Joyce Tenneson Talk

Joyce Tenneson is easily the most famous "once former DMV area photographer who moved to NYC" type.

Three of her photography books are among the top ten best-selling photography books of all time, and her work is in the collection of dozens of museums worldwide and her photographs have appeared on countless covers for magazines such as: Time, Life, Entertainment Weekly, Newsweek, Premiere, Esquire and The New York Times Magazine.

She will be giving a slide show and lecture during Fotoweek DC at the Torpedo Factory, on Sunday Nov.7 at 6:30PM, lst floor. "A Photographers Life" is the subject of her talk. Preceding that is a reception at Multiple Exposures Gallery on the 3rd floor.

Ten Artists for Ten Years

Exhibition opening October 22 at the Sumner School from 6:00 PM -- 8:00 PM.

Featured artists include: Gwen Aqui, Billy Colbert, Doris Colbert Kennedy,Victor Ekpuk, Elsa Gebreyesus, Sonya Lawyer, Chris Malone, Anne Marchand, Michael Singletary, and Frank Smith.

Charles Sumner School
1201 17th St NW,
Washington, DC 20036-3009
(202) 442-6060

In Norfolk tomorrow night

Havana-based Cuban artist Sandra Ramos is in many people's opinions, the leading contemporary Cuban artist in the world, and later this month, her solo exhibition titled Exodus, running from October 23 - December 27, opens in Norfolk's leading independently owned commercial fine arts gallery: Mayer Fine Art.

MFA, which also represents my work, is by far the top fine arts venue in the Tidewater area, and its hardworking owner, the talented Shiela Giolitti, daughter of the legendary comic book artist Alberto Giolitti has been preparing for this, Ramos' second ever solo show in the USA, for a long time.

Sandra Ramos. Flying to Miami. Charcoal and Acrylic on Digital Canvas Print. 130 x 90 cm. Circa 2010
The opening is Saturday, October 23rd from 6-9PM.

Additionally, Ramos will be leading a printmaking workshop at the Chrysler Museum on Oct 23 and 24th. You can register for that workshop here.

Then, on October 26th at 7PM, Sandra Ramos will present a lecture on contemporary Cuban art at the Baron and Ellin Art Galleries of Old Dominion University in Norfolk. Free and open to the public.

Ramos is in the permanent collection of MoMa, MFA Boston, Dallas Museum, Miami Art Museum and many other US, European and Latin American art museums.

I'm driving down for this opening; see ya there!

Jessica goes yard again

Good review in the WaPo by Jessica Dawson - read it here.

The shiny flecks distract from a twisted little canvas called "Judith," which is a tightly cropped homage to Artemisia Gentileschi's signature canvas, "Judith Slaying Holofernes." Rieck zoomed in on Judith's hand grasping the knife hilt and came up with a picture that evokes a phallus or pudenda almost at the same time. I love the bizarreness of this painting, but mica isn't adding to its success.

Wanna go to an opening today?

Marymount University's Fine Art and Graphic Design Faculty Show has an opening Friday, October 22, 5-7:30 pm. The dates for the show are: October 22-December 12, 2010.

Sandra Ramos lecture at George Mason University

Thursday Oct 28th at 1:30 at the School of Art - Room 2001. The talk and slide lecture will discuss the state of contemporary Cuban art. It is free and open to the public.

Sandra Ramos groundbreaking work in the 1990s was amongst the first to challenge and expose the harsh realities of Cuban life. By addressing forbidden issues such as mass migration, the plight of Cuba’s raft people, racism in Cuban society and the inequalities of Cuban life, Ramos found a voice through her art that has brought her worldwide fame and inclusion in many private and museums' permanent collections, such as the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Dallas Art Museum, Miami Art Museum, Fuchu Art Museum in Japan, Thyssen Bornemisza in Vienna and regionally at the University of Virginia Art Museum.

Sandra Ramos resides in Havana, Cuba. Her work has also been showcased at Art Basel Switzerland, ARCO Madrid, Art Basel Miami Beach, multiple Biennials and many other worldwide art fairs.

Her second US solo show, "Exodus", showcasing her latest paintings, videos and etchings, opens this coming Saturday, Oct. 23rd at Norfolk's Mayer Fine Art Gallery.

Modus Union Salon party: Pencil this one in

Mary Schmidt Amons, cast member of Bravo's "The Real Housewives of DC" and founder of Labels for Love, created “Modus Union” this one of a kind unique event to collaborate our active philanthropic, political, and artistic communities within the Nation's Capital.

Modus Union was formed from two words that represent unification with positive intent. The Washington, DC area is the leading world capital and we are seeing the combination of artistic talent and a youthful energy not seen since the Kennedy era. The time has come to collaborate with these disparate groups of influence to showcase opportunities in an effort to make a positive social and philanthropic impact by maximizing our impact on the Nation's Capital and its global influence. Labels For Love beneficiary partner this year is Fran Drescher and her Cancer Schmancer Foundation.

Cancer Schmancer is dedicated to saving women's lives through early detection and prevention of cancer. As you may know, Fran Drescher is a 10-year uterine cancer survivor and a leading advocate for the early detection of women's cancer. Fran and her Foundation are continuing to make a major global impact, through sharing her personal story as well as educating women on the causes of cancers and the importance and methods of early detection

Event Location:
The Yards Park
10 Water St SE Washington, DC
(Intersection of 3rd St SE and Water St SE)
Three blocks from the Navy Yard Metro (New Jersey Ave Exit)

Thursday, November 4th, from 5:30pm – 9:30pm
Lumber Shed Pavilion - Fully Covered outdoor 13,000 sqft Space which will be heated for the event. 23 Artist Juried Art Show on exhibit and the Exhibit Jurors were Shane Pomajambo: Art Whino, Maggie O'Neill: O'Neill Studios/ Maggie O'Neill Fine Art, Margaret Heiner : Aesthetica Art Consulting, Lauren Gentile: Irvine Contemporary, Philippa Hughes: Pink Line Project, Marsha Ralls: Ralls Collection and yours truly.

There is also a curated art exhibit by Art Whino and they will showcase a special 6000 sqft art exhibit and live painting by Brandon Hill, Ariit Das, Cita, Michael Owen, James Walker, Josh Taylor, Maggie O'Neill and Sylvia Ortiz. Vicki DaSilva will also be doing special Light Graffiti portraits throughout the night.

Complimentary Parisian centered food by Bonaparte / Peacock Cafe/ Mortons. Open Bar all evening by Vitamin Water/ Dirty Martini

Performers: Modern Thieves / Sam James / Trapeze School New York (TSNY)
Eclectic Mix of Dazzling Performers such as Unicyclist, Jugglers, Mimes, Stilt-walking, Sword swallowing and much more!

Wearable Art: Nycholis Maziejka / Charm / Lentz

$50 Non Profit Donation Entry Fee. To purchase tickets go to www.labelsforlove.org/events.html .

The juried artists are:

Rodger Shultz

Gwenn Zaberer

Collette Burmester

Jamea Richmond-Edwards

Fierce Sonia

John Osgood

Terry Plater

Vicki Thomas

Shawn Bishop-Leo

Yanique Moore

Elese Clake

David Barr

Tomi Balogun

Lydia Cutler

Sandra Leonard

Sharon Buhen

Mike O’Brien

Celeste Chen

Vennessa Ortiz

Maria Gracia Canedo

Eugene Pool

Maria Lujan

Martin Figueroa-Ramirez

Farrah Ahmed

Rosalba Alarcon de Lujan

Aaron Wilder

Aasiya Townsell

Ira Natalushko

Maria Miller

Jeff Williams

Mary Rieser Heintjes

Stacey Hill

Marielle Mariano

Anna Kathryn Carlson

Carrie Nobus

See ya there!

The Friday opening to go to next week is...

My good bud and one of the DMV's most talented and courageous painters, Scott Brooks opens at Longview Gallery this Friday.

When: Friday, October 29th, 6:30 - 8:30pm. Food and beverages provided by Design Cuisine; Featuring live music by J.E.L.

Wanna go to an opening this week?

Marymount University's Fine Art and Graphic Design Faculty Show has an opening Friday, October 22, 5-7:30 pm. The dates for the show are: October 22-December 12, 2010.

Auction alert: Campello original

This Ebay auction offers a drawing that I did while in Art School. It is circa 1980. It is being offered by some antique store in Washington state.

It's pen and ink of an unicorn. The piece, as I recall, was one of many, many different unicorn and fantasy drawings that I did during that period for a fantasy periodical in Seattle (name escapes me now, but that stuff was hot in Seattle in the 1980s). I would get a small chunk of money for each drawing they used, and then I'd get the original back and sell it at the Pike's Place Market in Seattle.

Between 1977-1981 I sold artwork at Pike's Place Market... everything including all of my art school assignments once they were graded and all of the pen and ink illustrations that I did for this periodical (and others). I'm guessing that I probably sold anywhere from two to three thousand drawings, paintings, watercolors, etchings and woodcuts at Pike's Place Market in those four years - don't be too impressed, the price point ranged from $5 to $100 or so.

The unicorn pen and ink original, framed is starting at only $20 bucks! Hurry, there's only a day left in the auction!

Bid for it here.

Scope Art Fair "freefall" continues?

A while back I noted the various artblogsphere posts describing the various issues surrounding the once mighty Scope Art Fair and describing what's happening to Scope as a "freefall."

Scope had to cancel its Hamptons fair this summer, doing so at the very last minute possible and getting a lot of irate grumbling from the scheduled exhibitors.

And there's something odd going on now with the exhibitor selection process for Scope's Miami version.

Initially, the deadline for announcing the final set of exhibitors for Miami was supposed to be in early October. When that didn't happen I called Scope to find out why and I was told that the date was "October 14 all along."

This is not what I had been told (and what I had in my notes) earlier on, but I said OK and waited.

When October 14 came and went, and no exhibitors had been notified, I called them again and after being put on hold for a bit, I was told that the new date was November 1st.

When fairs keep extending deadlines for applications and/or notifications of exhibitors there are usually a few things that drive this train wreck:

1. Not enough applicants (and thus not enough application fees and deposits gathering interest in bank accounts)

2. Not enough "good" applicants, at least from the self described "cutting-edge contemporary art from around the world" art fair. Judging from the Miami Scopes of the last two years, this fair has been slow in deciphering that because of the drastic economic slowdown, both galleries and collectors are becoming a little more grounded in the plebeian realities of selling artwork than in trying to get attention through the often salesless avenues of cutting-edge art tricks.

3. Not enough cash at hand to actually make the fair happen

I don't know if any of the above applies to Scope and its reason for once again delaying notifying applicants of their acceptance status, and I think that Scope Miami will take place one way or the other (after all, they have a shiny new 80,000 square foot pavilion next to Art Asia and Red Dot and across the street from Art Miami; all of them centrally located in the center of the Wynwood Arts District).

But I do know that this continuing delay in notifying applicants of their acceptance or rejection status is not only highly unprofessional, but it is also creating havoc with galleries' art fair schedules as alarmed artists keep putting pressure to know if their particular dealer is in Scope or not.

Why? Because in the complex chess game that is Art Basel week in Miami, any artist worth his or her artsy business cards must be in an art fair somewhere from the 25 or so art fairs that surround Art Basel Miami Beach. In the 21st century visual arts games, you gotta be in Miami somewhere or you're still so 20th century.

But fairs like Scope demand that galleries, if showing in Scope, can't show in any other fairs.

And art dealers/gallerists, being the over-protecting cabal that we are, usually demand that only one dealer show the artist in Miami (I've always thought the opposite - that is, that the more dealers that show the same artist in various fairs, the better for both the artist and the various dealers - but in that line of thought I am alone in the art dealer universe). And thus one can have the case where an artist has said to his "other" dealers: "Look, my New York gallery has applied to Scope, and if they get in, only they can show my work in Miami during Art Basel week."

In the past, when Scope actually stuck to its timetables, if a dealer got rejected from Scope, they could always (and usually) did, apply to another art fair, and another, until accepted in one of them. But with about six weeks left before Art Basel Week, and Scope still delaying the process, by the time November 1st comes along, there are only four weeks left to find hotels, ship artwork (imagine this nightmare if you're an overseas gallery trying to ship artwork from your location in Europe or Asia to Miami in four weeks), etc. It's a train wreck in the making for the selected exhibitors and a train wreck already in process for those who will be rejected, and scrambling - with four weeks to go - to find another art fair with some booth space still available.

All of this maelstrom because a once mighty art fair appears to be scratching its ass trying to figure out what to do next, not realizing that they've already thrown a huge wrench in the gear works of a couple of hundred galleries and a couple of thousand artists.

Hurry! Opportunity for Photographers

Deadline: Tonight at 11PM, October 18, 2010

This competition has an interesting twist to it. It features figurative and Fine Art Nude photography with a twist of fetish to celebrate Halloween. It is titled the "Halloween Fine Art Nude/Figurative Photography Show" and it is being held at the The Carriage House Studio and Gallery in DC. All entries are submitted online.

Submission Guidelines: Content may be any image in the realm of fine art nude photography. Winners will be selected and exhibited in the following categories:
1) best figurative image
2) best costume/fetish image
and two special exhibits
3) best figurative/fine art nude image shot on film and
4) best image of Nika (www.modelmayhem.com/853632), who is returning to to Washington DC from Germany and will attend the show as their Feature Model.

The images for the exhibit will be selected by three judges with background in fine art photography, who will be announced shortly. The top selection in each category will receive a complementary shoot at the Carriage House studio during the 60 days following the exhibit. Participants whose work is not selected will also have their work displayed on a wide-screen display.

All images must be received by 11 pm on Mon, October 18th. You may send up to 5 jpegs (1200 px x 1200 px max) for consideration.

All the details are here. The show will be at The Carriage House Studio and Gallery, a new arts cooperative in Washington, DC, located in the historic Logan Arts Circle District. The studio is located in a historic landmark 1860's carriage house.

Later this month: Sandra Ramos solo show in Norfolk

Havana-based Cuban artist Sandra Ramos is in many people's opinions, the leading contemporary Cuban artist in the world, and later this month, her solo exhibition titled Exodus, running from October 23 - December 27, opens in Norfolk's leading independently owned commercial fine arts gallery: Mayer Fine Art.

MFA, which also represents my work, is by far the top fine arts venue in the Tidewater area, and its hardworking owner, the talented Shiela Giolitti, daughter of the legendary comic book artist Alberto Giolitti has been preparing for this, Ramos' second ever solo show in the USA, for a long time.

Sandra Ramos. Flying to Miami. Charcoal and Acrylic on Digital Canvas Print. 130 x 90 cm. Circa 2010
The opening is Saturday, October 23rd from 6-9PM.

Additionally, Ramos will be leading a printmaking workshop at the Chrysler Museum on Oct 23 and 24th. You can register for that workshop here.

Then, on October 26th at 7PM, Sandra Ramos will present a lecture on contemporary Cuban art at the Baron and Ellin Art Galleries of Old Dominion University in Norfolk. Free and open to the public.

I'm driving down for this opening; see ya there!

Rousseau on Goodwin and Shapiro at Iona Center

By Dr. Claudia Rousseau

Something like a retrospective of the photographs of Lee Goodwin is now on view at the Iona Center in NW Washington. Goodwin, who was named “Artist in Residence” there for this year, is widely known for his photos of the area, especially the Potomac and the C&O Canal area.

The photos in this exhibit include both the gelatin silver prints that he was creating until a couple of years ago, and his new archival digital prints, many in color.

The subject matter remains the same: familiar places made to look very unfamiliar, exotic, desirable. One delicately colored photo of a figure reading a newspaper on an early foggy morning on the Mall looks like an impressionist painting. Another, taken after the first snowfall this past winter, is a study in perfection. Taken just at dawn, the rising sun is framed in the center of trees covered in white. All the photos are both sensitively and expertly composed, using features in the landscape to create unusual effects.

Goodwin’s photos are accompanied by sculptural work by 98-year-old special guest artist Marilee Shapiro. Shapiro has been working in bronze for decades, and many of her more recent works are figurative, naturalistic, expressive, and rather small.

They are all displayed in vitrines. Yet, to her great credit, recently, when working in bronze became too much of a burden, this Washington DC artist reached out, took a Photoshop class, and hired a private tutor to teach herself everything about the program and its potential to transform imagery.

Creating large sheets of paper printed with exotic patterns created in Photoshop, Shapiro wraps these around shipping tubes. The results are reminiscent of those “rain maker” cylinders that sound as they are turned. These don’t make that lovely sound, but are fine, inventive works just as they are.

Iona Center
4125 Albemarle St. NW
Washington DC 20016

Patricia Dubroof, Gallery Director. Call for information: 202-895-9407

Vote now!

The Washington Post asked readers to submit their work to their "Real Art D.C." contest on Washingtonpost.com:

Since April, Galleries columnist Jessica Dawson has been scouring the submissions, and from the 4,000 images submitted, she chose 10 finalists. The finalists work with neckties, petri dishes and Bertoia chairs; they use Holga cameras, watercolor, needlepoint, video and pixels. Their subjects range from the inside of a Korean liquor store to the inside of the artist's studio. Now it's your turn. Go to http://washingtonpost.com/realartdc to vote for your favorite.

Vote now and vote here.

Opportunity for Photographers

Deadline: October 18, 2010

This competition has an interesting twist to it. It features figurative and Fine Art Nude photography with a twist of fetish to celebrate Halloween. It is titled the "Halloween Fine Art Nude/Figurative Photography Show" and it is being held at the The Carriage House Studio and Gallery in DC. All entries are submitted online.

Submission Guidelines: Content may be any image in the realm of fine art nude photography. Winners will be selected and exhibited in the following categories:
1) best figurative image
2) best costume/fetish image
and two special exhibits
3) best figurative/fine art nude image shot on film and
4) best image of Nika (www.modelmayhem.com/853632), who is returning to to Washington DC from Germany and will attend the show as their Feature Model.

The images for the exhibit will be selected by three judges with background in fine art photography, who will be announced shortly. The top selection in each category will receive a complementary shoot at the Carriage House studio during the 60 days following the exhibit. Participants whose work is not selected will also have their work displayed on a wide-screen display.

All images must be received by 11 pm on Mon, October 18th. You may send up to 5 jpegs (1200 px x 1200 px max) for consideration.

All the details are here. The show will be at The Carriage House Studio and Gallery, a new arts cooperative in Washington, DC, located in the historic Logan Arts Circle District. The studio is located in a historic landmark 1860's carriage house.

ARCH's Artist Residency Program

Deadline(s): December 1, 2010 and March 1st, 2011

This artist residency program is:

"an opportunity for artists to pursue their creative projects amid DC's vibrant and diverse urban environment. Two residencies (for up to 4 artists each session) are offered; spring and fall. The residencies are approximately 8 weeks each.

Each artist will work closely with the creative staff at the Honfleur Gallery and The Gallery at Vivid Solutions to determine the parameters of the residency and needs of the artist in advance of their arrival. These parameters will focus primarily on details of the artists' project, but are also about how to best connect to the local community, foster dynamic interaction and develop exposure to the resources of the greater DC cultural community."

The program will offer free housing and free workspace to participating artists. Application fee $25.

* Winter/Spring: DEADLINE December 1st, 2010 - The Winter/Spring Residency will run from February 21st - April 22nd 2011 and is open to any type of visual arts.

* Summer DEADLINE March 1st, 2011 - The Summer Residency will run from May 30th - July 22nd 2011 and is open to any visual arts.

More details on how to apply:
www.honfleurgallery.com/news.html
www.vividsolutionsdc.com/gallery/newsgallery.html

Questions: arts@archdc.org

Wanna go to an artists' talk tomorrow?

Charlie Dale and Rosemary Luckett invite you to a free artist's talk about the creative processes and how they arrived at the works in their current solo exhibits.

The artist talk is Sunday, October 17, 2 pm at Touchstone Gallery.

RSVP to info@touchstonegallery.com

The Power 100

Art Review has their "Power 100" list up.

It would be fun to come up with a Power 100 list for the DMV.

I think I will start working on that just for fun and see what trouble I can get into.

Meanwhile here's the list and guess what? 3% of those on this list own one (or more) of my drawings!

Is that cool or what?

Now I need to work on the other 97.

1. Larry Gagosian
2. Hans Ulrich Obrist
3. Iwan Wirth
4. David Zwirner
5. Glenn D. Lowry
6. Bice Curiger
7. Sir Nicholas Serota
8. Eli Broad
9. RoseLee Goldberg
10. François Pinault
11. Adam D. Weinberg
12. Jeffrey Deitch
13. Ai Weiwei
14. Agnes Gund
15. Alfred Pacquement
16. Anton Vidokle, Julieta Aranda & Brian Kuan Wood
17. Bruce Nauman
18. Marc Glimcher
19. Beatrix Ruf
20. Dominique Lévy & Robert Mnuchin
21. Iwona Blazwick
22. Marian Goodman
23. Marc Spiegler & Annette Schönholzer
24. Barbara Gladstone
25. Jay Jopling
26. Mike Kelley
27. Cindy Sherman
28. Dakis Joannou
29. Franz West
30. Gavin Brown
31. Peter Fischli & David Weiss
32. Steven A. Cohen
33. Tim Blum & Jeff Poe
34. Anne Pasternak
35. Marina Abramovic
36. Bernard Arnault
37. Victor Pinchuk
38. Eugenio López
39. Takashi Murakami
40. Patricia Phelps de Cisneros
41. Matthew Slotover & Amanda Sharp
42. Okwui Enwezor
43. Matthew Higgs
44. Tino Sehgal
45. Maja Hoffmann
46. Monika Sprüth & Philomene Magers
47. Jeff Koons
48. Nicholas Logsdail
49. Sadie Coles
50. Brett Gorvy & Amy Cappellazzo
51. Tobias Meyer & Cheyenne Westphal
52. Ann Philbin
53. Damien Hirst
54. Emmanuel Perrotin
55. Gerhard Richter
56. Nicolas Bourriaud
57. Matthew Marks
58. Udo Kittelmann
59. Michael Ringier
60. Kasper König
61. Daniel Buchholz
62. Anish Kapoor
63. Daniel Birnbaum
64. Toby Webster
65. Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev
66. Christian Boros & Karen Lohmann
67. Germano Celant
68. Maurizio Cattelan
69. Neo Rauch
70. Boris Groys
71. Helga de Alvear
72. Thaddaeus Ropac
73. Ralph Rugoff
74. Victoria Miro
75. Jerry Saltz
76. Anita & Poju Zabludowicz
77. Massimo De Carlo
78. Maureen Paley
79. Yana Peel & Candida Gertler
80. Roberta Smith
81. Charles Saatchi
82. Tim Neuger & Burkhard Riemschneider
83. Mario Cristiani, Lorenzo Fiaschi & Maurizio Rigillo
84. Johann Konig
85. Caroline Schneider
86. Johnson Chang Tsong-zung & Claire Hsu
87. Dimitris Daskalopoulos
88. Rirkrit Tiravanija
89. Wolfgang Tillmans
90. H.H. Sheikha Hoor Al-Qasimi & Jack Persekian
91. Massimiliano Gioni
92. Magnus Renfrew
93. Nicolai Wallner
94. Stefan Kalmár
95. Christine Tohme
96. Gregor Podnar
97. Elizabeth Dee
98. Richard Chang
99. Bruce High Quality Foundation
100. Margot Heller

Opportunity for Artists

Deadline: November 12, 2010

Gallery West in Old Town Alexandria has a call for artists for their 14th Annual National Juried Show (Exhibit Dates: February 9–March 6, 2011).

The all media show will be juried by yours truly and awards to total $1,000. Click here to download the prospectus.

Easton and Cambridge

I'll be in Easton and also in Cambridge, Maryland this weekend, relaxing with the family and checking out some of the local art spots and galleries. Too bad I wasn't there on a Wednesday, otherwise I could have hung around the Wednesday Morning Artists:

Wednesday Morning Artists is a diverse group of local artists with a common desire to engage our community in experiencing the arts while cultivating the growing artist community in Cambridge, Maryland and surrounding areas.

Is that cool or what?

More later from Cambridge and Easton.

Another artist complaint against Klaudia Marr Gallery

Steven Kenny is an artist whose works are well-known to me; he's a former prizewinner at one of the Fraser Gallery's former competitions at the original Fraser location in Georgetown. He writes:

You can add my name to the list of artists who have been robbed by Klaudia Marr. In October of 2009 she returned my paintings to me after moving her gallery to a new location. One painting was missing and it took her a month to reveal that it had been sold although she claimed not to know when or to whom. She admits to owing me $2,475.00 but has continually claimed to be unable to make any payments.

After I learned of my undisclosed sale I decided to see how widespread the situation was. It seems I am one of the lucky ones. I contacted 10 artists who were represented by Klaudia Marr Gallery and five replied that they were owed money.

Regards,
Steven Kenny

Sandra Ramos' workshop

Havana-based Cuban artist Sandra Ramos is in many people's opinions, the leading contemporary Cuban artist in the world, and later this month, her solo exhibition titled Exodus, running from October 23 - December 27, opens in Norfolk's leading independently owned commercial fine arts gallery: Mayer Fine Art.

MFA, which also represents my work, is by far the top fine arts venue in the Tidewater area, and its hardworking owner, the talented Shiela Giolitti, daughter of the legendary comic book artist Alberto Giolitti has been preparing for this, Ramos' second ever solo show in the USA, for a long time.

Sandra Ramos. Flying to Miami. Charcoal and Acrylic on Digital Canvas Print. 130 x 90 cm. Circa 2010
The opening is Saturday, October 23rd from 6-9PM.

Additionally, Ramos will be leading a printmaking workshop at the Chrysler Museum on Oct 23 and 24th. You can register for that workshop here. Hurry! There are only three spots left!

Then, on October 26th at 7PM, Sandra Ramos will present a lecture on contemporary Cuban art at the Baron and Ellin Art Galleries of Old Dominion University in Norfolk. Free and open to the public.

Ramos is in the permanent collection of MoMa, MFA Boston, Dallas Museum, Miami Art Museum and many other US, European and Latin American art museums.

I'm driving down for this opening; see ya there!

Opportunity for Artists

Deadline: December 3, 2010

The Foundry Gallery has a "Call to Artists" for their January 2011 show which will have "Celebrate Gay Marriage" as its theme. The Foundry Gallery is located at 1314 18th Street, NW, 20036 near Dupont Circle. The deadline for entering is Friday, December 3, 2010, 5pm. To obtain the pospectus go to this website and click on the link to "Call to Artists".

Opportunity for Artists

Deadline: October 17, 2010

The Greater Reston Arts Center is requesting proposals for solo and/or group exhibitions for periods of approximately 4-6 weeks during the 2012 season.

GRACE's gallery is one of the most beautiful and flexible contemporary art spaces in the metropolitan area. With moveable walls and an open, hexagonal floor plan, the space is reconfigured for each show.

New this year - proposals will be accepted from artists living or working in a wider geographic area: Virginia, Maryland, the District of Columbia, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and West Virginia.

Deadline October 17, 2010

All proposals for exhibitions at the Greater Reston Arts Center must be submitted online through this this website.

Morton Fine Art to present its second *a pop-up project

The exhibition, titled Ritual: Form, Script, Gesture, is a selection of artworks by national and international artists Sally Curcio, Ethan Diehl, Sungmi Lee, Choichun Leung, Julia Fernandez-Pol and Hadieh Shafie.

*a pop-up project will be on display from October 23 through December 18, 2010 at:

Wash Art (formerly Osuna Gallery)
The Artery Building
7200 Wisconsin Ave
Bethesda, MD

The opening reception will be held on Saturday, October 23 from 5 – 8 pm.

Images can be previewed online at www.apopupproject.com

Opportunity for DMV Artists

Deadline: October 30, 2010

The BlackRock Center for the Arts has a huge gorgeous gallery space and their call for artists for the 2011 art season is now up.

The 2011 Call to Artists is open to all artists residing in Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, DC over the age of 18 for original artwork only. This call will cover exhibits in the gallery from October 2011 through August 2012. An exhibit may include on applicant or a combination of applicants, based on the judgement of jurors. The jury panel is comprised of Kathleen Moran, Jack Rasmussen and yours truly.

Details here.

Howard County Cultural Arts Showcase 2011

Deadline: November 5, 2010.

The Howard County Arts Council is now accepting artist applications for its annual Cultural Arts Showcase presented in partnership with the Recreation & Leisure Service Branch (RALS) of the Maryland Recreation & Parks Association (MRPA).

The event will be held at Howard County Center for the Arts at 8510 High Ridge Road in Ellicott City on March 3 & 4, 2011. Showcase is a program designed to assist school and civic organizations in identifying performing, visual and literary artists for workshops, performances, demonstrations, and in-school residencies. Attendees of Showcase include cultural arts representatives, PTA Representatives, festival and special event coordinators from Recreation and Parks and other members of the community.

For artist application information, please contact the Howard County Arts Council at 410.313.2787 / MD RELAY 711 or visit them on the web at www.hocoarts.org.

Enrique Chagoya Opens in DC today

The Bing Stanford in Washington Art Gallery will host Collisions Between Historical Visions: The Art of Enrique Chagoya. This exhibition of paintings, drawings, sculpture, and prints "highlights cultural clashes of religious iconography, ethnic stereotypes, ideological propaganda, and pop culture" by the Stanford University professor whose work recently caused the nationwide furor for his depiction of Christ in a show at Colorado's Loveland Museum.

Enrique Chagoya was born in Mexico and attended the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México where he contributed political cartoons to student and union newsletters. In 1977 he immigrated to the United States and received a BFA in printmaking from the San Francisco Art Institute and a MA / MFA at the University of California, Berkeley. He was awarded a fellowship at Monet’s Giverny Gardens and was in residence at the Cité international des Arts in Paris. Chagoya’s art commonly addresses cultural clashes over both space and time. He currently serves as a Professor of Art and Art History at Stanford University and has been chosen as the 2010 Navigation Press distinguished visiting artist at George Mason University. From October 11 to the 15th Mr. Chagoya will work with School of Art students to produce a new etching. He will present a lecture in the Harris Theater on Thursday October 14th as part of the Visual Voices lecture series

.The Bing Stanford in Washington Art Gallery is located at 2655 Connecticut Avenue, NW; Washington, DC 20008. Red Line to Woodley Park-Zoo / Adams Morgan. Hours are 9:00-7:00 M-F, 12:00-6:00 Sat & Sun.

The exhibit runs from October 12, 2010 until January 2011. The opening reception is today from 5:30 - 8PM. RSVP required to Meghvi at 202/332-3247.

For more information please call 202-332-6235 or visit this website. Admission is free.

Poconoing

Spending the long weekend in the Poconos. Heading home tomorrow.

Farm near Sugarloaf, Pennsylvania, October 10, 2010


Little Junes at Maylath Farms, Sugarloaf, Pennsylvania, October 10, 2010.

EJ Montgomery

Coming out of the woodworks

I've got yet another former Klaudia Marr Gallery artist writing to me with a horror story about his relationship with the former Santa Fe gallerist. More on that as I dig around.

Since I first started digging around this storyline, I've called Ms. Marr and left a voice mail, and also sent her emails to get her side of the story on all of this, any corrections, clarifications, explanations, etc. but so far she has ignored me.

This makes me wonder; are there any artists in the DMV who have been ripped off by any of the DMV's art dealers? Or gallerists ripped off by artists? (it happens both ways). If so, drop me an email.

Update: Here's the Better Business Bureau current rating for the Klaudia Marr Gallery: F.

Folded Mohammed? Nope: Another Folded Christ

Steve Miller claims to have found a whole new angle to the story about the piece in an art exhibit at the Loveland Museum/Gallery which apparently depicts Jesus Christ involved in what some say is an act of oral sex.

The piece is a folded-paper lithograph and woodcut panel depicting cultural icons. Titled "The Misadventures of the Romantic Cannibals," it was created by California-based artist Enrique Chagoya, a professor at Stanford University.

The Misadventures of the Romantic Cannibals by Enrique Chagoya. Color lithograph/woodcut. 7½" x 90". Ed. 30. $3400
You can buy it online used to be able to buy it online here, but now it's gone, so maybe it is sold out!

I blasted the professor for taking easy short cuts to Serranoesque/Offiliesque shock art and challenged him that "For his next panel, if he wants to get international attention of a diverse nature to say the least, I dare him to do a similar Muhammad panel."

But apparently, the professor had done this already! And no one has mentioned it, as far as I can tell. According to Steve Miller in a comment in my original post: "None of the talking heads seem to have noticed that Mohammed IS portrayed on one of the panels. He seems to be kneeling before a pair of pigs dressed up like hookers in one of the panels."

See it in the bottom panel? It's the second scene.

Can someone verify this? I will try to email the professor and also the print shop where the piece was made and also the museum.

If this is correct, then my kudos to the professor; he's got some big cojones and I stand corrected.

Update: Prof. Chagoya responded to my request for verification and passes that it is not Mohammed in that panel but another representation of Christ; he says:

First of all there are no representations of the prophet Mohamed. In my book my original source is actually coming from a representation of Jesus in a Persian Manuscript from the 17th Century reproduced in an [Newsweek, March 27, 2000] article by Kenneth L. Woodward in March 27 2000. In my book it represents the spiritual (represented by the Persian illustration of Jesus) protecting himself from temptation with flames around him (the pig ladies are the symbol of temptation in my book). In the online version there are no illustrations but the article matches the hard copy.

So there are no representations of Mohammed in the piece by Prof. Chagoya.

By the way, some idiot destroyed the work that had been on exhibit in the museum:

A woman armed with a crowbar entered the Loveland Museum/Gallery on Wednesday afternoon and destroyed a controversial exhibit that some said shows Jesus Christ engaged in a sex act.

"The Misadventures of Romantic Cannibals," by Stanford University's Enrique Chagoya, has been the subject of a week's worth of protests by those who claim it is blasphemy.

"It's sad and upsetting," Chagoya said Wednesday night by phone from California. "I've never had this kind of violent reaction to my art. Violence doesn't resolve anything."

The suspect was identified by police as 56-year-old Kathleen Folden of Kalispell, Mont. She is in custody on a charge of criminal mischief, a Class 4 felony with a fine of up to $2,000.

Police said the woman entered the museum about 4 p.m. and stood in front of the exhibit. Using a crowbar or similar tool, she broke the plexiglass protecting the image and tore up the artwork. She also cut herself in the process.

Read the story online here.

One more former Klaudia Marr artist complains

The story so far: As I reported a few days ago, New Mexico art dealer Klaudia Marr allegedly conned the National Portrait Gallery to ship a painting by New York artist Margaret Bowland to a third party who apparently had paid Marr for the painting, even though, according to Bowland, Marr and Bowland had ended their relationship (and Bowland had earlier notified the NPG of this, and claims she has never received a penny from the painting's alleged sale).

A new artist has now emerged from this story, also allegedly victimized by Klaudia Marr.

The artist is Isabelle du Toit and her saga with the Santa Fe art dealer goes back almost a year. Isabelle wrote to me (all the below text and quotes are published with the permission of Isabelle du Toit and is from the text of her correspondence to me):

She [Klaudia Marr] owes me $5000 for 3 paintings she sold but never paid me. I even have her admission in an email that she acknowledges that she owes me this money but her last email to me stated that her business has closed and that there is nothing I can do to collect my money.

What happened here?

We pick up the trail on Monday, May 03, 2010, when du Toit writes to the gallerist and says:

Hi Klaudia,

I left you a message on Friday but you didn't call me back. You said you would pay me for the 3 paintings you sold 6 month ago last month.

Could you please send me the check as soon as possible.

The paintings are the Costa Hummingbirds 16x20, the Red Eyed Tree Frogs 16x20 and the Mice 20x24

Please call me or email me a reply.

Thanks.

Isabelle

From that note we gather that the three paintings were sold around December 2009. Since no payment had been sent six months later, it appears that the gallery is already in financial trouble and keeping artists' commissions in order to stay open. The next day Marr answers du Toit, explaining that she (Marr) "has not forgotten about my obligations to you; this Friday is our first big opening of the season and I am hoping that we will fare well... there just haven't been any sales; it's tough... I am not making excuses, all I can do is move forward to catch up; I am very sorry! you will hear from me when a payment is going out to you, which will probably [be] a partial one..."

From this we gather that Marr is in a desperate financial situation, where she is now hoping to have sales (I guess by other artists) in order to try to pay other artists (such as du Toit) whose works she sold as far back as six months earlier.

That same day du Toit's husband answers Marr:

Your payments has been outstanding for an unreasonably long time now... I also want to know what reasonable partial payments you can make now, and when the balance will be paid for each of them.

This is an unfortunate situation for everybody, but one should take responsibility and do what is right.

Please let me know in writing by responding to this email tomorrow how you plan to resolve this.

If I don't see a prompt and reasonable effort on your side you put this right, you can be sure that legal action will follow!

Marr answers that same day, admitting to du Toit that she owes du Toit a $5,312.50 commission and notes that du Toit "can take as many legal actions as you want - there is nothing to gain, unfortunately; you cannot take something that doesn't exist; there is no other way than waiting and I don't know when the money will come but I know that I won't stop until it is repaid; I cannot commit to a timeline nor to an amount since it all depends on sales coming in..." Once again, Marr appears to hope that future sales can be used to pay past commissions. She is pushing the inevitable disaster to the right.

The du Toits then give Marr a month, and a month later ask for an update. On June 3, 2010, Marr responds:

Again, I am sorry our relationship has come to this point. I literally have zero assets and no way to make payment arrangements at this time. I have sold my house, (putting every dime into this business), moved to an inexpensive location and let go of my employee (whom I still owe back wages). Instead of closing my doors and walking away I have chosen to try my very best as the season approaches to make enough to honor all my contracts. Without any sales I cannot make payment arrangements. I do not have the funds.

I understand your frustration. Over the years I have seen many artists who were not paid when their galleries went out of business - and this happened when the economy was good. After fifteen years in business I am determined not to let this economy do this to me or to my artists. You will do what you will, but I would ask you, for the sake of everyone involved, to please let me tackle this season with as much energy as I can muster. I can offer you no other alternative.

Respectfully yours,

Klaudia

From this timeline of communications, it appears to me that at some point around here is when the alleged sale of Margaret Bowland's $37,500 painting (which was hanging at the NPG) took place without her consent or knowledge. (Update: Subsequently it has been discovered that the painting was allegedly sold as early as a year prior to this time). Also at some point in the timeline around here, Marr allegedly contacted the NPG and asked that Bowland's painting be identified on the wall text as "from the collection of ..." clearly implying that the painting had been sold. According to Bowland, the NPG immediately contacted Bowland who notes:

I told [the NPG] absolutely not.

I had never received one dime for the painting and had no expectations of receiving money for the piece. [The NPG] called again and said that [they] well understood and... we spoke for a bit about the horror of thieving dealers. By now the word had gone out that the Marr gallery was stealing from its artists. She had been running the gallery as a ponzi scheme and when the bottom fell out of the market she started lying to people and stealing their art. A friend in the gallery had contacted me and told me this and I had moved very fast to send a shipper in to grab my art. At the time I felt quite fortunate. My friend lost 9 paintings to her. But with this call from [the NPG] I felt that I was safe in the protective hands of the Smithsonian and what could be safer?

What did Marr do with this money from the alleged sale of the Bowland painting? It's a substantial amount, and the buyer of the painting has informed Bowland that he had paid "$37,500 dollars and he still owed six grand on the painting." So Marr has $31,500 in cash sometime around this timeframe from an allegedly illegal sale where she has allegedly played the NPG into shipping the painting to a third party.

None of those funds make their way to du Toit. She writes in mid June:

Klaudia, please let me know what the status is. I am sure you are able to buy food since you are not dead yet and I am sure you are able to buy gas to drive your car.

My patience is running out with you and you are not being fair. I am trying my best to work with you and would accept even a small regular payment to show you mean what you say. If you don't take corrective action very soon, we will hire a debt collector and they are not pleasant.

You need to make this right, right now! This is your last warning!

She follows that with:

We are not making any threats other than to consider legal options against you for payment if you force us to.

Please don't misinterpret what we say. We are just frustrated that you are not paying. Can you really not even pay a small amount just to show you mean to keep your promise?

Thanks

Isabelle

Marr responds:

Isabelle,

at this time I am not even able to give you a small amount; I have explained my situation to you over and over again and I do not feel that you are hearing me; I do not dispute that I owe you the commissions;

I will be in contact with you by September 15; please be so kind and don't distract me from my duties until then;

Klaudia

To try to warn other artists, Isabelle then stood up this website. Since then, more artists have contacted me; their saga next.

Kristina Bilonick

Jessica Dawson of the WaPo goes yard with her 10th and final selection for Real Art D.C.

Read Jessica's piece, which will be in tomorrow's Post, here.

Opportunity for Artists

Deadline: Wednesday, November 10, 2010 at 5 PM

The Office of the Arts and Alexandria Commission for the Arts invite proposals from artists for exhibitions in the following gallery locations: Durant Arts Center, Lee Center, Charles E. Beatley Jr. Central Library, Planning and Zoning Office, City Council Board Room, City Manager’s Office, Mayor’s Office, City Hall Employee Lounge, and Transportation and Environmental Services. Proposals will be considered for exhibition in all galleries. All entries must be two-dimensional.

A. Gallery Descriptions:
Durant Arts Center, 1605 Cameron Street. Conveniently located in the Upper King Street neighborhood of Old Town, the Durant Arts Center is Alexandria’s premier multi-cultural center for the performing and visual arts. Proposals sought for exhibitions of 30 - 40 works.

Lee Center, 1108 Jefferson Street. The Lee Center houses the main offices of the Alexandria Department of Recreation, Parks and Cultural Activities and provides space for classes, activities, and performances. Proposals sought for exhibitions of 6 - 25 works.

Charles E. Beatley Jr. Library, 5005 Duke Street. Beatley is one of the largest libraries in Alexandria. Proposals sought for exhibitions of 10 - 20 works. City Council Board Room Gallery, City Hall (second floor), 301 King Street. City Hall is an architectural and community cornerstone of Old Town Alexandria. The City Council Board Room is used for legislative meetings of City Council and occasionally for other meetings. Proposals sought for exhibitions of 6 -10 works.

Mayor’s Office, Conference Room, City Hall (second floor), 301 King Street. Proposals sought for exhibitions of 6-10 works.
City Manager’s Office, Conference Room, City Hall (third floor), 301 King Street. Proposals sought for exhibitions of 6 -10 works.

Planning & Zoning Office, City Hall (second floor), 301 King Street. Proposals sought for exhibitions of 10 - 15 works.

Transportation and Environmental Services, City Hall (fourth floor), 301 King Street. Proposals sought for exhibitions of 8-10 works.

City Hall Employee Lounge, City Hall (fifth floor), 301 King Street. Proposals sought for exhibitions of 8 -10 works.

B. Exhibition Details: Exhibitions will run six months. There is no exhibition theme and all two-dimensional media will be accepted. All work must be original; no giclee’ reproductions will be accepted. Exhibit locations will depend on space and availability. All original works should be appropriately finished for display and/or hanging (i.e. matted, framed, and equipped with appropriate hanging hardware).

C. Eligibility: Individual artists, consortia of artists, and organizations who work and/or live in the City of Alexandria are eligible to apply.

D. Entry Fee: There is NO entry fee.

E. Proposal Deadline: All proposals (solo exhibition, consortium, or organization) must be received by Wednesday, November 10, 2010 at 5 PM.

F. Entry procedures: Send entries to:
Durant Arts Center
ATTN: Call for Entries 2010-2012
1605 Cameron Street
Alexandria, VA 22314.

Submitted proposals will be considered for exhibition in all galleries. Do not send separate proposals for each of the galleries. The Office of the Arts and the Alexandria Commission for the Arts reserve the right to combine submitted proposals as appropriate if a proposal does not include sufficient work for exhibition in a given gallery.

Please submit the following:

- A completed application form.

- A resume.

- A CD or a DVD with a maximum of 12 images representing your work. CD or DVD must be PC-compatible. Images should be numbered, and each should include the artist’s name and the title of the work.

- No more than one page, attached to the application form, giving a brief description of the work to be considered for exhibition, an artist’s statement, and a description of the artist(s), consortium, or organizations involved in the exhibition.

G. Notification: Initial selection will be based on proposals submitted. Final selection may require studio visits. Finalists will be notified by e-mail by Monday, November 22, 2010.

All artists selected will be required to sign a Loan Agreement with the Office of the Arts and the Alexandria Commission for the Arts.

H. Terms: All artists/organizations are responsible for shipping/delivery, pick-up, preparation, and installation of works to be exhibited.

I. Sale: Work may be for sale or marked NFS (Not for Sale). If NFS, a value must be stated in the Loan Agreement form for insurance purposes. A 10 percent commission applies to all artwork sold. Artwork accepted for exhibit (not including duplicate works) may NOT be sold directly by artists or their representatives (including through their websites) for the duration of the exhibition.

J. Information: Information is available at this website or alexandriacommissionforthearts.org. Contact the Office of the Arts at (703) 746-5588 or by e-mail at aca@alexandriava.gov. In the subject line, please mention “Call for Entries 2010-2012.”

On video

Head for Art's Aleid Ford interviews me about the 100 Washington Artists book.

See it online here or below.

Bowland's response to the NPG

Apparently the National Portrait Gallery has officially finally contacted Margaret Bowland on the saga of her stolen painting. Bowland's response to the NPG encapsulates the whole saga:

Mr. Earhart:

After reading the documents you faxed to my husband I have to admit that I understand NPG's legal position.

There are, however a few things I need to say on my behalf.

All the communication to me from the NPG about shipping the painting at the close of the show was sent to an AOL email account that I have not used for over a year. This despite my having communicated several times with various members of the NPG staff using my new, gmail address. It is also hard to understand why if I did not respond to an email someone did not bother to telephone me. My telephone number is on the Loan Agreement, and I have an answering machine.

As you mention in your letter to my husband, I had a telephone call with a member of the NPG staff after the credit line mentioning the Klaudia Marr Gallery had been agreed on. In this telephone call I told the NPG staffer that I had broken my relationship to the Marr Gallery because they had failed to pay me for work of mine they had displayed and sold to collectors, I stated clearly that I was the sole owner of the Portrait of Kenyetta and Brianna, and that the picture should be returned to me. When I saw that the credit line on the painting at the exhibit and in the catalogue ommitted any mention of the Klaudia Marr Gallery I assumed that the telephone call had been sufficient notice to return the painting to me, the acknowledged owner.

You say you first became aware of this situation on September 23, 2010. I was not sent a copy of the Loan Agreement explaining NPG's position until yesterday, October 6. Had I gotten that information sooner, my reaction to the whole mess would have been a little different.

My reaction would also have been different had someone from the NPG called me on the telephone at any time between September 23 and now. I asked, in fact begged, via emails, for someone from the NPG to telephone me and explain what had happened. No one called, and the emails I did get just put me off and referred to a loan agreement, which I only got yesterday.

I understand now that you are protected by legal documents. The fact remains, however, that a collector in Santa Fe now has possession of the painting, Klaudia Marr has received a substantial amount of money for it, and I -- the rightful owner and creator of the painting -- have nothing to show for my efforts.

The painting was an important part of the portrait competition exhibition and has become associated with the NPG. It was awarded a commendation as one of the finalists and was a favorite among viewers. It won the People's Choice Award by
popular vote. My talk in front of the painting at the NPG during the exhibition was recorded and has been circulated on Youtube.

I would have thought that the NPG would have helped me get the painting back. Instead, you have spent all your energy fending me off and protecting
yourself.

Once again I ask the question: Since the NPG was the unwilling participant in an alleged scam to defraud the artist, why are they not assisting the victims (both the NPG and the artist) in dealing with Law Enforcement?

A federally funded museum has been allegedly conned by an art dealer into assisting in the alleged theft of a work of art which had been on exhibit at the museum and all they (the NPG) is doing is apparently circling the wagons to remove themselves from the issue?

I ask the question once again and hope the NPG sends me an answer: Why are they not picking up the phone and calling the FBI's Art Theft Unit?

Update: Kriston Capps has dug some new info on this subject. Read the comments section to read it.

Update 2:Margaret Bowland has sent in a response to Kriston Capp's (11:06 am in the comments section). However, because it exceeds the max number of characters allowed in the comments form, it is being posted here:

Well, Lenny, yes there was a check made out to me for Murakami wedding. Three years ago. The check was for 2,000 dollars against a bill for 21000 dollars that I was due. So far I agree with Mr. Capps.

I told him the rest of this story, but it seemed not to have mattered to him, but here it is.

At the time Marr sent me this paltry check, three years ago, other artists in the gallery were alerting me to the fact that her gallery was falling apart, people were not getting paid. In the gallery world, the artist assumes shipping payments to a gallery and the gallery must pay to have unsold work returned. This is very expensive, as you can well imagine, to ship large works from NY to Santa Fe. MARR had the consignment to sell my work for the duration of a one month long group show. Listening to the people around me I called her and requested that my work be returned to me. She refused.

So at the urging of friends I sent a shipper in at my own expense, 1800 dollars to retrieve my work. At this point, I stupidly sighed a sigh of relief because the Murakami painting was (I thought) safely in the hands of the NPG.

The shippers had a list of the works they were to retrieve for me. On the day they arrived there was a painting missing. I asked to speak to Klaudia on the phone. In a flustered voice, she said, "Oh yes, didn't I tell you, the "Bride Painting" sold to a South African woman. It has already been shipped out of the country."

Of course, I was furious, but I was afraid as well. I just wanted to get away from this woman. My half of the painting, pastel "the Bride" that she had sold was to have been 3500 dollars. I said to her on the phone, "Klaudia, I have no way of trusting you anymore. I am considering the last 2000 dollars I have just received from you to be the end of our relationship. I am going to count it toward the Bride Pastel for which you still owe me 1500. This is the last of our relationship."

And I repeated to her, that the 2000 dollars would go toward the "Bride picture" and "the Murakami was free and clear." I also said that she was free to send me full payment for any of the works and then there would be new grounds for discussion. She said nothing to this, accepted it. Needless to say I never talked to her again until she called me two weeks ago hysterical and teary.

And I have never received another dollar from this woman. Right now if you add the shipping bill she was supposed to pay me, the rest of "The Bride Pastel" and "The Portrait of Kenyetta and Bryanna" that she stole, the bill comes to 24,300 dollars. That is a huge amount of money to me.

Sadly, I felt this was the worst damage she could do me and walked away believing the Murakami painting was mine to sell. If indeed this is or was a legitimate sale why in two years has Ms. Marr made no attempt to send me the balance she owes me of 19 thousand dollars?

I had thought that I would not be bothered by this woman for the rest of my life. I had been told that she had disbanded her gallery and to escape hundreds of creditors she had disappeared and I felt, good riddance.

All of this was explained at length to Ms. LaPorta (or LaRosa?) Ms. De Rosa from the NPG in the telephone conversations I had with her before the show ever opened.

She then went on to list my name as the owner of the painting. And my name only.

So what have I done wrong here? I will admit that oddly and tragically my belief that I was on a friendly basis with the staff at the NPG worked against me terribly.

If I had not been in constant contact with these folks by email and by phone, then perhaps I would have contacted the museum when the show was winding down to make sure my paper work was in order. It just never occurred to me for a moment. They had sent me many things by mail, talked to me by phone and the email. I had no idea that the people in registrar were unaware of what was known by the people at the head of their organization and that when confronted with what looked odd, an email address that had not been used in over two years, that the registrar wouldn't have picked her head up, made a phone call, asked a question.

This whole thing was going on while I was on vacation in Holland. Just two weeks that shall prove to be the costliest two weeks of my life. When I arrived home there were many messages on my telephone but none from the NPG. Certainly I would have called immediately.

Mr. Capps concludes that the NPG did nothing illegal. It does appear that while I thought they were trying to retrieve my painting they were doing just that, making sure there legal affairs were in order so that the mighty organization could protect itself from a penniless painter. It seems they did a very good job.

But I shall ask this of you Mr. Capps? Is this right? What have I done to deserve being left without a painting or the money to pay for it? I trusted a major government agency to recognize the ownership of my work and to return it to me. They had my address every single moment. What was so hard about sending it home? And if they could not reach me for two weeks, where was the fire? The place is vast.

Rather than just send my painting to an address of which I HAD NEVER approved, did not even know, couldn't you have waited until you could have talked to me, or asked someone else in your organization if they had any current information about how to reach me? I would have proceeded that way to return a hat.

All the legal work may be in order, but a thief is alive and well and doing business with dupes in NM , the NPG glides on, the huge ship of state that it is, and the artist that was used by this ship of state to mount a popular show is left drowning in its wake. If that is justice I have no comprehension of the word.

margaret bowland

Seen on Univision

Left wing nut Bolivian President Evo Morales was part of a "friendly" soccer match recently. At one point, a player from the opposing team accidentally stepped on El Presidente's foot. Minutes later Morales corners the other player and knees him in the nuts.



El Presidente avoided receiving a red card, but the other guy was ejected after being kneed in the nuts and after the game was almost arrested by Morales' security detail.

The National Portrait Gallery responds

I received this response from The National Portrait Gallery today in reference to yesterday's posting of the theft of a painting from the NPG.

The National Portrait Gallery has been directly in touch with Ms. Bowland by phone and e-mail since we were made aware of this situation September 23, and the Gallery has contacted Ms. Marr concerning this issue.

Ms. Bowland’s painting was loaned to the museum for the Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition. According to our loan agreement with Ms. Bowland her painting was to be picked up from and returned to the Klaudia Marr Gallery. At the end of the exhibition Ms. Marr requested that the painting be shipped to a different address. It was our understanding that the painting was being sold.

Apparently during the course of the competition, Ms. Bowland separated from the Klaudia Marr Gallery, but did not inform the National Portrait Gallery that her painting should be returned to her.

We continue to work with Ms. Bowland as well as, the Klaudia Marr Gallery to determine if the painting is in the possession of its rightful owner.

The main issue that I have with this problem is that according to Bowland at some point during the exhibition she had a discussion with NPG staff where she did inform them that her relationship with Ms. Marr had ended on a sour note. According to Bowland:

A few months later... [the NPG] called and told me that Klaudia Marr wished to have the painting as it was hanging in the NPG attributed to a man she said had bought the painting or was in the process of buying the painting. I told [the NPG] absolutely not.

I had never received one dime for the painting and had no expectations of receiving money for the piece. [The NPG] called again and said that [they] well understood and... we spoke for a bit about the horror of thieving dealers.

From a Monday morning quarterback perspective, it is clear that there was a lack of clear communications between all parties involved. Certainly at the NPG, where some people knew about the Marr problem and clearly at least one poor innocent soul (whoever shipped the work) didn't and was never told.

The one thing that remains very clear is that allegedly Marr lied to the NPG and if so, then has committed a serious crime. What I hope the NPG now does is work with Bowland to contact the FBI Art Theft division and help Bowland recover this painting and the many others that Marr has allegedly stolen from other artists. A phone call from the NPG to the FBI would go a long way to get this horror story on the right track and would certainly get more attention from the FBI than what they are apparently giving Bowland.

The right thing to do for the NPG is to report this theft to the FBI, and I hope someone there has the cojones and moral fortitude to do it and guide this nightmare to a happy ending.

How a dealer allegedly stole a painting from the National Portrait Gallery

About ten days ago, artist Margaret Bowland received an email from a design firm in Santa Fe, NM telling her how thrilled they were to have received her painting that had been hanging in the National Portrait Gallery as part of the Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition, where it won the People's Choice Award.

Portrait of Kenyetta and Brianna, Oil on linen, 2008. 80 x 72 in. (203.2 x 182.9 cm) by Margaret Bowland
As of today, the NPG's website shows the magnificent painting as "Collection of the Artist."

Bowland says that she has a heart condition, and that when she received that email her heart "started racing so hard I had to lie down on the ground in a public square until I could manage to get on the subway and get home. I raced to the computer and told the firm writing to me that I did not have any awareness of who they were and I had never received one dime for my painting and had been expecting its return to me here in NY." Subsequently, the design firm ceased communication with Bowland.

Bowland writes that she then wrote the NPG "frantically begging... to find out why these people had my painting and what was going on?"

According to Bowland, the NPG quickly stopped communicating with her. She writes that "I thought these people [the NPG] were friends of mine. But immediately they slammed shut in communicating to me at the direction of a lawyer."

She adds that it then required "days of begging and emails to various people" to begin to untangle the mystery. Eventually the Santa Fe buyer called Bowland because as she states: "he said he felt pretty awful about it."

Awful because he had purchased the painting from Bowland's former Santa Fe dealer for $37,500 dollars and he still owed six grand on the painting and was in the process of discovering that he was in possession of a bill of sale for a stolen painting.

How did all this happen?

Here's what Bowland says:

Three years ago I was in a group show at the Klaudia Marr Gallery in Santa Fe, NM. I found out during the short time that I was in her show that my painting had been accepted at the NPG for the Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition.

So Bowland arranged for the NPG to pick up the painting from the gallery in Santa Fe.

She continues:

A few months later... [the NPG] called and told me that Klaudia Marr wished to have the painting as it was hanging in the NPG attributed to a man she said had bought the painting or was in the process of buying the painting. I told [the NPG] absolutely not.

I had never received one dime for the painting and had no expectations of receiving money for the piece. [The NPG] called again and said that [they] well understood and... we spoke for a bit about the horror of thieving dealers. By now the word had gone out that the Marr gallery was stealing from its artists. She had been running the gallery as a ponzi scheme and when the bottom fell out of the market she started lying to people and stealing their art. A friend in the gallery had contacted me and told me this and I had moved very fast to send a shipper in to grab my art. At the time I felt quite fortunate. My friend lost 9 paintings to her. But with this call from [the NPG] I felt that I was safe in the protective hands of the Smithsonian and what could be safer?

Apparently Bowland was wrong.

As the NPG exhibition ended, she notes that the NPG "could not reach me on the telephone. I was in Amsterdam for two weeks." Bowland also notes that the NPG "tried to reach me twice on an email account that has not functioned in almost two years."

Bowland never worried too much because she had received plenty of emails from the NPG (to her correct email address) on other issues: "numerous emails from three separate people there." She had also received "numerous mailings from the Museum at my address, an address I have held for 20 years."

At some point, after trying to contact Bowland on the phone while she was in Amsterdam, and via email to an old email account, but never via regular mail, and for unknown reasons, the NPG contacted the Santa Fe dealer, clearly looking for a place to ship the painting. Apparently having never emailed Bowland to her correct email address, or spoken to her on the phone, or sent her a note in the mail. Bowland adds that:

Ms. Marr seized the opportunity to steal the painting and told the Museum to send the art on to the man from whom she had taken money for the painting. When talking to him later on the phone he told me that the picture showed up "out of the blue" that he had "long ago written the painting off as a loss when he could no longer find the dealer who had gone to ground."

So far, from this story, it seems to be clear from these alleged facts, that the criminal here is possibly an art dealer allegedly intent on stealing a work of art. An art dealer bold enough to allegedly involve a federal museum in the theft.

Bowland notes that:

the part of this that still stuns me the most, however, is that the NPG is agreeing that I was the owner of the painting but is not trying to help me retrieve it or offering to pay me for the loss. They will not even contact law enforcement to try to prevent this from happening to others.

Because this theft crossed state lines, it seems to fit the requirements for the FBI's Art Theft Program. But even that has yielded little hope for Bowland. She notes that

When I contacted the DA [District Attorney] in Santa Fe they told me to go to the FBI. I did so, but I am astonished that they care so little for a thief operating in their own state.

The FBI may still get involved in this, although from what they told Bowland:

They are interested in larger numbers than my ... dollar theft... A very nice young woman at the FBI has also basically told me that my numbers are too small but she is going to try for me.

It appears to me from the facts that I have, that:

1. The only alleged criminal here (so far) from the facts as presented is the art dealer in New Mexico seizing the opportunity to allegedly steal a painting.

2. Someone at the NPG got bamboozled by the dealer.

3. The buyer thought that he had lost over $30,000 when suddenly the painting shows up out of nowhere with an NPG provenance.

4. The artist is not getting answers or help from anyone.

5. There's a former art dealer in Santa Fe who needs a little attention from Law Enforcement to clarify this issue, and I am shocked that for a city whose tourist industry is so aligned with its arts presence, LE is so lax in protecting the rights of artists.

Furthermore, if all these facts are correct, what I don't understand is why the NPG, as a federal institution, is not cooperating with the artist to assist Bowland in dealing with this alleged crime. Why are they not communicating with her? Why are they not helping her in dealing with a recalcitrant FBI? After all, it's not just Bowland who got ripped off, but also some innocent person at the NPG who got allegedly snowed by an alleged criminal to assist in the commission of an alleged art theft, and all the tax payers who fund the NPG and who are unwilling participants in the nauseating alleged act of ripping off a damned good artist.

I've asked the NPG to comment on these questions. So far the path to the right answer seems simple: assist Bowland with the Santa Fe DA and/or the FBI to make the only possible criminal in this story accountable.

Bowland ends by stating:

I am crushed by this. Never in one million years could I have imagined that participating in the show at the NPG could result in such pain and loss.

Neither could I. Ball is on your court NPG; do the right thing.

Artists' Websites: Heidi Fowler


Heidi Fowler has twice been a finalist in the Bethesda Painting Awards (and a second prize winner) as well as a semifinalist for the Trawick and has exhibited widely around the region, most recently at the Contemporary Art Center of Virginia, in Virginia Beach. Check out her extensive and diverse portfolio here.

MPAartfest yesterday

As you know, yesterday I participated at the MPAartfest, juried by Trudi Van Dyke, who selected forty-four artists to participate in the fourth iteration of this show.

The show was terrific for me. I sold seven drawings, including my three largest (and most expensive) ones. One of the pieces is going to the permanent collection of the American Federation of Government Employees, while another piece went to the permanent collection of one of the DMV's top art collectors.

Because of its size, I had to deliver this second piece to the owner's gorgeous McLean address. When I dropped it off at her house, she said that she was going to call a hanging crew to hang it right away later this week.

I told her that she didn't need to do that. I added that I had hanging gear in my toolbox in the van and that it would take me five minutes to hang it; if she had the space already in mind.

She was delighted and let me into her house.

The substantial walkway to the main home was full of Washington Color School paintings and I began to wonder how my figurative drawing, large and monochromatic as it was, would fit in such an abstract and colorful collection.

The living room (I think) was sort of a transition point. There was not one, but several Gerhard Richters in the room - both his abstract stuff and his representational monochromatic work. Also paintings by Hirst, Bedia, Kuitca (I think) and what appeared to be a sculpture by Ana Mendieta; but we just passed through and I was somewhat dazzled and very tired.

The second large room past that room had a large David Hockney painting from the swimming pool series, and several gorgeous Hockney figurative drawings all around it and other artists as well. There was a large open spot on the wall, where something had been removed, and she pointed me to it.

To the right was a Hockney drawing and to the left was one of those silly Marcel Dzama root beer bear drawings. I was a little stunned and tried a joke.

"Do I really have to hang my piece next to this silly Dzama?" I asked. She took it seriously (maybe I meant it).

"No, no!," she replied. "We can take it down..."

Now it was me who was saying "no, no! - I was only joking!"

She didn't seem too convinced. "I am honored to be in this room with all these Hockney drawings," I added. "He was one of my inspirations in Art School."

"I knew it!" she said triumphantly. "This is the perfect spot."

It took me less than five minutes to measure, re-use their hanging devices and put up my drawing between Dzama and Hockney.

She loved it, although as we walked back out, she glanced back, and I had this feeling that Marcel was going down soon afterwards.

Congrats!

To the superbly talented and innovative Alexa Meade, whose work is part of the next show opening at the Saatchi Gallery in London this coming Thursday!

I am told that supposedly Kate Moss and Mick Jagger are confirmed to be on the guest list for the private viewing.

Meade will have five prints exhibited in the show as well an installation with a live model on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.