The blogger show

John Morris from Digging Pitt Gallery in Pittsburgh, PA has been working on a groundbreaking joint effort with Agni Gallery (New York, NY) and Panza Gallery (Millvale, PA) to present The Blogger Show. The exhibits showcase the work of over thirty artists (including yours truly) whose common interest is in clarifying artistic discourse through their blogs. All of the exhibits will take place between November 10, 2007 and January 12, 2008.

All of the exhibits will take place between November 3, 2007 and January 12, 2008.

Per Bill Gusky, "arts bloggers are using this technology to redefine the role of arts in American culture. The interactive aspect of blogging has encouraged the growth of artistic discourse in unexpected ways, with a shift in who and how art is discussed. One of the most significant contributions of artist bloggers to this dialog is an honest appraisal of process and theory. Using the platform of the internet to express these thoughts has included a multitude of elements. Many artists load images onto their blogs. Another aspect of the online community that has yet to make its impact felt is in the arena of regional arts that makes an exhibit in Detroit as accessible as one in New York.

The artists in the exhibits at Agni, Digging Pitt and Panza Galleries represent a range of visual disciplines and aesthetics. The one commonality is active blogging. Some use blogging as a platform for discussing issues facing visual artists while others treat the blog as a public journal. Whatever approach or combination of approaches, all have brought a level of clarity to artistic discourse. These exhibits are a reflection, in physical space, of the ephemeral blogosphere. And by its very nature, an extension of the guiding philosophy behind Digging Pitt's flat file archive.

This exhibition focuses on the work of artists who are active art blog writers. The work you see here emerged in the studio in near-simultaneity with the artist's written expressions. These twin efforts -- art making and blog writing -- sometimes appear to flow together and intertwine beautifully, and at other times almost seem to be in diametric opposition.

The relationship between written word and the created artwork suggests the erratic flow of a culture in which propaganda freely mingles with news journalism and science is polluted with articles of faith. It seems at times that the only appropriate response to the apparent untrustworthiness of all our societal and cultural expressions is a schizophrenic call-and-response in which everyone probes for even the merest scintilla of truth using tools of decidedly mixed sincerity.

The questions that emerge and the answers that may or may not accompany them will hopefully provide valuable insights into ongoing cultural developments that are incredibly difficult to discern amid the maelstrom of media that beset us all, but that must ultimately be discerned if we are to gain an understanding of where we're headed as a culture."

Here's the breakdown of venues, artists and dates:

Digging Pitt Gallery
4417 Butler Street
Pittsburgh PA 15201
November 10, 2007 - January 12, 2008
Public Reception: December 8, 6-9PM

• Martin Bromirski (Richmond VA) - Anaba
• Sharon Butler (Mystic, CT) - Two Coats of Paint
• Lisa Call (Parker, CO) - New Work and Inspiration
• F. Lennox Campello (Washington, DC and Media, PA) - Mid Atlantic Art News
• Rose Clancy (Pittsburgh, PA) - paperWorks
• Kevin Clancy (Boston MA and Pittsburgh PA) - soft soft pink pulls through the ivory void
• Warren Craghead (Charlottesville, VA) - drawer
• Roberta Fallon (Philadelphia PA) - Fallon and Rosof's Artblog
• Ann Gordon (Detroit MI) - Detroitarts
• Cable Griffith (Seattle WA) - Cable Griffith
• Tracy Helgeson - Works by Tracy Helgeson
• Stephanie Lee Jackson (Brooklyn NY) - Pretty Lady
• JT Kirkland (Washington, D.C.) - Thinking About Art
• Mary Klein (Minneapolis, MN) - stillifes
• Eva Lake (Portland, OR) - Eva Lake
• Steven LaRose (Ashland OR) - Steven LaRose
• Michael Lease (Richmond VA) - Annabelle's Aspirin
• John Morris (Pittsburgh, PA) - Digging Pittsburgh Arts
• Elizabeth Perry (Pittsburgh, PA) - Woolgathering
• Libby Rosof (Philadelphia PA) Fallon and Rosof's Artblog
• Marc Snyder (Pittsburgh, PA) - Fiji Island Mermaid Press

Digging Pitt Too
45th & Plummer Streets
Pittsburgh PA 15201
November 10, 2007 - January 12, 2008
Public Reception: December 8, 6-9PM

• Susan Constanse (Pittsburgh, PA) - - Oranje
• Bill Gusky (Canton, CT) Artblog Comments

Panza Gallery
115 Sedgwick Street
Millvale PA 15209
November 10, 2007 - January 12, 2008
Public Reception: December 15, 6-9PM

• Kevin Clancy (Boston MA and Pittsburgh PA) - soft soft pink pulls through the ivory void
• Christiane D (Pittsburgh PA) - Christiane D
• David Grim (Pittsburgh, PA) - Serendipity
• John Morris (Pittsburgh, PA) - Digging Pittsburgh Arts
• David Pohl (Pittsburgh, PA) - find the time to rhyme

Agni Gallery
170 East 2nd Street, Storefront #3
New York NY 10009
November 3 - 30, 2007
Public Reception: November 3, 6-9PM

• Nancy Baker (Raleigh, NC) - Tire Shop
• Martin Bromirski (Richmond VA) Anaba
• Sharon Butler (Mystic, CT) Two Coats of Paint
• Lisa Call (Parker, CO) - New Work and Inspiration
• F. Lennox Campello (Media, PA and Washington, DC) Mid Atlantic Art News
• Rose Clancy (Pittsburgh, PA) paperWorks
• Kevin Clancy (Boston MA and Pittsburgh PA) - soft soft pink pulls through the ivory void
• Susan Constanse (Pittsburgh, PA) - Oranje
• Warren Craghead ( Charlottesville, VA)drawer
• Mark Creegan (Jacksonville Florida) - JaxCal.org
• Christiane D (Pittsburgh PA) - Christiane D
• Roberta Fallon (Philadelphia PA) Fallon and Rosof's Artblog
• Ann Gordon (Detroit MI) - Detroitarts
• Cable Griffith (Seattle WA) - Cable Griffith
• David Grim (Pittsburgh, PA) - Serendipity
• Bill Gusky (Canton, CT) - Artblog Comments
• Tracy Helgeson - Works by Tracy Helgeson
• Stephanie Lee Jackson (Brooklyn NY) - Pretty Lady
• JT Kirkland (Washington, D.C.) - Thinking About Art
• Mary Klein (Minneapolis, MN) - stillifes
• Eva Lake (Portland, OR) -Eva Lake
• Steven LaRose - (Ashland OR) Steven LaRose
• Michael Lease (Richmond VA) - Annabelle's Aspirin
• Joanne Mattera (New York NY) Joanne Mattera Art Blog
• Rob Matthews (Philadelphia PA) - Matthews The Younger
• John Morris (Pittsburgh, PA) - Digging Pittsburgh Arts
• Loren Munk (Brooklyn NY) - James Kalm
• Elizabeth Perry (Pittsburgh, PA) - Woolgathering
• David Pohl (Pittsburgh, PA) - find the time to rhyme
• Libby Rosof (Philadelphia PA) Fallon and Rosof's Artblog
• Chris Rywalt - (Wood Ridge NJ) NYC Art
• Marc Snyder (Pittsburgh, PA) - Fiji Island Mermaid Press

New PostSecret book coming

I just got through the new PostSecret book, which is titled A Lifetime of Secrets. And just like its predecessors, Frank Warren continues to tap into the inexhaustible well of worldwide secrets to deliver an exceptionally interesting book again - both as a read and as an art book. The new book goes on sale next week and it is already ranked at #105 on Amazon (as a pre-order). You can pre-order it here. Frank's book tour starts next week and he will be on the Today Show talking about PostSecret on October 11th.

There is also a new PostSecret video on YouTube (it is ranked 47th most viewed for the day and climbing).

Lastly, over 300 spiritually related postcards are on exhibit in the latest show at the American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore.

Moon & Hopper

Cudlin has a really excellent review of The National Gallery’s current exhibition on Edward Hopper.

And in this review is where we see where a trained painter can sometimes deliver an insight into a painter's work than an ordinary critic sometimes can't; Cudlin notices that:

There are many subjects that didn’t suit Hopper’s approach to color and form. He was hopeless, for example, with seascapes. His 1922 etching The Cat Boat and a later oil painting, Ground Swell (1939), are half-baked attempts to represent water. In the former, a few thin lines like cramped cursive—little cartoon peaks, really—lamely indicate waves. In the latter, the sea appears to be made of some viscous blue-green substance; the stuff lies in thick furrows, holding both a buoy and a sailboat completely immobile. Only the boat in each picture seems like a decent compilation of specific shapes. Hopper clearly liked that boat but didn’t have many ideas about where to put it...

... His figures, too, were often vague and half-invented. The female nude in Morning in a City (1944) gazes out at a sharply rendered city. But she herself looks like a lumpy troll, as if she wandered out of a painting by modern primitive Henri Rousseau. Hopper typically made studies for his figures but often relied on memory while painting, and proportions could get lost in the shuffle. This woman’s nakedness lacks eroticism, and as a result seems alien, disturbing—as nondescript as Hopper’s trees and waves.

Lumpy troll... that's hilarious!

Elsewhere in the CP, Capps reviews Jiha Moon at Curator's Office. Moon is on my "Buy Now" List.

Wanna go to a C'ville opening tonight?

Charlottesville's Migration: A Gallery has Edwin White's metal sculpture and mobiles opening tonight in a show titled “Line to Volume.”

The exhibition goes through November 2, 2007 and the opening is from 5:30 – 8pm as part of C'ville's own First Friday openings.

New WPA website

The new WPA website is now online and their new online artfile, which will be ready for prime time on October 29, 2007 rocks!

New editor at WaPo

Tracy Grant is the new editor for the Washington Post's Weekend section.

Our congratulations to Grant on the new job!

The WaPo's Weekend section has its own separate presence from the rest of the paper, and as far as the visual arts, in my opinion Michael O'Sullivan has the best presence, connectivity and corporate knowledge on the Greater DC area's region visual art scene in the entire newspaper. By far...

O'Sullivan does a great job for the readers of the Post, who are usually proportionally shortchanged in the visual arts (and have been for years, but accelerated by the disastrous Style editorship of Eugene Robinson and perpetuated by the current editor) by the paper's newish Arts section.

But I hope that Tracy Grant has an open mind, because the Weekend section can use a lot of refurbishing and modernizing and parts of it need to realize that it's 2007 and not 1977.

I am not an objective critic, not by far, but here are some suggestions for Tracy Grant, and I sincerely hope that Grant will take them as constructive suggestions rather than burying her head in the sand like her predecessor.

1. The Listings: No section of Weekend is a bigger waste of newsprint than the 80% static listings - especially the museum listings. But, let us assume that some people still refer solely to a printed paper, rather than the Internet, to find out what's showing where. The way that listings are managed, the way that they must be submitted, and the way that they are updated is a joke in 2007. Example: while I understand that in 1977 a reader may want a constant reference of what's on exhibit at the Navy Museum - a static permanent installation museum - why is that listing (and dozens like it) there Friday after Friday for years and years? The listings need to be more dynamic, like the Washington City Paper's listings are, where galleries and museums, etc. can email their listings in (or mail it or fax them). Suggestion one: Provide an online entry point where galleries and museums can electronically submit listings. And for the readers' sake, reduce the space allotted to static listings that never change and use the newsprint space to list more gallery listings, which do change on a monthly basis!

2. The Mini Reviews: The Weekend section used to employ an small army of freelance writers and critics to provide mini reviews of movies, theatre, performance, etc. These voices augmented their regular writers and critics and really made the Weekend section a must read for anyone interested in the arts. They never did that for the visual arts. Why did Weekend do this for all genres of the arts except the visual arts? Suggestion two: Budget for 2-3 freelance writers to submit a few mini DC area gallery reviews each Friday - just like you once did for the other art genres.

3. The Big Review: More please; O'Sullivan does a great job, but the hungry visual art masses want more! Here's an idea (unless it is an union thing that forbids this from happening): The WaPo owns a couple of other printed newspapers out there... such as the Gazette. Why not augment O'Sullivan once in a while with one of the art critics who already writes for one of those newspapers, already is on the WaPo's payroll database, and easy to tap into, to supplement and augment O'Sullivan's voice (or replace him when he's away on vacation or recuperating from a medical issue as he is now) when he's gone. Suggestion Three: Augment Michael O'Sullivan's visual art criticism with Dr. Claudia Rousseau's art criticism - she's the art critic for the Gazette newspapers - owned by the Post.

Wanna go for a pretty drive?

If you are a fan of children's illustrations and a really beautiful countryside setting, then this weekend you should take a drive to the Brandywine River Museum in beautiful Chadds Ford, PA and check our their current "Flights into Fantasy: The Kendra and Allan Daniel Collection of Children's Illustration" on display through November 18, 2007.

On exhibit you'll discover fantasy in children's illustrations by some of the most famous illustrators of the 19th and 20th centuries such as Arthur Rackham, Edmund Dulac, Kay Neilsen, Jessie Willcox Smith, W.W. Denslow, Ernest Shepard, Ludwig Bemelmans, Dorothy Lathrop and E. Boyd Smith. Nearly 100 superb works selected from the remarkable collection of Kendra and Allan Daniel.

Tapedude in the CP

The DC area's Mark Jenkins is probably one of the region's most visible invisible artists, both around here and abroad.

And the current issue of the WCP has an excellent profile on Jenkins by the CP's Jessica Gould. Read it here.

Secret Apartment

"The leader of an artists' cooperative has been sentenced to probation for setting up a secret apartment inside a shopping mall's parking garage as part of a project on mall life."

Details here.

First Fridays

If you wanna do openings and gallery crawls, first Fridays is your key day.

There are a lot of gallery openings tonight in Philadelphia, a city known for "legendary stinginess toward the arts" according to the Daily News' Tom DiNardo.

Details on the gallery openings "here.

In DC, Heather Goss details some key openings around the nation's capital, and I will say it again, DC can also be accused of wanting to save a dinar here and there at the expense of the arts. Check out DCist here.

Fidel Castro as an Orthodox Jew

In Cuba, you can get in a lot of trouble if you depict "El Lider Maximo" in any sort of unfavorable light, or showing any kind of weakness. Big trouble... like jail time sort of trouble.

Castro manipulation of organized religion has been masterful, and the way that he has handled the Catholic Church in Cuba, as well as the decimated Cuban Jewry, should be a lesson to all despots and tyrants. Because Castro is essentially an atheist and deeply against organized religion, which he uses as just another tool of his regime, depicting him in any sort of religious or believer status would be cause for artistic concern in Cuba.

But this is America.

And although the old tyrant has never been very proud of his Celtic roots, his parents ancestral home in Galicia has actually offered him an exile home in the rugged mountains of Iberia's Celtic regions, in the event that Castro ever decided to leave Cuba, which I seriously doubt that he ever will.

But in Cuba there has always been an urban legend that Castro's mother, Lina Ruz, also described as a Galician, was actually Jewish, perhaps because her last name was said to be similar to a well-known hidden Sephardic Jewish family in Spain.

Also, because Castro was born out of wedlock to Lina (who was the 14 year-old daughter of a maid in his father's household); and because Castro was the third out-of-wedlock child of Lina; and because this affair was the cause of his father's divorce from María Luisa Argota (his Galician wife); and because Castro was not baptized until age 8, the children in the Jesuit school that he started attending at age 6 labeled him a "Judio" as a derogatory term in the racist Cuban society of the 1930s.

"Fidel Castro as an Orthodox Jew"
Charcoal on Paper, circa 2007 by F. Lennox Campello
And thus, and begging forgiveness from all Jews around the world, my drawing of an elderly Fidel Castro Ruz, who like many senior citizens, has suddenly discovered religion, begged and prayed for forgiveness for all his horrible sins and abuses of the Cuban people, and using his power forced his way and become an Orthodox Jew in Havana's historical synagogue.

Next (and definately more appropriate): Castro as Ayatollah Fidel...

Bethesda gallery renamed

Today I received a press release announcing "Waverly Street Gallery formerly Creative Partners Gallery's" Holiday Show (a multi media show featuring the work of Gallery Artists) from December 4, 2007 through January 5, 2008, with an opening reception on Friday December 7, 6-9 pm.

What took me a little bit by surprise was the fact that Creative Partners had renamed itself. Their new website (which as of this AM does not work for some reason is www.waverlystreetgallery.org).

Since I am in a "do as I say, not as I do," mood - and actually thinking about re-naming Mid Atlantic Art News to something more generic in case I spread my wings to New Mexico in the future - this question will sound a little hypocritical.

Why do galleries with a long established presence rename themselves?

Creative Partners is one of the Greater DC area's top cooperative galleries, which means that it is an artist-run, artist-owned gallery, where all members share all of the gallery's expense, and like many of the co-ops around the DC area, and other metropolitan areas, they have been around for a ton of years.

So they have name recognition, which in the gallery world is a good thing.

And thus the question: why change the name?

Creative Partners is the second area gallery to do this recently. Factory Photoworks renamed itself Multiple Exposures Gallery a couple of years ago. Like Creative Partners, Multiple Exposures, nee Factory Photoworks, has been around for decades, and showcases some of the best photography in the region at very affordable prices.

I could call Creative Partners and ask them the question. But it is more interesting to elaborate and guess on a generic reason why an established gallery would change their name.

In the case of a cooperative, I think that the reason may be simply to begin the process to re-invent itself; to attempt to establish a new presence, by disassociating somewhat with the past.

I don't think that changing names is necessary for this; in fact, I think it may hurt the cause (if that's the cause). It is spectacularly hard to do a global change for any and all presences where the "old name" exists: directories, press lists, websites, online resumes, roledexes, etc. Unless you are careful and do it right, you can wipe out an entire digital footprint with a name (and website) change.

I am a big fan and supporter of cooperative galleries. Together with independently owned commercial fine arts galleries, non-profit galleries, university galleries, museum galleries, and alternative art spaces, they make up the visual arts tapestry of a city or region.

All galleries everywhere, including fabled places like New York and LA, struggle to survive and sell work in order to pay the artists, pay rent, pay for publicity, pay for openings, pay for electricity, pay for the plumber the 2-3 times a year that somebody flushes a sanitary napkin (or one of those indestructible hand towels) down the toilet at an opening and clogs the pipes, pay for websites, etc.

Selling art is not an easy task for the most adept of galleries and gallerists. The tales of sold out shows and shows that sell out before the openings are sometimes true, but also sometimes exaggerated as a publicity stunt. I know for a fact of a former DC area gallery (no longer around) that used that storytelling line to create this "sold out" aura around the gallery that was fabricated most of the times.

Selling art in the Greater DC region is a especially difficult task, and a hard one to understand. Selling art in the Philadelphia area appears to be just as difficult, if not more, than the DC region. Both areas have more than their share of very, very wealthy people.

A lots of upper income bracket people as well. The estimated median household income for Bethesda, Maryland (where Creative Partners is located) was around $114,000 two years ago, and the median house or condo in Bethesda is around $850,000. By the way, it's $150K and $950K in nearby Potomac.

And you can research your head off and find out that generally speaking, the Greater DC area is making more money than most of the rest of the country.

But cracking the code and getting people to actually buy a piece of original artwork is a very difficult process, and unfortunately for the galleries and for artists, they only control a small part of it.

The most difficult part is getting people to actually know that there are galleries, and openings, etc. Getting the potential buyer to the gallery, or aware of the gallery or artist, is the key, and of course the most difficult part.

And because most galleries can't afford the rents right on the main commercial streets (say M Street in Georgetown, or Bethesda Avenue in Bethesda), they're usually found in clusters just off the main drags (like Canal Square in Georgetown, R Street in Dupont Circle, or to the side of East-West Highway in Bethesda, like Creative Partners - on Waverly Street I assume). And galleries, hungry for low rents and bigger spaces, are usually the first ones that begin to revitalize a sketchy neighborhood, such as the former Fusebox Gallery did for 14th Street (for galleries anyway) and Conner Contemporary is doing for the entire business community in their new location. And let's not forget that a few decades ago, a handful of artists took an abandoned building in boarded-up Old Town Alexandria, removed forty truckloads of garbage from the building, refurbished it and created the Torpedo Factory and kindled the birth of a new tony neighborhood and destination.

That means that you usually do not have the luxury of "walk-in" traffic of people walking around the nice shops, boutiques, restaurants that line up high end commercial streets like Bethesda Avenue or M Street, etc.

And the stores that sell pretty wall decor pieces on those high rent streets do gang buster business. In them you find every variation of the "painter of light" theme, or the art of rock stars (dead or alive), or TV celebrities artwork, or perhaps Russian kids who paint like Picasso (and have since grown up).

And they sell all of the above for serious money.

The kind of money that could buy serious art, not wall decor.

And the buyers think that they are buying serious artwork.

And then they drop another grand for a rococo frame to go with the wall decor.

And from my own personal experience, every once in a while, a handful of times in a gallery's lifetime, one of those buyers "discovers" a real gallery and then a collector is born, if the gallery is good enough to educate and open the person's eyes.

Why are these would-be collectors so hard to bring in from the dark side? A while back I submitted this thesis:

Because they were not exposed to art in their upbringing. Not because their parents were bad, uncultured people, but because their parents were hard-working stiffs who worried about the rent, the electric bill, the food bill and paying for junior's college so that junior could get a Computer Science degree and go on and invent AOL.

And in college, junior probably was not exposed to art other than the two or three peripheral courses that he needed to get his electives; certainly not to buying art, or even aware that art was for sale.

And then junior works hard and becomes a millionaire, and now has disposable income out the yingyang, and looks around for expensive toys, because as George Carlin is fond of saying, we all love to collect "stuff."

And he sees ads for expensive cars, expensive furniture, expensive cigars, and he reads tons of reviews for the latest trendy restaurants, etc. But he's never really made aware that there's also art out there, for our local media has a spectacular sense of apathy towards the visual arts in our area. The Washington Post is the only major American newspaper that has a freelancer deliver around 25 reviews a year to cover an entire year of DC area gallery shows, and they allow their chief art critic to review only museum shows. Very little attention is placed upon our art galleries by the newspapers, certainly not commensurate with the amount of print space that they give theatre, music, dance, fashion, etc.

So junior doesn't know that the DC area has a really good and creative visual arts scene.

Thus when junior takes a stroll through the city's main shopping streets, he doesn't know about the side streets where the galleries are, but sees the stores passing for art galleries that sell the pretty, expensive "pictures," and then junior assumes that this "stuff" is art.

And he drops a ton of money for a pretty "picture." It happens all the time, otherwise these stores would go out of business.

But instead it is the art galleries that go out of business: Veerhoff (after 125 years), Numark, eklektikos, Fusebox.

Every once in a while, junior - usually by accident - discovers a reputable art gallery, and sometimes a real collector is then born. It has happened to me, as a dealer, many, many times. But for every one of those, thousands of others remain on the dark side, or worse still, think that they have to go to New York to find contemporary art.

The apathy shown by the media towards art galleries and visual artists is multiplied by a thousand if you happen to be a cooperative gallery.

Art critics, writers who write about art, art bloggers, and other assorted scribes in the art scene tend to ignore cooperative galleries and their artist members. It is immensely unfair and short-sighted, and reflects an interesting sort of neo-connish tendency in an otherwise very liberal crowd. Like the same group's general dislike and distrust of any artist who is liked by the public in general; or public art that the public likes. It's an interesting paradox that has always intrigued me.

I've never been a member of a coop gallery, but have juried shows for coop galleries many, many times, and intimately know artists who have and are members of cooperatives. And thus I have some insight into the inner workings of galleries such as Creative Partners is.

Like I said, running an art gallery is not an easy task - as Washington Post Arts editor John Pancake once told me, it is a "heroic act."

Running a gallery by committee, as coops by default are run (and non-profits are supposed to be run), must be the task from art hell. And like any committee running anything, 10% of the people usually end up doing 90% of the work.

It's a paradox of its own. The same strength (equitable distribution of expenses among artist members) that makes a coop nearly invincible to the economic forces that makes opening an art gallery the second riskiest business proposition in the nation (restaurants are first), is its most visible weakness (direction by committee).

Trying to convince 20 or 30 voting members to agree on what colors to paint the gallery walls must rank up there with trying to get any Presidential candidate to answer a "yes or no" question with a "yes" or "no."

Getting the talented bunch over at Creative Partners to change names to Waverly Street Gallery, or the amazing photographers at Multiple Exposures, nee Factory Photoworks, must have been a herculean task.

And if the name change main reason is to set a new presence and a new footprint and a new direction for the gallery, and hopefully generate more noise (reviews in newspapers, blogs, etc.) and more sales, then there's a whole complex set of other issues that would need to be addressed. Issues too long and exhausting to list here, but important for a gallery re-inventing itself. Issues such as preserving online presence, learning how to improve art sales, visualizing and implementing a "new" physical presence, distributing the workload with specific goals, website presence and organization, selling avenues to explore, aggressive press presence, display, etc.

Otherwise, it would be the same as when Esso renamed itself Exxon: new name but same old gas.

Trescott on WPA

The WaPo's Jacqueline Trescott with an excellent article on the WPA's separation from the Corcoran first reported here.

You can also read the official news release here.

WaPo Blog Directory

The Washington Post has started a new blog directory with some very cool capabilities. If you are a blogger, you can register your blog here.

The 0 Project

The gent in that cherry picker installing the massive work of art by Rosemary Feit Covey around the Arlington Arts Center is my good friend Jeffry Cudlin, the Center's curator and the City Paper's chief art critic.

As I've stated before, Rosemary Feit Covey is one of those wizard artists that when you see their work, you are left speechless by both the imagery and also by the technical skill. She is by far, my favorite printmaker in the DC region.

"The 0 Project"

Cudlin is installing part of Rosemary's "0 Project [Zero Project]"

The 0 Project is an installation involving worldwide participation. The centerpiece of the project is 0 ("Zero"), a 300-foot long, 15-foot high banner printed on DuPont™ Tyvek®, which will wrap the old building of the historic Maury School. It will be installed through February 2008.

The image on the Tyvek is based on a drawing created by Rosemary Feit Covey, and "shows a vast crowd of shouting faces looking out at an unseen event. The image, representing silent screams of the masses, serves to encourage viewers to speak out about societal concerns and contemporary events, thereby giving voices to the voiceless. Significantly, the image does not have a political bias and invites participation regardless of the cause."

Check it out here. Scheduled national and international partners for this project are located in Los Angeles; Mumbai, India; Buenos Aires, Argentina; and Toronto, Canada.

Selected from among hundreds of applicants in the mid-Atlantic region, the 0 project will also premier as a printed piece wrapping the Arlington Arts Center this week. Printed on Tyvek on an HP 500 printer, upon installation it will be fifteen feet high, wrapping 300 feet around the outside of the art center... and that's what Cudlin is installing.

The evening reception is this Friday, October 5, 2007 from 6-9 PM and will include a performance piece in which the public is invited to participate

WPA\C Announces Separation from The Corcoran

The Washington Project for the Arts is leaving the Corcoran and returning to its independent roots.

The separation will be formal on December 31, 2007 and the WPA will relocate to new offices in the Dupont Circle area.

More later.

When the dog bites

My wife is a retired-from-competition former uberathlete. She was once ranked fifth in the world in the duathlon, was twice the Maryland triathlon champion, swam for Colgate, blah, blah, blah.

And although she no longer competes, she still runs a gazillion miles a week, swims endless laps and road-bikes all over the place.

Recently, on a Sunday where there was an awesome flea market in downtown Media, PA (hundreds and hundreds of sellers), we made plans to meet in Media. She would bike from the University where she teaches and I would, ahem, drive to Media.

Around noon or so I get a phone call from her telling me that she's leaving the school and heading to Media - that's about four or five miles. Her cell phone reception in this area, by the way Sprint, sucks.

A little while longer I begin to get worried. And then I get a broken-up, unintelligible call from her, but I can tell that something's wrong, really wrong.

Two or three broken up phone calls, all with the same sense of urgency, and then a few more, now with male voices trying to say something, really panics me, so I run to my van and race down the street where I knew she'd be biking.

I come across an ambulance, I stop and here's what happened:

She was biking down the street, not the sidewalk, but the street, and doing 25-28 MPH, which unless you're a really good road biker, is like the speed of light to chicken bikers like me.

On a lawn ahead of her, she spots a dog. A really big fucking, scary looking dog. She's a savvy road biker, with thousands of miles under her butt, and thus she mentally checks out that there's a big dog, but also that the dog's owner is holding the dog with a leash, but she keeps an eye on the situation.

As she zooms by, the dog pulls away from its owner, pulling her onto her stomach and escaping from her leash-hold, and makes an intersecting bee-line for the bike approaching down the middle of the street. And the dog lunges and bites her on her lower calf, a few inches above her knee.

This dog weighs 138 pounds (my wife weighs 115), and it's a half (what else?) Rottweiler and half Husky.

At this point, I think that 99% of the bikers on the planet would have been knocked off their bikes, with a huge dog clamped onto your leg. In fact I would have fallen off my bike had the dog just barked.

But she stays on and keeps pedaling. Can you imagine the strength and balance needed to do that?

And I suspect that one of the wheels, or perhaps the pedal, hits the dog and the beast lets go and returns to its screaming owner, probably licking its bloody chops.

By the time I got there, the ambulance was already there, and the cops had sized up the situation, and I send the ambulance away to emergency to deal with the number two pencil-sized holes that the canine monster had left on her thigh.

The very agitated dog owner: "I am so sorry, he's such a gentle dog, he's never bitten anyone before... he just reacts like that when joggers or bikers come across his territory..."

Wanna go to a DC opening this Wednesday?

The Catholic University of America’s Columbus School of Law, together with the CUA Department of Art and Campus Ministry has sponsored the juried art exhibition entitled, Images of Justice, which explores the theme of social justice through the vision of local artists in a broad spectrum of two- and three-dimensional media.

On display will be works by Mark Behme, Linda Hesh, Emily Greene Liddle, Dr. Robert E. O’Brien, Fernando C. Sandoval, and Henrik Sundqvist.

Opening Reception, 4-6 p.m. – Wednesday, October 3, 2007.

Opportunity for artists in LA

Deadline: November 30, 2007

LA's Korean Cultural Center is seeking submissions from US artists for exhibition. Open to all media. Awards of up to $2,900. No entry fee. Send SASE to:

Korean Cultural Center
15th Annual
5505 Wilshire Blvd
Los Angeles CA 90036

Or call 323-936-7141 or fax to 323-936-5712(FAX) or email exhibition@kccla.org

Opportunity for Artists in Virginia

Deadline: October 29, 2007

Charlottesville's Second Street Gallery, established in 1973, seeks entries for its 2008-2009 exhibition season. Submit 10 slides or Mac CD PowerPoint presentation (not PowerPoint show), slide list, resume, statement, SASE, and $15 fee.

Second Street Gallery
115 Second St SE,
Charlottesville, VA 22902

Arlington Openings this Friday

Friday, October 5, 2007, from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. at the Arlington Arts Center is the opening for the seven new solos that start their fall season.

This collection of seven solo exhibitions — each distinct, and occupying its own gallery at the AAC — "encompasses everything from traditional representational painting, to wall mounted sculptural installation, to hybridized projects using video in combination with other media."

And in the case of Chawky Frenn, I predict harsh political and social commentary art, painted with an exceptionally talented hand with little irony.

From the news release:

- Gillian Brown projects video onto translucent objects, breaking evocative images apart and refracting or reflecting them onto various surfaces.

- Heidi Fowler paints images of everyday industrial objects on unconventional substrates — her recent work features networks of phone or power lines painted across collaged beds of junk mail envelopes.

- Chawky Frenn’s representational paintings are dense with art-historical allusions and violence in equal measure. His work has been formed by his experiences growing up in Lebanon, witnessing the atrocities of war firsthand.

- Laurel Lukaszewski is a sculptor who explores pattern, rhythm, and line using black stoneware and porcelain. The abstract tangles projecting off of the walls in her installation at AAC, Kaminari, playfully represent brush strokes in three-dimensional form.

- Timothy Michael Martin is an abstract painter who, in his reductive paintings, combines diagrams and schematics with oblique pulp sci-fi references. His work comments on the visual codes of modernism and on utopian and dystopian visions of the future.

- Claire Sherwood creates mixed media installations with lace, concrete, wax and coal. These materials are combined to form objects that are paradoxically both decorative and crudely industrial--or both stereotypically masculine and feminine.

- Alessandra Torres is a performance and installation artist. Her AAC project, Figure Study, draws elements from Zen painting and dance; in it, Torres presents flat, jointed, reductively rendered figures mounted on magnets that the viewer is invited to manipulate and reposition at will.

Prediction: Look for Torres, who now lives in NYC, to steal this show. All shows through November 17th, 2007.

Bow Down to Washington

One of the things that people who don't like college cheerleaders in skimpy outfits like about the University of Washington cheerleaders, is that usually when they play at home they are covered in plastic raincoats (over their skimpy outfits).

For decades the Washington Huskies have been a perennial Top 20 team, several times national champions, and generally one of the top two or three universities who send the most players to the professional ranks.

But the Huskies have fallen on rebuilding times over the last few seasons.

And the rebuilding is beginning to show and although I generally do not talk about football in this blog, I wanted to be the first writer on the planet to predict that 19-year-old Washington red shirt quarterback Jake Locker (is that a great quarterback name or what?) will win the Heisman Trophy on his junior or senior year.

What an amazing future Jake Locker has...

Tonight the dogs from Seattle fought the USC Trojans, the best team in the country (and the best for years now), and were a 21 point underdog.

And on a day of upsets, where half of the Top 10 teams lost, where number seven Texas was shoved around and brutalized by Kansas State, number three Oklahoma was upset by Colorado, South Florida (???) embarrassed number five West Virginia, the Testudos of Maryland stunned number ten Rutgers, number 13 Clemson was spanked by Georgia Tech, number 21 Penn State lost to Illinois, number 22 Alabama lost to a once fading Florida State... the Huskies almost pulled out a 21-point underdog win over USC... and the dogs were one fumble away, plus a reversed interception in the end zone that turned into the Trojan winning field goal... from a stunning victory.

Go Huskies and Bow Down to Washington.

Congrats!

To Cara Ober and the gang at Bmore Arts, which has been named "Best Use of Bandwith" in this year's Baltimore City Paper's "Best Of Baltimore."

Well deserved!

Beyond the Margins

Hillyer Art Space at 9 Hillyer Court, NW, in DC will have Beyond the Margins: Selections from Soweto, South Africa opening next week, October 5, 2007, with a reception from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. and runs through December 14, 2007.

Developed and curated by Martin Britz, President and Founder of the South African Fine Arts Congress, Beyond the Margins represents a body of work from both established and emerging black, South African artists working in the Soweto region outside the city of Johannesburg from 1970 to the present.

Represented in Beyond the Margins are Peter Sibeko, Muzi Donga and Winston Saoli, three of the most eminent painters of the Soweto school. Additional artists featured in the exhibition include: Ben Macala, Eli Kobeli, Speelman Mahlangu, Hargreaves Ntukwana, Godfrey Ndaba, David Mbele, Martin Tose, Leonard Matotso, Sipho Msimango, Solomon Sekhaelelo, Mvemve Jiyane, and Grand Maghandlela.

Giants

A couple of new tiny drawings of two art giants. Each charcoal is about one and a half square inches.

"Man Ray"
Charcoal on Paper. 1.5 by 1.5 inches. 2007
By F. Lennox Campello
In a private collection in Richmond, VA


"Marcel Duchamp"
Charcoal on Paper. 1.5 by 1.5 inches. 2007
By F. Lennox Campello
In a private collection in Richmond, VA

Makes sense

Mike Licht solves the Jacob Lawrence issue. He writes: "You (and Regina Hackett) can assume your readers are familiar with Jacob Lawrence. Jacqueline Trescott can't."

Great point and case closed.

At the Corcoran

This month, the Corcoran opens the photography exhibition Annie Leibovitz: A Photographer’s Life, 1990–2005, as well as Wild Choir: Cinematic Portraits by Jeremy Blake, which features three digital media projects by the late artist.

More interesting to me is their "2007 Alumni Juried Exhibition, Recent Graduates: 2002–2006." That exhibit goes through September 30, 2007, so hurry and go see it. It was juried by Molly Donovan, curator of modern and contemporary art at the National Gallery of Art and it's at the Corcoran's "new" Gallery 31.

Gallery 31 is the Corcoran’s newly dedicated exhibition space for the Corcoran College of Art + Design. The space will host exhibitions by the Corcoran’s faculty, students, alumni, visiting artists, and annual senior thesis exhibitions. Located at the New York Avenue entrance of the Corcoran, Gallery 31 will be open during Gallery hours and will be free to the public.

Come again?

Recently, a respected art collector in Portland, Ore., walked into a local gallery. The owners greeted her warmly, and ushered her to the back room to show off their latest acquisitions. After politely declining several works, the collector chose a $5,500 porcelain sculpture shaped like a basket and covered in tiny, platinum elephants. "She has such a great eye for art," gushed the gallery's co-owner, MaryAnn Deffenbaugh.

The collector, Dakota King, is 9. In a collision of the art boom, the wealth boom and the Baby Einstein approach to parenting, galleries and auction houses around the country report that children who aren't old enough to drive are building collections that include works by Jasper Johns, Andy Warhol, Camille Pissarro and Rembrandt. At Sotheby's in New York, an 11-year-old boy with blond ringlets waved a paddle last fall and successfully bid $352,000 for a Jeff Koons sculpture of a silver gnome. Some teenagers are flipping art for quick profits. A few grade-schoolers are even loaning works to major museums, including Houston's Museum of Fine Arts, a coup for a collector of any age.

[stunned silence follows]...

Read the article by Kelly Crow in the Wall Street Journal here. It is a really, really a well-researched and interesting read by the way.

Day of the Dead

Pencil this date in and come party Day of the Dead style, with art, workshops, altars, music, spoken word, dancing, marigolds and the souls of the departed when Arlington's Art Outlet presents “Ofrenda: Art for the Dead” from 3 p.m. to midnight on Saturday, October 13.

Twenty artists will show their personal altars and offerings, or ofrendas. Workshops will teach kids and adults about the Dia de los Muertos tradition. Details here.

- Day of the Dead Workshop: Sugar Skulls 3 – 5 p.m.
- Mariachi Band 5 – 6 p.m.
- Film Screening by Zulma Aguiar 6:15 - 6:30 p.m.
- Mud Pie 6:30 – 7:30 p.m.
- Flo Anito 8 – 9 p.m.
- Special Guest Appearance by Sarah Lovering 10:30 pm
- Aphrodizia featuring Yoko K. 10 p.m. – Midnight

Artists in the show are: Zulma Aguiar, Michael Auger, Jennifer Beinhacker, Alison Christ, Andrea Collins, Rosemary Feit Covey, Roni Freeman, Jenny Freestone, Vickie Fruehauf, Susan Gardiner, Angela Kleis, Emily Liddle, Rob Lindsay, Bono Mitchell, Thomas Paradis, Marina Reiter, Marina Starkova, Henrik Sundqvist, and Jack Whitsitt.

New case opened CP scribe Kriston Capps polices the whole Jacob Lawrence squabble and in the process comes up with an excellent point. According to Capps, "Betty Monkman, the curator of the White House, reveals that, while Lawrence’s painting isn’t the sole piece by a black artist in the executive mansion, it’s close to it — there are only two others." That's now three out of "an estimated 375 total in the White House’s art collection." 

Geez. 

That implies that Simmie Knox's portrait of Pres. Clinton is not considered part of the White House’s art collection, which doesn't make sense. Knox is a DC area artist by the way, and a brilliant painter. So let's take the first century and a half off the acquisition process, which probably just focused on American artists from one of the four races, and somewhat reverse my stand on segregating artists by race, rather than just artistic merit, and let me take the uncomfortable side of trying to ask the question "why aren't there more works by black artists in the White House collection?" 

Even if one ignores color, and just looks at the art and artistic achievement, there are plenty of great American artists, who happen to be black, that one suspect should be in the White House collection. Some art greats, by artistic default, I would think, would have to be Black, or Asian, or Native American, not just Caucasian artists - after all, all four races of mankind create art and all four and their many mixtures, live in America. 

 And let's say that the White House's collection is not exactly, ah... contemporary, which would eliminate a lot of good modern choices; and after all, the White House is not an art museum, but it sort of feels that it should be a classy arts conglomerate where all things say "America." 

Back in the 1980's, the great Jacob Lawrence was awarded the National Medal of Arts from Pres. George Bush The First. Why did it take 27 years for one of his paintings to become part of the White House's permanent collection? Capps identifies the other two paintings: "Henry Ossawa Tanner’s Sand Dunes at Sunset, Atlantic City (1885) also hangs in the Green Room, its home since 1996. And an 1892 painting by one “Bannister” (they likely mean Ed Bannister) acquired last year is currently undergoing conservation." 

So two of the three have been acquired by the Bushes, and before 1996 there wasn't a single work of art by any black artist in the President's home, in spite of the fact that artists such as Lawrence, Bearden, Gilliam, Puryear, and others are all just great American artists, period, and have even broken the National Gallery of Art code. 

Makes my head hurt.

Congrats!

Over the last couple of years I've curated a couple of exhibitions which have focused on a particular interest of mine, text in art. One of the key artists who has been a cornerstone of those exhibitions has been Nigerian-born Victor Ekpuk, formerly a DC area artist, but currently living in Europe.

And his work will be included in "Inscribing Meaning: Writing and Graphic Systems in African Art" opening Oct. 14 at the Fowler Museum at UCLA.

Bloodless waters

"Italy will drop its civil charges against former J. Paul Getty Museum antiquities curator Marion True, now on trial here for allegedly trafficking in looted art, Italian authorities announced Tuesday."

Will this news make it to the frenzied "guilty upon arrival on all counts" art blogs of the scribes who stake their electronic arts presence by being judges and jurors for unresolved museum scandals?

Let us see.

This is not to say that there was no blood in the water to start with... and some of the high-handed folks who sometimes run major museums do need accounting and someone nipping at their butt to keep them straight.

The returns effectively render moot the civil aspect of True's trial, in which Italy sought damages for the loss of its cultural property. True faces criminal charges along with American antiquities dealer Robert Hecht, 88.

"The withdrawal significantly lowers True's exposure," said Luis Li, a Getty legal advisor. The Getty is paying for True's defense.

Paolo Ferri, the Italian criminal prosecutor in the case, said he hoped the agreement would accelerate the pace of the trial, which began in July 2005 and has hearings about once a month, when not delayed by strikes or holidays.

Ferri said the criminal trial, the first in which an American curator has been charged by a foreign county, was intended to be both punitive and preventive. "The preventive aspect was to say to museums: Please stop this buying in an illicit fashion, and please return the objects," Ferri said in an interview Tuesday. "This has now been achieved, and museums that are obliged to surrender objects won't be in the same trouble."

He expressed confidence in winning a guilty verdict in the conspiracy case but called its significance "virtual."

"True is an American citizen and will be able to evade my penal sanctions by going to the U.S. With Hecht, he is too old to have a real prison term," he said.

"For me, the trial has been won," he concluded.

True has maintained her innocence throughout the proceedings. Harry Stang, True's attorney, said, "Dr. True, together with her defense team, will continue to pursue all steps necessary to establish her innocence of the charges. Her defense team will address further matters when and if appropriate."

But every lawsuit has two sides, and it's easy to achieve shock presence with big bites when the museum's blood is in the water and the big sharks are biting and the small pilot fish also wants to bite.

With all this attention on the issue, perhaps a closer look at Italian museums' holdings is warranted.

As I wrote last year: "does every Roman artifact in museums around the world have to be returned to Italy? And do Italian museums have to return Roman antiquities that were made in other parts of the Roman Empire to the nations that now exist there? And Italy better start packing the 13 Egyptian obelisks that are all over Rome: Cairo is clearing out some spaces for them."

Two sides to every story.

More balls on the court

Alexandra opines on the whole Jacob Lawrence, race and art issue.

Read it here.

Can Bailey and Capps be next?

Update: Capps here and he makes a good point.

For Emerging Artists

Deadline: October 1, 2007

The Center for Emerging Visual Artists "strives to provide the essential support services and programs emerging artists need to build sustainable careers." They're offering a career development and Exhibition Program for emerging artists

Their free two-year Career Development Program offers a select group of highly talented artists:

• Two-year fellowship period and lifelong alumni affiliation
• Exhibitions in regional, national, and international venues
• Professional development seminars
• Opportunities to meet patrons, gallerists, and curators
• Assistance with the marketing and sale of artwork
• Individual career counseling sessions
• One-on-one sessions with mentors, chosen from the Board of Artistic Advisors
• Opportunities to gain career experience while giving back to the community
• Alumni exhibition series
• Alumni goal-setting group
• Alumni Travel Grant Program
• Monthly newsletter updating fellows and alumni on regional, national and
international opportunities for artists.

Eligibility requirements include:

- Applicants cannot be in school.
- Applicants must live within 100 miles of The Center (Artists in Baltimore, Harrisburg, and the five boroughs of New York City are eligible; Washington, DC artists are not).
- Applicants cannot have a contractual agreement with a commercial gallery.
- Applicants cannot have had a solo show in a commercial gallery.

For more information and an application, log on to www.cfeva.org or call 215-546-7775 x 12 or email Amie Postic at amie@cfeva.org.

Art Bucks

Cultural organizations and their audiences in the Greater Philadelphia region apparently spend $1.3 billion annually.

This is according to the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance’s report released today: Arts, Culture, & Economic Prosperity in Greater Philadelphia.

"The report documents 40,000 jobs generated by the economic activity of the cultural sector and $158 million in taxes returned to state and local communities."

Read the report here (scroll to bottom).

This evening at Transformer

Today, Thursday, September 27, from 6:30 - 8pm, DC's Transformer has Holly Bass in "Pay Purview."

Pay Purview is an ongoing multidisciplinary work combining live performance with original recorded music and video. Pay Purview is an exploration of the role of women in commercial hip hop music and videos.

In the live performance for Transformer, Holly Bass wears a "booty ball" costume piece made of playground balls to create an exaggerated, oversized, Hottentot-style derriere. Presented in Transformer's storefront window space, the audience, participating from the sidewalk outside the gallery, is asked to pay a dime for each viewing. A curtain opens for a short time and the performer dances to a selection of songs ranging from Rodgers & Hart's "Ten Cents a Dance" to Sir Mix-A-Lot's "Baby Got Back." The dance scenes range from mock burlesque to video-ho-booty-shaking to ethnographic display depending on the selected tune and the performer's impulse.

Details here.

Back to me

The Seattle PI's sharp art critic Regina Hackett takes me to task for my description of Jacob Lawrence a few days ago while I was in the process of delivering an irate and foul-mouthed rebuke on how Lawrence was labeled. Read her post here.

And in retrospect, that description obvioulsy delivered more than intended, which wasn't a character attack on Lawrence, but simply my recollections, observations and opinions from the perspective of a young art student about one of his teachers. All in a handful of words selected at the speed of light to be complimentary, or so I thought!

The comments about Lawrence as a teacher - especially coming from me, and let me tell you I was a beauty of an asshole student: demanding, combative, loud-mouthed, challenging, feh! - would essentially be how (unfortunately) I would describe practically any of my art professors at the time and somehow still translating to 2007 - from the eyes and memories of a juvenile art student - not just to Lawrence but probably could apply also to Alden Mason, Frances Calentano, Everett DuPen (who was very gentle) and others from that lively period at the UW.

Perhaps I should have used the adjective "difficult" (in fact I have corrected my post to say just that). I did say that he was also a "brilliant teacher" to others, as a way - I thought - of showing that I was relating my own biased experience and perspective as a student about a faculty member.

Are there any art students out there who don't think that some of your prefessors are assholes difficult?

All it takes is a B minus and you're doomed, partner!

I also described him as a good drinking buddy - that's a good thing - I think.

I also described him as an opinionated bastard - That was meant as a compliment - I certainly consider myself an opinionated bastard, and Lawrence's opinions, especially when translated to canvas or paper, were what made his work earn him the title of a great artist.

And Hackett is correct: he was also a very generous person; especially with his time and opinions, and even with his artwork (which as I recall used to drive his art dealer crazy).

And a great artist.

PS - Here is an earlier 2007 post on Lawrence where I wrote: "He is/was of one of the most influential and courageous American artists who's never been given a show at the National Gallery of Art."

And here in 2004 I also question why the NGA has ignored Lawrence for so long.

Big changes

I hear that there are big changes coming to the Washington Post. Stay tuned.

It only took them 17 years

A previously unknown painting by Amadeo Modigliani has been discovered.

The "Portrait of a Man" dates back to around 1918, said a Modigliani expert Christian Parisot. It was authenticated after 17 years of expert checkup, Parisot, the director of Modigliani's Rome-based archives, said.

Read the AP story here. Something in the article raised my eyebrows a little: "The canvas measures 46 x 38 cm (18 x 15 inches) and shows an unknown young man. Experts said the oil colors had been watered, a sign that the artist was poor at the time of the work."

I was not aware that oil colors could be "watered." In fact, I'm not aware of any technique where this is even possible.

An oil paint can be stretched and diluted by using a paint thinner, such as turpentine, which is usually the cheapest (and nastiest) thinner around, but unless I missed something in art school, one can't add water to oil paints (especially at the turn of the last century) to stretch the oil paints.

Some "new" modern oil paints can now be diluted with water, and there are some odorless paints thinners out there, but nothing that Amadeo would have had available during his lifetime.

I suspect that the AP article meant to say "diluted" rather than "watered."

Pedantic me.

Moves

Stand by early next week for a major announcement from an important DC area arts venue which is not only relocating but also somewhat re-inventing itself by going back to its solid and independent roots.

This Friday in Philly

Pentimenti Gallery opens its fall season this year with two solo exhibitions of works by Rachel Bone and Kevin Finklea. The exhibitions run through October 27, 2007 and the reception is this Friday, September 28 from 6 - 8 p.m.

Zinger!

Thanks to those of you who brought to my attention Seattle Post-Intelligencer's art critic Regina Hackett's irate post on the exact same point on Jacob Lawrence that made me so exasperated and foul-mouthed here.

Hackett writes:

"The disgrace belongs to the Post. Staff writer Jacqueline Trescott identified Lawrence as "one of the greatest African-American artists of the 20th century."

Aren't we past this? I look forward to the day the Post identifies Jackson Pollock as one of the greatest white artists of the 20th century. Because white appears to be this writer's assumed context, she notes only difference, black as a special case. (Diversity trainers: The Post needs you!)"

But it gets better, after making a good point about using an image of the painting in question for the WaPo article (and a rather weird comment on Mrs. Bush eyeliner), Hackett then writes:

"A smart newspaper would have printed a clear image of the painting and accompanied it with a sidebar by an art critic, covering the information Dangerous Chunky had about its market history as well as an assessment of its merits and its maker's place in history.

Oh wait. I forgot. The Post doesn't have an art critic. It has Blake Gopnik. Jaunty, arrogant and uninformed, he's easily the worst art critic at a major newspaper in the country."

Mamacita!

Did an art critic from a major metropolitan newspaper just call the Washington Post's chief art critic "jaunty, arrogant and uniformed?"

Did she also rank him as "easily the worst art critic at a major newspaper in the country?"

I'm going to have to mull on that for a while.

Trescott Blows It

I started writing this commentary a week ago, when the story was first published in the WaPo, and somehow I didn't publish it as soon as I wrote it, as I was traveling.

And today I came across it again, and it pissed me off even more.

I tend to criticize the WaPo mercilessly for their crappy fine arts coverage, and they generally deserve it. But one constant source of light and enlightment in their shitty fine arts coverage is Jacqueline Trescott.

Trescott usually writes savvy, intelligent words for the WaPo's precious few fine arts Illuminati.

But, in my pedantic view, she really fucked up in this article almost a week ago.

Why?

If you've read my ramblings long enough, then you know that I am not a big fan of artistic segregation.

I don't think that there should be an arts museum just for women, or African-Americans, or Latino/Hispanic Americans.

I think that museums should be driven to include meritable art by artists, regardless of race or ethnicity, who deserve inclusion in a museum collection -- and which should be open to all artists, not just artists of a certain geographic or ethnic presence.

Not guided by percentages or demographics or numbers, but merit, and regardless and in spite of skin color, skin hues, last names, or religion.

And this is where Trescott blows it.

In the article she refers to one of my art school professors and influences as "In its recent renovation of the Green Room, the White House has given a place of honor to a newly acquired masterpiece by Jacob Lawrence, one of the greatest African American artists of the 20th century."

Jacob Lawrence, pen and ink, circa 1980 by F. Lennox Campello
In an Private Collection
In my own personal experience, Jacob Lawrence was pretty close to an asshole difficult as an arts teacher (which sometimes means that he was also a brilliant teacher to students other than me), a pretty good drinking buddy, and an opinionated bastard. But Lawrence and his artwork was also without a doubt (in my opinion) one of the greatest American contributions (and artists) of the 20th century.

Period.

Not "one of the greatest African American artists of the 20th century."

And Mrs. Bush shows some remarkable insight in selecting this work:

It was purchased for $2.5 million at a Christie's auction in May by the White House Acquisition Trust, a privately funded branch of the mansion's historical association. Mrs. Bush had wanted a Lawrence work since a personal friend lent her Lawrence's "To the Defense." It hangs in the Bushes' private dining room. "And because it's on the wall that I look at from my chair in the dining room, I just grew to like Jacob Lawrence more and more," she said.

Bravo to Mrs. Bush - she went with her guts and feelings; Boo-Hoo to Trescott - she went with her hard-wired "formation" in always trying to label Americans.

And I'll keep my own original Jacob Lawrence on my walls, as I have for years since I acquired it in Art School, and refer to him as a great American artist when people ask me about it.

Period.

---

Update: Below is an image of the painting in question - with thanks to Dangerous Chunky.

Lost Art

While I was a student at the University of Washington School of Art (1977-1981), one of my school projects involved taking a mannequin deep into the woods around the Seattle area, and then fixing the mannequin onto a tree.

Once the figure was attached to a tree, I would either cover it in glue, or spray it with photo fix glue, and then cover it in tree mulch, bark, and dirt. Then I would completely glue pieces of bark to the figure, and thus make it "blend" onto the tree that it was affixed to. Eventually, the figure would be (at least visually) part of the tree, as if the figure was growing from the tree itself.

Most of these projects were done in Mt. St. Helen's as I had a school friend whose family lived at the bottom of the mountain, and it was thus convenient as he was my guide around the mountain's ape caves and trails). I suspect that all of them were destroyed by the volcanic eruption of St. Helen's on my wedding day in 1980.

I took many slides of the finished installations, but because after art school I moved to Europe, and then returned in 1985 to go to postgraduate school, while I was at postgraduate school in California, I put about 30 boxes of books and photos and slides and clothes, etc. in storage with my then sister-in-law in Washington state.

Then, while she was on vacation, a pipe in her house broke and flooded her basement for several days. Not only did I lose many, many slides of artwork, but also lot of art, all of my disco clothes (probably a good thing), plus a couple hundred books, including my copy of a hardbound first edition, first printing of Tarzan of the Apes (now worth around $35,000 big ones)... and no, insurance did not pay for it; none of it.

"Mujertree with Broken Arms" (from Daphne series) circa 1980. Pen and Ink. 10 x 8 inches.
Collection of the Artist
I do, however, still have some of the preparatory sketches (above) that I did over the years, and the memories of my student artwork that has been twice wiped out by the forces of nature, as if upset that I was re-arranging and humanizing nature.

"Daphne" circa 1995, Charcoal on Paper, 30 x 20 inches.
Private Collection in Richmond, VA
These nature installations were part of what I called the "Daphne series," and which continues to this day, mostly now in drawings and etchings (above and below), although I am preparing to re-start the mannequin part all over again, in a sense kindled by the tree massacre that took place just down the street from my house, and all the woods around here.


"Daphne" circa 1994, Charcoal on Paper, 40 x 30 inches.
Private Collection in Charlottesville, VA

Maryland State Arts Council opening

Join the Maryland State Arts Council at the James Backas Gallery in Annapolis on September 28, 5-8pm (Gallery Talk: 6:30 PM)for the Opening Reception of "Celebrating 40 Years - Showcasing 40 Artists," curated by Oletha DeVane.

The exhibiting artists are: Maria Anasazi, Kristine Yuki Aono, Maria Barbosa, Denee Barr, Sylvia Benitez, Ellen Burchenal, Paul Daniel, Linda DePalma, Helen Elliott, Anna Fine Foer, Espi Frazier, Helen Frederick, Mia Halton, Leslie King-Hammond, Maren Hassinger, David Hess, Tonya Ingersol, Chevelle Makeba Moore Jones, Gard Jones, Gary Kachadourian, Maria Karametou, Robert Llewellyn, Janet Maher, Jose Mapily, Allegra Marquart, Diana Marta, Cara Ober, Stephen Pearson, Gina Pierleoni, Leslie Snyder Portney, Camille Gustus Quijano, William Rhodes, W.C. Richardson, Joyce S. Scott, Christine Shanks, Piper Shepard, Laurie Snyder, Edgar H. Sorells-Adewale- Renee van der Steldt, and Michael Weiss.

The exhibition is through December 19, 2007.

New Alexandria gallery

At 22,000 square feet Art Whino, the largest privately owned, independent commercial fine arts gallery in the greater DC region opens October 19, 2007, in Old Town, Virginia.

Located at 717 N. Saint Asaph Street in Alexandria, Art Whino will open its doors for the first time with two exhibits: a solo show by artist Derrick Wolbaum and the opening of the Art Whino Permanent Gallery featuring the work of the gallery's collaboration with artists from around the world who are what the gallery describes as "innovators worldwide of the current new art movement otherwise labeled Pop-Surrealism, Lowbrow and Urban Contemporary."

The grand opening event, running from 6-11pm, will include music by DJ Stylo.

Among the artists represented are (some DC area artists are highlighted): Amose, Angie Mason, Anna Thackray, Brad Strain, Brian Tait, Bruce Anderson, Celia Calle, Chris Bishop, Derrick Wolbaum, Dzaet, Erik Abel, Esho, Garry Booth, Hong Kong, J. Coleman, JimBot, JoKa, Justin Lovato, Keith Rosson, Kelly Towles, Ken Garduno, Lelo, Luz Del Mar Rosado, Margaret Dowell, Mary Spring, Marko Davidovic, Mephisto Jones, Morten Andersen, Olivier Defaye, Kelly Vivanco, Peter Harper, Pixielife, Rick Reese, Robert Pokorny, Scotch, Scott G. Brooks, Scott Musgrove, Stephane Tartelin, Steven Thomas, The Love Movement, Sebastian Andia, and Tamira Imondi.

New Baltimore Gallery

Just opened last month and focusing on artists from Latin America and Spain is Obras Art Gallery at 1706 East Pratt Street in Baltimore.

Uh?

"in America, there are no cats..."
- Papa Mousekewitz, c. 1986

"in Iran, there are no homosexuals..."
- Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, September 24, 2007

At Howard

"Origin and the Landscape" - Prints and Drawings by Lou Stovall opens next Sunday, September 30, 3:00 - 6:00POM at Howard University Gallery of Art.

Related Programs:

"Conversation with Students." Friday, October 5th, 2007 12:10 pm - 2:00 pm.

"The Art of Silkscreen Printmaking: A Technical Discussion of the Process and Demonstration", Tuesday October 16th, 2007 6:30 pm - 8:30pm.

"Gallery Talk and Tour with the Artist." Sunday November 18th, 2007. (changed from Nov. 4th) 3:00 pm - 5:00 pm.

All programs held at Howard U. Gallery of Art, Main Campus, in Lulu Vere Childers Hall, 2455 6th Street NW, Washington DC 20059. For more information call (202)806-7070. Exhibition dates are September 30th to December 14th, 2007.

Stovall is one of the nation's true master printmakers and easily one of the District's top artists.

Star Wars on Earth

You knew it was coming... only question is why did it take so long? I've been hearing good things about this show in DC.

(Deep, asthmatic Darth Vader breating)

"Landscapes / Star Wars on Earth" is a solo exhibition featuring two bodies of work by French photographer Cédric Delsaux. According to the gallery press release:

Delsaux's digital photographs combine myth and reality. The work is subtle and serene in his Landscapes series, and overtly humorous in his Star Wars on Earth Series, in which Delsaux photographs toy figurines and then digitally places them in Parisian suburbs. His training in commercial photography is evident with his play on branding in the Star Wars on Earth series. Conversely, in Landscapes, traces of human existence are either remote or totally absent. In both series, the expansive and dream-like scenes combined with colors that contrast the washy with the bold is what captivates.

The exhibition is at Project 4 in DC through October 20, 2007.

Grand Opening of new art space

Next Sunday, September 30, 2007 from Noon to 5pm, VisArts at Rockville, formerly known as the Rockville Arts Center (or RAP) and an arts venue with over twenty years of celebrating the visual arts, will be having its grand opening dedication for its huge new space in Rockville.

Now open in the Rockville Town Center, VisArts Center is located at 155 Gibbs Street, Rockville, MD 20850. The center serves the community with gallery exhibitions, arts education, outreach to schools and communities, and showcasing resident artists.

For more information, visit www.VisArtsCenter.org or call 301-315-8200.

"Big Al" Carter

By Shauna Lee Lange

The Alexandria Black History Museum is currently hosting a photographic exhibition of Allen D. "Big Al" Carter's work. All photographs were taken in the 1970s in Leesburg, Virginia.

Titled "God Has Made A Way in Leesburg," the exhibition runs through January 20, 2008. In this second exhibition at the museum, Carter explores his family connections in one moment of time - working, relaxing, and surviving more than thirty years ago.

Then space was open, homes were modest, life was simpler. And although Carter's male relatives have sadly left us, Carter looks back on their influence and inspiration, and he sees valuable messages: Make the best of what you have; Enjoy the gifts you're given.

Carter, a Virginia native, loves Virginia history and is proud of the advancements made by African Americans. In May of 2006, the Washington Post called his talent "inexhaustible creativity." Sometimes known as Big Al, Al, or Big, Carter while teaching in Arlington, calls himself a "burnt umber man."

He is a poet, a painter, an educator, a sculptor, a music lover, and at times an insomniac. Two of his works can be found in the Corcoran's permanent collection and more should be acquired by other Virginia museums and institutions.

Wanna go to a closing in Delaware today?

Heather Levy is one of those super hardworking artists who instead of moaning around about how hard it is to be an artist (it is), tackles the issue and gets exhibited.

This DC-based artist is having a closing reception for her solo exhibition "Flights of Fancy," at 205 Lavinia Gallery in Milton, DE which is right near Rehoboth today Saturday Sept. 22nd, from 3-5pm. Music provided by Basso Moderno Duo.

Also coming up in October (Oct. 12 - Nov. 16) she's having a solo exhibition of her "rocket science series" at the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford.

This will be the first exhibition of this series, which has some really large paintings... some are 10 feet or longer.

Although one of those paintings was displayed on a billboard on 34th and 7th in Manhattan and a few others were featured in a show at the now defunct CBGB's gallery this will be the first time they are shown as a series. The opening reception is on Friday, Oct. 12th, 2007 at 12:00 p.m with an artist's talk.

All dates and times and other important info about those exhibits and a lot more where Heather is showing can be found here.

Check out the DC City Hall art collection

At 12 p.m. on Wednesday September 26, the public is invited to the Wilson Building for a guided tour through the City Hall public collection of art on permanent display on floors 1-5 of the Wilson building. The tour will be lead by local artist Sondra N. Arkin, curator to the collection of over 170 pieces.

This is a unique chance to meet with local artists featured in the collection and have a discussion on being an artist in the Nation’s Capital and to see a rich cross section of local artists (both established and emerging). This will be a bi-monthly occurrence.

The tour is free, however advanced registration for the series is preferred. Please RSVP to beth.baldwin@dc.gov with the number in your party. Meet at the Pennsylvania Avenue entrance — the building is located at 1350 Pennsylvania Ave NW. ID is required to enter the building.

Email

Yesterday I was 248 emails in the hole, and I tried really hard to catch up, and now I am only 170 behind, but life moves on.

So if you feel ignored...

Did you know that?

The National Museum of Women in the Arts’ 20th Anniversary Festival of Women’s Film & Media Arts will take place September 25-30, 2007 in the NMWA Theater.

The only reason that I know, since I never get any press releases from the NMWA (I don't even know who their press person or PR person is), is because the talented Zulma Aguiar, who is a local DC video artist armed not only with a ton of talent but also with a shiny new MFA on Electronic Arts, has been spreading the word.

The opening is next Tuesday at 5:30pm, and Zulma's video installation is right at the entrance of the glass door enclosed Education Gallery of the Museum.