of Tate's discovery of his HIV status 20 years ago and how he emerged from that reborn into a new identity. These words create a cage which surrounds the entire piece... forever freezing them in that history. It was the first and only time that the artist has ever recorded the events leading to his discovery of being HIV positive in 1984. It ends with the line "This is the only record."

This is one of Tate's most personal and painful pieces. It speaks not of sorrow, but rejoices in rebirth. Most of Tate's works deals with healing in this manner: employing difficult moments in his life and using them to springboard into the future.

"Positive Reliquaries" is one of his finest examples of his content driven glass as Tate continues to drag glass away from the vessel and into the narrative context. Tate's current solo show at our Fraser Gallery Bethesda ends this coming Wednesday.

Opportunity for Unrepresented Artists

Deadline: On-going

The Center For Emerging Visual Artists is currently accepting applications to join their Regional Community Arts Program (RCAP) Artist Registry.

Artists in the registry will be eligible to participate in The Center's Community Exhibition Program, which includes exhibitions in public spaces such as hospitals, schools, parks, and more.

Requirements: Must be interested in exhibiting in public spaces; Must live within 90 miles of Philadelphia; Cannot have a contractual relationship with a commercial gallery; Works submitted must be available and ready to hang/install.

Please send up to 20 slides or digital images, a slide list (name, title, dimensions, medium, and price), and a resume to:

Genevieve Coutroubis
The Center For Emerging Visual Artists
Community Exhibitions
237 South 18th Street # 3A
Philadelphia, PA 19103
Phone: 215.546.7775 x11
E-mail: genevieve@cfeva.org

New Mexico Artist and Writer Residencies

Deadline: January 6, 2006.

The Santa Fe Art Institute is inviting artists and writers in all disciplines to apply for their residency program. Application forms are available on the web at www.sfai.org.

Successful applicants will be eligible to spend from one to three months at a preeminent contemporary residency program in the Southwest. Application fee: $25.00.

For details email swilson@sfai.org.

Wanna date an artist?

ArtDC breaking new ground in the online dating service.

Potential artsy dates here.

Secret's Out

Nothing like amazing success to make one's critics eat crow.

Who's got the second highest linked (and thus 2nd highest ranked by Technorati) BLOG in the entire world wide web?

None other than our own Frank Warren!

And the hardcover book by Frank Warren based on the phenomenal PostSecret project started by Frank at the last Art-O-Matic was just released and it's already the 16th bestselling book on Amazon.

The PostSecret Book, "PostSecret: Extraordinary Confessions from Ordinary Lives," is now available from Amazon.

Order the book here.

And next December 15, 2005 through January 8, 2006, the WPA\C presents Post Secrets.

Opening Reception: Thursday, December 15, 2005 from 6-10pm
Fundraiser: Wednesday, December 14 from 6-10pm for Kristin Brooks Hope Center ($10 suggested donation)
Location: Former Georgetown Staples Store, 3307 M Street, NW, Washington, DC 20007
Exhibition Hours: Wed, Thurs, Fri 6-10pm, Sat & Sun 2-10pm

Borf goes to High School

See it here.

Congratulations

To talented DC area artist Renee Stout (represented by Hemphill Fine Arts), whose monotype "See the Truth" (2002) a work that suggests a hand-drawn sign, has been gifted to the Hirshhorn by well-known DC area art collector Frederick P. Ognibene, who also donated Patrick Wilson's "1 P.M." (2003), a vertical triptych of subtle shades of grey and cream.

The Hirshhorn recently has received fifteen new acquisitions/donations and many of these works are currently on view in the museum as part of "Gyroscope," a program of dynamic, frequently changing presentations of the Hirshhorn's permanent collection.

Stout joins an extremely rare club: DC area artists in the permanent collection of one of DC's premier museums.

Porn Nostalgia

In response to my posting about Video and Art and what happened to porn theatres, a DC Art News reader (who also happens to be a terrific photographer) emails me the following nostalgia:

Your post made me nostalgic for the old porn joints. Benny's Home of the Porno Stars was one of my favorites.

It was one of the "classier" looking porn theaters. As a high school student, I walked by frequently on the way to my mother's job. I never went in but the uniformed doorman always yelled invitations to engage in obscene acts. I always had a creative string of obscenities to yell back at him. I think he really enjoyed that. I know I did.

My high school internship was at the DC Police Dept. As the lowly, stipendless intern, I stood in long lines to fetch lunch for the guys in my office in exchange for free lunch. If I was picking up a particularly big order, one of the guys would meet me on the way back to help carry bags or pick up drinks.

One of the carry outs I frequented was next to a place with $.25 XXX peep shows. From time to time, exiting patrons would follow me down the pedestrian walk way between 7th & 9th Streets and jerk off.

It brought me great pleasure to have a uniformed officer suddenly appear and scare the bajeebas out of the jerk-offs. Since they were office guys, they really weren't going to do anything to the jerk-offs but it was fun to scare them.

Alas, video, the internet and gentrification have changed all that. Even the bath houses and most strip clubs have evaporated. Now everyone gets home made sin instead of store bought sin. It's a shame I tell ya!

Mori at Arlington

I've been hearing good stuff about Mori: An Internet-based Earthwork by Randall Packer, Ken Goldberg, Gregory Kuhn, Wojciech Matusik at the Arlington Arts Center and Jessica Dawson wrote a good piece on the show here.

"Mori" is an Internet-based installation that uses the earth's movement as a living part of the process. In this installation, minute movements of the Hayward Fault in California are detected by a seismograph, converted to digital signals, and transmitted via the Internet to the installation in Arlington.

The Exhibition runs through January 7, 2006 and there's a lecture titled "Network Art" by Randall Packer, this coming Thursday, December 8, at 7:00 pm.

More on stats

Truth Laid Bear reveals the silly stuff that some try to hide: stats!

It's pretty humbling too.

For example, based on number of average daily visits, DC Art News is currently ranked 657th in the world, just slightly ahead of the Baseball Crank and just behind Let it Bleed.

There are a couple of other visual art blogs on that page (which lists 501-1000 in the world).

One (a "national audience" Blog) is surprisingly just barely ahead of DC Art News but within striking distance.

And we're all easily whupped (virtually) by Pussy Talk, which comes in at number 531 with 1077 visits a day.

As far as I can figure it out, the highest ranked visual arts-related Blog in the world is Photographica ranking in at #494 with 1204 visits per day. If I am reading (and recognizing Blogs) these stats right, that would make DC Art News the 3rd highest ranked visual arts Blog in the Blogsphere!

And all that we post about (generally) is little ole DC stuff... and yet readers pop in from all over the world... is there a lesson for the Lame Stream Media there?

Here are the top 100 Blogs in the Blogsphere. I tried to figure out which were the top ranked DC-based Blogs and nearly became depressed in the process... either leftwingnuts or rightwingnuts or... nuts. There's probably someone good here that I am not recognizing as a DC area Blogger; if so, someone please let me know and my apologies in advance.

And if your Blog is not listed, then add it here.

These things really spin me off... If I said that NPR is going to cover an art show about an artist who is doing a whole exhibition about Mexican "Lucha Libre" (wrestling), where the artist takes his influences from an obsession with Mexican wrestlers and their masks. What would you think? Well... if you were slightly plugged in to the DC area art scene, you'd hopefully think Andrew Wodzianski and his recent Georgetown solo of Mexican wrestlers? Right? You'd be wrong, because NPR did not do a story of Wodzianski's elevation of Mexican wrestling to the realm of the fine arts in a gallery less than half an hour cab ride from the NPR studios, but instead sent a whole crew to the other side of the country to do a story about a photographer who takes shots of Mexican Lucha Libre and then has the exhibition in a bookstore! 

 And in case you're wondering, yes - we do blanket NPR with press releases about our shows. I am almost resigned to the fact that most of our area's museum curators all but ignore their own backyard; but Noah Adams - you're breaking my heart!

Talking about Mexico and Mexicans... it baffles me that the egg heads in the Democrat Party cannot foresee what every contemporary Latino/Hispanic knows in his or her heart: One day, not too far in the future, as the Hispanic population in the US continues to grow,  and because we are so diverse in thought, culture and perspectives, that one day, a decade or two from now, when Latino numbers make Latinos the largest ethnic minority in the US... the DNC will be shocked to "discover" that Latinos will not be obedient voters for the Democrat ticket only, and Latino/a politicians will run and win under the Republican party, and large percentages of the Latino vote will go to the right.

This will come as a shock to both the DNC and to their so called experts with a vowel in their last name but little otherwise of real knowledge of the immense diversity of the nations and peoples south of the US.  "They" are making and will continue to make the mistake of viewing Hispanics/Latinos as a monolithic "group", rather than the racially diverse, culturally tied by language and "some" customs, but NOT a single-think group of people.  As the millions continue to pour in from the southern border, expect the first warning shots to the DNC come from Hispanics/Latinos (mostly of Mexican ancestry) come from South Texas.

10 to 15 years from now... faster if the DNC continues to drift left.

Case in point: I know of not one single Cuban or Cuban-American "Lucha Libre" wrestler in the history of that sport... Although I did like the "El Santo" photo-comics when I was a teen in New York! They were awesome!

In Baltimore...

I'm going to swing by Baltimore tonight after I get off work at the gallery, and drop by the opening reception for Robert Stuart Cohen at the Light Street Gallery.

Afterwards, if I have time, I'm going to try to make it to the 14K Cabaret to see Little Orphan Fannie, which I hear is really funny.

Opportunity for Artists

Deadline: December 19, 2005

The Chesapeake Gallery at Harford Community College in Bel Air, MD invites you to submit drawing-related works, which use unexpected materials, are on unexpected surfaces, and/or have unexpected content for When you least expect, which is a juried drawing exhibition open to all artists, with preference given to artists working in the Mid-Atlantic states.

Please send no more than five slides and/or digital images and an SASE to:
Heidi Neff
Joppa Hall
Harford Community College
401 Thomas Run Road
Bel Air, MD 21015

Or email digital images or web addresses to hneff@harford.edu.

Notification letters/emails will be sent out January 10. Accepted work must be delivered by February 15, 2005. The exhibit runs from February 20 through March 16, with an opening reception on February 21 from 6:30-8:00 PM. The Chesapeake Gallery does not pay for any shipping.

Flashpoint Request for Proposals

The Cultural Development Corporation (CuDC) is requesting proposals for exhibitions in the Gallery at Flashpoint’s September 2006 – August 2007 season.

This request is open to artists, curators, arts organizations, galleries and/or anyone choosing to present contemporary work in any medium. All proposals must be received no later than 6 pm on Wednesday, January 11, 2006.

For more info contact:

Rebecca Lowery, Gallery Manager
Cultural Development Corporation
916 G Street, NW | Washington, DC 20001
202.315.1310 (fax)202.315.1303

Email: rebecca@culturaldc.org.

Also see some interesting views on this subject being currently discussed at Thinking About Art here.

Opportunity for Disabled Artists

Deadline for receipt of international entries: March 24, 2006.

"Transformation" call for art. VSA arts invites artists to reflect on the many ways art transforms our lives, focusing on the influence of education and disability. Open to artists (ages 22 and over) who are committed to their artistic progress and who have a physical, cognitive, or mental disability.

A distinguished jury will review two slides of earlier work and three slides of current work within the span of 5 years. Recent work entered must be at the onset of disability. An entry-specific artist statement should be included with slides.

No entry fee; round trip shipping expenses covered; selected artwork does not have to be framed. For eligible media and entry forms in English, Spanish, French and ASCII visit www.vsarts.org/transformation. Braille and large print available upon request.

Exhibit will debut in Washington, DC during June of 2006.

Contact: Stephanie Moore, director of visual arts, VSA arts at stephaniem@vsarts.org or 202-628-2800.

cIndy

cIndy Blog is a podcast dedicated to independent and contemporary arts. In the podcast, Christopher A. Shields interviews artists and curators.

So far he has interviewed several people including Dale Chihuly, as well as the curator of the current Andrea Zitell show; in addition he will be soon interviewing the Deputy Director of PS1.

Visit cIndy Blog often.

Hoya Article

The fair LiJia Gong interviews me for the Georgetown Hoya.

Read the interview here.

Party on Saturday

Studio One Eight has a "Holiday Kickoff Champagne Party" which will take place tomorrow, Saturday December 3rd, from 7-10pm.

The party is for "Threesome: A Girl, a Guy, and a Gay" at Studio One Eight, which is a new gallery in Adams Morgan located at 2452 18th St. NW in DC. The show features new paintings and drawings by Dana Ellyn Kauffman, Gregory Ferrand and Scott G. Brooks.

Sounds like the place to be on Saturday night!

Tate is the word that we've heard (part III)

This is the last weekend to see Tim Tate's third solo exhibition, currently on display at our Fraser Gallery Bethesda.

Sales have been brisk, and nearly half the exhibition, which consists of 45 pieces, is sold. Tate's previous two solos have sold out, and this one (which is by far his largest exhibition ever) is well on the way.

But there's more good news: as a result of this show, Tate will be exhibiting next year at Vanderbilt University.

Furthermore, two of his narrative wall panels have made their way to the permanent collection of the University of Virginia Art Museum, and we're now negotiating with two other museums for more acquisitions (none of them are DC-based museums... sigh).

And two of Tate's pieces will be part of 500 Glass Objects, to be published soon by Lark Books and edited by Susan Kieffer.

The show was reviewed by Dr. Claudia Rousseau. Read that review here. And the Washington Blade also did a nice article about Tate. Read that article here. And WETA TV did a little television piece.

I tried really hard to convince Jessica Dawson to come by and look at the show, but so far she has ignored all three of Tim Tate's shows (more on that later).

And, as many of you know, the new proposed baseball stadium is slated to land right on top of the current location for the Washington Glass School (Tate is the co-founder and co-director), and they're being kicked out through the eminent domain trick.

Their original intent was to move the school to Prince George's County in Maryland, but they are now working on an even better opportunity in Arlington, Virginia.

In the interim, the Washington Glass School will be holding classes in their temporary home at the Arlington Arts Center.

They will be reopening on a larger scale somewhere between March and June of 2006 with double the classrooms and triple the kiln space! This incredible opportunity came upon them quite suddenly, and I will keep you posted as to the status and exact location as soon as all papers have been signed.

Meanwhile come see the show before it closes next Wednesday.

Video Killed the Radio (and Art?) Star

Video killed the radio star
Video killed the radio star

Pictures came and broke your heart
Oh-a-a-a oh

Bruce Woolley and the Camera Club
Michael O'Sullivan's eloquent review in today's WaPo makes a powerful point about art videos. Read it here.

And it got me to thinking.

I don't hide the fact that most art videos (which I have sometimes called artists' home movies) leave me pretty ambivalent, especially as I try to view them as art, rather than entertainment.

In the nearly 70 year history of artists' home movies, I can probably count in one hand the number of them that I would even remotely consider as something more than a low budget attempt at making a film, and most of those on that list start before the VCR was invented.

Nonetheless, it is a fact that most of the voices in the art world that count and weigh in a lot heavier than mine, do still view video (pun intended) as the leading edge for creativity in the modern dialogue of the visual arts (even though the genre is now in its 7th decade).

Witness the recent video overload in the Whitney Biennial list as the most recent evidence.

History lesson for anyone born after 1980 or so: Before everyone had VCRs or DVD players in their homes, if you wanted to see a movie, you generally had to go to a movie theatre, and many American cities had a seedy neighborhood where porn theatres were concentrated - when I was a kid in Brooklyn, that seedy area was in and around Times Square in NYC.

And just like video killed the radio star, it also killed seedy porn theatres all over the landscape but concurrently it gave the porn industry a huge new life that they had never hereto dreamed of and also gave them access to the privacy of the home as it eliminated the requirement to visit a seedy theatre in order to view a porn movie.

And as O'Sullivan intelligently deduces, now the Vlogging Revolution hands us all a brilliant opportunity to once and for all do for art videos what VCRs and DVDs did for the porn industry (in a sense), but in this case remove them from our galleries and museums and put them on the web, where we can watch them whenever and wherever we want!

This is a win-win situation for nearly all.

Not for us mossbacks, but it will open up gallery and museum space for other artsy stuff, whatever else "new art" may be lurking out there now disguised as technology (I predict some sort of hologram-type stuff). And for art video aficionados, it will deliver an exponential growth in the genre, as millions of weekend arts and crafts projects now take to the web and populate millions of Vlogs full of new videos.

And as soon as your Aunt Elvira (I do have an aunt so named) sets aside her weekend watercolors and oils, and picks up the new family digital camera (now fully capable of recording movies) and starts making art movies by the millions, I can guarantee that curators will leave tire tracks on their way to find something "new" in art.

The allure of the "new" in art has been an interesting topic for discussion over at Thinking About Art, and I found the below comment by Lou Gagnon right on the point of the issue:

Innovation, in technology, is important in that it offers "new" tools and techniques. What is made with these new tools and techniques is typically derivative of what was made with the old tools. Most innovation is fueled by a desire to make an existing process more efficient.

Humans have been mixing pigment with fat to document the human condition for tens of thousands of years. The innovations of fresco, oil or acrylic are derivative improvements. Photography offered efficient alternatives to painting in the already established need to document contemporary life (events, people and places). Video offers alternatives to photography in that the linear format has the potential to distribute a more explicit narrative.

Efficiency and effectiveness are not the same. The limit to a tool's effectiveness is in the imagination of the maker. In art, I believe effectiveness is measure by the power of a work to engage people. Does the engagement temporarily distract someone from his or her daily existence or does it shift his or her paradigms and actions? Work premised on technology will be irrelevant when the technology changes. Work premised on the human condition has the potential to be timeless. Have there been innovations in light, color or form? What about fear, love, desire, freedom or apathy?

The "new" in art is that unique intimate engagement between an individual and his or her relationship with these larger issues. That fragile union between the ephemeral and the eternal is magic.

Amen!

Massacre

Later today I am going to delete from the DC Art News BLOGroll all those listed bloggers who haven't posted stuff in months.

Why BLOGrollem if no blogging takes place?

At least my deletions will be because of lack of activity rather than pettyness.

Elephant Dung

We've all been bored to death with all the attention that some American museums have been getting online due to a variety of unethical lapses, deaccessioning of artwork, construction or deconstruction, parking lots, etc.

Yawn...

And over in that odd amalgamation of countries and peoples known as Great Britain, they're having their own issues (pronounced the BBC-way or eesssssius), with the Tate spending well over a million dollars (£705,000) in acquiring Christopher Ofili's work The Upper Room, which is partly made by using a few dozen dollops of elephant dung.

It's not the elephant doody that is the issue, but that at

"...the heart of the affair is the fact that, when The Upper Room was purchased from him for £705,000 earlier this year, Ofili was himself a Tate trustee. This, critics say, represents a major conflict of interest. It also seems to contradict official Tate guidelines, which say: "Even the perception of a conflict of interest in relation to a board member can be extremely damaging to the body's reputation."

Read the story in The Independent here.

About ten years ago, something somewhat similar (in my opinion) on a much lesser scale, happened here in DC as a result of a very generous donation left in the will of DC area artist Gene Davis to the then-named National Museum of American Art (now called the Smithsonian American Art Museum).

Read that story, published in 1995 in the WaPo, here.

Openings on 1st Friday

There's a ton of openings tomorrow, being first Friday and all...

Over in Georgetown, Addison/Ripley Fine Art has Wolf Kahn opening with a reception for Kahn from 6-8PM.

Also in Georgetown, Govinda Gallery has photographs by Mark Selinger in an exhibition titled "In My Stairwell." The opening reception is from 6-9PM.

And still in Georgetown, two of the Canal Square galleries are having openings from 6-8PM.

On the second floor of the Square, the Anne C. Fisher Gallery hosts a reception in honor of their well-received, current exhibition, South American Holiday. This lively exhibition by several South American artists is a feast for the eyes! It includes mixed media collages by Joan Belmar, paintings in acrylic on canvas and acrylic on paper by Patricia Secco, and monoprints, hanging paper constructions and the video Zapatos Blancos by artist Helga Thomson.

Under the Anne C. Fisher Gallery, our neighbor Parish Gallery opens a new group show with work by Floyd Coleman, Victor Ekpuk, Ron Flemmings, Liani Foster, Naza McFarren, Roberto Morassi, Deanna Schwartzberg, Stephanie Parish Taylor, and Yvette Watson.

On 7th Street, Zenith Gallery has the DC debut of Drew Ernst in an exhibition titled "Connected." The reception is Friday from 6-9PM and Ernst has an artist's talk on Saturday, December 3rd starting at 2PM.

Around Dupont Circle, Irvine Contemporary has Sean Foley: Rubes, Scuttlebutt & Loggerheads through December 31. The gallery will be part of the 1st Friday extended hours from 6-8PM, but the actual opening for Foley is December 9, from 6-8PM. Nearby neighbor Washington Printmakers has prints by Jenny Freestone, who teaches at the Corcoran. In addition to the extended hours from 6-8PM tomorrow, a formal opening for Freestone will be held Thursday, December 8, from 6-8 pm (and earlier there's aGallery Talk/Brown Bag Lunch on Thursday, December 8, 12-1 pm).

Most of the other Dupont Circle area galleries will also have extended hours from 6-8PM. Go see (and buy) some artwork!

Bailey

Has Kiki Smith fighting Cindy Sherman.

See it here.

Bailey, Bailey, Bailey...

The Quilts as Stamps

Remember the superb Quilts of Gee's Bend exhibition at the Corcoran? (If you don't then click here).

Well they are soon to be USPS Stamps!

Stats

Warning: Own horn tooting coming next...

November stats show that DC Art News received over 22,000 visits and nearly 26,000 page views during the 30 days of November, as readership has more than doubled since the beginning of 2005. And MyBlog stats show that in the last week alone, DC Art News sent over 2,000 visitors to other sites through a link offered here.

Still a drop in the bucket, but always growing!

And it still cracks me up how several of our fellow online art bloggers now hide their daily stats (which were once visible) under passwords in order to hide our/their relative insignificance in the overall massive world of information dissemination.

Insecurity is a difficult thing to conquer; let's all keep growing.

Pot Calling the Kettle Black

In an interesting and well-crafted review of "The Art of Richard Tuttle" at the Whitney Museum of American Art, the WaPo's Chief Art Critic writes (italics mine):

"Hilton Kramer, then a famously conservative critic at the New York Times, took the show as the perfect occasion to release some of his trademark bile. He called the exhibition "irredeemable," "pathetic," "a bore and a waste."

Mmm... a review of the Pot's last couple of years' worth of art reviews may reveal a few violations of the Kettle's trademarks.

Breaking Down the Whitney Biennial List

A DC Art News reader has spent some time doing some research in breaking down the list of artists selected for the 2006 Whitney Biennial. As expected (considering the curators): lots of home movies, photography and sculpture/installation.

Other fun facts: The researcher counted two people from Cal Arts and five people from Houston, Texas. Also about four people were art critics as well as artists. There may also be a few gallery owners. Here's the breakdown (and also see updates at bottom of posting):

All over the place - Jennifer Allora and Guillermo Calzadilla
? - Dawolu Jabari Anderson
Video - Kenneth Anger
Video - Dominic Angerame
Anonymous Collection
Video - Christina Battle
Video - James Benning
Video - Bernadette Corporation
Photography - Amy Blakemore
Video - Louise Bourque
Mixed Media on Canvas - Mark Bradford
Drawing and Photography - Troy Brauntuch
Video Installation and Drawing - Anthony Burdin
Video - George Butler
? - Carter
Performance/Happenings - Carolina Caycedo
Research Organization - The Center for Land Use Interpretation
Video - Paul Chan
Video - Lori Cheatle and Daisy Wright
Poetry/Photography/Multimedia - Ira Cohen
Video - Martha Colburn
Painting - Dan Colen
Photography - Anne Collier
Composer or Video - Tony Conrad
Performance and Lecture Group - Critical Art Ensemble
Photography/Mixed Media - Jamal Cyrus
Grass Roots Satellite Network - Deep Dish Television
Mixed Media/Installation/Painting -Lucas DeGiulio
Sculpture/Installation - Mark di Suvero and Rirkrit Tiravanija
Painting - Peter Doig
Video/Performance - Trisha Donnelly
Photography/Installation - Jimmie Durham
? – Maybe Sound art - Kenya Evans
Sculpture/Installation - Urs Fischer
Video - David Gatten
Video - Joe Gibbons
Sculpture/Installation/Drawing - Robert Gober
? - Deva Graf
Video/Photography - Rodney Graham
Sculpture/Mixed Media - Hannah Greely
Painting - Mark Grotjahn
Sculpture/Photography/Drawing - Jay Heikes
? - Doug Henry
Video/Sculpture/Photography - Pierre Huyghe
Printmaking - Dorothy Iannone
Sculpture/Installation - Matthew Day Jackson
Video - Cameron Jamie
Robotics - Natalie Jeremijenko
Music/Cartoonist - Daniel Johnston
Video - Lewis Klahr
Painting - Jutta Koether
Video - Andrew Lampert
Sculpture/Assemblage/Installation - Lisa Lapinski
Sculpture - Liz Larner
Photography - Hanna Liden
Video - Jeanne Liotta
Video - Marie Losier
Photography - Florian Maier-Aichen
Painting - Monica Majoli
Drawing - Yuri Masnyj
Performance/Video - T. Kelly Mason and Diana Thater
Photography/prints - Adam McEwen
Video/Poetry/Performance - Taylor Mead
Installation/assemblage - Josephine Meckseper
Photography/Painting - Marilyn Minter
Sound art - Momus
Sculpture/Drawing - Matthew Monahan
Painting - JP Munro
Photography - Jesús "Bubu" Negrón
Photography/Installation - Kori Newkirk
Drawing/Painting/Printmaking - Todd Norsten
? - Jim O’Rourke
Collaborators - Otabenga Jones & Associates
Must be a MultiMedia Video Installation - Tony Oursler and Dan Graham with Rodney Graham, Laurent Berger, and Japanther
Hybrid Sculpture/Painting - Steven Parrino
Painting/collage - Ed Paschke
Video - Mathias Poledna
Drawing/Sculpture/Installation - Robert A. Pruitt
Painting/Drawing - Jennifer Reeves
Sculpture - Richard Serra
Installations/sculpture - Gedi Sibony
2 artists named Jennie Smith.. One paints; one does glass. Who is it? - Jennie Smith
Photography - Dash Snow
Video - Michael Snow
"fictional artist, performer and art dealer" - Reena Spaulings
Mixed Media/Painting/Drawing - Rudolf Stingel
Photography - Angela Strassheim
Photography/Installation - Zoe Strauss
Video - Studio Film Club
? - Sturtevant
Painting - Billy Sullivan
Painting/Drawing - Spencer Sweeney
Video - Ryan Trecartin
Painting - Chris Vasell
Video - Francesco Vezzoli
Sculpture/digital manipulation - Kelley Walker
Sculpture - Nari Ward
Photography - Christopher Williams
2 artists with this name. One painter, one video - Jordan Wolfson
It’s a small Gallery - The Wrong Gallery
Video - Aaron Young

The Art Newspaper interviews the curators. Read it here.

Update: Chris from Zeke's Gallery comes through with some updates:

1. "Dawolu Jabari Anderson" is probably "Jabari Anderson."

2. "Carter" might be Rob & Nick Carter (but then again might not).

3. "Deva" might be a tag name for a GRAFfiti artist.

4. "Kenya Evans" appears to be more of a painter than anything else. See it here.

5. "Jim O’Rourke" is a member and the producer of Sonic Youth (the downtown NY noise band)

6. "Sturtevant" is here.

And Chris also can't find anything concrete for Doug Henry, and Jennie Smith.

Corcoran Director

Paul Greenhalgh is the new Corcoran director.

DC Art News extends a welcome to Greenhalgh and wishes him the best of luck in running the only DC area art museum that actually pays a little bit of attention to DC area artists.

Read the WaPo article here.

Whitney Biennial List

According to their press release, the 2006 Biennial is the "signature survey measuring the mood of contemporary American art." It is however, loaded with European artists.

Nonetheless, congratulations to all the artists in the Biennial!

Jennifer Allora and Guillermo Calzadilla
Dawolu Jabari Anderson
Kenneth Anger
Dominic Angerame
Anonymous Collection
Christina Battle
James Benning
Bernadette Corporation
Amy Blakemore
Louise Bourque
Mark Bradford
Troy Brauntuch
Anthony Burdin
George Butler
Carter
Carolina Caycedo
The Center for Land Use Interpretation
Paul Chan
Lori Cheatle and Daisy Wright
Ira Cohen
Martha Colburn
Dan Colen
Anne Collier
Tony Conrad
Critical Art Ensemble
Jamal Cyrus
Deep Dish Television
Lucas DeGiulio
Mark di Suvero and Rirkrit Tiravanija
Peter Doig
Trisha Donnelly
Jimmie Durham
Kenya Evans
Urs Fischer
David Gatten
Joe Gibbons
Robert Gober
Deva Graf
Rodney Graham
Hannah Greely
Mark Grotjahn
Jay Heikes
Doug Henry
Pierre Huyghe
Dorothy Iannone
Matthew Day Jackson
Cameron Jamie
Natalie Jeremijenko
Daniel Johnston
Lewis Klahr
Jutta Koether
Andrew Lampert
Lisa Lapinski
Liz Larner
Hanna Liden
Jeanne Liotta
Marie Losier
Florian Maier-Aichen
Monica Majoli
Yuri Masnyj
T. Kelly Mason and Diana Thater
Adam McEwen
Taylor Mead
Josephine Meckseper
Marilyn Minter
Momus
Matthew Monahan
JP Munro
Jesús "Bubu" Negrón
Kori Newkirk
Todd Norsten
Jim O’Rourke
Otabenga Jones & Associates
Tony Oursler and Dan Graham with Rodney Graham, Laurent Berger, and Japanther
Steven Parrino
Ed Paschke
Mathias Poledna
Robert A. Pruitt
Jennifer Reeves
Richard Serra
Gedi Sibony
Jennie Smith
Dash Snow
Michael Snow
Reena Spaulings
Rudolf Stingel
Angela Strassheim
Zoe Strauss
Studio Film Club
Sturtevant
Billy Sullivan
Spencer Sweeney
Ryan Trecartin
Chris Vasell
Francesco Vezzoli
Kelley Walker
Nari Ward
Christopher Williams
Jordan Wolfson
The Wrong Gallery
Aaron Young

Read about the Biennial here.

New Corcoran Director

I promised my source that I wouldn't reveal the name, which the Corcoran will announce on Friday Thursday.

But here's a hint: England.

New

Thinking About Art has a great discussion going on about the relative merit (if any) of the "new" in art.

Read it here.

Rising Voices Update

Giovanni Battista

I have been sort of having an artist's block lately when it comes to my own drawings, which is a bad thing, since I have a show opening December 16 at Fraser Gallery Georgetown.

I'd like to have about 25 new drawings, and so far... ahhh...

So whenever I am stuck, one of the subjects that I tend to return to are the recurring images in my artwork, such as images of Frida Kahlo, which I have been drawing, painting and sculpting since 1977, when I first saw her amazing work, or Che Guevara, whose iconic face and figure keeps reappearing in my art throughout the years.

Or in this case, the image of John The Baptist. The below piece is a new drawing (charcoal on 300 weight paper, about 3 x 9 inches):

Opportunities for Artists

Deadline: January 15, 2006

New Contemporary Gallery in Denver, Colorado is now accepting submissions for its 2006 exhibition schedule. Open to national artists with an emphasis on contemporary works. Email inquiries to Remmifineart@aol.com or please send resume, bio, SASE and 15 images of work on slides or CD to:
Remmi Fine Art
776 Santa Fe Dr.
Denver, CO 80204

---

Deadline: January 27, 2006

The 2006 Bethesda International Photography Competition. Open to all photographers 18 years and older. All photography not previously exhibited at the Fraser Gallery. The maximum dimension (including frame) should not exceed 40 inches in any direction. $950 in cash prizes. Details and entry forms here or email the Gallery for an entry form or send a SASE to:
Fraser Gallery
7700 Wisconsin Avenue
Suite E
Bethesda, MD 20814
301/718-9651
info@thefrasergallery.com

---

Deadline: March 1, 2006

The Second Chance Foundation Gallery is located on Martha's Vineyard, and they are accepting artist submissions for exhibition opportunities. Qualifications: emerging and professional artists with regional/national experience and exposure. Note: only submissions with a bio, resume and a minimum of five color slides will be considered. Send SASE to:
The Second Chance Foundation
c/o Artist Submission
P.O. Box 727
Vineyard Haven, MA 02568

Tate on TV

Around Town has a piece on Tim Tate currently running on WETA TV. See it online here.

It will also be on TV tomorrow (Wednesday evening) at 10:52PM.

The Vlogging Revolution

DMV artist Rob Parrish is a Vlogger and Hopper Video is his Vlog.

Vlogging (aka video podcasting) should be of interest not only to video artists but to all artists and art venues in general. The key event that has made posting video so attractive is that there are now several sites that will host your video for free. This eliminates worries regarding bandwidth issues. If you're interested check out FreeVlog. It is a very well done guide to vlogging.

And I agree with Rob Parrish in that Vlogging has some potential for artist self-promotion, especially since it can be done for free!

Anyway... Vlogs are essentially blogs that have video content in addition to text. And like podcasts, you can subscribe to a vlog and have the videos downloaded to your computer via iTunes or via specialty vlog aggregators (Check out MeFeedia.com and also GetFireAnt.com).

Mefeedia has some interesting tools to search for vlogs. FireAnt comes with about thirty or so vlogs pre-loaded.

Another fun way to find vlogs, if you've got some time on your hands, is to go to vlogmap.org. There you will find a satellite picture of the world via Google Earth. On the picture are flags, and each flag represents a vlog's physical location and contains a link to the vlog. So, you can trot around the world checking out vlogs.

Soon, perhaps we will have all of our artists discussing their shows through an online video, and perhaps even sooner, we'll have online art bloggers doing our art criticism thing through a terrific marriage of words and video and imagery.

Can anyone else hear the end of the printed newspaper creep a little closer?

Lawrence on DC art round-up

Sidney Lawrence writes a really good round-up of our area's visual arts goings-ons published at Art Net Magazine and in the process mentions DC Art News!

Thank you Sidney! Read the Capital Roundup here.

For all the new art devotees checking in: come back often.

Smithsonian debuts art blog!

Kriston has been keeping all of us in check about announcing Eye Level, the new art blog by the Smithsonian, but today it's official!

So what's this new important art blog about?

Here's the short version: Eye Level investigates American art—its history, evolution, and currents. The hope is that this blog hosts a vital conversation among artists, curators, collectors, and enthusiasts on a broad range of subjects related to American art. It's the kind of conversation you have in a museum—that unique social space that a museum provides—that Eye Level would like to bring to the blogosphere.

More about what Eye Level is about here. Visit often: Eyelevel is here.

When are the openings?

This is the most common question emailed to me, as new readers and new people interested in the DC area visual art scene discover DC Art News and our area's visual art scene itself.

DC area art galleries are generally now centered on six loosely gathered gallery concentrations: Dupont Circle, Bethesda, 14th Street area, Georgetown, 7th Street corridor, and Old Town Alexandria.

First Fridays: With 21 member galleries and art venues, the Dupont Circle galleries has the largest number of galleries roughly concentrated around the Dupont Circle area of DC. Many of these galleries host openings and extended hours (generally 6-8PM) on the First Friday of each month.

Second Thursdays: Seven galleries in and around King Street in Old Town Alexandria host openings and extended hours on the Second Thursday of each month. Other galleries in the area, as well as the 83 artists studios inside the Torpedo Factory host different openings ad hoc.

Second Fridays: With 12 member galleries and art venues, the Bethesda Art Walk also has a good number of participating visual art spaces offering openings and extended hours (6-9PM) as well as a free guided tour on the Second Friday of each month.

Third Thursdays: A handful of art galleries and venues are within walking distance of each other around the 7th Street, NW corridor and still host (I think) joint 3rd Thursday extended hours and openings.

Third Fridays: The five galleries inside the Canal Square (31st and M Street, NW in Georgetown) host joint openings or extended hours from 6-9PM each and every 3rd Friday of the month. The other half dozen or so Georgetown galleries within walking distance host their openings ad hoc.

14th Street: Initially anchored by Fusebox Gallery, a handful of very good art galleries and art venues now congregate around the 14th Street, NW area and host openings at various times throughout the month.

Georgetown Openings

Next Friday, December 2, from 6-8PM, two of the Canal Square galleries are having openings from 6-8PM.

On the second floor, the Anne C. Fisher Gallery hosts a reception in honor of their well-received, current exhibition, South American Holiday. This lively exhibition by several South American artists is a feast for the eyes! It includes mixed media collages by Joan Belmar, paintings in acrylic on canvas and acrylic on paper by Patricia Secco, and monoprints, hanging paper constructions and the video Zapatos Blancos by artist Helga Thomson.

Under the Anne C. Fisher Gallery, our neighbor Parish Gallery opens a new group show with work by Floyd Coleman, Victor Ekpuk, Ron Flemmings, Liani Foster, Naza McFarren, Roberto Morassi, Deanna Schwartzberg, Stephanie Parish Taylor, and Yvette Watson.

Congratulations

The Smithsonian American Art Museum has awarded the 2005 Charles C. Eldredge Prize for Distinguished Scholarship in American Art to Elizabeth Johns, professor emerita of the history of art at the University of Pennsylvania.

Her recent book, Winslow Homer: The Nature of Observation, is recognized for its complex and sympathetic portrait of the artist. She has written several influential books on American art, and curated a number of exhibitions.

Johns will be giving a lecture on Thursday, December 8 starting at 3:30 p.m. with a reception to follow.

Gallery Talk

This Saturday, Nov. 26th at 1 pm Tim Tate will be giving a gallery talk about his new work at our Fraser Gallery in Bethesda. Plenty of validated parking underneath the gallery, and one block north of the Bethesda Metro stop on the red line.

What : Tim Tate's new solo sculpture show: "Caged By History" - Gallery Talk
Where :
Fraser Gallery
7700 Wisconsin Ave
Bethesda Plaza, Suite E
Bethesda, MD 20814
301-718-9651

When : Saturday, Nov. 26th at 1pm
Show runs thru Dec. 7th, 2005

Art Bill Passes in the Senate

Last March, I asked everyone to write their congressperson in support of H.R. 1120 "ARTISTS' CONTRIBUTION TO AMERICAN HERITAGE ACT" Introduced by Congressmen Jim Ramstad (R-MN) and Ben Cardin (D-MD) and Senate Bill S. 372 "ARTIST-MUSEUM PARTNERSHIP ACT" Introduced by Senators Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Robert Bennett (R-UT).

The artists' bill is making it possible once again for artists to receive a fair market value deduction for donated works and has been making its way through the legislative process. The bills had been reintroduced in both the House and the Senate and the wording of the bill was approved Friday as an amendment to a broader $59.6 billion tax relief bill passed by the Senate.

It now goes to a House-Senate conference committee. Unfortunately, the House version of the tax relief bill does not currently include the arts provision, but the senators who introduced the amendment - Charlie Schumer, Democrat of New York, and Pete Domenici, Republican from New Mexico, both have apparently stated that they are hopeful that the House committee would support it.

So... contact your House Representative ASAP! If you do not know how to contact your legislator, visit this website. A sample letter is available here.

Currently, when an artist donates a work of art, the artist can deduct the cost of the materials; however, if anyone else (but the artist) donates the work, they can deduct the actual fair market value of the work. This law would allow the artist to deduct the fair appraised value of the donated work, if donated within a certain period of time.

New DC Arts Blog

Painterly Visions is a new arts blog by DC area artist Anne Marchand.

And she already comes up with a scoop by revealing that CuDC no longer hosting the 3rd Thursdays gallery crawls in the Penn Quarter.

I invite CuDC to respond, but I hope that this is not true, as we need to continue to grow, not scale back, our gallery scene.

Read Painterly Visions here.

Silverthorne on current shows

Alexandra Silverthorne reviews Gilliam, Warhol and Scully at various venues around town.

Read them here.

Tim Tate Review

Dr. Claudia Rousseau reviews Tim Tate in The Gazette; she writes:

In his third solo exhibit at Fraser Gallery in Bethesda, artist Tim Tate shows new work with exciting explorations of subject matter and materials. "Caged by History" is tightly themed with a marked unity of form and content. The show’s title refers to the myriad ways our histories direct our futures, the carrying of memory and the persistent effects of choices and events of the past.

Tate’s work also references the great unseen forces of nature that inexorably shape and direct our lives. The latter is especially well represented in works that include iron filings held captive by earth magnets. A fine example is the formally elegant "Sacred Cone of Magnetism," with its echoing shapes and etched formulas for magnetic forces.

The brilliance of Tate’s work is in the way it fuses expression of ideas such as these with a deeply personal iconography about taking control of fate, healing and the will to live. "Positive Reliquaries, No. 1-3" are three blown-glass spheres topped with large red cast-glass crosses. They are also plus signs. Inside each is a cast glass nest, each with three spotted glass eggs. All around the exterior of the spheres the artist has etched a handwritten narrative relating his reaction to being diagnosed HIV-positive 20 years ago, and of the process this fact provoked. It was then that he decided to become an artist and then that the whole array of life affirming, healing imagery he uses began to come into focus.

Much of this imagery has a distinctly Catholic feeling. For example, the spheres topped by crosses unavoidably look like the orbs often held by Christ in medieval and renaissance art. The hot-glass flaming hearts – here in strong reds and blues, traditionally colors of divine and human love — are distinctly reminiscent of votive objects. Nevertheless, these works have a fascinating polyvalence, a sense of layered history that draws the viewer close and rewards attention with a rich variety of allusive meaning.

Tate has long used steel as a corollary to fragile glass in his work, which also frequently contains found objects. Recently, he has experimented with concrete as a sculptural medium with varied results. One of the most powerful works in this exhibit, however, is "Heart of St. Sebastian," a concrete heart with a neck, like a vessel, topped with a dark red cast-glass flame. By shaking the concrete in the rubber mold, Tate caused a skin to separate from the heart form into which he has cut a large plus sign — an equal armed cross. In the neck is a tiny biohazard symbol. The work explores a number of iconographies including an identification with St. Sebastian, martyred by arrows, and the sense of being targeted as a biohazard when one is HIV-positive. A consciousness of death produces no pathos here, rather life-affirming strength, hard and resistant as the Sacrete Concrete mix with which the work is made.

Tate will be discussing his work at an artist's talk at Fraser Gallery Bethesda this coming Saturday, November 26, starting at 1PM.

Arthelps 5th Annual Silent Art Auction Benefit and Reception



JAM Communications is the sponsor for this year's Arthelps 5th Annual Silent Art Auction Benefit and Reception to raise money for Food & Friends and the DC Arts Center (DCAC) – two organizations are in their own way are key components of our area's social and cultural tapestry.

Support from artists and art donors is integral in making this night a success and that is why they are asking for your help. They welcome a variety of art donations–from original and limited edition paintings and prints, to photographs, glasswork, jewelry and sculpture.

I have donated to this auction and really encourage galleries (my kudos to Irvine Contemporary for donating several pieces) and artists to do as well!

See donated artwork (so far) here, and see my donation here.

For more information on how you can donate art, and for additional details on the Arthelps event, please go to www.arthelps.org – where you can download a PDF art donation form.

To arrange for a pickup of your artistic donation call: 202.986.4750 and talk to Ambre Bosko (ext 19) or Alex George (ext 13) or email: ambre@jamagency.com or alex@jamagency.com

You can also drop off or mail your donation to the JAM offices located at:

1638 R Street NW, Suite 400, Washington, DC, 20009,
between the hours of 10 am and 6 pm (Monday – Friday).

Please RSVP for the event at www.arthelps.org.

No excuses! Get your slides ready!

The deadline for the inaugural Bethesda Painting Awards is rapidly approaching, and painters from the DC, Maryland and Virginia region have until Tuesday, January 31, 2006 to submit their applications. With $14,000 in cash prizes, this is one of the largest painting awards in the country, thanks to the incredible generosity of Ms. Carol Trawick, who also sponsors The Trawick Prize.

Once the jurors have selected the finalists, we will exhibit them in our Bethesda gallery, where the final four will be awarded $14,000 in cash prizes based on the actual work. $10,000 will be awarded to the top prize winner, $2,000 to the second place winner, $1,000 to the third place winner. Additionally, a "Young Artist" award of $1,000 (artists born after March 11, 1975) will also be given.

Artists must be 18 years of age or older and residents of Maryland, Virginia or Washington, D.C. All original 2-D painting including oil, acrylic, watercolor, gouache, encaustic and mixed media will be accepted. The maximum dimension should not exceed 60 inches in width. No reproductions. Artwork must have been completed within the last two years and must be available for the duration of the exhibition. Each artist must submit five slides, application and a non-refundable entry fee of $25. Submissions must be received by January 31, 2006. To request an application, please send a self-addressed stamped envelope to:

Bethesda Painting Awards
c/o Bethesda Arts & Entertainment District
7700 Old Georgetown Road
Bethesda, MD 20814

Or call 301/215-6660 or visit www.bethesda.org

For more info:
Bethesda Arts and Entertainment District
Heather Blum
7700 Old Georgetown Road
Bethesda, MD 20814
t: 301.215.6660 x.17 or f: 301.215.6664 or hblum@bethesda.org or www.bethesda.org

Congratulations

Congrats to the award winners from the Unlocked: Open Exhibition selected by Andrea Pollan.

Congrats also to Andrea and the Fairfax Arts Council for putting on a great show in Annandale last Thursday.

First Place - Ian Jehle
Second Place - Saul Becker
Third Place - Linda Hesh
Honorable Mention - Naomi Chung
Honorable Mention - Heidi Fowler

Artist Participation in Online Published Interviews

Deadline: Saturday, December 31, 2005

Black Cat Bone, an art blog edited by artist/photographer firebrand James W. Bailey, has an opportunity for the metro D.C. area artist community to participate in a unique artist interview project titled "The Six of One, Half a Dozen of the Other Modern Art Questions."

Artists may freely participate in this project by emailing their answers to the six project questions posted here.

If you are interested in participating in this project, simply email your answers to the six questions to Bailey.

Also, include up to four jpeg images of your representative work - be sure to name your image files with the proper titles and provide the media for each work.

Artists are also encouraged to include a brief (1-2 paragraphs), bio, and artist's website URL for publication.

For more info:
League of Reston Artists
James W. Bailey
11196 Silentwood Lane
Reston, Virginia 20191
t: 504.669.8650 or jameswbailey@comcast.net or blackcatbone.blogspot.com

Wanna lecture abroad?

Fulbright Grants are available for artists for 2-6 week lecturing and research abroad. There's no application fee, and stipends are available.

Contact:
Fulbright Senior Specialist Program
Council for International Exchange of Scholars
3007 Tilden St NW, Suite 5L
Washington, DC 20008-3009

Phone: 202/686-7877; email: apprequest@cies.iie.org; website: www.cies.org

Is there anything new out there?

A lot, really, a lot, of art critics are stuck in the quagmire that art has to be "new" in order to be good.

"The secret to creativity, is knowing how to hide your sources."
-Albert Einstein

This interesting article in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (thanks AJ) discussses the myth of the "new" and submits that there's even a sprinking of the "new" going on out there in the various genres of the arts.

Is that a boy or a girl?

I walked through Warehouse Gallery a couple of Sundays ago to look through "Hey, is that a boy or a girl?" Artists look at gender, an exhibition curated by Ruth Trevarrow and Richard Kightlinger featuring a variety of artists looking at the way that we are all looked at by each other.

Perhaps the most interesting piece in the entire show was the curator's (Ruth Trevarrow) own fascinating "Boy or Girl," which is an interactive piece that details about forty faces or parts of faces in a portrait grid on the cafe gallery's main floor. The idea is to study the faces and then (using a printed form that comes with the piece), to take a "test" to see who you think is a boy or a girl.

After taking the test, to my surprise I had at least ten of them wrong! I really like art that delivers not only visual pleasure, but also educates us or reveals a little about ourselves or our world.

I also found Kelley A. Donelly's "Skin Deep" to be quite engrossing. It is a painting full of controlled rage highlighted by a frenetic brushstroke that reminds me of the potential danger of barbed wire and anger mixed together.

On the top floor gallery, Abby Freeman's "Hell # 3" deliver three interesting panels completely woven and made from thousands of matches sewn together. Freeman adds this interesting work to the ever-growing canon of DC artists working art from disposable materials or easily accessible materials; anything and everything can be art.

A couple of paintings nearby the incediary tapestry stand out: one is Isabel Bigelow's "Birthday," a gorgeous dark painting floating up from a dark palette, but whose relationship to the theme escapes me. More in tune with the show was Scott Brooks' "The Resurrection of Miss Rita Fyne," as was a clever sculpture titled "Inter-Sexed Valet" by Ruth Trevarrow.

Photography is best represented by an odd piece by John Borstel titled "Stillborn" that features a somewhat spooky (and oddly attractive) figure hugging a tombstone. Somewhere there's an X-file about this subject.

"Paper Roses" features what we used to call in Art School "fanny prints," cleverly created in this show by Matthew Rose as portraits of an amazingly diverse set of tushes and vaginas from the art and entertainment world. If you want to know how Rose visualizes Thelma Houston, Camille Paglia, and others' bottoms, then this is your destination.

Finally, Allison Miner has a series of nice drawings from a series titled "They told me to work bigger" that steal this show and are a steal at $400 each. Collectors of DC area artists have an excellent opportunity to add a really nice Miner to their collection. Go get one!

The exhibition hangs through December 4, 2005.

Opportunity for Artists

Deadline: Dec 1, 2005

Deja Vu: A New View, at the Arlington Arts Center, Jan 24 - March 18, 2006. NO FEE.

This all-media show is open to all artists who exhibited at any time in AAC's old space (before 2003).

Send three slides or three images on CD and one work will be selected for exhibition. Arlington Arts Center, 3550 Wilson Blvd, Arlington, VA 22201. Prospectus/entry form on website www.arlingtonartscenter.org.

10 Tips for Collectors

I should be back to DC by tomorrow night (I hope)... In case you missed Artnet's 10 Tips for Collectors, read them here.

Number one on the list is the most important.

Congratulations

To Lisa Bertnick, whose work was included in a book released last week titled Exotique.

According to the publisher, Exotique is the

"leading book title devoted to showcasing the finest character creations from digital artists worldwide. Exotique presents 228 examples of exceptional character artwork by 113 artists from 37 countries presented over 192 pages of the highest quality production. In addition to exhilarating character artwork, Exotique features the profiles of eight prominent character artists working within the digital arts community.

More about Exotique here.