Wanna go to a museum opening on Thursday?

 This has the makings of one of the top photography shows of the year!

The OAS AMA | Art Museum of the Americas announces America’s Crossroads, an exhibition opening at the OAS F Street Gallery (1889 F Street, NW, Terrace Level) featuring six artists in a visual dialog. Carlos Bautista Avila (Mexico), Rene Campos Navarro (Mexico), Luis Delgado (United States-Mexico), Gisele Martins (Brazil), Cirenaica Moreira (Cuba), and Diana Ramirez Lopez (Mexico) provoke through their work mixed responses as they reflect, manipulate, rethink, and question on a local level who we are in the Americas. The people in the Americas share a common history that is manifested in local terms, becoming a conglomerate of different cultures of an ever-dynamic changing history of native Americans, settlers, and migrants.

La Industrial, lavandería Habana de la serie Metálica, 1998-1999
Cirenaica Moreira

Exhibition Opening: Thursday, February 23 4:30-6:30pm

HOURS: By appointment only, Monday-Friday 10AM-5PM

LOCATION

OAS General Secretariat Building, Terrace Level

1889 F Street NW

Washington, DC 20006

ADMISSION: Free

Conned in dealer’s $1.6m art fraud scheme

In October, Wendy Halsted Beard from Wendy Halsted Gallery in Birmingham, a suburb of Detroit, was charged with wire and mail fraud after investigators said she took consignments from victims who either never had their artwork returned, never received proceeds from any sales, or both. Beard is also accused of selling works and not delivering the art after receiving payment.

Read the article here.

Assholes of the Month

Since I'm in a rare mood this week, I want to award a special "Assholes of the Month" to the six members of the  Loudoun County School Board, which "on Tuesday voted not to release an independent report into how the school division handled the sexual assault of two students at different high schools in 2021. The assaults spurred a special grand jury investigation that resulted in criminal charges against the division superintendent and public information officer."

The six asswipes (out of 9 members) who voted against releasing the details of the investigation, clearly do not cappish that the board represents the interests of the parents and then the "other side."  May the bluebird of happiness shit on their birthday cakes for the rest of their lives.

Details here.

Asshole of Super Bowl week

New York Congressperson Alexandra Ocasio Cortez gets the nod this week as I finally understand what "AOC" means = "Antipatica O Comemierda" as she blasts religious ads in Superbowl.

Call for Artists for Dulaney Plaza Mural

For more than 60 years Dulaney Plaza has been a cornerstone of the Towson community, serving the needs of residents, visitors and students. The Plaza began as a single family-owned retail store selling automotive parts, and over the years has flourished into the mixed-use hub it is today - with four generations (and counting) of that same family as a part of the management team, guiding the development and expansion of the center. Now the Plaza is a community of over 30 office tenants, a vibrant marketplace for food, attire, and daily life. 828 Dulaney Valley Road is an integral part of the Towson ecosystem, adapting to the ever changing tastes and trends of those who rely on the Plaza for every-day goods, a quick bite, or change of fashion.

TOTAL PROJECT BUDGET: Current project budget is $10,000, but may be negotiated after selection.

PROJECT DESCRIPTION: Dulaney Valley Plaza is inviting artists to submit proposals for a public mural. Wall space is 73’ by 9’4 ½” vertical (687.37 SQF), located on Dulaney Valley Road. Each concept must take into consideration these dimensions once scaled. The mural does not necessarily have to cover the entire available space and may only occupy a portion of the available space depending on artist vision and budgetary restrictions.

The Dulaney Plaza branded logo must feature into the mural in a notable capacity, but incorporation and presentation is left to artist discretion. Otherwise themes, imagery, and composition are also left to artist discretion but depictions/representations of local (Maryland/Baltimore County) flora and fauna, landmarks, history and tenant businesses of the plaza (barring the usage of branded logos) are preferred.

DEADLINE: Deadline for submissions is April 7th 2023.

APPLICATIONS: Mail applications to: Lauryn Lukin 828 Dulaney Valley Road Suite 5 Towson, MD 21204. Digital proposals to lauryn@taubprop.com. Proposals may also be hand delivered to [Lauryn Lukin 828 Dulaney Valley Road Suite 5 Towson, MD 21204]. All formats will be accepted. Included in the application and sent work should be an artist bio and artist statement alongside the applicant's name and address.

SELECTION CRITERIA: Maryland based and artists originating from Maryland are welcome; however, there are no other limiting factors, all skill levels and backgrounds are welcome. Selection will be performed by a juried panel.

Mac Stacks

A nice preview of the work by Jennifer Kahn Barlow that Alida Anderson Art Projects will be bringing next month to the Affordable Art Fair in New York City!

Dusted in the Middle by Jennifer Kahn Barlow

Intense Mac Stack by Jennifer Kahn Barlow

Mild Mac Stack by Jennifer Kahn Barlow

Patriotic Mac Stack by Jennifer Kahn Barlow

America's Crossroads: Six Contemporary Photographers in Dialog

This has the makings of one of the top photography shows of the year!

The OAS AMA | Art Museum of the Americas announces America’s Crossroads, an exhibition opening at the OAS F Street Gallery (1889 F Street, NW, Terrace Level) featuring six artists in a visual dialog. Carlos Bautista Avila (Mexico), Rene Campos Navarro (Mexico), Luis Delgado (United States-Mexico), Gisele Martins (Brazil), Cirenaica Moreira (Cuba), and Diana Ramirez Lopez (Mexico) provoke through their work mixed responses as they reflect, manipulate, rethink, and question on a local level who we are in the Americas. The people in the Americas share a common history that is manifested in local terms, becoming a conglomerate of different cultures of an ever-dynamic changing history of native Americans, settlers, and migrants.

La Industrial, lavandería Habana de la serie Metálica, 1998-1999
Cirenaica Moreira

Exhibition Opening: Thursday, February 23 4:30-6:30pm

HOURS: By appointment only, Monday-Friday 10AM-5PM

LOCATION

OAS General Secretariat Building, Terrace Level

1889 F Street NW

Washington, DC 20006

ADMISSION: Free

The Last Unicorn

Between 1977-1981 I sold all my art school assignments from the University of Washington School of Art in Seattle at the Pike Place Market.  In 1979 a classmate's mother was printing a private illustrated edition of Peter Beagle's "The Last Unicorn" and hired me and several other artists to do some illustrations for the lavishly illustrated book.

I did several pieces for the book, and then had prints made from the originals and sold them at the Market.  Nearly 500 pieces of the below work sold between 1979-1981.  Sometime in 1991, when I was living in Sonoma, California, where I was the Executive Officer of the Navy base at Skaggs Island, I sold the original mixed media painting.

Today I got an email from someone in the Pacific Northwest who found it in a store up there and is now the surprised owner of a 44 year-old legend!

THE LAST UNICORN by F. Lennox Campello circa 1979

Isla Golpeada

 

Pobre Cuba - Isla Golpeada
Acrylic on hand-made paper with embedded leaf and wood branches
circa 1980 by Florencio Lennox Campello

A modern classic

This official US Navy photo of sailors pulling up the wreckage of the PRC spy balloon reminds me sooooo much of the classical painting "The raft of the Medusa" by Géricault.

 U.S. Navy Photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Tyler Thompson

The Curious Case of the Celia Cruz American Quarter and being labeled Afro-Latina

About 24 hours ago the US Mint announced that Celia Cruz, the Cuban-born "Queen of Salsa" had been chosen to be one of the five women whose face will be in the 2024 edition of their American Women Quarters Program.

The news outlets and Al Gore's internets went crazy dubbing this as "Queen of salsa Celia Cruz will be the first Afro Latina to appear on a U.S. quarter" proclaimed NPR and all others.

And Cuban Twitter and Cuban Facebook went nuts that she's been referred to as an "Afro Latina" and not just as a "Cuban" or "Cuban-American."

It is very clear that the Cuban social media opinions were angry about the fact that in nearly every instance Celia was being identified and labeled as a "Afro-Latina" first and in the article's headlines, and Cuban in the text... and the Internets blew up!

Teresita Fernando wrote: Stop adding adjectives to her birthplace She was CUBAN She is CUBA Period

Hilda Suarez opined: She was not an Afro-Latina, get your information straight and make the quarter with another person and leave Celia's memories with her people, THE CUBANS, and maybe someday, not too far from know, we could have her picture on a Cuban coin. Thank you.

Alina Vals says: Not Afro Latina.  She is Cuban American. We do not accept those "woke" terms.  At the end of the day we all belong to the HUMAN race.

Mayra de Armas notes: Afro Latina? NO, Celia Cruz is Cuban American, her race is black but she is not Afro, She is 100% Cuban, period.

Suzanne Bruno adds: Outstanding!!! But NOT afro Latina....100% Cuban.

Raul Gomez is angry: She's Cuban, stop putting your woke bullshit labels on her!

Jorge Ravelo says: Afro-Latina?  As one who followed her for three decades and met the Queen and Pedro Knight on several occasions she would be insulted. She was as Cuban as the Royal Palms, a Cuban with African and Spanish heritage.

Mara Salis: She is NOT afro Latina she is CUBANA!!!

36th year of the Northern National Art Competition

 

36th

NORTHERN NATIONAL

ART COMPETITION

June 15 - July 28, 2023

Nicolet College Art Gallery

Rhinelander, Wisconsin

Call opens Monday, January 9

Three $1,000 Awards of Excellence

Awards totaling more than $8,500

It's the 36th year of the Northern National Art Competition, which is a collaboration between Nicolet College and the Northern Arts Council. This national competition will open June 15 and is open to all all US resident artists 18 years or older.

Registration deadline for entry is Friday, March 24.

The Northern National Art Competition began in 1987 with a mere 37 entries. Last year, we had 646 entries from artists all across the United States! Our entries are as diverse as the artists themselves and showcase a wide array of contemporary art in a variety of two-dimensional mediums.

We're thrilled to announce that the Juror/Judge for this year will be Florencio Lennox "Lenny" Campello. Lenny is a well-known artist, art critic, author and blogger from the Washington, DC area with a most interesting and unique resume.

Don't miss this chance to exhibit your art in one of the coolest little galleries in the Northwoods!

More than $8,500 in prize money will be awarded.

• Monday, January 9: Registration opens
• Friday, March 24: Registration deadline
• Friday, April 21: Acceptance notification
• Friday, May 12: Hand delivery by appointment
• Monday, May 15: All shipped work due
• Thursday, June 15: Opening Reception
• Thursday, July 28: Show closes
• Friday, July 29: Pick up hand delivered work by appointment
• Monday, August 1: Shipped work will be returned this week

Register by following this link to CaFE (Call for Artist Entry): https://artist.callforentry.org/festivals_unique_info.php?ID=11050

Wanna go to an opening on Saturday?

Then venture to the Washington Country Museum of Fine Arts in Hagerstown, MD for an opening February 11th 10-4pm. 

In addition to the nice, one-day trip to Hagerstown, you'll get to see some really cool artwork, none better than the DMV's own Judith Peck, whose spectacular masterpiece titled Forager won the First Place Award in the Cumberland Valley Artists and Photographers Exhibition!

 Forager by Judith Peck

Judith Peck of Great Falls, Virginia, received the First Place Juror’s Award in the artists category in the 2023 Cumberland Valley Artists and Photographers Exhibitions

The Incantation of Frida Kahlo

 New one for 2023 - will be at the Affordable Art Fair in Chelsea next month!

Remember Frida
30x40 inches
2023 charcoal on paper by Florencio Lennox Campello

Wanna go to a museum opening tonight?

Winter exhibitions at American University Museum at the Katzen Arts Center will open Feb. 4, 2023. Exhibits include Madayin, the first major exhibition of Aboriginal Australian bark painting to tour the U.S., photojournalism from World War II, and The Trawick Prize for Contemporary Art.

The opening reception, free and open to all, takes place from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. tonight, Feb. 4. Please refer to the museum’s website for the most up-to-date information on museum events and visiting the museum. 

The Trawick Prize: 20th Anniversary Emerald Award celebrates the impact of The Trawick Prize for Contemporary Arts, a visual arts prize that honors artists from Maryland, Washington, D.C., and Virginia in an annual juried competition. 

Now in its 20th year, the prize was established by Bethesda, Md.-based community activist and philanthropist Carol Trawick in 2002. To date, The Trawick Prize has awarded over $300,00 to local contemporary artists and has exhibited the work of more than 200 artists who reached the level of finalists in each year’s competition. 

This exhibition presents the work of artists who were awarded the “Best in Show” in the competition over the last 20 years, and features contemporary paintings, sculptures, film, mixed media, and many others. 

This year, the juried competition will result in selecting “the best of the best” over the past 20 years, awarding the artist with The Trawick Prize Emerald Award. On view through March 19. I'm also going to walk through the show and select my own "Best in Show."

The exhibition features artists working in a variety of media including sculpture, painting, mixed media, film, and more. Works from artists such as Neil Feather, Jiha Moon, Jo Smail, and many others will be displayed in the galleries. Themes span a range of concepts important to each artist from race, oppression, and genealogy to culture, humanity, and emotion to name a few.

In the words of Carol Trawick “there is no need to travel to see great art, there are numerous talented artists right in our backyard!” 

Featured artists:

Lauren Adams 

WonJung Choi 

Richard Cleaver 

Larry Cook 

Oletha Devane 

Neil Feather 

Mia Feuer 

Caroline Hatfield 

Lillian Hoover 

Gary Kachadourian 

Cecilia Kim 

Maggie Michael 

Jonathan Monaghan 

Jiha Moon 

David Page 

James Rieck 

Jo Smail 

Lomax & Wickerham

WESTPAC CT

This one for my WestPac CT peeps -- sometime around 1985 some PAC ships shifted to LANT and came up the Suez heading to Norfolk, and stopped in Rota for liberty --- And thus my cartoon! 

We're really raising some good bucks for Wounded Warriors Home, so this one will be donated to Fisher House! Most of you know the story: When I was in the Navy, I did loads of illustrations and cartoons for many newspapers (such as The Stars & Stripes and lots of base newspapers, etc.), and hundreds of sketches of my shipmates and other US Navy sailors in ports in the US and European ports. Most of these drawings, cartoons, and paintings were given away to my shipmates over the years, but I also kept many of them, and I see them often being sold at auctions online and by galleries... 

This one from 1985 is being offered by the gallery on Ebay with a super low starting price and 100% of all proceeds being donated to Fisher House... let's go cheapskates!

Click here to bid on it!

Rota CT

This one for my Rota CT peeps -- We're really raising some good bucks for Wounded Warriors Home, so this one will be donated to Fisher House! Most of you know the story: When I was in the Navy, I did loads of illustrations and cartoons for many newspapers (such as The Stars & Stripes and lots of base newspapers, etc.), and hundreds of sketches of my shipmates and other US Navy sailors in ports in the US and European ports. Most of these drawings, cartoons, and paintings were given away to my shipmates over the years, but I also kept many of them, and I see them often being sold at auctions online and by galleries... 

Bid for it here.

Wanna go to an opening this weekend?

Winter exhibitions at American University Museum at the Katzen Arts Center will open Saturday, Feb. 4, 2023. Exhibits include Madayin, the first major exhibition of Aboriginal Australian bark painting to tour the U.S., photojournalism from World War II, and The Trawick Prize for Contemporary Art.

The opening reception, free and open to all, takes place from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Feb. 4. Please refer to the museum’s website for the most up-to-date information on museum events and visiting the museum. 

The Trawick Prize: 20th Anniversary Emerald Award celebrates the impact of The Trawick Prize for Contemporary Arts, a visual arts prize that honors artists from Maryland, Washington, D.C., and Virginia in an annual juried competition. 

Now in its 20th year, the prize was established by Bethesda, Md.-based community activist and philanthropist Carol Trawick in 2002. To date, The Trawick Prize has awarded over $300,00 to local contemporary artists and has exhibited the work of more than 200 artists who reached the level of finalists in each year’s competition. 

This exhibition presents the work of artists who were awarded the “Best in Show” in the competition over the last 20 years, and features contemporary paintings, sculptures, film, mixed media, and many others. 

This year, the juried competition will result in selecting “the best of the best” over the past 20 years, awarding the artist with The Trawick Prize Emerald Award. On view through March 19.

The exhibition features artists working in a variety of media including sculpture, painting, mixed media, film, and more. Works from artists such as Neil Feather, Jiha Moon, Jo Smail, and many others will be displayed in the galleries. Themes span a range of concepts important to each artist from race, oppression, and genealogy to culture, humanity, and emotion to name a few.

In the words of Carol Trawick “there is no need to travel to see great art, there are numerous talented artists right in our backyard!” 

Featured artists:

Lauren Adams 

WonJung Choi 

Richard Cleaver 

Larry Cook 

Oletha Devane 

Neil Feather 

Mia Feuer 

Caroline Hatfield 

Lillian Hoover 

Gary Kachadourian 

Cecilia Kim 

Maggie Michael 

Jonathan Monaghan 

Jiha Moon 

David Page 

James Rieck 

Jo Smail 

Lomax & Wickerham

Art Schooling At Its Best

The Compass Atelier has what I consider the best artist schooling in the DMV – better, in fact, than all of the major Universities in our area.  That’s a big statement to make, but it comes from me, and thus I am ready to back it up as needed. Notice that I wrote “art schooling.”

I choose my words carefully – what Glen Kessler and the other professionals who teach at the Compass Atelier do is to school people who want to develop and expand their artistic prowess, plus their artistic acumen, in leaps and bounds.

Read the entire article here.

Isla Desbaratada

 

Cuba: Isla Desbaratada
Mixed Media painting 1980 by Florencio Lennox Campello

The New Ensign

Another vintage 1983 US Navy cartoon that I did when I was in the Navy.  Being offered on Ebay with ALL proceeds going to charity. Bid for it here.

The New Ensign
Vintage 1983 Navy cartoon by Campello

Scared by books

The original owners of this original drawing bought from me at the Pike Place Market in Seattle back in 1981.  It was recently resold in the secondary market, and the new owner has just gifted it to the great Stephen King!

How super cool is that!

The drawing was done as as assignment at the University of Washington School of Art -  The assignment was to create a work in “response to a book or literary figure.” 

A woman scared by Stephen King's books
1981 charcoal and conte on paper by Florencio Lennox Campello

When CTs become architects

Another Navy vintage drawing - it's now on sale in Ebay with all proceeds being donated to charity!

When CTs become architects
1988 vintage Navy drawing by CAMPELLO

Frida from 1981

I was looking for an etching of Andy Warhol that I did in art school for portrait class... instead I found this 1981 piece on Frida Kahlo. I'll take it to NYC in March to sell it!

"Looking In, Looking Out" Jacqui Crocetta & Kyujin Lee at Adah Rose

Adah Rose Gallery in Kensington is one of the hardest working independent fine arts galleries in the DMV. 

This coming Saturday they have an opening for Jacqui Crocetta and Kyujin Lee (two Solo Shows running Jan 26-Feb 28).

Vernissage with the Artists, Saturday January 28 5-7 pm

Northern National Art Competition

 Northern National Art Competition

The 36th Northern National Art Competition is a juried art exhibition in Rhinelander, Wisconsin, co-sponsored by Nicolet College and the Northern Arts Council. The Northern National Art Competition (NNAC) began in 1987 with a mere 37 entries. Today, the show attracts the work of artists from all across the United States with hundreds of entries as diverse as the artists themselves, and showcases a wide array of contemporary art in a variety of two-dimensional mediums.

MORE THAN $8,500 AWARDED WITH THREE $1,000 AWARDS OF EXCELLENCE

CALENDAR 2023

• Monday, January : Registration opens via CaFÉ
• (Call for Entry) online registration system
• Friday, March 24: Registration deadline
• Friday, April 21: Acceptance notification
• Friday, May 12: Hand delivery by appointment
• Monday, May 15: All shipped work due
• Thursday, June 15: Opening Reception
• Thursday, July 28: Show Closes
• Friday, July 29: Pick up hand delivered work by appointment 

All the details here!

95 South from Baltimore

 

Artists sue AI art generators over copyright infringement

A group of artists — Sarah Andersen, Kelly McK­er­nan, and Karla Ortiz — have filed a class-action lawsuit against Midjourney and Stability AI, companies behind AI art tools Midjourney and Stable Diffusion, and DeviantArt, which recently launched its own artificial intelligence art generator, DreamUp.

The suit alleges that these companies “violated the rights of millions of artists” by using billions of internet images to use train its AI art tool without the “consent of artists and without compensating any of those artists.” These companies “benefit commercially and profit richly from the use of copyrighted images,” the suit alleges. “The harm to artists is not hypothetical,” the suit says, noting that works created by generative AI art are “already sold on the internet, siphoning commissions from the artists themselves.”

Read the full article here. 

Dora Patin

As I noted earlier this week, this March, we will return to our 17th year in a row (less the year of the attack of the Covidian monster) to the Affordable Art Fair in New York City, we're bringing in a whole new group of artists from the DMV, most of whom I first met via their artwork when I juried the 2022 Paint the Town event in the pretty area of downtown Kensington, Maryland.

Let me repeat myself: jurying any art show always exposes the juror to new talent, and when I juried this show, as 2022 Paint the Town I often do, I selected some of my fave artists to bring to NYC for an art fair.  In my mind we wanted to "curate" a booth for the fair that showcased realist work at its best. Booth curation is a somewhat subjective process (pun intended).

And one of my prizewinners (in fact the Best in Show winner!) Dora Patin is coming to NYC with us in booth D-10 at the fair!

I think that Patin is a painting prodigy.  She has only been painting for a handful of years, and yet her trompe l'oeil paintings are breathtaking in their ability to fool the eye. She's yet another great testimony to the teaching skills of Glen Kessler at The Compass Atelier.

Note the facility in delivering one of the hardest subjects to fool the eye: paper. 

In this new series focusing on cards, Patin flexes her painting skills to deliver superb work that not only fools the eye, but also subtly reminds us that it is a painting.  These are opposite goals on the horizon of an artist as he/she commences a new work, and yet, in these works she accomplishes both of them easily. This is sooooo hard to do, and yet she accomplishes it with deceptive ease.

The Optimist by Dora Patin
c. 2023, 5x7 inches, oil on panel

Monarch by Dora Patin
5x7 inches - Oil on Panel c. 2023 

Luck or Skill? by Dora Patin
c. 2023, 12x12 inches, oil on panel

Patin's works will be in booth D-10 at the Affordable Art Fair New York City, March 22-26 in Chelsea.