J.T. Kirkland, over at "Thinking About Art," has a very valid point about Glenn Dixon's first ever "Galleries" column review of Alison Clay at Numark Gallery.

J.T. writes:

"Is it too much to ask for an opinion? Sure, he's working with tight space constraints, but couldn't he say "I liked it" or "it works"? In all honesty, didn't he just re-word the press release? Wouldn't it be cheaper for the Washington Post to just print the press release of the show?"

And he's right! After reading his posting, I went back and re-read Dixon's review and Kirkland nailed him with one of (our shared) pet peeves: the "review" that describes a show rather than offering a critical opinion.

Somewhat surprising coming from Dixon, who is (in my experience) one of the most opinionated and one-sided critical writers in our area. Perhaps it is the seminal signs of the "Washingtonpostizing" of his work as opposed to the more aggressive style of writing usually employed by WCP writers.

Kirkland's own and earlier review of the same show can be read here.

Dr. Jonathan Binstock tells me that the artists for the 48th Corcoran Biennial have been selected by him and Associate Curator for Contemporary Art Stacey Schmidt.

The list will be announced soon.

But I already know that the list includes area artist and Corcoran alumni James Huckenpahler.

Huckenpahler is represented locally by Fusebox Gallery and was the Second Prize winner for last year's Trawick Prize. He is a former faculty member of the Corcoran College of Art and Design, and a former member of the Washington Project for the Arts\Corcoran Advisory Board.

Huckenpahler, trained as a painter, now works primarily on a laptop. Congratulations to Huckenpahler and well deserved!

Former Washington City Paper Arts Editor (and then their former art critic), Glenn Dixon made his Washington Post Galleries column critic debut today.

Dixon reviews the National Academy of Sciences and Numark Gallery in his first column.

Elsewhere in the Post, in Arts Beat, Jonathan Padget profiles photographer Joan Marcus.

Want to have your artwork (or nearly any image for that matter) on a U.S. Postal stamp?

Photo Stamps allows anyone (within certain constraints) to make up and put nearly any image into an official United States stamp! I can already imagine the explosion of artwork that we will begin to see soon adorning and paying for snail mail letters as this service develops and catches on.

This will be hell for stamp collectors to keep up with!

And thanks to AJ for this related Wired article on the subject.

I can already visualize some exhibition somewhere in the future of artist-designed stamps.

Thanks to painter Pat Goslee, who emailed me this jewel of a link: Overheard at Art Shows.

A few years ago, I was at an opening for Catriona Fraser's photographs, which are B&W Infrared landscapes of Scotland, when I overheard a young man tell his date: "WOW! I didn't know everything in Scotland was black and white!"

John Blee, who is a very talented area painter, and gallerist-in-charge at Spectrum Gallery in Georgetown, as well as the galleries art critic for The Georgetowner has an exhibition of recent paintings opening this coming Friday the 13th at One World, located at 14th and S Street, NW in DC. Opening reception from 7-8:30 PM.

Art.com allows artists to post up to 16 images of their work and sell them at no cost or commission. Go here for more details.

They also have a Call for Artists for a Special "The Impact of War" Online Exhibition. It is being curated by D. Dominick Lombardi, who is an Art Critic for The New York Times. There is no cost to artists and the work can be for sale. Details here.

If you haven't seen the new Olympic mascots for the Athens Games, be ready for two of the dumbest mascot designs in the already stupifying world history of mascot imagery.

Nearly 200 design entries were submitted when Athens Olympic Games' organizers put out the artists' call for prospective mascots. The winning creatures were created by a team of six. And this is what happens when you design by committee.

See them here.

Those crazy Brits...

This "guerrilla artist" covertly cemented a 20 foot-tall statute into a London square. The monument, called "Trust No-one", was said to have cost £22,000 to construct, was made of solid bronze and weighed three-and-a-half tons! The local city council wasn't too amused and had it removed a couple of days later.

Read the story here.

Thinking About Art has a really good posting about DCAC's Wall Mountables Show, which is on exhibit until August 22. I'm going to be reviewing this show as well (hopefully soon).

J.T. also has a very well-written review of Canadian artist Allyson Clay at Numark Gallery.

No matter what you hear and read elsewhere, August is not a dead month for all area galleries. This week is the second week of the month, and thus on Thursday you can do Art Night in Alexandria, with eight participating galleries and on Friday you can do the Bethesda Art Walk (which has a free mini bus to take "walkers" around) and about 15 participating galleries and art venues.

Call for Printmakers

Deadline: March 31, 2005.

Lessedra World Art Print Annual. An international print annual with the premise that no art form has broader implications in contemporary society than that of the print. The aim is to gather and exhibit contemporary art print works from all over the world and to contribute to the contacts and the exchange between artists, art lovers and collectors and to stimulate the research into paper, inks, and other materials used in printmaking. Exhibition with all the works will be organized in The National Palace of Culture in Sofia, Bulgaria in June 2005. Details and entry forms here.

Sometime today DCARTNEWS will pass 25,000 page views. Thank you to all of you who visit... it reflects the interest in what's going on the visual arts in our region.

Opportunities for artists

Deadline: September 1, 2004

The 30th Bradley International Print and Drawing Exhibition - formerly the Bradley National will be excepting applications until September 1, 2004. Exhibition dates will be March 8 - April 7, 2005. There is a catalog published of the exhibition. The juror, Judy Collischan, Ph.D, is currently an independent art consultant, was the Associate Director for Curatorial Affairs at the Neuberger Museum of Art, SUNY-Purchase; Director of the Hillwood Art Museum and Public Art Program at Long Island University, C.W. Post campus and Administrative Director for The Printmaking Workshop, NY, NY. The entry fee is $25.00 for three entries and $5.00 for each additional entry. Please send a self addressed stamped envelope to:
Bradley International
Bradley University Department of Art
1501 West Bradley Av
Peoria IL 61625

Or to print the prospectus go: here.

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Deadline: September 1, 2004

Call for Public Art. Seeking professional artists to construct public art for up to 18 sites. Traditional sculptures preferred. Submit 6+ images of proposed work, 10 slides or prints of outdoor sculpture work, description, statement, materials list, resume, letter/interest, budget, references and timeline to:
Karen Hokansson
Newport News Public Art Foundation
Box 120648
Newport News VA 23612

Email: nnpaf@cox.net

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Deadline: September 3, 2004

The Barrett Art Center's 20th Annual National Contemporary Art Competition. Juror: Tina Kukielski, Contemporary Art Curatorial Dept, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY. Cash awards/exhibition opportunities. Painting, drawing, sculpture, printmaking, photography and mixed media. Send SASE for prospectus to:
The Barrett Art Center
55 Noxon St
Poughkeepsie NY 12601 or call 845-471-2550

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Deadline: October 29, 2004

Digital Concentrate Art and Technology Exhibition. Deadline for entries is Friday, October 29, 2004. Dates of exhibition are March 7 through April 24, 2005. Open to artists over the age of 18. The exhibition conceives of a broad intersection of art and technology. Entries may include but are not limited to: web-based art, works for monitor display, digital video, digital prints, sensor-based and/or interactive work, and robotics. Work will be selected by a curatorial team comprised of a contemporary art historian and a digital artist from the Division of Art & Design at Purdue University, and the director of Galleries. Selections will be made from review of 35 mm slides, jpeg files, CD-ROM/DVD, VHS format video and URLs. Please observe resolution restrictions for jpeg images sent via e-mail (maximum dimension of eight inches in image size-maximum resolution of 300 dpi). Include an artist statement and description of necessary hardware and software for display. Submissions will be accepted by ground mail or e-mail. A non-refundable entry fee of $20 will entitle the artist to submit up to three (3) original works for consideration. Entries must be made on the official entry form or PDF file from the Purdue Galleries website: here.

For more information, contact:
Craig Martin-Director
Purdue University Galleries
Physics Building Room 205
525 Northwestern Av
West Lafayette IN 47907-2036

Or call 765-494-3061 OR email cdmartin@sla.purdue.edu.

Blake Gopnik makes a couple of good points about two new local museums while Gopnik's colleage Jessica Dawson reviews Andrew Krieger's 30-year retrospective at the Corcoran Gallery of Art and makes some really good observations.

Both are in today's Washington Post's Sunday Arts section - first time that I recall the Gopnik-Dawson combo.

Since Jessica is now sharing the "Galleries" column with Glenn Dixon, it would be nice to see an occasional review from her or anyone else continue to appear in Sunday Arts to augment Gopnik's museum-only look at our region.

I've been working on a list of the 10 most influential people in the Washington, DC area as far as the visual art scene in our region is concerned. I was hoping to have it ready today - but it is not. I will try to have it posted here in the next few days.

Today I'll be co-hosting the Success as an Artist Seminar in Bethesda.

Today is the last day to sign up for the Success as an Artist seminar that I am teaching tomorrow. There are 3-4 spaces left. Call 301/718-9651 before 6 PM to register.

I've been retained by Art.com to curate a worldwide call for artists in an homage to Frida Kahlo.

More details as the call for artists is finalized. There will be no entry fees and there will be a substantial prize. In 1997, together with the Mexican Cultural Institute, I curated this Homage to Kahlo. It was a tremendous success, with several reviews across the nation and a really plain website that has attracted over 10 million visitors since then!

An alert DCARTNEWS reader catches Artspeak at its most absolutely mind blowing sillyness:

A fountain made of blobby cast metal by Lynda Benglis has a nice grotesquely organic presence; and a field of wiggly green lines on a hot pink ground by Sue Williams is sexy and optically captivating. But these are absorbed into a generally leveling, pluralistic hodgepodge.

The above is from a NY Times review.

Thanks Jim!

Artist Slides

Last Friday I went through a few hundred slides from all over the world for Gallery International's first ever All-Media Competition and Show, which will run from September 2nd through the 24th, 2004, with an opening reception on Thursday, September 2nd, from 6-8pm.

A few years ago I wrote an article for Art Calendar Magazine in which I discussed a variety of tips and advice to artists who enter juried competitions. I will see if I can find that writing and post it here, as it is as topical as ever.

The vast majority of the work that I reviewed was excellent (and as usual), as a juror, one is often forced by space and other constraints to reject work which is good and interesting. But I think that it will be a good show. The Best of Show winner will be selected from the actual work and he/she will get a solo show at the gallery next year.

However, I am always surprised by a couple of recurring things that I see time after time in all the juried competitions (including ours) that I see every year and have seen in the last 25 years.

The first is the fact that nearly 75% of all entries arrive on the last two days of the competition - OK, OK so we all know that artists leave everything to the last minute. But, what gets me is that a lot of these entries come via FEDEX or UPS, which means that the artist is paying $25 or $30 bucks just to have the slides delivered on time. This is a waste of money; with a little planning, the slides can be sent via regular mail for under a buck or via USPS Priority for $3.95.

The second is the poor quality of slides being submitted. I would say that at least 10% of all entries consist of really dark (I've actually have seen completely black or unexposed) slides, which make seeing (and jurying) the artwork nearly impossible. Or slides that are out of focus, or artwork shot under glass with a flash, where all you see is the bright flash reflected on the glass. You get my point: bad slides!

As an artist, if we go through the trouble of entering a competition, the few seconds that it takes to actually project the slide (if you have a slide projector that is...) or at least look at it with one of those hand-held slide viewers, should be a part of the procedures we must all do before submitting that slide for jurying.

By the way, for all you digital people out there.... you can get slides made from your digital files at Slides.com.

A good source for juried competitions is Art Deadlines, or Kara Art in Europe, or nothing still beats a subscription to Art Calendar Magazine.