Eureka! in Ireland

I am honored to have been invited to participate in an exhibition (opening next week) about art and science and technology... and taking place in Dublin's very cool Blue Leaf Gallery... below is an essay about it by Dr. Deirdre Mulrooney...

Eureka! Whitaker Court, Whitaker Square Sir John Rogersons Quay Dublin 2, Ireland 17 May 2012 - 16 July 2012

Selected Works Press Release Thumbnails

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Bethany Krull Surrogate (monkey baby) porcelain, wood, modified diaper, baby bedding 38 x 59cm

 

Eureka!Meditations on the light and dark sides of discovery in science and technology as explored through the eyes of three Irish, and ten American  contemporary and emerging artists.

We this people

On this small and drifting planet

Whose hands can strike with such abandon

That in a twinkling, life is sapped from the living

Yet those same hands can touch with such healing,

Irresistible tenderness,

That the haltered neck is happy to bow,

And the proud back is glad to bend.

Out of such chaos, of such contradiction

We learn that we are neither devils nor divines…

  --  From “Space Junk” by Maya Angelou

 Exploratorium Founder Frank Oppenheimer called artists and scientists “the official ‘noticers’ of society,” adding that “they notice things  that other people either have never learned to see or have learned to  ignore, and communicate those ‘noticings’ to others. Eureka! Is a term  generally referring to discovery. But, discovery and awareness is not always beneficial. It can, in fact, be lethal.  Science and Technology has its dark side.  J. Robert Oppenheimer invented the atomic bomb, and his first revelation was from the Hindu text, "I have become death, a destroyer of worlds".

Anxiety underlies much of the American artists’ work in Eureka! – from Rick Newton’s spitfires and Dali-esque sci-fi lobster pincers emerging out of a clear blue sky; to Kirsten Deirup’s mounds of non-biodegradable rubbish, to the spray-paint feel of Jean-Pierre Roy’s apocalyptic atomic mushroom cloud paintings, and the polish of Bethany Krull’s porcelain pets (which might be in conversation with Damian Hirst’s sharks and calves preserved in formaldehyde).

But the world of science and technology can also be a fun, affirmative, and playful one, as in Kyle Trowbridge’s ‘paintings that text’, Allison Schullnik’s retro stop-motion claymation music videos and Catherine Owens’ sidereal wonder.

If “Science” is “the intellectual and practical activity encompassing the systematic study of the structure and behaviour of the physical and natural world through observation and experiment” (OED) and Technology, from the ancient Greek Tekhne, which incidentally means ‘art, craft’, is defined as ‘the application of scientific knowledge for practical purposes’ (OED), then Artists are naturally to be found at that intersection, performing their own alchemy on the edges between humanity, technology, and science.  That is where the cutting edge of science has lived since time immemorial, pushing the limits, dreaming, imagining the previously unimaginable – and sometimes bringing it into being, for better or for worse.

Similarly, the artist as explorer/ searcher/ expeditionist is constantly striving towards that Damascene moment, where like Saul, the scales fall from their eyes and new visions are beheld, new connections, opening a door to transformation, and maybe even enlightenment (Pauline or not).

That’s the point where the scientist exclaims Eureka! “A cry of joy or satisfaction when one finds or discovers something: from Gk Heureka ‘I have found it’, said to have been uttered by Archimedes when he hit upon a method of determining the purity of gold (OED).

Equally, each artist has their own Epiphany “a moment of sudden and great revelation”, which, most crucially they communicate to us via their work – whatever form that may take.  In this exhibition the forms are myriad.

Across the planet, from mobile phone charging huts in African villages to technology super-stores in downtown New York, everybody knows that our love affair with pervasive technology ‘the application of scientific knowledge for practical purposes’ is at an all-time high.  Inextricable to what sociologist Raymond Williams calls the ‘structure of feeling’ of our society, we can’t leave home without it - there it is, in our pockets, subtly, and sometimes insidiously embedded into the fibre of our very existence. Like a Trojan Horse, ubiquitous technology has infiltrated into the very matrix of our human “being”, as we mediate the world through smart phones, communicating through truncated text messages, cartoon-esque emoticons, relying on this intangible, virtual world for intimacy through disembodied skype on lap-tops, desk-tops, tablets and i-pads.  This, too, can be both good and bad.

Have you ever stopped to think how (say, compared to previous generations, who had nothing mediating between themselves and their “”live experience”), we negotiate and navigate the world mostly through small rectangular screens?  In Eureka!, artist Patrick Jacobs playfully subverts and interrogates this with his quaint, circular, 18th century Claude Frames. Think how anthropologically fascinating it must be to an onlooker, how we tap, gaze into, and even pet our rectangular screens like we might  a beloved dog or a cat.  Which brings me to Bethany Krull’s exquisite, yet somehow disquieting porcelain pets.

These days, going outside the front door sans mobile phone can produce separation anxiety of a most intense nature. Without the mobile phone, though we may actually be in the outside world, we feel cut off from it. In a variation on this theme, in her “Frankenstein’s monster” type oeuvre artist Bethany Krull raises the issue of how warm, cuddly – and terrifying - technology has become.  She puts this to us in her polished, porcelain current series called “Dominance and Affection”, revealing how we have tamed wild nature, and genetically modified it to suit our inner control freak. ‘In today’s nature-deprived society, our most intimate connection tends to be with plants and animals that we have drastically altered through the process of domestication.  Instead of us succumbing to our role as part of nature, nature must bend to our will, and it is science and technology that makes this happen”.  Far beyond Stanley Kubrik’s prophetic Hal in “2001: A Space Odyssey” - have we finally lost our last shred of humility where nature is concerned?  What ever happened to mystery?

“We have turned wild animals into companions, genetically sculpting them into sweeter, cuter, less dangerous versions of themselves”, says Krull. “We shower our pets with love at the same time we cage and contain them and it is this affection contradicting complete control that I am interested in illustrating in my work. For no amount of love lavished upon these creatures will erase the fact that the success of the relationship lies in our complete domination over all aspects of their existence.”

“Zoology (the study of animals) and Ethology (a more specific study of animal behavior) play quite significant roles in my work as I am constantly exploring the ways in which the human animal interacts with other species (which is often informed by the psychological sciences as well as ethics) and how wild species come to be domesticated. I am interested in the complicated and often contradictory attitudes our society often maintains with other species as well as the human species propensity to dominate.”

Meanwhile, in her Claymation music videos, artist Allison Schulnik brings us back to the earth Patrick Kavanagh deifies in his 1942 poem “The Great Hunger”, with his opening gambit “Clay is the Word, and Clay is the flesh”. Schulnik’s “Mound”, “Hobo” and “Forest”, bring us back to the joy of primordial goo. Abandoning the blatantly hi-tech because it is disconnected from the physical aspects of what makes a sculptural artist a creator, her paradoxically luddite claymations, are populated with Apichatong Weerasethakul type creatures, UFO’s, primordial slime, hobos, clowns, and the occasional extra-terrestrial.  Her stop-motion animation, with plasticine clay, where objects are constantly adjusted by hand and photographed to create movement on film - are striking for their gloopy colour-burst painterly quality, going back to child-like basics and wonder of squeezing raw colour out of a tube of paint, and mushing it around on the palette.

This is where she introduces the elemental science of dancing: spellbinding Martha-Graham esque choreography is conjured out of this colourburst slime to mesmeric effect.  Schulnik’s sculptural claymation music videos – with the occasional UFO – bring us back to a reassuringly earthy world of yore.

In “Metathesiophobia I Irish Sculptor Margaret O’Brien’s gorgeous, part unctuous, part crystalline “Gallium” plunges us into the old-fashioned science of Mechanical Engineering, and the feel of being back in school science lab. Developing her own alchemy of slow and repetitive changes in temperature, O’Brien allows various forms of the metal Gallium, whose state and form is constantly in flux to invite metaphorical exploration of the relationship and boundaries between the physical and the psychological.

“Metathesiophobia I uses the physical properties of the metal gallium to explore the relationship and boundaries between the physical and the psychological, with particular regard to the experience of objects and conditions of space” shares O’Brien. “Gallium is one of five metals whose physical state is unstable at or near room temperature and, due to its physical properties, it does not solidify into the same physical form twice but reforms with each change in state. With the changing nature of the material, the relationship of the viewer to the ‘object’ is destabilized as familiarity with its form is continually undermined.”

Constantly in a kind of Heraclitean flux - due to the changing nature of the material, the relationship of the viewer to the ‘object’ is destabilized as familiarity with its form is continually undermined. This results in the viewer’s referencing through association being constantly challenged and redressed.

“I use science or technology to introduce the possibility of malfunction or technical failure into the work, as a formal condition of the work that informs and renegotiates shifting boundaries between the physical and psychological. The language of the works is anchored on the interstice between operational and breakdown so that the work embodies a condition of impossibility within the threat of technical failure, and endless conditions of possibility or potentiality within the realm of its functioning or semi-functioning capacity. In doing this, the experience of the physical and psychological is interweaved within the experience of the work. “  

From there to the playful science of games: have you ever wondered, if abstract painting could text, what it might say? Wave your mobile phone in front of Kyle Trowbridge’s Piet Mondriaan Style painting and find out! Like a Trojan horse, Kyle Trowbridge has embedded messages into his scannable painting, so the viewer experiences this oxymoron of literal text emanating out of abstraction. “Much of my work in the past has been based on buried subtext… It’s the idea that things are never what they appear to be that I am truly in love with.  So when you pick up your phone and scan my paintings, you can see the literal message it conveys.” This work could trace its lineage to morse code, which, in its day was high technology indeed.

“I think at its root, the idea of using codes can cloak meaning in such interesting ways. Leaving my art to perform like a wolf in sheep’s clothing or is it a sheep in wolf’s clothing!”

“I do not believe these to be a far stretch from the literal definitions of the terms science and technology” he elaborates. “These are technologically based because the very foundation of these paintings relies on the structuring of the QR code. but it does not end with the painting itself. To unlock the full potential of these paintings one must again rely on their smart phones to decipher the code/painting. Technology by way of the computer is used to convert my text and generate a coded version. It is then technology once again that is used to translate this digital language. Technology itself mirrors current social trends greatly. It is the computer and its heavy interrelation with life, society, and our environment, that further increases the drawing upon such subjects as computer science, engineering, and applied science. The Quick Response code is one more excuse to pull out our phones and justify their existence!”

“Colour theory and the science of colour plays a great part in the creation of these works as QR codes are designed to be mono chromatic. This of course is because there are inherent limitations in the smartphone camera lens that is to act as a scanner for these codes. Believe me I have spent many hours struggling with certain colours to keep these paintings scannable. There are so many variables (hue, chroma, saturation, intensity, value, clash, simultaneous contrast, etc. etc.) that only the breaking down of colour to a science can help overcome / manage them.”

Meanwhile, in another scientific realm, at the forefront of experimental film and media since the 1980’s, Leslie Thornton’s kaleidoscopic Ant Video, Bluebird, Fish, and zebra lure us into a hyper National Geographic type of environment.

Deconstructing the ubiquitous rectangular screen our 2012 world is framed in, we see Patrick Jacobs’ hallucinatory mushrooms emerge in trippy perspective through an anachronistic Claude glass – a circular optical device popular in the 18th century used to frame the picturesque.  The quaint yet disorienting combination of the pretty frame –– coupled with Jacobs’ negative focal length of the concave lenses and sculptural foreshortening all combine to create an illusion of infinite depth within a narrow space.  Ingeniously, the artist has made you a magic mushroom, and a teeny fairy ring, reveling in the beauty and pharmacology of the nature his art mimics.

“A kind of pseudoscience often characterizes my work in which the everyday conspires to transcend to the supernatural”, he says.  “We have always attempted to understand the world around us through a mixture of scientific fact and cultural assumptions, wishful thinking or even magic.  The fairy ring fungus series centers on a folk-tale which held that dark grass and mushrooms growing in a circle followed the path made by fairies dancing in a ring.  An ordinary natural phenomenon - the bane of lawn owners and gardeners - thus becomes the object of wonder.   Each work consists of a constructed, three-dimensional diorama lighted from within and viewed through a circular window of glass lenses.  Recalling the Claude glass, an optical device popular in the 18th century used to frame the picturesque, and Chevron's Ortho home and garden brochures, the lenses also invoke the invisible eye of the wary homeowner searching a landscape for imagined interlopers.  Installed within the wall, the physical diorama vanishes and we struggle to ascertain an image which can only exist within our mind.   The combination of the negative focal length of the concave lenses and sculptural foreshortening creates the illusion of infinite depth within a narrow space.  Blurring boundaries between painting, sculpture and photography the works present the viewer with a spatial and perceptual conundrum;  we are drawn into a space at once determinate and infinite, natural and contrived, prosaic and otherworldly.   In the foreground, we behold a detail of a cluster of mushrooms tenderly recreated with a degree of botanical accuracy.  Then, our gaze is drawn deeper into a space with an impossible bird's eye view of a distant, fantastical landscape.  The unwanted, or mundane become synonymous with a disorienting even hallucinatory experience”.

The Salvador Dali-esque, anxious world of Rick Newton, where spitfire planes and lobster pincers emerge out of the sky rhymes with the age-old Shakespearean sentiment ‘like fies to wanton boys are we to the gods, they kill us for their sport”.  Inspired by scientific textbook illustrations, and incorporating Cold War imagery, Newton has created a personal mythology concerning the future of the planet – with a generous dollop of post 9-11 angst.

As regards how science informs his work, Newton offers: “If the applied science of technology is perceived as an icon for the modern desire to provide for human growth, then my work is informed by this ideal trajectory.  For me, technological innovations signify change and the climate of opinion from the various epochs artificially imposed by scientific inquiry.  For the modern period, change over time can be traced via technological innovations”.

Delving into environmental science, the ecology and anatomy of our world, Kirsten Deirup’s paintings suggest how biodegradable human beings have a short “shelf life” in contrast to the synthetic rubbish we produce – residue which persists indestructibly into the future for generations to come. Deirup approaches the ecology and anatomy of the contemporary world to create scenes that remind viewers of the fragility of what is misperceived as stability and balance in our world.

Bio-ethics also features on Deirup’s somewhat anxious palette.  Her concerns about the current scientific penchant for genetic tinkering manifests in Hieronymous Bosch-style nightmares in paint – scary possible outcomes not conceptualised by evolution or nature.

Science has become the beacon for ‘Revelation’ in Jean-Pierre Roy’s painterly, post-divine, materialist world. “Classical Western Art traditions often have at their core a desire for "Revelation", he offers.  “As the material and existential unknowns formally relegated to the realm of the "divine" give up their secrets to the small, unwavering and clarifying lens of rational investigation, "Science" has become the beacon for this act of "Revelation" for a post-divine, materialist world-view.”

“The day to day evolution of the state of the scientific conversation makes it's way into my work- from Geology and Meteorology, to Thermodynamics and Particle Physics.  On a macro-level, my work seeks to evoke a place for the viewer to contemplate the act of discovery itself. The Enlightenment gave rise to schools of sculptors and painters that sought to codify the "old world-view" shattering ideas of Christiaan Huygens, Galileo and Tycho Brahe.  Artists like Casper Davide Friedrich and painters from the American Luminist Tradition sought to move the sublime mysteries of the world out of the damp confines of the cloisters and pews of the church and out into the light of the now Sun-Centric planetary system and the dappled star light of a much larger cosmos”.

“Drawing on these traditions of light as a metaphor for the rational mind, my work continues to explore the luminous boundaries between the known and the unknown, or as 19th century mathematician Georg Cantor put it "the chasm between what he had seen and what he knew must be there, but could never reach." Lenny Campello gives us a virtual wink as he brings us back to the retro technology of Tube TV and old soap operas in his installation.  Featuring 1950’s couple Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz in a classic bedroom farce moment from iconic series “I Love Lucy”, Desi walks in and catches Lucy in the arms of his fellow Cuban – Fidel Castro.   Storytelling and narrative will always be part of the fabric of what it is to be human, and Campello reminds us that technology, is often but a tool to plug in to this innate and ancient human need.

“My work has always been about the narrative and/or storytelling”, he  says. “My marriage of a traditional and well-established genre of art (such as drawing has been for centuries), with a modern form of technology is an attempt on my part to extend the narrative of the artwork via embedded videos or powerpoint presentations. The digital technology thus expands what the visual imagery offers via drawing and it adds more information, more clues, a deeper agenda.”

Finally, out of all the sidereal, technological and scientific wonder in this exhibition, and on this ‘small and lonely planet, travelling through casual space, past aloof stars, across the way of indifferent suns’ in “Space Junk”, U2 collaborator, and 3D pioneer Catherine Owens invites us to consider Maya Angelou’s heartening assertion:

When we come to it, we must confess

That we are the possible,

We are the miraculous,

We are the true wonder of this world.

So go on, put your miraculous self in the vortex of the organic conversation that emerges between these eclectic art works, and perhaps experience your own epiphany.  Claim your own Eureka! Moment.

The Art of Art of Tattoing... of Art

Remember this fan of my work who had one of my drawings tattoed onto her body?

It has happened again! Below is a drawing that I did about a decade ago, and below that is a tattoo of that drawing that a fan of that piece had added to her body as personal art

This is "Mermaid Lovers" from 2004, charcoal and conte on paper

And this is the tattoo created onto the body of someone who really loves that drawing!

Job in the Arts

Deadline: October 6, 2012

Position: Chair, Department of Fine Arts: The University of Maryland Eastern Shore, MD.

Resumes and nominations are being accepted for a twelve month, tenure track position. Salary is commensurate with education, experience and qualifications. The position is available July, 2012. 

The School of the Arts and Professions seeks candidates who can provide competent management for the bureaucratic aspects of running a department. The successful candidate will be required to teach two classes per semester; engage in extensive service to the school and university communities; foster an inviting, collegial atmosphere; and provide leadership to junior and senior faculty. Performs other related duties as assigned. Qualifications: Candidates must have a Ph.D. or M.F.A in one of the disciplines housed in the department. Candidates must have a record of scholarship, successful teaching experience, and administrative experience in curriculum planning, program and faculty development, personnel supervision, budget management, and success in obtaining external grants. Candidate should have the ability to manage the details involved in running a department and a style of leadership that encourages collegiality and a positive working environment. Note: Individuals with degrees outside of the US may be subject to verification. Verification of degree is the responsibility of the candidate. 

The University of Maryland Eastern Shore, an 1890 Land-Grant Institution in the University of System of Maryland, is located in the historical town of Princess Anne, 15 minutes from the city of Salisbury and forty minutes from the resort of Ocean City, Maryland. The campus is centrally located 2-3 hours from Baltimore, MD, Washington, D.C., Virginia Beach and Philadelphia, PA. 

The successful candidate must be able to show acceptable documentation establishing the right to accept employment in the United States of America. UMES is an EEO/AA employer, a drug-free workplace, and enforces a no-smoking policy applicable to all campus buildings. Minorities, women and persons with disabilities are encouraged to apply. 

How to Apply: Resumes will be accepted until the position is filled. Interested, qualified candidates should send letter of application, curriculum vita, unofficial transcripts (official transcripts will be required once a candidate is selected), and three current professional letters of recommendation to the Department of Human Resources, University of Maryland Eastern Shore, Princess Anne, Maryland 21853-1299. E-mail: mvames@umes.edu. Web Site: www.umes.edu

Art League Announces New Executive Director

Congrats to the Art League's new Executive Director Suzanne Bethel:

The Art League Board of Directors is delighted to announce that Suzanne Bethel has been appointed to the position of Executive Director commencing on October 1, 2012. She will succeed current and long time Executive Director, Linda Hafer.

Currently the Executive Director for Operations, Suzanne’s multi-faceted experience and career at The Art League will bring a unique wealth of knowledge to her future role as the chief executive officer. From her days as School Registrar, Curriculum Director, School Director, and Deputy Director of Operations, to her present position as the Executive Director for Operations, Suzanne has excelled in every project she has undertaken. She will continue to direct the day-to-day management of The Art League, which includes all operations and programming, and will oversee all Development and community programs. The Art League’s School, and Gallery, with their celebrated and renowned educational, membership and exhibition programming will continue to be under her very experienced hand.

Suzanne will continue to lead The Art League staff in serving the long time mission and constituencies of The League, and will be fostering new creative partnerships within Alexandria and beyond. Focusing on sustainability, Suzanne is leading the way with the establishment of a newly consolidated school facility at the Madison Annex. This complex will house 3-D and 2-D art programs in a synergistic environment that will be ready for launch by the beginning of the Fall 2012 term.

We have enormous pride in her many accomplishments and respect for Suzanne and her extraordinary capabilities and vision for The Art League’s future. Current Executive Director, Linda Hafer, has offered a ringing endorsement of Suzanne’s succession to this new position:

“Suzanne is the perfect choice to lead The Art League ‘onward and upward!’ She has a deep understanding of the culture of The Art League, and the experience, vision, and passion to recognize the strengths and the wonderful potential of our organization. She has earned the respect of all who have worked with her. I have complete confidence in Suzanne's ability to continue building on the successes of the generations of artists who have created this living community, and enthusiastically congratulate her on this well deserved recognition!”

 Want some ideas on how to kick-start some new initiatives for the Art League? Call me!

The Incantation of Frida K

Here is "The Incantation of Frida K", which is both an homage in my obsessive interest in Kahlo as well as an homage to the wonderful American writer and poet Kate Braverman. This piece is now in the private collection of a well-known DMV area art collector in Chevy Chase, Maryland.

Here's the drawing - almost finished except for the text which will be added to the halo

Here is the cut-out from Kahlo's chest - it is in the shape of a heart with fangs - this is the window from which the video will play. The text around her halo is a passage from Braverman's book of the same title as this piece.

The Incantation of Frida K. The necklace around Kahlo's neck is a cluster of clues and images of bombs, skeletons, hidden images, penises, babies and even mathematical conjectures.

Another video shot of The Incantation of Frida K

Detail of the appropriated video, which comes from a home movie by an unknown person and shows Kahlo, almost as a black widow, about to ensnare a very young and frightened young girl. See the full video here.

My neighborhood

A few days ago we received a glossy postcard announcing an estate sale this weekend in one of those gigantic Potomac mansions on Stapleford Hall Drive. It announced that everything must go and talked about artwork, and seeing that this joint is only about a 90 second drive from my much smaller house, I decided to drop in and see what sort of artwork dwells in one of these gigantic homes.

The place was indeed gargantuan and by the time we got there around 10AM, which is when the sale was scheduled to begin, it was already crawling with dozens of curious potential buyers.

The home, which belongs to a retired NBA basketball star, was palatial indeed - although the "antique reproduction" style of expensive (but still a reproduction) glossy, vulgar furniture was certainly not my style - although (second "although in this sentence) there were some very nice Middle Eastern and Persian rugs all over the mansion.

But I concentrated on the "artwork", and as I had come well prepared to be disappointed, I found exactly what I expected in this multimillion dollar mansion: dreck.

On the walls hung what appeared to be the "Chinese painting villages" made oils on canvas of the usual themes: hyper-realistic fruits bowls brimming with grapes and fruits, wine bottles with cigars by the side, basic palette landscapes, brushy flowers, etc. As expected, they were all framed in what was clearly very expensive mouldings - the three to five thousand dollar range custom framework that these peddlers of visual wall dreck seduce the buyers into acquiring for their wall decor.

"Everything is 50% off the price tags," announced the floor boss of a small army of name-tagged floor assistants. Right off the bat that was a clue about the real reality of "everything must go..." and the inherent sadness of the event.

As I walked around the house, in one large window alcove facing the swimming pool, from far away I saw what looked like a large Tamara de Lempicka hanging on the alcove wall. I held my breath as I approached it, fully expecting to discover some ersatz bad copy job.

And that's exactly what it was: a bad Chinese/Ebay copy of a Lempicka on a $2,000 frame going for a few hundred bucks. Someone had copied de Lempicka's Adam and Eve using a lot of white to stretch out the colors and then signed it with a name close but not exactly the same as the original artist's name.

Back on the main floor, as I walked by, the large oil of shiny grapes and fruits was being examined by a Saturday-morning whiskered man and a woman, and a bored teen. "What do you think?" he asks of her.

The price tag on the Chinese oil was $2,000+, which means that this piece of kitsch wall decor was being given away for around a $1,000 samolians; five gets you ten that the original price from the "gallery" that sold it to the former NBA star was around $5,000.

As with the other crap hanging on the walls, that poor (not in dollars, but in visual arts knowledge) former NBA star had been conned not only into buying mass produced (one at a time) wall decor offered as fine art, but also then some gifted gabber of a salesman had added a $2-$3,000 frame to augment the monstrous act of conning someone into acquiring what they think of as "art" and presenting it as "art" (read elaborate, roccoco, expensive and disturbingly kitschy frame mouldings).

"I like it," says she back to the perspective buyer.

"It would really snap that room for me," he adds, "That's the only thing missing."

"I think I'm going to buy it," he says. She turns to to the 15 year teen.

"What do you think?", she asks of the bored teen.

She shrugs her shoulders, "Itsawright...", she mumbles.

Even in this scenario, I've seen this scene play a thousand times. Even though in their eyes the huge hand-painted riot of fruit oil hanging on a massive frame on the wall seems to be too good of a deal to pass, since it is "art", they are looking for an excuse to walk on.

But that room really needs something to snap it together. "I think I'm going to buy it," says he again, brow furrowed and arms crossed. He turns around, looking to find one of the floor assistants, finds one and beckons her over with one of those forefinger wiggles that cartoon characters use to tell someone to come over.

I walk on by, saddened a little.

HeART of the Community Live Auction

Sunday, June 3, 5-8 p.m.
Clear Space Theatre,
20 Baltimore Avenue
Rehoboth Beach, DE 19971
Phone: 302-227-5620

Small Plates and Open Bar - Featuring the 2012 HeART of the Community Live Auction with art by 25 invited artists selected by four curators. Auctioneer: Lorne Crawford.

Dress: Black and White Casual
Tickets: $75. Tickets are limited. Advance Ticket Price $65, available through April 30 only on the CAMP Rehoboth website. After April 30 all tickets will be $75 and may be purchased online or by calling 302-227-5620.
Purchase Tickets

HeART of the Community Art Auction

Curators and Artists:

Murray Archibald
Rodney Cook
Ward Ellinger
Gary Fisher
Laura Hickman
Victor Letonoff
Andres Tremols   

Sondra N. Arkin
Joan Belmar
Scott G. Brooks
Anna U. Davis
Pat Goslee
Barbara Gruber
Renee Stout
Novie Trump

Jay Pastore
Rick Bach
Susan Finsen
Lee Wayne Mills
Brian Petro
Duane Rieder
Ellen Sinel

Andres Tremols
Lenny Campello
Max Hirshfeld
Laurel Lukaszewski
Christopher Speron
Betsy Stewart
Ellyn Weiss

Sneak Peek Art Preview
Wine and Cheese Reception
CAMP Rehoboth Community Center
Sunday, May 27, 4-7 p.m. (free)

Thanks to the efforts of our curators and their invited artists, CAMP Rehoboth is pleased to present an exceptional collection of art selected especially for the 2012 Black and White Beach Ball. All art will be previewed at the CAMP Rehoboth Community Center on Memorial Day weekend. Proxy bidding will be available for buyers who are interested in purchasing but unable to attend the June 3 event.

Supermoon tomorrow!

Get your cameras and peepers ready: the full Moon will be up to 14% larger and 30% brighter than others during the year. The reason for this phenomenon is that the Moon becomes full on its closest approach to Earth on May 5, 2012, also known as the perigee full Moon, and Cinco de Mayo Luna in Mexico (I made that up).


Geek details here.

Thumbs down!

Subject: The Trawick Prize: Bethesda Contemporary Art Awards
Date: Thu, 3 May 2012 09:21:49 -0400

Dear Artist,

On behalf of the Bethesda Arts & Entertainment District and the 2012 Trawick Prize Jury, I would like to thank you for entering The Trawick Prize:  Bethesda Contemporary Art Awards.  Our panel of jurors was honored to have the opportunity to review the creative and exciting work from a vast selection of area artists.

We received entries from more than 350 artists and the jury spent numerous hours reviewing images before making some very complicated decisions. We truly appreciate your time and talent; however, your work was not selected.

As a reminder, the jury consisted of Dawn Gavin, artist and Associate Professor in Drawing and Foundations at the University of Maryland, College Park; B. Kelly Gordon, Associate Curator at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden; and N. Elizabeth Schlatter, Deputy Director and Curator of Exhibitions at the university of Richmond Museums.

We thank you for your interest and hope you will consider applying to next year’s competition when a different panel of judges will select the finalists and winners of The Trawick Prize.  Additionally, if you are a painter, we encourage you to apply to the Bethesda Painting Awards next year, where a distinguished panel of judges will also award $14,000 to select regional painters.

We wish you the best of luck in your future artistic endeavors.

Sincerely,

Catriona Fraser

Chair

The Trawick Prize: Bethesda Contemporary Art Awards

 And I will apply again next year... because they are right: new panel equals new set of eyes,

Open Studios Next Saturday

On May 12th, over 120 Gateway Arts District Artists will open their studios to the public. Visitors are invited to interact one-on-one with local artists, see their work, and explore their studios, during this annual event. To learn more, visit www.gatewayopenstudios.org.

Produced by the Gateway Community Development Corporation, Open Studio Tour is the premier arts event of the Gateway Arts District. This year's tour features:

• A guided tour of select studios 
• Live performances at Joe's Movement Emporium and the Mount Rainier Artists' Lofts
• A trunk show featuring artists from the Hyattsville Community Arts Alliance at ArtDC 
• Artists Reception/Opening and Studio Tour After Party at the 39th Street Gallery 

   LOVE, LOSS & LIPSTICK:  Caryl Burtner & Taliaferro Logan

• ArtWorks: Local Art Matters Show and Reception

 Saturday, May 12, 2012, 12 Noon - 5 pm - Opening Reception & Tour After Party, 5:30 - 8 pm

Taking a chance

 Los Angeles conceptual artist John Baldessari discusses how he brought slides of his early text paintings from gallery to gallery all over Manhattan and faced rejection at each one, until Michael Findlay offered him a place in a group show - which was the artist’s first ever New York showing and his second gallery show ever!

“The problem for any dealer is to be the first person to take a chance on an artist,” Mr. Baldessari said. “Most dealers wait for someone else to take a chance and then they poach from the other gallery. It’s very difficult to go out on a limb for an untested artist..."
 -  John Baldessari

Details here.

Prizewinners!

I recently had the honor and pleasure of reviewing a lot of gorgeous artwork for the Capitol Hill Art League's May juried competition. As usual, this is hard but rewarding work.

 The opening reception for this exhibition and my juror's talk is on Saturday May 12 with an opening party 5-7pm and the juror's talk at 5:30pm.

The award winners are:

First Place:  Sonia Robed, Jacqueline Saunders,   Watercolor 

Second Place: Candice No. 100, John Reef, Pigment PrintThird Place: Slumber Party, Fierce Sonia, Photo on Acrylic
Fourth Place: Koan Run, Latex on Wood, Patricia Goslee

Honorable Mention Awards:
Galadi, Russ McIntosh, Digital Photo Illustration
Birth of an Island, Tati Valle-Riestra, Watercolor
 

Sonia Robed, Watercolor by Jacqueline Saunders

Candice No. 100, Pigment Print by John Reef

Slumber Party, Photo on Acrylic by Fierce Sonia

Juror's Comments

The Business of Art Workshop

The Business of Art Workshop –  A Professional Development Series for Visual Artists

Panel Presentation: The Inside and Out of Creating a Great Art Portfolio

Saturday, May 5, 2012; 3-5pm

Free. 

Join Tosha Grantham, Philippa Hughes, Christina Marsh and John Yeh as they discuss what makes a portfolio great and not-so-great. Hear what makes them look twice or not at all, what they've seen that works, and where trends are going. Discussion to be moderated by Alonzo Davis.

Advance Registration Required

http://smartlink.pgparks.com/smartlink

SMARTlink #883815

Brentwood Arts Exchange - exchanging ideas through art.

A Facility of the Maryland-National Capital Park & Planning Commission

@ Gateway Arts Center

3901 Rhode Island Avenue

Brentwood, MD 20722

301-277-2863/ tty. 301-446-6802

arts.pgparks.com

Supermoon next Saturday

Get your cameras and peepers ready: the full Moon will be up to 14% larger and 30% brighter than others during the year. The reason for this phenomenon is that the Moon becomes full on its closest approach to Earth on May 5, 2012, also known as the perigee full Moon, and Cinco de Mayo Luna in Mexico (I just made that up).

Geek details here.

Tonight at Morrison House

WHAT:  “The story behind the 100 Artists of Washington, DC book” - Morrison House Presents: F. Lennox Campello, Author

DESCRIPTION:  Author F. Lennox Campello discusses his controversial book, 100 Artists of Washington, DC, and provides insights into the selection process, the publication of the book and the subsequent eruption of controversy in the Greater DC area art scene.

WHEN: Tuesday, May 1, 6 to 8pm

WHERE: Morrison House, 116 South Alfred Street, Alexandria, VA 22314

INFO: Morrison House: www.morrisonhouse.com / Phone: 703-838-8000

ADMISSION: Free admission (Food and drink available for purchase)

Scrapping the artists

Here's the story: There's a 1.6-acre property adjacent to the National Institutes of Health Open Space in Bethesda. The initial proposal by developer Patrinely Group of Houston, Texas included 25 percent "moderately priced dwelling units and about 2,000 square feet within the main building for an arts incubator, which would have offered studio and exhibit space for emerging artists." That all went away when the condo market collapsed in Bethesda and now StonebridgeCarras, which purchased the site about a year ago, has a new proposal:

The vacant Trillium lot could be home to 360 luxury appartments and a grocery, if plans are approved by the Montgomery County Planning Board on Thursday.

And first thing to go in the StonebridgeCarras proposal: The arts incubator.

How does the Greater Bethesda-Chevy Chase Chamber of Commerce feel about that?

 “We really support that,” said Ginanne Italiano, executive director of the Greater Bethesda-Chevy Chase Chamber of Commerce. “It’s not the whole concept that the other organization had, but I think this is going to be an even better concept.”

Yeah Ginanne, another grocery store is an even better concept than an arts incubator. After all, there are only about a dozen or more grocery stores in Bethesda and ahhh... zero affordable space for artists and nothing even remotely close to an arts incubator, and most Bethesda area art galleries have closed in the last couple of years; thank you for your moral support.

Good move StonebridgeCarras (nice artsy name!) and let DC Art News be the first to welcome to Bethesda, yet another Safeway, or yet another Giant, or considering the artsy name of the developer, perhaps another Whole Foods.

Makes my head hurt.

Read the Gazette story by Jessica Ablamsky here and read the developer's news release here.

Around Town

That busload of San Francisco art collectors visiting the DMV is out and about town today. They started with a pep talk this morning (at the home of a most gracious Chevy Chase art collector) and then headed out to the District to visit art studios, artists' homes and galleries.

They were last seen visiting Flux, Red Dirt and the WGS and all of those artists' studios in that area.

Collatz Conjecture and Art

I'm probably only one of a handful of people on the planet who has an Undergraduate degree in Art as well as a degree in Mathematics and a Master's in Artificial Intelligence.

As such, I'm always thinking about ways to explore Math in Art... Hidden in the shadows of most of my drawings (shadows cast by bodies as well as shadows in the bodies themselves) are often to be found other figures and clues, and just as often mathematical equations, progressions, theorems, conjectures, etc.

One recurring and fascinating issue to me, buried in the shadows of a drawing that I sold last week in New York is the Collatz Conjecture:

Take any natural number and let's call it n.

If n is even, then we divide it by 2 to get n / 2.

If n is odd, then we multiply it by 3 and add 1 to obtain 3n + 1.

Repeat this division/multiplication indefinitely (and this is where "indefinitely" becomes an issue, as the British say).

The Collatz Conjecture is that no matter what number you start with, you will always and no matter what the starting number is, eventually reach 1.

This conjecture property has also been called "oneness."

Can art help represent this? I don't know - that's why I bury them in the shadows of the drawings and not try to solve them per say; but often it is the drawings themselves that trigger the specific mathematical clue/issue being associated with the piece.

At Morrison House on Tuesday

WHAT:  “The story behind the 100 Artists of Washington, DC book” - Morrison House Presents: F. Lennox Campello, Author

DESCRIPTION:  Author F. Lennox Campello discusses his controversial book, 100 Artists of Washington, DC, and provides insights into the selection process, the publication of the book and the subsequent eruption of controversy in the Greater DC area art scene.

WHEN: Tuesday, May 1, 6 to 8pm

WHERE: Morrison House, 116 South Alfred Street, Alexandria, VA 22314

INFO: Morrison House: www.morrisonhouse.com / Phone: 703-838-8000

ADMISSION: Free admission (Food and drink available for purchase)

Roberto Rodriguez and the Cuban Jewish All Stars

The Jewish Music Festival is featuring a very special act this year:  

Roberto Rodriguez is a true innovator whose artistic vision synthesizes Cuban and Jewish music into an entirely new creation that breathes joy and melancholy. Born in Havana and raised in Miami, the percussionist and composer’s groundbreaking music explores his cross-cultural roots and influences, melding his native Cuban music with contemporary genres of world, Sephardic, pop, jazz, electronic and classical music.

 Details here.

Opportunity for Artists

Deadline: July 8, 2012

A national juried exhibition of emerging artists, ages 16-25, with disabilities. Sustaining / Creating asks emerging artists to showcase work that illuminates innovative viewpoints on sustainability and contemporary creativity. Beyond its scientific definition, sustainability references notions of responsibility and stewardship of our natural world in all facets of human interaction–from the environmental to the cultural. Sustainability indicates the capacity to endure.

Submitted artwork should illustrate these thematic ideas, which may be achieved through broad, abstracted references or detailed personal creations. Your submission might also reflect your experience of living with a disability and its role in shaping or transforming your art.

This exhibition is presented by the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts’ VSA & Accessibility Office and Volkswagen Group of America, Inc.

Details here

The Scream

The frenzy around the imminent auction on May 2 of Edvard Munch’s The Scream at Sotheby’s in New York is reaching a peak here in Europe, where predictions abound that it will break the record price paid for a work of art at auction: $106.5 millions two years ago for Pablo Picasso’s “Nude green leaves and bust.”

Read the story here.

You knew this was coming...

 Minnesotan Dan Lacey is most famous for his paintings of celebrities and politicians with pancakes on their heads (or with pancake breasts, or pancake eyeglasses, or pancake anything else). But a wad of money, not a stack of pancakes, is the centerpiece of his latest work: A portrait of Mitt Romney, mostly naked and in the process of getting nakeder. The 8-by-10-inch acrylic painting, which Lacey recently completed over the course of four hours in the passenger seat of a PT Cruiser while he and his wife ran errands, is currently up for auction on eBay

Read the whole story here.

Not the first time that taking the clothes off a politician is a fun thing for an artist to do... eight years ago Kayti Didricksen's nude portrait of President Bush became the most downloaded image in the internets and my own Obama Agonistes now sits in a private collection in Miami Beach.

About to hit the DMV

A couple of busloads of art collectors from all over the US is about to fly to DC (next week) and do some guided (not by me) studio and gallery visits.

One thing in common? A copy of "100 Artists of Washington, DC."

More later...

Celebrity Sighting

Actress Lucy Liu came by my booth at the Affordable Art Fair earlier today. She was with an assistant and they asked for a card.

Later the assistant returned (a really nice lady) and bought one of my drawings.

Saturday at AAFNYC

The constant crowds continue as the good weather stays in NYC and based on what I saw today, it looked like many galleries were moving artwork.

Jeannette Herrera continues to have a brilliant NYC debut as today she sold another four paintings! Also closed the deal and sold Judith Peck's largest piece in the show... and also sold two of my pieces, including the very cool second version of "Eve Sees Her Face for the First Time" - a digital-embedded piece.

Friday Report

Today the Affordable Art Fair was once again well-attended. I sold six of my drawings, including the first sale of the "new" series of digital-embedded components (I sold "A Woman Refusing to See Men").

After the show closed at 9PM, I walked to the parking garage on 32nd Street, drove back to 35th and started trolling for a parking spot near the loading dock. This is so that on Sunday I could have an easier time taking all the artwork down from the 11th floor to the street without having to compete for the two loading dock spots with a hundred vans and trucks. After a while I got a Doris Day parking spot right next to the dock and headed back to the hotel, exhausted but mission accomplished!

Thursday at the AAFNYC

Noon started with some sort of HGTV function, which was catered by Monterone and thus we all got to eat some pretty good food to start the day.

Excellent crowds again and by the end of the night we sold four more Jeannette Herrera's paintings and three more of my drawings.

AAFNYC Preview Night

Let's just say that I thought all the bad juju had gone...

I finished hanging, labeling and prepping the booth today, then wandered around 7th Avenue until I ended up with a very cool Ermenegildo Zegna (cough, cough) blazer.

Back to the booth at 5PM and the fair opened at 6PM and was packed right away, and I was told there were huge lines for the free booze. Meanwhile back at the farm, a few seconds after the show opened I sold one of Jeannette L. Herrera's paintings (by the time the night was over the buyers had returned and bought a couple more paintings).

Then someone puts their glass of champagne on my desk... seconds later a person bumps it with their purse and sends bubbly flying all over my computer, paperwork and two copies of my 100 Artists of Washington, DC book.

Later on I got an offer on Judith Peck's largest piece in the show ("this offer is good until Friday," said gravely the gent making the offer) .... let's see.

Suddenly a feeding frenzy starts and six of my drawings sell within five minutes; that's what I'm talking about!

The show opens to the public tomorrow.

Ready for Stacy

As you know from yesterday's post, I left all my dress clothes back home, and thus today - after finishing setting up the booth - I walked down Seventh Ave and got a heck of a good deal on an Zegna summer blazer.

Let's see if Stacy London notices...

This is how I roll

Heck of a day: Drove to NYC for the Affordable Art Fair, then I was issued my usual $115 ticket while unloading for the art fair; then realized that somehow I left three major new video drawing pieces back at home (more on that later); and then sliced my finger open while opening a box, dripping torrents of blood onto the artwork in the process (try cleaning that up while bleeding profusely at the same time).

Later on, when I got to the hotel, I also realized that I had left all my dress clothes in the living room back at home.

Did that I mention that at about the same time that I was realizing this, my wife called and my poor Alida had earlier tripped on a tree stump while running and fractured her knee cap.

Tonight I decided that I better stay all night in my hotel room, lest some poor New Yorker gets his ass kicked. It was while pondering this avoided trouble, that I discovered (well Russ McIntosh did) that two of the "missing pieces" are still hanging on the wall at Montgomery College.

Here's the odd part: in my brain, I can picture driving to MCC and picking up those pieces at the end of the show a few days ago; wrapping them up, and boxing them for the fair. Helluva brain fart, ain't it?

Is there anyone reading this blog who is driving or coming to NYC in the next day or two and can pick up those pieces and bring them over? There's a free Campello original in the deal for you.

The AAFNYC opens tomorrow night with a VIP and press preview; more later.

Kennicott nominated as a finalist for a Pulitzer Prize in criticism

Internal WaPo email:

To the Staff:

Please join us in congratulating Philip Kennicott for being a finalist for a Pulitzer Prize in criticism.

As our culture critic, Phil ranges widely in his subject matter but never strays from the lucid, cerebral approach he brings to every piece. Last year, he found ways to illuminate and explain nearly every major news event, from the revolutions on the Arab Street and in American city parks, to the nuclear disaster in Japan, and the death of Osama bin Laden. In a highly semiotic world, he described the meaning of those events, just as he did, week in and week out, in more traditional cultural realms. His ease in writing about architecture and arts is matched by a clarity of reasoning that makes his work compelling. Phil’s work is extraordinary, and we’re pleased the Pulitzer jury recognized it in making him a finalist.

Congrats to the Kennicottmeister...

E. Brady Robinson

Wanna see a really cool art project? Check it out here.

Campello original

Anderson Campello painting "Ship Wakes as Seen from Space", shaving cream on plastic tablecloth. 30 x 72 inches. Circa 2012.

Bettie Page

C'mon... I know that all of youse knew that sooner or later someone like me, who addresses the theme of icons in his artwork, would get to the first true supermodel in planetary history. Below is a trial drawing for a much larger (eventually) video drawing of the breathtaking Bettie Page.

"Notorium Bettie Paginas Ex", charcoal and conte on paper, 6x5 inches, 2012.

Opportunity for Artists

Deadline: July 1, 2012

Canvas - The Artist Showcase states that

The essence behind CANVAS is to promote the work of rising artists, and have it seen by a large number of galleries, curators, publishers, ad agencies, art directors, and artist representatives.

CANVAS is conducted in a non-profit co-operative way. This showcase is designed to promote artist's, not make money off of them.

The book itself will be a large format perfect bound paperback in full color. The page count will be dependant on how many entries we recieve and how many are accepted for inclusion by our judges. The grand prize winner of the entries will be featured on the cover.

A Call for Entries is sent out quarterly to various art communities. We encourage everyone who wants to be seen, and have their work noticed, to submit.

Details here.

Opportunity for DC area artists

Deadline: April 19, 2012

The Capitol Hill ART League presents its Third Annual Metro DC open juried exhibition: It’s a Wonderful World?

All artists, 18 years of age or older residing in the Washington, DC metropolitan area are eligible to enter.

Deadline for submissions is Thursday April 19, 2012.

The Capitol Hill ART League (CHAL) is a program of the Capitol Hill Arts Workshop. Located in the historic Capitol Hill neighborhood in Washington, DC, CHAL is composed of approximately 100 artists. Each season CHAL mounts a series of seven juried exhibitions and conducts gallery talks at the openings; CHAL hosts lectures on a variety of art related topics, offers workshops, and strives to develop a supportive artistic community. The greater Washington community is encouraged to participate in all of these events.

JUROR: I am honored to return as this year's juror.

ENTRY: Selections for the show will be made by the judge from JPEG images submitted by the artists. All work must be original and signed by the artist. Any work previously shown at a Capitol Hill ART League juried show is ineligible. All work must have been created within the last three years.

ENTRY FEES: Up to 3 entries may be submitted for a non-refundable fee of $15 for current Capitol Hill Art League members or $30 for the community at large (non members). Up to two additional entries may be submitted at $5 each. Artists submitting 3-dimensional work may provide two images of each piece.

AWARDS: Awards will be decided by the judge and will include cash awards for ‘Best in Show’, and ‘Merit’ awards. Two Honorable mentions will be awarded. All awards will be presented at the opening reception with the judge’s talk on Saturday, May 12, 2011 from 5:00-7:00 PM.

SALES: A 30% commission will be deducted from CHAL members’ exhibition sales and 35% commission on all non-member exhibition sales. All work must be for sale and the price submitted on the registration form will be the price presented at the time of the show for accepted work.

Exhibition Calendar:
April 19, 2012 - deadline for entries
April 30, 2012 - Notification sent to accepted Artists
May 4-9, 2012 - Art delivery dates
May 12, 2012 - Artists’ Reception and Awards, Presentation (5:00 - 7:00 pm)
June 1, 2012 - Exhibition closes
June 2-6, 2012 - Pick up artwork

Contact info: caphillartleague@yahoo.com Prospectus at: www.caphillartleague.org

Artomatic Artist Registration Now Open

Registration is now open for artists and performers to display work at Artomatic 2012, the DC area's biggest free arts event, being held from May 18 to June 23 in Crystal City at Vornado/Charles E. Smith's1851 South Bell Street. Artists, performers, filmmakers, and creatives of all types may now register to participate in Artomatic at www.artomatic.org.

Anyone can participate in Artomatic - there are no criteria to register, and space is allocated on a first-come, first serve basis. At its last event in 2009, Artomatic attracted more than 76,000 visitors to see work by more than 1,200 artists, and more than 600 performances. This year, Artomatic expects to attract even more artists, performers, and visitors than ever before.

Bethesda Row Arts Festival

The 15th annual Bethesda Row Arts Festival will take place Saturday, October 20 and Sunday, October 21, 2012. The 2012 application is now available, and artists are invited to apply online at ZAPPLICATION. The deadline to apply is May 20, 2012.

Questions? Call 301.637.5715.

Woman Refusing to See Men

Below are three images of my latest marriage of embedded electronics with drawing. It is titled "Woman Refusing to See Men" and the embedded digital player rotates about 50 portraits of me from age 4 to present. It's about 14 x 23 inches once matted and framed.