There are infuriating "high art" double standards that continue to bother me, as one discovers more and more variations upon the same theme.

The Theme:
J. Seward Johnson's "art" has been brutalized by the press everywhere. The reason given is not that Seward is a bad guy or even a bad artist, but that his concept of taking someone else's two-dimensional art works - in Seward's latest case the Impressionists - and making them into a three dimensional "new" work is both kitschy and reprehensible.

The Hypocrisy:
1. As I whined about it before, the British artist brothers Jake and Dinos Chapman's early work was based on the famous Goya etchings Disasters of War. Initially they used plastic figures to re-create Goya in a miniature three-dimensional form, and like Johnson (later on), one of these 83 scenes became a life-sized version using mannequins. Yet the Chapmans are darlings of the art world and were favorites in the last Tate show.

2. Whitney Biennial selectee Eve Sussman's "art" is to take Velasquez's Las Meninas and turn it into "ten minutes of a costume-drama feature film.”

3. Jane Simpson is one of Artnet.com's Artists to Watch for 2004. Her stellar reputation in the artworld has been acquired partially by her creation of sculptures based on Giorgio Morandi paintings.

Am I the only one who sees that all of these people are essentially working the same generic concept as J. Seward Johnson - but unlike Johnson, they are being lauded and praised?

What am I missing here?

Van Gogh Photograph

Purchased for one dollar in an antique store! Read the story here.

Photoworks at Glen Echo Hosts Portfolio Critique.

Photography enthusiasts are invited to bring their portfolios to Photoworks’ beautiful new studio space to be critiqued at no fee by professional photographers on the Photoworks faculty. Over coffee and bagels, photographers with all levels of experience will have the opportunity to share their work and receive feedback and comment and participate in fun and informal discussions with both amateur and professional photographers. Portfolios can consist of either digital or traditional work in either black and white or color.

When: Sunday, March 14, 2004 - 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 noon

Where: Photoworks, Glen Echo Park, Glen Echo, Maryland.

Founded in the early ‘70s, Photoworks is a self-funded photography program that offers classes, workshops, lectures, exhibit space and an open darkroom. The classes are designed to teach all levels of students camera, digital and darkroom skills and processes to make fine art photographs, and emphasizes a strong summer program for young people. All Photoworks teachers are professionals working in editorial, commercial and fine art fields, and Photoworks is proud to have launched the careers of many well-known area commercial and art photographers.

WETA's The Program radio show is supposed to be (according to their own description) about exploring "trends, events and issues in the Washington-area arts scene."

Sunday's program was about the story of Betsy, The Fingerpainting Chimp.

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The Call Box Project, a city wide project, is funded to make historical markers of the old, unused Fire and Police Call boxes. The Dupont Circle Citizen's Association (DCCA) has 23 boxes in the Dupont Circle Area and plans to mount a piece of art work in each box. DCCA does require that every picture include the fountain that is in the center of Dupont Circle, but the fountain doesn't have to be the only focus of the picture.

A description of the project, as well as the Artists' Call and Art Specs which give details on dates, times and methods of submitting art work, are available on this website.

Note: As the call documents state, the DCCA will not pay artists for their producing their work even if it is selected to be reproduced in a box. The artists who are chosen will still own their original art work and can sell, or do whatever they want, with it. Priority will be given to artists who live in, or work in, the Dupont Circle area. DCCA hopes to display art work from 23 different local artists, however, more than one piece may be accepted from an artist and art will also be accepted from artists who do not live or work in Dupont Circle. The level one submissions of art samples are due to March 31, but the deadline for final original art work that includes the fountain does not need to be submitted until the end of the year. More info: Carol Galaty carolgalaty@speakeasy.net.

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Deadline: Friday, April 2, 2004.
In2Words: Numbers & Words. An exhibition in two parts exploring the use of numbers and words in contemporary art. Hosted by Target Gallery in Alexandria.

Part One: Numbers, juried by Sarah Tanguy, Independent Curator, Washington, DC, exhibit dates: June 10-July 18, 2004.

Part Two: Words, juried by Krystyna Wasserman, National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, DC, exhibit dates: July 24-August 22, 2004.

Deadlines for both exhibitions is Friday, April 2, 2004. Fee is $25 for slides of up to 3 works. All artists/all media. Broad interpretations encouraged. Artists can apply to either or both exhibits. Awards up to $650.

Call 703.838.4565 ext. 4 or email Claire at targetgallery@torpedofactory.org or send SASE to:
In2Words
105 N.Union Street
Alexandria, VA 22314

Today's Sunday Arts in the Post is a rare treat with not only a Blake Gopnik review of Douglas Gordon at the Corcoran, but also an incredibly rare gallery review by Gopnik's predecessor, Paul Richard of a couple of area painters at Fusebox Gallery.

First Gopnik...

In his review of Gordon, Gopnik (who is a big fan of video art - in fact he was once asked "what should artists be doing today, if they are serious artists?" and he answered "only manipulated photography and video") gushes about Gordon. If the New York Times' Roberta Smith is giddy about Gordon, then Gopnik is nearly orgasmic as he heaves praise after praise on the Scottish artist's video work. You can also see a video of Blake discussing the show here. A video of a video show... if Blake slows it down to a video frame a minute... then is it great art redux?

I will visit this show next week and let you know which bodily function of mine it affects.

Paul Richard used to be the Post's Chief Art Critic until he retired a couple of years ago and was replaced by Gopnik. Unlike Gopnik, who rarely if ever visits area galleries and concentrates nearly exclusively on museum shows (at least so far), Richard's longevity at the Post allowed him to become deeply immersed in Washington area artists, galleries and scene. His review of Fusebox in today's Sunday Arts is a rare treat from the Post, and offers us an insight into a couple of things beyond the review itself.

First, this is the kind of visual arts coverage that the Post should be doing every Sunday, or at least once a month, not once or twice a year. Fusebox, which is a very hard-working gallery, gets the kind of coverage with this review that most area gallery owners would trade their first-born for (if any had children that is). That is good for Fusebox and for Washington art, and the Post should do it more often.

But the review itself is something else...

Richard uses his ample and first-hand knowledge of Washington art, artists and history to give painter Jason Gubbiotti something worse than a bad review (such as Jessica Dawson once gave painter Andrew Wodzianski when she destroyed him in this review). He gives Jason a patronizing review, expressing some interest here and there, but also handcuffing Gubbiotti too close to the Color School guys that Richard probably used to hang around with. He even dubs Jason's work as "fey."

I think that a review is good if it's really super passionate either way - such as Gopnik's glowing review of Gordon and Dawson's brutalizing of Wodzianski and C.M. Dupre or Gopnik's now famous destruction of J. Seward Johnson.

Richard treats Ian Whitmore, the other painter in the show, with less attention but a bit more kindness. I quite like Whitmore's work and have reviewed it favorably in the past, when he exhibited at "Strictly painting IV" at the McLean Project for the Arts - a show co-curated by Fusebox's Sarah Finlay.

But, in case you missed it, he also sends his successor, Blake Gopnik a not so subtle message in the last paragraph of the review. Blake's position on the issue of "painting is dead" is well-known. So Richard closes his review by writing:

"I liked these shows. What I liked best about them is that neither offers videos or blown-up back-lit photographs. It is nowadays a treat to encounter ambitious young artists who love the smell of paint."

Who says art criticism is boring? Am I the only one who'd love to read a review of the same show, independently done and written, by these two guys?

How about the The Quilts of Gee's Bend?

A week ago, someone named Will Haygood wrote a spectacular Washington Post review/article about the "Quilts of Gee's Bend" exhibition at the Corcoran.

It's not only well-written, but Haygood really gets to the human aspect of this exhibition - the strong, beautiful women of Gee's Bend - in a way that not many of us could. It is one of the best pieces of written art - about art - that I have read in the Post in years.

This was a major, multi-page review in Sunday Arts, and while it was brilliant, I am somewhat curious as to why this Post writer, rather than one of the Post's art critics, wrote the piece.

The New York Times dubbed this show one of the “ten most important shows in the world,” with high brow critics like Kimmelman heaping well-deserved praises all over it, and having seen it myself, I will tell you that it is without a doubt the best quilt show that I have ever seen.

So with a giddy endorsement from one of the most influential art critics in the nation, writing from the art pages of the most powerful newspaper in the world, it is curious that none of the Post's art critics covered this show (so far) and with the huge extravaganza of a review last Sunday, it seems that the Haygood review may be it.

Possibly because Blake Gopnik had reviewed the show earlier when it was in New York. And let me tell you - it is one of Gopnik's best written and more insightful reviews to date.

The show will be up at the Corcoran until May 17, 2004. Plenty of time for my theory (unlike Einstein's dark matter theory) to be proven wrong.

Einstein's prediction of the existence of "dark energy" (a force that works against gravity) has been confirmed.

Thus now we know that the Universe, which is about 13.7 billion years old, has about 30 billion years left before it "ends."

That's a long time for visual artists to try to come up with something that's "new" in order for them to be "good" in the eyes of many critics and curators.

I'll stick to drawing.

Health Insurance for Artists...
The Artists' Health Insurance Resource Center database was created in 1998 by The Actors’ Fund of America, with a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, as a health insurance resource for artists and people in the entertainment industry.

Since then, with support from The Commonwealth Fund, it has expanded to include resources for the self-employed, low-income workers, the under-insured, the uninsured who require medical care and many other groups.

Visit them here.

Earlier I posted about Douglas Gordon at the Hirshhorn...

Well... in a first for the Hirshhorn --- the Museum will open the Douglas Gordon exhibition for twenty-four consecutive hours, 24 Hour Psycho (1993), the artist's famous video installation that stretches the Hitchcock classic into a twenty-four experience, is the inspiration for this all-night happening. This unique museum drop-in event, will also include music, gallery discussions, and a "Meet the Artist" interview with Douglas Gordon conducted by the Hirshhorn Director of Art and Programs and Chief Curator Kerry Brougher on Sunday at 3 p.m. in the Ring Auditorium.

24 Hour Access for 24 Hour Psycho starts on Saturday, February 28, 5:30 p.m. through Sunday, February 29, 5:30 p.m.

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The Arlington Arts Center, currently under renovation, is taking applications for its eight individual artist studios. Deadline is March 1, 2004. Call 703-797-4573 or email artscenter@starpower.net for more information. The application can also be downloaded from the center's website at www.arlingtonartscenter.org.

Deadline February 28, 2004
Capitol Arts Network presents a National Figure Show “The Human Figure,” a Juried All-Media Exhibition, sponsored by the Washington Gallery of Photography & Virtual Pose, April 9-May 5, 2004.

All figurative work eligible, including painting, sculpture, photography, fiber art, and others. Cash awards and prizes. Eric Westbrook, juror. Slides or jpegs due Feb. 28. Entry fee: $25/4 entries, $5/each over. Prospectus at their website, or call 301-661-7590 for further info or email them at capitolarts@hotmail.com.

Exhibition held at Washington Gallery of Photography, 4850 Rugby Ave., Bethesda, MD 20814.

The Bethesda Arts and Entertainment District is accepting applications for the 2004 Bethesda Fine Arts Festival, an outdoor Fine Art and Fine Craft festival that will take place in the Woodmont Triangle area of Bethesda, Maryland.

The festival will take place, rain or shine, on Saturday, May 15 and Sunday, May 16, 2004. 150 booth spaces are available, $275 for a 10' x 10' booth, $25 application fee. All original fine art and fine crafts are eligible, no mass produced or commercially manufactured products are allowed. $2,500 in prize money.

Deadline for applications is March 1, 2004. To download an application form, visit www.bethesda.org or send a SASE to:
Bethesda Urban Partnership
Bethesda Fine Arts Festival
7700 Old Georgetown Road
Bethesda, MD 20814

For more information contact the Festival Director, Catriona Fraser, at (301) 718-9651.

Terry Parmelee's paintings and prints will be exhibited at Jane Haslem Gallery through mid-April. Opening reception is today, February 21st, noon to five, and by appointment. The show is held in conjunction with the publication of Parmelee's Catalogue Raisonne, "Terry Parmelee Prints, 1966-1999". The gallery is located at 2025 Hillyer Place NW, phone: (202) 232-4644.

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Kelly Towles will be featured in Taking Over the Art Store: A Group Show. Opening reception: tonite February 21 at 10pm. Location: the Art Store in Georgetown. 3019 M St, NW (Between 30th & 31st Street). 202/342-7030.

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"Black: A Celebration of a Culture", presents the vibrant panorama of 20th-century black culture in America and around the world in more than 500 photographs from the turn of the last century to the present day. Each photograph, hand-picked by Deborah Willis, one of America's leading historians of African-American photography, celebrates the world of music, art, fashion, sports, family, worship or play.

Willis is a MacArthur Fellow and author of The Black Female Bodyand Reflections in Black. Her latest book is A Small Nation of People.

At Vertigo Books, 7346 Baltimore Ave. College Park MD 20740 Tel: 301-779-9300

New York Times' art critic Roberta Smith is absolutely giddy about the Douglas Gordon show at the Hirshhorn.

I haven't seen the show yet (but will) and I will be honest enough to admit that I am already predisposed to dislike it, or rather to be bored by it, which is what happens to me with a large percentage of video "art."

The reason (I think) is that often the concept of the video artist's "art" is a lot more interesting than the final product. Add to that that "video art" is more often than not a combination of video and still photography - really a traditional mish mash of genres, and by the second or third video in a row by the same guy, I find myself just reading the wall text and looking at the still photographs and just barely glancing at the actual home movie... oops! I mean "video art."

But not Ms. Smith, who finds that Gordon's work "can trigger an almost giddy optimism about the general state of contemporary art and refresh your confidence in the possibility of artistic progress, even in these postmodern times."

Gordon's most famous and acclaimed work — famous indeed, but I wonder how many people have actually seen it in its entirety — is "24 Hour Psycho," an installation in which Alfred Hitchcock's famous movie thriller is extended to 24 hours, instead of proceeding at the usual speed of 24 frames per second. You can see it at the Hirshhorn - pop corn prohibited.

Progress is progress...

Today is the third Friday of the month and thus the Canal Square Galleries (31st Street NW and M Street in Georgetown) will have their monthly openings. We will have what I consider our key photography show of the year.

It is work by three of Cuba's most gifted female photographers: Elsa Mora, Marta Maria Perez Bravo and Cirenaica Moreira.

The openings go from 6-9 PM and are catered by the Sea Catch Restaurant. They are free and open to the public. Also tonight, instead of our usual Sangria, we will be serving Cuba Libres (Rum & Coke), and playing Benny More music to get in the Cuban mood.

See ya there!

Sometime tomorrow morning this site will receive its 5,000th visitor!

Today's Washington City Paper has a great profile article by Matt Sommers on legendary 83-year-old photographer Lida Moser, who now lives in Rockville.

Two of Moser's vintage photographs sold at Christie's auctions two days ago for $1,000 and $3,000 respectively. Her vintage work has gone as high as $4,000 in 2002.

As far as I know, Moser is the only Washington area photographer whose work shows up regularly in most major international photography auctions and yet she's never had a Washington museum show - but she's had solo shows in museums in Canada and the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, and locally her work is in the permanent collection of the Library of Congress and also the National Portrait Gallery and her photographs are in the permanent collections of dozens of museums around the world.

Yet not one single Washington area museum seems interested in organizing a Washington show of this 83-year-old dynamo, whose life is currently being filmed by Canadian television.

Suggestion to the National Museum of Women in the Arts: Wake up!

In case you missed the Kojo Nmandi show earlier today - here's the audio of the show. I'm towards the last 20 minutes of the show.

Don't forget to tune in today from 1:30 to 2:00 to WAMU 88.5 FM, where I will once again be a guest at the Kojo Nmandi Show.

I will be discussing the area's art scene and gallery and museum shows coming down the next few weeks, as well as mentioning some of my favorite area artists.

I believe that they will be taking phone calls from listeners, so if anyone has a question or comment for me, I should be able to take it on the air.

Tomorrow I will once again be a guest at the Kojo Nmandi Show on WAMU 88.5 FM from 1:30 to 2:00 PM. I will be discussing the area's art scene and gallery and museum shows coming down the next few weeks. Please listen in, as I believe that they will be taking phone calls from listeners.

I'm still in Tampa, and today I hope to be able to go visit the Salvador Dali Museum in St. Pete. Will be returning to DC later tonight.

AMPOFO, which deals in African Art Collectibles has an Open House Sale from February 20-22 featuring new works by photographer Nestor Hernández, one of my favorite DC photographers. 12 noon to 8:00 P.M. and other days and times by Appointment

3901 Ames Street, N.E.
Washington, D.C. 20019
202/397-2387