The Final Artomatic Top 10 Artists of 2009

Happy 4th of July! I've been working on this list forever, and superbusy on other stuff (more on those news later); but here it is!

With around 1,000 artists at AOM, it is pretty difficult, if not truly impossible to pick a list of the top 10 artists there and immediately piss off 990.

To make things easier for me, this year I decided to limit my own personal recommendations to artists whose work I am/was not overly familiar with or whose work I had not see before; so no Tim T., no Laurel L., no Kelly T., no Michael J., etc. in this list.

Canpello's top 10 AOM artists are listed in alphabetical order.

Sarah Blood - Space 513 0n the 5th floor. This British artist has some of the most memorable work in AOM this year. Her work is elegant and sophisticated, and easily amongst the best 3D work in the show, but she is in an universe by herself when it comes to the marriage of neon to glass and sculpture.

When one views her work, the viewer is left amazed not only by the technical skill and dexterous facility with which she handles the medium, but also how she makes an inherent gaudy and repetitive component (such as neon is) seem fresh and cool each time. Hers is the best neon work that I have ever seen.

David D'Orio. His work is at space 909 on the 9th floor. Add him to the list of amazing glass artists who are reinventing the genre one piece at a time. The latest from his "Feeder" project (detail to left) stands out in the 2009 Artomatic already showcasing the work of some very good glass artists from the area and Great Britain.

It is no secret that the Greater DC area has become one of the great fine art glass magnets in the world, and in this abundant sea of glass talent, D'Orio's glasswork stands out in a singularly unique way.

This is no small accomplishment when one also looks at the breath taking work of the British glass artists participating in this year's AOM as well as the many Washington Glass School artists and students in the show. Glass was possibly the strongest category in this year's AOM and D'Orio's work still managed to stand out.

James Halloran - Space 809 on the 8th floor. I know that I am a sucker for technical skill in any genre, but technical skill alone does not a good artist make.

Halloran's paintings appear very simple in composition and color schemes at first view, but once you study them they rank amongst the best paintings at AOM that I have seen in years and showcase what a very good painter can do with a very restricted palette of colors. This is another artist whose work would sell well at art fairs.

Rania Hassan - Space 903 on the 9th floor. I think that I know by now... and so I think that what Rania Hassan is doing in her ongoing marriage of knitting and painting is unique, maybe in the world. It sounds a little odd in words, so you need to see it to see what I mean.

It is not only clever, but also visually intriguing and breaks a very difficult three dimensionality aspect that many "painters" try to broach.

Jeannette L. Herrera - Space 210 on the 2nd floor. This blue face killer is all over the map with her artwork, and yet she covers that map very well. She makes and sells everything: T-shirts, buttons, stickers, skateboards, shoes, custom made frames, etc.

She is a GerhardtRichterian artist in the sense that her artwork is about what interests and makes her tick, not what the critics dictate. I love the energy and drive and zeal behind her work; it's like an artistic hurricane in violent motion at all times.

I know a lot of accomplished artists, now in the October of their careers (the best time for hurricanes) who wish they could find a way to rediscover 10% of the energy and intelligence that Herrera drives through your brain with paint-stained nails in each of her paintings.

Deb Jansen. Space 804 on the 8th floor. Seldom does a great artistic shout like Jansen's "Catharsis & Karma: An Open Thank You Letter to a Homewrecker" installation says it all for one artist, and as Jansen is a young artist, we have many years ahead to watch where she goes from here.

Having said that, her brilliant dedication and "this-is-not-a-revenge" discussion of the world's most expensive blow job as Jansen thanks the "other" woman who freed her from an allegedly abusive and destructive marriage was without a doubt, at least the multiple times that I visited AOM, the hit of the show, and it earns Jansen a top 10 ranking. I'll say it again: this alone is worth a visit to AOM.

Susan La Mont. Space 203 on the second floor. I know that I have mentioned this artist's work before, but AOM gave me the first opportunity to examine a lot of her work all in one place.

And while Dr. La Mont still has a lot of painting and examinations and thinking and work to create and do ahead of her, this Pratt Institute graduate's artwork shows the sophistication, elegance and artistic merit and weight that causes it to stand apart in the immense AOM world of painters.

Jessica Van Brakle. Space 916 on the 9th floor. When I was first exploring the 9th floor I almost missed Jessica's work.

Lucky for her, I was attracted by the work of Jenny Walton, and once that caught my eye, it was natural for me to be magnetized also by her neighbor's work. Vna Brakle's work is refreshing and very strong for such a young painter. If my fellow art dealers were to ask me about who to pick today and take to an art fair tomorrow and sell a lot of work, I would immediately send them to this new painter.

Megan Van Wagoner is a prime example of what happens when you pass judgement on an entire show without taking the proper time to examine the show.

I've never seen her work before, and the first time that I walked by her booth I almost missed it, as my eyes and brain were beginning to hit overload. But it did catch my eye and on the second visit, following my notes I went straight to her space on space 811 on the 8th floor. Let me say it succinctly: this will be the artist whose work stood out as the most technically brilliant in AOM and whose presentation was the most professional.

It is ready for prime time and I bet that she goes places fast. I can dream of a show of her work next to Joshua Levine out in the Left Coast.

Sean Welker. 712 on the 7th floor. This is an artist turning technology around on the viewer. When I first saw Sean Welker's drawings, I thought that they were prints. When I returned and talked a little to Sean, I discovered that they were each an individual drawing expressing Welker's interest in sugar skulls, matryoshka dolls, maneki neko figures and other odd elements.

Push the medium of drawing to a level where the artist says to the reproduction genre: I can do each one by hand. It is a novel twist on taking the short cut to everything. This artist will make DC look good all over the nation in the near future. Check out his sugar skulls here.

Tomorrow is the last day to see Artomatic; if you haven't been, and call yourself a member of the Greater DC area arts community, this is your last change to get there or have your membership in the community revoked.

You get a second chance of sorts in a gallery setting as my former gallery, Bethesda's Fraser Gallery continues a tradition started many Artomatics ago with Ms. Fraser's selection of her "Best of Artomatic 2009" with work by AOM artists Jennifer Bishop, Deb Jansen, Edward Johnston, Christine Keers, Andrew Livingstone, Brain Lusher, Joanne Mitchell, Molly Sheldon, Frank Turner and Andrew Zimmermann. An opening reception will be held in conjunction with the "Bethesda Art Walk" on Friday, July 10 from 6PM - 9PM.

I'm heading out West tomorrow... more from the California desert later, including my choice as the best artist in Artomatic for 2009.

Happy 4th of July! America rocks!

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My Artomatic picks

Now that I have visited Artomatic three times, I have finally managed to cover all nine floors of art of that mega art exhibition, easily the largest group art show on planet Earth.

Nine floors of artwork and 1,000 artists; not an easy task for anyone to review and interpret, much less critics used to gallery-sized art shows.

Last year's AOM set a new record with over 70,000 visitors, and I found out a few days ago that they are about 12,000 visitors ahead of last year's pace at this time. The show ends July 5.

This year I decided not only to pick my usual group of Top 10 artists there, but to isolate and keep that coveted list to ten "new" artists, or at least new to me, or newer. So I will skip all the blue chip artists in the show who obviously stand out. People like Laurel Lukaszewski, Kelly Towles, Tim Tate, Michael Janis and a Hamiltonian Fellow or two.

Instead, my focus will be ahhh... focused on a newer set of fresh artwork and names. But first, some special mentions to other people who caught my eye for other various and sundry reasons (including some who also made the Top 10 List).

Best Installation Award - Easily won by Deb Jansen's "Catharsis & Karma: An Open Thank You Letter to a Homewrecker" installation, dedication and not-a-revenge discussion of the world's most expensive blow job as Jansen thanks the "other" woman who freed her from an allegedly abusive and destructive marriage. This alone is worth a visit to AOM.

Best Female Nude Photography - There are dozens and dozens of female nude photographers at AOM, and curiously not so many male nude photogs. The vast majority of these female nudes pics are mildly interesting, some almost cross the soft porn border (unlike past AOM's where hardcore porn was almost always present), but most are in the OK category. The best in this vast offering of female flesh, and best by far, is the newer work of Fierce Sonia, an artist whose work I hadn't seen since I included her in "Seven" more than four years ago. Sonia's work has grown and matured into not only a seductive celebration of the female body, but also an intelligent marriage of digital manipulation of the figure that while still revealing that subtle erotic nature which is a key part of all of her work, it also begins to substantiate her work as photography that is pushing the boundaries of eroticism into a new digital valley of visual surprises.

Second Best Female Nude Photography - Abbie Miller; superbly sexy work.

Best Glass Artist - David D'Orio's latest from his "Feeder" project stands out in an Artomatic showcasing the work of some very good glass artists. It is no secret that the Greater DC area has become one of the great fine art glass magnets in the world, and in this abundant sea of glass talent, D'Orio's glasswork stands out in a singularly unique way. This is no small accomplishment when one also looks at the breath taking work of the British glass artists participating in this year's AOM as well as the many Washington Glass School artists and students in the show. Glass was possibly the strongest category in this year's AOM and D'Orio's work still managed to stand out.

Best Use of Aluminum - Clearly a homerun for Eve Hennessa's cool and clever sculptures. Also hottest-looking robot on "Meet the Artists" Night.

Weirdest Art - Steven Jones's oddly and slightly macabre human-chicken babies (is that what they are?). They've caught my eyes two years in a row and they fascinate me in a very odd way.

Best Monotypes - Jenny Walton's monotypes are elegant and deceptively minimalist.

Best Marriage of Genres - I don't know for sure. but I think that what Rania Hassan is doing in her marriage of knitting and painting is unique, maybe in the world. And it is not only clever, but also visually intriguing and breaks a very difficult three dimensionality aspect.

Most Blasphamous Art - Dana Ellyn's art takes no prisoners and her caustic observations though her skilled brush are always a sure pick. This year she takes on The Christ in many of her pieces. Now I want to see her bring Allah down a notch or two.

Second Most Blasphemous Art - "The Passion of Snoopy" by Will Mallon.

Best Portrait of Che Guevara - Yay for Matt Sesow, who brings the Argentinean psychopath to a very scary level as he tackles the 20th century's most famous face.

Best Portrait in General - Joe Granski.

Freshest New Portrait Artist - Greg Scott's portraits are very cool.

Worst Signature - Greg Scott; smaller Hancock's dude!

Best Large Work - The gorgeous wood work by Sergio Martinez.

Best Wall Sculpture - Leila Holtsman was my top AOM pick last year and since then her career has blossomed and her return to AOM this year didn't disappoint. Her large wall sculpture at AOM is the price steal of the show. One of you needs to go buy this piece right away.

Best New Painter - Although she doesn't have a very good spot at AOM, Jessica Van Brakle will be in 2-3 galleries around the Mid Atlantic by this time next year. Her refreshing work will also sell well at art fairs. Buy her paintings now.

Best Abstract Painting - I like the geometrical, textured work of Jorge Caligiuri.

Best Monochromatic Realist Painter - Superb works by James Halloran rank amongst the best paintings at AOM and showcase what a very good painter can do with a very restricted palette of colors.

Best Sculpture - Megan Van Wagoner's "Comforts of Home" are elegant and sophisticated works by an artist who is completely new to me. They showcase a level of skill in both delivering the art commodity itself as well as its presentation (a set of skills that many AOM artists need to learn desperately). This is an artist to keep an eye on.

Best Printmaker - Johanna Mueller's prints showcase an enviable set of printmaking skills married to a very active visual imagination. I am buying one of her pieces; her work is one of the best deals at AOM. She is a very talented artist and we will keep an eye on her work.

Artist Most Likely To Get Sued - Wait until the Dora, The Explorer people find out what Andrew Wodzianski's brilliant but disturbed mind has done to adorable Dora. Someone needs to buy that piece of art now, before it is confiscated by cartoon moguls.

Best Minimalist Sculpture - m. gert barkovic's refreshing employment of everyday objects, in this case sheets (I think), deliver a new twist on artists who re-use common objects to invent intelligent art forms. But in barkovic's case, they look like art, rather than cleverly titled junk in a gallery.

Best Barbie Art - This is a very tough category, as nearly all the Barbie artworks at AOM are clever and well-done. But Michele Banks' "Army of Terracotta Barbies" will one day, 100 years from now, befuddle and astound the art experts of the Antique Road Show. For now, I like it a lot! Hey Michelle: Wanna trade?

Best Repetitive Artwork - When I first saw Sean Welker's drawings, I thought that they were prints. When I returned and talked a little to Sean, I discovered that they were each an individual drawing expressing Welker's interest in sugar skulls, matryoshka dolls, maneki neko figures and other odd elements. Welker would have easily also won the "Best Skeleton Art" category, but it wouldn't be fair to give him two awards. This guy is one of the best artists at AOM.

Best Digital Manipulator - Suffice it to say that Mark Parascandola had me fooled. This guy belongs in the next 10 DC landscape photography shows; the photographs are clever and refreshing!

Best Neon Artist - Sarah Blood has some of the most memorable work in AOM this year. Her work is elegant and sophisticated, and easily amongst the best 3D work in the show, but she is in an universe by herself when it comes to the marriage of neon to glass and sculpture. Buy Sarah Blood.

Best Drawing - Tie between Rita Elsner and the amazing Ben Tolman.

Largest Penis Artwork - Easily won by many inches by the very skilled "Bip" Diggs.

Best Erotica - J.R. Harke.

Worst Erotica - Too many to mention!

Best Lovecraftian Artist - Jeannette Herrera has a wall full of gems and she's easily one of the key finds at AOM. Her Cthulhu reference gets her extra points.

Best Portrait - Margaret Dowell's portrait of Joseph Barbaccia runs away with this very competitive category.

Best Fruit Painting - "Fruit Bowl" by Nabila A. Isa-Odidi; the way the banana absorbs the space is terrific.

Best Pastel Artist - Ellen Cornett has superb mastery of this most difficult genre.

Best Small Oil - A series of georgeous small nudes by Christine Bailey.

Best Robot Art - This was not an easy category to win, as there are a lot of robots at AOM this year! But the best ones are the cute ones by Candace Keegan.

Best Skeleton - OK, so I lied and Jeannette Herrera wins this category too and wins two awards.

Best Combo Skeleton-Robot Art - Todd Gardner.

Best B&W Artist - Everytime that I see Ben Tolman's art I am more and more amazed.

Scariest Art in AOM - Mark Eason.

Most Minimalist Art in Show - A brilliant installation work by JT Kirkland. No one will ever do better.

Second Most Minimalist - Lisa K. Rosenstein.

Best New Realist - Susan La Mont did not disappoint when viewed up close.

Best Male Nude - Geoff Ault.

Scariest Painter of Babies - The most excellent work of Phyllis Mayes; she's a very good painter.

Best Statuary - Brian Lusher is a riot.

Artist Most Influenced by WGS - The glass work of Carlos Rodriguez.

Best Bugs - Erika Rubel.

Best Vegetable - "My Dancing Red Chili Peppers" by Soline Krug.

Harshest Model Pose - The naked women with massive breasts stretched out with their legs grappling the rough bark of trees in Bert HeNe's photo.

Best Video - Tim Tate.

Best Sculptural Drawings - Laurel Lukaszewski.

Scariest Monkey Painting - Jared Davis.

Potential Arsonist - Paula Katharina Rylands... I bet her favorite song is by the Ohio Players.

Second Best Arsonist - Andrea Noble.

Best Metal - Hamiltonian Fellow Michael Enn Sirvet.

Best Obama Likeness - Roy Utley.

Worst Obama - Joshua Tiktin from planet YoMomma.

Best Obama Deal - Kimberly Keyes Stark; great deal at $150 a piece.

Lustiest Obama Portrait - Roger James' piece which has Obama breathing into Michelle's ear.

Scariest Nudes - Elizabeth Crisman' they're good but scary... a little.

Most Illegal Art - "Merry Hollow Days" by Gary Irby.

Best Nipple-less Boobs - Torso by Howard Connelly.

Sexiest Photo in all of AOM - There's an image by Julia Mazur that depicts a gorgeous and voluptous woman sitting on a fire escape ladder and she seems to be peeping on a nude, skinny woman who is sitting on a window sill. The back lighting on the skinny woman is so strong that all the delicate hairs on her body are highlighted to such a harsh extreme that they make her look like a nude beast. It is an amazing photo!

Most Fragile Work - UK artist Steven Revely's spectacularly delicate work is a wonder of glass.

Best Female Ass - One of the pics by Rodney Mickle.

Best Vagina Art - Kerry Britton.

Best Artist Channeling Dali - Dejan Roncevic.

Best Animal Art - Caren Quinn

Best Artist Channeling Van Gogh - "Smoking Skull" by Eric Jaeckel.

Best Portrait Photographer - Matt Dunn.

Best Religious Art - WOW Jen Dixon!

Best New WGS Artist - Paula Hoffman

Best Landscape - Kathryn Trillas.

Second Best Landscape - Michael Pierce.

Best Pen & Ink and WC - Emily Sloat; superbly refreshing!

Best Teapots - Laura Peery.

Next: My AOM Top 10.

Frida Kahlo inspired show opens tomorrow

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 showcases the work in all mediums of artists selected by me and whose work is 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 powerful artist.

Frida Kahlo's artistic footprint in 21st century artists from all over.


This is the third Kahlo show that I have juried in the last decade and I am floored by the range of work and interpretations that I selected. Wait until you see how an amazing Bulgarian photographer channels Kahlo! Or Katya Romero's gorgeous work (that's her Petalos Negros to the right).

You can start seeing the show on July 1st, and the opening reception & awards will be Friday, July 17, 2009, from 5:30 – 8:00PM.

See ya there!

Artomatic Top 10

My AOM Top 10 and some other artists of note... coming later today.

Things I learn on I-95

Over the last three years I have driven up and down I-95 hundreds of times; from Philly to New York, from Philly to Richmond, and most often, from Philly to DC and back.

Useless fact: It is exactly 90 miles from my house to the entrance of the tunnel at Baltimore. Not 90.1 or 89.8, but 90!

I'v driven up and down 95 over and over and over, at all times of the day, night and those odd hours of the early morning when radio frequency propagation allows one to listen to all those crazy shows (about aliens and the coming Rapture) that seem to be popular in the Midwest.

Every time that I'm on I-95 at 4AM, I am always amazed by the number of cars on the road. Who in the hell are all those people and where are they fucking going so early in the morning? I sometimes wonder if they think the same questions about me as we exchange glances as we pass each other.

That New York to the South I-95 corridor has many interesting nuances, twists and turns, as well as several rip offs, most notably the entire state of Delaware, so proud of the fact that they have no taxes.

I know why Delaware has no sales taxes.

It is because the entire state's budget is completely accounted and paid for by the multiple tolls that they charge for the privilege of driving on I-95 through all 600 feet of Delaware; multiple tolls!

The billions of dollars in tolls that Delaware gets sounds like a lot of money, but that monetary candy store pales in comparison to the trillions of wasted hours that drivers pile on as they wait in the never ending lines in Delaware tolls.

I have one of those electronic "easy pass" badges on my windshield that allows me to drive through the special gates, but even those gates often back up as the I-95 cash cow devours billions in tolls.

I have also learned many things as I observe life behind the metal and glass super space ship that is my minivan.

Today, for miles I wind-drafted behind a speeding Megabus making its run between NYC and DC.

For the first time I noticed how scary the Megabus driver icon is when blown to bus-sized proportions. The entire rear of the huge bus is painted with the pig-colored face of the megabus icon driver, his scary blue eyes staring at me as I tail the bus; big smile on his face.

A huge, huge face staring at me; his belt-buckle at the bottom of the bus, and his yellow hat at the top, the rest is mostly a huge, huge, pink face, a scary smile and even scarier eyes.

And then I noticed that he is wearing earrings!

Not just any earrings, but bright, ruby red earrings!

You see, when the huge image was spray painted or glued on, or however they apply those images onto the bus surfaces, the driver's two earlobes align perfectly with the monster bus's upper rear brake lights.

And every time the bus's real driver steps on the brakes, his caricature icon guy on the rear has red earrings that illuminate and glow bright red!

The megabus driver has earrings! That's why he is smiling! And I am no longer a little afraid of him.

Things learned on I-95.

Tomorrow in Rehoboth

New art gallery opens in Rehoboth tomorrow!

Located at 20 Baltimore Avenue in the heart of Rehoboth Beach, GALLERY C is the area's latest contemporary fine art display space.

The new gallery is host to monthly exhibitions featuring original works of contemporary fine art by regional, national, and international artists.

Gallery exhibitions will be curated by my good friend and acclaimed visual artist Michael Sprouse, who is also Executive Director of the gallery.

Sprouse was the owner and curator for the acclaimed Eklektikos Gallery of Art in Washington, DC for 11 years prior to moving to the Rehoboth Beach area in 2002.

The reception is from 6 pm - 9 pm, on Saturday, June 27th, 2009; meet the artists and enjoy complimentary wine and hors d'oeuvres, courtesy of Lupo Di Mare, OVATIONS restaraunt & lounge, and others).

Frank Hyder’s Persistent Dream

Wanna go to a Philly opening tonight? The Persistent Dream is a mixed media installation by Frank Hyder at the Moore College of Art and Design in Philadelphia, curated by Lorie Mertes. The show opens tonight!



This exhibition brings together elements from Hyder's recent explorations of forms and dream-like images in both two and three dimensions. The majestic space of the College entrance lends a satisfying combination of dramatic exterior and interior views of these new works.

Moore College of Art & Design
20th & The Parkway

June 26 - September 2, 2009
Opening Friday, June 26 - 6 to 8 p.m.

Augusten Burroughs

I've come across an author that has kindled something that I haven't had happen to me since the 80s: A raging need to devour his books one right after the other.

It's a rather unhealthy habit, because one reads them too fast (wanting to get to the next book) and then, later on, one has to re-read them, just to see what I missed. I'm reading Possible Side Effects now.

Augusten Burroughs is a witty, intelligent, funny and eloquent writer with a well-honed set of literary skills and a superbly conditioned stack of writing muscles.

This is a visual arts blog, but every once in a while I meander around (I love that word: meander, especially when applied to the Greek architectural element that no one else knows about) to books, movies, etc.

In fact, his stories have given me some new ideas for some drawings... expect to see some Augusten Burroughs inspired art soon.

Read Augusten Burroughs now!

Mark Planisek

Just received the news that DC area artist Mark Planisek, who had a terrible accident over the weekend, has passed away.

I first met Mark when he used to hang out and exhibit at the eklektikos gallery in Georgetown. That gallery was in the same Canal Square location as the original Fraser Gallery. At that time, back in the mid-late 90s, there were seven art galleries in that square.

Mark was not only one of the friendliest and nicest persons that you ever met, but also a superbly talented artist.

A few years ago, both him and Anne, and I were staying at a common friend's house in Los Angeles. Mark and Anne were there for a week, and as I was over in San Diego at that time, I drove over to see them and spend the weekend at the house.

We were sitting outside in the garden, when Mark noted that some of the tiles in our host's house were loose. Suddenly Planisek was climbing the roof and to my amazement spent the next hour or so fixing the roof!

We will miss you Mark...

Opportunity for Artists

Deadline: September 18, 2009

Call for Proposals. Purdue University Galleries (West Lafayette, Indiana) is currently reviewing proposals for an exhibition of contemporary art relating to the Langston Hughes poem "A Dream Deferred" and contemporary socioeconomic challenges facing minorities in the United States. The exhibition will be presented in the Stewart Center Gallery from January 11 through February 21, 2010 in conjunction with a presentation of "A Raisin in the Sun" at Civic Theatre of Greater Lafayette.

Work must be available to be exhibited at that time. There is no entry fee. All media are eligible, including new and emerging technologies. Exhibit will be curated from submissions and may feature a single artist or group of artists. Applicants should send cover letter describing proposed exhibit and estimated expenses, examples of current work (up to 20 jpegs on CD or DVD for time-based media - no slides), resume, artist statement, and SASE to:

Craig Martin
Purdue University Galleries
Yue-Kong Pao Hall of Visual & Performing Arts
552 West Wood St
West Lafayette IN 47907-2002

Or call 765-494-3061 or email cdmartin@purdue.edu

Pinkin' this Friday



Love Thy Neighbor
Policy Brand Trunk Show and Happy Hour
Featuring new DC-inspired clothing
Friday, June 26
6 - 10 pm
@1240 9th Street, NW
(enter through Blagden Alley...next to Fight Club)
Yummy food by Chix
Killer beats by DJ Obeyah and DJ Small Axe

Lisa Rosenstein's Top AOM artists

Alex Zealand - sculptor; she uses recycled/sustainable materials to create works of great delicacy and beauty. She was in a show with Adam Eig (another talented sculptor) at the new artdc.org gallery in Hyattsville. She had made a sculptural bowl out of grape stems that was so beautiful to look at, and the shadows it cast were just as nice to look at.

Barry Schmetterer - photography, deeply thoughtful and masterful works that give the viewer a space for contemplation.

Steven Reveley - glass artist; the first time that I saw this glass work my breath stopped at the combination of strength and fragility.

Sherill Gross - paper artist; the intricacy of her work blows my mind.

Jessica Hensley - collagist-self taught; very intentional fine workmanship, good compositions

Ben Toller - drawing; this guy is amazing. His eye and line are beyond belief. I saw his work at the O street studio a month or so ago. He's starting to paint, and already is above and beyond most; his work makes me think of Hieronymous Bosch.

Jeannette Herrerra - She's a little bit (actually a lot!) outsider art - very talented, self taught painter, very, very prolific. Both my kids bought her work at AOM last year with their own money. My son who was 14 at the time spotted her work first.

m. gert barkovic - saw this outrageous sculpture my first go round, had taken a pic and sent to the artist (whose name I then forgot). Just received an e-mail in response - yay! This one should have gotten one of those Renwick craft awards-Highest Honor.

Laurel Lukaszewski - just love her work.

Mark Planisek

Just received the terrible news that DC area artist Mark Planisek had a horrible accident over the weekend.

Apparently Mark was coming out of the Arlington Arts Center and about to was crossing the street, when a car peeled off, causing him to retreat backwards onto the sidewalk; he tripped on the curb and fell backwards, and was struck by a car and received a really bad head injury.

Planisek is in ICU and we're all hoping and praying for the best, but I am sad to say that his family has been told to prepare for the worst.

AOM Benefactor Letter 2

(Via Tammy Vitale):

If you got one...

The last "benefactor claimant asserted that he/she had mailed out 50 letters to AOM artists.

If you got one, either drop me an email or leave a comment.

Tammy Vitale's AOM Top 10

From DC area artist Tammy Vitale:

Wanted to give a shout out to some artists whose work I have really enjoyed this year. I hate to call it a Top Ten...mostly because I have others I really like. These folks, however, took the time to "talk" with me (via interviews on my blog), so I know them better and appreciate their work even more.

Patricia Hartnett: there is an underlying magic to the small paintings of a girl and a bird (birds), the twig tree - all things that call me in to visit with the work and hear it's stories. There are secrets here and I want to spend time learning them.

Tracey Clarke: also weaves a mythological land for her work. "The Guardian" caught my eye, the LLama with butterflies (whose title I don't know) kept me there delightedly smiling. I could live with any of her work forever (pretty much my criteria for "great art").

Krissy Downing - and not the first time. Her whimsical sense of humor always makes me smile. But this year, she added "Child in Branches"...not whimsical. More melancholy. Wonderful!

Alex Zealand - because I never quite know what it is I'm looking at. This year's piece was first rain, then harp strings, then a flock of birds. Doesn't get boring!

Jane Braoaddus - because her dolls are slightly wicked, and call forth the dark side. I like that (not to mention wonderfully and imaginatively executed).

Sofya Mervis: more dark side, pursuing a quest I visit in Body Politics: what is real beauty? why do women allow themselves to be co-opted by a marketing media that does not have their best interests in mind as it totes that "perfect" look? Pretty much: when will we (women) learn?

Susan LaMont - color. Lots of lush color. And underlying all that color, some tale is being told by juxtaposition of light and shadow. Mesmerizing!

Kim Reyes - always shows something that absolutely captures me. More often than not, several somethings. This year she has returned to her necklaces with ceramic focal pieces - the work that first caught my eye at AOM02. And Departing (ceramic and chicken bones) stopped me in my tracks. Reminescent of her work last year, it has to be a personal story, but there wasn't a tour for me learn the back history on it - my loss. (I don't have an interview with her but I have known and loved her work since my first ArtOMatic so I'd be remiss if I didn't mention her).

John Grunwell because I fell in love with his cat portrait at AOM02 and have enjoyed watching his style emerge and develop.

David Alfuth - His work amazes me. And he really really worked with me to get an interview in for my blog (computer troubles). I guess you have to have infinite patience as a characteristic to make his creations!

And like I said, there are many many more pieces I could cite and artists I could name. What I like about ArtOMatic lately is that one can watch certain artists as they move forward in their artistic process. Fascinating to watch unfold, inspiring to see their tenacious movement toward unrealized vision that is revealing itself as they go.

Dueling Benefactors

Remember when I pointed you to artdc.org for the fascinating thread discussion on Artomatic's "Benefactor?"

The WaPo's Reliable Source picks up the story and wrote a little piece on it here. This apparently stirred up a hornet's nest and now there are two dueling entities who both claim to be the "benefactor."

The first one is allegedly an older lady and she wrote this letter:

To Whom It May Concern:

I wish to convey my regrets for any concern I have caused the artists of Artomatic. I meant no harm. You may well imagine my surprise at seeing my small gesture reported upon in the Washington Post.

Allow me to explain myself. Since the passing of my husband of 43 years I have not been as socially active as I once was. My daughter, Margaret, accompanied me to the Artomatic Fair some weeks ago. I was enchanted by the work I was able to view. I was not able to tour the entire show but the work that I saw touched my heart and brightened my day. My income is limited so Margaret suggested I send a small token of my appreciation to some of the artists who touched me most.

I have asked Margaret to leave this note with the Directors of Artomatic. I do so hope that I have caused no lasting distress to all of the delightful artists in your show.

I wish you well in all of your future endeavors.

With warmest regards,

The Benefactor

Which caused someone else to become an artdc poster and he/she added this on their forum:

I don't have time to make this rhyme:

The letter "Rebecca" received was a fake

my letters are center-justified, the fake was left justified

I sent everything by US mail

the fake was delivered in person

I have sent out about 50 letters and I know to whom

can the impostor give you a list of all the artists that were sent letters? I doubt it

I would have ignored the fake letter, but I decided to clear things up when I heard Tammy V was offering art to the writer of the fake letter.

Please don't expect any response to questions or comments. I am only here to expose the fake.

I prefer the printed word to the internet.

don't worry, be happy

Thanks for the art

The Benefactor

All the details here.

Wanna go to an art opening in Baltimore this week?

Robin Tierney's Artomatic picks

Robin Tierney is a freelance writer and art critic who writes for a lot of different magazines, newspapers and online outlets, including this one. She responds to my call for AOM favorites and sends the below report, which once again proves that my Billy Artsy critic caricature is imperfect to say the least!

10 works that I enjoyed at Artomatic by artists I’ve never written about before:

* Edward Hahn’s photographs of a wrecked sailing vessel in Oregon, eroded moorings in Ocean City and other images in the series “The Planet Fights Back.”

* Tracey Clarke’s oil painting of The Guide with her telling of new mythology.

* Johanna Mueller’s intricate prints of animals in mythical and mysterious settings that suggests really good fables and dreams.

* Pam Barton’s “I thought you loved me” metal art in her motif jewelry display.

* Lisa Schumaier’s raku-fired, papier mache, mixed media sculpted beings. Eerie and wondrous stories there.

* Deb Jansen’s fiber Homewrecker Dolls $100 per skank accompanied by Catharisis & Karma open letter. Ouch. Oooh. Fury, the great motivator.

* Jenny Walton’s big monotypes that seem to visually articulate some deep thought. Or maybe just random ones. In any case, she snagged a Pyramid Atlantic residency.

* Nabila Isa-Odidi’s acrylic of the little girl in “Yellow Dress.”

* David Alfuth’s funny surreal cut-paper stories. Go on be snarky...some folks like reality TV; I like things that tell stories.

* Noisebots by Elliot Williams. Artful, amusing science projects/audio sculptures. Photocells respond to light. Did you move the mic around? Flip the switch? Go back and check ‘em out. Nice view of the new stadium from there too.

And while not exactly enjoyable, Antomatic by Rebecca and Eric Gordon calls attention to the plight of the bumble bee. The world is losing the bees pollinate the crops that feed us. This easy-to-miss multimedia installation prompts thought. A good addition to the sensory arcade that makes Artomatic worth multiple visits. Go.

Less bucks?

Journalists like to think of their work in moral or even sacred terms. With each new layoff or paper closing, they tell themselves that no business model could adequately compensate the holy work of enriching democratic society, speaking truth to power, and comforting the afflicted.

Actually, journalists deserve low pay.

Wages are compensation for value creation. And journalists simply aren't creating much value these days.

Until they come to grips with that issue, no amount of blogging, twittering, or micropayments is going to solve their failing business models.

Read the CSM article here.

Opportunities for Publication panel

This weekend I'll be participating in a closed discussion panel titled "Opportunities for Publication" as part of the 2009 International Arts Journalism Institute in the Visual Arts, a program sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts and the U.S. State Department and hosted by American University.

The panel is moderated by Michael Wilkerson, who is the Director, Program in Arts Management at American University.

The other two panelists are András Szántó, one of the founding members of Art World Salon and the one and only Culturegrrl, Lee Rosenbaum.

TV on AOM

DC's Channel 8 does a piece on Artomatic:

Gopnik on the Venice Biennale

As always, the Biennale is certain to set out plenty of junk. And a handful of gems.

Sounds a lot like Artomatic, doesn't it? Anyway, read this really excellent article by the Washington Post's Chief Art Critic here.

Break a leg!

Put on your poodle skirt, bellbottoms, hot pants, miniskirt, or granny dress. Just don't miss my baby daughter Elise Campello in "Sixties Chicks," a musical celebration of the women who reflected and influenced a decade of transformation through the power of rock'n'roll.

Opening night is tonight and it is sold out! Details here.

That's Elise to the left, with Melissa Fleming in the background.

Pat Goslee's Top 20

DC artist Pat Goslee responds to my call for Top 10 Artomatic artists and she sends a list of 20 artists who interest her and about whom she never heard of before and discovered at AOM:

Christin Boggs

Rachel Thern

Megan Van Wagoner -- damn fine installation, fine fine artist, fine fine designer.

David D'Orio - (Executive Director of DC Glass Works) I had never heard of him before.

m. gert barkovic

Michelle Soy Sauce Chin

Richard J Bailey - my favorite installation that I can't capture with my camera so y'all just have to go back and experience it for yourself if you missed this

Alex Goldschmidt - lots of bargains @ $25

Megan Rall - lushishly liminal

Lizbeth Kaufman

Matty Burns (Hickling) Danny: The Astronaut Deer

Shawn Behling -- all pieces cost no more than the equivalent of minimum wage for time spent on the piece.

Susan Chapin

Christian Tribastone

Jessica Van Brakle

PRANG

Corwin Levi

Sean Welker

Yelena Rodina

Kate Foley -- she really did a nice job with a unique display system for her photographs

Meinir Wyn Jones (Sunderland UK artist)


By Lizbeth Kaufman; she says:

The work I am exhibiting at Artomatic are photographs I've taken over the past year and a half. Originally the photographs had nothing to do with each other. But as I arranged them for this show I realized that they come together into some kind of evidence, like snapshots from the scene of a crime.

I grew up in New York City, and I graduated from Yale University in 2008 where I studied Chinese and Photography. I now live and work in Washington DC.

Too bad Lizbeth Kaufman doesnt seem to have a website; she uses a 4x5 view camera... strange and beautiful takes. That is what struck me -- these disparate images were weird, part of some unknown whole.

- Pat

Maher on Obama

"What he needs in his personality is a little George Bush ... What we need to do is to marry the good ideas that Barack Obama has with a little bit of that Bush attitude and certitude."

Hacketting

Art magazines and art blogs are the journalistic equivalent of studio art, while an art review in a newspaper is like public art. Anyone from any background might happen upon it.

Where I write now does not exist in a generalized public sphere. A street sweeper on coffee break will not happen upon a leftover copy of this blog and be drawn into a review. A woman getting her heels buffed won't find it on the empty seat beside her and be motivated to see an exhibit of which she might otherwise not have heard.

For an art critic, the death of newspapers is the death of potential connection to wider worlds. Everyone who reads this blog has a preexisting condition, otherwise known as an interest in art.

On the other hand, there are notable benefits. Where I'm writing now, nobody tells me what to do and nobody derides my blog just because it's a blog.

- Regina Hackett

Read the whole thing here.

Stats

Sometime last month, DCArtNews hit 2 million page views.

Thank you.

Religious angle

At last night's Stimulus opening at the Nevin Kelly Gallery in DC I sold a drawing of a nun, a drawing of a Rabbi and a drawing of the Egyptian god Horus.

To steal NK's joke: "A nun, a Rabbi and Horus walk into a bar..."

Mellema on Billy Artsy

Kevin Mellema is the art critic for the Falls Church News Press newspaper and for that paper he is the author of the regular column Northern Virginia Art Beat. He responds to my post on Artomatic and art critics and proves that there are some ethics left out there and also makes me feel a little better and think that for every three Billy Artsies there's a Kevin Mellema.

I wanted to throw in my two cents worth into the fray on AOM and art critics.

This year I was able to run a review of just the 2nd floor and just the second floor filled one column.

Last year I apparently had a brain aneurysm and got the wild idea that I'd do the unthinkable and actually review the whole of Artomatic... really review it. Just the way I review other shows. Or as close to that as I could humanly come.

As I recall I reviewed two floors a week for three weeks. Starting at the bottom and working my way up. I saw the top two floors, but ran out of time to run the review for those two floors.

To negate the brain fade factor I photographed every single artist space in the whole show; every last one of them. Good artists got every individual piece photographed.

Why? some will ask...

Well, if you're going to write about it you need to know what's in the image, and somewhere along in the process I'm going to need a photo to run with it. As I start to view the show I have no idea where along in the process the best of the best image in print work is going to be. So I shot them all.

I think I ended up with something like 2,000 photos at the end of it all. And I reviewed every single one of those photos. I wanted to make sure everybody got a fair shake in the deal, and I did my best to be sure that it turned out that way.

Did I NEED to do that... yes and no. In most cases I knew what I was going to write about already, but in a couple of cases I found work in the photos that I should have given more time to, but for whatever reason didn't.

I'd say two or maybe three artists (tops) got into the reviews because I needed to fill the space, or I hadn't recalled their work when I saw it in person. All in all a very low percentage considering what we're talking about here.

It was an insane process, and a load of work... but I survived, and the reviews were run. I was sorry that the top two floors were missed, but I don't run reviews for shows that have already closed; that's just stupid. The whole point of writing art reviews is to flag good art for people to go see.

That I found good art there was of no surprise. Even a show of 750 kindergartners would produce some eye popping work. But just like AOM you'd have to be able to separate the wheat from the chaff.

Which frankly is the same thing I do at the Phillips, the NGA, Corcoran, and all the rest. I can't ever recall seeing an art show where everything in it was a grand slam home run.

What surprised me most of all were artists that I'd seen in gallery shows before, that in this context didn't fair all that well. There is a trick to showing at AOM, and hanging everything you've done since second grade isn't it.

The other thing that floored me was how great the 10th floor ceramic group looked. It would be nice if there was a way to bring that level of display to the whole of AOM, but it seems the principals are against it.

One of the things that irks me most about AOM is about some of the better artists around town who refuse to be seen there. It's a self fulfilling prophesy where some of the better names won't show because they think that "good artists" don't show there. It's also a tad too cool for the room as well. Spare me your fabulousness.

AOM is the biggest DC show of the year, by far; nothing else even comes close. More people will see AOM in one day than the coolest gallery in town will draw all year long.

What you miss at AOM is the contemplative quiet and expansive depth that you can get in a gallery environment. You can miss the fact that some of these people really are thinking along with doing. That is, if you as a critic aren't thinking while viewing.

Nothing is spoon fed to you at AoM, you gotta go find it. At this point in time yet another "it's a lot of stuff" review of AOM is as tired and hackneyed as some of the worst art in the show.

Hope all is well with you,
- Kevin

Strictly Painting 7

MPA's eagerly awaited biennial juried painting exhibition, Strictly Painting, will run June 18 - August 1. This year's juror is well-known independent curator Vivienne Lassman who chose works by twenty-four artists from almost two-hundred entrants.

See the artists selected for Strictly Painting 7 here. Also opening in the Atrium and Ramp galleries is the McLean Project for the Arts/Corcoran Student Art Show featuring the works by adult students who take classes at MPA.

The opening reception and juror's talk is Thursday, June 18 from 7 - 9 pm. See my own experiences with Strictly Painting a few years ago here.

Laura Roulet's Top 10

DC area ubercurator Laura Roulet needs little introduction, she's one of the major freelance curators in the DMV region, whose curatorial hand has been part of the Hirshhorn, Museum of the Americas, to name a few off the top of my head. She responds to my AOM call and sends me her top 10 artists in this year's Artomatic:

- Tim Tate and the Washington Glass School artists
- The group of artists from Sunderland, UK are outstanding, particularly Andrew Livingstone, Midori Shinmura and Theresa Easton
- Laurel Lukaszewski
- Jessica Van Brakle
- Johanna Mueller
- Mike McDermott
- Mark Jude
- Corwin Levi
- Stephanie Booth
- "Space Between", a collaboration between John M. Adams, J.T. Kirkland and Matt Sargent

Artomatic on Huff Post

The Huffington Post's Jill Yaworski writes about AOM.

And she finds the positive angle conveniently ignored by most local art critics. Read it here.

Wanna go to an opening in DC tonight?

Nevin Kelly Gallery, located at 1400 Irving Street, NW, #132, has an opening for “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.

Opening Reception, Tuesday, June 16 from 5:30 - 8:30 pm.

See ya there!

The Benefactor at AOM


Details here.

Criticism, Journalism ethics and AOM

I've been reviewing art shows since the beginning of the 80s decade during the last century, when I started doing so as an art student at the University of Washington School of Art.

Since then I have moved at least 25 times, lived twice in California, twice in Rhode Island, twice in Europe and twice in the Greater Washington, DC area, to highlight a few of those moves. And throughout all those years I have been involved in the arts, usually as an artist, quite often as a dealer, but always as a writer.

And as part of those experiences I have met dozens and dozens of art critics and writers who write about art, and using those experiences I feel that I can form a pretty decent and sound opinion about what I will discuss next.

Most writers who write about contemporary art shows start by physically visiting the gallery, or museum or space where the show is being held, in order to look at the artwork (I say most because I know of at least two well-known writers, one a critic for a major newspaper and one a well-known blogger, who wrote reviews as if they'd been to the shows, but it was later proven that they had never visited the space nor seen the show).

Is it the case that some reviews are being written after simply viewing an art show online? Probably, but let's say that generally speaking, most art writers and art critics (there's a difference by the way), start by visiting the space where the show is being held.

If they are lucky enough to write for a publication which pays them to review shows, they either get a flat, per review payment, or a per-word payment (usually also associated with a maximum number of words limit). Some also write the reviews for free, just to be published.

So a typical writer either (maybe even and/or):
(a) Get's a flat payment for a review - let's say $500 in our forthcoming example
(b) Get's a per word payment for a review - Let's say $1 per word with a limit of 600 words
(c) Does it for free

So let's say Billy Artsy writes for a publication which uses either (a) or (b) above, and usually Billy goes to a gallery to see a show that interests him, or is assigned to cover a new museum show. It's a little different in either case (museums usually have press previews with all kinds of packages and hand-outs and discussions and opportunities to meet the curators and/or artists and ask questions.

But in the case of galleries, Billy either drives to the gallery, or takes the subway or bikes to the gallery, arrives and enters the space. In the Greater DC area, your average gallery's group show probably has 30-35 works of art hanging by maybe 15-20 artists. Some juried competitions may have as many of 50 artists. The largest (non AOM) group show that I can recall in our region was "Seven," which I curated a few years ago for the WPA and which had 66 artists in the seven galleries of the Warehouse spaces on 7th Street. There were around 200 works of art in that show, as well as a couple of installations and several performances.

But your average gallery group show that Billy is used to seeing and reviewing and getting paid for is about 30-35 pieces of art by a dozen or so artists. That is his average reference point for a group show.

Once he arrives at the gallery, the owner or attendant recognizes Billy, gets up and greets him (heaven forbid that Billy is not recognized and treated a little special by the dealer). Depending on several variables, Billy can either be aloof or very friendly to the dealer.

Some art writers see art dealers as the "enemy," while others are mature and understand that just like the writers, the dealer is a key part of the art world universe.

Billy then spends about 15 or 20 minutes looking at the artwork, reading any press materials that he may have been handed, and taking notes on his forming opinions on the show. He may ask a question or two, or simply ignore everyone and focus all his attention on the art at hand. If Billy is especially tuned to a show, he may spend longer there, but let's say that all the artists are new to Billy and after 15 minutes he leaves.

Let's do a little Math and let's keep the numbers simple for simplicity sake. We're accelerating Billy a bit (in my own experience as a gallerist, our DC area critics hang around closer to 30 minutes per visit), but he takes 15 minutes to look at 30 works of art; this equals 30 seconds per work of art.

Later Billy submits the review, and a couple of weeks later he gets a check for $500.

A few weeks later Billy's editor emails Billy and asks Billy to do a review on Artomatic, as the editor keeps hearing about this "Artomatic thing" and getting dozens of letters (cleverly being written to the editor by the Artomatic artists) asking why the editor's newspaper hasn't covered Artomatic.

Billy takes the subway to go see AOM, as he has never really driven around SE and the AOM website tells him that the event is located in a building right on top of a subway exit.

When Billy arrives he is greeted by two volunteers who hand him material on AOM, and neither of the volunteers recognize Billy, nor he them. He asks on which floor the show is, and the volunteers suggest that Billy start on the 9th floor and work his way down. Billy finds it hard to believe that there are nine floors of art.

Billy takes the elevator to the 9th floor and comes out to face yet another volunteer sitting on a desk by the elevators. The volunteer smiles at Billy, but does not recognize him.

Billy begins walking the 9th floor. Already, on this floor alone, is the biggest group show that Billy has ever been to; it hasn't hit Billy yet, but soon he'll realize that there are eight more floors to go.

Billy is a little overwhelmed from the very beginning, and because of the large number of artwork and artists, he comes across a lot of what he considers really bad art: lots of tasteless nudies, loads of unsophisticated beginner art, terrible portraiture including more boudoir portraits in one place that Billy has ever seen in his life.

Billy is seeing a lot of the type and level of artwork which Billy has never seen and most probably would never see in the galleries that Billy tends to favor.

Because of the way the artists' booth are, Billy started (pre-conditioned from his many gallery visits) by weaving a sine wave walking pattern around the gallery walls and working his way around the floor and looking at each artist's gallery individually.

An hour later Billy realizes that he's not even three quarters of the way through the 9th floor and he still has 8 more floors to go.

And so Billy begins to (as humans do) adapt to the sheer size of the art show in front of him, and begins to speed up a little. He no longer visits each artist's gallery wall, but walks at a fast clip between the walls and glancing from the middle left and right covering 8-10 artists at a glance and only pausing to look at the work a little closer if something catches his eye from afar.

He begins to miss details and also misses entire groups of artists. When he walks by the Barbies, he doesn't realize that there are multiple artists in that set of Barbie artwork. He also misses the nuances of David D'Orio's wonderfully minimalist glass sculptures of recycled materials. As he makes the turn into a new aisle, his speeded up sightseeing is directed to one side at that moment and he completely misses Rania Hassan's deceptively complex marriage of painting with 3D sculpture.

By the time Billy finishes the 9th floor, he's sure of four things:

(a) no way that he can cover nine floors of art in this one visit unless he speeds up considerably.
(b) most of the work in the show is dreck.
(c) his notes are all from the first hour on the floor
(d) None of these artists are really good enough to show in a gallery and that's why they are here.

He walks down to the 8th floor, where the AOM floor attendant smiles at him, but once again does not recognize Billy.

He is now in full speed mode; if the artist's work doesn't grab Billy from ten feet away, forget it. At this point all that Billy is seeing are robots, skulls and a lot of bad photos of nude women, plus an annoying huge number of bad portrait artists. he is also missing a lot of intelligent, good art, a lot of it.

And then Billy is recognized by an AOM artist, and to Billy's dismay the artist wants to make sure that Billy sees his work. Billy promises to swing by, but in a nice way tells the artist that he is busy and needs to move on.

There's a small crowd of people in front of Deb Jansen's amazing revenge installation on this floor, and Billy, attracted by the crowd, slows down to see what the fuss is all about. He is hypnotized by what Jansen has done and Billy makes some notes about this installation. It's the first time that he has stopped to actually look at work closely on the 8th floor. Had not there been a crowd in front of Jansen's installation, Billy would have missed it as well.

Fifteen minutes later Billy has finished his whirlwind walk through of the 8th floor. It still took him half an hour, and in that 30 minutes he has "reviewed" about 100 artists and about 2500 works of art. He has completely missed the work of nearly a dozen artists on this floor who are already in the collection of major museums and represented by galleries all over the US and Europe. Blue chip artists in a plebian art show.

He also misses several "new" artists who will soon move on to galleries, museums and other such high art places.

By this time Billy's mind is made up. Nothing in the remaining seven floors can save AOM from the wrath of Billy's review.

He debates if it is even worth it for him to look at the rest of the show, but Billy's ethical side wins out and he descends to the 7th floor, where he is greeted by yet another floor attendant who doesn't know Billy from her aunt Elvira.

Billy finishes the 7th floor in 15 minutes, a new floor record. He only stops to glance at the glass displays by the British Sunderland artists because the displays caught his eyes as very "gallery like." The professional-looking displays put Billy in his comfort zone.

But he has already been at AOM for over two hours and has only seen three floors.

He debates skipping the six other floors, and "just to be fair," decides to pick one more floor at random, to "see if anything is different."

He decides on the 5th floor. By now it's getting a little into the evening and Billy is surprised at to how many people are viewing the show. Billy has never seen more than a couple dozen people in an art show at any time in any gallery, and even on the rare openings that he goes to, not more that 30-40 people in at once.

At AOM Billy sees hundreds and hundreds of people pouring in, and the elevators are getting crowded and slow and a tired Billy has to wait for an elevator to take him down.

On the ride down Billy decides on the 3rd floor and gets out. He sort of glances around and tries to absorb the entire floor from the edge of the elevators' entry points.

Billy decides to pack it and go home to write his review of Artomatic. He has seen more artwork in the last three hours that he has all year round. Most of it quite forgettable to Billy, atrocious even. In the process he has also missed seeing more artwork than most critics see in a year. And his visually overloaded mind has not seen the truly outstanding work of dozens and dozens of new and established good artists.

But Billy will write a review about the entire show, including the 700 plus artists whose work Billy never saw. Had Billy known about the scope of this huge show, Billy would have studied the artists' list ahead of time and highlighted the well-known artists whom Billy has already reviewed in the past, when they showed in the galleries that Billy frequents. That way Billy covers his own review foot prints.

But Billy missed them, and he's about to carpet bomb the entire show, including artists who Billy actually likes and whose gallery shows he has reviewed in a positive light.

Billy goes home and he is tired. Because it is now rush hour the subways are crowded and by the time Billy gets home, he is exhausted, both physically and mentally overloaded.

A couple of glasses of wine from a wine box helps Billy to relax a little as he sits in front of his laptop and Googles the web to see what other critics have written about AOM. After all, Billy wants to ensure that he is aligned with his elder critics and with the faddish new ones from the art blogs.

Almost to a man (woman) they all write bad things about AOM's artwork. What Billy doesn't realize is that many of them saw AOM in the same manner that Billy did. Some of them have never even visited AOM, but they still trashed it.

Billy revs up his trendy Mac and begins to earn his $500, which is what he would have been paid if he just went and had reviewed a "regular" gallery show, with maybe one artist's solo or a dozen artists' group show.

Billy trashes AOM, lest he be ever asked to do that much work again.

When the review is published, Billy's editor is surprised by the large outpouring of hate letters and emails and comments about the review. They come mostly from AOM artists, disgusted with Billy's review of the show. But they are unaware that they're about to help with Billy's career at the paper.

Billy's editor is pleased to discover that Billy has so many readers; after all, a letter is a letter, and Billy's AOM review column has received more letters and comments than all of Billy's previous columns added together.

This becomes a good checkmark on Billy's record with his editor. Who knew that Billy's gallery review column had some many followers?

Billy is pleasantly surprised by the positive outcome of an otherwise exhausting event.

Sometimes it bothers Billy to recall that he never really saw all the work in the manner that it deserved, but he does a little Math and he feels better when he discovers that in order to review AOM in the way that he reviews all other art shows, he would have had to spend a dozen hours there just to give each artist about 3/4 of a minute. That's an impossible task, if you ask Billy, especially for a measly $500 bucks.

That makes Billy sleep better at night and feel like he's still an ethical writer.

Milgrom on Morandi

Giorgio Morandi is one of those artists that either wows you or bores you to sleep, depending on your own artistic sensibilities and background. Chances are that OCDers will like Morandi.

I love his work because it shows persistance and enviable skill.

It is clear to the most casual observer, that the Greater DC region has become a Mecca and center point for fine arts glass, possibly second only to the other Washington. But what has become more and more clear to me lately, is that DC region is also becoming a hot spot for terrific and innovative ceramic wunderkinds of all ages.

And one of the most hardworking ceramic-focused galleries in the region is Cross MacKenzie in Georgetown, led by the very fair and hardworking Rebecca Cross MacKenzie, herself quite a talented and highly collected ceramic artist.

Rebecca has been working very hard with her gallery space in Canal Square in Georgetown (home to the best 3rd Friday openings in the Mid Atlantic by the way), and between her gallery and Red Dirt Studio, and many other artists' studios around the capital region, DC is making waves in the ceramic art world.

And with a gallery reception on June 19, from 6-8PM, Rebecca brings what I think will be a must-see exhibition for ceramic fans, and definitely for Morandi fans: Milgrom on Morandi!

The two recent Morandi exhibitions at the Metropolitan Museum in New York and at the Phillips Collection in Washington offered DC area artist Lilianne Milgrom (whose show at the Katzen I reviewed here) the opportunity to absorb the paintings by the Italian master. She studied and learned from the subtle variations in the paintings and the abstract geometric forms used in his compositions.

"In an attempt to enter Morandi's intimate world, I chose to recreate a selection of his iconic painted objects in three dimensional form. This allowed me the freedom to interpret his familiar objects in 'real time," says Milgrom.

Don't miss this show!

Stimulus Opens tomorrow night 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.

All works will be priced at $500 or less and for works over $100, there will be a limit of 3 works per artist.

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!

Trimpin

“TRIMPIN: the sound of invention” is a film that is screening at SILVERDOCS. The subject of the film, artist/inventor/engineer/composer Trimpin (he only uses his surname) has never been represented by a gallery, a dealer, or a manager, and doesn’t have a cell phone or a website – yet his freewheeling sculptures and outrageous musical experiments are cherished by artists, musicians, and museums all over the planet.

Below is some more info about the film and the trailer and clips. The film is screening on:

Thu, Jun 18 at 6:00pm - Round House Theatre and Sat, Jun 20 at 10:45 AM - AFI Silver Theater 2.

Trimpin will also be creating one of his mini-installations at the festival for people to check out.

DC Sktecher's AOM Top 10

DC Sketcher takes on my Artomatic top 10 challenge and sends me his/hers favorites:

Mei Mei Chang- 7th floor
Jessica Van Brakle- 9th floor
Jenny Walton- 9th floor
Dan D'Orio- 9th floor
Laurel Lukaszewski- 8th floor
Christian Tribastone- 9th Floor
Kelly Towles- 1st floor/Electric Stage
Meinir Wyn Jones- 5th floor
Andrea Roberson- 8th floor

I spent almost three hours last Saturday walking and checking out the 9th and 8th floor and some of the above are also on my list so far... but I have a lot of floors and artists still to see.

More on that later, and more on my thoughts why most art writers and critics are just ill prepared to write a review or commentary of something of the sheer scale of AOM and why they take the easy way out and throw away their journalistic ethics when they physically give up and trash the show rather than actually review it the same way that they would any other art show.

The answer lies in the time that it would take to write a fair review in proportion to what they are getting paid to write a review (quite probably the same as a gallery show that they can visit and form a good critical opinion in less than 15-20 minutes) rather than the multiple hours that it would take to do a fair assessment of AOM.

Capitalism strikes again in the otherwise progressive ranks of art criticism.

Kahlophiles of the World, Unite!

Just finished going though nearly 200 entries for the Finding Beauty In A Broken World: In the Spirit of Frida Kahlo exhibition at the Joan Hisaoka Healing Arts Gallery at Smith Farm in Washington, DC.

Tanya Gramatikova, Tribute to Frida Kahlo II
There were entries from all over the world, once again reaffirming Kahlo's spectacular worldwide appeal, and once again I was not only honored but also stunned by the diversity and variety of work submitted.

The Opening Reception & Awards are Friday, July 17, 2009, 5:30 - 8:00PM. Don't you dare miss it. Come by and introduce yourselves and say hello. This exhibition runs July 1 - August 29, 2009. Gallery hours: Wednesday - Friday, 11am - 5pm, Saturdays, 11am-3pm, and by appointment.

See ya there!

Recession Creeps Up on Basel

"All the headlines that the market is back are just wrong,” said one dealer.

Details here.