The life of an art dealer

Read it here.

Multiple Exposures Gallery’s Photo’16 exhibit

Multiple Exposures Gallery’s Photo’16 exhibit.  II am told that it's up on the walls and looks GREAT!

 The artist reception, award presentations and gallery talk by juror Sam Abell is Saturday, October 29, 2-4pm.

Some interesting facts about the exhibit:

• 33 selected photographers, 15 were from the greater Washington, D.C. Area
• 33 states were represented in the entries; images selected came from 15 states; the greatest distance from Washington was Kodiak, Alaska
• awards announced on Saturday are a $500 Juror’s Award presented by Sam Abell and a $250 Gallery Award presented by MEG President, Eric Johnson

Hedieh Javanshir Ilchi at Hemphill

HEMPHILL will host the exhibition, HEDIEH JAVANSHIR ILCHI: Everything became nearness and all the nearness turned to stone, opening on Friday, November 11, with a reception from 6-8pm. The exhibition will remain on view through December 23, 2016.

It’s as if I’m pushing through massive mountains
through hard veins, like solitary ore;
and I’m so deep that I can see no end
and no distance: everything became nearness
and all the nearness turned to stone.

I’m still a novice in the realm of pain,---
so this enormous darkness makes me small;
But if it’s You--- steel yourself, break in:
that your whole hand will grip me
and my whole scream will seize you.

-Rainer Maria Rilke, The Book of Hours, 1905

The esoteric connotations of Rilke’s poem encapsulate the inherent mysticism found in the work of Hedieh Javanshir Ilchi. Both Rilke’s poetry and Ilchi’s imagery have the power to incite the alchemy of the mind. He implements each word with the fullest intention, however small. Like Rilke’s words, Ilchi’s brush strokes are surgically applied, exquisite in execution and commanding in form. Her Iranian roots inform these patterns, called Tazhib, or the art of illumination, used to adorn the margins of historical books. They reference a culture long-oppressed by internal and external forces and also nurturing of deeply beautiful traditions. These patterns, born of tradition, exist amidst the lyrical chaos of poured paint, which she projects across the surface without control. This kind of “action painting” is distinctly Western, and lays the foundation for each composition. Once the paint dries, a topography forms, at once familiar and strange. It beckons Ilchi to search for herself in the peaks and valleys of paint. This binary sense of identity propels her to articulate a vision that reconciles all the things that define her. She can be everything and nothing at all; nearness and stone.

Hedieh Javanshir Ilchi was born in 1981 in Tehran, Iran and is currently living and working in the Washington DC area. Ilchi received a BFA with honors from the Corcoran College of Art + Design in 2006 and an MFA in Studio Art from the American University in 2011. She is currently an artist in residence at Arlington Arts Center, Arlington VA and has recently been awarded residencies at the Vermont Studio Center, The Jentel Foundation, and the Kimmel Harding Nelson Center for the Arts. She has exhibited in New York, Switzerland, Washington DC and Winston-Salem, NC and her work is included in several private and public collections. Everything became nearness and all the nearness turned to stone is Hedieh Javanshir Ilchi’s debut exhibition at Hemphill Fine Arts.

HEMPHILL was founded in Washington DC in 1993. The exhibition schedule features modern & contemporary art in all media by artists ranging from emerging to mid-career to modern masters.


GALLERY HOURS: Tuesday–Saturday, 10:00am–5:00pm, and by appointment.
For More Information Contact:
Caitlin Berry
HEMPHILL Fine Arts
1515 14th Street NW
Washington, DC 20005
202.234.5601
caitlin@hemphillfinearts.com
www.hemphillfinearts.com

Artsy Broke Down ArtReview’s Power 100 by Race, Gender, Profession, and Place of Birth

The 15th edition of the ArtReview Power 100 was published today, listing the contemporary art world's most influential figures—at least according to the publication’s panel of 20 international judges. Year after year, the list features the curators, collectors, dealers, artists, and even a lonely philosopher providing the mix of the money, institutional support, and ideas that drive the global art world.

Details here. 

Opportunitiy for Artists

Deadline: November 30, 2016.

Indiana University East is now accepting 2-D, 3-D, and video work for consideration for this year's national juried exhibition themed "Histories and Memories." Their juror this year is Joshua Hagler (www.joshuahagler.com). 1st Place: $1000. 2nd Place: $500. 3rd Place: $250. Two Honorable Mention Awards: $150.

Details:  http://www.iue.edu/gallery/documents/IUE-3rd-National-Juried-Exhibition_Histories-and-Memories.pdf

Art Scam Alert

Beware of this scammer trying to rip off artists:

From: Nicole Hicks
Date: October 19, 2016 at 3:56:25 AM EDT

Subject: Artwork

Hello,

My name is James Hicks from Charlotte NC. I was looking for some artwork online and i found your contact while searching. Will like to purchase some of your work for my wife as a surprise gift for our 20th anniversary.Please kindly send pics and prices of some of your art which are ready for immediate sale within price range $300- $1,200, i could be flexible with price. So i will hope to hear a lot more about any available piece in your inventory ready for immediate sale.

Thanks and best regards,

James Hicks.

The way some states are run...

Perhaps the single most time-consuming and frustrating part of doing art fairs is the registration, collection, filing and payment of sales tax.


Not all states, mind you! Both Florida and Illinois make it super easy: fill out a paper form and mail it in with your check for collected taxes.


Texas makes you register to get a certificate, then you must file online (not too easy, but waaay better than the next example)... then you either pay with a credit card or an electronic check.


New York state is a nightmare. I have never, ever been able to file online without calling their help desk... enough said.

Art Scam Alert!!!!

Beware of this mutant!

From: maxarchy7@gmail.com

Greetings!
My name is Maxwell Ore from MA. I actually observed my wife has been viewing your website on my laptop and i guess she likes your piece of work, I'm also impressed and amazed to have seen your various works too, : ) You are doing a great job. I would like to receive further information about your piece of work and what inspires you. However, I would greatly appreciate if you could possibly recommend a few completed piece within my budget $1,500- $10,000 ready for immediate sale, about 3-5 image is enough. Just  need something within that price range for a surprise to my wife. Kindly confirm the availability for immediate sales. 
Thanks and best regards,
Max.

Virginia Museum of Fine Arts Fellowship Program

The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts Fellowship Program is a vital source of funding for the visual arts and art history in Virginia. VMFA is committed to supporting professional artists as well as art and art history students who demonstrate exceptional creative ability in their chosen discipline and, as such, has awarded nearly $5.5 million in Fellowships to Virginians.

VMFA is now accepting online applications for the following fellowships:Professional | $8,000

Individual or collaborative. Professional artists who can clearly demonstrate a history of ongoing collaboration may apply together for one fellowship. Collaborating winners will receive one $8,000 fellowship to divide among themselves.

Graduate | $6,000 Individual only. Includes Art History.
Undergraduate | $4,000 Individual only. Includes College bound high school seniors.
 

Deadline: Fri, Nov 4, 2016 at 5 pm

Apply here

Melissa Ichiuji at AU

Horses in Virginia, c. 1994

Through the wonders of Al Gore's Internets, this old friend's images made their way back to me, thanks to its original owner in Virginia.




Horses in Virginia
Charcoal and Ink on Paper
c. 1994 F. Lennox Campello



Congrats to the Dylanmeister

Congrats to Bob Dylan on his Nobel Prize! Greatest lyricist ever by far, although that boy couldn't sing a lick, but what a writer!


@bobdylan #BobDylan #NobelPrize

2016 Washington Sculptor's Group Annual Members Image Show

2016 WSG ANNUAL MEMBERS IMAGE SHOW


Wednesday, December 7, 2016

7-9 pm

Location: Harvard’s Center for Hellenic Studies – House A 3100 Whitehaven St NW Washington, DC 20008 Free and open to the public.   Call for WSG Member Submissions: Submission Deadline: Monday, November 21, 2016 Email jpegs to Greg Braun: greg.r.braun@gmail.com   Each WSG member may submit up to five (5) jpeg images for the Annual Members Image Show presentation (guidelines below). You must be present at the Image Show while your images are projected. New members are encouraged to take advantage of this opportunity to show their work, and for all members to show new work and receive feedback from the audience. DC area art representatives, gallerists, curators, and reviewers will be invited to attend, so it is important exposure for member’s work. Following the presentation, everyone is invited to stay for drinks, snacks, and discussion. WSG will provide refreshments, and Image Show participants are welcome to bring food to share.   Image preparation: • Resize the dimensions of your images (jpegs) to be no larger than 1000 pixels on the longest side with a resolution of 72 dpi. If you need help with resizing your images, or are unable to resize them yourself, send them to Greg Braun at the above email address, and he will adjust them accordingly. • Please provide images in jpeg (.jpg) format only. • If you would like your website address on your title slide for the presentation, please include it in the body of your email to Greg.   First submitted, first shown. See you there!

Alper Initiative Survey

From the terrific Alper Initiative:

We opened the the Alper Initiative space this past January as a dedicated space within the AU Museum to promote an understanding and appreciation of the art and artists of the Washington Metropolitan Area. Even before celebrating our first anniversary, we've exhibited 65 artists, had 3 opening receptions, 17 salons, gallery talks, panel discussions, even a jam-session, and we're just getting started!

We're looking for new ways to be a resource for local artists through a new program and we're looking to you - artists and community members - for input in shaping this program. We want to provide the space for local artists and art enthusiasts to create social programming that would foster community creativity.

We hope we can have a few minutes of your time to respond to the survey below and send us your ideas. Thanks!

We look forward to hearing from you!

Take the Survey Here 

Opportunity for Photographers

WHAT:

A juried art and photography competition celebrating photography about either:

Food

Fashion

Travel

Health & Exercise

Photos entered compete in the following categories:

• Editorial (including magazine & cookbook photos)
• Commercial
• Personal
• Social Media (eg. Instagram, etc.)

DEADLINE :

All entries to the photo contest must be submitted by October 31, 2016. Entries cannot be accepted afterwards unless the deadline is officially extended. Finalists will be announced in December 2016.

THEME:

The theme of this year's photography awards is "Enticing."

Dictionary definition: Enticing - attractive or tempting; alluring.

THE TASTE AWARDS:

The Annual TASTE AWARDS celebrate the year's best in food, fashion and lifestyle programs on Television, in Film, Online, and on Radio.

GRAND PRIZES INCLUDE:

- Top Photographers receive a TASTE AWARD Medallion to honor their achievement

- An Exhibition at the Red Carpet Reception of the TASTE AWARDS

- 2 Tickets to attend the TASTE AWARDS in California

- Publication on the TASTE AWARDS site, and selected media partner publications

- Authorized use on websites and collateral of the custom "Images of TASTE AWARDS Winners" Logo.

CLICK HERE TO SUBMIT ENTRIES

COMPLETE INFORMATION: http://www.thetasteawards.com/images-of-taste/

After Hours: Social Rituals

Works on Paper by Christina Girardi Curated by Barbara Januszkiewicz

After Hours: Social Rituals

Opening Speakeasy Sat. Oct 22, 6-9 pm Plus Open Art Studios at 34zeo9 Art Studios and Micro Gallery

The urban watering hole is visually comforting and enticing. There exists a constant familiarity of the physical and symbolic bar, through its creation of pockets of intimacy within a fluid public space. 

Girardi explores the visual and social subjects of the bar through drawings made on-site and from photos of bars she has collected from her social encounters. Through these mixed media drawings, she makes an attempt to mimic and recollect setting, sound, color, and taste of the aesthetics surrounding these memories created through the social habits of today’s young urban and suburban populations. By mixing different media such as charcoal, pastel, gouache, and watercolor, this series not only remains fluid and colorful, like the setting’s main subject, but also honors the craft and versatility of modern bar mixology. By combining seemingly juxtaposed or even redundant ingredients (mediums) in an innovative manner, the visuals mimic the works of art created by the bartenders and mixologists to complete this liquid social ritual. 


“ After Hours: Social Rituals”, says Barbara Januszkiewicz, curator, “is seeing more than just original artwork done by Christina Girardi , it is a reflection on today’s sense of community. Sense of place is not a static concept; rather, it evolves and develops over time, reflecting the spectrum of social values within and around the community. Ms. Girardi's art is about this connection that we have with our hangouts, the bar scene. 

It is about socializing today, outside of work, school, or the apartment, a context that spans from the first pubs to the 21st-century, a location now more prolific and diverse than ever, for many social engagements. 

The Speakeasy event Oct 22 6-9 pm offers an art performance that ties in the fine art context with a non-traditional interdisciplinary expression. This Micro Speakeasy offer a live, unscripted performance bartender who will offer dialogues and spontaneity to audience participation.

Landmarks: Washington Sculpture Group

The King Street Gallery presents work from the Washington Sculptors Group in Landmarks. The exhibit opens October 24, with a reception and gallery talk October 27. Dr. Claudia Rousseau, professor of art history at Montgomery College, curated the exhibition. 

Landmarks explores the concept of a landmark in all its possible meanings: from political landmarks to totems to moments of historical change. Montgomery College invited members of the Washington Sculptors Group to submit works that expressed this concept in sculpture. Dr. Rousseau curated the exhibition, choosing works based on a variety of interpretations of landmark. 

The Washington Sculptors Group (WSG) fosters the exchange of ideas among sculptors, collectors, and the public. The organization curates exhibitions in the DC area and beyond. WSG also organizes artists' panels, presentations, workshops, and social gatherings. WSG received the Mayor's Arts Award for Excellence in Service to the Arts in 2004. 

Exhibiting artists include Jan Paul Acton, c.l. bigelow, Alan Binstock, Nizette Brennan, Jacqui Crocett, Alonzo Davis, Joel D’Orazio, Kate Doyle, Jeffery Cooper, Annie Farrar, Martin Feldman, Mary Annella Mimi Frank, Marilyn Geldzahler, Linda Hesh, Penny Jacoby, Craig Kraft, Ruth Lozner, Rosemary Luckett, Gordon Lyon, Joan Mayfield, Kass McGowan, Rob Muir, Iris Posner, Christopher Romer, Mike Shaffer, Diane Szczepaniak, L. S. Watson, Roy Ysla, and Julie Zirlin. 

Landmarks: Washington Sculpture Group runs October 24–November 22 at the King Street Gallery. A gallery talk occurs October 27 from 5–6 p.m. A reception follows from 6–8 p.m. 

The event is located at the Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation Arts Center. For more information, visit http://cms.montgomerycollege.edu/arts-tpss/exhibitions/. 

Free and open to the public.

Cuban by Ancestry...

Below is the video that is embedded in my most recent video work...



As I usually do, I've used the "cracks" on the background wall to (employing the Navy's Falcon Codes) double encrypt a background message (also using Ogham)... more on the show later...

"Cuban by Ancestry, But American by the Grace of God."
Charcoal and Conte and Embedded Video. 18x24 inches, circa 2016.

"Cuban by Ancestry, But American by the Grace of God."
Charcoal and Conte and Embedded Video. 18x24 inches, circa 2016.

"Cuban by Ancestry, But American by the Grace of God."
Charcoal and Conte and Embedded Video. 18x24 inches, circa 2016.

"Cuban by Ancestry, But American by the Grace of God."
Charcoal and Conte and Embedded Video. 18x24 inches, circa 2016.

Opportunities for Artists

Deadline: Midnight, November 27, 2016.


Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art’s (MOCA) annual juried exhibition, New Waves 2017. Cash prizes awarded. Juror: Ken Harman is a curator and gallerist based in San Francisco, CA. He is the owner of two galleries, Hashimoto Contemporary and Spoke Art, which have locations in San Francisco and New York City. Previously, Harman was the online editor for Hi-Fructose Magazine where his writings appeared in multiple print and online features. Submissions currently open. 


Website: http://www.virginiamoca.org/new-waves-2017

Life imitating Art... or ripoff?

This is the most recent Lowe's ad on TV.


This is a still from that ad:

And this is a still from DMV artist Kathryn Cornelius' 2005 video "Resolve"

Life imitating art? Or Lowe's imitating Cornelius?


Just sayin'

PHOTO '16 at Multiple Exposures

October 2016 issue of Washingtonian magazine

“Curators from the Hirshhorn or National Gallery would rather take a cab to Dulles Airport to look at emerging artists in Berlin than they would take a cab to Adams Morgan to look at emerging artists here,” says Lennox Campello, an artist and former gallery owner. “They don’t do a good job of tending their own back garden.”

The current issue of Washingtonian magazine has a terrific article on ubercollectors Mera and Donald Rubell and the powerful impact they've had upon the DMV's art scene and the even more tectonic impact they're about to deliver with their plans for The Randall School:

The Rubells partnered with Telesis, a developer in DC, to buy the old school from the Corcoran for $6.5 million. Twenty percent of the apartments will be reserved for affordable housing, including live/work space for artists. The museum, which will occupy the Randall building, is to house part of the Rubells’ art collection. 

Says Telesis president Marilyn Melkonian: “It will be a total change and regeneration of that whole part of the neighborhood.”

Read the article by Brendan L. Smith here.

Studio space available

If you are a glass artists, and have always wanted a studio space to work on your glass, but didn't have room where you live, or didn't have a huge amount to invest in a giant glass studio.....then you might like the thought of becoming one of the studio artists at the Washington Glass School.


Your table/studio space runs $300 per month, and not only do you finally have a dedicated space for you to work in, but you also join a vibrant and successful community of glass artists and opportunities.


Details here.


3700 Otis Street, Mount Rainier, MD 20712202-744-8222
WashGlass.com

Two down and three to go!

This weekend we did both the Affordable Art Fair in NYC and the Texas Contemporary Art Fair in Houston (thank you Jodi Walsh for manning the booth in TX!).

Brutal work doing an art fair, but nearly always a benefit to an artist and to an art gallery.

Next?

SOFA in Chicago, CONTEXT Art Miami in Miami, and SCOPE Art Fair in Miami Beach!

Art Scam Alert!

Stay away from this scam artist:

From: dave@daveclemsonllc.com

Am interested in some of your products, do you ship to Switzerland and accept US issued credit card as payment?, you will contact my shipper who handles all of my shipment, they pick up the items at your location and deliver directly to my store doorstep without hassle.

Let me know if i can e-mail you what am interested in ordering.

Dave

Top picks for the Affordable Art Fair NYC

The Affordable Art Fair New York opened last Wednesday in Chelsea and runs through the weekend.

This popular art fair, versions of which run in multiple American and international cities, is clearly (based on my observations over many years) one of the key venues to acquire reasonably-priced art, both by new collectors as well as seasoned collectors looking for new talent.

I will also admit that this is one of my favorite art fairs on the planet: cool, trendy, well-organized, and superbly run.

As most seasoned art critics, artists, gallerists and art symbiots know, when you walk through art fairs over a period of years, in diverse cities and settings, often trends and connecting lines appear that are clearly obvious to the most casual observer.

The trend here this year seems to be an over abundance of pop art derivatives from artists all over the planet. There are also many artists, in all sorts of media and substrates, whom are rather effectively channeling the epic artists of the Washington Color School. There is stripe art everywhere, in every shape and form and drip factor!

There are also multiple flat brushes channeling Carmen Herrera minimalist style, which remained ignored though most of her life until the Brits "discovered" her work a few years ago, and suddenly the octogenarian became darling of the New York art scene (she's currently at The Whitney).

Warhol look-alikes are also all over the place, but this Warholian footprint is visible in every single art fair on the planet, from the most exclusive to the lowliest ABMB satellite fair.

Overall though, the fair remains a cornucopia of really good talent at very good prices, and AAFNYC continues to earn its reputation as a solid, good art fair for both emerging artists and emerging galleries. And it is also a place where we also always see some of the top blue chip galleries in the world showcase their new talent.

Here are some pieces that caught my eye:

Michele Mikesell ("Enmascarado" is depicted above) shows with DECORAZON, which has galleries in both London and New York. I was immediately attracted to her work, which reminded me a little of the DMV's Matt Sesow or the early work of Alabama's Michael Banks. Mikesell's wet sanding process delivers a beautifully crafted oil painting whose images are intelligent, disturbing and hypnotizing.

London Contemporary Art, obviously based in London, is showcasing the work of Michael Lukasiewicz, a very talented painter who could teach a lesson or two to the Washington Color School channellers about how a contemporary painter can stand on the shoulders of giants from the past and deliver something related, but fresh and new. Look at the way in his "Breathless" (acrylic and gesso on canvas) uses a little of Sam Gilliam's draped paintings color to offer a radical new approach to the use of color.

"Queen", depicted above, is from a series of gorgeous photographs by Dagmar Van Weeghel, represented by Amsterdam's The Public House of Art gallery. The power, presence and scale (very large photo) make an unforgettable impact from the very beginning. At the risk of revealing my childhood heroes, Conan The Barbarian is not too far from this powerful woman, and in some universe she might be his queen.

I also liked Marek Zya's sculptures with Carmel, Indiana gallery Evan Lurie, and the mixed media pieces by Ruben Ireland with NYC's CURIOOS gallery.

The fair is at the Met Pavilion in Chelsea and runs through Sunday.

"Tipping Point" finds a home in NYC

That's Alma Selimovic's "Tipping Point" being packed up and heading to the home of an NYC collector! We're at the Affordable Art Fair in NYC, booth 1.36

Wanna show your work in Miami?

 Update: All done with the below call...

We have an opportunity to sponsor an artist for a solo exhibition at the "public spaces" of the next Context Art Fair in Miami during Art Basel week. Context is the sister fair to Art Miami and in my opinion one of the top fairs during ABMB. It's the fair that we do each year!

Artist would be responsible for all logistics, costs, etc., and keeps 100% of all sales - we're just the sponsor... Anyone interested send me an email to lennycampello at hotmail dot com for all details...

Hurry! Will pick one person in next 24 hours!

In NYC #aafnyc

Whitney Museum of Art, one street over from my NYC hotel

Arrived at NYC after a surreal drive where I never slowed down all the way from Maryland, all the way through the empty Holland Tunnel, and eerily empty Manhattan backstreets... made it all the way to the hotel on Jane Street in 3.5 hours or so!

$60 bucks a day to park the gallery van across the street from the Met Pavillion, where the Fall edition of the Affordable Art Fair starts tomorrow!

The Affordable Art Fair, specifically designed and curated for those just beginning to collect art as well as seasoned collectors looking for emerging artists, is back in New York, from September 28th to October 2nd!

Van's packed

The van is packed, and we're heading to NYC later tonight - the Affordable Art Fair NYC opens tomorrow. We're featuring Lori Katz, Dulce Pinzon, Elissa Farrow-Savos and Alma Selimovic!


Come see us in booth 1.36.

Tipping Point
2016 by Alma Selimovic
110x60x75in
Welded steel, wire, copper patina, stone

We're going to the fair!

Lori Katz
Wall of Squares
55” x 45” x 2.5"

Stoneware with slips, underglaze, glaze, and mixed media including high-temperature wire,
oil paint, cold wax, metal leaf

You will be able to see this piece and many others works by DMV master ceramic artist Lori Katz in New York at the coming Affordable Art Fair. We will have works by Katz, Dulce Pinzon, Elissa Farrow-Savos, Alma Selimovic and The Lenster.

UUUUUUyyyyy!

Check out this call for artists....

If I was a politician.... then:

One side: This is a scandalous rip off designed to charge a huge commission (66%) to artists....

Other side: This is an opportunity for artists to support an arts organization via your artwork, while at the same time "seeding" your art through new collectors.

Everything has a ying and a yang, everything has two sides, for every action there's an equal, but opposite reaction.

Moral of the story? ====> Dogma in politics sucks! (Brought to you by a fine arts example...)

Cough, cough.... 

PS - I plan to participate and support this call.

Artomatic@Baltimore

CALL FOR ARTISTS

Artomatic@Baltimore

Artomatic is pleased to announce Artomatic@Baltimore as the first 

independently organized and licensed Artomatic event.

Artomatic@Baltimore 

is happy to announce the 

Call For Artists! 

 Be a part of the first ever 

Artomatic event of its kind to be held 

in Baltimore, within the historic 

Montgomery Park building 

November 4, 2016-December 10, 2016

Online registration began Monday, September 19th!

www.artomaticbaltimore.org

New Altar piece heading to Texas

The Affordable Art Fair is in New York City next week (send me a note if you'd like some passes). And the Texas Contemporary Art Fair is in Houston also next week and at the exact same time! (send me a note if you'd like some passes). 

In New York we will debut new work by Mexico's amazing photographer Dulce Pinzon and in Texas we will showcase her epic True Superheroes series. 

Also in NYC, there will be new work by the very talented Lori Katz, Elissa Farrow-Savos and Alma Selimovic!

In Texas we will also showcase work by the superbly gifted artists Jodi Walsh and Georgia Nassikas.

The below new piece is heading to Texas... it has several hundred digital files of artwork randomly selected from the web using Google Images and script that does random search on parameters such as "famous artist", etc. The digital image changes every five seconds.

“At the Altar of Modern Art" by F. Lennox Campello
2016. Charcoal, Conte and Embedded Electronics. 36 X 18

“At the Altar of Modern Art" by F. Lennox Campello
2016. Charcoal, Conte and Embedded Electronics. 36 X 18

“At the Altar of Modern Art" by F. Lennox Campello
2016. Charcoal, Conte and Embedded Electronics. 36 X 18

“At the Altar of Modern Art" by F. Lennox Campello
2016. Charcoal, Conte and Embedded Electronics. 36 X 18

“At the Altar of Modern Art" by F. Lennox Campello
2016. Charcoal, Conte and Embedded Electronics. 36 X 18

 

Opportunity in the other Washington

 Deadline for application: Monday, October 17, 2016

The City of Auburn is seeking artists and/or artist groups working in two-dimensional media to exhibit their work at three City of Auburn gallery spaces during 2017. Galleries are within City operated buildings including City Hall, Auburn Senior Center (Cheryl Sallee Gallery) and Community and Event Center. Artists and/or artists groups of diverse mediums are encouraged to apply, including but not limited to: paint, ink, pencil, mixed media, textiles, mosaic, glass, recycled materials, photography, calligraphy, collage, fiber art, etc.

Details here.

Opportunity for Artists

The City of Mountain View’s Visual Arts Committee is inviting artists and artist teams working in a variety of media to exhibit public art in the lobby of the Center for Performing Arts for the 2017 season.

This year the Visual Arts Committee is requiring a theme of Global Cultural Art. Global Cultural Art is described as how cultures and communities have defined and derived their art, art representitive of different cultures. All artwork must be able to be hung on the Center for Performing Arts system per the requirements listed under Installation on the Floor/Site Plan.
The rotating exhibits are approximately nine weeks in length and are viewed by thousands of people visiting downtown Mountain View and attending shows at the Center for Performing Arts. The Visual Arts Committee would like to encourage exhibits by all local professional artists residing in the 11 San Francisco Bay Area counties (Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, San Benito, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Solano and Sonoma) and, the City will provide insurance, installation and will offer a small stipend to help defray costs.

Apply here - No fees!

Artomatic in Baltimore!

CALL FOR ARTISTS: Artomatic@Baltimore!

Artomatic@Baltimore is happy to announce the Call For Artists! 

 

 Be a part of the first ever Artomatic event of its kind to be held in Baltimore, within the historic Montgomery Park building. 

Online registration starts today Monday, September 19th!

www.artomaticbaltimore.org

In process

Two new drawings in process and which will be hopefully ready for the Affordable Art Fair in NYC in two weeks...

The Batman Naked and The Boy Wonder Naked - unfinished - by F. Lennox Campello, c. 2016

31st Annual Mayor's Arts Awards special honorees and finalists

Mayor Muriel Bowser and the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities (DCCAH) have announced the special honorees and finalists of the 31st Annual Mayor's Arts Awards.

My good bud, printmaker and visual artist (and DMV treasure) Lou Stovall will receive the Mayor's Arts Award for Lifetime Achievement. Stovall is the founder of Workshop, Inc., and it a master printmaker who has been commissioned to print works of such noted artists as Josef Albers, Peter Blume, Alexander Calder, Elizabeth Catlett, Sam Gilliam, Loïs Mailou Jones and others.

Theatre producer Julianne Brienza will receive the Mayor's Arts Award for Visionary Leadership. Brienza is a founder and current president and chief executive officer of Capital Fringe, which connects multi-disciplinary artistic experiences to over 40,000 audiences annually and has grown to become the second largest unjuried Fringe Festival in the United States.

Poet and literary activist E. Ethelbert Miller will receive the Mayor's Arts Award for Distinguished Honor. Miller is the author of several collections of poetry, and his anthology "In Search of Color Everywhere" was awarded the PEN Oakland Josephine Miles Award in 1994. He has been the editor of Poet Lore, the oldest poetry magazine in the United States, and was founder and director of the Ascension Poetry Reading Series, which presented African American poets and poets of color to the general public.

"Our three special honorees represent some of the brightest, most accomplished talents in the District of Columbia," said Arthur Espinoza, Jr., Executive Director of the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities. "The impact of their work is felt locally, nationally and internationally. They, along with all this year's award finalists, represent the incredible richness and depth of our city's creative communities."
In addition to the special honorees, awards will be presented to DC-based individual artists and organizations in the following categories: Outstanding New Artist, Excellence in the Humanities, Outstanding Student, Excellence in the Arts. Excellence in Arts Teaching and Excellence in the Creative Industries.

The 2016 Mayor's Arts Award finalists are: Story District, Michael Janis, DC Jazz Festival, Washington Improv Theatre, Environmental Film Festival in the Nation's Capital, Washington Performing Arts, DC Shorts, Pan American Symphony Orchestra, Post Classical Ensemble, Cory L. Stowers, Falun Dafa Association of Washington, Carolyn Malachi, One Common Unity, Sandy Bellamy, Washington Area Lawyers for the Arts, Dance Metro DC, Stone Soup Films, Leron Boyd, DC SCORES, Project Create, Amanda Swift, LifePieces to Masterpieces, Washington Performing Arts, Dawn Johnson, Inner City-Inner Child, Young Playwrights' Theater, Split This Rock, Max Tyler Gibbons, Tara Campbell and Maverick Lemons.


My bet is on Michael Janis... of course!

The 31st Annual Mayor's Arts Awards will be presented on Thursday, September 22 at 7:00 PM at the Historic Lincoln Theatre, 1215 U Street NW, Washington, DC. Admission is free and open to the public. This year, the annual awards are presented as part of 202Creates, a new initiative of Mayor Bowser's that showcases the diversity of the District's creative economy. For more information, visit www.dcarts.dc.gov or call 202-724-5613.

Aubrey Beardsley at auction

A series of drawings that launched the professional career of fin de siècle artist Aubrey Beardsley (1872-98) are up for sale at Swann Auction Galleries in New York on September 29.

Chapter ornaments for a publication of Thomas Mallory’s medieval masterpiece, Le Morte d’Arthur, the drawings carry motifs that were to recur in Beardsley’s work throughout his short-lived career, as well as displaying the individual style that took him from the Arts & Crafts movement to the Aesthetic movement and Art Nouveau.

Fresh to the market after nearly 30 years, the works will appear in Swann Galleries’ Illustration Art auction. They are not just the accomplished creations of an emerging artist, but important historical documents casting light on a seminal moment in art history.

In his 1988 article Thomas Mackenzie and the Beardsley Legacy, art historian Colin White describes how, in 1893, the newly established publishing house JM Dent commissioned the 21-year-old Beardsley to illustrate the 12-part edition of Mallory’s work, instructing him to use woodcuts by the Pre-Raphaelite artist Sir Edward Coley Burne Jones as inspiration.

So successful were Beardsley’s initial drawings, says White, that they enraged William Morris, the leader of the Arts & Crafts movement, in whose Kelmscott Press volumes the Burne Jones woodcuts had appeared. Morris saw Beardsley’s work as little more than plagiarism of the Kelmscott house style.

Eventually overcome with enormity of the task ahead of him, Beardsley started to fill in areas of detail with black, emulating Japanese woodblock prints, an exercise that led him to experiment with a new style and direction in his work.

With a provenance directly back to JM Dent, this is the first time that the drawings offered in the Illustration Art sale have appeared at auction since 1988.

The first up for sale is Rose Bush, an ornamental device for Book VI, chapter VI of Le Morte d’Arthur. In pen and ink on paper, it comes estimated at $3,000 to $4000. The rose is a recurrent symbol for decadence in Beardsley’s work, and the almost abstract nature of this design shows the mastery of his hand.

The following lot is another ornamental device, this time of Three Stylized Clematis Flowers, created for Book VI chapter XVIII, and it carries the same estimate.

The slightly smaller ornamental device for Book VI chapter XII is of Four Large Lillies and is guided at $2,000 to $3,000, while the final lot, encompassing two slightly cruder ornamental devices, Dog Roses, and Three Stylized Leaves, for Book II, chapter VI and VII are being offered together at $1,200 to $1,800.

By coincidence, the sale also features a stunning watercolor illustration by Thomas Mackenzie (1887-1944), the greatly admired Bradford-born contemporary of Beardsley.

Mackenzie illustrated works such as Arthur Ransome’s Aladdin and his Wonderful Lamp in Rhyme and Arthur and his Knights, by Christine Chaundler. He landed his first commission, The Crock of Gold, an Irish folk tale by James Stephens, after the intended illustrator, Arthur Rackham, died.

Mackenzie’s richly colored, dreamlike illustrations evoke a sense of magic and other-worldliness that echo both Rackham and Beardsley. The lot on offer shows why he is ripe for rediscovery by a wider audience.

He saw Cairilin Ni Murrachu walking a little way in front comes from The Crock of Gold and is a watercolor and pencil on board. At 15¼ x 10 inches, and dated 1925, the signed image is estimated at $3,000 to $5,000.

Colin Kaepernick doesn't know this...

Wanna know about one of the world's most racist dictatorships? Click here.

Also, I believe that 400,000+ heroes buried at Arlington Cemetery is more than 400,000 reasons to stand for the national anthem.