Shelly Voorhees at BlackRock

Just a few weeks ago I reminded all of you that BlackRock Center for the Arts in Germantown, MD has one of the most beautiful and dramatic gallery spaces in the region, and the other day I happened to be in that area again and dropped in to see the new show there.

Currently on exhibition are the monochromatic ethereal paintings of Shelly Voorhees, on exhibition through August 28.



It's hard to describe this exhibition without using synonyms for the word "ethereal", and since I've already dropped that adjective once, plant that description in your mind and walk with me through words.

As one enters the very large and very tall space that is the gallery at Blackrock, Voorhees' paintings, most of which are very large, fit well into the space, not only because of sheer scale, but also because of the monochromatic uniformity that they present.

Until you look to your left, that is.

That wall hosts a series of very small, we're talking a couple of inches or so, very well done, and very attractive set of miniature portraits. See some of them here. Every single one of them is a jewel and showcases a very strong technical talent by Voorhees.

You see, as any painter will tell you, it is more often than not harder to create a small, in this case, tiny, work of art that carries a punch, than a larger one. Voorhees succeeds admirably and the wall of tiny works resonates in a visual paradox in this very large gallery.

Salvador Dali said it best when he said: "If you can't paint well, then paint big."

Voorhees has titled the exhibition "Apparitions" and writes about it:

This exhibition is a black and white mixed-media portraiture series of female spirits dynamically represented in moments of contemplation and emotional transition. Besides the apparitional theme, the incorporation of specific artistic elements of texture, depth, layers, luminosity, and motion, are equally important in the expressing of the merging of life's energy with the portraits ethereal.

In this series, I've incorporated the expansive landscape views from my window of Lake Champlain. The natural background of the lake balances the figures beauty with their emotions. The power of the waters help to calm the viewer, and the abstracted horizontal strokes reminds us of the life that moves through us. The women are painted thinly veiled so that you can see the abstracted landscapes through their bodily shapes. I found interest in the translucent figures appearing as if their souls still remain with us. I've exemplified my own take on the traditional idea of apparitions, attempting to humanize the spirits by painting them with simple gestures in unguarded moments of contemplation and transition. These moments are expressions of the duality between movement and the still,landscape and the figure, real and the ethereal. They are psychological portraits that reflect the emotional undercurrents present in even the most unremarkable moments in life, they give tribute to women and the essence of their spirit that is eternal.

While I was there looking at the show, I sat down and observed several families who were walking through the exhibition. The comments from the children seemed to imply that the artist had achieved her goal, as the comments all had a sense of the unusual, ghostly and transitory. The adults mostly commented on the beauty of the works themselves.

Therein lies the key to viewing all these works at once. Voorhees uses resin and acrylic skillfully to deliver a sense of atmospheric presence in the paintings that offer the women subjects as almost a transition in the fog of grayscales, rather than a physical object. She has also chosen a sort of 19th century romantic period "look" for her models, that gives us the kind of women who Julia Margaret Cameron would have loved to photograph.


Shelly Voorhees, Waiting, Acrylic/Resin, 38x26 inches
And yet, as soon as I state this I am confronted by a sense of the opposite in the sense that there also seems to be a modernistic transition in the "look" of the women, trapped in my mind in a 19th century gaze and feel, to a sense of today looking from the past. This is perhaps most visible in "Waiting," which shows a very young 21st century woman lost in 19th century thoughts.

See the show online here.

Alexandria Call for Public Art

Deadline: October 1, 2009, 4 pm (EDT)
Budget: $300,000
Eligibility: Open to all artists or design groups. No geographic requirements.

Description The City of Alexandria, Virginia seeks to commission public art for the new Charles Houston Recreation Center. The process will be managed by the Office of the Arts, a division of the Department of Recreation, Parks and Cultural Activities, with the Alexandria Commission for the Arts Public Art Committee. The City will conduct the search for qualified applicants through a Request for Qualifications (RFQ).

The art will be paid for by private donations.

The purpose of the project is to honor and memorialize Charles Houston and to recognize the historical importance of the former Parker-Gray High School, Alexandria’s first African-American high school.

Charles Hamilton Houston was a nationally-known civil rights leader and NAACP attorney who fought for equality in public education. He became involved with Alexandria when, in 1941, a group of concerned citizens began to petition for a new school and eventually appealed to the NAACP for assistance. Houston took on this challenge and used his knowledge and influence to aid the community in their fight. Their efforts were successful and a new Parker-Gray High School was built in 1950. When Charles Houston passed away one month before the school was dedicated, the community requested that the former Parker-Gray School be renamed the Charles Houston Elementary School in recognition of his important contribution. Years later, the school was demolished and a recreation facility was built that retained the Houston name. This building was later razed to make room for the new, state-of-the-art Charles Houston Recreation Center which opened in February of 2009. When plans for the new facility began, the community indicated their interest in seeking an appropriate way to not only memorialize Houston and his contributions to Alexandria but to also find a way to preserve the history of the Parker-Gray schools. The project's overarching theme is Education and Civil Rights.

Process: Three finalists will be invited to submit proposals. Each will receive a $2,000 honorarium.

Anticipated Award Date: May 2010

Anticipated Installation Date: April 2011

Web Site: http://alexandriava.gov/arts - click on Charles Houston Public Art Project.

Artists or design teams interested in applying to the Request for Qualifications (RFQ) are encouraged to register with the City of Alexandria's e-procure system located online here. All inquires regarding the RFQ should be directed to Dominic Lackey at the City of Alexandria Procurement Department.

Questions may be sent by fax to 703.838.6493 or by email to dominic.lackey@alexandriava.gov.

Please reference the solicitation number and title on the fax or email. For general question related to the solicitation, you may call Dominic at 703.838.4946, extension 600.

Forthcoming Frida Kahlo book denounced as fake

A collection of Frida Kahlo oil paintings, diaries and archival material that is the subject of a book to be published by Princeton Architectural Press on 1 November has been denounced by scholars as a cache of fakes. Finding Frida Kahlo includes reproductions of paintings, drawings and handwritten letters, diaries, notes, trinkets and other ephemera attributed to the artist. They belong to Carlos Noyola and Leticia Fernández, a couple who own the antique store La Buhardilla Antiquarios in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. The publisher describes it as “an astonishing lost archive of one of the twentieth century's most revered artists...full of ardent desires, seething fury, and outrageous humor”.

According to an interview in the forthcoming book, and to emails from Noyola to The Art Newspaper, the couple acquired the items incrementally from 2004-07 from a lawyer who in turn had acquired them from a woodcarver who allegedly received them from the artist. Noyola tells The Art Newspaper he has more than 1,200 Kahlo items in all.

Read the story in AN here and check out the book here.

Hitler Watercolors Hit the Auction Block

A series of three paintings by Adolf Hitler will be sold on September 5 at Nuremberg’s Weidler auction house. Bidding for the three signed watercolors, made in 1910 and 1911, will begin at €3,000 ($4,270).

Read all about it at AFP here and see the watercolors here.

When actors bite write

"Actress Claire Forlani is accused of wielding a pen that is indeed mightier than the sword ... and killing the reputation of an art dealer in the process.

The former "CSI NY" star is being sued for allegedly crushing the "fragile and intangible" reputation of art dealer Paul Rusconi in a mass email she sent out to a bunch of her friends."

Read the TMZ story here.

Artists' Websites: Grant Silverstein

If my memory serves me right, the second or third show that we ever did back in our first gallery in Georgetown was the amazing work of Grant Silverstein.

Her brother's arrest. Intaglio Etching, 8x8 inches by Grant Silverstein.
We sold a lot of Grant's gorgeous etchings (they are priced as low as $35) and we thought naively, "hey! this gallery business is gonna be easy!"

Tribulations of a Childless Couple. Intaglio Etching, 5x6 inches by Grant Silverstein.

This self-taught artist is a throwback to the masters of printmaking who toiled along and discovered, step by step, the secrets of the printing press. His meticulous etchings have the look and feel of the 15th century but the resonance and dialogue of the 21st.

See his works here and his prices are a great deal for the money.

The Franz and Virginia Bader Fund

Deadline: September 15, 2009

The Franz and Virginia Bader Fund welcomes applications from visual artists aged 40 years or older, who live within 150 miles of Washington, D.C. and can demonstrate that they have the potential to benefit as artists from a grant.

The Franz and Virginia Bader Fund does not, however, accept applications from filmmakers, video artists, and performance artists.

The deadline for applications is September 15, 2009. Application forms may be downloaded from the fund's web site: www.baderfund.org or may be requested by sending an email to grants@baderfund.org or by sending a request to:

Bader Fund
5505 Connecticut Avenue, NW #268
Washington, D.C. 20015

Opportunity for Artists

Columbia Journal is an arts and literature annual publication that is edited, designed, and produced, entirely by graduate students at Columbia University. The Journal was founded in 1977 and has published work from such writers and artists as Raymond Carver, Jorge Luis Borges, Lorrie Moore, Louise Gillick, Phillip Gourevitch, Noam Chomsky, Kara Walker, Wayne Koestenbaum,and many others.

They are currently extending an open call for the arts section of their next issue

Please find a sample below:

"How do you create a warning system to prevent an accidental unearthing of 200 million pounds of radioactive nuclear waste? A simple sign, some chain link and a military post might work today. But what about 10,000 years from now? In 2002 the U.S. Department of Energy brought together engineers, archaeologists, anthropologists and linguists and asked them this question. What type of warning system can be put in place so people, 370 generations from now, won't open the glowing door?

What they came up with is hardly inspiring: a large earthen mound with a salt core and two identical Dr. Strangelove-esque control rooms with a warning message written in the six official languages of the U.N. and Navajo. Construction of this Waste Isolation Pilot Plant is scheduled to begin in less than three years.

What if an artist designed the system?

Columbia: A Journal of Literature and Art is asking artists, architects, cartoonists, computer engineers, graphic designers, scientists-and anyone else up for the challenge- just that question.

Design a warning sign or create a work, a system, that speaks to the nuclear gravesite issue. Graphic novelists might translate the project and solution into story panels.

Architects may offer a blueprint for the facility itself. The artistic focus may be as narrow as an image on a sign, or as broad as a full-scale vision of the future. The Journal is encouraging maximum interpretation and creativity.

Further Information: www.columbiajournal.org or email to columbia.journal.arts@gmail.com

Job in the Arts

Deadline: August 30, 2009

The Torpedo Factory Artists’ Association is seeking applicants for an Administrator of the Torpedo Factory Art Center. This person will manage daily operations of the facility and its staff as well as also promoting the objectives of the TFAC by enhancing its reputation among both the Washington arts community and the general public.

The Administrator will report to the TFAA Board of Directors through its President, working closely with Board committees and ensuring that all activities further the goals of the TFAC.

Requirements include: Bachelor’s degree (Master’s preferred), with 5 to 8 years’ management experience working with a board of directors, preferably in an art-related organization; Experience including personnel management, time management, and oversight of financial operations; Excellent verbal and written skills assumed; Familiarity with computer applications and website control a plus.

Qualified applicants should apply in writing by August 30, 2009. No phone calls please. Please send letter and resume to:

Torpedofactorystaffing@gmail.com
Website: www.Torpedofactory.org

Jaws or Nessie?

Put me in coach...

I may have to start watching baseball again... click on cartoon below for a better view.

"The Nats signed Stephen Strasburg, probably the most heralded young pitcher of the last 50 years. Who knows what portion of his collegiate and Olympic fame will prove justified. But not only did the Nats sign him for a fair price of $15.67 million, despite the howls of his crusading agent Scott Boras, but Strasburg also did what has been unthinkable in baseball until now.

He chose here.

No 21-year-old deserves such responsibility; but Strasburg has put the Nats squarely on baseball's map, on the list of can't-miss attractions in the game that must be seen. Does he really throw 100-102 mph with command? Or is that partly scouts' mythology? Is his slider really his best pitch, so sharp it actually seems to hit something in mid-air and deflect?"

Centerfield - John Fogerty

Well, beat the drum and hold the phone - the sun came out today!
We're born again, there's new grass on the field.
A-roundin' third, and headed for home, it's a brown-eyed handsome man;
Anyone can understand the way I feel.

Oh, put me in, Coach - I'm ready to play today;
Put me in, Coach - I'm ready to play today;
Look at me, I can be Centerfield.

Well, I spent some time in the Mudville Nine, watchin' it from the bench;
You know I took some lumps when the Mighty Casey struck out.
So Say Hey Willie, tell Ty Cobb and Joe DiMaggio;
Don't say "it ain't so", you know the time is now.

Oh, put me in, Coach - I'm ready to play today;
Put me in, Coach - I'm ready to play today;
Look at me, I can be Centerfield.

Yeah! I got it, I got it!

Got a beat-up glove, a homemade bat, and brand-new pair of shoes;
You know I think it's time to give this game a ride.
Just to hit the ball and touch 'em all - a moment in the sun;
(pop) It's gone and you can tell that one goodbye!

Oh, put me in, Coach - I'm ready to play today;
Put me in, Coach - I'm ready to play today;
Look at me, I can be Centerfield.

Oh, put me in, Coach - I'm ready to play today;
Put me in, Coach - I'm ready to play today;
Look at me, I can be Centerfield.

Yeah!

Colleen Henderson at Multiple Exposures

Colleen Henderson, Chatham Light Beach
If you're a photography fan in the Greater DC area, then you know that Factory Photoworks Multiple Exposures Gallery on the second floor of the Torpedo Factory is one of the best photography galleries in the Mid Atlantic region and they rightfully boast in their website a very cool recommendation by my good friend Kathleen Ewing:

Multiple Exposures Gallery is a showcase to view quality fine art photography produced in our community. I have always been impressed with the professionalism, variety, and quality of photographic images exhibited at Multiple Exposures.

So I'm never surprised when I wander into MEG and discover yet another strong show.

But this time the photographs by Colleen Henderson... the set on the red wall of the gallery, floored me! It is the mastery and simplicity that she has achieved with the work that faces the viewer as one enters the gallery that merits this glowing adjective.

This is as close as painting with a camera as a photographer will ever get. How Henderson has managed to dilute and trap color, and then use her magical photography skills to re-hue them and present us with works that suddenly become a photographic cousin to the legendary colors of the Washington Color School and even would have drawn a gasp from Mark Rothko... is beyond my understanding of the mysteries of the camera at the hand of a master.


Colleen Henderson, Blue Clearing
And in "Blue Clearing" she traps that scene that all of us have aimed a camera at; that sudden instant when the marine clouds and the beach light and the ocean all become one lazy dreamscape that re-enchants us with our blue planet. We all get crappy pictures that look good to us. Henderson gets a photographic painting that belongs in a Richter exhibition.


Colleen Henderson, Cambridge Dawn
In "Cambridge Dawn" we're brought back to Earth a little, as she offers us more hints of real life, besides dazzling us with color and fantasy, as the dark marine forms in the water anchor an otherwise ethereal scene.

There's an artists' reception on Sept 10th 6:30 - 8:30PM.

Multiple Exposures Gallery
Torpedo Factory Art Center
Studio 312
www.multipleexposuresgallery.com
703.683.2205

Tolbert on the Torpedo Factory

I asked for input on the issue facing the Torpedo Factory and I continue to receive good constructive comments and suggestions and opinions.

Norfolk artist Susan Tolbert has the following to contribute:

I have been following the discussion about the Torpedo Factory
and Kevin Mellema’s observations seem right on the money.

Though I have never been to the Torpedo Factory, I did have a studio for several years in Norfolk’s original D’Art Center, which claims to be modeled after the Torpedo Factory, and am familiar with the problems. So here's my two cents.

Professional artists have degrees and resumes and after browsing their website, the work of the Torpedo Factory artists sure looked to me like that of “Professional Amateurs” -- artists interested in producing work that would sell to the tourists.

In fact, the work at the Torpedo Factory was remarkably similar to that of Norfolk’s D’Art Center.

I think it would be safe to say that most of the artists showing in the Target Gallery have degrees and resumes while the Torpedo artists, like those at the D’Art Center, have taken a class here and there but have avoided any real intellectual discipline and rigorous criticism.

Kevin hit the nail on the head when he by described the studios as little commercial stores. And that’s a problem, as stores are not studios. The word studio implies that there is creative work in progress — ideas are being played with, risks are being taken, things are in a constant state of flux.

If the city is subsidizing the Torpedo Factory, it would seem that the best artists should have subsidized studio space rather than the merely mediocre. After my experience with the D’Art Center, I don’t think you can have a small shakeup and achieve any real change. It’s not a matter of getting in a few younger artists—will they just be younger Professional Amateurs — degreeless wonders. The same boring work would be produced by younger versions of the artists that are there now.

Norfolk’s D’Art Center did give studio spaces to younger artists with degrees and most left in about 16 months, though the ones without art degrees did seem to last longer.

Having the artists re-jury for studio space every two years on a point system would change the dynamics of the spaces dramatically. The best studios would go to the artists with the highest number of points, with major points being awarded for BFA and MFAs.

Artists would be required to have their work selected in a state or national juried exhibit at least once every two years.

Will this idea be popular with the artists at the Torpedo Factory? My prediction would be hell no, and I hope I’m far enough away so they can’t find me for even suggesting this. But then change is never easy.

Best,

Susan Tolbert
Norfolk VA

What do you readers and TF artists think?

Congrats!

To my good friend Margaret Huddy, as the 2009 Christmas ornament sold by the White House Historical Association incorporates her painting of the White House.

She tells me that she's been also selling them in her studio, and that they're going like hot cakes. They are $17.79 with tax and can be picked up at her studio (Studio 203 at the Torpedo Factory, 105 N. Union Street, Alexandria, VA 22314, 703-683-1081).

If you live far away and can't make it to her studio, then you can order them directly from the White House Historical Association here.

Jansen on the Torpedo Factory

I asked for input on the issue facing the Torpedo Factory and so far have received loads of comments and several key inputs from both artists and critics.

Torpedo Factory artist Deb Jansen (whose Artomatic installation was the hit of the recent AOM) responds with a very in depth opinion and commentary and a specific response to my Star Trek suggestion:

One of the first things implemented by the new TFAA board in June was to open the doors. The front doors are automatic sliders, so the board arranged to have the side entrance and the back doors open to the public during business hours.

Counts showed that leaving the doors open increased foot traffic into the building by 20%.

Several visitors who made it up to my studio on a back hallway on the 3rd floor were grateful the doors were open and said it made them feel welcome. One was a homicide detective from the Bronx. He started the conversation by saying that as a detective he had learned that people don’t go through closed doors unless they are sure what is on the other side.

Our signage is old and faded. Things aren’t clearly marked. Visitor’s Guide in hand, even he wouldn’t have come in if the doors hadn’t been open.

That one simple change was really working.

That did not stop a couple of building artists from complaining about “wasting our air conditioning and raising our energy costs and in turn our rent.” I personally watched one long-term lease-holding artist go back and close them more than once.

Someone in the building complained to the City. The City then sent someone over to review the matter and told us we COULD NOT leave the doors open. We increased traffic like the City had wanted and they were the ones who ordered the doors shut.

The TFAA board has asked the City for parameters, so that when the weather is reasonable we can leave the doors open but have gotten no response. The board has offered other suggestions to work around the City’s concerns but has so far heard nothing back. The doors aren’t open not for lack of trying. We know most businesses along King St. already do this to draw customers. We know the shuttle boat waiting area, under the Chart House Restaurant, funded by the City blasts air conditioning while leaving the doors open so that people will be drawn in.

The TFAA board has offered to paint the back doors and make them more inviting but the City who owns the building said that was their responsibility. They would look into it. The board has checked back with the City on any progress. Still no response on that.

Two exciting projects that were designed, approved and funded by the City have been dropped by the them with no explanation. The first, to replace the back doors all together with something more inviting and visitor/traffic friendly. The second, a complete redesign of our back entry area with new lighting, flooring, display and educational information. Why were they dropped after they were funded we haven’t been told. The TFAA board has since taken a grassroots approach, come up with a plan and painted it with the help of artists.

Even with the doors to our studios open, I am well aware of the force field you spoke of. Some visitors will stop and literally lean through the doorway but won’t come in unless I invite them.

I kind of thought that if they had made it to the 3rd floor they would have figured out that the doors are open for a reason. I have gotten more traffic in my studio since starting to bring my dog to work. I work in fiber and find that people who might not understand or be familiar with fiber work, at least cross the threshold to greet the dog. More common mediums like painting or photography might not have that problem. Once they come in I can turn them into fiber art lovers. The dog is just the loss leader, of sorts. Hey, if it works, my dog is up to the challenge of unstoppable belly rubs to help me bring visitors through my door.

As for bringing edgier art into the factory, I’m as guilty of that as anyone here.

My installation for Artomatic that got so much press is a departure from the work I show here. I wanted to do it at Artomatic because I thought I could be more creative there. I felt that if produced the piece the way I wanted to, it would never be seen inside these walls.

Now, to my total amazement, there is even talk started by one of the oldest members, of bringing it here and displaying it in one of the public areas. I never thought I would see the day where Catharsis & Karma would be in the halls at the Factory. I have lost track of the people who have come in to my studio here specifically to see more of the same and are disappointed I haven’t taken such a risk in my other work. That is all going to change.

Most of us in the Factory ARE striving for change. Most of us. We want to be the best art center possible for 2009 and are well aware that we can’t rest on 35 year old laurels.

Unfortunately we also have some people here who don’t welcome or want to recognize the impending and necessary changes, some who might want to hide in their studios and ignore the situation because they think the City would never kick us out, or people who, I think would rather the current board fail than the building as a whole succeed. It isn't split along age lines as you might think with the younger members wanting change and the older members resistant. Some of the most active and vocal for change have been here the longest. Our troubles come as much from within as from outside forces.

You have already posted statistics supplied by Margaret Huddy of the Factory. It shows the continuous turnover we actually have and the enormous number of artists who have juried in. Even with that it is hard to get new, up and coming artists to either jury or once they get in, to stay because a studio doesn’t guarantee you make a living and most people I know need to make a living. There are rules about how many hours you have to be here and what you can and cannot do. A lot of those rules are from the City. Not everyone can work within those guidelines. If you can, it is a wonderful place to be. A safe refuge where art is made and the public is educated in the process.

We know we have a gem that is in serious need of polishing to regain its glow. The new TFAA board has all kinds of new projects in the works to prove to the City how serious we are to save our home. The number of events and activities has increased substantially, there is art in the hallways now, there is live music, projects and events are being co-sponsored with younger, hipper arts organizations and with King St. hotels.

But, change doesn’t come without major growing pains. Change won’t come without the cooperation and understanding (that we are first a working art center, not a mall) of the City, who is demanding these changes in the first place.

It won’t come without the help of ALL the Torpedo Factory artists to see these changes through successfully. Those who think – either artist or city official - that dragging their feet isn’t going to end up hurting both sides in the end is mistaken. Otherwise I fear the doors, at least for the Torpedo Factory Artist Association will be permanently closed and the City will move a slicker more profitable tourist attraction into the space. The City will lose an important cultural landmark, arts, education and tourist destination and we the artists will lose our studios and the daily joy of getting to share and educate the public about art.

Thanks for bringing the situation to light. Light is good. Our problems won't be solved in a vacuum. The Torpedo Factory is too valuable an asset to the greater DC art community to see it die of old age without a fight.

deb jansen
studio 344

District 9

Film critics all over the place have been raving about District 9, and the trailers and storyline behind the film really sounded and looked good, and thus I made some time last week and saw the film in a packed theater in Germantown, MD.

Let me reveal a secret, not about the film itself, but a little secret code that us geeks who have always enjoyed science fiction, since childhood, through the demise, rebirth, re-demise and re-rebirths of Star Trek, Battlestar Galactica, Star Wars, etc. have devised since the mid 1960s.

This code lets true SF insiders know immediately who really knows what Science Fiction is all about, besides the usual drivel that Hollywood pumps out, with the occasional gem thrown in the mix, almost like a visual arts group show.

Whenever you read or listen to anyone writing or talking about science fiction, listen or read closely. If they say "SF" or "science fiction," then they are part of the brotherhood; if they say "sci-fi" then you immediately know that they're outsiders peeking in.

"Sci-fi" is politically incorrect and word suicide in the world of the genre's true aficionados and followers. Nerd code for "has no idea."

And what film critics all over have been raving about, is the interesting and (to them) unusual storyline in this "sci-fi film" about the tried and true "man meets alien" storyline.

The D9 storyline stands out not because SF hasn't got a rich and diverse set of ideas and novels about the subject, but because when dealing with aliens, Hollywood has repeatedly followed one road when giving us a movie about us meeting them. There are some exceptions, of course, but generally speaking... well you know what I mean.

District 9 will be the blockbuster of the summer season. This is by itself an unusual thing, since the movie has no stars in it, and was made by a 29-year-old South African director whom nobody ever heard of (Neill Blomkamp), and was filmed mostly in a garbage dump/landfill in that ghastly and ugly city that is Johannesburg.

The back story is that decades ago a massive alien ship appeared over Johannesburg and just sat there motionless. They didn't attack, or make contact, or anything. They just floated there, above the city. Once humans got curious enough, we broke into the ship and found a million starving aliens, apparently helpless and clueless.

First contact is not a pretty or as impressive as we expect it to be, and soon humans lose patience with the ravenous and violent aliens and segregate them into a ghetto outside Johannesburg which is called District 9.

As the present day storyline in the movie begins, a multinational corporation, seeking to profit from the alien war technology, assigns a geeky employee (Sharlton Copley, who does a spectacular job in the part, even though this was his first acting job, ever) the task to begin a massive re-location of the aliens to a refugee camp far from the city.

Geeks will be geeks, and my first issue with the movie storyline began as soon as I learned that the aliens had much more advanced technology that humans.

And yes, I do understand the interesting facets of the film addressing social issues through metaphor (although it is by far not the first time that SF has addressed social issues, often ahead of all other genres). The aliens are segregated, humans refer to them in a derogatory (racist?) manner as "prawns" because of their appearance, and everyone dislikes them, and they have no rights, etc.

But technology rules every time that two civilizations meet. In 1571, Don Juan de Austria led the Spanish Armada and ships from the Holy League against superior numbers from the Ottoman Empire. Outnumbered by almost 50 ships, Don Juan had superior technology and new tactics on his side, and the defeat of the Turks probably saved Europe from force conversion to Islam.

Just a handful of years later, in 1588, as an aging Armada approached England, it was English technology (better cannons, faster, smaller ships) and new tactics (run instead of fight, fireships) that saved the day for the British.

And it was technology that allowed a handful of Europeans to conquer much larger Native American empires, as Cortez in Mexico and Pisarro in South America did.

And it was technology and tactics that allowed the evil Nazi war machinery to sweep across Europe in the early years of WWII. Never mind the brave Polish horse cavalry charging against German tanks.

In D9, the aliens have ass-kicking war technology that only the aliens can operate, as the weapons are genetically matched to them. Humans can pull the trigger, but nothing happens.

So, how did we humans manage to corral a million technologically superior, often-violent and definitely ravenous aliens into a ghetto? The movie doesn't address this key point. We just fenced them all inside a nasty, ugly ghetto outside Johannesburg.

In the alien ghetto, Nigerians are depicted as evil profiteers who trade in alien weaponry for cat food, which apparently is a delicacy for the aliens. The Nigerians mistreat and insult, kill at random and even eat the aliens. Meanwhile the aliens just walk in and trade superior weaponry that only they can trigger, for canned cat food.

In a real life scenario: point, shoot, kill, take the canned food.

Makes my head hurt.

I'm sorry, but I am pedantic and this issue really blows the storyline for me.

Anyway, once we get past this, the main character goes to the alien ghetto to inform them that they are being relocated, runs into an alien scientist-type and his son, gets sprayed with some alien technology matter and things begin to change for him real fast.

It is an entertaining, fast paced movie full of great special effects and action. As such it is a good SF movie, but definitely not worth all the unusal accolades that it is receiving as a high brow, spectacularly intelligent, different "sci-fi movie."

You want intelligent, socially-relevant SF? Start making movies out of the stories by Harlan Ellison, Phillip Jose Farmer, etc.

By the way, at the end, the aliens do get moved, by then there are almost 3 million of them, and they now live in District 10.

Sequel en route.

Lee-Lange on In the Flesh II and thoughts on Cazón

The current show at Alexandria's Target Gallery is getting good critical attention. I reviewed it here, and Kevin Mellema reviewed it here.

And now Shauna Lee-Lange pops in with a new review here.

A nice thing to do this Sunday: go see this show at Target Gallery, then wander around the Torpedo Factory and get your own impression of the range of work being done there, and then walk up to La Tasca for some really good tapas (try the gambas al ajillo and their Buey al Jerez).

Speaking of Spanish tapas, I've noticed that my all time favorite tapa (Cazón) seems to have dissapperaed from Spanish restaurants in the Greater DC area.

I recently asked one the bartenders at Jaleo why Cazón was no longer on the menu and was told that it was removed because the owners were receiving some complaints about having shark on the menu.

Deep breathing...

I'm not going to get into a diatribe here about caving in to the squeaky wheel of possibly misinformed do-gooders (I can't figure out from some quick Googling if dogfish is on the endangered species), but, having lived in Andalucia, while Cazón is usually made with dogfish, a kind of shark, any solid-fleshed fish, such as monkfish, is also quite good. It's the marinating in garlic, olive oil and vinegar that gives the fish that really good flavor.

So if either monkfish or dogfish are endangered or possibly endangered, then switch to another abundant solid-fleshed fish and give me my Cazón back!

I'm going to cook some tonight. The Andalucian recipe is here.

What happens in Vegas

Other than the hell known as Navy bootcamp, I've had a moustache since High School (and from 1974-1983 a full beard).

When you've had face hair most of your life, it sort of defines you in a way that no other "thing" in your body or clothing does.

It also sort of defines the way that one conducts their daily routine.


Last month when I was returning from the California desert via a weekend in Las Vegas, the moustache came off.


More big news later... my upper lip is cold.

Mellema on the Torpedo Factory

My good friend Kevin Mellema, the art critic for the Falls Church News-Press, and one art critic who really gets around all the galleries in the DC area, has the following to say on the issues discussed here.

... As for the Torpedo Factory situation... All I know about it is what I just read on your blog. So I can't make any definitive comments about what has, or is likely to happen based on any inside info, etc.

I must say, that I'm hesitant to speak up at all. This is one of those thankless situations where you can make few friends, and a lot of enemies fast. Having said that I'll toss in my two cents worth on a general level. Maybe some of this will help the process..

I whole heartily agree with you on your comments about the Target Gallery within the Torpedo Factory. My beat being based in Northern Virginia, Target Gallery is one of five or six key venues that I try to cover on a regular basis. After that I get to travel around the area and cover other venues.

The Target Gallery regularly hosts international open call shows. Due to shipping costs and the like, they're functionally national shows with maybe one or two small international pieces thrown in. I don't know of anybody else in the entire DC metro area who is doing this. Virtually every other open call show in the area concentrates on the DC metro area, or if they get really open minded about it, the Mid-Atlantic region. Which is fine, but you know that there is valid art being made outside of a 200 mile radius from the Capitol Building. It seems to me that the art world in DC has taken on a bit of that 'inside the Beltway' blinkered viewpoint that DC is known for politically.

DC regularly gets sandpapered when some journalist writes about the fashion vacuum in DC. They stop just short of saying we're all dressed by LL Bean, or J. Crew. You could say DC is intellectually, and stylistically, a 'safe' town. People who work for the government don't particularly like having their political view points known. Keeping in mind that the government, traditionally speaking, has been the main employer in town. Some days I look around while driving, and it seems like they don't make vinyl siding in any color besides beige.

In short, DC can in many ways create it's own beige bubble. I may be alone in this view point, but I see some of that in the arts community around town as well. The one absolute exception being the Target Gallery. If you get around town enough you'll see the same 100 or 200 folks reconfigured in show after show after show. You walk into the Target Gallery and if you're really up on everybody in town you might pick up on one or two local artists, and the rest will be completely new to you... and likely never to be seen again.

For what is essentially a tiny gallery space, the Target Gallery is doing a magnificent job.

What goes on around the Target Gallery, within the Torpedo Factory, is the polar opposite of that. The Art League puts on an endless series of member shows, with the core room dedicated to featured solo exhibitions.

The artists out in the studio spaces seem to never change at all. I know they change, but for the most part it's imperceptible. The artists at the Torpedo Factory are in effect running small stores. In many ways the facility has more in common with Tyson's Corner Mall than probably any of us would be comfortable admitting to.

I poke my head into some of the stalls from time to time. It often seems as though I've seen it all before. Painting the same picture over and over again, as you said. Which is not to say that some of these folks aren't doing fabulously skilled work. However it is commercial work almost universally geared to sell to tourists, and I would imagine interior decorators. 'Blood and Guts' art it is not.

I can distinctly recall asking one artist if they showed anywhere else. The response was a rather gruff no. Elaborated on by pointing out that to do so would mean having to give up half their profit to someone else. Valid point taken. Distinct disinclination to experiment, expand their horizons, etc. also duly noted.

The Torpedo Factory is a very safe environment for artists, who generally speaking turn out safe art which anyone would be comfortable hanging on their dining room wall. All fine to a point. But too much of one thing makes for a boring scene.

I'm a big believer in artistic cross pollination. I think the process feeds on new ideas and view points. I don't see that happening there.

I'd support some degree of shake up at the Torpedo Factory. I think it would be good for them, and good for the DC arts community at large. I don't want to see people tossed out on their can, but some middle ground seems worth seeking out. Old Town Alexandria isn't exactly the edgiest part of the Metro area. Can they really hack having 'blood and guts' artists in there?? As you've pointed out, it's a can of worms.

Art Whino seemed to be doing OK on St. Asaph Street a dozen or so blocks a way, before they moved. Then again, that was safely away from the waterfront area.

People who seek out pithy art tend to avoid the Torpedo Factory. It's one reason I keep hammering on the notion that the Target Gallery really is one of the best gallery venues in town.

As for ink jet prints, by whatever name... I must say that when it comes to color photography, in many ways the computer prints exceed the quality of traditional wet bath prints.

A) Color prints have a notoriously short life span. You hear all sorts of numbers thrown around, and it always depends on light exposure, humidity, and temperature... but 20 years is about it for a C print. Archival computer prints are now claiming 100+ years.

B) Photo images tend to get nastier and nastier the bigger you make them. Where as computer interpolation software can hold resolution as the print size grows. Suddenly big prints have the crispness of smaller ones.

C) I have an intuitive sense that the tonal range and color intensity is now better on digital prints. C-prints can often come out dark and muddy where a digital print would retain the snap of say a transparency. While I always loved the look of transparencies on a light box, I was almost universally disappointed in the print versions. Color photographic images always seemed to suffer an unacceptable degree of degradation when they went to print.

Early Iris Inkjet prints had a nasty D-Max problem with their blacks. You could see through them to the paper support underneath the ink. To my eye those things were a visual version of fingernails run across a blackboard. But once that problem was solved, it was as if those light box images could finally be seen on paper, and hung on the wall.

On the other hand, I'm not a great fan of digital reproductions of prior art work. It can be done well, but befitting its cheaper price tag, often isn't.

What you really don't want to see at the Torpedo Factory is digital print sales making the place even more commercial and safe than it already is. The Thomas Kinkade-ing of the Torpedo Factory. Shudder the thought.

In short, an edgy component thrown into the mix at the Torpedo Factory would be a welcome relief to many of us. And hopefully expand the viewer base that comes to see work there. Win-Win. How you go about doing that fairly is a political maze someone else will have to run.

- Kevin Mellema

And then a second set of thoughts from Kevin:

Given a couple of days to think about it....

I think that if the Torpedo Factory took a block of say three studio stalls on the ground floor (high visibility spots), and turned them into artist in residence stalls, it would go a long way towards changing the flavor of the place.

Figuring that each stall houses two artists, as it pretty much does now.... three stalls would give you room for six artists in residence spots at any one time. If you rotate out one studio stall a month... artists in residence would be there three months. Enough time to settle down, make some art, show it, and sell it. Also give the general art hopping crowd a three month window to see the work.

On a yearly basis, you're talking about bringing in 24 new artists a year... hopefully many from around the country, and even internationally.

Rotating them once a month should cut down on a mass exodus chaos scene if you rotated them all out at once... not to mention that the folks who have already been there a month or two could help orient the newcomers in a way the natives would find difficult.

Then you get into housing issues and the like.... everything has its complications.

As for the 'studio space for life' situation that currently seems to exist... I suppose you could implement a policy for new arrivals, which would have them as a sort of underclass status. It would take decades for the new order to be the prevailing one.

I imagine even talking about changing the status quo will stir up a lot of bad blood.

I do think that the place needs a vital influx element thrown into the mix. For Washingtonians there isn't a lot there drawing you in past the Target Gallery. How many times would you go to the National Gallery, the Corcoran, or the Phillips, if they displayed nothing but the permanent collections? We all know it's the traveling shows that draw us in there. Once in the house, we'll wander around given enough time, and see the permanent stuff as well. But the permanent stuff doesn't, generally speaking, draw us in. Same goes for the Torpedo Factory.

I also think the local DC art scene desperately needs more connection to the hubs in LA, NY, and Chicago. An artist in residency program at the Torpedo Factory could be a key part of that. We're all a little too comfortable here in DC.

DC's claim to semi-fame is a small disjointed band of artists who played with color 30-50 years ago.... That should make us all squirm in our seats a bit. There's resting on your laurels, but this is getting to be a case of basking in the glory of your forefathers.... they aren't even our laurels any more....

Artists in residency program at the Torpedo Factory.....not the final word on the topic, but it's my best idea.

- Kevin Mellema

Narrative is in

I've been shouting this forever; read about it here.

Staycations

WaPo art critic Michael O'Sullivan pops in with a very cool article in today's Post on "staycations."

The article is made even cooler by the fact that he recommends "Finding Beauty in a Broken World: In the Spirit of Frida Kahlo." Art inspired by the life, writings and imagery of the late Mexican painter. Now through Aug. 29 at the Joan Hisaoka Healing Arts Gallery at Smith Farm Center, 1632 U St. NW. 202-483-8600 and curated by yours truly.

Read the article here.

Saturday: 100 Artists to Paint DC's Largest Public Art Mural

The capital’s largest public art event is happening this Saturday, from 10:00 AM to 8:00 PM with over 100 muralists, artists, and the public painting a wall larger than a football field in the Edgewood neighborhood in Northeast.

The Edgewood Mural Jam is sponsored by the public art non-profit Albus Cavus and the DC Commission on Arts and Humanities, the Mayor's Summer Youth Employment Program, Liquitex, Beacon House, District Department of Transportation, Rails-to-Trails Conservancy, and the Rhode Island Avenue Shopping Center.

The event is for all ages and will feature activities for children, good food, a community area for everyone who comes to pick up a brush and paint, and there will be DJs with music for entertainment.

What: Edgewood Mural Jam
Who: 100 public artists and the community painting a wall bigger than a football field
Where: Rhode Island Avenue Shopping Center, 680 Rhode Island Ave NE (behind the stores), next to Rhode Island WMATA Station on Red Line
When: Saturday, August 15, 10:00 am to 8:00 PM

The DC community is invited to participate in the largest interactive public art event of the summer by meeting the artists, watching them work, and picking up a paintbrush to join in.

Over the last eight weeks in DC, artists Decoy, Quest Skinner, Pose 2, Chor Boogie and Joshua Mays have been leading a group of young people from the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities Summer Youth Employment Program to develop, design, and create a mural for the DC community. "From Edgewood to the Edge of the World" is the anchor art piece that reflects the souls of the artists and invites the public to imagine a new world. The Edgewood Mural Jam will nearly double the size of public art piece in one day as 100 artists have been invited to contribute their art. The mural walls are visible from the Rhode Island WMATA metro station on the Red Line and along the new Metropolitan Branch Trail.

Details here.

For the Torpedo Factory: The Star Trek Effect

One of the most unusual things that one notices as a gallerist, especially if the gallery is lucky enough to be able to afford a street level storefront and to have a large window or glass front to the street, is what I've previously called "the Star Trek effect."

In Star Trek, humans have developed the force field technology, which in most cases obviates the need for glass or some sort of transparent physical protection in a window or opening. Instead they have transparent force fields that allows the ship to have a window or door to the beauties of space, but without glass or plastic, and instead using an invisible force field to keep the vacuum of space out and Trekkers in. They also use it instead of jail bars, etc.

In the gallery world, sometimes an invisible force field envelops the gallery as well.

For example, in the case of either of my two former galleries, both the one in Georgetown and the one in Bethesda, there was ample viewing space from the outside, as both galleries have a large glass front, in Bethesda's case, wrapped all around the gallery space.

This gives the gallerist inside a perfect view of everything going on outside the gallery. And it gives people outside the gallery a decent view of the art inside the space. Quickly one notices a pattern: people will cup their hands to block out out the sun's glint and then look inside. They do this rather than stepping into the gallery and looking at the work directly. If it was a shoe store, they'd walk in; a gallery is more of a challenge.

Another example: In Bethesda the gallery is in a plaza surrounded by other businesses. Once a month or so, our neighbor, formerly Discovery Channel and now Comcast, would have a fire drill and hundreds of people would be milling around the gallery in the plaza. Dozens and dozens of them would have their hands cupped and peering inside from the outside.

I would then get up and prop open the gallery doors, and an even more curious thing would happen. Someone would stand just at the door, and lean forward into the gallery and look in, without actually stepping in. The Star Trek field is in full effect now.

Realizing that I had forgotten to turn the force field off, I would then walk in and out of the gallery a couple of times. This has the magical effect of turning off the field from the inside, and suddenly dozens of persons, seeing an actual human come in and out of the gallery unharmed, would pour in.

Last weekend I walked around the Torpedo Factory in Old Town Alexandria, brought there to look at the exceptional show at the Target Gallery. While I was there I spoke to various artists about the troubles that are facing the TF these days.

I also walked around the TF itself, trying to see if anything stood out to my eye as one potential and easy improvement.

As soon as I walked outside to look at the beauty of the Potomac River, it jumped out at me.

The beautiful plaza outside the TF and around the river was crawling with people, entertainers, families, tourists, etc. It was packed!

The doors that connect the Torpedo Factory to this plaza were closed. Not locked, but closed and need to be pulled/pushed to be opened in order for people from the outside to step into the Factory. Not only that, but they certainly could use a paint job.

The simplest solution sometimes stares us in the face. You want more people to come inside the TF? Then open the doors to the outside during the milder months! That alone won't solve the problem, but it will help. Trust me!

Try this next weekend and see what wonders it makes in improving the traffic flow to the Factory.

Oh yeah... if you forget to turn the force field off, just send a couple of artists to walk in and out of the Factory every couple of hours or so.

Wanna go to a DC opening this Friday?

"My Space on 7th" opens at Touchstone Gallery with an opening reception on Friday, August 14, from 6-8:30pm with an open exhibition featuring 90 local artists:

Sangeeta Agrawal, Nataliya Andreyeva, Neyla Arnas, Keith Arnold, Olu Babalola, Crystal Banks, David Barr, Mark Behme, Pat Bennett, Gary Bergel, Olga Berman, Carl Bettenhausen, Harmon Biddle, Wendy Bridges, Marsha Brown, Kirstin L Bruner, Alza Burd, Pierre Cartier, August ShowAdam Chamy, Zhee Chatmon, Anne Cherubim, Rob Chester, Mark S. Chevalier, James Coates, Ceci Cole McInturff, Michele Cormier, Charlie Dale, Anthony Dortch, Matt Dunn, Derran Eaddy, Linda Elliff, Michelle Fatovic, Alex Feshenko, Isabelle Spicer, Kim Frietze, Kent Gay, Eric M. Ginsburg, Marcia Green, JoAnne Growney, Jackie Hoysted, Sandra Humphrey, Carin A. Jackson, Jessica Jastrzebski, jodi, Linda Keller, David Korte, David A. Kosar, Radha Krishnakumar, Mary D. Lambert, Paula Lantz, Emery J. Lewis, Mary Mallia, Frank M. Mancino, Amy Marshall, JoAnn McInnis, Ivan Mendizabal, Mark Mennie, Anita Merina, David Mills, Del Moran, Kiran Mukunda, Carlos Munoz, Natalie Oguara, Mary D. Ott, Samuel Pastore, Wendy Plotkin-Mates, Keith Ramsey, Juvale Regala, Marina Reiter, Neil Rogers, Pam Rogers, Julia Rosenbaum, Deborah Saks, Zakhar Sasim, Peter Schechter, Charles A. Sessoms, Amelia Shachoy, Paul Sharratt, Janathel Shaw, Raju Singh, John Sislin, Destry Sparks, Aaron Spindler, Ulrich Stein, Elena Tchernomazova, Dana Thompson, Sally ShangMing Tsou, Caroline Urbania, Susan Van Pool and Monica Wise.

Details here.

Glassing the gallery

One of the nation’s leading warm glass studios, our area's own Washington Glass School, has joined forces with the area’s largest hot glass studio DC GlassWorks. This collaboration has delivered an outstanding sculptural exhibition of work by the member artists and instructors.

The Washington Glass School is known for narrative and content-driven glass work, and DC GlassWorks has become an area favorite for sculptural blown glass artwork, and together they represent everything that has made the region one of the planet's hottest spots for contemporary art glass.

And now artDC hosts a hot exhibition at their new gallery at the Lustine Center in Hyattsville, MD, showcasing the collaborative spirit of the two studios in a show titled The Common Element: Glass and Sculpture.

The Common Element: Glass and Sculpture
ARTDC Gallery
5710 Baltimore Avenue
Hyattsville, MD 20781
301-209-0116
August 15 - September 6, 2009
Reception August 15, 2009, 4-6 pm

Artists include: Patrick Burke, David Cook, Joe Corcoran, Cheryl P. Derricotte, Nancy Donnelly, Sean Hennessey, Michael Janis, Steven Jones, Brendan Kager, Jennifer Lindstrom, David D'Orio, Anne Plant, Ragan Sheridan, Erwin Timmers, Megan Van Wagoner and Sue Weisenburger.

Preview here.

Opportunity for Artists

Deadline: August 31, 2009

Baltimore's Galerie Myrtis will host “Picture a World without Cancer”, a fundraising event in support of the Smith Farm Center for Healing and the Arts, a nonprofit health, education and creative arts organization which serves individuals, families and communities affected by cancer and other serious illnesses.

Galerie Myrtis is seeking works of art (ceramics, painting, photography, sculpture and textiles) to be sold in support of the event. The sales proceed will be divided as follows: fifty percent to the artist and the remaining fifty percent (50%) will be donated to the Smith Farm Center.

The proceeds will support Smith Farms Center’s project to expand their facilities and services to the community. These plans will enhance their programs, increase participation, make programs accessible and increase their visibility in the community.

Fundraising Event:
Location: Galerie Myrtis, 2224 North Charles Street, Baltimore, MD 21218
Date: Sunday, September 27, 2009
Time: 2:00 – 7:00 pm

DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSION: August 31, 2009 (There are no submission fees)

JURORS: Alvah Beander, Appraiser of African, African American and African Diaspora art; Tim Davis, International Visions Gallery; Phylicia Ghee, Photographer; and Julia Keller, The Walters Art Museum.

ELIGIBITY: This opportunity is open to artists residing in the Washington Metropolitan and Baltimore areas. Artists working in the following disciplines are invited to participate: ceramics, painting, photography, sculpture and
textile. All works must be original creations made by the artist within the last 2 years.

SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS: CD's are preferred and should provide: images of the artworks, current artist's statement, biography and resume. A list which includes the following information must accompany the CD: title, dimensions, medium, year and price of featured works. 35mm plastic slide mounts must be labeled with the name of artist, title, and labeled “top” on correct viewing side of slide. A list which includes the following information must accompany the slides: corresponding number, title, dimensions, medium, year and price. Please include a Self-addressed stamped envelope for return of your slides.

Artist may submit no more than five (5) artworks for consideration.

Please send materials to:

Galerie Myrtis
2224 North Charles Street
Baltimore, Maryland 21218

For additional information please contact Galerie Myrtis at 410/235-3711 or phyliciag@galeriemyrtis.com.

In the Flesh II at the Target Gallery

Prompted by this Kevin Mellema review, I dropped by Alexandria's Target Gallery last weekend to see the exhibition In The Flesh II (through August 30 with an Opening Reception: August 13 – 6-8pm, and a Gallery talk with curator Andrea Pollan at 7pm).

Target Gallery has been consistently one of the Greater DC area's best, and many times, only art venues to routinely showcase artwork by artists outside the Greater DC region, as their national calls are usually well responded to by artists all over the nation and even internationally.

Under the skilled guidance of gallery director Mary Cook, the gallery has refined its presence, thanks in part to the superb set of jurors that Cook has been able to bring to the gallery, such as Andrea Pollan for In The Flesh II. Pollan writes in her juror statement:

Figurative art has had a resurgence in recent years, no doubt brought on by the barrier-breaking internet and its promise of access to all kinds of social information - including things previously kept private – that emphasize what strange and fascinating creatures we are. Witness the popularity of YouTube.com, where the more extreme the videotaped image or behavior is by social consensus, the more frequently a link goes viral and gets viewed. Our self-absorption knows no bounds. Our bodies are endlessly fascinating.

Concurrent with this technological phenomenon is an international spate of important survey exhibitions of such figurative artists as Willem De Kooning, Francis Bacon, and Alice Neel. The Hirshhorn currently has its “Strange Bodies” exhibition on view with works in all media that span the 20th and 21st centuries, and The Phillips Collection is presenting the historic survey “Painting Made Flesh.” Clearly there is something in the wind.

The organizing premise of this juried exhibition is figurative work. From over 800 submissions, it was extremely difficult to cull an exhibition of only 27 works. Many very fine works were sacrificed in the final few rounds of jurying. My primary criterion was to select works of artistic quality, sometimes traditional and sometimes not. Clearly the poetic, the mysterious, the contemplative, the whimsical, the political, and sometimes the dark side of humanity characterize many of the works on view. This may be attributed to my juror’s bias that includes a predilection for a good imagined story.

Figurative work in general encompasses a broad range of genre and technique. For the works at the Target Gallery, I aimed to assemble a collection of art that reveals the power the figure has to engage the viewer whether realistic, expressionistic, surrealistic, documentary or mediated by another medium. As an audience we more easily identify with figuration as we already have an entrée into the work of art by virtue of the subject. Given the depicted content, we then by nature project narratives onto the work, so we become an active participant in the interpretation of the work. These stories are the deeply seated human connection that binds us to each other and to the art on view.

Many thanks to the astounding number of artists who submitted from around the country and to the staff at the Target Gallery, especially Mary Cook, for providing a wonderful opportunity to get to know work of so many artists in far-flung areas.

As soon as one enters the gallery, the first thing that we notice is the very interesting installation by Stephanie Liner, which in a sense dominates at first sight, in part because of its scope, and in part because of the size and fascinating sculptural ideas delivered by the artist.


Stephanie Liner – Momentos of a Doomed Construct. Full view Installation.


Stephanie Liner – Momentos of a Doomed Construct. Full view Installation (side view).


Stephanie Liner – Momentos of a Doomed Construct. Large form with door open.


Stephanie Liner – Momentos of a Doomed Construct, detail (inside large form).
It is also clear that Momentos of a Doomed Construct (is it Momentos or Mementos?) would have shown better by itself in a larger space, kudos to Pollan for selecting it and kudos to Target for showcasing it as well as they did.

This show is full of great work, and there are several artists here who should really be seen by our local collectors and by my fellow art dealers. Pollan's experienced eye has delivered a winner and this show is by far one of the best figurative shows that I have seen in years.

The first piece that attracted my attention was Anna Kipervaser's Inunion (3), an oil painting on shaped panel that immediately brought to my mind the similarly shaped panels of Cuban artist Aimee Garcia Marrero that we showed in Georgetown and also in Bethesda several years ago.

Anna Kipervaser, Inunion (3). Oil on Shaped Panel
In either case, both artists' technical facility translates superbly to the shaping of the panel, which then delivers a piece that somewhat marries painting with sculpture and that does well in either case.


Ann Piper, Censored.Oil on Canvas
Ann Piper's Censored is just a good painting, period. This is an obviously skilled painter with enviable painting skills and a talented brush, and she flexes those abilities in a rather simple but sexy painting with a hint of playfulness and a load of seriousness attached to it via its title.

Jason John's mastery of the genre of hyper-realism blew me away. This is hyper-realism at its best with a hint of surrealism, or is it?


Jason John, Conversation of a Paranormal Event, Oil on Board
Has the child's magical flick of the wrist lifted the object in the upper left in a gravity-defying act? or is the object a helium filled balloon orbiting the painting of its own accord? The answer lies in the way that the man responds to the scene and under John's talented hand, the painting succeeds in grabbing our attention through his.

Other works worthy of attention were Colin Asmus' two pieces in the show, which deliver a marriage of social situations with a touch of internet insanity and excellent painting skills. I also liked Jeffrey Haupt's sexy and a little eerie Miss A, a large oil on panel (56'x35") which is a steal at $1,250.

Strong narrative is the key to the success of Jami Nix's 42nd Street Time Square Station, a piece depicting a bunch of NYC cops with canine assistants inspecting the famous subway station.

Rachel Sitkin's graphite titled Under Question represents drawing well in the show, as does Jeff Markowsky's superb charcoal drawing.

Finally, Valerie Patterson's watercolor Woman is the Other has a touch of the magical madness of Gregory Gillespie's work, and leaves us unsure if we're witnessing a macabre act or a depicting of loss of identity or self-esteem.

This show is a winner; almost every piece could have been a Best in Show on its own, and my choice for Best in Show would go to Jason John.

Don't miss the opening on Thursday, August 13, from 6-8pm.

New DC gallery

New (to me anyway) is Momento Gallery at Wisconsin Avenue, NW in DC. They come to the scene already representing some well-known DC area artists such as Andres Tremols, Richard Dana, Joan Belmar, Randall Packer and Patricia Secco.

Visit them online here.

Confirmed

The U.S. Senate voted to confirm President Obama's appointments to chair the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Rocco Landesman, a Broadway producer noted for award-winning productions like Angels in America, Big River and The Producers, was confirmed as the new chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts. For twenty years, Landesman has been the president of Jujamcyn Theaters, New York's third largest theater owner.

Jim Leach was also confirmed as the next chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Leach is a former Republican congressman from Iowa and is a professor at Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs.

Artists' Websites: Jason John

I've just discovered the work of Pennsylvania artist Jason John at the Andrea Pollan juried show at the Target Gallery in Alexandria, Virginia and I was very impressed by John's piece in that very strong show full of gems.

Jason John, Conversation of a Paranormal Event, Oil on Board
And it is not only the amazing technical virtuosity of this hyper-realist artist, but also the intelligent composition and the way that the concept and idea is delivered by John's skilled brushwork. Look at the subtle way that the "paranormal" in the work (in this case the floating balloons) is introduced... we almost miss it as we're enchanted by the brilliant twist of the child's wrist and the terrestial look in the man's face.

Visit his website here.

Factory Statistics

My recent post on the issues facing the Torpedo Factory has been getting a lot of attention. My good friend Margaret Huddy (and a superbly talented artist) pops in with some very enlightening stats and also lets us know that "Mr. Pope got Joan Aldrich's name wrong. I wondered why I had never heard of her. Her correct name is Joan Ulrich and she does have a studio on the first floor. She is a ceramic artist."

Here are some statistics on lease-holding TF artists.

There are currently 143 leaseholders. Of them only 18 are original artists. In the 20 years between 1974 and 1994, 600 artists have been leaseholders. From 1993 to 1003, 113 lease-holding artists left. From 2004 to 2009 33 leaseholding artists left and 41 new artists were added.

From 2007 to 2008, nine more artists became leaseholders. Only 10 artists on the waiting list of juried artists are actually wanting to have studio in the art center. Many of the rest live as far away as Washington state and California. They keep their name on the list "just in case" they ever move back (one is 85, so I doubt she will, but you never know).

We do the best we can to attract new artists for our annual jury but many people find the idea of working in the public eye very daunting. One artist who sublet from me left after three weeks. She said she felt like a monkey in a zoo.