Anatomy of an art commission

It all started at the 2016 SOFA Art fair in Chicago last November, where my work was being shown by the hard-working Audrey Wilson, when (after the fair ended) a well-known Chicago area art consultant emailed me:

Hi,
I am an Art Consultant from the Chicago area. Saw your work at SOFA and would be interested in talking about a possible commission piece, for a client
What would be the best way to reach you?

I respond to her that I am very interested and that I am forwarding her email to the gallery which was showing me there, which is the right thing to do, so that the gallery can coordinate the possible commission.

Lesson One to artists: Do not screw your art dealer, who put up the sheckels to show your work at a fair, or a gallery show, and thus deserve a commission for the possible… ahhh… commission.

How much commission does the gallery take for a private commission of an art piece? This should be clearly stated in your contract between the artist and the gallery.

Lesson One point one: Make sure that you have a written contract with your gallery.

Emails later, I am dealing directly with the art consultant. She emails me an image of a drawing that she saw in SOFA and is looking to see if I’m interested in doing two very large versions of the drawing which are to be mirror images of each other.

Like a good art consultant, she then reminds me:

Please keep in mind when considering pricing that I do need to get a percentage of the sale  I will charge my client retail value but just like a gallery I take a percentage and that is negotiated with artist per piece. Just wanted to bring that to your attention.

Lesson two to artists: The industry standard in these cases is about a 20% commission to the consultant.

I then prepare a commission proposal for her:

Description: Two 36x66 inches original charcoal and conte drawings on pH-balanced, acid free paper, medium weight paper. The drawings will be mirror images of each other and as close as possible to the image depicted below. They will be shipped, unframed and rolled in a large tube. Work includes a Certificate of Authenticity and Provenance signed by the artist. Artist will also deliver all preparatory sketches. All artwork will be signed and dated in pencil recto on front and verso.  

Total artwork cost: $ USD
Shipping (via FedEx): $75
Commissions:
* Gallery: 25%
* Consultant: 25%
* F. Lennox Campello: 50%

Approval: Work will commence once approval to proceed is given via email. Approval to proceed is understood to mean that both have parties agreed on size, composition, substrate, cost, and commissions. 

Payment: Artist is acting on good faith and requires no advance deposit. Full payment is due upon completion of the work (estimate is no later than December 25, 2016 provided that approval to proceed is given by December 5, 2016). Payment via check is preferred in order to save bank charges. Artwork will be shipped immediately after receipt of payment and clearance of payment by bank.

The proposal is briefed to her clients and accepted. I then send her a sketch of the commission as I understand it, but I have the orientation of the works wrong and it needs correction – at the end she sends me a rough sketch:

It matches my last proposal drawing, so we are set to go.

I get started on the first drawing, and as soon as it is done, I take a photo of it and email it to her so that she can see it immediately.

Lesson Three to artists: Keep communicating at all times so that there are no surprises.

I finish the second drawing, which is a friggin’ bear, since it has to be a mirror match for the first one, and because of the huge size of the paper, not easy to deal with… but then it is finished.

I send her an image of the second one, and all is good.

Then I ask for more data, and send her a note:

Question: I always sign the work both on the back and the front.... some people (as long as it is signed somewhere) prefer not to have a signature on the front of these minimalist pieces.... I'm OK with either... you may want to ask your clients if they want the front all clear (no siggie) or if it's OK if it is signed and dated on the front as well.

She asks, and they’re good with both signatures. Do you see the importance of good communications?

I am now ready to ship, but being the good Virgo that I am, I worry about her framer, so I take the time to draft and email her this:

I'm sure that you use a great framer who knows all of this ahead of time... but I'm sending this from the bottom of my heart and speaking from experience:

1. The drawings are on pH-balanced, acid free, cotton paper - please only use conservation materials in framing.

2. Drawings are signed both on front and back - if any trimming is needed, please be aware of signatures - space has been left to accommodate the desired final size. The paper needs to be trimmed for the correct width - trim from the edge opposite the leaping figure and from bottom as needed. The drawings have also been fingerprint-signed on the verso.

3. Because of the size of the paper, it needs to be relaxed before framing - this is done by unrolling paper from shipping box and laying on top of a table long enough to accommodate the length of the paper. Warning: If the paper rolls on too-short a table when opened, it can be damaged if it "bends" over the edge of the table - this may cause crescents on the paper - if this happens, they can be removed by dampening the back of the area where the crescent occurred and laying to dry on a table long enough to accommodate the paper. It is very important that the framer knows ahead of time that artwork should only be unrolled on a long table that can accommodate the length!

4. If clients require "float framing", recommend 1/4 white conservation spacers, but of course, whatever size they end up framing to, the drawing must not be allowed to touch the glass... use either spacers of 8-ply museum mat board.

Payment is ready to be processed, but speaking from experience, I advise her to call her credit card company and warn it that an online charge for the agreed amount is about to take place from the gallery. This saves time, as if a significant amount(as this is) shows up froma DMV source for a Chicago credit card, chances are that it won’t happen.

I then pack the work myself, ensuring than nothing short of a small nuke can damage the work. As soon as it is shipped, I email the tracking number to the consultant.

Next: What happens next!

Goodbye Princess

Art Yard

A note from a friend:

Bill and I are now part of ArtYard, an arts organization that we are building from scratch with some wonderful friends. Our leader and founder, the amazing Jill Kearney, wrote a post about how ArtYard was born. We invite you to click here to read the post.

Merry Christmas!

Feliz Nochebuena: Recipe for Cuban Macho Guantanamero

For this year's Nochebuena, I tried to invent a new recipe for the customary pork dish, which for Cubans is usually lechon asado.

Started with a pork loin, about 5 pounds, and after trimming all the fat from it, I marinated it overnight is the fridge in the following concoction:

• Sour orange juice (if you don't have it, they sell it at most Hispanic/Latino supermarkets, or just mix 50% lime juice with 50% orange juice).
• A couple of tablespoons of salt 
• A lot of chopped garlic
• A tablespoon of cumin
• A tablespoon of oregano
• A tablespoon of basil
• A tablespoon of black pepper
• A tablespoon of paprika
• 2 chopped up onions

After 24 hours pull it out and stab it with a small knife and stick garlic cloves in the holes all over the loint. You can also stuff the holes with pitted olives. If you have a kitchen syringe, then inject some of the marinade juice all over the pork, and then return to the fridge for another night.

On Nochebuena, preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

While the oven is heating, pull the pork out of the marinade and brown all the sides and edges in really hot olive oil with a dash of salt and pepper in the oil. Make sure that the loin is "sealed" by the browning.

Put the loin in a deep over dish and cover the loin with sliced onions and also add whatever veggies you want around it (carrots, onions, etc.), then blend the marinade in a blender until it is all mixed and thickened and pour over the loin.

Bake until it reaches and internal temperature of around 150 degrees - keep checking, as you don't want to over cook it. When it has reached an internal temperature of 150, pull it out and let it sit for 15 minutes or so.

Macho Guantanamero by Lenny Campello

Then slice at a slight angle and serve with white rice, Cuban blacks beans, yuca con mojo, plantains, and salad, and you have a Cuban Nochebuena!

I call it "Macho Guantanamero", as in Oriente province a pig and pork is called "macho", while in the rest of Cuba and most of the Spanish speaking world it is cerdo or lechon for  pig/pork.

Schroader & Camargo Open Studios

OPEN 

STUDIO

painting, drawing 

and more

Silent auction, raffle, art work for sale

DECEMBER 30th, 6 - 10 pm

9401 Linden Avenue

Bethesda, MD, 20814

RSVP (301) 801 3308

Opportunities for Photographers

Carmen Herrera and the world of blue chip artists

This year, at the age of 101, Herrera finally received recognition as a pioneer of 20th-century abstract painting. The Cuban-born, New York-based artist was celebrated in a major survey exhibition at the Whitney Museum of American Art this fall; a show of her new paintings christened Lisson Gallery’s New York space in the spring; and she featured in a full-length documentary released on Netflix in September—all of which served to land her name in the press and in the canon like never before. 

At the Whitney, “Carmen Herrera: Lines of Sight” exposed the art world to her formative years, the period of 1948–1978, including many works that had never been on public view. Over these three decades she worked prolifically and ran among prominent artist circles in New York and Paris, with the likes of Josef Albers and Barnett Newman. And she honed her signature style—canvases filled with striking geometric shapes characterized by crisp lines, sharp angles, and bold shocks of color. “We can see in the works in ‘Lines of Sight’ that Herrera was thinking about the painting as an object—using panel divisions and the sides of canvases, and incorporating the surrounding environment—in the early 1950s,” says Whitney curator Dana Miller, who helmed Herrera’s exhibition there. “This is at the same time or before other artists, who have been previously heralded for such developments, first began to undertake similar experiments,” Miller adds. 

While the artist has been active in New York since 1954, and has been exhibited across the world since the 1930s, it was not until 2004 that she sold a work. She has been counted among key forces behind Latin America’s rich history of geometric abstraction, yet not until now has Herrera been properly lauded on the international art-world stage. As Miller put it, “Herrera was, and still is, an artist and a woman ahead of her time, and we are all just beginning to catch up to her.”

Read the above and the rest of The Most Influential Living Artists of 2016 - at least according to the editorial humanoids of Artsy here.

“Blanco y Verde.” Credit Carmen Herrera, Private Collection, New York        

Meanwhile at the New York Times:

At 101, the artist Carmen Herrera is finally getting the show the art world should have given her 40 or 50 years ago: a solo exhibition at a major museum in New York, where she has been living and working since 1954. The show, “Carmen Herrera: Lines of Sight,” caps off several years of festivities, many of which have focused on the artist’s centenarian status, including a documentary film, “The 100 Years Show, Starring Carmen Herrera”; a spring exhibition of recent paintings at the Lisson Gallery in Chelsea; and numerous profiles hailing Ms. Herrera as a living treasure and praising her acerbic wit.

“Blue and Yellow” (1965). Credit Carmen Herrera, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden

Copyright? or Copywrong?

By now, the Kardashian clan is most certainly used to being the subject of copyright infringement claims, seeing as the reality TV-made stars have their hands in just about any product empire you can think of: from cosmetics to diet pills, clothing lines and cars, the Kardashian sisters are no strangers to copyright law litigation. 

Now, one of the most of-the-moment sisters is being challenged in court. Kylie Jenner’s new cosmetics line, Kylie Cosmetics, has already been the subject of several lawsuits, but the latest focuses on a supposedly intentional ripping-off of an artist’s work. According to visual artist Vlada Haggerty, a Los Angeles-based creator who also dabbles in makeup artistry, Kylie Cosmetics appropriated one of her images for its own social media campaign.

Read Nicole Martinez in Art Law Journal here. 

Opportunity for Artists

Gallery 66 NY Open Call: - DUALITY OF FEMININE AND FEMINIST



"Duality of Feminine and Feminist" Open Call for artists: seeks works that tackle these subjects in the “Trump Era”. Endless news cycles emphasize the fragmentary nature of our present society and a divided nations’ opposition to a single logic or subject. With this in mind, how do women balance the duality of feminine and feminist? Should we be concerned with the manner in which a woman is portrayed as strong and/or feminine? In recent cultural movements, the ramifications of mixed gender attributes seemed to be growing in popularity yet with the recent elections and threats to women’s rights in particular, are we going backwards. This ability to carry the strengths of both genders is empowering but are we now dealing with a backlash? Is the current political atmosphere an attempt to return to the stereotypical view of women as submissive and passive? Express your views on the “Duality of Feminine and Feminist” through your visual language. 



Exhibition Dates March 3rd-April 2nd 2017 at Gallery 66 NY.  Juror: Artist and Curator Karen Gutfreund   (see below for bio)



CALENDAR
Submission deadline- Sunday Feb. 5th 11:59PM
Accepted notices sent out- Feb. 15th & 16th 
Delivery of Work-  Hand delivery- Feb. 24th–27th,12-5pm or by appointment.  Delivery by mail Feb. 21-27  Pick up of work- no earlier than Sunday April 2nd after 6 pm to Monday April 3rd  from 9am to 7pm
Exhibition dates- March 3rd-April 2nd 2017
Opening Reception of Exhibit- March 3rd 6-9 pm 



REQUIREMENTS:
•Artists must reside within the United States. •Media is open to traditional, mixed media and non traditional materials. Excluded materials- no cd's, films or digital works requiring equipment to play. Original artworks only. No giclee's or reproductions please.  
•Sculpture is limited no larger than 24" x 24"base and no taller than 6 feet. We do have pedestals. 
•Wall mounted pieces should be no larger than 4 ft. in any direction. 

Eligibility:  Open to all Artists in the United States
 SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS & ENTRY FEES:


*Please enter 1-3 images for a $30.00 submission fee, and $5 each additional entry image. 
*Each artwork may be supported with 2 alternate side photos if your work is 3-dimenional only. 
*Please send jpegs a minimum of 500 KB and a maximum of 1mb per photo. NO images over 1 MB.
*Label each jpeg with the following: artists name, title, media, dimensions. 



HOW TO ENTER:
Follow the instructions to enter your submission and upload your images http://www.entrythingy.com/www.gallery66ny.com


The Gallery takes a standard 50% commission for all sales.



Questions about the exhibition? Email Barbara – gallery66ny@gmail.com
 

*Please note returnable shipping containers only. No styrofoam peanuts.  Artists are responsible for insurance during shipping and must include return shipping for unsold artworks that will not be picked up by hand. 

JUROR- Artist and Curator Karen Gutfreund


Karen Gutfruend is an Artist, Curator and Director She has just finished mounting her 25th major national group exhibition. Her co-owned company Gutfreund Cornett Art is a curatorial program that specializes in creating exhibitions in venues around the U.S. on themes of “art as activism”. Gutfreund has worked in the Painting & Sculpture Department for MoMA, the Andre Emmerick Gallery, The Knoll Group, the John Berggruen Gallery, Arc Gallery and the Pacific Art League. With degrees in Fine Arts and Art History, she is a consultant to galleries and for private and corporate collections. Over the past six years, Gutfreund has focused on creating exhibitions for women artists that travel around the country.  



Gallery 66 NY, is an award winning gallery in the Hudson Valley, NY, voted “Best Art Gallery” in the Hudson Valley by Hudson Valley Magazine, voted “20 Best Places” to visit by Kids Out and About.  The Gallery has been featured in the NY Times Metropolitan section, Hudson Valley Magazine, WAG Magazine, Chronogram Magazine, The Poughkeepsie Journal, HV Biz Journal, The Times Herald Record to name a few.



EXHIBITION VENUE:


Gallery 66 NY, 66 Main St., Cold Spring, NY 10516 www.gallery66ny.com
Director:  Barbara Galazzo

Goodbye Zsa Zsa

I'm a marvelous housekeeper... every time that I leave a man... I keep his house!

 - Zsa Zsa Gábor

Some 2016 works

The Lilith Plotting. 2016 by F. Lennox Campello. Charcoal and Conte on Paper. 12x36

The Lilith Plotting (Detail). 2016 by F. Lennox Campello. Charcoal and Conte on Paper. 12x36

A Woman Planning Her Revenge.
2016 by F. Lennox Campello. Charcoal and Conte on Paper.12x9 Framed to 20x16

Pictish Princess. 2016 by F. Lennox Campello. Charcoal and Conte on Paper. 12x36

We Are Wild, Wonderful Things. 2016 by F. Lennox Campello. Charcoal and Conte on Paper. 12x9 Framed to 20x16

Sonnets to The Portuguese. 2016 by F. Lennox Campello. Charcoal and Conte on Paper. 36x36

Sonnets to The Portuguese (Detail). 2016 by F. Lennox Campello. Charcoal and Conte on Paper. 36x36

The Batman Naked. 2016 by F. Lennox Campello. Charcoal and Conte on Paper. 12x9

The Last Copy of The Constitution by F. Lennox Campello. Charcoal and Conte on Paper. 12x8

America Desnuda. 2016 by F. Lennox Campello. Charcoal and Conte on Paper. Framed to 20x16

The Boy Wonder Naked. 2016 by F. Lennox Campello. Charcoal and Conte on Paper. 12x9

The Eve, Agonizing Over The Sin. 2016 by F. Lennox Campello. Charcoal and Conte on Paper.20x10

Suddenly, She Realized That Crying Wasn't the Solution (And the Light Began to Flood Her)
2016 by F. Lennox Campello. Charcoal and Conte on Paper.14x11 (Framed to 20x16)

Loads of press

Las week selected (by the Washington City Paper) as one of Washington DC's "most interesting people." You can read that article online here:http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/special-issues/article/20846183/the-people-issue-2016

I was also highlighted by Miami's Brickell Magazine during the 2015 Miami art
fairs - read that here:http://tagupload.com/digital/BM/12_15/files/86.html

I was also highlighted by EASTCITYART during their review of the 2016
Miami art fairs here:http://www.eastcityart.com/features/miami-2016-dmv-sampling/

And a few days ago the new issue of American University's Connections magazine reviewed and discussed the very cool Looking Glass show at the Katzen Museum.

You can read that article here:https://issuu.com/american-arts-sciences/docs/cas-connections-2016-fall-hi 

And you can read a different review at The Catholic Virginian and The Boston Pilot here: http://www.catholicvirginian.org/?p=1911 and my good bud John Anderson reviewed it here: http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/arts/museums-galleries/blog/20827987/the-looking-glass-artist-immigrants-of-washington-at-the-katzen-arts-center-reviewed

More press!

Check out the really nice article in AU's Connections magazine about the recent "Looking Glass: Artists Immigrant to Washington, DC" at the Katzen Museum.

First Radcliffe Bailey solo show in the DC area

Thanks to a grant from the Arts Council of Fairfax County, the Greater Reston Arts Center (GRACE) is pleased to present Radcliffe Bailey: The Great Dismal Swamp, on view from April 21 through July 8, 2017. Radcliffe Bailey (b. 1968, Bridgeton, New Jersey; lives and works in Atlanta) is a nationally-recognized painter, sculptor, and mixed-media artist who layers imagery, culturally resonant materials, and text to explore themes of ancestry, race, and memory. The Great Dismal Swamp is the artist’s first solo exhibition in the metro DC area. He has previously participated in group exhibitions at the Smithsonian Institution, the Corcoran Gallery of Art, and the David C. Driskell Center at the University of Maryland.

 

Bailey has long treated issues of race and the historical experiences of African Americans in his work, mining his personal ancestry as well as the history and legacy of slavery. At GRACE, Bailey will present a selection of newly commissioned mixed-media works exploring his family history in Virginia, as well as the history of the state’s Great Dismal Swamp. The Great Dismal Swamp, a federally-designated national wildlife refuge in Southeastern Virginia, concealed and sheltered communities of slaves fleeing captivity on the Underground Railroad. “Viewing Radcliffe’s work is like digging through strata of history, encapsulated in lush layers of paint, embodied within evocative objects, or reflected in found images of African Americans,” observed guest curator Holly Koons McCullough, formerly of GRACE and now Executive Director at the Arlington Arts Center. “This new body of work plumbs the depths of Virginia’s history, exploring the communities of freed and escaped slaves that inhabited the dense and difficult marshland of the Great Dismal Swamp. Although deeply rooted in his personal and cultural heritage, Bailey’s work ultimately addresses universal themes of identity and ancestry, hurt and healing, displacement and endurance.”

 

Bailey received a BFA in 1991 from the Atlanta College of Art. His work is included in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; the Smithsonian Museum of American Art, Washington, D.C.; the Art Institute of Chicago; the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri; the Denver Art Museum; and the High Museum of Art, Atlanta; among many others. The artist is represented by Jack Shainman Gallery, New York.

The Greater Reston Arts Center would like to express its deepest gratitude to the Arts Council of Fairfax County. The Arts Council of Fairfax County is the voice of the arts, dedicated to fostering dynamic and diverse local arts, ensuring that arts thrive by providing vision, leadership, capacity building services, advocacy, funding, education and information.

 

“We are pleased to support the stellar work that GRACE is doing. Across Fairfax County, arts and culture are helping to build stronger communities, improving the quality of life, and fostering economic growth. The Arts Council’s grant programs provide vital funds for basic operation of local arts organizations and recognize the valuable programs and services they provide to Fairfax County residents.”

—      Linda S. Sullivan, President and CEO of the Arts Council of Fairfax County

 

The Greater Reston Arts Center is dedicated to enriching community life by promoting involvement and excellence in the contemporary visual arts. Its gallery showcases exceptional emerging and established artists from the mid-Atlantic region and beyond; its GRACE Art program delivers art enrichment experiences in over 40 schools regionally, impacting over 20,000 students; and its annual Northern Virginia Fine Arts Festival is among the top such events in the country. The Greater Reston Arts Center is always free and open to the public. 

For more information please visit www.restonarts.org

East City Arts visits DMV artists at ABMB week

Read the piece by Hmazat Zani in East City Art here - he went to Miami during ABMB week and chatted with many DMV artists there...

Art Works for Virginia 2017

ART WORKS FOR VIRGINIA 2017

A New Virginia Renaissance - How Creativity Will Define Our Commonwealth
Reminder: Sign up now! Art Works for Virginia registration is now open at Early Bird rates, and the conference hotel is taking reservations at the preferred conference rate until January 6, 2017!

Registration NOW OPEN HERE: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/2017-art-works-for-virginia-conference-tickets-28676393866 

 

This year they have added pre-conference sessions you won't want to miss. With a full day of stimulating speakers and panel discussions, and some great entertainment by Virginia performers, you will want to bring lots of ideas, business cards and imagination to share with your fellow artists, educators, and civic leaders from across the Commonwealth. See below for details!

Wednesday, January 25, 2017

9:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

Greater Richmond Convention Center

Richmond, Virginia

The Virginia Commission for the Arts is hosting a one day conference for artists, board and staff members of arts organizations, community and cultural leaders, arts educators, artisans, and arts advocates from every corner of the Commonwealth. We will feature presentations and discussions on a variety of topics throughout the day and offer pre-meetings for attendees with similar professional interests.

With a focus on cultural communities, education reforms, information and technology transformations and an innovation economy, Virginia is perfectly poised to embrace another Renaissance where the arts are an essential part of the conversation about our society's commerce, education, and community infrastructure. Throughout the day we will offer many opportunities to consider how we can contribute individually and together to harness the creativity of our organizations to enrich and transform our communities statewide.

Conference Agenda
Our program will begin with a keynote address by national arts leader Jamie Bennett of ArtPlace America. Jamie will also lead a morning plenary panel with arts leaders from urban and rural areas about the transformative power of the arts. Separate presentations for arts educators and community leaders will offer opportunities to share ideas with their fellow professionals about the national and state trends that impact creative place-making and education reforms.

EMULSION 2017 Call for Artists

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APPLY HERE

DOWNLOAD A PROSPECTUS HERE

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EMULSION 2017 HIGHLIGHTS

• New, BIGGER Location—To accommodate the increase in the number of applicants for EMULSION, we have contracted the use of the 5,000 square foot PEPCO Edison Gallery. We hope to show a minimum of 40 artists.  This increases your chance to participate.

• More Prize Money—We have increased the first prize purse from $1,500 to $2,000. We have also added two additional cashes prizes of $250 in the new honorable mention category.

• Extended Viewing and Extended Programming—EMULSION 2017 opens on Fri., March 3 and runs through Thu., March 16. That’s two full weeks of viewing plus weeknight programming.

• Television Coverage—WETA (DC PBS Affiliate) will be filming the drop-off, installation and opening reception.

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PRIZES

• $2,000 First Place Prize
• $1,000 Second Place Prize
• $500 Third Place Prize
• Two (2) $250 Honorable Mentions

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Entry Fee
An entry fee of $42.5 paid to East City Art via Submittable
.
Location
Pepco Edison Gallery located at 702 8^th Street NW in the heart of Downtown Washington DC

Zenith Gallery Presents: Something for Everyone!

Something for Everyone ~ Holiday Cheer

SHOW DATES: December 15, 2016-January 28, 2017

MEET THE ARTIST RECEPTIONS: 

Thursday, December 15, 5:00-8:00 P.M. & Saturday, December 17, 1:00-4:00 PM

At Zenith Gallery, 1429 Iris Street, NW, Washington DC 20012-1409

With so many gift buying choices why not make this holiday season both memorable and personal by purchasing a one-of-a-kind gift of art. Artworks last a lifetime, and are truly the gift that “keeps on giving” when passed to future generations. Zenith Gallery is known for exhibiting an ever-changing selection of paintings, sculpture, neon, photographs, tapestries and mixed-media pieces that stimulate and engage the mind, and enhance our clients’ homes and offices. 

No matter what kind of art that special someone you are buying for prefers, Zenith Gallery has Something for Everyone!

Something for Everyone offers an array of gift idea, and we are excited to feature artists James Butler and Larry Ringgold, both new to Zenith, as well as a galore of Zenith favorites: Doba Afolabi, Mason Archie, Caroline Benchetrit, Harmon Biddle, Francesca Britton, F. Lennox Campello, Katie Dell Kaufman, Renee DuRocher, Elissa Farrow Savos, Ken & Julie Girardini, Margery E. Goldberg, Stephen Hansen, Len Harris, Philip Hazard, Hubert Jackson, Joan Konkel, Anita Kunz, Carol Levin, Christopher Malone, Paul Martin-Wolff, Donna McCullough, Hadrian Mendoza,  Ibou N’Diaye, Carol Newmyer, Keith Norval, Katharine Owens, Carol Schepps, SICA, Jennifer Wagner, Marcie Wolf-Hubbard, Paul Wolff, Joyce Zipperer & more ...

These Artists Are Tackling Big Issues through Tiny Works of Art

Yesterday I linked you to a very cool article by Artsy's Alexxa Gotthardt on the Statue of Liberty's Brooklyn twin. Today I want to discuss another of Ms. Gotthardt's pieces, this one on the subject of artists working on small scales.

Santiago is one of a number of contemporary artists working on a very, very small scale. The choice may seem at odds with an art world that, in the past 20-odd years, has seen both the size and price of contemporary art balloon to epic proportions (Jeff Koons’s towering balloon dog and Carsten Höller’s suspended sculptural slide come to mind). But these creatives find they can communicate more effectively by tapping into the age-old allure of small, sometimes downright microscopic forms, which bear a shock value all their own.

I can think of at least a dozen DMV area artists who have been working on a small scale, some for at least a couple of decades, most notably Bridget Sue Lambert, whose work show a familial relationship to the work of the Laurie Simmons mentioned in the article. Also the work of Zofie Lang's narrative assemblages.


And, of course, at every Artomatic there are always at least 20-30 new Peeps Dioramas!


Read Gotthardt's article here.

Washington City Paper's annual "People" issue

Guess who is in the Washington City Paper annual People issue?


http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/special-issues/article/20846183/the-people-issue-2016

If you know what it’s like to find yourself at the table or on the couch chatting with someone you find utterly fascinating, then you have some idea of our collective delight in producing this week’s paper. Settle in, because there’s a lot of great stuff to read here.

Our fourth annual People Issue is City Paper’s effort to introduce you to some of the city’s most interesting folks, some of whom we already know, others we wanted to get to know on your behalf. We called them up, asked them to meet us for a conversation, and simply recorded what they said. They were also kind enough to sit for photos with our staff photographer Darrow Montgomery, whose portraits offer another layer of insight into the personalities who animate the following pages.  

The interviews have been edited for space and clarity, but we tried to keep all the most enchanting pearls. We’ve got an 84-year-old who fronts a local house band, a marijuana edibles entrepreneur, a drag queen, a (hot) transportation bureaucrat, a used bookstore owner who keeps his treasures in a secondhand bank vault, and so much more. —Liz Garrigan

The Story behind the Statue of Liberty’s Lesser-Known Brooklyn Twin

The Statue of Liberty, as many of us know, was a gift from France to the United States. Erected in 1886, it was unveiled with fanfare to commemorate the 100th anniversary of U.S. emancipation from British rule in 1776. Since then, she’s become one of the most symbolically powerful statues the world has ever seen, inextricably linked with the country’s pledge of “liberty and justice for all.” The 151-foot-tall copper figure has also been a galvanizing emblem for immigrants the world over—a piece of art that symbolizes democracy and served to welcome those who arrived in the U.S. through New York’s Ellis Island, as they entered a new home they heard was filled with opportunities that had eluded them elsewhere. 

When Charles Higgins, an Irish immigrant turned prominent Brooklyn businessman, conceived of Minerva, he had Lady Liberty—and a statue’s power to bring awareness to history—in mind. At the time, in the early 1900s, Higgins lived not far from Brooklyn’s Battle Hill, the land on which the Battle of Brooklyn—the first and biggest Revolutionary War battle after the signing of the Declaration of Independence—took place in 1776.

Read this very cool piece by Alexxa Gotthardt here. 

Opportunity for artists

Deadline: January 1, 2017


Equality Matters Conversations on Gender and Race Exhibition

Exhibition Dates: February 13 – 25, 2017. The exhibition will take place during second annual WWU’s Equality Matters-Conversations on Gender and Race Symposium, which takes place in February 2017. Artists are invited to submit art that explores their understanding on how issues of gender and race influence contemporary culture. 

Steps:

1.Download the entry form at http://www.williamwoods.edu/student_life/undergraduate_student_experience/arts_culture/gallery/index.html.

2.Fill out and mail/email the form along with your image submissions to nicole.petrescu@williamwoods.edu.

3.Call in, fax or mail your entry fee no later than January 1, 2017.

Eligibility: Open to artists and art students in the United States.

Media: Open to all traditional and non-traditional genre and media (2D, 3D, digital). -Artists are responsible for the delivery and the pick-up of the artwork according to the schedule.

*St.Louis artists, contact Nicole for special delivery arrangement

Gateway Arts District Open Studios this Saturday

Come see what they're up to at the Washington Glass School this Saturday! Part of the Gateway Arts District Open Studio. 

Go there first, then see all the other artists participating in the event. 







12-5pm Saturday December 10... start at 3700 Otis Street, Mt. Rainier, MD.

The 11th Street Bridge Park project

The 11th Street Bridge Park is a nonprofit project led by Building Bridges Across the River at THEARC based in Southeast D.C. Every dollar they spend comes from generous donations from corporations, foundations and individuals like you. Did you know that in addition to securing $45 million to build the Bridge Park, their team also annually raises:

• $210,000 for the Anacostia River Festival
• $1 million+ for the implementation of our Equitable Development Plan
• $40,000 for urban farms working with local faith communities
• $200,000+ for additional cultural programming like September’s Lantern Walk

The Bridge Park is positively impacting the community and creating opportunities for residents in so many different ways. We need YOU to be a part of it.  DONATE TODAY.

Heading back to the DMV

Heading back home in a super early flight from Ft Lauderdale - another ABMB art week in the bag!

Context, the last day

Today was probably the most crowded day at the Context Art Miami fair in Wynwood, and from the reports that I got throughout the day, it was also packed at Aqua and at Scope.

Over at Scope I worked a morning telephonic sale for Tim Tate for a major piece heading to a well-known collector in Naples, Florida.

In spite of the large crowds, and the hundreds and hundreds, and hundreds of photographs that people always take (of the art) at the art fairs, it was somewhat slower, as far as sales go, although Jodi Walsh did manage to place a large clay installation with a local collector in Miami.

Wall Installation by Jodi Walsh

As we were closing at 6PM, I did manage to sell a large drawing, which happens to be my latest piece; it's always great to close the fair with a last minute fair.

As we always do, we had strategically parked the van by the loading gate - this means getting to Wynwood at 7AM to find a parking spot, and then hanging around for 4 hours until the fair opens. But the huge payoff is that then we were out of there by 7:30PM!

From there we headed to Miami Beach to load Tim Tate's work that was featured at the Scope Art Fair.

That load out was another story - the way Scope is located right on the beach necessitates a complex chess games of vans and trucks, etc., all apparently requiring police escort into the sand. It also means that no one really gets to park close to the tent, which means that the artwork has to be schlepped one piece at the time on the sand, as no wheeled vehicle to carry multiple pieces can be used (because of the sand). Also, for some inexplicable reason, the Scope management doesn't allow hand-carrying of work via the tent's loading dock. This requires even longer treks in the sand, all resulting in a brutal load in/out procedure for those who hand-carry/drive their own art.

Lesson learned? If you do Scope, then it is imperative to use an art delivery service and pay them to deal with this nightmare.

In spite of all of this, and via the use of a couple of hired hands, there were four of us loading, and it took about two and a half hours... by 10:30PM we were heading to Little Havana, hoping to hit the sack for an early morning wake-up, as Audrey hits the road for the drive back to the DMV around 4:30AM and my flight departs around 6AM.

Another year, another big dance done!

Context Saturday: Best day so far

We departed our beach hotel in Hollywood and will spend the next two nights in my cousin's fortress in Little Havana, as we have done for the last few years.

Different scent in the crowds at the Context Art Miami fair today; there are still loads of women as slim as rifles, and men in impossibly tight pants, but there are also a lot more folks at Context not to be seen, but to see the artwork.

Tim Vermeulen,me, Jodi Walsh and Georgia Nassikas

Saturday saw the sale of another Tim Vermeulen painting, two of my drawings, a major hook-up between Jodi Walsh and a NYC design firm, and Audrey Wilson got invited to participate in a curated show at Union College in upstate New York.

Context Friday: The collectors arrive

Large crowds at Context today and a different sense in the air... more purpose to the buyers.

We had multiple sales today at the Context Art Fair... both my large mixed media videos found homes, as well as several drawings, plus three oil paintings by Tim Vermeulen and a wall sculpture by Elissa Farrow Savos.

Also some visits by DMV artists doing some of the other fairs.

The curious case of Fidel Castro and La Quinceañera

Yesterday at the Context Art Miami fair, one of the cleaning ladies was nearby our booth and speaking on her cell phone using the machine gun steccato of Cuban Spanish that drives other Spanish speakers crazy.

"Cubans," once wrote the Argentinian writer Jacobo Timerman, "use Spanish as a weapon."

I could tell that she was trying to calm someone down on the other side of the conversation. When she hung up, she burst into tears.

Alarmed, I walked up to her and asked what was wrong. Prior to this event, we had exchanged pleasantries and she had told me that her family was from Matanzas. With tears on her face, she related that she had been speaking with her niece in Cuba.

It seems that her niece was in the middle of her Quinceañera party when the Cuban police showed up.

A Quinceañera party is the coming of age party that Cuban girls, and girls throughout Latin America celebrate on their 15th birthday. It remains one of the most important and strongest traditions of the Spanish-speaking world.

In Cuba, because of the extreme necessities of the Cuban people, setting up a Quinceañera party often takes years of preparation, usually in close coordination with relatives in other countries who can hand-carry and bring the required items needed to stage the most important social event in a young girl's life.

In this case, the teary cleaning lady told me that she had made half a dozen trips in the last two years binging party items, shoes, dress, candy, stockings; the list went on and on as she sobbed.

The local police showed up to the party, and informed the family that they were in violation of the official nine days of luto (mourning) for the death of Fidel Castro Ruz; parties and music-playing was strictly forbidden.

All guests' names were taken down and all were ordered to leave. When La Quinceañera's mother began to cry and complain to the police, she was pushed to the ground and punched in the mouth. When La Quinceañera's father tried to help his wife, he was also beaten and then arrested.

That's why this nice cleaning lady was trying to calm her abused family members across the miles, and then broke down once she hung up.

"Even after that desgraciado is dead, he's still abusing us," she sobbed in Spanish. I hugged her, and we cried a little together.

That's Cuba after Fidel, week one.

Context Day Two

Brutal drive to Wynwood to get to the art fairs - that needs to be fixed... how? see this.

Bit of a slow day, as all dealers seem to be commenting about how the separation of Context Art Miami from its sister megafair Art Miami has/will affect Context.

Personally I think that Context has begun to outshine its elder sister - not just me, but loads of collectors have expressed similar views; only time will tell.

With Audrey at the wheel of the huge cargo van, we arrived just in time after spending nearly an hour to go the last 2-3 blocks in Wynwood. By eleven AM we were set.

I strolled a little and spent some time speaking to Ciara Gibbons from Gibbons & Nicholas, a wonderful Irish gallery with a powerfully curated booth dealing with socially inquisitive artwork that addresses the worldwide problem of mass migrations. It would be good to see that artwork and those Irish artists in a DMV museum... very appropriate to these interesting times.

In the late afternoon we finally broke the ice and sold one of my drawings to a nice French couple from Miami Beach; it was soon followed by a sale of one of the very talented Georgia Nassikas to a Miami couple.

Later on the day there was a sports celebrity sighting in the booth, as legendary golfer Phil Mickelson and his wife dropped by the booth, took notes and pictures and admired some work... more on that later.

As the fair closed at 8PM, as we were packing we spent 45 minutes with a last minute collector who ended up buying two of my drawings and commissioning three more.

Day two done.