Lomuto on Tate
Susan Lomuto on Tim Tate:
Tate’s sculptures ask you to surrender your guarded self and feel the range of emotions that they provoke. His newest works - larger and more complex - speak to universal issues, a shift from earlier work that was profoundly personal.Read Daily Art Muse here.
Judkis on AOM
Artomatic isn’t about finding the diamond in the rough: Think cubic zirconia instead. Each spring brings the polarizing art-for-the-masses show, and this year's event features more than 1,000 visual artists (and another 600 performers). With nine floors of art displayed science-fair style in an unoccupied office building near the Nationals’ stadium, the offerings can be overwhelming. But for the serious art aficionado, how many of those 1,000 artists are worth seeing? We’ve capped that number at a strict 0.005 percent.Read Maura Judkis on Decider DC here.
Stimulus at Nevin Kelly
In recognition of the challenging economic times, DC's Nevin Kelly Gallery, located at 1400 Irving Street, NW, #132, will showcase “Stimulus,” a group exhibition of works by more than twenty DC area artists at limited-opportunity prices.
The gallery has selected, a Tuesday evening (June 16), typically a slow night for galleries and other businesses, for the opening reception. Joining in the celebration, several local restaurants and other business will offer their own stimulus packages on opening night.
Show runs June 16 through July 11, 2009; Opening Reception, Tuesday, June 16 from 5:30 - 8:30 pm.
“We invite the public to come stimulate their minds and the local economy by supporting this exhibition,” says gallery owner Nevin J. Kelly. “While they are in the Columbia Heights neighborhood, we encourage them to take advantage of the specials being offered by some of our neighboring businesses.”
Kelly explains that “the concept and the name of the show are somewhat tongue-in-cheek, but the show has a serious side. In times like these, arts and artists tend to suffer disproportionately, and we are trying to remind people, by parodying the government's broader stimulus efforts, that local artists and local businesses need their support.”
Participating artists have been asked to price their works for this exhibition at least 15% below their norm. The gallery has agreed to reduce its standard commission to make up part of the difference. All works will be priced at $500 or less. For works over $100, there will be a limit of 3 works per artist. Kelly explains that limiting the number of works by each artist protects the concept of limited opportunity pricing and helps guard against an overall deterioration of the artists' price-points, “an important consideration for collectors,” he says, adding “if you want a work by one of your favorite artists at these prices, you need to buy it before somebody else gets it.”
Participating artists include: JOHN M. ADAMS, SONDRA N. ARKIN, JOAN BELMAR, TANJA BOS, ANNE BOUIE, MOLLY BROSE, MARY CHIARAMONTE, ANNA U. DAVIS, JENNY DAVIS, THOMAS DRYMON, STIRLING ELMENDORF, PAT GOSLEE, EMILY GREENE LIDDLE, LAUREL HAUSLER, J. FORD HUFFMAN, ROSALIND KENNEDY, MARK PARASCANDOLA, ANNELIESE SULLIVAN, MING YI SUNG ZALESKI, RUTH TREVARROW, CLAUDIA VESS, ELLYN WEISS and yours truly.
Local restaurants Commonwealth Gastropub, Pete's New Haven Style Pizza and Rumberos are offering dinner specials for the Stimulus audience on the night of the opening.
Radiance MedSpa, a neighborhood day spa, is also offering specials, and other local businesses are expected to sign up. Interested individuals can check the gallery's website for more information on participating businesses and their special offers.
The gallery is located half-a-block from the Columbia Heights Metro station on the Green Line, and all participating businesses are within a block or two of the Metro station.
See ya there!
Today's hero
They have been demonized by an art blogger whose reputation and popularity rests mostly on destructive criticism of nearly everything related to the artworld, and someone who has never had to guard anything in his life, but today's hero in the museum world, and the nation in general, is a DC museum security guard.
He is US Holocaust Museum security guard Stephen Tyrone Johns, who gave his life protecting others, shot by a Jew-hating artist, James Wenneker von Brunn.
Mr. Johns, we all thank and salute you, and all of you who stand as the first line of defense against all the would-be killers and haters in the world. You and your fellow security guards at the Holocaust Museum, and all other museums and security points in the nation, deserve our respect and gratitude.
This is from the Holocaust Museum:
Officer Stephen Tyrone Johns died heroically in the line of duty today. There are no words to express our grief and shock over these events. He served on the Museum's security staff for six years. Our thoughts and prayers go out to Officer Johns' family.Rest in Peace... Fair winds and following seas Sir.
We have made the decision to close the Museum tomorrow in honor of Officer Johns, and our flags will be flown at half mast in his memory.
Museum Shooting Suspect Details
The man suspected of walking into the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum and opening fire Wednesday has a long trail of vitriol and vindictiveness.Details from NPR story here and here.
According to the AskART Web site, which features the work of James W. von Brunn, he was born in St. Louis on July 11, 1920. The birth date jibes with real estate records of a James W. von Brunn who lives in Maryland. He is listed as living in either Annapolis or Easton.
"I am shocked and saddened by today's shooting at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. This outrageous act reminds us that we must remain vigilant against anti-Semitism and prejudice in all its forms. No American institution is more important to this effort than the Holocaust Museum, and no act of violence will diminish our determination to honor those who were lost by building a more peaceful and tolerant world.
"Today, we have lost a courageous security guard who stood watch at this place of solemn remembrance. My thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends in this painful time."
AOM video
When I used to live in DC I used to be a talking head in MHZ TV's Artsmedia News program, directed by my good friend Harry Mahon.
Harry currently has the very cool video of AOM below.
Goodwill
Two paintings left overnight in a Goodwill donation bin in Toronto sold at auction for over $150,000 Canadian samolians (US$136,480).
Details here.
Art town: What’s brewing in lesser-known hot spots
Land as canvas: Albuquerque offers a full palette of art al fresco
By Robin Tierney
Art devotees know the way to Santa Fe, usually bypassing Albuquerque to the south. But expect that to change as ABQ creatives hasten urban and urbane renewal in New Mexico’s biggest city.
The art community there bears resemblance to the five dormant volcanoes that flank the city’s west side: smoldering disparate vents likely to become an inextinguishable force once erupting.
Signs suggest that time is drawing near, with art-centric events now erupting within and beyond ABQ’s revitalized Downtown arts district. New trolley, bus and rail choices make it easy to speed around.
At nearly every turn, there’s some gallery or mural or piece of public art. Nary a day goes by without an exhibition opening or art talk or sighting of artists at work on an installation, particularly with the “LAND/ART” collaboration that in early June unleashed a six-month tsunami of land-based art.
LAND/ART is a sprawling mega-variety show aiming to lay siege to senses and sensibility. Among the five dozen participants is Guggenheim Fellow Michael Berman, whose photos emanated from solitary wanderings through the desert. Basia Irland’s frozen carved books sow seeds as they melt in undernourished rivers. DJ Spooky weaves an acoustic portrait from field recordings made during journeys into Antarctic icescapes. Lynne Hull builds outdoor sculptures that double as wildlife habitat rescues.
A sense-shocking, mind-boggling array of photography, sculpture and mixed media burbles from downtown galleries such as 516 ARTS as site-specific installations emerge on the sacred lands ringing Albuquerque like an aura. 
I plan to catch what’s taken root in LAND/ART when returning for another Albuquerque alt. art event: the GO! Arts Festival. The free downtown event runs Sept. 25-27. Several stages of local music and dance combine with contemporary art, making for a complete sensory assault.
Go! artists include Brandon Maldonado, whose “Los Fantasticos” paintings nabbed Best of Show at last year’s fest, and Daniela and Vladimir Ovtcharov, whose modern icons and other imaginaria are absolutely arresting.
The edgier visuals and vibe distinguish Albuquerque from other New Mexico artspots, says Christopher Goblet on the arts-boosting Downtown Action Team.
Now’s a good time to visit what “The Rise of the Creative Class” author Richard Florida dubbed the "Most Creative Mid-Size City." The arts offerings are diverse: Harwood Art Center (an old school) displays art from full-timers to homeless shelter denizens; Darryl Willison’s trippy comic cowboys color the walls at Old Town’s KISS café; Working Classroom’s new downtown space mounts eye- and brain-teasers from city kids. A new film festival’s set to debut late summer. And there’s always the green and red chile.
If you must go to Santa Fe, the brand new Rail Runner stops in downtown ABQ.
LAND/ART event guide (sites, openings, talks): www.landartnm.org
Go! Festival info: www.wwwdowntownabq.com/GO
Albuquerque visitors info: www.itsatrip.org
The Bethesda Painting Awards announced
The top four prize winners were announced last Wednesday evening during the exhibition’s opening at the Fraser Gallery, but I just found out today who the winners were.
Doesn't make sense to me
The Ludwig Vogelstein Foundation has been sending the below email to its 2009 interested parties:
Thank you so much for your recent inquiry to the Ludwig Vogelstein Foundation regarding grant opportunities to individuals working in the arts.While we all applaud the terrific presence and influence that foundations such as this one contribute to the art world, it doesn't make sense to me that their "2009 call for applications will be an invitational for prior grantees only."
The current, virtually unprecedented economic crisis has hit small nonprofit arts foundations such as ours especially hard. At this time, we cannot sustain the level of giving that we offered in years past. We have received an overwhelming number of inquiries and are not equipped at this time to process and, in all fairness, grant sufficiently in proportion to so many new potential new applicants. The Vogelstein Foundation will NOT be holding an open call for new applications this year; instead, our 2009 call for applications will be an invitational for prior grantees only.
The 2010 call for artists remains to be determined. Please reply to this e-mail if you wish to be added to the distribution list we will maintain for updated 2010 information as it becomes available. (Note: If your e-mail address changes later on, but in the interim, please contact us to let us know
Again, we thank you very much for your interest and wish you all the best in your artistic endeavors going forward.
Diana Braunschweig, Exec. Dir.
Ludwig Vogelstein Foundation
LVF@earthlink.net
Postal mailing address :
LVF, Inc.
4001 Inglewood Ave., Suite 101-309
Redondo Beach, CA 90278
Congrats!
The Association of Art Museum Curators today announced the election of John Ravenal of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts as its fourth president.
VMFA curator John Ravenal has been elected president of the Association of Art Museum Curators. (Photo by Travis Fullerton, © 2009 Virginia Museum of Fine Arts)
Congrats!
After successfully completing their first year of artist-centric programming, Hamiltonian Artists has announced the five new, distinguished Hamiltonian Fellows for 2009 to join their existing Fellows. Congratulations to:
· Jon Bobby Benjamin (BA, Brandeis University)On Saturday, June 20, 2009, at 7pm, Hamiltonian Gallery will open an introductory group exhibition of these five new Fellows. Each artist will be displaying the work with which they were accepted. The exhibition will run from June 20 - August 1, 2009.
· Magnolia Laurie (MFA, Mount Royal School of Art, Maryland Institute College of Art)
· Katherine Mann (MFA, Hoffberger School of Painting, Maryland Institute College of Art)
· Jonathan Monaghan (MFA Candidate, University of Maryland)
· Lina Vargas De La Hoz (MFA, Art University Linz, Austria)
Michael Janis: AOM Top 10
It has been a tradition of this blog for many years to publish various AOM Top 10 lists as they are sent in by anyone and everyone who wants to send one. In the past these Top 10 Artomatic lists have even resulted in gallery shows for the mentioned artists.
So start sending me your Top 10 Artomatic picks this year; meanwhile, below is Michael Janis' top 10:
Megan Van Wagoner Level 8 mixed media
David D'Orio Level 9 wall mounted glass sculpture
Theresa Easton Level 5 print & books
Matthew Langley Level 2 painting
James Halloren Level 9 painting
Sarah Blood Level 5 neon/ceramic
Carin Quinn Level 3 painting
Mark Tolson Level 7 painting
Drew Graham Level 2 wall sculpture
Peter Chang (the Document collaborative) Level 2 mixed media
Really selling well!
Reviews and comments here. For around six or seven bucks it has been getting rave reviews!
Keep buying!
Opportunity for DC Artists
Deadline: Wednesday July 8th at 5:30pm
DC Creates! invites artists from the DC Metro area to submit works available for purchase. Selected works will be added to the Art Bank Collection.
Over 2,000 works are displayed in DC Government building corridors, conference rooms and office space and all open to the public.
Application deadline: Wednesday July 8th at 5:30pm.
To obtain a copy of the application, visit www.dcarts.dc.gov
For assistance in preparing your application DC artists can attend a workshop on Wednesday June 24 from 7-8:30pm at Artomatic - 55 M Street, SE; Washington D.C.
(By Metro - The building is located atop the Navy Yard Metro Station; Ballpark exit).
This is a terrific opportunity - don't blow it!
Dawson on Foon Sham
The WaPo's freelance gallery critic Jessica Dawson has a great review of Foon Sham's latest work.
Read Dawson here.
Barlow and O'Sullivan on AOM
Terrific article in the WaPo on Artomatic from Michael O'Sullivan, who cleverly uses Phillip Barlow's intimate knowledge of the DC area art scene to deliver some brilliant AOM tips.
Read it here.
Congrats!
To DC's own hoogrrl, who has been appointed to be a DC Arts Commissioner!
That is the perfect pick! Go get them PH!
Artists' Websites: Susan Lamont
Susan Lamont's technical virtuosity is easily evident in her work as is the deep intellectual seed that germinates in nearly all of her work. Check it out on level two of Artomatic.
Best pizza in America
I've been searching for the best pizza in the United States since my teens, when a slice of pie was a quarter and there were a dozen pizza places along Pitkin Avenue in Brooklyn.
Best pizza that I ever tasted was in Sicily, and the worst one was in London.
Best pizza in America is at Little Anthony in Media, PA.
Anthony is a Napolitano, and his pizzas are amazing, especially the garlic white pizza. His is the best pizza that I have ever eaten in the US.
Best pizza in the South?
Andrea's Pizza, located in the Riverdale Shopping Center off West Mercury Blvd in Hampton, Virginia.
Oportunidad para artistas
Deadline: July 13, 2009
NALAC Fund For the Arts offers funding to Latino arts organizations and to Latino artists for the creation and presentation of work, as well as career development. Funding available for the following disciplines: Visual Arts, Dance, Interdisciplinary Arts, Literary Arts, Media Arts, Music, Performance Art, and Theater Arts.
Funding for the one-year grant period (runs from Nov. 1, 2009-Sept. 30, 2010) is up to $10,000. Application deadline: July 13, 2009. For more information, contact:
NALAC Fund for the Arts
Grant Program Manager
1208 Buena Vista St.
San Antonio, TX 78207
Phone: (210) 432-3982; email: grantmanager@nalac.org; or check website: www.nalac.org.
Art advice for the Obamas
Waaaaay back I gave the Obamas art advice for the White House walls. They essentially ignored me.
Maybe it is because Cuban-Americans are the only Latino/Hispanics who overwhelmingly vote Republican (in the 90s percentwise).
Kiddin'
Here's what some other folks think the Obamas should acquire for the White House walls.
I still think that my recommendation is the best; the most plebeian and the clearest and closest to the ground and what I think the new White House tenants need to bring to the White House walls.
What art or artist do you think that the Obamas should acquire? Tell me in the comments.
DC Gallery moves
DC's Long View Gallery will relocate to a currently vacant building directly across from the Walter E. Washington Convention Center at 1234 Ninth Street, NW. The gallery’s new space will undergo major renovation, more than quadrupling the gallery’s exhibition capacity, enhancing its custom framing and special event offerings, and making it one of the area’s largest art spaces.
“With many other businesses closing, we have been able to swim against the economic tide, demonstrating that art is indeed a great investment. After three successful years in Shaw, Long View Gallery simply outgrew its current location,” said gallery director Drew Porterfield. “Thanks to Douglas Development, we were able to secure a building with great potential in a location that is impossible to beat—half a block south on Ninth Street from our current location, directly across from the Walter E. Washington Convention Center and closer to existing and planned fine restaurants,” Porterfield said. “Shaw has been a wonderful home, and we are thrilled to contribute to its renaissance.”
The gallery’s renovation, designed by local architect Will Couch, will maintain the raw feel of the new location's building while transforming it into a premier gallery space. The new gallery will occupy the southern portion of the building, comprised of nearly 5,000 square feet, more than quadrupling the square footage of the Long View Gallery’s current location.
Call to Artists: In the Spirit of Frida Kahlo
Deadline: June 6, 2009
Frida Kahlo remains one of the most influential artists of the 20th century, but her spectacular life experiences, her writing and her views on life and art have also influenced many artists throughout the years.
From July 1 - August 29, 2009 The Joan Hisaoka Healing Arts Gallery at Smith Farm Center in Washington, DC will be hosting Finding Beauty In A Broken World: In the Spirit of Frida Kahlo.
This exhibition hopes to showcase the work in all mediums of artists influenced not only by Kahlo’s art, but also by her biography, her thoughts, and her writing or any other aspect in the life and presence of this remarkable artist who can be interpreted through artwork.
This will be the third Kahlo show that I have juried in the last decade and we are seeking works of art that evoke the prolific range of expression, style and media like that which Frida Kahlo used as an outlet for her life’s experiences.
Get a copy of the prospectus by calling (202) 483-8600 or email gallery@smithfarm.com or download it at www.smithfarm.com/gallery/FINALProspectus.pdf.
Read this
Tom Wolfe, author, man-in-white, and social observer, has always had a keen and clear insight into the social undertows of contemporary society.
Wolfe's 1975 book The Painted Word, is the one that I consider the one of the most influential book on art, nepotism, networking, manipulation and 20th century art history (OK, OK art observations), that I have ever read.
If you want to understand the true historical beginnings (from someone on the scene at the time) of what we now call "contemporary art" and the seminal birth of the elitist attitudes of many intelligent members of the high art apparatnik, then read this book.
"The painter," Wolfe writes, "had to dedicate himself to the quirky god Avant-Garde. He had to keep one devout eye peeled for the new edge on the blade of the wedge of the head on the latest pick thrust of the newest exploratory probe of this fall's avant-garde Breakthrough of the Century.... At the same time he had to keep his other eye cocked to see if anyone in le monde was watching."I read it when I first started Art School and it saved my Art Life and it cemented the foundations of what has become my opinions, judgements and attitudes towards art.
PostSecret at Hillyer Art Space
Artomatic's greatest launching success story: Tim Tate or Frank Warren?
Warren's spectacular worldwide success and multiple best-sellers with PostSecret comes to DC at Hillyer Art Space. PostSecret: Confessions on Life, Death and God has a First Friday Reception on June 5, 2009, 6-9PM. Soundscapes by DJ Underdog. Food and refreshments will be served.
Postcards and materials will be available for all to confess their own secrets (Postcards will be displayed at Hillyer throughout the show and then given to Frank Warren to add to his collection. Details here.
2009 William H. Johnson Prize
Deadline : July 31, 2009
The 2009 William H. Johnson Prize is 25,000 USD and the winner will be announced in September 2009. Early career African American artists who work in painting, photography, sculpture, printmaking, installation and/or new genre are eligible to apply.
Details here.
Wanna go to a Bethesda opening tomorrow?
Whimsical works of art at AU Museum through August
The exhibitions open to the public on Saturday, June 6 at the American University Museum, Katzen Arts Center.
Garry Knox Bennett: Call Me Chairmaker features 52 one-of-a-kind sculptural chairs created by Garry Knox Bennett, one of the foremost contemporary studio furniture makers in America. Inspired by well known furniture designers and architects such as Frank Lloyd Wright, Charles Rennie Mackintosh, George Nakashima, and Gerrit Rietveld, Bennett makes his wit and imagination come to life with such chairs as the “Great Granny Rietveld” and “Wiggle Wright.” By using bold new forms and constantly expanding traditional boundaries, Bennett makes furniture a form of art and brings new meaning to the words “sitting pretty.” The exhibition closes Sunday, August 16.
The Washington Print Club’s 20th biennal exhibition, Love, Let Me Count the Ways, is a compilation of approximately 100 prints, drawings, and pastels from print club member collections. Images of love range from the maternal and sexual to the mythological, patriotic/political, and psychological. The exhibition includes prints dating from the sixteenth century to contemporary productions. While most of the pieces are by Americans, works on paper by Spanish, German, French, Japanese, English, and Norwegian artists also are represented. The exhibition closes Sunday, August 9.
Robert Hudson and Richard Shaw: Collaborations brings together more than 60 collaborative and individual sculptural works created during the 40-year careers of Robert Hudson and Richard Shaw. Highlighting the unique and inventive partnership of these renowned San Francisco Bay area artists, the exhibition features works in porcelain and glaze that challenge perceptions of art, craft, and the conventional modes of artistic production. Collaborations has been made possible through the support of Braunstein/Quay Gallery in San Francisco, California. The exhibition closes Sunday, August 9.
The museum is open from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., Tuesday through Sunday. Admission is free.
Glass Art Tours of Artomatic
Meet in the lobby of Artomatic for a guided glass tour. Hosted by members of the Washington Glass School, these informative tour guides will lead you directly to all the great glass on exhibit this year!
Every wonder how a piece of glass art was made or what was the artist's motivation? This is your chance to ask and learn. All tours leave from the Lobby of Artomatic, 55 M Street SE, Washington, DC. Wear comfortable walking shoes and join in the fun!
Saturday May 30, 2009 @ 5:30pm, Allegra Marquart and Lisa Osgood Dano will be your tourguides.
Artomatic Opens Tomorrow!
If you are an artist or art lover reading this post, then chances are that you already know what Artomatic (or AOM) is and all about this amazing spectacle.
But just in case, a little review.
About once a year or so, under the guiding hand of a board of hardworking artists and volunteers, a large, unoccupied building in the Greater Washington, DC area is identified, and eventually filled with hundreds of artists’ works, loads of theatre and dance performances, panels, and everything associated with breathing a powerful breath of energy into the Greater DC art scene.
Let’s review: The idea behind AOM is simple: find a large, empty building somewhere in the city; work with the building owners, and then allow any artist who wants to show their work help with staging the show, pay a small fee and work a few hours assisting with the show itself.
Any artist.
Artists love AOM, but most DC area art critics hate it.
Why?
I think that in order to write a proper, ethical review of AOM, a writer must spend hours walking several floors of art, jam-packed into hundreds of rooms, bathrooms, closets and stairs. And I think that this is one of the main reasons that most art critics love to hate this show. It overwhelms them with visual offerings and forces them to develop a “glance and judge” attitude towards the artwork. It’s a lot easier to carpet bomb a huge show like this than to do a surgical strike to try to find the great art buried by the overwhelming majority that constitutes the great democratic pile of so so artwork and really bad artwork.
Add on top of that, an outdated, but “alive and kicking” elitist attitude towards an open show, where anyone and everyone who calls him or herself an artist can exhibit, sans the sanitizing and all-knowing eye of the latest trendy curator, and you have a perfect formula for elitist dismissing of this show, without really looking at it.
This harsh and elitist attitude towards art is not new or even modern. It was the same attitude that caused the emergence of the salons of the 19th century, where only artists that the academic intelligentsia deemed good enough were exhibited. As every art student who almost flunked art history knows, towards the latter half of that century, the artists who had been rejected from the salons (because they didn’t fit the formula of good art) organized their own Salon Des Refuses, sort of a 19th century Parisian Art-O-Matique.
And a lot, in fact, most of the work in the Salon Des Refuses was quite so so, but amongst the dreck were also pearls like Manet's Le Dejeuner sur 'Herbe (Luncheon in the Grass), Monet's Impression: Sunrise, (and we all know what art “ism” that title gave birth to) and an odd and memorable looking portrait of a young lady in white (The White Girl, Symphony in White, No. 1) by an American upstart by the name of James McNeill Whistler.
Everyone who was anyone in the art world hated and dismissed this anti-salon exhibition; except for the only one that really counts: Art History.
But how does a writer cover an arts extravaganza of the size of AOM once the eyes and mind become numb after the 200th artist, or the 400th or the 1,000th?
As an art critic, I once started a review of a past AOM by complaining how much my feet hurt after my 5th or 6th visit to the show, in a futile attempt to gather as much visual information as possible in order to write a fair review of the artwork. Over the years I have discovered that it is impossible to see everything and to be fair about anyone; the sheer size and evolving nature of the show itself makes sure of the impossibility of this task. But AOM is not just about the artwork.
As a gallerist, I also have visited AOM looking for new talent amongst the vast numbers of artists who come together under one roof. Over the years, together with my fellow DC area gallerists, we have plucked many artists from the ranks and files of AOM. Artists who since their first appearance at past AOMs have now joined the collections of museums and Biennials and have been picked up by galleries nationwide. Names like Tim Tate, the Dumbacher Brothers, Kelly Towles, Michael Janis, Kathryn Cornelius, Richard Chartier and that amazing worldwide phenomenon and best-selling author Frank Warren of PostSecret fame. But AOM is not just about the emerging superstar artist.
As an artist, one year I decided to participate in AOM, just to see what the guts of the machine looked like. "I know the monster well," wrote the poet Jose Marti, "for I have lived in its entrails."
My volunteer hours patrolling the halls on a Wednesday night at midnight, and still seeing people come in and out, and explore art on the wee hours of the morning, also left a footprint on the public impact of the exhibition. Dealing with prima donna artists, recharging my own artistic batteries from hundreds of fellow artists, many of them in their first public exposure, also left an impression. But AOM is not just about the public.
AOM is two things to me:
It is perhaps the nation’s most powerful incarnation of what it means to be a creative community of hundreds of working creative hands all aligned to not only create artwork, but also put together a spectacular extravaganza that re-charges the regional art scene as no museum or gallery show can. AOM is a community of artists employing the most liberal of approaches to art that there exists: the artists are in charge, and the artists make it work, and the artists charge the city with energy and zeal. And these descendants of those brave souls who challenged the academic salons of the 19th century face the same negative eye from the traditional art critics and curators of our museums, who challenge not just the art, but the concept of an open, non-juried, most democratic of art shows: a community of artists in charge of energizing the community at large. All good group shows must be curated! shout these chained critical voices.
And AOM is certainly the easiest and most comprehensive way to discover contemporary art at its battlefront lines, right at the birth of many artists, paradoxically showcasing the area's artworld's deepest and also its newest roots. This is where both the savvy collector, and the beginning collector, and the aspiring curator, and the sharp-eyed gallerist can come to one place with a sense of discovery in mind. And the ones that I missed in the past, and who were discovered by others, are ample evidence of the subjectivity of a 1,000+ group art show.
Viva AOM!
This year’s AOM runs from May 29 through July 5, 2009, and it is located at the new building at 55 M Street, S.E. - essentially on top the Navy Yard Metro - celebrating its tenth anniversary in a newly built 275,000 square foot "LEED Silver Class A building", whatever that means. It is all free and open to the public and all the details and dates and parties and performances and panels, as well as all the participating artists can be found at Artomatic.org.
Artists' Websites: Claudia Hart
The UK comes to Artomatic
Remember Glass3, the international glass show in Georgetown that incorporated artists from the UK's National Glass Centre last February?
Well, they are back!
24 glass artists are part of this year's Artomatic and the DC art extravaganza's first international participants. The artists will be also performing demonstrations of their unusual techniques at the Washington Glass School in Mount Rainier and at DC GlassWorks in nearby Hyattsville.
Saturday, May 30, 2009: starting at 1.30 pm, Phil Vickery and Roger Tye will be glass blowing at DC GlassWorks. RSVP to info@dcglassworks.com.
On Sunday, May 31, 2009, starting at 2:00 pm, Stephen Beardsell and Karin Walland will be demonstrating their techniques at the Washington Glass School.
Karin will show how to cast small objects in frozen glass powder (an alternative to the messy lost wax method). Stephen will be showing and describing his method of creating great depth with frit casting and inclusions.
RSVP to washglassschool@aol.com
Both events are free and open to the public.
Artomatic early report
An artist from AOM writes:
Went around looking at other peoples artwork after finishing install on Monday.
With 8 floors of art to see I went through it all pretty quick - but noticed the following:
(a) still a lot of artists had not set-up.
(b) On level 5, the British artists who are participating in this year's AOM are due in tomorrow (Wed) but all thru the levels there were still untouched walls - hopefully all wait-listed artists are in and working today.
(c) Glad to see Anne Benolken's Kali series is back; Level 2 has some knockout works, with Drew Graham's 3-D tatoo inspired wall sculptures are strong as ever.
(d) Margaret Dowell has a painted portrait of artist Joseph Barbacia holding that penis knife that you had in 'Seven' - creepy cool.
(e) I got tired going down from Level 9, but there was so much on Level 2 that was good, that I'd recommend that one does not overlook that floor .
(f) Many of the Washington Glass School artists are on 8 - Tim Tate, Erwin Timmers, Syl Mathis, Cheryl Derricotte & Michael Janis are all in one bay, facing Laurel Lukaszewski and Novie Trump's setups.
The building is easy to walk thru and see a lot.
Bummer
I'm bummed out because my application to Pulse Miami was rejected. I had applied to bring the work of one of our artists to Pulse.
Young Photographers 2009
Opening Reception and awards ceremony for the "Young Photographers" exhibition is on Saturday, May 30th, 5:00 - 6:30 PM at Photoworks Gallery, 1st Floor Arcade Building in Glen Echo Park, MD.
This exhibition is all about a talented group of photographers from high schools, middle schools and elementary schools throughout the Washington Metropolitan Region.
"What is so gratifying here is to know in one's bones that the young photographers displayed on these walls love the process of making pictures. You don't produce work like this without loving the process -- the physical act of taking photographs."
Frank Van Riper, Juror
Young Photographers Competition
Artists' Websites: Ana Serrano
Came across Ana Serrano's work through Regina Hackett and loved the cardboard work (that's a detail of Serrano's Chalino to the left).
Serrano recently graduated from the Art Center College of Design with honors, and currently resides in Los Angeles.
Visit her website here.
Aqui Estamos talk tonight
If you are around the Northern Liberties' section of Philadelphia later today, drop by Projects Gallery for my talk on the subject of Cuban art.
You can't miss the gallery. It's the one with the giant milk cross by Alejandro Mendoza hanging above it. Talk starts at 6:30PM.
The Power of Democratizing Art
Billed as the first arts competition of its kind to incorporate public voting in an online forum, the inaugural Baker Artist Awards recently invited artists from Baltimore and its surrounding counties to upload examples of their work to a Web site. More than 650 people responded, in disciplines as diverse as drawing, sculpture, painting, photography, video, film, animation, spoken and written word, dance, theater, graphic design and craft.Read WaPo art critic Michael O'Sullivan here.
More than 35,000 visitors to the site then voted on their favorites, narrowing the field to a top 10, from which three were chosen by an interdisciplinary panel of experts to receive $25,000 each, no strings attached. Each of the seven runners-up got a check for $1,000. As with the MacArthur Foundation "genius" fellowships, the judges were anonymous. The money comes from the William G. Baker Jr. Memorial Fund, established in 1964 in memory of a Baltimore investment banker but only focusing on arts and culture since 2007.
And guess what? The results, on view in a bricks-and-mortar showcase at the Baltimore Museum of Art, aren't half bad. You can view, listen to or watch submissions by all 656 artists at http://www.bakerartistawards.org. But to fully appreciate the work of the top three prize-winners -- sculptor John Ruppert, jazz saxophonist Carl Grubbs and Hadieh Shafie, whose works here are in a variety of 2-D media -- you'll need to tear yourself away from your computer.
An ailing art market 
Since the financial crisis began, the art market has taken a series of severe blows and is now subject to various external and internal pressures. In the United States, for example, the fall in private subsidies to the Arts has led to significant personnel reductions at some of the most prestigious museums (the Detroit Institute of Arts and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles have both cut staff by 20%). At the same time, an enormous volume of cash that was fuelling the market has literally disappeared as the new ultra high net worth individuals in Russia, India and Turkey have seen their fortunes substantially diminished (by the end of Q1 2009, the world counted 300 less billionaires) and the banks have stopped financing acquisitions of art works: the giant UBS has closed down its art advisory pole dedicated to buying and selling artworks.Read the analysis in Artprice.com here.
Opportunity for Artists
The Delaplaine Arts Education Center in Frederick, Maryland is seeking proposals for solo and small group shows. They are currently scheduling for 2010-2011. The Center houses 6 galleries; the shows change on a monthly-bimonthly basis.
All media is considered, a preference is given to regional artists, but every properly submitted proposal is reviewed.
For more information please visit their website and download a prospectus from the bottom of the EXHIBITS page or email Diane at dsibbison@delaplaine.org.
Aqui Estamos in City Paper
The Philadelphia City Paper highlights Aqui Estamos, the Cuban group art show that I curated for Projects Gallery in Philadelphia.
Read it here.
National Gallery of Art Returns a Non-Holocaust Painting
Chaim Soutine’s iconic painting entitled Piece de Boeuf (Piece of Beef c. 1923) is being returned to the Shefner Family in resolution of litigation commenced against the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC. From the news release:
A unique and unusual settlement regarding Chaim Soutine’s iconic painting entitled Piece de Boeuf (Piece of Beef c. 1923) was approved last week by Judge Laura Taylor Swain of the Southern District of New York. Pursuant to the settlement, the painting is being returned to the Shefner Family in resolution of litigation commenced against the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., Maurice Tuchman and Esti Dunow, the authors of the Soutine Catalogue Raisonné.
The settlement is believed to be the first time that the National Gallery of Art has deaccessioned a non-Holocaust work of art from its permanent collection. The stated policy of the National Gallery of Art is not to deaccession any of its permanent collection. In consideration of the unique nature of the settlement agreement and the circumstances surrounding the painting’s return, the parties have agreed that the painting shall remain on loan to the National Gallery of Art for the benefit of the American public for the near future.
“The Shefner Family is pleased to be welcoming this iconic Soutine back to their family,” said Karl Geercken, of Alston & Bird LLP, lead attorney for the plaintiff. “We believe this is a positive outcome for all parties involved.”
Chaim Soutine, a Russian-born French expressionist painter, lived from 1893 until 1943. His series of ten beef carcass paintings are considered to be among his most notorious and controversial works. The majority of the beef paintings are currently in prominent museums. This painting is one of the last in the series to be privately owned.
As noted by the National Gallery of Art, Piece of Beef (accession 2004.126.1) is an outstanding example of 20th century expressionist art that makes “deliberate reference to a long tradition of the subjects of butchers, market-stalls, and game in paintings by Rembrandt, Chardin, and Goya, whose works Soutine studied in his visits to the Louvre.” Soutine’s work has also been described as being especially significant during the 1950s to painters such as Willem de Kooning.
Armed Robbery at Dutch Museum
From the Art Loss Register:
In the first of two robberies at Dutch museums this month, two important 20th century artworks were stolen by a group of masked and armed thieves from the Scheringa Museum for Realism, located about 30 miles north of Amsterdam. The robbery occurred around noon on May 1. The artworks, a surrealist gouache by Salvador Dali and an art deco portrait by Tamara de Lempicka, were among the most valuable pictures in the museum's collection.
The theft coincides with a recent interest in Lempicka's work. Days after the heist, a similar painting by Lempicka sold at auction in the US for $6 million, setting the record for the artist. According to the Art Loss Register's database, Salvador Dali is the fourth-most stolen artist, with over 400 artworks currently missing.
Frida Kahlo on Ebay
Wanna own an original Campello vintage 1979?
This drawing of Frida Kahlo by yours truly just made an appearance on Ebay and is going for $40 - certainly a steal on a 20 year-old Campello original.
It is being sold by Americana Illustration Art. I did that drawing while I was a student at the University of Washington School of Art.
Bid on it here. Hurry, the auction ends May 25.
MAP has new director
Cathy Byrd is the new Executive Director of the Maryland Art Place.
After an expansive national search, MAP’s Board of Trustees has selected Cathy Byrd to lead the organization in efforts to maximize its engagement with the Baltimore cultural community. “Cathy's background has prepared her for all of the opportunities available to MAP today. I have confidence that she will lead and strengthen the organization in significant ways,” says Suzi Cordish, Board chairperson.We all wish her the best of luck in her new endeavor!
Ms. Byrd comes to Baltimore after eight years as Director of the Ernest G. Welch School of Art & Design Gallery at Georgia State University in Atlanta. In that position, she conceived and produced a series of contemporary art exhibitions and events that involved extensive local, national and international collaboration and outreach. Among her signature projects are Book Unbound; PG-13: Male Adolescence in a Video Culture; Strange Planet; Potentially Harmful: The Art of American Censorship; Re\constructing Atlanta: a contemporary continuum; and New Wave Atlanta: When Urban Intervention Speaks French . Ms. Byrd is one of three curators currently organizing the exhibition Losing Yourself in the 21st Century through the blog site .
During her tenure in Atlanta, Ms. Byrd co-organized public talks and performances by renowned artists including Ann Hamilton, Janine Antoni, Liliana Porter, Meschac Gaba and Karen Finley. A public art advocate, Ms. Byrd was a member of Atlanta’s Metropolitan Public Art Coalition. She served on review panels for city and county public art projects and for the Hartsfield Jackson International Airport’s newest international terminal. At GSU, she initiated and directed an annual Student Sculpture Garden Project, as well as a sustainable native garden in downtown Hurt Park, a temporary truck fountain in Cleopas R. Johnson Park, and Le Flash, a one-night performance art and installation event in Castleberry Hill District.
Her engaging conceptual projects have been awarded significant funding through local, regional, national and international institutions, including the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Etant donnés: The French American Fund for Contemporary Art, and the Cultural Services of the French, Belgian and Dutch Consulates.
Ms. Byrd has produced books for Potentially Harmful and Re\constructing Atlanta and is currently completing a DVD box set to document New Wave Atlanta. She is a widely published art writer whose reviews and features on artists including Pierre Huyghe, Janet Biggs, Dan Graham, Carrie Mae Weems and Antoni Muntadas have appeared in contemporary magazine, London, Art in America, Sculpture, Art Papers, Beaux Arts and Public Art Review, among other publications.
Call to Artists: In the Spirit of Frida Kahlo
Deadline: June 6, 2009
Frida Kahlo remains one of the most influential artists of the 20th century, but her spectacular life experiences, her writing and her views on life and art have also influenced many artists throughout the years.
From July 1 - August 29, 2009 The Joan Hisaoka Healing Arts Gallery at Smith Farm Center in Washington, DC will be hosting Finding Beauty In A Broken World: In the Spirit of Frida Kahlo.This exhibition hopes to showcase the work in all mediums of artists influenced not only by Kahlo’s art, but also by her biography, her thoughts, and her writing or any other aspect in the life and presence of this remarkable artist who can be interpreted through artwork.
This will be the third Kahlo show that I have juried in the last decade and we are seeking works of art that evoke the prolific range of expression, style and media like that which Frida Kahlo used as an outlet for her life’s experiences.
Get a copy of the prospectus by calling (202) 483-8600 or email gallery@smithfarm.com or download it at www.smithfarm.com/gallery/FINALProspectus.pdf
The Pittman WPA Scam
Some asshole is using the WPA Online Artfile to try to scam artists. If you get an email from ssgpittman115@yahoo.com, claiming to be from a soldier in Iraq, delete it and send the originator a mental curse in the name of some ancient god.
Artists' Websites: Catherine Tafur
New Baltimore Gallery
TAG Gallery is a new space that opened last year in Baltimore. They're located at 732 S. Broadway, Baltimore, MD 21231.
Visit them online here.
Review of Aqui Estamos
Aqui Estamos, the group show of Cuban art that I curated for Projects Gallery in Philadelphia and which is currently on display at that Northern Liberties' gallery gets a cool review in Fallon & Rosof's Artblog.
TAKI 183
Graffiti artists all around the world know the name that started it all: TAKI 183.
As a High School student who lived in Brooklyn but went to High School in Queens, I had about a 90 minute subway ride each morning and each evening going and coming from my High School in Long Island City. It all started in the LL line and finished in the number 7 Flushing Line. All along those trains I was very familiar with TAKI 183's tag, which seemed to be all over and everywhere at once. In fact, I even developed my own little tag back then. I would draw (with a magic marker) a little tombstone and write UNDERTAKER ASH underneath it. I have no idea how I came up with it and what it meant, or even if I had seen it somewhere, but back then any train or subway station that I used to ride had both TAKI 183 and UNDERTAKER ASH all over them.
TAKI 183 was then a kid from 183rd Street in upper Manhattan, TAKI 183’s simple signature (he said it was a diminutive of his Greek name Demetrius) captured the attention of a reporter and, on July 21, 1971, the article “TAKI 183 Spawns Pen Pals” appeared in The New York Times.
Just like that, TAKI 183 became a graffiti legend, but TAKI 183 remained silent. Now, almost four decades later, TAKI 183 has emerged to tell his story.
This new website includes photos of TAKI 183’s work, images of his friends and contemporaries, his true story and, for the first time, official TAKI 183 limited-edition screenprints.
Check the first graffitti superstar here.
Congrats!
The Association for Alternative Newsweeklies announced finalists for its annual prizes today, selecting the Washington City Paper as a top contender in four categories: Photography, Arts Criticism, Media Reporting/Criticism, and Innovation/Format Buster.
My good bud and theory knucklehead and superb painter Jeffry Cudlin, who won the top prize for arts criticism last year, was again named a finalist for 2009. Yay Jeffry!
The great photographer Darrow Montgomery, who’s been shooting for City Paper for 23 years is also a nominee! This is the fourth time Montgomery has been a finalist.
Janis at Duane Reed
That shot above is a partial view of DC's own Michael Janis, whose solo show opened in St. Louis' Duane Reed Gallery's brand new space last Friday.
I hear that Reed's new space in SL is perhaps the most attractive new gallery space in the city. Reed is a powerhouse in the art glass world, but with Janis they have acquired an artist who will help their gallery make the jump from a glass gallery to a fine arts gallery, period.
Buy Michael Janis now.
Opportunity for Artists
Deadline: Saturday May 31, 2009.
Introductions5 at Irvine Contemporary. An exhibition of works by recent art school graduates in August 2009.
Notification: No later than June 21, 2009.
Eligibility: Artists who have graduated in 2008 or 2009 and are available for gallery exhibition. Application must include:
- Artist’s statement.
- Artist’s resume.
- A CD-ROM of up to ten images. For New Media and Time Based Media (Sound, Film/Video, etc) please submit only ten minutes worth of work.
- Self-addressed stamped envelope – required to have submitted materials returned.
Submitted materials will be handled with care, but Irvine Contemporary cannot assume responsibility for lost or damaged materials.
Send to:
Lauren Gentile
Director of Sales
Irvine Contemporary
1412 14th Street, NW
Washington, DC 20005
Call for Presenters for VSA arts International Conference
Submission Deadline: May 29, 2009
VSA arts is seeking presentation proposals from policy-makers, artists, school and program administrators, art organizations, researchers, and educators around the world for its international conference, to be held in Washington, D.C., June 10-12, 2010.
The conference will discuss “Advancing Inclusive Education and 21st-Century Learning Skills Through the Arts”. It will also provide a “Career Development: forum to assist artists with disabilities as they pursue their careers.
Keynote speakers include Kenneth Eklindh, the head of the UNESCO EFA flagship program “The Right to Education for Persons with Disabilities: Towards Inclusion,” Dame Evelyn Glennie, an internationally acclaimed soloist, and Sir Ken Robinson, a renowned expert in the field of creativity.
The conference is part of the 2010 International VSA arts Festival, an international and multicultural event celebrating the accomplishments of artists with disabilities.
Proposed presentations for the conference should reflect the following themes/thematic tracks: the arts and 21st-Century learning skills; inclusive arts curriculum, instruction, and assessment; and career development for artists with disabilities. They should share the presenter’s experience and include evidence-based knowledge of effective research methodology and innovative practices.
Education proposals may include successful arts-education programs within the regular school day, arts-integrated curriculum across the general curriculum, and extracurricular arts activities beyond the regular school day. Topics of discussion for the career development forum will include encouraging business skills and portfolio development, benefits planning, and increasing cultural access and funding. Each session will be in lecture, roundtable, panel, or workshop format. A review committee will select proposals based on their learning objectives and outcomes, expertise on the topic, level of participant involvement, and relevance to the conference’s theme and target audience.
To submit an application, go to vsarts.org for instructions. For questions regarding the conference, please contact Géraldine Simonnet at 1-800-933-8721 or 1-202-628-2800 (voice), 1-202-737-0645 (TTY), or via e-mail at conference@vsarts.org.
The Collector
Will "The Collector" return to Artomatic?
Artomatic 2009: Opens May 29!
Time for DC area art critics to roll their eyes: Artomatic is back and grander than ever!
The tenth version of the massive art shows that artists, collectors, gallerists and the public loves and most DC art critics hate (but would love if it took place in NYC, or Berlin or London) will deliver over five weeks of art, music, theatre, workshops and more this year in Washington, DC's Capitol Riverfront neighborhood from May 29 - July 5.
The 2009 Artomatic will be held at the new building at 55 M Street, S.E. - essentially on top the Navy Yard Metro - celebrating its tenth anniversary in a newly built 275,000 square foot "LEED Silver Class A building", whatever that means.
Held regularly since 1999, Artomatic transforms an unfinished building space into an exciting arts event that is free and open to the public. In addition to displays by hundreds of artists, the event features free films, educational presentations and children's activities, as well as music, dance, poetry, theater and other performances.
Artomatic 2008 attracted a record-breaking 52,500 visitors and 1,540 participating artists. Visit their Flickr site to see over 4,000 photos captured at Artomatic 2008 or check out the below video.
Who will be the emerging art star of this AOM?
Who will be the artist who cracks us up?
Will "The Collector" make a comeback?
Who will be the prima donna?
Congrats!
Congratulations to the District of Columbia Arts Center, which will be celebrating its 20th anniversary with an evening of dance, poetry, performance art, sound installation and live music in Georgetown's gorgeous Halcyon House.
Born in 1989 with the mission of providing the “missing link” between emerging artists and the broader community, DCAC has maintained its place in DC as an organization that operates with the needs of artists in mind, rather than focusing on commercial demands. DCAC also recognizes the need to support ongoing projects, including our Curatorial Initiative, which nurtures upcoming curators and enriches audience engagement with our exhibits, and SPARKPLUG, a collective of local artists and curators who exhibit at DCAC each year.The gala will take place on May 29, 2009, from 6:30 to 10:30pm. The happenings get underway at 6:30 with cocktails and light fare in the gardens and ballroom of the Halcyon House Mansion. There will also be a special VIP reception from 6:30 to 7:30 for the founders, our board of directors, the invitation committee and special level donors. At 8:00, the Studio opens for dancing to the sultry and swining Jenn and the Tonics along with desserts and more cocktails. Throughout the evening there will be performances, exhibited art, video projectors, sound installation, dance and more.
In 1987, a group of artists, arts advocates and administrators came together to address their frustration with DC’s cultural climate. In order to bring local artists closer to the community, arts advocates Aaron Levine, Alice Denney, and Herb White, with the support of councilman William Lightfoot, established a center where local artists would become more visible to the community and receive the support that was largely unavailable. DCAC’s founding board includes artists Jack Rasmussen, Lynn McCary, Sam Gilliam, Greg Hannan, Kathy Keler, Rockne Krebs, Evangeline Montgomery, June Shadoan, and Paula Schumann, critic and curator Annie Gawlak, and arts activist Eden Rafshoon.
Congrats!
To DC's own Michael Janis, whose solo show opened in St. Louis' Duane Reed Gallery last Friday.
And the DC Commission on the Arts has awarded Janis a 2009 Artist Fellowship. They are awarded to individual artists who make significant contributions to the arts and who promote the arts in the District of Columbia through artistic excellence. The Fellowship is funded in part by the DC Commission on the Arts & Humanities, an agency supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts.
Oldest figurative art
"The 40,000-year-old carved figure of a voluptuous woman was excavated in Germany. It 'radically changes our views of the context and meaning of the earliest Paleolithic art,' its discoverer says."
Read the LA Times story here.
