Glass3

I gave you an early heads up last year... for the whole background read this.

And now the official news release:

The Georgetown Business Improvement District (Georgetown BID), in partnership with Artomatic, Inc., the Office of the Secretary for the District of Columbia, and Sunderland City Council, is proud to present an international fine arts glass exhibit, entitled Glass3, hosted by The Shops at Georgetown Park (3222 M Street, NW).

Glass3, which opens to the public on Thursday, February 21, debuts as the first Artomatic international collaboration. Located on the lower level of the mall, the three-story space contributed by The Shops at Georgetown Park will soon present vibrant glass work, glass blown sculptures, as well as narrative glass work through etching, writing, and video projection.

Glass3 is the first international glass exhibit for Artomatic. The exhibition will feature international glass artists represented by Cohesion Artists from Sunderland, England, national artists organized by the Arts Commission of Greater Toledo from Toledo, Ohio, and Washington, D.C.-based artists represented by the Washington Glass School. Through invitation only, each arts organization selects the artists presented in the three-week long exhibit.

The show will be open through Sunday, March 9, and is free and open to the public. Gallery hours are Monday through Saturday, 12 p.m. to 8 p.m., and Sunday, 12 p.m. to 6 p.m.

This international show again underscores something that has been brewing and growing under the noses of DMV area museum curators and that has ironically been recognized first nationally and now internationally: the Greater DC area has become a hot spot (pun intended) for contemporary fine arts glass and is clearly leading the way in delivering a new conceptual, narrative and even technological boost to fine art glass.

You all know that I am not objective about this issue, but I wouldn't be surprised to see this seminal work with glass as the kernel for creativity become the basis for the most significant new art movement in the DC region since the halcyon days of the Washington Color School. I don't know who will be in this show from the UK and from Ohio, but I suspect that we may see a lot of really terrific vessels from those artists and perhaps then DC area eyes will see how different the work of our locals is when compared as to what the rest of the world is doing.



Call for Redemption, c. 2007 Tim Tate
Blown glass, cast glass, video projection, speakers and motion sensors

Wanna tour the DC City Hall Art Collection?

At 12 p.m. on Thursday, January 30, 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 the talented Ellyn Weiss, whose work is included in the collection.

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. This is the richest and largest permanent exhibition of the work of local DC area artists in the city, featuring a broad range of work, from internationally known artists such as Jacob Kainen, Sam Gilliam, Tim Tate and William Christenberry, to work by most of the artists of significance working in the capital region area now.

The tour is free; however space is limited. 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.

Opportunity for Artists

Deadline: March 1, 2008

The Innovators Combatting Substance Abuse Program has a call out for artists for original art to appear in a forthcoming book on art and addiction to be published by Johns Hopkins University Press.

Open to all artists and all media, including video on the subject of drug addiction, including alcohol, and recovery. A panel of jurors (I'm one of them) will select finalists, and each finalist will receive a $200 honorarium, with the top five receiving an additional $500, copy of the book, and inclusion in exhibitions in Maryland and Puerto Rico.

No entry fees!

Download entry form here.

Philadelphia Biennaleing

"The Philadelphia Museum of Art is pleased to announce the selection of Bruce Nauman (b. 1941) as the artist to represent the United States at the 2009 Venice Biennale. The State Department’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs selected Nauman following the unanimous recommendation of the Federal Advisory Committee on International Exhibitions (FACIE) that reviewed proposals received through an open competition. Carlos Basualdo, Curator of Contemporary Art, and Michael Taylor, the Muriel and Philip Berman Curator of Modern Art, will serve as the U.S. Commissioners and will organize the exhibition from the Philadelphia Museum of Art."

London Blues

In this cruise that I just came back from, we all had a lot of fun in one of the bars singing drunken karaoke songs (I know... I know...) and it reminded me of something from my past.

Sometime around 1988 or so, I lived in England for a few months, and back then a lot of the English pubs were really into karaoke. And even though I am not a Texan, one of my past roomates is from Texas and he used to play "London Blues" all the time and I used to really love to sing it in English pubs.

Scary uh? A guy from Brooklyn singing a Texas song...

Unfortunately the cruise ship didn't have it in its inventory, but upon getting back I got myself a couple of Jerry Jeff Walker CDs and it brought back memories of the song that I think may be the greatest Texas song of all time --- and yes, I know that I've just made a zillion Texans disagree with me... or maybe not.

Listen to Barry P. Nunn sing it here the way that it's supposed to come out... lyrics below.

Well, when you're down on your luck,
And you ain't got a buck,
In London you're a goner.
Even London Bridge has fallen down,
And moved to Arizona,
Now I know why.
And I'll substantiate the rumor that the English sense of humor
Is drier than than the Texas sand.
You can put up your dukes, and you can bet your boots
That I'm leavin' just as fast as I can.

I wanna go home with the armadillo
Good country music from Amarillo and Abilene
The friendliest people and the prettiest women you've ever
Seen.

Well, it's cold over here, and I swear
I wish they'd turn the heat on.
And where in the world is that English girl
I promised I would meet on the third floor.
And of the whole damn lot, the only friend I've got
Is a smoke and a cheap guitar.
My mind keeps roamin', my heart keeps longin'
To be home in a Texas bar.

I wanna go home with the armadillo
Good country music from Amarillo and Abilene
The friendliest people and the prettiest women you've ever
Seen

Well, I decided that I'd get my cowboy hat
And go down to Marble Art Station.
'Cause when a Texan fancies, he'll take his chances.
Chances will be taken, that's for sure.
And them Limey eyes, they were eyein' the prize
That some people call manly footwear.
And they said you're from down South,
And when you open your mouth,
You always seem to put your foot there.

Repeat chorus 'til the cows come home.

And thank God they also didn't have Up Against the Wall, Redneck Mothers.

Openings in C'ville

Charlottesville, Virginia holds a dear place in my arts heart - back in the mid 90s when we were hunting for a place to open a gallery, I focused a lot of attention on Charlottesville before the space in Georgetown fell in our lap. I also seem to have a lot of collectors of my own work in that area for some odd reason.

Anyway... two interesting exhibitions taking place there.

At the Second Street Gallery, Rob Tarbell's appropriated stuffed animals that he usually finds at Goodwill assume new forms as their stuffing is replaced with porcelain slip and then fired in a kiln.

There will be an opening reception for Tarbell (who teaches at Virginia Commonwealth University and Piedmont Virginia Community College) on First Fridays, February 1, 6:00 - 8:00 pm, with an artist talk at 6:30PM for Rob Tarbell: The Struggles Play Nice.

Migration: A Gallery, Laura & Rob Jones (who own one of my drawings) continue to offer the C'ville area a kick-ass exhibition program.

Currently they have the acrylic paintings of University of Mary Washington art professor Stephen L. Griffin in a show titled "Strata."

That show goes through Feb. 15, 2008.

Then check out the cool schedule of exhibitions coming down the road, including a Washington Glass School show.

White House Redux

You can just click onto this website or read on from the news release that I received:

I'm excited to announce that I'm on the jury for a new design competition,called White House Redux, the purpose of which is to design a new home for the U.S. Presidency.

It's a speculative project, to be sure - but a fun one, and I can't wait to see what comes up.

Here's the brief: What if the White House, the ultimate architectural symbol of political power, were to be designed today?

On occasion of the election of the 44th President of the United States of America, Storefront for Art and Architecture, in association with Control Group, challenge you to design a new residence for the world's most powerful individual.

The best ideas, designs, descriptions, images, and videos will be selected by some of the world's most distinguished designers and critics and featured in a month-long exhibition at Storefront for Art and Architecture in July 2008 and published in Surface magazine.

All three winners will be flown to New York to collect their prizes at the opening party. Register now and send us your ideas for the Presidential Palace of the future!

Continuing: Few people realize the extent of the White House, since much of it is below ground or otherwise concealed by landscaping. The White House includes: Six stories and 55,000 square feet of floor space, 132 rooms and 35 bathrooms, 412 doors, 147 windows, twenty-eight fireplaces, eight staircases, three elevators, five full-time chefs, a tennis court, a bowling alley, a movie theater, a jogging track, a swimming pool, and a putting green.

It receives about 5,000 visitors a day. The original White House design, by James Hoban, was the result of a competition held in 1792. Over the centuries, presidents have added rooms, facilities and even entire new wings, turning the White House into the labyrinthine complex it is today.

What if, instead of in 1792, that competition were to be held today? What would a White House designed in 2008, year of election of the 44th President of the United States, look like?

That's the question, then: If you were to design a residential office complex for the U.S. President, what would it look like? Perhaps London's GLA? Or the CCTV Building? Or Selfridge's, Birmingham? Or the Kunsthaus Graz? Would it be stylistically European - or Latin American, or African, or Asian? Prefab? Rammed earth? Perhaps an updated Nakagin Capsule Tower? Or would it be a Walking City? Maybe a helicopter archipelago? Maybe algae-powered, or billboard-bound, or an inhabited dam? Would it be ironic, self-deprecating, imperial, solar-powered, walled off behind anti-missile batteries, or anachronistically neoclassical and made of limestone? All of the above?

Here are the specs. The jury consists of Beatriz Colomina, Stefano Boeri, Liz Diller, John Maeda, myself, Mark Wigley, and Laetitia Wolff. So step up and submit.

I'm genuinely excited about this. Show us your best! Think big, think small, think detailed. Think abstract. Change history.

Details here.

One closes and one opens in Baltimore

Touchet Gallery in Baltimore will close.

DB5K is a new space across the street from where Touchet was.

Touchstone

If you want to see 60 DC area artists all in one space (while you wait for the next Artomatic), then check out Touchstone Gallery's current show Double Vision, which is on now through Feb. 3, 2008.

Work by Mary Ott, Paul So, Cynthia Young, Alice Whealan, Jeanne Garant, Christine Cardellino, Janet Wheeler, Helen Corning, Marcia Coppel, Miriam Keeler, Mari DeMaris, Marie Straw, Melissa Widerkehr, Charles St. Charles, Walter Smalling, T. R. Logan, Kyoko Cox, Steve Alderton, Brian Martucci, Michael Lang, Emery Lewis, Chris Hutchinson, Marshe Hutchinson, Janathal Shaw, Malia Salam-Steeple, Antonia Macedo, Peter Karp, Dina Volkova, Helena Chenomazova, Maya Mackrandilal, Bill Bennett, Harriet Rosenbaum, Dina Rotklein, Harvey J. Kupferberg, Ulrich Stein, Rima Schulkind, Alice Bindeman, Aina Nergaard-Nammack, Lee Wayne Mills, Rosemary A. Luckett, Brigitte Pierrette Davis, Tory Cowles, and Kathy Beynette.

Sonya A. Lawyer at GRACE

About three years ago I came across the work of DC area photographer Sonya A. Lawyer and included her in a massive exhibition titled “Seven” that I curated for the Washington Project for the Arts/Corcoran. Then I lost contact with Lawyer's artwork.

And then last week I was invited to speak on contemporary art at the Greater Reston Arts Center in Reston, Virginia and came across the new work by Lawyer, which was on exhibition in GRACE’s beautiful new gallery spaces.

To say that I was simply impressed with the new directions in her work would be the first great understatement of 2008.

I was taken, absorbed, seduced, educated, revitalized and convinced that this talented photographer had accomplished a very intelligent marriage of her photographic skills, her gender and her culture, all succinctly wrapped up and presented for comment and absorption in this exhibition.

On view was a 21st century marriage of Mondrian design, African-American history, vintage photography, online appropriation, race relations, enviable presentation and well-honed artistic skills, and also a lesson on power and vision.

Oh yeah... and also an imaginative American photographer perhaps liberating the work of those earlier photographers on whose shoulders she stands, and also the subjects of their work.

Joanne Bauer, GRACE’s hard working curator told me that Lawyer had began collecting vintage photo albums of imagery of people of color from a variety of sources such as online auctions and antique stores.

Later Lawyer told me that after a couple of months of watching the online auctions, she realized that some participants would buy an album and then split apart the images in the album and re-sell them individually to make a larger profit.

She also told me that “the women, men, and children are for the most part nameless and only now known by their auction ID number and their seller’s quirky sign-on. The thought of families torn apart, albeit figuratively, and then sold to the highest bidder is very disturbing and repeats a very troubling part of history. Although I recognize my own complicity by participating in the auctions of my ‘ancestors,’ I do feel that I am rescuing the albums (people) I can, from further disturbance.”

Enter the power of art, as a healing process perhaps, for the artist and even for the nameless faces in Lawyer’s growing collection.

But this is not an easy step to take. She then struggled and says that as she looked over the albums for the past couple of years, she was never quite sure how to, and if she should, incorporate them into her own artistic practice.

At the GRACE show we now know that she did. And she succeeds triumphantly, and a key to the success is her presentation.

Lawyer has incorporated the vintage images into a very modern, Mondrianesque quilt-like presentation on fabric that manages to bridge modern ideas with the historical perspective of the Gee’s Bend quilters to deliver something new and refreshing and geometrical in contemporary photography.

She says that “In a quest to work with new materials, and because I never felt as I if was finding the right colors in fabric stores, I began hand-dying cotton fabric. The texture and the process finally felt right.”

The individuals chosen by Lawyer say something about her and about her focus. There are no victims in these images of a people who perhaps were being victimized by history when these photos were being taken almost a century ago. Instead, in the works on display are beautiful, empowered, and proud people, and one hard-looking individual that has known little fear of others in his hard life.

MR 096 (Cerulean Blue) from "Finding Authenticity (does anyone remember?)"
24" x 18", 2007, photo transfer on fabric by Sonya A. Lawyer

And curiously, as Lawyer says, except for the tell-tale signs of clothing and hairstyle, some of the photographs may have been taken “eight days ago instead of 80 years ago.”

Beautiful, empowered, and proud... not the kind of images that Hollywood and popular culture generally uses as historical references for people of color from decades in the past; not caricatures and stereotypes, but human and authentic. Lawyer notes that “their eyes twinkle with insight and intelligence as they gaze at the camera, dressed in their best, with hair perfectly coiffed.”

When one looks at old portrait photographs discarded to the bins of antique shops or the digital world of online auctions, we all seem to come up with the same questions about these long-forgotten and abandoned people. And Lawyer asks “What were their names? How long did they live? Where did they work? Were they religious? Who were their friends and lovers? And who were their enemies? Who disappointed them and discarded them like trash? And who did they truly trust and believe in?”

Unfortunately, we will never know the answers to those and many similar questions. But I submit that in rescuing them from the bins of discarded history, and incorporating them into the substrate of a new art process, and consciously marrying them into a historical presentation brought forth into a contemporary dialogue, Lawyer has not only rescued, but also liberated these images and given them the potentially infinite lifespan that great artwork delivers.

The exhibition at GRACE goes through February 16, 2008 and it is the kind of exhibition with the impact deserving of a trip to Reston, by both the public and Washington Post, Washington Times and Washington City Paper critics alike.

GRACE, under the leadership of John Alciati and Joanne Bauer has made a noticeable turn-around in the last couple of years after a handful of years of being slightly out of focus and even in confusion, and kudos to the current board, curator and President/CEO is well deserved.

Go to Reston and see this show.

Charles Albert Huckins' Favorite Artwork

This submission of a favorite artwork comes from Charles Albert Huckins, an active photographer in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area who has maintained the Stonelight Images web site for the continuous exhibition of his photography since 1999. He writes:

Although I, along with your other readers, have many favorite works of art, time and circumstances require me to narrow my submission down to two anonymous works few people have ever seen before.

Masquerade - © 2005 Charles Albert Huckins


Three Graces - ©2003 Charles Albert Huckins
Though virtually unknown, both of these works are priceless, in my opinion.

“Masquerade” is a painting on cinder block, replete with symbolism and, for me, is as enigmatic as the Mona Lisa. “Three Graces” is an ink drawing on enameled steel plate and has a dignity and simplicity of line that make it spell-binding. Although both are figurative works, they have all the energy and spontaneity of the abstract Gee’s Bend quilts, now so rightfully esteemed as icons of American folk art.

Both works were created by unknown former inmates of the Youth Correctional Facility of the District of Columbia Department of Corrections site in Lorton, Virginia. The entire prison facility was decommissioned in 2000 and has been owned and converted to other uses by Fairfax County since August, 2002.

What makes these remarkable works of art so unique at this time is the possibility of their being unavailable for future generations to appreciate firsthand.

In the process of transition from a prison complex to a multifaceted community resource, a number of intriguing artifacts within the prison’s walls have necessarily been destroyed. However, these two works of art, and several others scattered around the prison site, are still intact and salvageable.

Fairfax County is currently seeking input regarding the artistic value of these and other works before a final decision is made about whether or not to save them. Perhaps some of your credentialed readers might care to weigh in on the artistic merits of these works?

If any of your readers would like to express their opinions about the art-worthiness of these works in writing, I, as a volunteer assisting Fairfax County in the documentation of prison resources, will be happy to forward all such comments to the appropriate County authorities. I may be reached at cah@stone-light.com.

I will publicly testify that in my opinion these works not only merit being salvaged, but in doing so represent a triumph of art over adversity, in a sense.

Perhaps the Youth Correctional Facility of the District of Columbia Department of Corrections can simply isolate and protect these works, but leave them exactly where they are, maybe adding some wall text next to them so that future generations can be inspired and learn from the artwork of those who created it in far from enjoyable circumstances.

Elizabeth Whiteley's Favorite Artwork

Elizabeth Whiteley is a DC area artist whose work is already in the permanent collection of several museums. And she responds to my call for readers' favorite artwork. She writes:

It was wonderful, this past weekend, to get a start on the new creative year with my visit to the Hirshhorn Sculpture Garden to stand under the Kenneth Snelson "Needle Tower" and look up to the sky. With its cable and aluminum tube construction--held together with only a fragile tension -- it's reminder to me of the fragile relationships I have to other people and the remarkably strong structure that comes about as a result of our connections. It also sets the tone for a creative new year -- visual mysteries within mysteries to be discovered, uncovered, and made into objects and images.

Kenneth Snelson "Needle Tower"

Polish Artists

Stop by and experience "An Ideal Mix-Up," an exhibition of works by Polish and local DC area artists at the Nevin Kelly Gallery in DC next Saturday, January 26, 4 pm for a lecture by gallerist Nevin J. Kelly on the Polish artists featured in the gallery followed by refreshments.

Essentially this show is a group exhibition that includes works by the contemporary Polish artists that helped launch the gallery in May 2003 and the many local artists who have joined the gallery along the way.

The exhibition will feature works by DC area artists Sondra Arkin, Joan Belmar, Ellyn Weiss, Mary Chiaramonte and Laurel Hauler and by Polish artists Edward Dwurnik, Darek Pala, Krzysztof Kokoryn, Pawel Król, Lukasz Huculak and Michal Zaborowski.

The show will be on view in the gallery from now until February 24, 2008.

Wanna go to a Virginia opening tomorrow?

The University of Mary Washington Galleries in Frederiscksburg, Virginia presents Mid-Atlantic New Painting 2008 with an Opening Reception on January 24, 2008 5 - 7pm.

There will be also a presentation of awards and remarks by the juror, John B. Ravenal, Curator of modern and Contemporary Art, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. The exhibition runs through March 2, 2008.

Wanna go to an Arts Panel in DC tonight?

DC's Transformer Gallery kicks off the new year with Art School, Confidential: Rethinking Art Education, the 7th installment of their dynamic Framework Panel Series.

Art School, Confidential: Rethinking Art Education, which is free and open to the public, brings together "an esteemed group of area artists and professors in a dialogue about the influence of art schools in the lives of artists and on the direction of contemporary art-making within the larger arts landscape."

The panelists are:

- Billy Colbert (Adjunct Faculty, American University)

- Maggie Michael

- Brandon Morse (Associate Professor of Digital Media & Director of Graduate Studies in the Department of Art, University of Maryland, College Park, MD)

- Renee Stout

- Rex Weil (Professor of Art Theory, University of Maryland, College Park, MD)

And it is moderated by Dean Kessman (Assistant Professor of Photography, George Washington University), the panel discussion will be followed by a thirty minute question and answer segment with the audience.

Another Frida Show

In addition to the two Frida Kahlo type exhibitions coming to Philly that I mentioned yesterday, I was just told about this exhibition, so now make that three!

The Delaware Art Museum will present Frida Kahlo: Through the Lens of Nickolas Muray, an exhibition of nearly 50 photographs of Frida Kahlo, on view in the Brock J. Vinton Galleries February 2, 2008 - March 30, 2008. The show is courtesy of the collection of the Nickolas Muray Archives, and is part of a national tour over a two-and-a-half year period. The tour was developed and managed by Smith Kramer Fine Art Services, an exhibition tour development company in Kansas City, Missouri.

Cloverfield

Rob: [into shaky camera] My name is Robert Hawkins. Approximately seven hours ago some *thing* attacked the city. If you found this, if you're watching this then you probably know more about it than I do.

Saw Cloverfield last night and in spite of the online hype, and in spite that I usually love this kind of movies, and in spite of the cool trailers about the new Star Trek movie coming Xmas 2008, and maybe because of the fact that I shelled out $6.50 for a large popcorn which seemed to be the size of what a small popcorn used to be in the 90s (AMC, what's up with that?), I really didn't think much of the movie.

Why?

Cloverfield is a highly derivative mix of the Blair's Witch Project camera style married to the Godzilla movies with a sprinkling of "Gadzuki meets Alien" (tunnels included).

The Godzilla and Alien influence is just too much to overcome. Not just the rambling monster destroying a city, but then the monster's offspring is up and about biting people and then the people seem to then explode and perhaps host the new offspring as it goes forth and multiplies?

The decent special effects in the film of New York being torn apart by a seldom seen monster (until almost the end) with those psych effects derived a little from M. Night Shyamalan's "Signs," unfortunately then yield a silly looking monster a little too closely related to Kermit the Frog and those weird looking spidery-looking camel crickets that seem to infect every basement in the Greater DC region.

And the logic also fails at times... the main characters seem to have little trouble killing off the nasty crawly creatures that Godzilla the Cloverfield monster drops off to bite and multiply... but when a couple of supersonic USAF jets drop off two MOABs (the world's largest and most powerful conventional bombs) onto the monster, they just cover it in a convenient cloud of dust before it comes up unharmed.

If its offspring can be killed with a bat, how come Mom survives two MOABs without even missing a step or an inch of green skin?

And the last issue that bothered me is the Hud (the actor who is the cameraman in the movie) character spends most of the time yelling: "Rob! Rob! Where are you going?"

Nowhere.

This Saturday in DC

On Saturday January 26, from 4-6PM, Irvine Contemporary in DC will have the first Washington, DC projection screening of Paul D. Miller's acclaimed video, New York is Now, selected for the 2007 Venice Biennale.

Paul D. Miller (DJ Spooky), Film still from New York is Now, 2007, C-print

Frida Kahlo's coming to Philly

A while back I commented on the coup scored by the Philadelphia Museum of Art in getting on the Frida Kahlo bandwagon, and noted my amazement that no DC area museum was included in the tour - and yes, I know that Philly is only two hours from DC.

As most of you know, I am and have been a Fridaphile since I first came across Kahlo's work when I was 18 or 19 years old... read this essay about that particular obsession.

"Las Siete Fridas (The Seven Fridas)"
Pen and Ink Wash, F. Lennox Campello
Univ. of Washington Art School assignment circa 1980-1981
Collection of Seeds for Peace.
And thus my warranted excitement about the coming Kahlo exhibition at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Organized in celebration of the 100th anniversary of the her birth, this will be the first major Kahlo exhibition in the United States in nearly fifteen years. It includes over 40 of the artist's most important self-portraits, still lifes, and portraits from the beginning of her career in 1926 until her early death in 1954. The exhibition also features a selection of nearly 100 photographs of Kahlo and her husband Diego Rivera, by such well-known photographers of the period, such as Manuel Alvarez Bravo, Lola Alvarez Bravo, Gisele Freund, Tina Modotti, and Nickolas Muray. It opens February 20, and runs through May 18, 2008.

Also in the Kahlo spirit, Philadelphia's Projects Gallery will have an exhibition titled Frida and Me, Common Threads, which is of course inspired and aligned to the centennial exhibition of Frida Kahlo at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

In this show, four contemporary Latina/Hispanic artists, Doris Nogueira-Rogers, Michelle Angela Ortiz, Marilyn Rodriguez-Behrle, and Marta Sanchez present works that "reflect on the intertwining relationships between various identities and cultures of Latin American female artists."

I'm really looking forward to visiting both of these shows and will report on them later.



Frida and Me, Common Threads will be open from February 1- 23, 2008. The Opening Reception will take place on First Friday, February 1st, 2008 5-8 pm with a special reading from Las Gallas Artist Collective.

Blog Heat

Seattle's blogging art critic Regina Hackett is taking some undeserved blog heat after publicly asking a couple of blogging peers "if they wouldn't mind getting to the point faster."

Artists usually learn really quickly to develop a thick skin and must learn to graciously accept malicious criticism, constructive criticism and negative criticism.

Bloggers learn really quickly to dish out all three versions of the criticism; they/we certainly also need to develop thick skins in order to accept (as in Hackett's online criticism of two fellow bloggers) constructive criticism.

And constructive criticism is definitely not an "attack" as has already been written about Hackett.

In 1997 the Washington Post's art critic Ferdinand Protzman wrote a small review about a solo show that I had in Georgetown and wrote:

Fraser Gallery is showing charcoal drawings of nudes by F. Lennox Campello. The subjects are mostly women Campello found on X-rated Web sites. He then arranged to meet and draw them. The drawings are very dark and the artist's abundant use of shadow effects can be heavy-handed and irritating. But in a few of the works he manages to find a delicate balance between the black charcoal and cream-colored paper resulting in a grainy, film-noir effect, making his subjects, traffickers in mass-consumption prurience, seem tough but vulnerable, like a flowering plant in a sexual wasteland.

I was delighted that the review-poor WaPo had chosen to review my show (and unfortunately since then the Post has further reduced gallery reviews from weekly to twice a month) and sent Ferd a thank you note, and as most of you know, proudly wear the fact that my drawings can be irritating!

Another Nude Bush Update

Another update and a call for you to remember when the below painting by Kayti Didriksen caused all that uproar at Artomatic and became the Internet's most downloaded image?

It became the most popular contemporary political art of all time.

Kayti tells me that her world famous painting has been chosen to be illustrated in an American college textbook: Art Appreciation by Debra J. Dewitte, Ralph M. Larmann & M. Kathryn Shields.

Color Invitations Photos

Jeffry Cudlin has some good installation photos of Color Invitations here.

VSA arts’ Call for Entries: Derivative Composition

VSA arts is seeking visual artists with disabilities ages 18 and up whose work is inspired by the performing arts for “Derivative Composition,” an international juried art exhibition that will be on display at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., from May 29-July 20, 2008. Two-and three-dimensional art, digital art, installations, video and film, and other media that draw inspiration from music, theater, or dance are eligible. Submissions must have been completed in the last five years and after the onset of disability.

Applications will be accepted through March 21, 2008. For more information, please visit www.vsarts.org/derivativecomposition or call (202) 628-2800.

Via Simbolica

Via Simbolica is an exhibition curated by the very talented DC area curator Sarah Tanguy, and features works by Liset Castillo, Justine Reyes and Jose Ruiz.

Reception & Panel Discussion: Thursday, January 24, 4:30-6pm. The show goes through February 15, 2008.

St. Mary's College of Maryland
Boyden Gallery / Montgomery Hall
St. Mary's City, MD 20686
Tel: 240.895.4246

Color Invitations Video Walkthrough

WPA Artist Directory 2008-2009

The WPA Artist Directory is not only the definitive listing of established and emerging contemporary artists throughout the Washington region, but one of the best advertising deals on the planet for both galleries and individual artists.

It is seen by more than 2,000 galleries, curators, and interested art patrons. Registering has never been easier. Artists can reserve a space through the WPA website and mail in slides or CDs later, or upload their image files instantly.

Sign up here.

Last night

And we actually had a standing room only crowd last night at the Greater Reston Arts Center for my talk on Contemporary Art.

Cool uh?

I also managed to check out the current exhibit at GRACE, which has a very powerful two person show of works by Anna Fine Foer and Sonya A. Lawyer and also a really good painting exhibition by Ann Williams at the Market Street venue. More on both later, but Lawyer's works are especially powerful.

Art with a Twist Talk is Tonight

Nu, so it stopped snowing... and the roads are clean (I just drove from DC to Reston)... and from 7:30-9pm I will be doing a special presentation at the Greater Reston Arts Center in Reston, Virginia as part of their continuing education programs.

Space is limited and reservations are requested. Call 730.471.9242. Details here.

I will be doing a quick and fun walk through art history, all leading to contemporary art, where I will be discussing the work of some well known art superstars and also some Greater DC area artists.

Martinis are also involved. See ya there!

Opportunity for Artists

Deadline: January 18th, 2008

The Writer's Center in Bethesda is currently looking for a local artist to feature on their Carousel newsletter cover. They are accepting all mediums including photography, using the themes of "MUSE - what inspires you to create".

Please submit 1-5 jpeg images to jwalton@writer.org. They should be no larger than 300 dpi and 1Mb for consideration by January 18th at 5pm. Images submitted after that deadline will not be considered. Please keep in mind that the selected image will be used in printed materials and electronically. All credit is given to the artist.

They are unable to pay an honorarium, however your work and bio will be featured in the publication with a distribution list of more than 2,000 members, institutions, and the public within the Washington metro area.

For more info about us, please visit their website.

Congrats!

To one of my favorite DC area painters who's always doing stuff and showing all over the nation: Amy Marx.

Amy Marx's "The Dark Fantastic" opens February 16, 3-5PM (work on exhibition through March 15, 2008) at OK Harris works of Art in New York City.

There Is Dark and There Is Light, 46"x 74", oil on canvas, after Hollingshead, by Amy Marx

West fires back

By now you all probably know that W. Richard West, the founding director of the National Museum of the American Indian, has been catching all kinds of flak in the WaPo and the artblogsphere for alleged abuses of his travel and expense budgets.

On a separate issue, I myself gave the museum a talking to for their disclosed failure to find a native American portrait artist to create West's departure portrait.

And now West is firing back with a response that seeks to clarify some of the accusations levied against him. West starts by writing:

During my 17 years as director of the National Museum of the American Indian, I welcomed and learned from criticism, whether gentle or harsh. But nothing prepared me for the recent gossip passing for investigative journalism at The Washington Post and editorials in Indian Country Today. Real Indian country deserves better than rumor-mongering and character assassination, and so do I.

Allegations, which are false, are that my travel was "excessive" and "lavish," as I was "eating and slumbering first-class on the federal dime." Provocative, undocumented adjectives make for good reading in tabloids, but should not be in the Post or ICT. Both should be ashamed of themselves.

Read the Indian Country Today article here.

About last night

Big crowds for the opening of "Color Invitations" at the new R Street Gallery. The show looks good, had the usual last minute hiccups with some unexpected artwork, but in the end it's all resolved and looks great from my biased perspective.

Drop by "Color Invitations," and check out what some of the Greater DC area's key artists have been working on lately. There is new work by Maggie Michael, Jeffry Cudlin, Amy Lin, Andrew Wodzianski, John Blee, Steve Lapin and myself. The show runs through February 4, 2008.

The crowd included the usual suspects, and I had a chance to say hi to Philip Barlow, Phillipa Hughes, Dan Steinhilber, Dr. Claudia Rousseau, ubercollector Steve Krensky, Kathryn Cornelius, Dr. Claudia Rousseau, Prof. Chawky Frenn, and many, many others... it felt kinda good to be back in a DC gallery opening.

Pics and videos later.

Come join me tonight!

Come by and say hi and see some cool artwork at the new R Street Gallery, located on the upper level of 2108 R St. NW Washington DC 20008, Tel: (202)588-1701.

Starting at 6PM there is a reception for "Color Invitations," a group show of several key DC area artists working the focus of color as a key ingredient of their work. There will be new work by Maggie Michael, Jeffry Cudlin, Amy Lin, Andrew Wodzianski, John Blee, Steve Lapin and myself. The show opened on the 10th, but the reception is tonight. It runs through February 4, 2008.

I will also be exhibiting two new paintings from the "Digitalia" series as well as some of the prep watercolors done for the original works from 1999-2000 that started the series. Details here.

Come by and say hi.

The Fourth Annual Bethesda, MD Painting Awards

Deadline: Friday, February 15, 2008

The Bethesda Arts & Entertainment District is currently accepting applications for the fourth annual Bethesda Painting Awards. Eight Finalists will be selected to display their work in an exhibition from June 4-July 5, 2008 at the Fraser Gallery in downtown Bethesda, and the top four winners will receive $14,000 in prize monies.

Best in Show will be awarded $10,000; Second Place will be honored with $2,000 and Third Place will receive $1,000. Additionally, a “Young Artist” whose birthday is after February 15, 1978 may be awarded $1,000. Artists must be 18 years of age or older and residents of Maryland, Virginia or Washington, D.C. All original 2-D paintings including oil, acrylic, watercolor, gouache, encaustic and mixed media will be accepted. The maximum dimensions should not exceed 60 inches in width or 84 inches in height. 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 5 slides, application and a non-refundable fee of $25. Digital entries will be accepted on CD in JPG, GIF or PNG format. For a complete application, call call 301/215-6660 or please send a self-addressed stamped envelope to:

Bethesda Painting Awards
c/o Bethesda Urban Partnership
7700 Old Georgetown Road
Bethesda, MD. 20814

Opportunity for Artists

Deadline: February 27, 08.

The Eastern Nebraska Veteran's Home has announced a Request for Proposals (RFP) and Direct Purchase call for two-dimensional interior wall artwork to be installed within the newly constructed ENVH facility. This request for proposals/direct purchase project competition is open to all professional public artists or artist teams from throughout the United States, including those who are new to the field of public art. The call is specifically directed to the acquisition of two-dimensional art. Appropriate artwork themes include military and patriotic themes, as well as landscapes relating to the Midwest region. Subjects that invite conversation and reminiscence among resident members, their families and staff are desired.

Their budget is: $50,321. To learn more about this project, or to obtain a hard copy of the prospectus, contact: JD Hutton, Nebraska Arts Council, Artist Services and Communications Manager, at (800) 341-4067 or within Omaha area at (402) 595-2142, or email at jhutton@nebraskaartscouncil.org. For more information on this RFP/Direct Purchase Call for Art; or to download the prospectus and view supporting materials for this project, visit the Nebraska Arts Council website.

Art Job: University Professor

Deadline: January 25, 2008

Columbia University, Visual Arts Division -- This interdisciplinary art program is seeking applications for a full-time professorial position open as to rank. Teaching includes graduate and undergraduate courses. Applicants working in any medium will be considered. The Division is seeking artists with distinguished professional profiles and teaching experience. Participation in departmental and university committees is expected. Rank and salary are commensurate with experience. MFA or equivalent experience is required. Please submit cover letter, resume, digital images (including name, date, media and dimensions of artwork represented), along with the names of three persons from whom letters of reference may be obtained. Additional materials in the form of video, CD-ROM or DVD may also be included. Please send application materials (and a SASE) to:

The Visual Arts Division
Columbia University
2960 Broadway
310 Dodge Hall, MC 1806
New York, NY 10027

Art Job: Curator

The Robert Hull Fleming Museum in Vermont is looking to hire a curator. He or she will oversee curatorial operations of the University of Vermont's Fleming Museum, exhibition development, and management of permanent collection, including oversight of building security and environmental systems. Provide supervision of Exhibition Designer/Preparator and work closely with Manager of Collections and Exhibitions.

Requirements include Master's Degree in art history or related field and two years museum experience, curatorial and broad art historical competence, and specialization in an area represented in the Museum's collection, or an equivalent combination.

For further information on this position, #032038, or to apply with electronic application, resume, cover letter and reference contact information, please visit
their web site.

Funding for DC Artists

Deadline: February 1, 2008, 7:00 pm.

The Young Artist Program offers funding between $2,500: up to $3,500 to emerging artists between the ages of 18 and 30. Funds are granted in two categories: Young emerging Artist Grant Program and Young Artist Community Service Program. This grant is normally offered once a year, but the Commission is offering a second deadline because additional funds are available. Young Artist Program workshops will be held at the DC Arts Commission at 1371 Harvard St. NW, Washington, DC 20009 to assist individuals and organizations in preparing applications. All applicants are strongly encouraged to attend a workshop prior to submitting a proposal. No prior reservations are required to attend workshops. Grant Workshops: Thursday, January 10th- 6:00-7:30 PM. Wednesday, January 16th- 12-1:30 PM.

Contact: sherry.schwechten@dc.gov. or visit DCCAH's website to download an application.

Small Projects Program Grant FY08

Deadline: February 27, 2008, 7:00 p.m. and Wednesday, April 9, 2008, 7:00 p.m.

Small Projects Program offers grants to individual artists and arts organizations for small-scale arts projects with budgets under $3,000. Staff Contact: Ebony Blanks. All DC Arts Commission grant applications can be downloaded at DCCAH's website or, call (202) 724-5613 to request that a copy be mailed to you. While visiting the website, they also recommend that you review the Guide to Grants for more detailed information about grant programs and requirements.

Black Matter

Zenith Gallery, which is celebrating its 30 year anniversary (which in gallery years is around 200 years), has an interesting exhibition coming up at its alternative art space: Black Matter.

On exhibition through March 16, 2008 there will be three-dimensional mixed media and sculpture by Washington area artists from the Black Artists of DC Collective: Akili Ron Anderson, Ann Bouie, James Brown, Terry deBardelaben, Lillian Thomas Burwell, Cheryl Derricotte, Julee Dickerson-Thompson, Aziza Gibson-Hunter, Thomas Gomillion, Francine Haskins, Gloria Kirk, Serinity Knight, Harlee Little, Juliette Madison, Chris Malone, Uzike Nelson, Chris Randolph, Cynthia Sands.

The Alternative Gallery Space at:
1111 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20004
Open Weekdays 8am – 7pm Daily
Saturdays and Sundays, appointment only, Call 202-783-2963

Meet the Artists: Thursday, January 31, 5:30-8:30pm

Wanna go to an opening in DC tomorrow?

By now you should all know that the place to be is at the new R Street Gallery, located on the upper level of 2108 R St. NW Washington DC 20008, Tel: (202)588-1701.

Starting at 6PM there is a reception for "Color Invitations," a group show of several key DC area artists working the focus of color as a key ingredient of their work. There willnew work by Maggie Michael, Jeffry Cudlin, Amy Lin, Andrew Wodzianski, John Blee, Steve Lapin and myself. The show opened on the 10th, but the reception is tomorrow. It runs through February 4, 2008.


I will also be exhibiting two new paintings from the "Digitalia" series as well as some of the prep watercolors done for the original works from 1999-2000 that started the series. Details here.

Come by and say hi.

Malik Lloyd's Favorite Artwork

Malik Lloyd is one of the key members of the DC area art scene and definately one of the area's online information innovators. He is the Founder and Publisher of the FIND ART information bank, the winner of the Washington Area Lawyers for the Arts 1998 Rising Star Award, the winner of the District of Columbia 2000 Mayor's Art Award: Innovation in the Arts, and also has been nominated for Excellence in Service to the Arts, DC's Mayor's Art Award and also nominated for Outstanding Contribution to Arts Education, also for DC's Mayor's Art Award. Malik responds to my request for readers' favorite artworks.

Lloyd writes:

That is a very tough question, since my favorite changes with the mood that I'm in. However, Henri Rousseau's "The Dream," is the one that I would select today. When viewing it at the NGA a couple of years back, I could not keep my eyes off it. It is tranquil, surreal, mysterious and romantic - qualities that I usually try to capture in my artwork and in life; located at the Museum of Modern Art, New York

Dali would be a close second on my list. He is like the exciting place that you love to visit, but would not want to live there.

Henri Rousseau, The Dream, c.1910

Cavanaugh on DC area masterpieces

DCist's Amy Cavanaugh has the first in a new series exploring some of the paintings, sculptures and other works that are always on display in D.C. Read her first post here.

Art with a Twist

On January 17, from 7:30-9pm I will be doing a special presentation at the Greater Reston Arts Center in Reston, Virginia as part of their continuing education programs.

Space is limited and reservations are requested. Call 730.471.9242. Details here.

I will be doing a quick and fun walk through art history, all leading to contemporary art, where I will be discussing the work of some well known art superstars and also some Greater DC area artists.

Martinis are also involved.

Venus of Willendorf, c. 24,000–22,000 BC

The Power of the Web

One of the things that good art blogs can do, provided that the blogger is not lazy or seduced by the power of disseminating information, is to tell readers about good art shows that take place in alternative art venues that are usually ignored by the printed media.

And I have been hearing good things about the exhibition that Boston Properties, Inc., and Jean Efron Art Consultants LLC, have mounted in the lobby of 505 9th Street, NW in DC. The exhibition is open to the public during building lobby hours, Monday through Friday, 8:00 am to 7:00 pm. now through April 10, 2008

On exhibition are new encaustic paintings by West Coast artist Betsy Eby. Encaustic painting is a really harsh and difficult process that usually brings to my mind the works of the very talented DC area artist Pat Goslee, whose works I once regrettably described as "vaginalism."

Silent Voice Speaking: Hey! Look at this!

By the way... Goslee has an ass-kicking website that's an example to artists everywhere.

Phil Nesmith - My Baghdad: Photographs

Someone whose opinion I respect very much called me the other day to chat about things and then he told me that had attended the opening at Irvine Contemporary in DC for Phil Nesmith - My Baghdad: Photographs.

"Lenny," he said, "this is an amazing show, you gotta write something about it!"

The exhibition is a series of photographs shot in Baghdad and produced on glass plates using a dry plate ambrotype process. A set of editioned C-print enlargements from the glass plates accompanies the unique images in the exhibition, which goes through Feb. 17, 2008.

Phil Nesmith, MH47, 2007. Dryplate ambrotype
(sandarac varnished silver emulsion on black glass). 8 X 12 inches

This is what the photographer wrote about the works:

In 2003, soon after the fall of Baghdad, I began a year long stint in Iraq. The novelty of the experience wore off soon after arrival, and my days in Baghdad seemed to repeat themselves, like a film looped to play continuously, returning to the start the moment after it ends. The repetition created routine, the routine normalizing what would otherwise be extraordinary.

This normative process was one that I was both aware of and oblivious to, and was one that I realized was itself a repetition of what my father had gone through as a soldier in Vietnam. I started to become conscious that the daily existence of the soldiers around me, while surrounded by different, new technologies and capabilities, still maintained a surprising similarity to the life of soldiers on the battlefield in Vietnam or anywhere, going back centuries. The routine of life in a war zone this week would be recognized by soldiers from World War II, from the Spanish American War, or from the American Civil War.

Since returning from Iraq I have sought to find a way to evoke this sense of historical telescoping and the echoes of social memory in my work. I became interested in early photographic processes, and saw within them a way of creating a visceral connection between the contemporary and the historic, utilizing an old process to capture a new conflict. These images also blur the boundaries of photographic processes as well by mixing the cutting edge digital technology used to capture the image and a combination of nineteenth century techniques to bring the image to life.

Having served in several war zones during my time in the US Navy, I know what he means. And seeing that helicopter brought back memories of a helicopter crash at sea on a flight from Beirut to Larnaca, Cyprus that is a story for another day and reminded me what a lucky man I am.

See the photographs here

Muffled thoughts on grants

In the years that I served in the advisory panels for the District of Columbia Commission on the Arts and Humanities, I confirmed an interesting paradox that exists in the world of grant-giving when it comes to individual artists.

Arts organizations are usually registered as non-profit status organizations, and they rely on philanthropy and grants in order to operate - some gather a few thousand dollars each year, other millions.

Meanwhile, individual artists usually have to rely on their paychecks from their non-arts related day jobs, or teach in order to get a reliable source of income, since they are mostly ineligible to get direct financial support from grant-giving organizations because they are not incorporated with the state, city or federal government as a not-for-profit organization.

Although there are notable exceptions, a quick scan of the Foundation Center database reveals that most visual arts focused foundations in the US restrict their arts funding to not-for-profits.

That immediately also reveals a paradoxical disparity in grant giving to the people who create art and the people who put it on walls.

Around the area, DCCAH, the Maryland State Arts Council, the Heinz Endowments and others do offer individual financial grants for artists, but they are some others are the exception, rather than the rule.

And certainly missing is the individual donor, who may hand out millions at once to a museum or arts organization, but seldom sets up an organization (such as Andy Warhol did with Creative Capital) to hand out financial support directly to artists.

Update: As if to underscore my point, I am told that Heinz Endowments no longer gives grants to indovidual artists.

Tony Podesta's Favorite Artwork

Tony and Heather Podesta are two of the top rare ubercollectors from the DC area, and Tony responds to my request for readers' favorite artworks.

Tony writes that his favorite work is an oil painting by Julie Roberts called Teenage Suicide.

Teenage Suicide by Julie Roberts

Congrats!

To one of my favorite DC area artists, Linn Meyers, whose two-person show with Miriam Cabessa opened earlier this month at the Lyons Wier - Ortt Gallery in NYC.

New Art Blog

Bethesda Art Blog is a new colleague on the Greater DC area artblogsphere and they've already delivering much needed art writing focused on Bethesda art galleries.

Here BAB mini-reviews the "Committed" show at Fraser Gallery and then here BAB says good stuff about Fiona Ross in the same show.

And here is a review of Ivan Depena at Heineman Myers.

Wanna go to an opening today?

Then head out to the Greater Reston Arts Center in Reston, VA where from 4-6 pm on Sunday January 13th there will be an opening reception for the exhibition of new works by Anna Fine Foer and Sonya A. Lawyer.

Before the reception at GRACE you can swing by the Reston Community Center at Lake Anne, where from 2-4 PM there will be a reception for the paintings and prints of Ann Barbieri, Cora Rupp, Dana Scheurer, and Connie Slack.

And later this week, on January 17 you can join me at GRACE for a talk on contemporary art. Details here.

National Defense

"National Defense Test" Watercolor on Paper, c. 1999, 3 x 8 inches
By F. Lennox Campello

This preparatory painting was done in preparation for a painting exhibited in 2000 at the "Strictly Painting III" Exhibition at the McLean Project for the Arts in McLean, Virginia. The exhibition was curated by Terrie Sultan, then Curator of Contemporary Art, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC.

This original watercolor is available at Color Invitations currently on exhibition at the R Street Gallery. Call (202) 588-1701 if you want to purchase this painting ahead of the opening, which will be on January 16 from 6-8PM.

Blogger Show Reviews

The Blogger Show in Pittsburgh and New York has been getting quite a few reviews both in the printed press and the artblogsphere. The show closes today.

In the spirit of me, I wanted to point out the nice things that the Pittsburgh City Paper's Lissa Brennan wrote about this blog.

Annapolis and the Trouble with Resort Galleries

I'll have a few words to say about "art auctions" on cruise ships when I return to serious blogging, but meanwhile the below piece by Shauna Lee Lange seems to be in the same touristy vein...

Annapolis and the Trouble with Resort Galleries
By Shauna Lee Lange

If you've been around art for any length of time, then you know that the commercial availability of art can become regionalized. Meaning, that what sells in Paducah may not sell in Santa Monica, and that artists who like working locally usually sell locally.

Art regionalism also means that people in St. Thomas are generally buying works featuring marine life, sunny skies, and bright and happy colors (for the most part) while people in Vail are buying snowscapes, tree lines, and other cold weather art.

There's a whole theory and science to how people live geographically and how vacation homes (second and third homes) in resort communities have a very different art purchasing base.

So it is very important to get out to these resort and rural areas and look around to see what's new in different parts of the country - and this is why some of the larger art shows are so popular. One can see what's hot in New York, Florida, and London all in one venue without having to travel. In large metropolitan areas, inventory tends to change fairly rapidly, but in smaller, rural towns, art inventory can have a longer wall life - and this is one way that an arts advisory, or the general public, can learn which artists have staying power in which communities and why.

Recently I decided to visit Annapolis, and although Annapolis, Maryland is not very far from my desk (over 25 miles - less than 50), Annapolis has the benefit of being both a resort community and a seaside community with a big boom in summer and a huge focus on marine art.

Now, as many of you may know, I'm originally from Rhode Island and spent a great deal of time in Newport, Rhode Island - arguably a comparable community. The trouble with resort galleries, particularly right after Christmas on a very slow Monday, is that they're closed. Or they're closing. Or they have relocated, or they're only open on a Tuesday when the moon is blue, or the gallery attendant is a bored college student on winter break.

It's frustrating to hear gallery owners lament about the difficulties of managing gallery overhead (and all the associated costs of insurance, shipping, contracts, etc.) when they have store hours of 10 - 2 or when they're only open on the weekends.

As an arts advisory service firm, Shauna Lee Lange and Company work far more than we should - developing leads, answering questions, helping people connect, exploring calls for submissions, researching art purchases - the list goes on. This is not a good thing, always to be pushing and working, but it is difficult from our perspective to understand how an art gallery can close its doors to the public it serves or the artists it represents.

And frustrating too, is that some of these spaces and curators and owners are very high quality. Certainly, January is a far cry from June, but when did it happen that art buyers only bought in June? The day that we visited was a glorious sunshiny, warm, spring-like day and Main Street Annapolis seemed dismal in comparison. Many spaces were for lease or rent - alarming so - even shops that have been in business for some time. Is this a condition of the economy? Is it normal turn-around for post-season stores? Or does the unavailability of art galleries speak to a larger causality, the growth of Internet galleries, the reduction of pedestrian traffic due to technology, or the cavalier approach some long-term gallery owners may have adopted along the way?

Most of the gallery owners we know do it because they love it and they're good at it. They live, eat, and breathe art. And we have to wonder in Annapolis, where is everyone?

It'll take a few months to see how Annapolis fares through changes it is facing with Main Street development along with many other communities in similar situations. We wanted to share some first hand impressions, a few photos of sights we saw along the way today, and a heart-felt plea to open your doors.

Back on Land

Back safe and sound, with the cleanest hands on Earth after one terrific vacation at sea... have almost 1,000 emails to catch up on, so posting will be fast and furious over the next few days, but today I've got to watch the Seahawks beat the odds against the Packers.

Back later with tons of pics and movies and loads of announcements and discussions...

Haze Gray and Underway

I'm outta here until 12 January... I'll be out at sea on a Caribbean cruise, sans computer and sans cell phone. Tomorrow is Three King's Day, which is the "actual" gift-giving day in most of the Christian world... and I scored a GIANT self-gift for my book collection of modern first editions as I've just got a super sweetheart of a deal on over 200 books, most of them signed, from an area book dealer going out of business after many years! One knows it is a great deal when a confidentiality agreement is part of the deal!

If I get the blogging DT's, I may slip into the dollar-per-minute Internet cafe at sea and blog something here and there, but until then, blogging will be sparse, email checking will be non-existent, the house is being guarded by a really mean house-sitter, and I'll be back on January 12 with a ton of stuff to catch up on, so y'all come back now!

Earlier tonight I dropped by the Rodger LaPelle Gallery in Philly to visit Andrew Wodzianski's second solo at that space in as many years. On view he must have had around 80 new mixed media works from his oddly mesmerizing (and radical departure) new series. I think these new works will go a long way for AW.

Meanwhile I leave you with this image of the Multinational Peacekeeping Force Medal for Service in Cuba.



Multinational Peacekeeping Force Medal for Service in Cuba
Oil on Gessoed Paper. 12 x 36 inches. 2007
By F. Lennox Campello
A ribbon for the future envisioned medal which will be awarded to the service men and women of various nations for participation in the future peacekeeping operations that will be required in Cuba once Castro dies and the prison island begins to descend into chaos.

Original oil available starting January 10, 2008 at Color Invitations. Call (202) 588-1701 if you want to purchase the painting ahead of the opening. I am still designing the medal itself.

And, Who Are You?

Part One


Part Two


Part Three


Part Four

Where did they look?

"they couldn't find a Native artist who did formal portrait sittings like this."

James V. Grimaldi reports in the WaPo that W. Richard West Jr., the founding director of the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian, spent $48,500 in museum funds to commission a portrait of himself. Asides from the sensationalistic issue being made about the cost of the portrait - always try to minimize the value of the visual arts - what caught my eyes was this statement:

The portrait of West by New York artist Burton Silverman hangs in the patrons' lounge on the fourth floor of the flagship museum, which is dedicated to the arts and culture of American Indians. Silverman said West picked him after he saw a portrait Silverman had done of former Smithsonian secretary Robert McCormick Adams. The Adams portrait, completed about a decade earlier, was smaller and cost about half as much.

Silverman, of Polish descent, was chosen, said Smithsonian spokeswoman Linda St. Thomas, after "they couldn't find a Native artist who did formal portrait sittings like this."

What!

What!

What!

Are you fucking pulling my leg?

I'm not even remotely a fucking expert on Native American artists, but off the top of my head I can think of a couple of DC area and former DC area Native American artists who are (among other things) excellent portrait artists. One of them, Michael Clark has made a worlwide reputation for his obsessive portraiture of George Washington, and he has also done dozens and dozens of portraits of JFK, Jefferson, Jackie O and many, many portraits. He's in the collection of a couple of DC area museums I believe.

His brother Mark (who I think used to work for the Smithsonian for God's sakes) is also a superb artist, a brilliant trompe l'oeil painter and has done many hyper-realistic portraits as well!

They're both of Native American descent.

But we all know by now that most DC area museum curators ignore their own backyard. But couldn't one just pick up a phone and call some art galleries in Santa Fe or Sedona?

Or use the web? So just for fun let's see if we can Google some Native American portrait painters:

Mike Larsen.

Johnny Lee.

Mary Anne Caibaiosai.

Karen Clarkson

Reno Moreno.

OK... some are better than others, but if in less that five minutes I can come up with half a dozen Native American artists who appear to be portrait artists, including one - Mike Larsen - a Chickasaw portrait artist who was named the 2006 Oklahoman of the Year!

Note to Kevin Gover, who took over as the Indian Museum's director early last month: when it's time for your portrait and you're looking for a Native American portrait painter: call me!

Or learn to use Google.

Cuban Hall of Fame

In Rockville, Maryland there's an excellent Cuban restaurant called "Cuban Corner." As far as my palate is concerned, this is the best and most authentic Cuban restaurant in the Greater Washington, DC area. They are at 825 Hungerford Drive, near Ivy League Lane, Rockville, MD, 301-279-0310. Essentially on a strip mall right on Rockville Pike.

The food is authentic, affordable and plentiful (see the menu here). My favorite dish there is "Ropa Vieja," although the "Vaca Frita" is also superb. Either of those dishes, with a side of yucca con mojo or tostones, will delight your mouth and belly.

A visit to Cuban corner also delivers the interesting spectacle of the restaurant's Cuban Hall of Fame... or as they call it: The Wall.



The Cuban Hall of Fame, as determined by Joaquin Cabrejas, the restaurant's feisty owner, is composed of Cubans, Cuban-Americans, and people of traceable Cuban ancestry, and is made up of hundreds of name plaques glued to the restaurant's walls.

Some potential surprises to non Cubans (and even to some Cubans):

- Angela Anais Juana Antolina Rosa Edelmira Nin y Culmell - otherwise known as Anais Nin, one of the 20th century's sexual goddesses nymphomaniacs (and a damned good writer as well!).

- Amazon's creator Jeff Bezos.

- Benjamin Huberman, Science Adviser to several American presidents.

- Truman Capote (by adoption)... took the last name of his adopted dad. Capote in Spanish is a large cape or the hood of a car.

- Ysrael A. Seinuk, the "father of the modern New York skyline."

- Eamon de Valera: The father of the modern Irish republic was Eamon de Valera, who was born in New York in 1882. His father, Juan de Valera, although technically on paper always reported as a Spaniard, was really a Cuban, born in Cuba (which was part of Spain back then), the son of a Cuban sugar planter and escaped to New York during the Independence Wars with Spain. There he earned his living as a piano teacher. He met and married Irish immigrant Catherine Coll. Juan died shortly after the birth of their son Eduardo. After Juan's death, his wife sent Eduardo to Ireland, where her family changed his name to the Gaelic version of Eduardo: Eamon.

- Cameron Diaz... we all know who she is.

- Dr. Steve Pieczenik, author of 39 books, including 16 bestsellers. He is critically acclaimed author of psycho-political thrillers and the co-creator of the New York Times best-selling "Tom Clancy's Op-Center" and "Tom Clancy's Net Force" book series. He is also one of the world's most experienced international crisis managers and hostage negotiators.

- Olga Viso, the Hirshhorn Museum's former director and now director of the Walker Art Center.

- The Joker... I mean Cesar Romero.

Ambrosio José Gonzales, this Cuban Confederate Colonel played a significant role in the Civil War and was essentially responsible for building Confederate coastal defenses. He had his finest hour during the Civil War as the artillery commander at the Battle of Honey Hill.

Cubanos todos de alguna manera!

Iranian Campaign Medal

"Iranian Campaign Medal", Oil on Canvas, 24 x 48 inches, c.2007
By F. Lennox Campello (from the Digitalia series)

A ribbon for the future envisioned medal which will be awarded to US service men and women for participation in the future campaign in Iran. Original oil available starting January 10, 2008 at Color Invitations. Call (202) 588-1701 if you want to purchase the painting ahead of the opening. I am still designing the medal itself.