DC area debut
As far as I know, two of the Cuban artists that I have included in the "Aqui Estamos" (Here We Are) exhibition at H&F Fine Arts are making their Greater DC area debut, even though they are both rather important artists in the rarified upper artmosphere.
Alexis Leyva Machado, known to the art world as Kcho, was born in Nueva Gerona, Isla de la Juventud (nee Isla de Pinos), Cuba in 1970. He studied at the National Art School in Havana from which he graduated in 1990. Five years later Kcho won the Grand Prize at the Kwang-Ju Biennial in South Korea and began attracting international attention.
A year later, at age 26, he became the youngest Latin American artist ever to be included in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
His work has been exhibited worldwide in dozens of solo shows in galleries and museums in Europe, the Americas, and Asia. His work is often associated, because of its recurring use of boats and rafts, as referencing the plight of the Cuban Diaspora, which has seen the largest per capita migration of any nation in modern history since the Castro takeover in 1959. Kcho lives and works in Havana, Cuba.
Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons was born in Matanzas province in Cuba in 1959. Her work has been described as bearing a powerful familial history that is intermingled and mixed with the sugar industry’s omnipresence in her hometown of La Vega. The focus and roots of her work can be traced from the US, where she has resided since 1992, to a Cuban homeland, to the enslaved Africans who were brought to Cuba by white Spanish colonists and finally back to what is today Nigeria.
She has also been described as "one of the most significant artists to emerge from post-Revolutionary Cuba. Her evocative works probe questions of race, class, cultural hybridism, and national identities in African diasporic communities."
Campos-Pons has been exhibited internationally since 1984 when she won the Honorable Mention at the XVIII Cagnes-sur-Mer Painting Competition in France, and the Bunting Fellowship in Visual Arts at Harvard 1993.
At the age of 29 she had a solo show at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and subsequently at the Venice Biennale 2001, Johannesburg Biennial, the First Liverpool Biennial, and the Dak’ART Biennial in Senegal.
Most recently the Guangzhou Triennial in China hosted her work. A 20-year retrospective of Campos-Pons’s work, Everything is Separated by Water: Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons, opened at the Indianapolis Museum of Art in 2006 and traveled to the Bass Museum in Miami. A new museum show will open in Nashville in 2010.
Campos-Pons has been celebrated as one of the upcoming young leaders of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts by the Women’s Chapter, is usually included among the 100 Most Influential Latinos, and was honored in 2008 as Harvard launched its campaign to build the new Harvard Art Museum, as well as the Indianapolis Museum of Art’s 125th Anniversary Gala in 2008.
Last year, Campos-Pons was selected to receive the Rappaport Prize. She has lectured in many museums worldwide, including MoMA, the Tate Modern, the Brooklyn Museum and the School of Art in Dakar. She works and lives in Boston.
The opening is tonight, Saturday Nov. 8 from 5-8PM at H&F Fine Arts, located at 3311 Rhode Island Avenue, Mount Rainier, Maryland and their gallery phone is 301/887-0080.
See ya there!
Saturday, November 08, 2008
Come join me tonight
Tonight H&F Fine Arts proudly and elegantly hosts artwork by some of the best known Cuban artists from Cuba and from the Cuban Diaspora. I called the show "Aqui Estamos" or "Here We Are," as sort of a footprint statement for these important artists making an exclamation point to the Greater DC area.
On the walls are drawings, photographs, paintings and etchings by Magdalena Campos-Pons, Kcho, Sandra Ramos, Cirenaica Moreira, Marta Maria Perez Bravo, Aimee Garcia Marrero and Roberto Acosta Wong.
Read this about Magda Campos-Pons and then come see the gorgeous triptych titled "Island Treasure" that I selected for the show.
María Magdalena Campos-Pons. Island Treasures. Large Format Polaroids
The opening is tonight, Saturday Nov. 8 from 5-8PM at H&F Fine Arts, located at 3311 Rhode Island Avenue, Mount Rainier, Maryland and their gallery phone is 301/887-0080.
See ya there!
Friday, November 07, 2008
Podcasting
My good friend Sharon Burton interviewed me recently for "New ArtCast: Art Collecting 101 - Navigating the Art Fair".
Listen to it here.
El Mejor Arte Cubano
The work is hung and looks beautiful, and the usual hiccups are mostly out of the way, and the really cool spaces of H&F Fine Arts look great full of work by some of the best known Cuban artists from Cuba and from the Cuban Diaspora.
On the walls are drawings, photographs, paintings and etchings by Magdalena Campos-Pons, Kcho, Sandra Ramos, Cirenaica Moreira, Marta Maria Perez Bravo, Aimee Garcia Marrero and Roberto Acosta Wong.
"Isla" Mixed media collage by Sandra Ramos
As far as I know, these will be the first time that both Kcho (Alexis Leyva Machado) and Magda Campos-Pons have exhibited in the Greater DC area, although they are both in the permanent collection of MoMA and other major museums around the world.
The opening is tomorrow night, Saturday Nov. 8 from 5-8PM at H&F Fine Arts, located at 3311 Rhode Island Avenue, Mount Rainier, Maryland and their gallery phone is 301/887-0080.
See ya there!
Wanna go to an opening tonight in Baltimore
Recent artworks by Dan May, Jason Limon, Michael Page, Benji Williams, Martin Wittfooth, Andy Kehoe, Benjamin Lacombe, Chris Ryniak and Colin Johnson will be on view at Baltimore's Definition Gallery's "Dreamscapes", an exhibition featuring nine national artists that explore surreal landscapes and the creatures that inhabit them. Opens Friday, November 7th from 7-11pm.
Thursday, November 06, 2008
This Saturday in DC
While we hold our breath for the photographic orgy coming to DC in Fotoweek, you can get a good vision of what the medium can deliver as Heather Goss' Ten Miles Square opens their second show with Looking Sideways by Cesar Lujan at Big Bear Cafe. Saturday, opening reception 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.
Opportunity for artists
New deadline: Saturday, November 15, 2008
Details The Arlington Arts Center has extended the deadline for their "Unlimited Edition" juried show. This "is a juried show about the relationship of the art world to reproduction and marketing. They are looking for artists who produce lots of unnumbered multiples of an image or an object...or who incorporate mass-produced products into their work...or who simply explore the commodification and mass-reproduction of art through various means."
Eligibility: Artists living or working in Virginia, DC, Maryland, West Virginia, Delaware, and Pennsylvania may submit up to 5 jpegs, along with a statement-max length: 300 words-explaining what they propose to exhibit, and how it addresses the show's theme. Existing works must have been completed after 2005. Proposals for new work that take into account the AAC's exhibition spaces are encouraged.
Details here.
Friday opening in DC
"Visions of Paradise: National Geographic Contemporary Masters" at the Joan Hisaoka Healing Arts Gallery, Nov 5 - Jan 2 at Smith Farm Center,, 1632 U St NW, DC
Opening Reception with National Geographic Photographer David Doubilet on Friday, Nov 7, 5:30-8:00pm.
This collaboration between Smith Farm Center and National Geographic brings the work of nine photographers to the Healing Arts Gallery in participation with FotoWeek DC.
Wednesday, November 05, 2008
Asterism at Gallery Four in B'more
Gallery Four's newly renovated 4,000 sq.ft. gallery in Baltimore will feature work by five artists from Chicago, New York, Washington D.C., and Baltimore. The show will include site specific painting and recent sculpture by Maggie Michael, new sculpture and installation by Bryan Savitz, Jan Razauskas, Nikki Romanello, and photography by Steve Nyktas.
Opening Reception: November 8th, from 5 - 10 pm.
New DC gallery
Caos on F is a new artist owned, artist operated collective at 923 F St. NW in DC launched last September as part of F St|arts, the suite of art studio spaces in the newly developed Carroll Square building.
On exhibit at Caos on F for its inaugural show will be the work of painters Michael Berman and Quint Marshall, ceramic artist Joe Hicks and furniture by Matthew Falls. The show continues until January 5 and is open to the public every Friday 2-8 pm and by special appointment.
Starting Friday November 7 and continuing every first Friday, Caos on F will host an open studio event featuring Fine Art, Fine Furniture and Fine Friends. Lively and provocative discussions are sure to abound and will feature wine and treats from our neighbors: gourmet cheeses from Cowgirl Creamery and delectible chocolates from CoCo Sala.
Frieze Report
"Two weeks ago, the Death Star that has hovered over the art world for the last two years finally fired its lasers. It was October 15, the day the stock market fell more than 700 points—again—and a month after Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch collapsed and Damien Hirst pawned off $200 million worth of crapola on clueless rubes at Sotheby’s. Against this backdrop, at 11 a.m., the gates of London’s Frieze Art Fair opened, and in streamed the international traveling circus of bigwigs, collectors, curators, advisers, museum directors, trustees, models, movie stars, and critics like moi.Read Saltz on Frieze here.
Talk of financial doom filled the air. Karl Schweizer, UBS’s head of art banking, told one reporter, “We are in a liquidity crisis.” Money manager Randy Slifka added, “There is blood on the streets on Wall Street.” Collectors talked about “sewing up our pockets.” Yet much of the art world was playing on as if nothing had happened. A German dealer told Artforum.com, “This economic mess will all be over by January.” Christie’s Amy Cappellazzo spun her house’s recent sales: “If you bought something, you bought something real.” In truth, most of the speculators are buying something real bad or badly overpriced.
In fact, though, things were different. Those of us who have frequented Frieze could see that something was off. Dealers and assistants who in recent years were always busy with clients now stood or sat quietly. Sales were happening, but slowly, one at a time. The claim of “It’s sold” was replaced by “I have it on several holds.” Although the megagalleries like Gagosian and White Cube teemed with moneyed types and very tall women in very high heels, many younger dealers looked perplexed. A gallerist who entered the field in the go-go aughts and who had sold only two pieces by 5 p.m. that first day asked, 'What’s going on?'"
Tuesday, November 04, 2008
Congrats A few minutes ago CNN projected that Obama wins Pennsylvania, and so let me be the first visual arts blog on the planet to congratulate President-elect Obama. Are CNN holograms cool or what? I predicted this a few years ago, but I bet that a whole new wave or ism or genre in art will be art holograms, and some poor, unknown artist somewhere in the world is toiling away right now building them from scratch, but some rich artist will be the one that pops out as the innovator once he/she buys the technology and starts showing them in a NYC gallery.
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| Senator Barack Obama 2007 by F. Lennox Campello |
Monday, November 03, 2008
Opening at Loyola in Baltimore
Julio Fine Arts Gallery at Loyola College will have "Amanda Burnham: Denominator" starting on November 3 – December 10, 2008 with an Opening Reception on Thursday, November 6, 5 – 7 pm.
The new exhibition features the artist’s newest work on paper as well as an installation drawing on site at the Gallery.
Julio Fine Arts Gallery is located on the Loyola College campus at 4501 N. Charles Street, Baltimore, MD 21210.
Vote Tomorrow
By Tuesday night, you should have voted; if you didn't vote, then until 2012, shut the fuck up.
By Wednesday morning when we wake up, regardless of who wins, history will have been made.
By Wednesday, one of two good Americans will be President-elect of this great nation.
Vote tomorrow... or you could be the guy being discussed below...
Sunday, November 02, 2008
Airborne
Airborne today and heading home after a wonderful visit to Beantown and a quick studio visit to Magdalena Campos-Pons.
Move that fucking umbrella!
Remember that I told you that Obama came to Widener University a few days ago?
My wife teaches there and is a hardcore Obamista and she braved the cold rain and went to the rally and she video'd Obama.
Problem is that there were a couple of rows of people in front of her, and because it was raining, they had umbrellas. But the people behind her couldn't see Obama and so they kept asking for the umbrellas to be moved, politely at first, and then finally the F-bomb is shouted.
Saturday, November 01, 2008
Tim Taunton Opening in C'ville
Migration: A Gallery will be opening an exhibit of Tim Taunton’s new oil paintings. The exhibit, Through the Looking Glass, will open with a reception on Friday, November 7th from 5:30 – 8pm and will continue through November 26th.
Migration is really setting a new course for Charlottesville's galleries with their super exhibition program and aggressive art fairs presence. They are located at 119 5th St., SE, Charlottesville. More information is available at 434-293-2200 and info@migrationgallery.com.
Friday, October 31, 2008
Airborne
Airborne today and heading to Beantown for a fund raiser function and a studio visit to Magdalena Campos-Pons.
Wanna go to a Halloween Show in Alexandria tonite?
ARTery 717 in Alexandria, VA is having a Halloween show today Friday entitled “EARTH Beings on Exhibit,” with live music, bodypainting, fire dancers, etc. Their last show “Voces de la Tierra” is still up in the front galleries and I hear that it is quite remarkable. Artery 717 is at 717 N. St. Asaph St., Alexandria, VA. 22314. From 8-12PM tonite!
Project 4
DC's Project 4 gallery has a new abode at 1353 U Street NW, 3rd floor and their next show and first there will be a solo exhibition of work by Los Angeles-based artist Thomas Müller.
The Opening Reception is Saturday, November 8, 6:00 - 9:00 pm and there's an Artist talk earlier on Saturday, November 8, at 4:00 pm.
Thursday, October 30, 2008
21st Annual Washington Craft Show
November 7-9 at Walter E. Washington Convention Center in DC.
Washington’s major fall showcase for the best contemporary American craft arrives November 7 to 9, 2008 at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center. Demonstrating imagination and mastery, 190 artists chosen by jury will gather from 34 states and D.C. to exhibit and sell their one-of-a-kind and limited-edition arts at the 21st Annual Washington Craft Show.
The 2008 show theme, “Making It Personal,” highlights independent styles of both artists and visitors. Each piece, designed and created in the artist’s studio, represents a signature concept in glass, jewelry, ceramics, basketry, wood, furniture, fiber, metal arts, paper, mixed media, and wearable art.
Also new this year:
- In a special display by rising talent, craft students selected by jury from the Corcoran College of Art + Design exhibit their work.
- Artists will be identified who demonstrate Green Vision through creative use of recycled or sustainably harvested materials or renewable energy.
- An evening party, “Master Crafts and Music,” benefits the scholarship and outreach programs of Washington’s Levine School of Music on Friday, November 7. For benefit tickets and information: www.levineschool.org or 202.686.8000, ext. 1051.
For more Washington Craft Show information, visit www.craftsamericashows.com or call 800-832-7813.
Washington Craft Show hours are Friday, November 7, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Saturday, November 8, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; and Sunday, November 9, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Admission is $15, seniors and students $13. Children under 12 are admitted free.
Walter E. Washington Convention Center. located at 801 Mt. Vernon Place NW, is easily accessible by Metro: Mt. Vernon Square/Convention Center on Yellow or Green Lines.
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Art jobs: Atlanta
Gallery Director for a new Atlanta photography gallery. The Director will manage both the artistic and business sides of this unique new photography gallery in Atlanta. They are looking for someone with at least 3-5 years in a similar capacity. The salary is $50-70K + benefits. Contact George Olmstead at george@olksearch.com
Iranian Campaign Medal
Tomorrow, Thursday Oct. 30th is the opening for Art Without Frontiers, put together by Joan Belmar to raise funds for The Family Place.
The opening reception is Oct. 30th from 6:30 - 9:30PM at the beautiful Cultural Institute of Mexico in DC. Details here and RSVP required to lfleitas@thefamilyplace.org. The Mexican Cultural Institute is located at 2829 16th Street, N.W., Washington, D. C. 20009.
Artists include Sondra Arkin, Joseph Barbaccia, Constance Bergfors, Salvados Casco, Nina Falk, Carles Guasch, Willem De Looper, Adrienne Moumin, Linn Meyers, Martha Jackson-Jarvis, Minna N. Nathanson, Kevin Postupack, Katya Romero, Raimundo Rubio and I am proud to also be part of this effort.
For this show I am exhibiting "The Iranian Campaing Medal Ribbon."
As I've discussed here before, around 1997 I started a series of large non representational paintings which were based on the military awards, ribbons and medals that I earned while serving in the U.S. Navy. In 2007 my focus changed slightly, and I began to design and paint imaginary or futuristic medals, ribbons and awards based on imaginary (some would say anticipated) world events involving the United States of American armed forces.
In a sense my futuristic social commentary on the barbarity and regularity of armed conflict yesterday, today and now, tomorrow.
"Iranian Campaign Medal", Oil on Canvas, 24 x 48 inches, c.2007
By F. Lennox Campello (from the Digitalia series)
The Iranian Campaign Medal was established by Executive Order 13975 signed by the President on 13 January 2012. It may be awarded to American military and naval personnel for participating in prescribed operations, campaigns and task forces ranging in dates from 2 February 2011 to present.
The area of operations for these various campaigns includes the total land area and air space of Iran, and the waters and air space of the Persian Gulf and Indian Ocean within 12 nautical miles of Iranian coastline.
Personnel must be members of a unit participating in, or be engaged in direct support of, the operation for 30 consecutive days in the area of operations or for 60 non-consecutive days provided this support involves entering the area of operations or meets one of the following criteria:
• Be engaged in actual combat, or duty that is equally as hazardous as combat duty, during the operation with armed opposition, regardless of time in the area of operations;
• While participating in the operation, regardless of time, is wounded or injured and requires medical evacuation from the area of operations;
• While participating as a regularly assigned aircrew member flying sorties into, out of, within, or over the area of operations in direct support of the military operations.
One bronze service star shall be worn on the ribbon for qualifying participation during an established campaign. However, that if an individual's 30 or 60 days began in one campaign and carried over into another, that person would only qualify for the medal with one service star. The medal is not awarded without at least one service star.
The executive order provides that service members who qualify for either the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal or the Armed Forces Service Medal for service in Iran between 2 February 2011 and 13 January 2012, remain qualified for those medals. However, upon application, any such member may be awarded the Iranian Campaign Medal in lieu of the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal or the Armed Forces Service Medal, but no Service member may be awarded more than one of these three medals for the same period of service in Iran.
The suspension ribbon for the medal's purple and gold colors were suggested by the historical Imperial colors of Iran’s millennial Persian history and the golden sunsets of the Persian Gulf.
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
The theory: speculation in art (and young art) is over
What is the silver lining in all this cloudiness? Perhaps a return to the importance of museums, critics and alternative spaces for validation and the introduction of new art.Read Josh Baer's article in the Art Newspaper here.
For the first time ever an auction house will act as dealer for a living artist
"Phillips de Pury is to represent the photographer Annie Leibovitz in a move which further blurs the boundaries between auction houses and dealers. According to Simon de Pury, Phillips’s energetic chairman, Leibovitz approached the auction house through Charlie Scheips, its worldwide director of photographs, who joined in 2007 and has known the photographer since 1987."You could see that one coming when Hirst started going solo and dealing directly with auction houses.
"The auction house would not disclose what commission it will take from these sales, although it is unlikely to vary dramatically from the usual contemporary gallery level of around 50%. Phillips says no Leibovitz works from its selling exhibitions will be offered at auction. The two strands of the business are completely separate, says Mr de Pury.Read the full article here.
Antognoli at R. Coury Fine Art Gallery
Erin Antognoli's latest solo exhibit of her Holga artwork is now hung and ready to be seen by the public at R. Coury Fine Art Gallery in Savage, Maryland. There are 29 of her works hanging in all, some of them never before exhibited.
There's an opening reception from 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM ON Friday, October 31st. The artist will be present for questions and conversation! R. Coury Fine Art Gallery is located in Historic Savage Mill in the Spinning Building suite 217A, 8600 Foundry St., Savage, MD 20763. The gallery is open by appointment, and is owned and operated by artist Jill Hackney.
Feel free to bring the kids as there will be trick-or-treating throughout the mill or if you're in the mood, there is a Halloween costume party at the Ramshead (also in Savage Mill)_ from 5:00 PM to Midnight. The exhibit will run from October 13 to November 14, 2008.
The Power 100
The November issue of ArtReview magazine, with the 2008 Power 100 list is out. Read a full report on the list here.
01. Science (Damien Hirst)
02. Larry Gagosian
03. Kathy Halbreich
04. Sir Nicholas Serota
05. Iwan Wirth
06. Jay Jopling
07. David Zwirner
08. François Pinault
09. Jasper Johns
10. Eli Broad
11. Jeff Koons
12. Steven A. Cohen
13. Daniel Birnbaum
14. Charles Saatchi
15. Brett Gorvy & Amy Cappellazzo
16. Tobias Meyer & Cheyenne Westphal
17. Marian Goodman
18. Gerhard Richter
19. Richard Prince
20. Dominique Lévy & Robert Mnuchin
21. Michael Govan
22. Marc Glimcher
23. Annette Schönholzer, Marc Spiegler
24. Alfred Pacquement
25. Matthew Slotover & Amanda Sharp
26. Barbara Gladstone
27. Matthew Marks
28. Takashi Murakami
29. Agnes Gund
30. Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al Nahyan
31. Dakis Joannou
32. Bernard Arnault
33. Richard Serra
34. Sadie Coles
35. Julia Peyton-Jones & Hans Ulrich Obrist
36. Donna De Salvo
37. Simon de Pury
38. Don & Mera Rubell
39. Ann Philbin
40. Paul Schimmel
41. Patricia Phelps de Cisneros
42. Michael Ringier
43. Jose, Alberto & David Mugrabi
44. Chris Kennedy
45. Bruce Nauman
46. Cy Twombly
47. Ai Weiwei
48. Tim Blum & Jeff Poe
49. Andreas Gursky
50. Olafur Eliasson
51. Harry Blain & Graham Southern
52. Jeff Wall
53. Peter Doig
54. Roman Abramovich & Daria Zhukova
55. Bruno Brunnet, Nicole Hackert, Philipp Haverkampf
56. Marlene Dumas
57. Gavin Brown
58. Victoria Miro
59. Mitchell Rales
60. Yvon Lambert
61. Mike Kelley
62. Paul McCarthy
63. Banksy
64. Emmanuel Perrotin
65. William Acquavella
66. Lucian Freud
67. Victor Pinchuk
68. Maurizio Cattelan
69. Cai Guo Qiang
70. Maureen Paley
71. Roberta Smith
72. Peter Schjeldahl
73. Thelma Golden
74. Ralph Rugoff
75. Robert Gober
76. Iwona Blazwick
77. Richard Armstrong
78. Massimiliano Gioni
79. Jerry Saltz
80. Reena Spaulings/Bernadette Corporation
81. Louise Bourgeois
82. Cindy Sherman
83. Okwui Enwezor
84. Jeanne Greenberg Rohatyn
85. Shaun Caley Regen
86. Liam Gillick
87. Miuccia Prada
88. John Baldessari
89. Francesca von Habsburg
90. Christian Boros
91. Nicholas Logsdail
92. Subodh Gupta
93. The Long March Project
94. Paula Cooper
95. Peter Nagy
96. Casey Reas
97. Anita & Poju Zabludowicz
98. Guy & Myriam Ullens
99. Laurent Le Bon
100. Thomas Kinkade
Is number 100 a joke?
James Castle at the PMA
The nature of "outsider" art may be debatable, but self-taught artist James Castle was an outsider of sorts from the day he was born.Read the review by Joann Loviglio here.
Castle, subject of a new exhibit organized by the Philadelphia Museum of Art, was born profoundly deaf and never learned to read, write, sign or speak. But he spoke volumes through art, which he created ceaselessly from early childhood until his death in 1977 at age 77.
"James Castle: A Retrospective," which opened this week and remains on display through Jan. 4, brings together more than 300 evocative drawings, handmade books, collages and sculptural pieces from 60 public and private collections. The first comprehensive museum exhibition of Castle, it will travel to Chicago and San Francisco in 2009.
Monday, October 27, 2008
That one coming to Widener
"That one" is coming to Widener University (where my wife teaches) tomorrow morning.
Update: Photos from the rally here.
Aqui Estamos
As a result of the decades-long Cuban embargo, the work of contemporary Cuban artists has been noticed for many years by many important museums and curators around the world, but often remains a mystery to American collectors and art enthusiasts. And those who write about the commoditization of art, such as the Wall Street Journal, have been telling art collectors who buy art in the hope those prices will rise, to buy contemporary Cuban art.
The WSJ wrote:
"With art from Asia and Russia in demand, some in the art world are betting on Cuba to be the next hot corner of the market. Prices for Cuban art are climbing at galleries and auction houses, and major museums are adding to their Cuban collections. In May, Sotheby's broke the auction record for a Cuban work when it sold Mario Carreño's modernist painting "Danza Afro-Cubana" for $2.6 million, triple its high estimate.This suggestion and idea is simple, and has been proven recently by the super hot rise of Chinese artists: when a closed society is opened up a little, its top artists see a substantial rise in exposure and thus in demand, and of course, in prices!
Now, with a new Cuban president in power and some hope emerging for looser travel and trade restrictions between the U.S. and Cuba, American collectors and art investors are moving quickly to tap into the market. Some are getting into Cuba by setting up humanitarian missions and scouting art while they're there. Others are ordering works from Cuba based on email images and having them shipped.
The collectors are taking advantage of a little-known exception to the U.S. trade embargo with Cuba: It is legal for Americans to buy Cuban art."
And it makes sense (if you buy art as an investment strategy rather than love of art).
Generally speaking, when an artist is in certain major collections around the world, such as the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, the Tate in London, and other such giants of the museum world, it attracts a certain level of collector interest, and it is almost always associated with a certain price range.
And there are many contemporary Cuban artists whose work has been in those and many other important museums around the world for a very long time, and whose work continues to attract curatorial, critical and savvy collector interest, but because of their lack of exposure to the American market in general (often created by their closed societies), their price range is not in par with their colleagues from other nations in the same level.
Several years ago, almost by accident, I became involved in the curatorial process of contemporary Cuban art, in an effort to help with fundraising efforts by the Havana Hebrew Community Center. Since then I have become an experienced curator in this genre and have acquired a wealth of good knowledge about the artists from that unfortunate and imprisoned island.
Aquí Estamos (Here We Are) is my latest curatorial project and brings to H&F Fine Arts and the Greater Washington, DC region recent work by several important Cuban artists working out of Havana as well as Cuban artists from the Cuban Diaspora.
How can this be done?
It’s a brutal, labor intensive touch and go process, as although art and books are the only two items exempt from the Cuban embargo, the heavy hand of the Communist dictatorship that runs everything on that unfortunate nation touches all aspects of life, including the creation and destination of art. Bypassing and escaping the government is not easy, but it can be accomplished if the artist is willing to risk it.
In the works that you’ll see at H&F Fine Arts we find narratives and imagery that represent many of these artists’ historical dissidence to the stark issues of contemporary Cuban life. The works are images that offer a historical and visual sentence in the history of an island nation behind bars with a powerful world presence in the arts and events of world history.
In Sandra Ramos’ works we see one of the most important contemporary Cuban artists in the world continue to visit themes dealing with racism in her homeland, the physical and intellectual drain caused by mass migration, and other austere realities of daily Cuban life. Ramos uses her body and her figure in many of her paintings and mixed media etchings to narrate the daily issues that confront her life in Havana. In her drawing "Larva," Ramos anticipates a future Cuba where she may be allowed to spread her artistic wings to full capacity, without fear of how her visual imagery may be interpreted by her own government.Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons, who escaped from Cuba in the early 1990s, also uses her image and body to deliver powerful biographical and observational elements of the realities of being a black Cuban woman in America. She has been called “one of Boston’s most prominent artists,” and as evidence it has been submitted that the Cuban-born artist has shown at New York’s Museum of Modern Art, Minneapolis’s Walker Art Center, the Smithsonian, the Venice Biennale, and many other prestigious venues around the world.
And last year the Indianapolis Museum of Art hosted “Everything Is Separated by Water,” a mid-career retrospective of Campos-Pons’ paintings, sculptures, photos, and installations. And as an Afro-Cuban woman, Campos-Pons has used her cultural and racial background as the initial key theme of her own work, with long ties to her Cuban homeland, but also with a powerful influence of her evolving Americanosity.
Both Cirenaica Moreira and Marta Maria Perez Bravo also employ their bodies to become the canvas of their photographs, although in each case with a different goal. Moreira has been called “woman as vagina dentata” for the ferocity via which her images depict her themes of loss of freedom, feminism, and being a Cuban woman in a land of unabashed machismo.
Perez Bravo is considered by many to be the preeminent Cuban female photographer in the world, and her work addresses the fabulous rituals and images of Santeria, the unique Cuban mixture of Catholicism and African religions brought to the island by African slaves.Kcho (Alexis Leyva Machado) is also considered by many to be among the leading Cuban artists in the world, and he first attracted international attention by winning the grand prize at South Korea's Kwangju Biennial in 1995. This will be his initial debut in the Greater Washington, DC region.
Other artists in the show include work by Roberto Wong, whose powerful paintings develop intelligent ways to showcase ways in which freedom is restricted and Aimeé Garcia Marrero, considered by many to be among Cuba’s most talented new crop of painters. Her technical skills are married to intelligent interpretations of daily Cuban life and even the influences of the giant to the North.
"Aliento" Oil on Canvas by Aimee Garcia Marrero
The opening, free and open to the public is on November 8, 2008 from 6-8PM. H&F Fine Arts is located at 3311 Rhode Island Avenue, Mount Rainier, MD 20712, tel: 301.887.0080 and on the web at www.hffinearts.com. They are open Thursday and Friday - 11:00 AM-7:00 PM, Saturday - 10:00 AM - 5:00 PM and Sunday - 11:00 AM - 3:00 PM. The exhibition is open through November 30.
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Postcards from the Edge
The 11th Annual Postcards From the Edge benefit for Visual AIDS will be hosted by Metro Pictures in NYC on January 9-10, 2009.
Preview Party
Friday, January 9, 2009 from 6:00 - 8:00 PM
Your only chance to get a sneak peek at the entire show.
Benefit Sale - ONE DAY ONLY!
Saturday, January 10, 2009 from 11:00 - 6:00
Over 1500 original postcard-size works of art.
$75 EACH. Buy 4 cards and get 1 free!
Postcards From the Edge is a show and sale of original, postcard-sized artworks on paper by established and emerging artists. Offered on a first-come, first-served basis, each piece is exhibited anonymously, and the identity of the artist is revealed only after the work is purchased. With the playing field leveled, all participants can take home a piece by a famous artist, or one who’s just making his/her debut in the art world. Nonetheless, collectors walk away with something beautiful, a piece of art they love. For more details, visit this website
Attention Artists!
DEADLINE: Wednesday, December 10, 2008
They are looking for artists to donate a 4" x 6" original work on paper for the exhibition and sale. Painting, drawing, photography, printmaking and mixed media are all welcome. If you would like to participate in Postcards From the Edge, download submission forms at this website.
I always participate in this fundraiser and encourage all of you to do as well.
Mellema on Irvine Show
Kevin Mellema with an excellent review of Shepard Fairey, Al Farrow and Paul D. Miller (DJ Spooky), at DC's Irvine Contemporary.
Read it here.
Go see this today in DC
I'm hearing good tings about the inaugural Ten Miles Square photography exhibit, "Move Along," featuring work by Tracy Clayton, Katy Ray, Matt Smith and Pat Padua. It's at BloomBars.
BloomBars is rapidly getting a rep as being one of the coolest hot spots in DC and it is located at 3222 11th St NW, next to Wonderland Ballroom. Today Sunday, roll up between noon and 4 p.m. for the last day of the show.
Saturday, October 25, 2008
Shattering the Glass Myth: Art or Craft?
That is the title of a discussion panel on that subject to be held at VisArts at Rockville (155 Gibbs Street, Rockville, MD 20850, 301-315-8200) on Thursday, October 30, 2008 6:30pm-8:30pm.
Discussions with Jackie Braitman, Elizabeth Mears, Lindsey Scott, Tim Tate and Erwin Timmers. To register, please call 301-315-8200 or email awhitford@visartscenter.org.
Gateway Hires New Executive Director
Heralding the start of a new future for the Gateway Community Development Corporation, the organization has hired a new executive director to lead its efforts at revitalizing the Gateway Arts District communities of North Brentwood, Brentwood and Mount Rainier in Maryland. The incoming executive director, Cheryl Patrice Derricotte, AICP, has extensive experience in the arts and community development, having worked for the last 20 years in the fields of arts administration and affordable housing.
A talented artist on her own right, Ms. Derricotte’s past experience includes functioning as development officer of Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation, as well as prior service as the financial/facility project manager for the Pyramid Atlantic Art Center in the Silver Spring Arts and Entertainment District. She holds a masters of regional planning (M.R.P.) from Cornell University and a B.A. in urban affairs from Barnard College, Columbia University. Ms. Derricotte has been a member of the American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP) since 1995.
Friday, October 24, 2008
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Arte Sin Fronteras
Let me relate this again: a few months ago Joan Belmar and a group of friends got together and decided to help a small organization called The Family Place.
The mission of Family Place is to work with mothers and children, prevent domestic violence, and provide healthy meals to children and parents. Now he has curated an art exhibition, Art Without Frontiers, put together to raise funds for The Family Place.
The opening reception is Oct. 30th from 6:30 - 9:30PM at the beautiful Cultural Institute of Mexico in DC. Details here and RSVP required to lfleitas@thefamilyplace.org.
Artists include Sondra Arkin, Joseph Barbaccia, Constance Bergfors, Salvados Casco, Nina Falk, Carles Guasch, Willem De Looper, Adrienne Moumin, Linn Meyers, Martha Jackson-Jarvis, Minna N. Nathanson, Kevin Postupack, Katya Romero, Raimundo Rubio and I am proud to also be part of this effort.
Instead of dining out on October 30, why not join us for this reception? It's a tax-deductible contribution. If you choose to buy some art, your tax-deductible contribution will go even farther since 50% of the sales will go directly to The Family Place.
See ya at the opening!
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Student Art at GW
Everyone knows that I am a great fan of student art, and work by first- and second-year MFA students from the George Washington University is on view now through Halloween at Classroom 102, the new gallery space at the Smith Hall of Art.
Co-curated by GW art historians Jeffrey Anderson and Bibiana Obler, the show seeks to "make visible and catalyze further the interactions taking place in the studios upstairs." Art by Steve Ioli, Sarah Koss, Patrick Mc Donough, Ding Ren, and Teresa Sites. The reception on October 28, 5-7 pm, will round out the exhibition with food art by Chanan Delivuk and music by Bible Kiss Bible.
Mark St. John Erickson on Sesow
DC artist Matt Sesow gets an excellent review by Richmond's art critic Mark St. John Erickson here.
Scary Times
"How to Survive as an Artist in this Frightening Economy" is the title of a panel being presented by the Washington Project for the Arts. It is next Wednesday, Oct. 29 from 6-7:30 at the WPA.
The presentation by Kim Ward, Executive Director of WPA and Tim Ward, Deputy Director of Examinations, Supervision, and Consumer Protection, Office of Thrift Supervision.
Following the presentation there will be time for questions and answers, and member networking.
Refreshments will be served. Space is limited and you must sign up for the workshop (open to current WPA members only). To register email Kristina at: kbilonick@wpadc.org
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Hizzoner Responds
Last June I posted about the subject of the new DC Art Commission leadership and the selection process.
It must have been brought up to the attention of Mayor Fenty, as he responds below in an email that I received today:
Dear Mr. Campello,Lionell Thomas is not only a superbly qualified Interim Director, but he has my vote for the permanent assignment as he would make a very good leader for the Commission.
Thank you for your suggestions in regards to the leadership of the DC Commission of Arts and Humanities. Please be assured that all DC government leadership is chosen by qualiifications.
Lionell Thomas, formerly the deputy director of the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, has been named the Interim Director.
Lionell held a host of other responsibilities prior to being named the deputy director for the DC Arts Commission such as the legislative and grants manager, grants assistant, mailing list coordinator, program officer for media, music, visual arts and craft, and literature grant programs and program coordinator for a number of special projects and initiatives such as the Customer Service, Risk Management, Washington Writers' Week/Larry Neal Writers' Awards Program, Mayor's Arts Awards, and Arts Resource Fair. He also founded the DC Advocates for the Arts, a network of local artists, arts professionals and arts representatives and patrons that support the ongoing development arts and culture in Washington, DC.
Thank you for your comments. They are greatly appreciated. Thank you for writing me.
Sincerely,
Adrian M. Fenty,
Mayor
Update: OK... I'm officially confused! As Paul Ruppert noted here and as I noted here, Gloria Nauden has been appointed as the new Executive Director of the Arts and Humanities Commission.
I've emailed the Mayor to ask for clarification.
Awarded
Last weekend I was down in Norfolk for the Stockley Gardens Fine Arts Show, where I was selling my own work.
And I for the second year in a row I was honored with an award, as the juror awarded me the Edward G. Carson Memorial Award, which I am told is given to honor a strong supporter of artists in the Norfolk area.
I am honored by the award and happy to have received it!
Monday, October 20, 2008
Baker Awards for Baltimore Artists
This is one spectacular opportunity for Baltimore artists.
The Baker Awards, funded by The Baker Foundation, in conjunction with the Baltimore City Department of Promotion and the Arts, is awarding three (yes three!) $20,000 prizes to Baltimore artists annually.
Although only Baltimore artists are eligible, anyone can sign up and vote.
Do it!
Details here.
Torture in Art
There's an interesting panel discussion coming up exploring how we represent victims of torture – in art, in the courtroom, in our foreign policy, etc. – and the issues involved in accurately conveying their experiences without dehumanizing or re-victimizing them.
The panel is from 2-4pm on October 25th at the Katzen Arts Center in Washington DC (presented along with the Close Encounters exhibit and where Director Jack Rasmussen continues to make the other DC area museums look bad), and is sponsored by Foreign Policy In Focus and DC's Provisions Library.
Daniel Heyman, an artist whose work I have mentioned several times before in this blog, is one of the panelists, and is going to give a presentation about his work. The other two panelists are Julie Mertus, a professor of Ethics, Peace, & Global Affairs at American University, and Katherine Gallagher, a staff attorney at the Center for Constitutional Rights.
More details here.
Personally, I have always been curious as to why artists and politicians and academics seem to pay more attention to the "easy" targets of torture, such as our horrible excesses in Iraq a few years ago, while ignoring the decades-long brutalities of nations like China, South Korea and Cuba.
Evidence submitted below, including a priest tortured for hiding a political prisoner in his Church:
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Art Without Frontiers
A few months ago Joan Belmar and a group of friends got together and decided to help a small organization called The Family Place.
The mission of Family Place is to work with mothers and children, prevent domestic violence, and provide healthy meals to children and parents. Now he has curated an art exhibition, Art Without Frontiers, put together to raise funds for The Family Place.
The opening reception is Oct. 30th from 6:30 - 9:30PM at the beautiful Cultural Institute of Mexico in DC. Details here and RSVP required to lfleitas@thefamilyplace.org.
Artists include Sondra Arkin, Joseph Barbaccia, Constance Bergfors, Salvados Casco, Nina Falk, Carles Guasch, Willem De Looper, Adrienne Moumin, Linn Meyers, Martha Jackson-Jarvis, Minna N. Nathanson, Kevin Postupack, Katya Romero, Raimundo Rubio and I am proud to also be part of this effort.
See ya at the opening!
Saturday, October 18, 2008
Arlington Open Studios Tomorrow
The public is invited to visit and celebrate the artwork of 14 greater Washington, DC-area artists working at Reeb Hall Studios from 1-4 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 19. The artists will meet the public in their studios and discuss their work.
The artists, many of whom have been exhibiting in the Washington area for more than 20 years, include Shahla Arbabi, Anne McGurk, Cynthia Young, Alice Whealin, Lee Vaughan, Carol Lopatin, Kebedech Tekleab, Phil Loiterstein, Rick Weaver, Bruce Williams, Beverly Chello-Donnenfeld, Linn Woloshin, Jessica van Brakle and Mark Giaimo.
what: Reeb Hall Artists Open Studio Event
who: Artists of the D.C. metro region
when: Sunday, October 19, 2008, 1 to 4 p.m.
where: Reeb Hall, 4451 First Place South, Arlington, VA 22204
For further directions and parking information please call 202-280-8267. This event is free and open to the public.
Friday, October 17, 2008
Neptune reopens in Bethesda, MD
Gallery Neptune will reopen October 22nd in the brand new PeriPoint Building in downtown Bethesda, Maryland. PeriPoint has applied to become Bethesda’s first Silver Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design building as certified by the US Green Council. It is designed by award winning architect Michael Belisle AIA. PeriPoint is located at 5001 Wilson Lane, at the busy crossroads of Wilson Lane, Old Georgetown Road, Arlington Rd. and St. Elmo Avenue.
The corner site has been a landmark in Bethesda since 1927, serving first as the Sanitary Grocery store, later as USO Headquarters during World War II, and most recently as a vacuum repair shop. Today, the 80-year-old structure has been renewed, embracing the 21st century while maintaining the defining geometry of the building’s early 20th century shell.
Opening Exhibition: “David Wallace: Begging the Question”
October 22 – November 15, 2008
Reception for the artist: November 1, 7 PM
Also open for the Bethesda Art Walk, November 14, 6-9 PM
This is funny...
Post debate moment...
But this is not...
There's a local fuss in Philly because when Gov. Sarah Palin recently showed up, protesters wearing "Sarah Palin is a Cunt" T-Shirts also showed up to greet her. The guy who makes these was on a Philly talk show yesterday and is apparently making a mint selling them.
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Bankable Art
Actually, no one quite knows what Lehman Brothers, the financial services firm that filed for bankruptcy protection on Sept. 15, will do with its 3,500-piece art collection, but with works by such bankable artists as Jasper Johns and Andreas Gurky, it is likely to be on sale at a major auction house near you.Read the WSJ report here.
Sausage Art
I'm getting pretty suspicious as to what Jeffry Cudlin has been reading lately, but I couldn't pass on relaying the following:
Read all about it here
"The sausage art is now popular in Russia. They have made some major masterpieces out of sausages and wurst and put on display so that anyone can eat them."
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Prices
Artprice, an auction database, says unsold works at auctions held since September 1 this year rose to 39.2 percent against 36.8 percent last year in the same period. On October 1, prices had slipped 4.45 percent in a year and there were 20.5 percent less auctions in the last six weeks.Read all about it here.
And auctions early this month in Asia and London were "disappointing", with more than half of works up for sale left unsold at times, according to specialist insider newsletter The Baer Faxt.
"Masterpieces," said Curiel of Christie's, "are seeing excellent prices, but sales will be more difficult for less exceptional works or those believed to be over-rated. Before this summer, it was never a problem to issue a high or very high estimate. But now it is."
Opportunity for Artists
The DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities (DCCAH), in collaboration with the Department of Transportation (DDOT) and the Adams Morgan community, is looking for an artist or artist team to design, create and install a permanent outdoor installation at the corner of 18th Street and Columbia Road, NW, Washington D.C.
The objective of this project is to create a "distinctive art piece that communicates the history and current character of the surrounding community and commercial district. The work will reflect the cultural diversity of the neighborhood and enhance the pedestrian experience."
To download the prospectus please visit, www.dcarts.dc.gov or for further questions contact Deirdre Ehlen at 202-724-5613 or by email Deirdre.Ehlen@dc.gov.
Cudlin on Gopkinism
Blake Gopnik’s remarks were interesting (yes, I’ll stick with interesting). He claimed that the problem with painting now is that painters don’t address their work directly to art critics. This is an odd thing to say, but it's pretty much in sync with other sorts of observations Blake likes to make about the art world. Like, for example, when he asserted that art is better when developments in the market aren’t leading or influencing museums—and museums can be left to do their job in peace.Read the whole Jeffry Cudlin post here.
At the time, I thought this was simply a bizarre misunderstanding on Blake’s part. But Blake is a smart guy, and hearing this new curious notion has made me realize that he has a remarkably consistent viewpoint — albeit one not even remotely grounded in reality. He seems to be wandering through a utopian socialist shadow art world, one in which painters don’t try to sell their works, and collectors are shooed away from the boardrooms of institutions, or from contact with curators.
A History of Dogs And Witches
New work by Laurel Hausler opens Thursday October 16, 2008 from 6-9 pm in DC's Nevin Kelly Gallery.
Gallery Nights in Philly
Philly's Center City District will be having one of their fun Gallery Nights this coming Friday, Oct. 17 with 15+ art galleries and art venues hosting events.
I'm particularly interested in the Galleries at Moore College of Art and Design where there's currently a terrific show of drawings by 20th century icon Alice Neel, a Philadelphia native and alumna of Moore College of Art & Design, and a brilliant artist who bucked the abstract trends of her time and established herself as one of the top American artists of the century. And today, Wednesday, October 15, starting at 11:15AM, author and art historian, Sarah Powers, discusses the complexity of artist Alice Neel’s life and process in her drawings and painting.
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
True Believer
"True Believer." Charcoal on Paper. c. 2008, framed to 24x18 inches.
By F. Lennox Campello
You can buy this drawing from Projects Gallery in Philadelphia, where it will be part of that Northern Liberties gallery's "Paper" show coming up soon. The show will run from Nov. 19 through Dec. 20 with an opening reception on Friday, Dec. 5, 2008.
Monday, October 13, 2008
Seen on the drive from Norfolk
As you drive up from Norfolk to the Philly area, you drive through the Coastal Highway up through Virginia's eastern shores and into Maryland's eastern shore. And just before you cross the state border into Maryland, the below sign warns you that:
On the other side of the road, as you enter Virginia from Maryland, the same signs tells you that "The South Begins Here."
They should put some signs halfway through all the bridges and tunnels leaving Manhattan saying "The Artworld Ends Here." At least according to Newyorkistas...
Go to this DC opening on Wednesday!
Gallery 101 over at Georgetown University has a must see show opening tomorrow with an opening reception on October 15 from 5:30-7PM.
It is Introspection, animated portraits by Scott Hutchison.
Hutchison has been working for years now in his animated portraiture, where he combines portrait painting and traditional animation techniques with digital capture and editing tools. Essentially Scott analyzes facial expressions and then paints each moment of the expression frame by frame.
Yep... each frame of his videos is an original painting. Then these hundreds of small individual portraits become the cels for looped animations that truly open up the personality of the sitter.
This is the sort of innovative work that for years now has been building the bridge between traditional painting and video, and which in most other cities would have already come up to the attention of local museum curators.
If you want to see something truly different and new, check out Hutchison over at Georgetown.
Gallery 101 is located in the Walsh building of the University, between N and Prospect Streets in Georgetown. The show runs through December 5, 2008.
"Overlap" 100 5"x7" paintings on paper and video by Scott Hutchison
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Tim Tate opens in London
At London's Steps Gallery with a public openings 17th October - 26th October 2008. You all know what I have been preaching about Tate for years...
Mellema on Glass and Photos
Kevin Mellema over at the Falls Church News Press reviews the current three person show at Maurine Littleton and also Frank Day at Addison Ripley Fine Art.
Read the reviews here.
Saturday, October 11, 2008
Tim Tate opens in LA today
Tim Tate: A Look Into a Video Mind opens at Billy Shire Fine Arts with an opening reception on Saturday, October 11th, from 7-10 pm.
This will be Tate's solo debut in Los Angeles. You can see some of the videos online here.
Lecturing today
As I noted before, last week I juried the current show at the Capitol Hill Arts Workshop in DC, where I looked at about 100 works of art and selected 35 for exhibition and handed out six awards (three honorable mentions).
The opening is today, Saturday, Oct. 11 from 5-7PM.
I'll be there giving out the awards and also doing a talk with tips to artists on how to improve their chances of getting accepted into juried competitions. The opening and my talk is free and open to the public, so come by and say hi.
The Capitol Hill Arts Workshop is located at 545 7th Street, S.E. Washington DC, 20003 (the corner of 7th and G Streets, SE). If you take the Metro, they are two blocks south of the Eastern Market metro plaza, which is on the orange and blue lines. After exiting the metro stop, walk down 7th Street (there’s a CVS on the corner) two blocks, away from Pennsylvania Ave. The Arts Workshop is located at the corners of 7th and G Streets, SE, entrance on 7th Street.
Driving directions here.
The power of art
Powerful art elicits powerful emotions, and when those emotions are tied to strong political sentiment, it is even more powerful and sometimes dangerous.
Heather Goss over at DCist relates the story of DC area artist Dana Ellyn and what happened when some of her anti Sarah Palin artwork got exposed to political sentiment in a DC area store. Read it here.
Winston Churchill once said that "any man who is under 30, and is not a liberal, has no heart; and any man who is over 30, and is not a conservative, has no brains."
Having been both a very dangerous leftwing nut in my young years, and a complacent conservative in my middle years, I am now very happy in my current incarnation as a happy independent, and I am now always puzzled by people who (on both sides of the political spectrum) try to muzzle or interrupt the other side's opinion, such as the idiots in this DCist story or the jerks who crash the other party's convention, or heckle the other politician's rallies, etc.
Nations where only one side of the political spectrum is allowed to express their views are called dictatorships: Cuba, North Korea, China, Iran, etc. and more and more Russia and Venezuela.
Artists: keep painting all the anti-Palin, and anti-McCain, and anti-Obama (is Joe Biden even in the news?) art that you want, for art is a powerful tool of political expression. And never forget that an anti-Castro painting in Cuba gets you 20 years in the Isle of Youth, and you'd probably get whacked in North Korea if you did an anti-Elvis painting there...
Alden Mason, the movie
Seattle's Regina Hackett is always one of my favorite reads and she brings up a new movie about one of my old art school professors. Read it here.
In my senior year at Washington, I worked with a lady named Dianne Berge and helped to organize a new art gallery just for student artwork. As I recall it opened in either late 1980 or early 1981, and was located on the street behind and underneath the Pike Place Market. It was called the Arts Northwest Student Gallery, and right about the same time Mason moved into the then new condo complex across the street and often came to the gallery's openings and poetry readings.
I recall once doing a poetry reading myself and forcing people to listen to the below harsh poem by Robert E. Howard:
The Song Of A Mad MinstrelSomewhere in my studio's flat files I have one or two of his paintings, still unstretched from my moves in the 80s.
by Robert E. Howard
I am the thorn in the foot, I am the blur in the sight;
I am the worm at the root, I am the thief in the night.
I am the rat in the wall, the leper that leers at the gate;
I am the ghost in the hall, herald of horror and hate.
I am the rust on the corn, I am the smut on the wheat,
Laughing man's labor to scorn, weaving a web for his feet.
I am canker and mildew and blight, danger and death and decay;
The rot of the rain by night, the blast of the sun by day.
I warp and wither with drouth, I work in the swamp's foul yeast;
I bring the black plague from the south and the leprosy in from the east.
I rend from the hemlock boughs wine steeped in the petals of dooms;
Where the fat black serpents drowse I gather the Upas' blooms.
I have plumbed the northern ice for a spell like frozen lead;
In lost grey fields of rice, I learned from Mongol dead.
Where a bleak black mountain stands I have looted grisly caves;
I have digged in the desert sands to plunder terrible graves.
Never the sun goes forth, never the moon glows red,
But out of the south or the north, I come with the slavering dead.
I come with hideous spells, black charms and ghastly tunes;
I have looted the hidden hells and plundered the lost black moons.
There was never a king or priest to cheer me by word or look,
There was never a man or beast in the blood-black ways I took.
There were crimson gulfs unplumbed, there were black wings over a sea;
There were pits where mad things drummed, and foaming blasphemy.
There were vast ungodly tombs where slimy monsters dreamed,
There were clouds like blood-drenched plumes where unborn demons screamed.
There were ages dead to Time, and lands lost out of Space;
There were adders in the slime, and a dim unholy Face.
Oh, the heart in my breast turned stone, and the brain froze in my skull-
But I won through, I alone, and I poured my chalice full
Of horrors and dooms and spells, black buds and bitter roots-
From the hells beneath the hells, I bring you my deathly fruits.
Friday, October 10, 2008
Our Lady of Loretto
My old neighborhood church in Brooklyn, Our Lady of Loretto is apparently being slated for demolition, as the Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn has decided that Our Lady of Loretto is no longer worthy of remaining open and will surrender the property to the City of New York which has plans to demolish the church.
You can help by signing a petition here to declare Loretto a historical landmark; please sign it here.
The church was built originally by Italian immigrants who lived in the neighborhood, not by the Catholic Church.
Check out these mugs and see if you can find me in the class of 1970.
Thursday, October 09, 2008
New Baltimore Gallery
Baltimore Gallery 321 in Mount Vernon will have their Grand Opening Gallery Exhibition, 3,2,1...Blast Off! open with a reception on Saturday, October 11th, from 6pm-10pm.
Join them for this inaugural event, featuring art work of all media from local Baltimore artists Greg Minah, Micah Cash, Carol Bold, Emily Michaels, Bruno Baran, Caitlyn Rok, Alex De'Costa, Benedetta Bozzo, Rebecca Waring, Katelyn Woodward and Monica M. Wiedel-Lubinski.
Baltimore Gallery 321 is located at 321 West Madison Avenue, Baltimore, MD. 21201
Breasts and Letters
Artist Ed Stross faces a 30-day stint in jail unless the American Civil Liberties Union manages to overturn his conviction for painting the word "love" on his mural in this Detroit suburb.Read the article here.
Stross's long-running dispute with local officials is over his addition of the word to his mural in 1997 in memory of Princess Diana. The painting on the building housing his studio is based on Michelangelo's Creation of Man.
Roseville, Mich., officials say using letters in the mural violates a sign ordinance.
They also objected to Eve's bare breast in the painting.
Conant at Multiple Exposures
One of the DC area's most talented and innovative photographers, Danny Conant, opens at Alexandria's Multiple Explosures Gallery, with a reception October 12 from 2-4PM.
