Fierce Sonia at the Art League Gallery

The current “Paper Dolls” exhibition by photographer/model Fierce Sonia set all kinds of “new” for The Art League Gallery in Old Town Alexandria. For one thing, I am told that the opening reception and meet the artist function was one of the largest, if not the largest opening in the gallery’s long history.

And it wasn’t just the exceptional photography which caused all the “buzz” in the Greater DC arts community, but also the photographer herself (who is the subject of her own work), who contributed to the immense interest in this solo debut by one the area’s best known, drawn, photographed and painted art bodies. You see, Fierce Sonia is usually seen posing, rather than creating.

But a creator she is. Several years ago I came across her seminal photographic work, and even curated her into my WPA/Corcoran show "Seven", where her early photographs sold well. This new work, the first that I've seen since then, is a spectacular departure and growth from those early images of her nude body.

Ritual Repeat by Fierce Sonia
Her press release said it all:

“During her tenure as a figure model for The Art League School, Fierce Sonia quietly acquired a top-notch visual arts education. Motivated by the artwork she saw, she became eager to create her own work. She cabled her camera to her TV and released the shutter with an infrared remote. Sonia used herself as her own model, learning more about composition and technique based on what she saw on the screen.

Her figurative photography has evolved to a new and exciting place. The focus is on process. In Sonia’s latest series “Paper Dolls,” the same images reoccur with confident changes to the surface. Her work is no longer straight photography. With the integration of painting and collage into her images, Sonia’s work has reached a new level.

The black and white images of herself are often printed on paper that has been painted white, which creates a rich texture. Each piece is created in a unique way. Previous prints may be collaged to create depth. Multiple runs of the same print may be made on the same piece. More painting, layering might be necessary to create the desired effect. These alterations to the surface blur the identity of the original image, and make the series of work about the medium and the process, and not about the subject matter.

Sonia’s work has been exhibited and won accolades nationally. She is a professional art model and muse for artists and photographers and has worked with nationally and internationally known artists.”

And for years, this muse for artists has been absorbing, truly by osmosis, an art education that is truly remarkable.

For "Paper Dolls", Sonia used her camera like a weapon; trained it onto her own body, put a focused mind to work on the photographs, and created a memorable set of images that make her solo debut one of the best, if not the best, photography shows that I’ve ever seen at the Art League.

And Sonia doesn’t simply follow in the footsteps of those who have focused the camera to themselves; most notably Cindy Sherman and Nan Goldin. She does that and then twists the weapon a little deeper into our visual cortex: she manipulates the image, she manipulates the paper, she manipulates our most primeval erotic thoughts with images of her body and imagery of bones, and repetitive imagery of thoughts buried deep inside our moist hereditary memories.


Material Things 13x 29 inches.
This is an old soul being displayed on these 21st century images. We knew her in the caves of Altamira and Lascaux, and her image graced the walls of Egypt, Greece and Rome, and perhaps a standing stone or two in the ancient lands of the Picts.

But this new 21st century imagery has been now manipulated, twisted, tortured, reworked and updated by Sonia.

She brings it to a delicious 21st century dialogue where her image is no longer about herself. It is now about ideas, about texture, about layers, and about the sensually cognitive act of repetition. It is also most importantly about the harsh de-objectification of her own figure, or perhaps the attempt to do so, while leaving tantalizing remnants of her presence.

This is an artist who uses her body to make a living as a professional model. And in "Paper Dolls" she makes a bold statement about her own physical attributes that demystify that ancient quality that she possesses and re-invents her figure as part of the whole of her art, rather than the sole commodified subject of the art.

In refreshing this ancient imagery through a fresh set of eyes, Fierce Sonia accomplishment covers many roads and ideas, and seldom have they been traveled so successfully in a photographer’s solo debut.

The show is "Paper Dolls" and it is on through May 3rd at the Art League, inside the Torpedo Factory in Old Town Alexandria. Don't miss it.

Light at the end of the tunnel?

I think that the brutal dictatorship of the Castro brothers is beginning to show the secondary signs of the end of their world as they know it.

Cuba's Roman Catholic cardinal says the country is in one of its worst crises in recent times, with its people demanding political and economic changes sooner rather than later.

More evidence here.

Meanwhile the Damas de Blanco keep marching in Havana and keep getting beaten up by Castro's thugs; but they do not give up. Other than the local news in Miami, you'd never know what's going on in Cuba from the US main stream media.

How Linn Meyers draws

Also, on Friday April 30th at 12:30PM, Meyers will be giving a talk at the Hirshhorn Museum with Carlene Stephens, Curator of Time at the Smithsonian Museum of American History, and Ryan Hill, Curatorial Research Associate at the Hirshhorn. The talk is part of a series called "In Conversation".

MFA Thesis Shows

The MFA Thesis III and First-Year Shows at MICA will open next Friday, April 23. This preesents an opportunity to start keeping an eye on Katie Miller's work. She will have a new painting in the First-Year Show, located in the Pinkard Gallery on the first floor of MICA's Bunting Center, at 1401 West Mount Royal Avenue.

The graduating second-year MFA candidates are showing in the Fox Building next door. Both shows feature work from all of the graduate programs, generally encompassing painting, sculpture, photography, video, interdisciplinary, and installation.

Miller will be at the opening reception on April 23 from 5 - 7 pm. The opening involves both the Pinkard Gallery in the Bunting Center, and the Meyerhoff, Decker, and Fox 3 galleries in the Fox building.

MFA Thesis III
Friday, April 23-Sunday, May 2
A public reception with the artists takes place Friday, April 23, 5-7 p.m.
Gallery Talks: Tuesday, April 27, 3-5 p.m. and Wednesday, April 28, 1-3 p.m.
Fox Building: Decker, Meyerhoff, and Fox 3 galleries (1303 W. Mount Royal Ave.)

For a slideshow of Thesis (second-year) work, please visit this website.

See Katie Miller's work here.

Open Studios

April 24 & 25th - click on image for more info.

At George Washington University: More Photographs Than Bricks

By Bruce McKaig

There is only a couple of weeks left (through April 20) to catch an exhibition in DC at GW's Luther W. Brady Art Gallery that pushes the envelope about what a photograph can be. More Photographs Than Bricks (exhibition title and part of a quote from John Szarkowski) has assembled a myriad of works that explore the medium and act of photography in surprising ways, including photographs that are not pictures and a few works that are not photographs.

The artists chosen include emerging and world famous artists: Nancy Breslin, Edward Burtynsky, Chuck Close, Kim Keever, Ana Labastida, Amy Lamb, Bruce McKaig, Megan Marrin, Abelardo Morell, Yasumasa Morimura, Martin d’Orgeval, Sean Scully, Jeffrey Smith, and JeongMee Yoon.

Jeongmee Yoon, "Emily and her pink things" (2005)
Jeongmee Yoon was born in Seoul, South Korea and moved to New York in 2004. Her work, inspired by life experiences with her own children, examines cultural codes and gender-subjective consumerism. In Emily and her Pink Things, Yoon constructs then photographs a Pepto-Bismol world cute enough to make anyone sick to his or her stomach. This work does not stop at examining the way gender is used to market products. It is thoroughly personal – Emily is Yoon’s daughter, who “loves pink, like my son [Donghu and his Blue Things] loves blue” – so it is also a confession about having acquiesced, to being engulfed in the marketing strategy.

Martin d'Orgeval (French, b. 1973) lives and works in Paris. His work is an impressive use of space, history, and imagery. Touched by Fire blends tragedy and beauty with images from the entomology and taxidermy store Deyrolle, devastated by fire in 2008. These constructed still lifes have a temporal reference, depicting the passage of time less like a voyeur and more like a detective, or even an archivist trying to put the pieces back together.

Kim Keever (American) lives and works in New York City. Keever’s “landscapes” are studio productions, still lifes in fact. Keever constructs underwater scenes then photographs them, hence the moody weight to his images. Heavy atmosphere aside, the nature of the work requires Keever to capture the scene under a sense of urgency as the materials are in fact more fleeting than stable.

Ana Labastida (Mexican) lives in San Francisco. Her installations are composed of bugs and baskets, moths in this case, made from fabric and photographs printed on glass. From a distance, the installation wants to be playful – and it is – but on closer inspection, the urban imagery on the giant insect wings becomes somewhat disturbing.

According to Lenore Miller, Gallery Director, and Olivia Kohler, Assistant Director, the exhibit started by searching for works that could be academically classified as “new history” or “new landscape” and so forth, but months of conscientious and creative detective work uncovered photographic explorations that would not conveniently fit into “categories that had served to structure art from the 16th to the 19th century.” This discovery prompted the selection process to include some non-photographic works.

The exhibition catalogue has an essay written by Virginia K laying out some of the historical context for the visual dialogue between photography and painting. Many artists and authors have commented on the interaction between photography and painting, and some have examined the resurgence of 19th century techniques in contemporary art.

David Hockney makes a comparison between photography and painting with his assertion that “photography is really good for making pictures of drawings.” (Hockney on Art, 1999). Hockney insists that the lack of “hands on” in photography explains why paintings are better at depicting reality. However, in the same book, he also says that because society is increasingly less certainty that photography is ideally suited to depict reality, photography “has been brought back into the area that painting has always dealt with.” What would Hockney have to say about this exhibition? Another prominent figure in the art world, John Szarkowski, once said, “A photograph is essentially a picture. Not everything that is sensitive to light produces a photograph. A sunburn is not a photograph.” (Looking at Photographs, 1973) Where would Mr. Szarkowski place these works? Perhaps the curator, author and historian Jean-Claude Lemagny (French, b. 1931) best describes where to place these artists by asserting that some artists are photographers, some bump up against photography.

Nineteenth century photo techniques never entirely disappeared from the art world, but the last decades have seen a significant resurgence of these dated processes used to produce contemporary works. Photography’s Antiquarian Avant-Garde (Lyle Rexer, Abrams 2002) lays out an historical timeline to situate these processes, then proposes a number of contemporary artists’ twists on how they are used today (Chuck Close - also in this exhibit, Susan Rankaitis, Jin Lee, Ilan Wolff, Mark Kessell, Bruce McKaig, to site a few). In Rexer’s words, these artists “[work] in both mystical and material ways, letting the chemistry of the emulsion register chance and time, turning Talbot's ‘pencil of nature’ into a paintbrush."

More Photographs Than Bricks is the second of three exhibitions supported by Clarice Smith with a focus on creating a dialogue by bringing the highest quality art for display in the Luther W. Brady Art Gallery. Ms. Smith is a local patron of the arts who has supported numerous large-scale projects to help bring art and people together, and personally explores the arts through her paintings.

More Photographs Than Bricks
March 24-April 30, 2010
Luther W. Brady Art Gallery
The George Washington University
Media & Public Affairs Building, 2nd Floor
805 21st Street, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20052
Gallery Hours: Tuesday - Friday, 10 a.m. - 5 p.m.

For more information about the Exhibition and the Luther W. Brady Gallery: Click here. For more information about the author: click here.

American Contemporary Art magazine

The April/May issue is out and there are several reviews of DC galleries as well as a DC-centric article by yours truly in pages 22-23.

You can also read it online here.

Calling all Artists: Win This House Essay Contest


The lead says it all. Details here.

Little Junes Update

Anderson Lennox Franklin Lars Timothy Angus Pict Eric Florencio Brude James Tiberius Campello Anderson Cruzata Jaspersen Alonso Zaar Marrero Karling Comba Noren Dalke Hartsell y Lennox.
Circa April 16, 2010. Flesh and Blood. 24 inches by 24lbs 2 oz. NFS

Fierce Sonia at the Art League

The review is coming.

Meanwhile, if you didn't go to the opening (as around 400 people did), see the video below and check out what an immense happening you missed. Seldom has a new artist's solo debut gathered this sort of response around here, especially at the Art League.

The show is "Paper Dolls" and it is on through May 3rd at the Art League, inside the Torpedo Factory in Old Town Alexandria. Don't miss it.

Going Postal in London

Deadline: June 7th, 2010

On 16th June, the Chelsea College of Art and Design is having an auction of postcards and postcard-sized artworks created by international artists and designers. This event will be called 'Going Postal' and any monies raised by this auction will go towards funding their final MA show in September 2010. They tell me that they "would be delighted if you would be willing to contribute a piece to this auction."

If any of you want to participate, either work on the postcard they can send you upon request or produce another piece of an approximately commensurate size (A6 or 105 × 148 mm) in any materials you want. Please return all work for the attention of Brian Chalkley to the address below before June 7th.

The auction will be held at the ICA, Central London and looks set to be an interesting night with a range of international artists, collectors, gallerists in attendance and compered by artist and head of MA Fine Art at Chelsea, Brian Dawn Chalkley

Contact
Attn: Brian Chalkley
Chelsea College of Art and Design
16 John Islip Street
London SW1P 4JU

Some online contact info here.

Congrats!

To DC area artist Amy Lin, who was just awarded a Strauss Grant!

Lin's current exhibition, "Kinetics", is at Addison/Ripley Fine Art, 1670 Wisconsin Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20007 through April 24, 2010. The artist will be in the gallery today from 4-6pm.

Buy Amy Lin now.

Open House This Saturday - Meet The Artists

Pyramid Atlantic and the Washington Printmakers Gallery will be hosting an Open House on Saturday, April 17 from 1 pm to 4 pm at Pyramid Atlantic Arts Center, 8230 Georgia Avenue.

City Gallery

A new cooperative gallery on the H Street corridor NE
By Bruce McKaig

Last month, a group of artists formed a new cooperative gallery on the second floor at 804 H Street NE. City Gallery, with approximately 20 member artists, opened March 6th, 2010 with a members group show and will cycle through the membership hosting solo exhibits for most of the year ahead. Members work in diverse media; painting, drawing, photography, sculpture etc.

The gallery’s principals, Philip Hutinet, Geoff Ault, and Ellen Cornett make the decisions about membership and exhibition scheduling, but all members can participate in meetings as part of the decision making process. Membership exists at two levels: full membership and associate membership. Each category has different terms and perks.

When the trio decided to open a gallery, they took a look at how other cooperatives work to assess strengths and weaknesses. One thing they felt important: do not require members to take on gallery responsibilities. As a new facility, they are still forging some of the policies and practices they will eventually establish and hope to develop relationships with other art groups in the area and eventually beyond to bring member art to other venues and perhaps host nonmember work in their space. As well as hosting exhibitions, City Gallery also provides gallery space rental and catering, art advisory and curatorial services, art installation and new collector consultations.

The current exhibition, Magical Realism, displays watercolors and collages by local artist Gina Clapp.

A long-term personality in the Capitol Hill arts scene, Gina’s works demonstrate a rigorous understanding and control of her medium though the subject matter sometimes sits shallow. Gina’s meticulous control of the medium stands out in the gallery, despite the diversity in sizes, eclectic framing and assorted subjects.

Song of late summer. Watercolor by Gina Clapp
The exhibition also includes recently made collages. These collages also demonstrate Gina’s firm grip on visual composition, but with surprising material choices, including sequined cloth. Whereas her mastering of materials is part of what holds the watercolors together, somehow it seems a bit unresolved in the collages. With the more adventurous, want-to-be playful choice of materials, perhaps the collages are waiting for a looser, more playful gesture in their construction.

In Gina’s words:

My watercolor work often takes weeks/months to paint. Collage takes less time and is relaxing and more cerebral. I like to arrange the shapes and colors to depict a mood without having to do the intense realistic studies beforehand. The other aspect of collage that I enjoy is collecting and using odd bits of Japanese papers, exotic or florid fabrics, and papers with unique textures. Combining these scraps with some watercolor, I create collages that are more symbolic of a mood, time of day, landscape, or place. They are rather abstract, the watercolors more realistic. Yet in both I strive to suggest the motion, life, and magic of living things, and their relationships with objects that surround them.

City Gallery’s presence on the H Street corridor brings the number of galleries in the area to seven. The various galleries are pursuing possible ways to collaboratively work to bring more artists and art aficionados to the area.

The next exhibition at City Gallery will be Light and Allusion, showcasing works by Nancy Donnelly (glass) and Jill Finsen (painting) May 1-29. The opening is May 1st, 6-9pm.

City Gallery
804 H Street NE Washington, DC 20002
202.468.5277
Hours: Friday 1-5, Saturday 1-5 and by appointment
For more information about City Gallery:
www.citygallerydc.com
For more information about the author: www.brucemckaig.com

Wanna go to an artist's talk tomorrow?

Our own Rosetta DeBerardinis is giving an Artist Talk on Sat. April 17th at 7pm in conjunction with her solo exhibit, "Coming Home: A Collection of Works by Rosetta DeBerardinis" at the Corner Store.

The Corner Store is at 900 South Carolina Ave., S.E. @ 9th Street near the Eastern Market. The band Gessford Court to follow. Contact Kris Swanson @202-544-5807 for additional info.

19th Annual Northern Virginia Fine Arts Festival

Check out the artists juried into the 19th Annual Northern Virginia Fine Arts Festival. This is one of the best outdoor art festivals in the nation. It takes place on the streets of the Reston Town Center — Reston, Virginia, May 15 & 16, 2010. 10am — 6pm daily.

Pencil it into your schedule and drop by and say hi at Booth 204.

Tax Day

According to the Tax Policy Center, a Washington research organization, about 47 percent of Americans will pay no federal income taxes for 2009.

Having paid income tax since my very first job ever at age 13 (after school vacuum cleaning several stores along Pitkin Avenue in Brooklyn and also cleaning their bathrooms after they closed), I've managed to pay income taxes every year since that year and this past year was the most brutal tax year ever for me.

It has also always escaped me the fairness of having about 1% of US households pay about 40% of all taxes collected in this nation and the other top 9% of US households combine to pay almost 75% of all taxes collected.

The reason that most European nations and especially the new democracies from the former Soviet empire adopted either a flat tax system or a Value Added Tax (VAT) system is simple: "It's simple!"

Every nation in Europe that I've lived in had a flat tax, except for the UK, which has a VAT (17.5%).

But here, the tax laws are so complex, and the tax load so disparate and so huge, that we need an army of IRS folks to enforce them and an even bigger army of accountants and lawyers to interpret them.

Makes my head hurt; check's on the way.

LottoHEART

CAMP Rehoboth in Delaware is an awesome GBLT advocacy group has grown up from a grassroots effort reacting to a health epidemic to a powerhouse fighting for human equality. This year they celebrate their 20th year anniversary.

Their annual fund raising art event has evolved to a week-long exhibition that culminates with a boisterous Game Show Event and Live Auction at the Rehoboth Beach Convention Center on Saturday, July 3rd. Last year was a great success – thanks to everyone, they raised over $35,000 for the CAMP Rehoboth Community Center.

How to Participate:

This year they’d like 200+ artists to each create one original, unframed, 5" x 7" (exactly) work in any medium — it should not be matted or framed. All works are donations and will be sold for $100 — the catch is that your identity will not be known by the buyer until after the purchase. Also, the order in which a buyer gets to select their art is random (hence "lotto") and will be pulled off as part of the LottoHEART Game Show on July 3rd.

Here is one great success story: DeMarquis Johnson, a participating artist from Mississippi, was contacted by the person who got his work, who in turn suggested his work for a show in DC! Look for DeMarquis Johnson’s work hanging in Vastu on 14th Street NW in DC June 14 – August 19, 2010.

Register Online Today — Number of participants limited so sign up today here.

DEADLINE TO SIGN UP – May 7TH
ARTWORK DELIVERY – JUNE 20TH
PREVIEW RECEPTION AT CAMP REHOBOTH – JUNE 26TH
LOTTOHEART GAME SHOW – JULY 3RD

While the deadline for registration is May 7th — the number of participants is limited. Over 100 artists are already signed up. Join them today. I registered yesterday - take a peek at who is participating here.

100 DC Artists

I have been retained by Schiffer Publishing to edit and create a coffee table size book titled “100 Washington, DC Artists” as part of their series on national artists.

This was based on a proposal that I sent to them a while back, and I am happy to report that they have approved it for publication in the spring of 2011. The book will cover 100 key artists working in the Greater Washington, DC area which encompasses the District and surrounding suburban areas of Maryland and Virginia.

Like all Schiffer art books, this will be a high quality book which will be available nationally and online, as well as available locally at museum gift shops and local area bookstores. Each artist will have a two page spread, with 3-4 images of their work, a small head shot, and a 300 word essay about their work.

I've got most key DC area artists already selected and I've been in contact with them with details, etc. I'm aiming to include all the major DC area visual art names from William Christenberry on down the list, as well as key emerging artists.

Speaking of key, two artists that I'd like to include in the book, but which I have been unable to contact either through their dealers or directly via email are Iona Rozeal Brown and Yuriko Yamaguchi. If anyone who reads this blog knows them personally, please tell them to contact me at my email address even if it to say that they're not interested. I'd hate to skip these two important DC artists because they're not reading their email!

Still speaking of key, I've also asked several key DC area art dealers and collectors and even art critics for their input, just to make sure that I'm not forgetting a key name in our visual arts community.

I'm quite stoked about this project, although one of the drawbacks can be that I'd have 100 happy artists and 1,000 bummed out ones.

For the latter I've only one thing to say: a book titled "Another 100 DC Artists" is already in my mind.

Special Seminar: Social Networking and Marketing Your Art

Saturday April 24, from 1-3PM. All the details are here.

The Muckin' O Geordie's Byre

Just in case you think that Old Scots is English... here's one of my favorite Andy Stewart tunes:

Noo whan Ah-want-ta lauchin Ah think of the scene
Whan aa'body roon cam ower tae clean,
An claarted themsel's richt up-ta the e'en
At the muckin o Geordie's byre.
Wi Robbie the Rochie an Willie the Doo,
The officer fell fur Jeannie McGrew;
And aa'body else that hud hud a capoo
At the muckin' o' Geordie's byre.
Och! siccan a sotter wis aa'body in,
Five mile awa ye cud hear the din;
Even the verra-coo hud to grin
At the muckin o Geordie's byre.

Noo the bobby cam roon tae quell the fowks doon
The cratur gat loast whaur the ricks hud thur foon
He fell in the midden, wis like tae droon
At the muckin o Geordie's byre.
The wecht o him syne sends the barrow in bits,
The wheel cairries oan an the officer hits;
Losh ye shud hiv seen hoo she did the splits
At the muckin o Geordie's byre.
Och! siccan a sotter wis aa'body in,
Five mile awa ye cud hear the din;
Even the verra-coo hud to grin
At the muckin o Geordie's byre.

Oh the whisky gaed roon, Tammy's fleein the doo
An aye as they drank, the mair they gat fou
The only yins sober, the calf an the coo
At the muckin o Geordie's byre.
Tammy roared oot, "Ring the bell fur mair"
Syne he tuggit the coo's tail, an pult oot a hair;
She kickit oot an gaes up in the air
At the muckin o Geordie's byre.
Och! siccan a sotter wis aa'body in,
Five mile awa ye cud hear the din;
Even the verra-coo hud to grin
At the muckin o Geordie's byre.

Artist Interview: Marianela de la Hoz

Mejor que la liposuccion (Better than Lipsuction), c.2008. Egg tempera on board. 4 x 2.3 inches
Born in Mexico and currently residing in San Diego Marianela de la Hoz is absolutely one of my favorite artists, period. I first came across her meticulous work at an exhibition of contemporary Mexican work at the Cultural Institute of Mexico years ago, and have been a fan ever since. We asked her our usual questions:

DC: Who or what has been your biggest influence as an artist?

Since I was a little girl my maternal grandfather introduce me to the arts, we used to enjoy many art books and I fell in love with Leonardo and the Flemish painters, then I discover Goya and there I found the most appealing images for my own aesthetics. His etchings, full of dark imaginary and dark humor have been my biggest influence.

DC: What are some of the challenges or mistakes that you have experienced as an artist and what did you learn from it?

One of the toughest challenges in life was deciding to leave my career as a Graphic designer and dedicate my life, body and soul to painting. I studied Graphic Design at the Universidad Autonoma Metropolitana in Mexico City and I work as a graphic designer for 14 years, I was successful, earn good money and yet something was missing; it was not until my second child was born, almost 18 years ago, that I had enough clarity to convince myself of something I had always known but was afraid to accept. I wanted to dedicate myself to art and in painting I found the deep meaning of my whole existence, that passion surrounded me completely.

DC: Do you use a method for pricing your artwork?

My artwork is not easy to price because of the very small formats.

The first time I had an exhibition in Mexico City , the gallery owner set the prices and I trusted his knowledge about the art market, the collectors and my pieces, when I arrived 8 years ago to San Diego something similar happened when David Zapf the owner of the gallery I began working with did the same.

After building my own market, I have been able to set prices calculating the hours I dedicate to each painting, egg tempera requires a lot of time to be finished, I could not fix prices taking the size as a variable because of my very small formats

DC: Have you done any of the art fairs? If so, does your work do better at the fairs or at the gallery shows?

I have done several, Scope, Bridge, Pulse, Artamericas, the NY Affordable Art Fair. I would say that though I have sold in some of the fairs, my principal sales have been in my hometown galleries, first Mexico City and second San Diego.

DC: What advise would you give to emerging artists?

To always be honest and true to their believes and voice, betraying this principles in the pursuit of fame and money would not be soul satisfying. To work hard, use discipline everyday, inspiration is fine but daily work is the one that moves a true artist to a solid body of work, Don't trust excessive EGOS , and last to have an iron stomach to stand destructive criticism or excessive praises

DC: Who is your favorite DC area artist?

I don't know if he is local, I know that Conner Gallery represents him, Erik Sandberg

DC: Anything coming up in the near future for you?

Last March 25th I had the opening for my solo show "Mise en scene" at the Noel-Baza Gallery, San Diego CA.

Marianela shows with some of the top galleries around the nation and would probably make a great fit in a DC area gallery. If you want to get in touch with her, drop me a note.

Seminar Pics

Yesterday's Bootcamp for Artists Seminar at the Gateway Arts Center was packed with a standing room crowd. About 60 people showed up (only 50 had RSVP'd). The seminar was free, courtesy of Gateway CDC in partnership with MNCPPC.

That's me discussing the ever popular subject of juried art competitions. Photo courtesy of Terry Ward.


And that's me and a partial shot of the crowd. The discussion now is the even more dicey subject of how to price your artwork. Photo courtesy of Terry Ward.


After the seminar there was a closing reception for the current show - which I had curated. Here are artists Rosetta de Berardinis, who is back in the DC area after a three year exile to Baltimore and Alexa Meade, whose amazing work is really lifting her young career to new heights.

And the kid with artist Terry Ward.

Great deal on Ebay

Check out one of my vintage mermaid drawings (done 11 years ago) currently on Ebay. Initial bid makes it a steal. See it here.

Wanna go to an opening this Friday?

Sold

The Mera Rubell effects tide continues; a major art collector just acquired both of these pieces, which I had done for the Rubell studio visit:

"Asere, Si o No?" 19"x48" Charcoal on Paper
About this piece: The appropriated image of Che Guevara from a photograph by a Commie photographer somewhere (ironic that Communists always nationalize and appropriate private stuff, so I have no issues appropriating their imagery) is to the left in a very Christ-like pose. Behind him, a slogan or graffiti on the imperfect wall asks the question in Cuban slang: "Asere, Si o No?" which means "Friend, Yes or No? in Cuban street dialect and is meaningless to all other Spanish speaking peoples. The capital letters answer the question by spelling out ASESINO or assassin.


Finalmente Denunciamos a el que traiciono al Che (Finally we denounce he who betrayed Che). 4 x 24 inches. Charcoal on paper
The Spanish words announce that "finally we denounce who betrayed Che." The capital letters answer the statement: FIDEL.

Thank you Mera.

Rule Number 8

My posting on the rules for the Post's Real Art D.C. has drawn out a large number of comments both here and in Facebook.

Dawson on Lass

Jessica Dawson reviews Berlin-based photographer Anne Lass. Read the review here.

Bravo to Dawson for asking the photographer questions about the work. In my opinion, often art critics seem to avoid this part of the critical process - the gathering of information from the source.

2010 Sondheim Artscape Prize semifinalists

There are some refreshing surprises and some of the usual suspects; an overwhelming majority of the artists are from Baltimore. The 2010 Janet & Walter Sondheim Artscape Prize semifinalists are:

Alzaruba, Baltimore, MD
Lawrence Lee, Baltimore, MD
Christine Bailey, Baltimore, MD
Kim Manfredi, Baltimore, MD
Kathryn Bell, Baltimore, MD
Ben Marcin, Baltimore, MD
Amita Bhatt, Baltimore, MD
Christina Martinelli, Baltimore, MD
Travis Childers, Fairfax, VA
Sebastian Martorana, Baltimore, MD
Leah Cooper, Baltimore, MD
Alexa Meade, Chevy Chase, MD
Brent Crothers, Bel Air, MD
Maggie Michael, Washington, DC
Oletha DeVane, Ellicott City, MD
Ledelle Moe, Baltimore, MD
Annie Farrar, Baltimore, MD
Cory Oberndorfer, Washington, DC
Shaun Flynn, Baltimore, MD
Matthew Porterfield, Baltimore, MD
Dawn Gavin, Baltimore, MD
Siobhan Rigg, Washington, DC
Breon Gilleran, Baltimore, MD
Michael Sylvan Robinson, Baltimore, MD
Amy Glengary Yang, Washington, DC
Rachel Rotenberg, Baltimore, MD
Ryan Hackett, Kensington, MD
Adam T. Rush, Baltimore, MD
Michelle Hagewood, Baltimore, MD
Christopher Saah, Washington, DC
Matthew Janson, Baltimore, MD
Hadieh Shafie, Baltimore, MD
Evan La Londe, Baltimore, MD
Dan Steinhilber, Washington, DC
Nate Larson, Baltimore, MD
Melissa Webb, Baltimore, MD
Christopher LaVoie, Baltimore, MD
Karen Yasinsky, Baltimore, MD

The award announcement and reception takes place July 10 at 7 pm at the Baltimore Museum of Art. An exhibition of the remaining semifinalists’ work will be shown during Baltimore's Artscape weekend in the Decker and Meyerhoff galleries of MICA, located at 1303 West Mount Royal Avenue.

This year’s jurors are Robert Nickas, Magdalena Sawon and Hamza Walker. Congrats to all the semifinalists!

Wanna go to a closing reception tomorrow?

The closing reception for Artists of the Gateway Arts District, an exhibition curated by yours truly, offers an impressive highlight of the art and artists who make the Gateway Arts District great and one of the highest concentration of artists' studios in the DMV. The exhibition features work by 26 artists; brand new faces as well as well-known DC Metro arts powerhouses; including: Alan Binstock, Kyan Bishop, Margaret Boozer, Laurie Breen, Ed Burck, Katie Dell Kaufman, Alison Duvall, Pete Duvall, Cheryl Edwards, Kate Hardy, Joe Hicks, Tom Hill, Michael Janis, Jonathan Kellogg, Davide Korte, J.J. McCracken, John Paradiso, Lindsay Sherman, Shahin Shikaliyev, Tim Tate, Valerie Theberge, Erwin Timmers, Sarah Wegner, and Ellyn Weiss.

The closing is from 5-8PM.

Brentwood Arts Exchange at the Gateway Arts Center
3901 Rhode Island Ave.
Brentwood, MD 20722
301-277-2863; TTY 301-446-6802

See ya there!

WaPo is seeking works by local artists

"Jessica Dawson is hitting the studios to uncover Washington talent.
It's all part of Real Art D.C., the Washington Post's exciting new platform for contemporary art in the Washington region. There's also a related competition open to all area artists.

What is Real Art D.C.? An online virtual gallery of works by local artists that will allow Post readers to discover and connect with Washington's newest talents. Artists themselves will post their own work -- and so will dealers and teachers on their behalf -- and anyone can click through and see the spectrum of local creativity."

Read all about this interesting new venture by the WaPo here.

As part of the effort, Dawson will select "a new artist-finalist every few weeks and visit the artist's studio, reporting about what she finds on the Real Art D.C. site."

I like it!

Here is where you upload your images to be considered.

Before you do that, I recommend that you read the Terms and Conditions and pay very careful attention to rule number 8 which states:

8. Submitted Entry Materials will be posted on WashingtonPost.com, and may be included in both print and online features and promotions. In addition, by entering you grant Sponsor a license to publish, reproduce, use, transfer, and otherwise display your Entry Materials in any medium and for any purpose in Sponsor's sole discretion.

I'm having a little trouble digesting that condition, which essentially all but gives the copyright of the image to the Washington Post and I am not sure why the WaPo would want to "use" the artists' entry in "any medium and for any purpose", unless they're planning to put some images on T-shirts and sell them at the next Crafty Bastards fair (not a book though, as rule 20 clarifies).

I want you readers to comment on that condition (number 8) and let me know what you think.

Wanna go to an artist talk tomorrow?

Michelle & Michael Singletary's current show at Parish Gallery in Georgetown is "Music, Dance, and Michael Jackson," showing through April 13, 2010. There's an Artist Talk on Saturday, April 10, 2010 from 4:00 to 5:30PM.

Artist get together

Join WPA staff and artist members at Jackie’s Restaurant on April 14th at 8pm for a cash bar and mingling with fellow artists in the Silver Spring area! Happy hour prices for attendees at Jackie’s new Sidebar!

Saturday: Free Art Business Seminar for Artists

On April 10, 2010 from 1-5pm, Gateway CDC in partnership with MNCPPC will be hosting my well-known “Bootcamp for Artists” seminar at no cost to the artists. Registration ends at noon tomorrow.

This seminar is suitable for all visual artists interested in taking their careers to the next level.

Ever wondered how to maximize the attention your work gets from the press, galleries, and museum curators? How to present your work in a professional manner and save money in the process? How to tap into grants, awards and residencies?

Then this is the seminar for you! This program is free, but space is limited so please email John@Gateway-cdc.org or call 301-864-3860 ext. 3 if you would like to attend. Hurry! You must register no later than noon tomorrow!

This program will be held in MNCPPC’s Brentwood Arts Exchange on the 1st Floor of the Gateway Arts Center, 3901 Rhode Island Avenue, Brentwood, MD 20722, just over the District line on Rhode Island Avenue.

Of interest to the general public: a closing reception for the Gateway Arts District Show, which I juried a while back ,will immediately follow the “Bootcamp for Artists Seminar” from 5-8pm. All are welcome!

A free business seminar and then a closing reception with munchies and wine... life is good.

Tape Sculpture Contest Winner Announced

Scotch Brand awarded Elizabeth K. Lee from Spring Valley, Wis., a $5,000 cash prize in the The Scotch Off the Roll Tape Sculpture Contest, sponsored by 3M.

Lee took her creativity off the roll by designing and constructing "Can I Keep Him," a tape sculpture depicting a larger than life goldfish swimming in a clear bag. Her sculpture 'stuck' in the minds of the judging panel, beating out more than 135 other tape sculpture entries.

The jury panel included our own Mark Jenkins, the American artist most widely known for the street installations that he creates using Scotch Packaging Tape.

At $5,000 for a top prize, I bet they get a lot more than 135 entries next year. Check out all the award winners here.

Pecha Kucha

As part of Architecture Week 2010, the Northern Virginia Chapter of the American Institute of Architects will have a Pecha Kucha 20 x 20 (Pecha Kucha is a series of short slide presentations - approx 6 minutes each- on cool, entertaining topics held where conversation, ideas and drinks can flow - the phrase Pecha Kucha roughly translates as "chit chat").

The speakers include: Michael Janis,Glass Artist; Kevin Wyllie, Architect, Catholic University School of Architecture; Ron Anzalone, Archeologist; Tom Kamm, Theatrical Stage Designer; Chul Park, Graphic Artist, Forest Allread, Artist, Corcoran School of Art; Brian Frickie, Architect; and others.

The Pecha Kucha is a great way to meet, exchange ideas and network with other artists, architects and designers - and it is being held at the Light Horse Restaurant in the Old Town section of Alexandria.

What: NoVA's AIA PechaKucha 20 x 20 Night
When: April 13
Doors open at 6:00p with presentations beginning at 7:00p
Where: Light Horse Restaurant & Bar, 715 King Street Alexandria, VA.

Enjoy food and drink and discover a fun way to share ideas and experiences as presenters illustrate something they are passionate about with only 20 images, shown for 20 seconds each. The event is free, although attendees will be purchasing their own refreshments. Reservations are not required.

MPA Artfest

MPAartfest is a one-day juried fine art and craft show and sale featuring the work of 40 local and regional visual artists.

McLean Central Park will reverberate with the sights and sounds of art and music on Sunday, October 3rd at the 4th annual MPAartfest. Last year’s event drew 6,000 art and music devotees.

Submission deadline: June 1
Event Date: Sunday, October 3, 2010
Details: here

Opportunity for Artists

Deadline: April 11, 2010

Entry deadline for the 2010 Rawls Museum Arts Juried Exhibition is April 11. The juror is Sally Bowring. Visit their website at 0 comments

Opportunity for Artists

Jurying on April 26

The jury for this show is comprised only of the submitting artists.

Each artist will be submitting one piece of work live, in front of a jury of their peers.

After each artist presents their work, the jury will be encouraged to discuss and debate before voting.

The whole process will be videotaped and hopefully even streamed live.

Artists must be available on Saturday April 24th from 6pm-whenever to both present their work and participate on the jury.

All the details are here.

Dawson on Miner

The WaPo's Jessica Dawson has a really cool review of A.B. Miner's show at G Fine Art:

Artist A.B. Miner, 32, bade farewell to his breasts forever in January 2007, electing for a double mastectomy with reconstruction, as that element of female-to-male gender reassignment surgery is called. By then he had been on hormone therapy for two years. He had changed his name. Now it was time for the next step in realizing a dream he'd had since he was a teenage girl: to be a man.

The procedure's effects must have fascinated Miner, because he photographed himself at regular intervals post-surgery. Working from those photographs, he painted a 12-panel work about the contortions of his flesh. "From There to Here" is the centerpiece of Miner's modestly sized solo show inaugurating G Fine Art's new location.

Read it here.

Ford bucks

"As part of an effort to increase the impact of its giving, the Ford Foundation is to announce a plan on Monday to dedicate $100 million to the development of arts spaces nationwide over the next decade. The plan is by far the largest commitment the foundation has ever made to the construction, maintenance and enhancement of arts facilities."

Read the NYT story here.

Tomorrow is Out of Order Hanging

Out of Order is the Maryland Art Place's Annual free-hung Benefit Exhibition, Silent Auction and Party!

Hanging Dates and Times: Beginning 9am, Tuesday, April 6th, ending 9am, Wednesday, April 7th That’s right—24 hours nonstop!

Silent Auction and Gala: 8pm, Friday, April 9, 2010. Join them for a fantastic evening of great art, music, food, and an open beer & wine bar.

Participation: There is a $10 participation fee to hang artwork in Out of Order. As a participating artist, you will be given one complimentary ticket to the gala on April 9th. ($40 value!). Proceeds will be split 50/50 between the artist and MAP.

Tickets: Tickets are free for event volunteers and current MAP members. If you wish to attend the event, simply join or renew your MAP membership and receive two complimentary tickets ($80 value), in addition to a host of incredible incentives throughout the year! Or, to buy tickets online, visit: brownpapertickets.org.

For More Details: access their website: www.mdartplace.org or call 410-962-8565.

Details for artists here.

Saint Ernesto

Just in time for Easter and Passover, my first drawing of 2010 (I know, I know, but I've been busy).

San Ernesto Guevara de la Serna Lynch, known to most of the world as 'Ché' and to many Cubans as 'El Chacal de La Cabaña'
F. Lennox Campello. Charcoal and Conte on paper. 15 x 10 inches.
In this piece I return to my iconic series on that psychopath murderer of Cubans known as Ché, the Holy Saint of the Ignorant Masses who have actually never read his hate-filled racist diaries, speeches or interviews, nor explored his abject failures as a guerrilla in Africa and South America.

If you want to buy it, contact one of the galleries that represent me.

Need studio space?

The Gateway CDC has a 418 sf Visual Art Studio for rent at the new Gateway Arts Center, located in the Gateway Arts District, 3901 Rhode Island Ave, Brentwood ,MD 20722. (1/4 mile from the DC Line on Rhode Island Ave.)

Please contact John Paradiso for an appointment to see the space and hear about all the exciting Arts activities in the Gateway Arts District! john@gateway-cdc.org

For more info on the Gateway Arts Center, click here.

For tomorrow at noon

There's a collaborative performance at the University of Maryland Art Gallery (in the Art Building) involving a chamber group (Ligeti music), Richard Klank painting, and the very talented Sebastian Rousseau dancing (Forsythe technique), on Monday, April 5th, at 12:30 PM.

O'Sullivan on a pop up project

The Washington Post's Michael O'Sullivan reviews a pop up project's inaugural show.

Read the review here.

Free Art Business Seminar for Artists

On April 10, 2010 from 1-5pm, Gateway CDC in partnership with MNCPPC will be hosting my well-known “Bootcamp for Artists” seminar at no cost to the artists.

This seminar is suitable for all visual artists interested in taking their careers to the next level.

Ever wondered how to maximize the attention your work gets from the press, galleries, and museum curators? How to present your work in a professional manner and save money in the process? How to tap into grants, awards and residencies?

Then this is the seminar for you! This program is free, but space is limited so please email John@Gateway-cdc.org or call 301-864-3860 ext. 3 if you would like to attend. Hurry!

This program will be held in MNCPPC’s Brentwood Arts Exchange on the 1st Floor of the Gateway Arts Center, 3901 Rhode Island Avenue, Brentwood, MD 20722, just over the District line on Rhode Island Avenue.

Of interest to the general public: a closing reception for the Gateway Arts District Show, which I juried a while back ,will immediately follow the “Bootcamp for Artists Seminar” from 5-8pm. All are welcome!

A free business seminar and then a closing reception with munchies and wine... life is good.

Public Art Residency

There's an awesome new artist opportunity that the Washington Project for the Arts is offering for a public art residency program, in partnership with the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities ,and Socrates Sculpture Park in Long Island City, NY.

This opportunity is for an artist living in DC who is looking to expand their practice by developing and creating public art projects through SSP’s “Open Space” program, by teaching them the fundamentals of developing a proposal for public art work, identifying sources for materials and funding of projects, and accessing a support network for technical assistance.

The artist will conceive and create a work which will be exhibited at Socrates, which will then be re-fabricated and re-installed in Washington DC. The artist will also give a public presentation about the residency experience.

The artist cannot be enrolled in any degree program during the months of the residency and must live in the District of Columbia. Established artists seeking professional development in the realm of public art and students preparing to graduate are encouraged to apply.

For a full prospectus or you have any questions about the program, feel free to call the WPA at 202-234-7103.

Arts Management Fellowships

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts offers valuable skills building for arts managers through the Fellowship Program. The program provides up to 10 highly motivated, disciplined, and creative arts managers the instruction and experience they need to succeed in today's complex arts environment.

Fellows enjoy close working relationships with experienced arts professionals, hands-on work opportunities, a structured blend of independent and collective learning experiences, and the opportunity to work in one of the busiest and most artistically diverse performing arts centers in the United States. Fellows are expected to attend performances and educational events, as well as complete significant projects within the context of the Kennedy Center.

Fellowships are full-time and last 9 months starting in September and ending in May. The program emphasizes excellence, creativity, economic problem solving, strategic planning, internationalism, and a commitment to new technologies.

Fellows receive an annual stipend of $20,000 (paid bi-weekly) to help defray housing and transportation costs. Course materials, and reimbursement for health insurance are provided to Fellows.

Detals here.

Tonight's Opening

Hillyer Art Space at 9 Hillyer Court, NW, has Wundergarten: Sa[l]vaging the Family Archive, a new solo exhibition by local artist Clarke Bedford.

The exhibition opens Friday, April 2, 2010, with a reception from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. featuring a musical set by DJ Neville Chamberlain. $5 suggested donation. The exhibition closes Saturday, May 29, 2010.

Clarke Bedford, a.k.a. F.D. Kalley, William Tecumsah Sherman, Coleslaw Baklava and Professor Benjamin J. Dreadnought PhD, applies his wry humor and assemblage ingenuity to a many-layered body of work in Wundergarten: Sa[l]vaging the Family Archive. Combining a wunderkammer (cabinet of curiosities) and winter garden, Bedford’s installation plumbs the history of vernacular photography while framing the chronicle of an American “every-family” through the found archives of an actual family.

In the artist’s own words:

The found objects in the installation – assembled into garden furniture, a generational colonnade, frames and props – are intended to provide a memorial setting for the photographs and to work as an object-based corollary to them. The photographs themselves also serve as a kind of history of snapshot-photography: the sequence of forms from the early 20th-century box camera prints mounted in black page albums with white lettering, through 35 mm black and whites, early color, Polaroid, Instamatic-type square prints with textured surfaces and so on.

The generations depicted are the same as my own – WW1 generation grandparents, WW11 parents, and baby-boomer self. Consequently, the images seem very familiar, almost personal. One begins to wonder if every snapshot of grandparents in a Model A Ford in Yosemite National Park, every image of a postwar father in an Army uniform, every mother in a ‘50s suburban kitchen, every painful Vietnam-era Christmas morning isn’t essentially the same.

Clarke Bedford has exhibited and performed his difficult-to-categorize work in the Washington, DC, and New York areas at venues ranging from the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Hemphill Fine Arts and Kreeger Museum to many universities and academic conferences. His day job entails interaction with the very post-modern art he mocks, as Conservator of Paintings and Mixed-Media Objects at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden. He received a B.A. in ’69 from Williams College and M.A. in ’80 from the Cooperstown Graduate Programs in Art Conservation.

At Gallery West

I swung by a quick visit to Alexandria's Gallery West, one of the DMV's oldest and most consistent artist cooperatives.

Like most coops, Gallery West goes through a constant, sometimes fast, sometimes slow ebb and flow of new artists, and it had been a while since I had visited them. In fact this was my first visit since they moved from their old flood-prone space on Union Street, one block up from the river.

In their group show currently on display, on the second floor I was particularly caught by the strong painting skills and superb use of space and texture of Francesca Creo, who brings watercolor splatter techniques to a new level with her treatment of sand.

I also liked the classical and elegant pieces by Rachel Estrada and the quick, painterly pieces by Parisa Tirnaz.

Fierce Sonia at The Art League Gallery

“Paper Dolls” will be at The Art League Gallery in Old Town Alexandria from April 8 – May 3, 2010. The Opening Reception and Meet the Artist function is Thursday, April 8, 6:30-8:00 pm. Joe Chiocca, Old Town’s favorite band, will play during the Opening Reception and reunite with special guest singer Kim Kenny. Free and open to the public.

Ritual Repeat by Fierce Sonia
I am told that they're expecting over 400 people at the opening reception, making this one of the largest in history around here, as this show is creating a lot of "buzz" on Facebook and other places.

During her tenure as a figure model for The Art League School, Fierce Sonia quietly acquired a top-notch visual arts education. Motivated by the artwork she saw, she became eager to create her own work. She cabled her camera to her TV and released the shutter with an infrared remote. Sonia used herself as her own model, learning more about composition and technique based on what she saw on the screen.

Her figurative photography has evolved to a new and exciting place. The focus is on process. In Sonia’s latest series “Paper Dolls,” the same images reoccur with confident changes to the surface. Her work is no longer straight photography. With the integration of painting and collage into her images, Sonia’s work has reached a new level.

The black and white images of herself are often printed on paper that has been painted white, which creates a rich texture. Each piece is created in a unique way. Previous prints may be collaged to create depth. Multiple runs of the same print may be made on the same piece. More painting, layering might be necessary to create the desired effect. These alterations to the surface blur the identity of the original image, and make the series of work about the medium and the process, and not about the subject matter.

Sonia’s work has been exhibited and won accolades nationally. She is a professional art model and muse for artists and photographers and has worked with nationally and internationally known artists.

Below is a small drawing that I did of her years ago:


Sonia by F. Lennox Campello. Charcoal on Paper. 5x4 inches. Circa 2005
And below is is a magnificent oil portrait of Sonia by Edward J. Reed, who goes by Ted, and who teaches portrait painting at the Art League in Alexandria.

"Pippy Takes a Ride" by Ted Reed.
Do not miss this show!

Tape Sculpture Workshop

Sandra Fernandez will be teaching a tape sculpture workshop this Sunday at the Fridge, in SE DC.

It's part of a series of Sunday workshops by Albus Cavus. Here's the link for more info.

Free Art Business Seminar for Artists

On April 10, 2010 from 1-5pm, Gateway CDC in partnership with MNCPPC will be hosting my well-known “Bootcamp for Artists” seminar at no cost to the artists.

This seminar is suitable for all visual artists interested in taking their careers to the next level.

Ever wondered how to maximize the attention your work gets from the press, galleries, and museum curators? How to present your work in a professional manner and save money in the process? How to tap into grants, awards and residencies?

Then this is the seminar for you! This program is free, but space is limited so please email John@Gateway-cdc.org or call 301-864-3860 ext. 3 if you would like to attend. Hurry!

This program will be held in MNCPPC’s Brentwood Arts Exchange on the 1st Floor of the Gateway Arts Center, 3901 Rhode Island Avenue, Brentwood, MD 20722, just over the District line on Rhode Island Avenue.

Of interest to the general public: a closing reception for the Gateway Arts District Show, which I juried a while back will immediately follow the “Bootcamp for Artists Seminar” from 5-8pm. All are welcome!

Mellema on new gallery

As we reported earlier, a new short-term gallery has moved into the old Numark gallery space downtown. The principal behind it all is none other than Amy Morton, formerly of Principal Gallery in Old Town Alexandria. She's no new comer to those of us who haunt the local art scene on the VA side of the river. Having said that, Morton will be a fresh face to many around town.

"I Dream Awake" is her debut as gallery figurehead, and what a debut it is.

Never mind that she left her old job, secured gallery space, curated, hung and brought a long fallow venue up to speed in a little over a month or so. She also managed to put together one of the strongest group shows in D.C. that's crossed our path in ... hmm ... well, maybe ever.

Folks, we got us a new A-List heavy weight art dealer in town.

Read the whole piece here.

Opportunity for Maryland Artists

Deadline: June 1, 2010

The Montpelier Arts Center is pleased to announce the 2010-12 Library Gallery competition. This year’s juror is John Ruppert, Chair of the Department of Art, University of Maryland. The juror will select 8-10 month exhibitions to be held in the Library Gallery.

To be eligible, artists must reside in Maryland and be over the age of eighteen. Artists may apply for solo exhibitions or as small groups. An honorarium of $300 will be presented for each exhibition to the artist or artists exhibiting (i.e., groups share the $300 honorarium).

The Montpelier Arts Center staff will handle all promotion and installation, as well as the reception. To download the prospectus visit this website. Please contact the arts center at 301 377-7800 or Montpelier.arts@pgparks.com to receive a copy in the mail.

In a couple of Saturdays



In 1891, a 100 acre farm on Bunker Hill Road was purchased by real estate investors, subdivided into house lots, and called Mount Rainier. Mount Rainier was a thriving retreat for politicians and businessmen from Washington, DC. The extension of the street car line from the District into Mount Rainier made the hilly, tree-shrouded land more attractive to developers and prospective buyers. The town of Mount Rainer was incorporated in 1910.

Today the city is home to a food co-op that was founded by conscientious Vietnam War objectors in the 60s, a community corn bin, a bike co-op, a community tool shed, boutiques, dance/art studios, and vintage shops as well as housing designated specifically for artists. With a population of approximately 8,500, Mount Rainier continues to be a retreat for those that want to live just on the outskirts of our nation’s capital.

The Centennial Exhibition will display photographs, newspaper clippings, and city documents dating back to 1910.

Mount Rainier, Maryland Centennial Celebration
Centennial Exhibition: April 9-May 15, 2010
Opening Reception: Saturday, April 10, 2010 2-6PM
Mount Rainier History Talk: Bryan Knedler, Saturday, May 1, 2010 3-5PM

Art Donations needed

Two Rivers Public Charter School is requesting art donations through 4/16 for their upcoming 6th Annual Art Gala. Please consider donating one of your creations to be entered into their silent auction. Over 40 artists participated in last years event.

This year they are making an effort to exceed that number. If you have artwork which you can donate by April 16, please contact Kim at dcgirls2001@yahoo.com.

Richard Flood on art bloggers

"Blogs are like being out on a prairie and one prairie dog pops up; none of the others can see it, but they can feel the movement in the earth. So another pops up. And another. They are not communicating with each other. They have no idea. History means nothing to them. Truth means nothing to them. They have no mechanism in place for checking [facts]."

Read about it here.

Calling all teaching artists‏

The DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities is currently gathering information on DC teaching artists to advance Arts Education in our schools and to promote life long learning.

Please take just a few minutes of your time to complete their survey, or forward it to someone you know who is a teaching artist. Their goal is to amass a Teaching Artist Roster. Take the survey here.

McKaig on Mayorga

By Bruce McKaig

Walk into the OAS General Secretariat Building on F Street NW, head down the stairs to the Terrace Level Gallery, round the corner and look down the hallway space housing this exhibit -- a space that looks somewhat like a path to a launching pad for the Starship Enterprise. The windowless, sterile architecture is flawlessly clean in proportion, line and light... and ends at a company cafeteria.

The setting could not be better for Carolina Mayorga’s site-specific installation of videos and photographs, Love Me, Quiéreme, Buy Me.

Last fall, Third Root Aesthetic, “a female owned art consulting and management business that collaborates primarily, but not exclusively, with artists, collectors and scholars of color,” approached Carolina about doing an exhibit in March 2010, National Women’s History Month. They also made a pitch to Fabian Gonclaves Borrega, Exhibit Coordinator for the Art Museum of the Americas (AMA) that includes the Terrace Level Gallery. He accepted the proposal and Carolina began conceiving and producing the works now installed at the museum.

Baby Doll 2010 by Carolina Mayorga.
Mr. Gonclaves first met Carolina in 1999 and has seen the evolution of her work over the past decade. He describes her installations ten years ago as more politically themed and geographically related to Colombia, her country of birth. At some point, he noticed her political themes had become less geographically specific. In the most recent years, he describes her shift to themes of individual identity, specifically feminism and consumerism: “Her work is often very sexually charged, and she herself wears make-up and has dyed her hair. That’s an interesting contrast to some performance artists in the 1960s, who wore little or no make-up, very drab clothing, had a cruder, rawer presence. Carolina knows who she is and, though she herself poses in her works – not a model-for-hire – the works are not really about her identity but about identity in a much more general way.”

Carolina wanted to use photographs and videos of herself to look at issues of culture and identity. “If I am wearing make-up, does that mean that I am stupid? If a woman is plain, does that mean she is intelligent?” These and other questions about stereotypes and cultural expectations are some of the thoughts Carolina explores in this installation. From front to back, the sequence of images moves from more local, DC scenarios to large mouths and more private imagery as the exhibit proceeds. Some of the still images are draped on the walls, curving in a sculptural way. “That was not the original idea,” she explains, “but as we installed, the people I was working with at the museum thought it might be a stronger presentation to leave the organic look. Sometimes, you just want to control everything, but as I thought about it, I thought they were right. It’s all about trying to discover a new way of thinking about or doing something.”

Those words about relinquishing control and thus discovering something new resemble words by the performance artist Marina Abramovic, currently exhibiting at the MOMA in NYC: “If you do things that you like, you never change, you always do the same thing again and again.”

The various video works are on two screens, one at the head of the exhibit, the other suspended along side the still images. One video shows close-ups of the artist applying lipstick, very unforgiving close-ups that visually straddle the fence between hyper realism and comic book animation. Likewise, the still images of hair or boots or mouths retain all the reality that photographs are expected to portray, but their content and garish print qualities manage to blur distinctions between hysterically horrific and comic slap-stick.

This odd blend is present in much of Carolina’s work, something like Vaudeville skits directed by Quentin Tarantino. In October 2009, she performed “The Miraculous Artist” at the Washington Project for the Arts. In that performance, she sat, robed in religious regalia, inside a confessional to give out one-on-one advice to the curious public. Her advice to me? “Since you are entering the golden years of your life, you should definitely buy several of my prayer cards.” That performance included a video playing testimonials from satisfied customers. In 2004, Carolina built a snow sculpture on a beach in Sweden that spelled out, ”by the time this sculpture melts 45,000 children will die in war.” During her Newspaper Soup performances, she gives out cooking tips about food for the destitute.


Love Me in DC, 2009 by Carolina Mayorga

How does Carolina describe the AMA installation?

"You get it out of your system kind of thing, using both photography and video, to experiment, even if people don’t see it. The feet, the sequence, the female thing, I’ve been using feet for many years, feet or shoes tell a lot about the body. I am not a photographer. I use photography to produce my installations, but I don’t want people to think of me as a photographer. Is there an international message? Its pretty open… beauty and identity are issues in many cultures… baby doll, lips, Photoshop'd to look unrealistic, using stereotypes… Language is important, not exactly in English, not exactly in Spanish, using words in the language that I think of them… why translate, if that ends up with a version that is not the way it happened? Its not just questions about gender, I also have questions about my Latina heritage. I don’t ignore it, but I try to avoid submerging into any subculture."

Love Me, Quiéreme, Buy Me by Carolina Mayorga
The Art Museum of the Americas
March 12-April 30, 2010

Terrace Level Gallery
OAS General Secretariat Building
1889 F Street, NW
Washington DC 20006
Hours: 10 – 5, Monday through Friday

For more information about Carolina Mayorga click here.

For more information about the Art Museum of the Americas, click here.

For more information about the author, click here.

Congrats!

To artdc's Jesse and Amy Cohen, who recently tied the knot! Details here.

Obama on Cuba

Recent events in Cuba, including the tragic death of Orlando Zapata Tamayo, the repression visited upon Las Damas de Blanco, and the intensified harassment of those who dare to give voice to the desires of their fellow Cubans, are deeply disturbing.

These events underscore that instead of embracing an opportunity to enter a new era, Cuban authorities continue to respond to the aspirations of the Cuban people with a clenched fist.

Today, I join my voice with brave individuals across Cuba and a growing chorus around the world in calling for an end to the repression, for the immediate, unconditional release of all political prisoners in Cuba, and for respect for the basic rights of the Cuban people.

During the course of the past year, I have taken steps to reach out to the Cuban people and to signal my desire to seek a new era in relations between the governments of the United States and Cuba. I remain committed to supporting the simple desire of the Cuban people to freely determine their future and to enjoy the rights and freedoms that define the Americas, and that should be universal to all human beings.

- President Obama

A little background on Las Damas de Blanco here, a brave group of Cuban women who appear to be spear-heading what I hope to be the end of the world's longest and most repressive dictatorship.