Video meet Drawing: Final Result

As I noted before, as the next step in my own artistic endeavors, I've decided to marry video to my drawings. In my heart, I am but a storyteller, and thus this marriage, of visual descriptions of all sorts, is a natural one.

And where else to start but with one of my iconic obsessions: Che Guevara. Below is what the drawing originally looked like:


Then, after discussing all sorts of possibilities with the video tech wizards at the Washington Glass School, I took the Exacto knife to the drawing and carved a "Heart of Jesus" shape underneath Che's neck. The thorns around the heart delicately cut out. Next was the precise measuring to ensure that the small LCD video screen (guaranteed for 60,000 hours) would align and fit perfectly under the cut out heart.

Next to hunt for old newsreels of Guevara and appropriate one of them that would fit well in the vertical LCD screen and deliver a good image across the thorns. My idea was to try to deliver the dual nature of Guevara. That is the iconic face and hero to millions of people who know little about this psychopath, and also deliver a harsh reminder about the chief executioner of the Cuban Revolution and the man many Cubans know as "El Chacal de La Cabaña."

"El Chacal de La Cabaña" translates to the "Jackal of La Cabaña," although it is usually translated as the "Butcher of La Cabaña."

La Cabaña is an 18th century fortress complex located on the elevated eastern side of the harbor entrance to Havana, and the location for many of the thousands of firing squad executions which took place after January 1, 1959. Shot were former members of Batista's police, army and air force, informants, traitors, and counter-revolutionaries.

The best known story about this period (which I heard related in a Spanish language radio show in Florida) relates to how a Cuban mother went to see Che to beg for her son's life. The son was 17 years old, and was on the firing squad list, to be executed within a week. If Guevara pardoned her son, the mother begged, she would ensure that he never said or did anything against the Revolution.

Che's response was to order the immediate execution of the boy, while the mother was still in his office. His logic: now that the boy was shot, his mother would no longer have to anguish over his fate.

Two newsreel videos were then married: it starts with Che talking and it ends with the firing squad execution of one of his many victims. The gruesome scene plays in his heart. This is what the cut out hart looks like with the video screen aligned behind it.



Then the delicate art of framing the piece and aligning all the electronics on the back ($1,000 worth of electronics). This happened several times due to the usual hair or other object discovered after one frames a large piece. Once framed it looked terrific.

"It needs to be balanced on the top," offered several critical voices from talented people around me, including my wife. The loudest voice was the one in my head. I had considered doing some Romanesque writing on the top of the drawing at the very beginning, to tie it even more to a iconic, saint-like presence, but discarded the idea.

I wrapped Che and prepared it for it maiden voyage to the Miami art fairs.

The next day the voices were too loud.

I unwrapped Guevara and then with a sigh unframed it and took it all apart so that I could draw on it. This is about halfway through the process, before I took a tortillon to the words to burnish them into the paper.



The words say SANCTUS GUEVARUS CASTRUM CANIS and are the result of hours of thinking about an appropriate title that delivered the real man who was Che Guevara. It is also the result of consulting with a Latin expert who could explain the nuances of Latin language declension and other such recondite subjects. With a bit of modernized translation it means "Saint (or Holy) Guevara, Castro's Dog." But a savvy play on words delivers a second (actually prime) meaning: "Holy Guevara, Fortress Dog."

The word "Castrum" could be modernized Latin for Castro but it also means castle or fortress.

"Fortress Dog" or the "Jackal of La Cabaña Fortress." Here's the video playing in his heart:


Here is the video - the orientation is sideways so that it can play correctly in the installation within the drawing.

And here is the finished piece:


SANCTUS GUEVARUS CASTRUM CANIS. Charcoal on paper, electronics, video player and video. 27.5 x 27 inches. Circa 2010 by F. Lennox Campello
Now let's see what Miami thinks of it.

Call for Exhibition Proposals

Deadline: January 31, 2011

The Olin Art Gallery on the campus of Washington & Jefferson College, Washington, PA, is now accepting exhibition proposals in any medium for the 2011-12 academic year. Proposals may include solo or group exhibitions. Submissions must include contact information, artist statements for all participating artists, 10-20 digital images (jpg-format, 300dpi) on CD, an image list (including title, media, size, and date completed for each work), and a resume or CV. There is NO entry fee. The application deadline is January 31, 2011. For additional information, contact

Doug McGlumphy
Director, Olin Art Gallery
Washington & Jefferson College
60 S. Lincoln St.
Washington, Pa 15301.

Website: www.washjeff.edu/olin/aspx.
Email: dmcglumphy@washjeff.edu.

Proposal materials will only be returned if provided with a self-address stamped envelope with sufficient postage. This opportunity is open to all professional artists 18 or over.

Opportunity for artists

Deadline: December 20, 2010

The Bradley International Print and Drawing Exhibition is the second-longest running juried print and drawing competition in the country, now in its 33rd year. Every two years it features the best contemporary graphic artwork from around the globe. All accepted artwork is featured in a full-color exhibition catalogue and on the exhibition’s website.

JUROR: Robert E. Marx. Robert Marx’s long and illustrious career includes recognition as a master printmaker, an illustrator of more than a dozen books, a distinguished professor of art, and a Fulbright scholar.

AWARDS: Four cash prizes totaling $2500 will be awarded by the Juror. In addition the University as well as other local art organizations will select multiple purchase awards.

TO APPLY: Please visit their website here.

Video meet drawing



This is the back of my first ever experiment, let's say the prototype, of my new exploration on the marriage of video and drawing. I am sure lots of artists have tried and are doing this already, but it's new for me and thus exciting, and even this first prototype kicks ass.

I'll show you a pic of it from the front once it hangs in the Miami art fairs in a week or so.

When brains fart

I did one of the most professionally embarrassing things today, and the only blame that I can find is having a brain fart.

This weekend has been immensely busy with family coming from all over for Little June's baptism, which was this weekend. Because of that, I had postponed a professional engagement from the weekend to Monday. So the weekend was packed to the gills prepping for the baptism, doing it, having the reception party, etc.

Monday was to be a packed day.

First I had to drop off my cousins at the National Mall for a few hours so that I could go and do some work (more on that later). From there, my plans was to pick them off after I was done, then drop them off at national for their flight back to Miami, and then head off to Alexandria to do my professional engagement job (I'm too embarrassed to tell you what it was).

So, I braved late afternoon DC traffic, picked them off across the street from that weird flaming gold sword sculpture on Constitution Avenue (between 16th & 17th I think), turned right on 14th street, crossed the 14th street bridge relaying the Greaseman's bad taste radio joke about Air Florida that got him fired, dropped them off at National, and then... instead of getting back onto George Washington Parkway for a nice, easy short drive to Old Town Alexandria, as it had been my plan... the cell phone rings, and I pick it up. And then my brain goes onto another realm and I go on automatic and start driving home.

After brutal traffic at that time, I get home to discover, to my horror, that I had skipped on a very special task that I had been looking forward to for the longest time.

Feh! Seldom has a man been so embarrassed without at least a decent excuse.

WPA 2011 Artist Directory

Deadline: February 1, 2011

The Washington Project for the Arts has announced a call for submissions for its 2011 Artist Directory.

Published bi-annually, this four-color, 8.5 x 5.5 inch directory is the definitive listing of established and emerging contemporary artists throughout the Washington region. It is seen by more than 2,000 galleries, curators, art consultants, and interested art patrons. Copies are distributed to selected art critics and other members of the press, and to museums both in the region and outside the area. The 2011 Artist Directory will also be available for sale on the WPA website and at select area retail locations at the price of $9.95.

Each participating artist will be featured on a full page (8.5 x 5.5 inches). The page will include the artist's name, a color digital image of their work, their studio address and phone number, email address, web address, and their gallery affiliation.

All current WPA members are eligible for publication in the Artist Directory. There is an additional registration fee that includes a copy of the Artist Directory. Participants who submit before December 1, 2010 can pay a discounted early registration fee of $65. After December 1, the registration fee increases to $75. The final registration deadline is February 1, 2011. No submissions will be accepted after this date.

All submissions will be handled through an online registration form on the WPA's website.

Each participating artist can upload one image to be featured on their page. Images must be submitted as .eps or .tif files in CMYK format. They must be 300dpi and as close as possible to, but no smaller than 6 inches on the longest side.

If you have any questions regarding the 2011 Artist Directory, please contact Blair Murphy, Membership Directory at bmurphy@wpadc.org or 202-234-7103 x 1.

What's new Buenos Aires?

(The line is from this Evita song; you'll see why in a minute... sorta). And thus, I've decided to take the next step with my artwork.

For years and years, after I graduated from the University of Washington School of Art in beautiful Seattle, I painted. Because I was mostly living in Europe at the time (Spain and Scotland, with a long stint in between in Lebanon and postgraduate school in Monterey), my artwork focused on what was around me and I painted.

When I returned to the US for good in 1992, I also abandoned painting and returned to my love for drawing. A couple of thousand drawings later, I am ready to take my drawing to the next level.

In my heart, I am a storyteller. I like to use my drawing to push ideas, historical points, narrative, agendas, questions and even fantasies. My series of "Written on the Body" drawings, such as the one below (that's the piece selected by Mera Rubell for last year's WPA auction at the Katzen Museum), I told stories by figuratively decorating the bodies of people with writing anchored in current events, literature, history, etc.

"Age of Obama - Nobel Peace Prize" Charcoal on Paper. 16x12 inches.
I going to expand on that storytelling driving force and here's how I'm going to do it: I'm going to marry drawing with video imagery.
First there will be baby steps. The initial idea is simple. I am going to do a drawing much like this one below, of the psychopath Che Guevara, sanctified of his sins by an adoring public who has little idea who the man really was.


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 his chest there will be heart much like the Sacred Heart of Jesus from Catholic imagery and tradition. There will be a cutout within this heart, a window into the heart if you will, and visible there, through the hole in his heart, will be a video, playing in a continuous loop showing newsreel video of Guevara reciting a poem, then the video ends with the public firing squad execution of one of the many Cubans that El Chacal de la Cabaña had killed in 1959.

A simple story about an immensely complex man, told in a video drawing.





Muchas gracias to my good friend Tim Tate, video sculptor extraordinaire for giving me the encouragement (and technical acumen) to proceed in this direction.

PS - If you don't get the Buenos Aires banner: Che was Argentinean, not Cuban. Ernesto "Che" Guevara de la Serna Lynch was born on May 14, 1928 in Rosario, Argentina. An Argentine blue blood, Che was the son of Celia de la Serna, member of one of Argentina's high society families. His mother's lineage was of undiluted, pure Spaniard blood, and one of her ancestors was a Spanish viceroy of colonial South America for the crown of Spain. His father, Ernesto Guevara Lynch was the descendant of both Spanish and Irish nobility, and his parents Roberto Guevara Castro and Ana Lynch had been born in California, where their families had migrated from Argentina during the California Gold Rush. Yes, Che had American grandparents.

Ten years of Jessica Dawson

The WaPo's Galleries' critic, Jessica Dawson, has an almost nostalgic article in the Post today as it is her 10th anniversary writing for the paper.

Jessica and I have had a very interesting professional relationship over the years. I first met her when she was a young writer for the City Paper and used to swing by the original Fraser Gallery in Canal Square in Georgetown. Back then there were seven galleries in the square, and the 3rd Friday openings were packed with people. Most of those galleries closed over the years, Fraser relocated to Bethesda, Parish expanded into the Fraser space, MOCA went through the loss of Clark & Hogan and it is still there, as is Alla Rogers and her almost new neighbor Cross MacKenzie.

At one point we were even writing for the same editor, as for a shining short period of time the WaPo had several writers, including Jessica and yours truly, writing online gallery reviews for the brand spanking new washingtonpost.com site. Imagine that! Online art reviews to expand the WaPo's print section's art reviews. Ahhhh... the good ole days.

When she first started writing for the print version of the paper, as she notes, her "prose smacked harsh" and many of us gallerists were left with our mouth open in some of her reviews. One former Dupont Circle area gallerist kicked her out of her gallery and prohibited her from ever returning - they've since made up.

As she notes in today's article, over the years she "wised up and recognized that there are kinder ways of saying "shape up" than likening art to "a dental hygienist scaling your tartar with a metal pick." Ouch! I don't remember that one.

Also over the years I have been an avid follower of her writing, and protested when it was reduced in appearances (she used to write every Thursday). I recall an angry email received from Eugene Robinson, who then used to anchor the Style Section. I had complained to him that Dawson's column had been missing for two weeks. He responded with a terse: "She's gotta go on vacation sometime!" I wrote back in an even terser note saying: "It would be nice if you told us that she'll be back in two weeks, as you do for all other columns!"

Through this blog I've trashed, praised, criticized, admired, hated, defended, attacked and also liked Jessica's writing at different times and on an individual review basis. I've been left astounded, educated, surprised and pleased by what she has written over the years, but I've always read it. "Jessica goes yard!" announced one of my banners; "Jessica off the mark... again" reads another

Ten years is like a 100 years in gallery-years, and the legacy of Washington art galleries to Washington art and artists has been documented in print by Dawson at the Post, and I for one, still look forward to her columns and how they make me react.

Jessica, I look forward to 10 more years of me delivering one-voiced arguing, or yelling at your writing, or admiring your points, or agreeing with your views, or disagreeing with your conclusions, etc., but always reading your words.

Un abrazo sincero.

Opportunity for Photographers

Deadline: December 17, 2010

Call for entries for the Fifth Annual Photography Exhibition at the Capitol Hill Arts Workshop. Entries must be received by December 17, 2010. The Capitol Hill Arts Workshop is seeking submissions of any and all photographic processes, black and white or color, traditional or alternative, material or digital, time-based, performance based, any work exploring the act of photography. The exhibition will open on January 8, 2011 from 5:00-7:00 p.m. and will run through February 4, 2011. Cash awards will be announced at the opening.

The juror for the exhibition is Bruce McKaig, local artist and art educator. Bruce McKaig chairs the Photography Department at CHAW and teaches at Georgetown University and the Smithsonian Associates. He has exhibited nationally and internationally for over thirty years and every once in a while reviews a DMV show in this blog. For more information about his work, please visit his website here.

HOW: Submit the following:
➢ Three to five jpegs on a CD
➢ Image inventory list specifying title, size, medium, date and price (or insurance value)
➢ Contact info including a mailing address, phone number and email
➢ An entry fee of $25.00 for up to five images, payable to CHAW

WHERE: Please hand deliver or mail these materials to:

CHAW
545 7th Street SE
Washington DC 20003

Jury Duty

At the BlackRock Center for the Arts to select the exhibits for the gallery for September 2011 through August 2012.

More later...

Wanna go to an opening this Friday?

Curated by Zoma Wallace and featuring work by Jamea Richmond Edwards, Kristen Hayes, Amber Robles-Gordon, and Danielle Scruggs, FOCUS GROUP: Four Walls, Four Five Women opens at the DC Arts Center (2438 18th Street, NW, Washington, DC 20009) this Friday with an opening reception from 7-9PM.

Presented by the Black Artists of DC (BADC), this exhibition "seeks to spark a visual discussion between artworks created by black women and a verbal dialogue between those that view and purchase artwork. The topic of discussion is material. What are artists using? What materials do they feel drawn to? How does black femininity affect or reflect itself in the chosen materials, if at all? How does femininity affect the delivery and/or reception of the message?

The voice of each woman in this exhibition is heard primarily in material form. Embracing both visual and verbal discussion, FOCUS GROUP: Four Walls, Four Five Women hopes to determine how effectively unique material languages are deciphered/valued/appreciated/ or acquired by a universal audience and market."

Through January 9, 2011.

Small Works at the Art League

Selected by Emily Conover, who is an adjunct professor of art at the University of Maryland, where she teaches drawing and painting, the Art League's Small Works show, and much like the Target Gallery's 5x5 show reviewed here, proves that if the talent is there, size doesn't really matter in art.

Conover awarded the Eleanor Boudreau Jordan Award to Untitled I a very cool silver gelatin print by Andrew Zimmermann. The Second Place Award went to a superb oil titled Playing with Dandelion by Kim Stenberg. She also passed Honorable Mentions to the entries by Diane Blackwell, Kathy Clowery, Marcia Dale Dullum, Avis Fleming, Janice Sayles, Jean Schwartz and Xiaolei Zhang and from the 530 works of art entered, she accepted 158 for the show.

With prices as low as $35 for an original work of art (check out the images, titles and prices here), this is a terrific show to visit and come away with either an unique art present or a small addition to one's own art collection.

In this show I was once again floored by the technical ability of Wendy Donahoe, whose entry titled Haley is a breath-taking small graphite portrait that jumps out of its tiny environment because of the artistic prowess of Donahoe.

The woman doesn't just draw well, she draws spectacularly well and then she manages to go beyond being simply a talented hand and also manages to cross the line into the realm of solid composition and that psychological "it" that is so hard to capture in a portrait.

Keep your eye on Donahoe and somebody better go buy this drawing now.

The tiny monumentality of Xiaolei Zhang's Single Pear, a gorgeous little oil painting that you can pick up framed for $80, underscores the fact that most good painters know: a tiny, small oil can be just as difficult and challenging to deliver well as a large painting. In fact you can even make the case that it is even harder because of the scale.

Zhang's pear succeeds because Zhang knows how to paint and now the challenge becomes delivering with skill on a small scale. It is a success in this case.

The image here is terrible (it should have been scanned rather than photographed), but I also liked T. Pham's Beach Season Begins, a brilliant little pastel that crams a lot of visual information into one very small piece. Even up close hanging on the wall, it has the feel of a large work, not an easy trick to accomplish in such a small scale.

I also liked U. Dehejia's gorgeous employment of wet on wet watercolors to submit an impressive flash of color in this tiny landscape.

And I have no idea how H. Rodkin's diminutive photograph Mist Of The Potomac manages to come across like a giant Thomas Cole painting, but it does.

The show goes through December 6, 2010.

Chicken Wars

I am surprised to report that Giant's rotisserie chicken is much better tasting than Whole Foods.

Little Junes in the Fall

Anderson Lennox Campello, c. November 2010. NFS

Aaron Gallery to re-open

DC's Aaron Gallery, which for years and years operated on Connecticut Avenue, a couple of blocks north of Dupont Circle, has announced the Grand Opening of their new location, and they're inviting art lovers to join them as they celebrate with a reception to be held November 18, 2010 (6 pm to 8 pm).

You gotta R.S.V.P. to info@aarongallerydc.com or 202.234.3311 by November 17th in order to get on the list and be let in at the door.

AARON GALLERY
2101 L Street NW, 10th Floor
Washington, DC 20037
www.aarongallerydc.com

The Lasting Power of Rockwell

The crowds at the Norman Rockwell show at the Smithsonian American Art Museum have prompted the museum to extend its hours during the upcoming holidays.

Since "Telling Stories: Norman Rockwell From the Collections of George Lucas and Steven Spielberg" opened in July, attendance at the museum has soared 30 percent.

Read that story here.


Norman Rockwell. The Problem We All Live With. 1963.
Read Ruby Bridges' (the little girl in the above historical masterpiece) modern valiant efforts here.

And read why traditional art critics stuck on "old thinking" and who haven't hit the reboot button when it comes to Rockwell, are wrong. Read that here.

Opportunity for Artists

Deadline: November 15, 2010

Art in Hand™ is an arts publisher looking to bring their City Project Decks of cards to the city of Washington, DC. They are seeking 54 artists who are currently living and working in the Washington, DC area to participate in their next City Project Deck. Read more below:

The Washington, DC Project will be a deck of fully functional playing cards where each individual card in the deck (plus 2 jokers) is rendered in the typical style of the contributing artist. The project will create widespread exposure for participating artists while producing a unique, entertaining, functional and green product for the city of Washington, DC.

We are seeking artists of 2-dimensional art in any style or medium and from as many different neighborhoods and districts within Washington, DC area as possible.

Accepted artists will be assigned one card from the deck and asked to produce an original piece of work that clearly represents their designated card, that represents some aspect (be it overt or subtle) of Washington, DC and that is created in their own unique style.

There will be no fee for participation but accepted artists will be asked to sign a letter of commitment, a confidentiality agreement and a ‘right to reproduce’ agreement as well as submit a high res TIFF of the image in exchange for a one-time royalty payment in product. Artists are free to keep their original image.

Interested artists should submit an email before November 15th, 2010 to info@artinhandcards.com, include a short bio and a link to a website where their work can be easily viewed or 2-3 sample image files representative of their work. Please include the title: Washington, DC Project Artist in the subject line of your email.

If you are accepted to the project, we will contact you after November 22nd, 2010 and send you an information package that should answer all your questions.

For more information or to view other City Projects, please visit their website at www.artinhandcards.com.

Wanna go to an open studio(s) tomorrow?

Tiny masterpieces in Alexandria

We all stopped by the Torpedo Factory last weekend, mostly wanting to check out the Ofrenda: Art for the Dead exhibition. This was an exhibition of local artists' shrines, altars, paintings, photography, music, dancing, magic and spoken word based on the Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) Mexican tradition.

In the process we also discovered some tiny masterpieces in the current exhibitions at the Art League Gallery and the always interesting Target Gallery.

At Target, and through Nov. 21st is "5 x 5 Exposed," which is an exhibition of small photographic works (in a tiny 5 x 5 inches format) by 46 artists from around the country, Iceland and Australia. The show was juried by the amazing Kathleen Ewing, considered by most of us to be one of the most influential persons on the planet when it comes to photography. She writes that:

"At a time when in some circles of the photography art world bigger is better, it is fascinating to view the remarkable range of photographs which have been produced to fit the relatively small dimension of 5 x 5 inches. The photographers in this exhibition have accepted the challenge of a limited format within which they have succeeded in expressing their personal vision. Not only did they print small; they let their imagination create small images.

I found an unanticipated diversity of subject matter in the photographs submitted for this exhibition. It was a refreshing experience to view images where size is irrelevant and content is paramount. By the very nature of their intimate scale, the visitors to this exhibition will need to get up close and personal to fully experience the creativity of these artists and the magic of the photographic process."

I agree, and it was refreshing to see the anti-thesis of Teutonic-sized photography, most of which follows the Dali maxim of "if you can't paint well, then paint big." You can view the selected photographs here.

I particularly liked Missouri's Ann Dinwiddie Madden piece titled Fishing, one of those Seinfeldian photographs about nothing that seem to capture a lot in the image.

That is until we get drawn closer and closer into the tiny image and discover the man to the right and the reason for the title.

I also liked all of California's Therese Brown's tea toned cyanotypes on fabric and the pinhole C-print as well as Florida's Joseph Mougle's purposefully and vastly overexposed series.

Even in this tiny format and in spite of the urban subject, Mougel's entries almost show like modern icons. The exaggerated contrast delivers an unexpected elevation of the subject from the mundane to some sort of unexpected sublimation of almost saint-like status.

The major surprise to me was to find five very elegant architectural photos by the DMV's own Deb Jansen, a fiber artist who now shows remarkable facility with the camera as well.

Overall, this is quite a satisfying show and well worth the trip to Old Town Alexandria. If you are a fan of the early Sally Mann, you will also like Iceland's Agnieszka Sosnowska's very strong entries. If you liked Joyce Tenneson's most recent work with dead flowers you will love North Carolina's Joel Leeb's intelligent exploration of this subject.

Ohio's Savitri Maya Sedlacek's work falls in the fan of Chan Chao's portrait work category, as Sedlacek offers a strong and powerful selection of portraits of India's Kolkota School children.

And since I've let the Washington Post's erudite chief art critic Blake Gopnik influence my words in the above couple of paragraphs, I think that Gopnik would approve of California's Sky Bergman's series on Japanese subways. They offer an intimate view of the denizens of the subway, capture their boredom, or attempts to pass the time, but always in a manner that seems to make the act of taking their photo illicit somehow. Only the lady to the right of the dude checking for reception in his cell phone seems to have caught Sky in the act.

My absolute favorite in the show? Virginia's Hugh Jones Vie de Boheme, a gorgeous nude which is illustrated by words projected onto the body. If you know my own work, then you know why I would love that tiny, sexy image with writing on the body. The unachievable and fantasized critic objectivity flies out the window with this photo; well done Hugh!

Next: Tiny successes at the Art League Gallery.

Kostabi Documentary

His career collapsed after the art market went bust in 1990; in 1993 his publicist and close friend, Andrew Behrman, was convicted of conspiracy to defraud after selling fake paintings bearing Mr. Kostabi’s signature. That incident raises an intriguing question: What is the difference between an original and a forgery, if the original wasn’t executed by the artist whose name was signed to the canvas but by a crew of factory workers? Mr. Kostabi had already placed ads selling “original forgeries by the world’s greatest con artist.”

Read the NYT's review of the new documentary on Mark Kostabi here.

Getting ready for Miami

In the last day and a half I finished, matted and framed four large drawings for the Miami art fairs this coming December. The big ones go to Mayer Fine Art. Last year I sold about six or seven of these in Miami through MFA.

Then I gotta check on the status and maybe do some new ones of the tiny drawings that I love to do (one to three inches in size) and that seem to sell so well at the art fairs, and send a whole bunch of them to Projects Gallery.

Both these hardworking galleries will be in Miami for the art fairs. If you want some free passes to some of the fairs, drop me an email.

I noticed that the number of DMV galleries doing the Miami art fairs have decreased substantially this year, while the number of DMV non-profits are realizing what commercial galleries have known for years: you got to do the art fairs if you want to move artwork, be noticed by curators and museums and do a lot of hard work on behalf of artists.

Heard on Univision

While watching the red carpet pre-show to the Latin Grammys, the guy who is the master of ceremonies (I think his name is Eugenio Derbez... this guy) confesses to interviewer Raul from El Gordo y La Flaca that one of his jokes about the Arizona law had been censured from the show.

El Gordo insisted on hearing the joke; he stated that this was the preview to the show, and thus it would be OK.

MC dude says: "You know, that new Arizona law against illegal aliens has sent most of them packing away from the state."

El Gordo looks at him.

"So they all went back to where they came from... L.A."

El Gordo says, "hurry, the show is about to start!"

Thank you!


To all US veterans, both those who have served and those who are serving in all corners of the planet while we're home with our families. A well-deserved thank you to all the soldiers, sailors, airmen/women, Marines and Coasties.

Below is Petty Officer Third Class Lenny Campello back in 1975!


And then Lieutenant Commander Lenny Campello back in 1992!

Gopnik on FotoWeek awards

The WaPo's chief art critic, Blake Gopnik, succumbs once again to the art critic's maxim: "it's gotta be 'new' to be good":

Overall, the FotoWeek awards are a terrible disappointment. You've seen almost all their pictures many times before, in almost any publication you could name. The shot by Ansett, a commercial photographer from England, is one of the few that demands, and repays, closer looking.

Read his take on an excellent Richard Ansett photo which is part of the FotoWeek DC International Awards, now on view at the Corcoran Gallery of Art.

I understand and to a point agree with Blake when he tells us that we have "seen almost all their pictures many times before, in almost any publication you could name." I figure that by now I've been looking at artwork seriously for around 30-35 years. In that time both Blake and I have seen our share of gorgeous landscapes, multi-colored leaves in a stream, that same stream shot so that the water is frozen in one instant of time, or caught over many minutes of time; breath-taking sunsets and sunrises; close-ups ad nauseam of architectural details (perhaps ad infinitum actually) and parts of the body; the body itself in a million interpretations, etc.

But, unlike Blake, I never seem to grow tired of a really good take on the human nude, or an exceptional take on the landscape, or an intelligent view of something tried many times over (such as this brilliant photo by Marissa Long).

And while we agree on some really exceptional takes, such as Richard Ansett's photo or the even better photo by Jenny Yang, we also disagree violently on what I call "Seinfeldism" or essentially, photography about nothing, such as this yawning snap by Raul Flores. It's a snap of nothing that means nothing, records nothing and whose main contribution to modern photography is nothingness.

But then again, I sort of "read" Gopnik as more of a Seinfeldian (at least when it comes to photography), and it is fun to see when we do come together on art and when he (and/or the art he likes) leaves me yawning.

But I do like and applaud his exploration of FotoWeek DC. Go Blake!

Carlin Quotes

"The future will soon be a thing of the past."

- George Carlin

Residencies at Arlington Arts Center

AAC is pleased to announce the availability of seven studios in its Resident Artist Program,

Part of AAC's mission is to provide subsidized studio space for emerging artists in the DC metropolitan area; two-year leases may be renewed, but cannot exceed 6 years. The terms for eight Resident Artists have come to an end. We regret having to say goodbye to them, but we are excited to welcome new artists to the AAC community.

Anne Goodyear will head the review panel.

After applications are submitted-the deadline is December 3-they are reviewed by a distinguished panel of arts professionals. Ms. Goodyear is Curator of Prints and Drawings at the National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC. Notification will be by December 13.

To apply: Vist AAC's website and Studios page where you can learn more about the program and download the Description and Application forms.

Opportunities for Artists

Deadlines: December 13, 2010

Two exhibitions - Space and Fame at the Paul Robeson Galleries - Rutgers University, New Jersey.

SPACE: With the recent announcement that National Aeronautics and Space Administration (or NASA - best known as the agency that put the first man on the moon), is about to end its moon program for the foreseeable future it seems timely to curate an exhibition about the issues relating to space exploration. We are seeking proposals for work relating to the topic of ‘space’, and this may include: Perceptions of future life based in space, Space agencies, i.e. NASA, Russian space agency, the race for space, NASA by products, Objects in space - moon, sun, stars, planets, asteroid, meteor, galaxy, Ways of viewing space from earth- telescopes, satellites, The life of an astronaut, The possibility of other life forms in space, aliens, Popular culture and science fiction – Television (Star Trek, Battlestar Galactica), film (Star wars) and literature, Design for space – the spaceship, lifestyles within space craft. Exhibition will be on display September- December 2011.

FAME: Fame is defined as an impression, report or opinion about someone or something which is widely known. It may be of a positive of negative nature, and impact on the standing of that individual within a society. The United States has been described as a fame hungry culture, which has been fuelled in recent years by the plethora of communication devices, social networking internet sites which facilitate the dispersal of information in real time, and a slew of reality programming on both television and the internet. This exhibition will focus on the work of artists who address ideas about fame and infamy, celebrity culture, current idols, imitation of celebrities, any and all attempts to secure at least 15 minutes in the spotlight. Exhibition will be on display January – March 2012.

These exhibitions will be accompanied by substantial exhibition catalogues. Please do not contact them for a status report on your application; all artists will be notified in due course as to the outcome of their proposal. All proposals must be posted to:

Exhibitions Department
Paul Robeson Galleries
Rutgers University
350 Dr Martin Luther King Junior Boulevard
Newark, New Jersey, 07102

A proposal should consist of the following: An artist statement illustrating your concept and how it relates to this exhibition. A CD with images (still or moving) of related artworks and an accompanying list of details about the works (title, date, medium, dimensions, and possibly a narrative). A recent resume. Your complete contact details – name, address, email address, telephone.

Details here.

CentroNía’s 2010 Fine Art Gala & Crafts Show

CentroNía’s 2010 Fine Art Gala & Crafts Show is a celebration of twenty-four years of providing affordable educational services in a bilingual and multicultural environment to more than 2500 children, youth and families in the greater Washington, DC metropolitan area. The event will take place at the Katzen Arts Center at American University, 4400 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20016.

On Friday, December 3rd, from 7:30 to 10:30pm the Gala will feature an international fine craft sale, silent and live fine art auctions, a sumptuous international buffet and live entertainment. Early Bird rate: Purchase ticket by November 19th for $125! Check out the artists here.

Contact the Gala Office at (202) 332-4200, ext. 1089 or gala@centronia.org for details.

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.

Gopnik on Yang

Blake Gopnik checks in with a truly remarkable insight piece into the superbly talented Jenny Yang's photograph that is part of FotoWeekDC.

Read it here.

Arrested again

Remember this Cuban grandmother who was arrested, beaten up and jailed for the simple act of trying to visit her son's grave?

She was arrested again yesterday for once again attempting to visit her son's burial site.

Amnesty International had already called for urgent action in this case. It has been ignored.

Where's the outrage?

When everybody has a label

This is what happens when we try to put a label on everyone and everything...


Rice and beans; clear enough.
Mexican food; clear enough.
Chinese food; clear enough.

Latino food? Now you're losing me. Is that all Spanish speaking American countries' foods but Mexico?

Spanish food? Is that food from Spain? I didn't see any paellas, or cazon, or puntillitas, or gambas al ajillo in the aisle, so it must be another way for poor Giant to try to say Latino.

What it really is, is that poor Giant, just like me, is so confused by all the names that we keep inventing to label a certain segment of our population that they're trying to cover all bases.

Conspicuously absent is "Hispanic Foods." Is that out of vogue now?

Opportunity for Artists

Deadline: November 15, 2010

Art in Hand™ is an arts publisher looking to bring their City Project Decks of cards to the city of Washington, DC. They are seeking 54 artists who are currently living and working in the Washington, DC area to participate in their next City Project Deck. Read more below:

The Washington, DC Project will be a deck of fully functional playing cards where each individual card in the deck (plus 2 jokers) is rendered in the typical style of the contributing artist. The project will create widespread exposure for participating artists while producing a unique, entertaining, functional and green product for the city of Washington, DC.

We are seeking artists of 2-dimensional art in any style or medium and from as many different neighborhoods and districts within Washington, DC area as possible.

Accepted artists will be assigned one card from the deck and asked to produce an original piece of work that clearly represents their designated card, that represents some aspect (be it overt or subtle) of Washington, DC and that is created in their own unique style.

There will be no fee for participation but accepted artists will be asked to sign a letter of commitment, a confidentiality agreement and a ‘right to reproduce’ agreement as well as submit a high res TIFF of the image in exchange for a one-time royalty payment in product. Artists are free to keep their original image.

Interested artists should submit an email before November 15th, 2010 to info@artinhandcards.com, include a short bio and a link to a website where their work can be easily viewed or 2-3 sample image files representative of their work. Please include the title: Washington, DC Project Artist in the subject line of your email.

If you are accepted to the project, we will contact you after November 22nd, 2010 and send you an information package that should answer all your questions.

For more information or to view other City Projects, please visit their website at www.artinhandcards.com.

Opportunities for Artists

Deadline: December 5, 2010

This is an international open call for artwork from the Adam Lister Gallery. They are "searching for innovative and thought provoking artwork of any medium, size and subject matter." This submission will be juried by a panel of gallery staff, curators and collectors.

The deadline for submission is Dec.5, 2010.

This juried group exhibition will run from Jan.14 to Feb.21, 2011.

For details on how to submit artwork visit this website.

A Postmodern Meditation on The Five Proofs of God

“The Five Proofs of God” is an installation proposal that addresses the quinque viae of Thomas Aquinas and the relationship of language to ways of “knowing.” In Summa Theologica, Aquinas introduced “Five Ways” the existence of God could be proved. 20th Century scholars have refuted these “Proofs” with various arguments about Aquinas’s concepts.

Mark Cameron Boyd uses both English translations of sections of Aquinas’ text of his “Five Proofs,” as well as text by his detractors, to introduce the idea of God’s existence in the perfect site-specific location of Catholic University's Salve Regina Hall.

“A Postmodern Meditation on the Five Proofs of God” is thus an exhibition of the artwork of Mark Cameron Boyd that features an installation addressing logical propositions by Thomas Aquinas to explore language and its putative conveyance of “reason” to “ways of knowing.” This exhibition runs from Nov. 11 to Dec. 17, 2010 and also features a mini-retrospective of selected artworks by Boyd from 2004 to 2010.

The opening, plus a panel discussion with Dr. Lisa Lipinski, curator, Mark Cameron Boyd, artist, and Patrick Beldio, MFA and PhD candidate, Religion and Culture on November 11, 6-8 pm.

Wanna go to an Embassy opening tomorrow?

The Embassy of Argentina will have an opening reception on Monday, November 8, 6 - 8:30 PM, for an exhibition premiering 20 photographs of Argentina's national parks by Diego Ortiz Mugica featured in the new book Parques Nacionales Argentinos (The National Parks of Argentina).

The exhibition, part of the celebration of Argentina's bicentennial, will be open to the public November 10-11, 1-5PM, and November 12, 1-3PM. Kaller Fine Arts (www.kallerfinearts.com) will have a large selection of Mugica's works available including images from The National Parks, Fly Fishing Moments, The Geography of the Body and other series.

In the book's prologue, Argentine President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner celebrates "the extraordinary value and enormous richness of our land, our nature reserves, and our diversity." The artist's goal in the national parks project, on which he spent twelve years and traversed one third of Argentina's 36 parks, was to create "perfectly clear images where you can feel the stones, the sand, the trees and perceive the wind and the cold ... to show the natural beauty" of the parks. Among his favorite sites, the Iguazu Falls, Glaciares, and Patagonia North.

The Embassy of Argentina is located at 1600 New Hampshire Avenue, NW (corner of Q Street & New Hampshire Avenue, NW). Metro access via the Red Line, Dupont Circle stop, Q Street exit.

Mid City Artists Open Studios

Today and tomorrow. Free and open to the public, these twice-yearly open studio events draw hundreds to the Mid City area in downtown DC to see where art is created. Plan your Saturday and Sunday treks by flipping through the artists’ pages online to see what you like, who is new, hours, and who is participating.

Download the map here to guide you along your journey.

Scott Brooks at Long View



I heard that the amazing Scott Brooks' opening at Long View Gallery was not only packed to the gills, but it is also selling well. Check out pictures from the opening here.

Fotoweek Anacostia starts today!

Click on the image for details.

Joyce Tenneson Talk Tomorrow

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 as part of 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.

Art Muse in DC

Daily Art Muse has been visiting DMV artists' studios and writing about it.

Read part one here and part two here.

Where the artists are

Elizabeth Ward has a really excellent piece in the Pinkline Project about that one building on 9th and G where all the cool artists live.

And the parties are great... what these eyes have seen there... read it here.

Opportunity for Artists

Deadline: November 12, 2010

Art in Alexandria - Call to 2-d Artists

This exhibit will promote the talent of local artists. The exhibit will be juried by Fierce Sonia, a local award winning artist. The show will hang for 6 months in the Fairlington Room at Rampart's Music Tavern. This is a public space used as a dining room open to all members of the public, including children, and thus artists are asked to submit work appropriate to this venue.

Artists living or working in the Virginia, Maryland, and DC area are eligible. Special considerations will be made for students at TC Williams High School.

Deadline for digital Submissions: postmarked by November 12, 2010, mail to Rampart's Music Tavern, 1700 Fern Street, Alexandria, VA 22302

Delivery of accepted work: December 5, 2010, Sunday, 11am-3pm in the Fairlington Room at Rampart's 1700 Fern Street, Alexandria, VA 22302

Theme: Alexandria, Our Town; all media black and white, limited to 2d
Reception: TBA
Exhibition Dates: December 5, 2010 -June 12, 2011

Need more info or prospectus? Email Fiercesonia@aol.com for any details.

Heard on Univision

The Univision news team of reporters and talking heads seem to be in a tailspin trying to make sense from the fact that 60% of the nation's Hispanic voters vote for Democrats, and yet the only three Hispanic winners of state wide offices and all of the new Hispanic Representatives are all Republican. It's funny listening to them trying to force a square peg into a round hole.

Campello on TV

Not me, but my actress daughter Elise... check her out on Seattle TV here.

FotoWeek DC starts tomorrow

The Corcoran Gallery of Art and College of Art + Design will serve as FotoWeek Central, the hub of activity during FotoWeek DC 2010 (November 6 – 13). Activities include the official launch party November 5, expert portfolio reviews, NightGallery projections on the museum’s historic Beaux Arts exterior, and a variety of workshops, tours, and lectures—including an evening lecture, photo presentation and book signing by Restrepo co-director and producer Tim Hetherington at 7 p.m. on November 11.

Hetherington’s new book of work, Infidel, is as much about love and male vulnerability as it is about bravery and war.

In celebration of FotoWeek DC, the Corcoran will open its doors Monday and Tuesday from 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. of the festival and will be FREE and open to the public for the duration of the festival. To see a full list of FotoWeek Central activities, visit www.corcoran.org/fotoweekdc.

Teresa Oaxaca at the Rotunda

The very young and superbly talented DMV area artist Teresa Oaxaca of Arlington, Virginia will show new paintings in the Rotunda of the Carnegie Institution in Washington, D.C. in connection with the Esperanza Education Fund’s Benefit Concert on December 6, 2010, 7:30-9:00 PM.

The evening will begin with a performance in the Ballroom by the internationally renowned Classical/Flamenco Guitarist Grigory Goryachev. After the concert there will be a champagne reception in the Rotunda where Oaxaca’s new 6-foot high paintings will be featured. This is Esperanza's second Winter Benefit.

Oaxaca’s work will also be on display at the Arlington Central Library, 1015 N. Quincy St. Arlington, from Dec. 7-31.

This young 22-year old painter Teresa Oaxaca is a classically trained painter who grew up in Arlington. She studied for five years in Florence, Italy, and currently works in the Washington D.C. area as a full-time artist. Her portfolio largely consists of figural painting and still life although she is also known as a portrait artist and has been taking on numerous commissions from clients in the Washington D.C. area since 2006. This young art prodigy has already received high recognition, including winning international awards such as the Canadian-based (and highly contested) Elizabeth Greenshield Foundation grant twice, apprenticing with the uberstar Norwegian painter Odd Nerdrum, and exhibiting internationally.

Keep your eye on Oaxaca.

WPA 2011 Artist Directory

Deadline: February 1, 2011

The Washington Project for the Arts has announced a call for submissions for its 2011 Artist Directory.

Published bi-annually, this four-color, 8.5 x 5.5 inch directory is the definitive listing of established and emerging contemporary artists throughout the Washington region. It is seen by more than 2,000 galleries, curators, art consultants, and interested art patrons. Copies are distributed to selected art critics and other members of the press, and to museums both in the region and outside the area. The 2011 Artist Directory will also be available for sale on the WPA website and at select area retail locations at the price of $9.95.

Each participating artist will be featured on a full page (8.5 x 5.5 inches). The page will include the artist's name, a color digital image of their work, their studio address and phone number, email address, web address, and their gallery affiliation.

All current WPA members are eligible for publication in the Artist Directory. There is an additional registration fee that includes a copy of the Artist Directory. Participants who submit before December 1, 2010 can pay a discounted early registration fee of $65. After December 1, the registration fee increases to $75. The final registration deadline is February 1, 2011. No submissions will be accepted after this date.

All submissions will be handled through an online registration form on the WPA's website.

Each participating artist can upload one image to be featured on their page. Images must be submitted as .eps or .tif files in CMYK format. They must be 300dpi and as close as possible to, but no smaller than 6 inches on the longest side.

If you have any questions regarding the 2011 Artist Directory, please contact Blair Murphy, Membership Directory at bmurphy@wpadc.org or 202-234-7103 x 1.

Anderson on Dawson's Real Art DC

The CP's John Anderson has some really good observations and issues with The Washington Post's Real Art D.C. contest.

By the way, a belated congrats to contest winner Steven Silburg. As I've noted before, I will invite all of Dawson's picks for the next volume of the 100 Washington Artists trilogy (so it's really 300 isn't it?).

Anderson's article gave me an idea and I am toying with the concept of going through all the entries to see if I can find my own top ten that I like and invite one of those to be in the next volume as well.

Read Anderson's article here.

Heard on Univision

A 10 year old Romanian girl (Spanish double talk - in Spain - for Gypsy) living in Andalusia has given birth.

Lest We Forget

"The people who cast the votes decide nothing. The people who count the votes decide everything."

- Josef Stalin

Freedom!

As we vote today, it is a somber thought when we recall those who live under the boot of tyrants. Yesterday I told you about the brutalization of Reina Luisa Tamayo Danger, a Cuban grandmother and dissident activist who, since the murder of her son Orlando, has become one of the leaders of the peaceful Cuban protest for freedom from the iron-fisted rule of the Castro brothers.

Following an immediate international outrage over her beating and jailing, this gutsy lady was released from jail, where we have now learned that she was shouting "Freedom!" over and over from her dungeon cell, and thus she was beaten in the mouth and her mouth stuffed with a rag soaked in gasoline.

Tamayo's three sons and their wives are still being held in jail by Castro's police. It is curious to see how none of this has made generally the US news circuit (other than Miami newsmedia of course) while making news all over the rest of the world.

Reina Luisa has been offered exile and to leave Cuba. Her answer was no! and: Freedom!

35 Years!

Washington Project for the Arts (WPA) will present Catalyst, its 35th anniversary retrospective exhibition, at the American University Museum at the Katzen Arts Center in Washington, DC, from November 9 through December 19, 2010.

Using three floors and the outdoor sculpture garden of the museum, Catalyst will be a dynamic, narrative 're-collection' of the WPA legacy, showcasing selected artists, exhibitions, programs, and events from its 35-year history. Curated by longtime WPA member, artist, writer, curator, and art professor J.W. Mahoney, Catalyst will include both recent and period artworks, documentation in both still and moving media, with a fully illustrated catalogue to accompany the exhibition.

In a statement provided by Mr. Mahoney, "Catalyst is intended to demonstrate the uniqueness, the resilience and the authentically catalytic power of a truly successful alternative arts organization that has survived for more than three decades." Divided chronologically into three major sections of the museum, the exhibition will feature works by over 150 artists in a variety of media. Through the presentation of selected works and narrative text, Catalyst will demonstrate the integral role WPA has played in the history of contemporary visual art in Washington, DC.

Catalyst is not intended to be presented as a traditional historical retrospective and it, by practical restrictions on space and time, can present only a glimpse of the depth and breadth of WPA's 35 years of creative production. It is intended to communicate the idea of WPA as a catalyst - as an organization that has meaningfully encouraged and supported the creative spirit of artists - and to demonstrate that artists continue to practice and thrive here in our region.

The exhibition catalogue features an introduction by American University Museum and Curator Jack Rasmussen, an illustrated timeline of selected moments in WPA history; essays by curator J.W. Mahoney, former WPA Executive Director Jock Reynolds, and former Bookworks Manager Robin Moore; and an illustrated exhibition checklist. It is available for $35 on the WPA website and in the American University bookstore.

WPA will also produce an interactive website for the exhibition which will invite artists and individuals associated with WPA throughout its history to contribute stories, artifacts, and information about the organization. The site www.wpadc.org/catalyst, which will include a timeline, comprehensive artist list, and exhibition and performance history of the organization, will be live November 1, 2010.

An opening reception will be held on Saturday, November 13, 2010 from 6-9pm at the American University Museum at the Katzen Arts Center, 4400 Massachusetts Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20016. A ticketed benefit opening will take place on Tuesday, November 9 from 6:30 to 9:00 pm. For more information or to purchase tickets, contact esmitherman@wpadc.org. Individual tickets are $75 for WPA member artist and $150 for individuals. Proceeds will benefit WPA's 35th anniversary exhibition season.

WPA will also host a series of related performances and public programs leading up to, and during the exhibition dates. Exhibition curator J.W. Mahoney will lead a tour of the exhibition on Saturday, November 20 at 4pm. Further details on the exhibition and related programming will be available at www.wpadc.org in the coming weeks.

My own experiences with the WPA have been terrific and go back many years. But clearly the most important one was in 2005, when I had perhaps the most difficult and most fun curatorial job ever. And at the end, it delivered the most wonderful gift of my life.

This happened when I was retained to curate the massive "Seven" exhibition for the then WPA/Corcoran. My goal in curating the show was to expose WPA artists who rarely, if ever, got any attention from previous curators and pair them up with some well-known names. In order to do that I reviewed 24,000-plus slides in the WPA/C Artfile, plus about a 1,000 digital submissions - the first time that the WPA had used digital entries for a show!

I reviewed all those slides and files not once, but twice over a six month period of trips to the Corcoran, where the WPA lived at the time.

"Seven" got its title because it filled seven different spaces at the Warehouse Theatre and Gallery complex on 7th Street, NW. At the time it was the largest WPA exhibition ever, and it was the WPA's best-selling show up to that time (nearly 70% of all the artwork from 66 artists sold, including two Sam Gilliams, three Chan Chao photos, a major Tim Tate glass piece, huge Graham Caldwell glass piece, Cornelius videos, Jamison painting, etc.) and about a dozen WPA member artists without representation got picked up for representation by galleries from that show (as I took groups of gallerists for one on one tours of the show). These dealers then picked up new artists for their galleries... such as Susan Jamison by Irvine Contemporary.

It was a huge opening with estimates of 600-800 people all spilling out onto the streets. We had a live nude drawing class during the opening show, with the model posing for several artists who created drawings on the spot. They were in what I had dubbed the "Nude Gallery," which was hung with the work of artists who focused on the nude.

We also had opera singer Hisham Breedlove, who had been body painted ahead of time by Adrianne Mills, singing around the galleries as a walking, living work of art. On the top floor gallery, Kathryn Cornelius conducted a performance several times that night. All of this was going on at the opening.

The show got major reviews by the DMV press with coverage in The Washington Post, the City Paper, Georgetowner, and all the (then) new art blogs. It was even covered by local TV as well as covered by CNN - It was the first WPA show ever covered by CNN!

The show was the buzz of the town for the whole month and it accomplished what I had intended to do: expose as many "new" artists to the DC art scene as possible while getting the WPA some buzz and selling some artwork. It did all of that and more.

And most important for me: I met the woman who eventually became my wife at the curator talk that I gave during the show! I challenge anyone to beat that success story!

This is important: Again...a ticketed benefit opening will take place on Tuesday, November 9 from 6:30 to 9:00 pm. For more information or to purchase tickets, contact esmitherman@wpadc.org. Individual tickets are $75 for WPA member artist and $150 for individuals. Proceeds will benefit WPA's 35th anniversary exhibition season.

Overheard while voting

Elderly Chinese lady in the voting booth to my right (talking to another - much younger - Chinese lady in the voting booth to my left): "I can't believe that I'm voting for all these Republicans!"

Agitated voting judge comes over and tells her that she can't discuss her voting with people around her. The elderly Chinese lady doesn't say anything and the voting judge retreats to her station.

Elderly Chinese lady, this time in Chinese, again speaks to the other Chinese lady to my left. The words "Ike Leggett" and "Republicans" are distinct amongst the Chinese chatter.

Agitated voting judge comes over again, but I'm not sure that this time she knows who was talking. She looks at me and announces: "Please! No talking while voting!"

I finish voting, and while depositing my electronic voting card in the box by the voting judge, I say "syeh-syeh" ("Thanks" in Mandarin Chinese) to her. She looks at me oddly.

Whatever you do today, please make sure that you vote. Otherwise, please refrain from bitching tomorrow.