Instagram Disables Artist's Account of Disturbing Politician Portraits

"You might find them disturbing, but you also might be unable to turn your eyes away from Houston artist Phillip Kremer's grotesque, distorted portraits of politicians like Donald J. Trump, Ben Carson, and Bernie Sanders."

Read the whole piece at https://news.artnet.com/people/artist-bizarre-portraits-donald-trump-instagram-443546

Nassikas at the Athenaeum

Congrats to our own Georgia Nassikas - Join her on March 20th from 4 - 6 pm for the opening reception of her solo show “Quietude: Works in Wax and Oil” at the Athenaeum in Alexandria, VA. 

A beautiful venue by the way! 

Ten worst art fair mistakes

Number one is the same one that I've been warning artists about for years... and still lots of artists bite this bitter pill each year...

Read it here.

Banksy has been identified

“Geographic profiling”, a technique used to catch serial criminals, has proved that the elusive artist Banksy really is Robin Gunningham, according to academic research.
 Scientists at Queen Mary University of London claim to have “tagged” Banksy, by identifying a pattern between the locations where his graffiti artworks most frequently appear and addresses with a close association to Gunningham, named as Banksy in a 2008 newspaper investigation.

Read the whole article here.

Opportunity for artists

Deadline: March 14, 2016

The Young Affiliates of the Mint Museum (Charlotte, NC) host a juried art show in The Mint Museum Uptown in commemoration of The Mint Museum's upcoming 80th anniversary.   

To submit and for guidelines, visit www.youngaffiliates.org/80x80. For any questions, email 80x80show@gmail.com

Congrats!

To AAAP artist Carla Goldberg,  who has been commissioned to create a 16 foot five panel moon and water scape on plexiglass for the Hammond Museum for their summer 2016 exhibit. 

Also, three 14 foot water images of hers will grace the outdoor solarium on the newest Royal Caribbean cruise line ship currently under construction in Norway and set to launch this summer.

Also congrats to AAAP artist and DMV resident Elissa Farrow-Savos, as last nigth was the opening of her show, "If I Were You and You Were Me", at Gallery C in Raleigh, North Carolina; a gallery by the way, that discovered her work at a recent art fair a couple of years ago!

Art Scam Alert!

Beware of this rip off:

From:  Julian Smith (juliansmith@126.com)

Hello, my name is Julian and i am from Sinara Group Co.,LTD in Russia.We are glad to know about your company from the web and we are interested in your products.Pls send us your Latest catalog and price list as soon as you can.

Ms Julian Smith, Manager Importation

Opportunity for DMV artists

Deadline: April 29, 16. 

Christopher Newport University Dept. of Fine Art and Art History is looking for artists (in VA, DC, Baltimore) who can offer a workshop to their students as well as an Art Exhibition/Gallery Talk of their work during the 2016-17 academic year. 

They will provide reasonable stipend to assist with travel/shipping depending on circumstance. May offer honorarium to cover expenses associated with a Visiting Artist Workshop on campus. Contact jodie.gordon@cnu.edu to request submission requirements. Subject line: Call for Proposals. No phone calls please.

Part II of The Prostate Surgery: Borg

Part I here.

At the time that I checked into the hospital for my surgery, I was told that I would be discharged the next day, at least 97% of the men who undergo this type of surgery, get discharged within 24 hours of the operation. However, as fluids continued to come out of my body in prodigious quantities and the wasps continued to attack, I realized that I was part of the 3%.

I was released from the hospital on that Friday, three days after the surgery and two tubes sticking out of my body and uncomfortably sending chills of discomfort and pain every time that I moved. From there we headed out to the drugstore to pick up all of the different drugs that they had assigned for my return to home, including the anti-spasm medicine for my bladder that the medical system has so miserably failed to give me when the wasps first came at the hospital.

When we got to the drugstore, after the drive, made uncomfortable by two tubes sticking out of your body while you're sitting inside a car, I decided to take a small walk to the drugstore. As soon as I stepped inside, the tube from the catheter began to pull, making me really miserable.  

I looked around to make sure no one was looking at me, reached into my pants, adjusted my penis, and of course, as soon as I did that, an elderly lady wearing a yellow turban give me a long look as she came out from one of the aisles. 

She was quite a sight actually, only in Potomac do you get to see a 70-something older lady wearing a yellow turban, large loop earrings, full make up on, Daisy Duke shorts, a black leather jacket, giant Jackie Onassis sunglasses, and black Converse sneakers. 

Daisy Dukes in February! I actually smiled at her thinking "More power to you! But I best get the heck out of here before I get arrested." I could feel her eyes on me as I zombied out of Rite Aid.

As soon as I got home I took a hot shower. This was quite an exercise in controlled motion under the shower, as not only are there two tubes sticking out of one's body, but also they're very sensitive to any tugging and pulling. It also involves switching the large urine bag for the smaller one, and tying them around your leg. But the hot shower felt good, it was the first time since Tuesday that I had taken a shower. I wonder if Borgs shower.

There's a certain fascinating horror that comes with seeing the human body in extremis. There is a perverse sense of visual pain in seeing things that are wrong with one's body reflected in a full-size mirror for the first time in front of you: The angry scars left by the robot entry points into the body, the tube sticking out of your penis with a large bag at the end of it, and the tube sticking out of your stomach with a smaller bag at its own end. Each movement could be a disaster, each step a coordinated dance to avoid or minimize the movement of the tubes. Sleeping with tubes in your body is an art form in itself, but exhaustion always wins in the end.

For the next several days, I perfected the routine of switching the bandages around the stomach tube entry point into the belly, emptying and measuring bag after bag of fluids coming out of your body, and performing the delicate dance shower in order to to avoid hurting yourself.

At some point during the week, a nice nurse from Suburban Hospital called. She wants feedback on the stay, and as I relate the events detailed in my earlier blog post, she is horrified by the fact that no one gave me a Spirometer, that no one gave me medicine for the bladder spasms, and that no one helped me to combat the wasps.

And today, more than two weeks and three visits to the doctor later, I prepared for another visit to the doctor to evaluate pulling the tubes out and returning me to the human race, like Picard did from his time amongst the Borg as Locutus..

As the doctor pulls the stomach tube out, my wife's eyes widen as he does. Later on she tells me that she could not believe how long that tube was; it must have been coiled inside me.

The process didn't hurt as much as it was rather noticeable to my alarm senses, but quick. My doctor tells me that I need to return on Monday to see about pulling off the catheter.

Will that hurt? You bet, but still I look forward to that day; Borg no more!

5 tips for setting up (or improving) your photography website

For a photographer, setting up a website comes with a lot of pressure. As artists, our websites need to reflect our style and showcase our work, but they also need to be easy to navigate, fully functional on all types of devices, and make it easy for clients to book a session or purchase prints. All of this can be overwhelming, but since there is no better forum for displaying photos and having a wide reach, every photographer should consider having a website.

Read the whole article here.

Field trip to see Holly Bass' first solo!

This Saturday there's super cool way to see something unique and important in the visual arts, see a gorgeous art space near the DMV that most city folk have never seen, and experience one of the DMV's most talented artists' first solo show.

My friend, the very talented  Holly Bass, is exploring her family roots through poetry, visuals and song at her first solo show in the beautiful Black Rock Arts Center. To make it a whole package, there is a chartered school bus going to BlackRock on Saturday! It leaves from Dupont Circle and goes to directly to the gallery with complimentary Dos Equis beer. 

Field trip!  

Saturday March 5

Root Work: Exhibition & live performance

Black Rock Arts Center
12901 Town Commons Dr.Germantown, MC 20874

This performance, video installation and photographic series explores the intersections of land, labor, and family.  Bass went down to her father’s birthplace in Georgia to share his story of growing up in a family of sharecroppers, picking cotton by hand, providing a window on the complicated roots of one aspect of our national identity. The exhibition will remain on view in the gallery through March 26.

Take a chartered bus from Dupont Circle to Black Rock on Saturday. Click here for $6 bus tickets!

Bus to BlackRock leaves at 11am.
Free performance at 1pm.
For more info: Black Rock Arts Center

Bonus:  Due to my current BORG-like state, where I am full of medical tubes, I can't go, but I would love to publish a review of the show here. If you do attend the show and want to get published, email me a review, and pending approval, I will publish it here.