Louis Jacobson reviews Antonia Macedo at Touchstone Gallery in the current issue of the WCP.
The same issue has picked up my bit about the grubs and has it in their Letters to the Editor.
Friday, September 24, 2004
Thursday, September 23, 2004
One of the most eloquent and qualified art critics in our region, Dr. Claudia Rousseau, delivers a third review of our current exhibition of paintings by controversial GMU Professor Chawky Frenn.
Read the earlier Washington Post review here and the Washington City Paper profile of Frenn here.
AJ points to a story in The Guardian that reveals that Dinos and Jake Chapman are about to rebuild one of their dioramas that was destroyed in the Momart storage unit fire in London last May.
That makes an analysis I made a while back about the infuriating "high art" double standards (applied not only to artists, but also to processes and art). These double standards are even more infuriating as one discovers more and more variations upon the same theme. Here it is again:
The Theme:
J. Seward Johnson is a very rich man and his "art" has been brutalized by the press everywhere. I don't like Mr. Seward's work, but the main reason given in the reviewing of his work is not that Seward is a bad guy (he's very generous with his wealth towards the art world) or even a bad sculptor, 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 best known works are 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." It was actually quite good by the way.
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?
Today's Washington Post has a really.... uh... odd Roxanne-Roberts-type article by "Galleries" critic Jessica Dawson about "Tony and Heather Podesta [being] a Study in Power Collecting."
"But the Podestas' stock of artists know well the benefits of securing such politically connected patronage. Uniquely capable of advocating for their artists using the lobbying skills of their day jobs, Tony and Heather can secure access, lend advice and connect artists to curators and coveted museum shows. It's backing more valuable, at times, than dollars.So that's where those Hirshhorn and Corcoran curators are hanging out!
...To keep themselves in pictures, Tony and Heather jet to art fairs and biennials from Sao Paolo to San Sebastian -- often just for the weekend. Theirs is a life led breathlessly, moving from airport to dinner party. The art is an extravagance that occasionally gives Heather pause.
... During last year's Venice Biennale, they threw parties night after night, renting out their favorite restaurant and packing it with artists and a gallerist or two. Here in Washington, they've hosted art parties with Patricia Puccini, Cathy de Monchaux, Anna Gaskell, Frank Thiel, Annee Olofsson, Nikki Lee and others. Curators from the Hirshhorn Museum and Corcoran Gallery of Art, top Washington collectors and the city's best dealers regularly show up. Podesta parties are where connections are made."
Anyway... inside the Style section, Jessica then delivers a surprisingly bland[ish] review of Avish Khebrehzadeh's show at Conner Contemporary Art, calling it "sweet and bracingly sentimental" with a weird tie-in to her Podesta article.
The review left me thoroughly confused. I've seen this show and to me it simply reflects the sudden discovery by the upper crust "high art" world of world-class artists that can actually draw.
Curators and critics here seem to be still trying to catch up to the fact that drawing is hot!
Wednesday, September 22, 2004
Pilfered from DCist:
The Washington Post seems to be having a comic strip racial controversy!
Gene Weingarten's online chat at the Post's website discusses that:
"The Washington Post has decided not to run this week's episode of Boondocks, instead substituting an old sequence. Moreover, when this chat requested permission to LINK to the censored material, which is available to any and all on the Boondocks website, permission was denied.You can view the controversial comics here. The censored series started on Sept. 20 and goes throughout this week, so after viewing the first set of strips, click on "next date" to see the others.
The Washington Post has decided that it is inappropriate to disseminate this material in any way. Personally, this chat takes no position, pro or con, on this ruling, inasmuch as taking a position would amount to insubordination, a quality abhorrent to this chat."
It is not the first time that the Post has decided to cancel Boondocks because of perceived offensive content.
Call for Public Art
Deadline: October 4, 2004
Kansas City Convention Center. Kansas City, Missouri's One-Percent-for-Art program is seeking artists or artist collaborations to develop innovative, original artwork for the Kansas City Convention Center renovation and expansion. The Convention Center spans eight city blocks in downtown Kansas City.
Interested artists should submit qualifications by Monday, October 4, 2004, at 5:00pm Central Daylight Time. For more information related to this project and to download the complete Request for Qualifications, please go to this website.
Opportunity for Artists - $44,000 in awards
Deadline: December 15, 2004
The Art Renewal Center seeks applicants for its 2nd Annual International Salon Competition. Over $44,000 in cash awards; $10,000 Best in Show, and featured online gallery.
Send #10 SASE for prospectus to: Karen McCormack, Art Renewal Center, Box 837, Glenham NY 12527; E-mail: arcprogram@aol.com
Design Competition - $2,500 Prize
Deadline: OCtober 15, 2004.
The National Symphony Orchestra is seeking an artist or graphic designer to create original visual art to commemorate its 75th Anniversary Season in 2005-2006. The NSO is coordinating this competition in partnership with the D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities.
The competition is open to all artists and graphic designers; however, preference will be given to residents of the greater Washington, D.C. metropolitan area.
The winner will receive an honorarium of $2,500. Applications and additional information are available at this website. For additional information call: Jennifer Leed, Special Projects Manager: 202-416-8112.
Grants for Painters
Deadline: October 15, 2004
The George and Helen Segal Foundation is accepting applications for grants ranging from $5,000 to $10,000 for painters only. Applications may be found on the Foundation's website or you may contact the Segal Foundation, 136 Davidson's Mill Rd., N Brunswick, NJ 08902.
Tuesday, September 21, 2004
The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) has a very interesting exhibition of "casta" paintings detailing racial mixing among eighteenth-century Mexico’s native Indian, European, and African populations.
The exhibition reflects what many upper-class Spaniards thought about race, class and skin color during the 1700s, when Mexico was a colony of Spain.
Another sign that some sanity may be returning to contemporary art:
An actual, real drawing won, despite "the judges declaring that they were prepared to stretch the definition to breaking point."
Past shortlisted entries have included drawings in dust, string, and moving light recorded by a video camera.
But this year, the first prize of £5,000 went to a real drawing by Sarah Woodfine.
See all the prizewinners here.
For Women Photographers
The next Secondsight meeting will be held this coming Thursday, September 23 at 6.30pm in Bethesda, MD. The guest speaker will be Amy Lamb, a very successful fine arts photographer and highly respected scientist. For more information, visit www.secondsightdc.com or call Catriona Fraser at (301) 718-9651. Meetings are free for members - $10 for guests.
Secondsight is an organization dedicated to the advancement of women photographers through support, communication and sharing of ideas and opportunities. Secondsight is committed to supporting photographers at every stage of their careers, from students to professionals. Each bi-monthly meeting includes an introductory session, a guest speaker, portfolio sharing and discussion groups. Each photographer will have the opportunity to present their work within a small group of other photographers, ask for constructive criticism, gain knowledge or simply share their artistic vision and techniques.
Tonight, Annie Adjchavanich, Executive Director of WPA\Corcoran, will present an overview of the Artist Directory and Artfile, the organization's most recent publication, the "2004-2005 Washington Project for the Arts\Corcoran Artist Directory," the 540-page, full-color publication lists 500 artists living and working in the DC, Maryland and Virginia region. Its usefulness as an invaluable resource for finding art, locating artists to create commissioned work will be addressed. Some artists included in the directory will be available to talk about their artwork (bringing a sample with them) and share success stories with the WPA\C and the Artist Directory.
September 21, 2004 6:30pm-9:00pm
Design Within Reach Georgetown Studio
3307 Cady's Alley, Washington, DC 20007
(Near Hemphill Fine Arts) - FREE
RSVP: wpainfo@corcoran.org
Monday, September 20, 2004
Fifteen artists around the Dupont Circle and Logan Circle areas of DC are opening their studios to the public this coming weekend; great opportunity to meet the artists!
The artists participating include:
Kristina Bilonick
Colin Winterbottom
Brian Petro
Saturday and Sunday - noon till 5 PM
Gary Fisher
Charlie Jones
T Santora
John Talkington
Glenn Fry
1 pm - 4 pm Saturday and Sunday
1 pm - 4 pm Saturday and Sunday
Sunday 1- 4 PM
Saturday and Sunday 10am - 5 PM
Saturday and Sunday 1 - 4 PM
Saturday 12 - 5 PM
Sunday 12 - 4 PM
Saturday 11 - 6 and Sunday 11 - 5 PM
This website has some really good advise for artists on how to apply for grants.
By the way, there's no better resource in the world for connecting artists and grants than the Foundation Center, which happens to have a local office here in Washington, DC.
They also offer a CD ROM (for $75) titled Guide to Greater Washington D.C. Grantmakers that features profiles of over 2,500 grantmakers located in the DC region and funders in 40 different states that have an interest in funding DC-area projects.
DCARTNEWS reader and photographer James W. Bailey, after reading the posting about the Washington City Paper's article on the grubs, writes in with his own memoirs of them:
" ... had to email you about "the grubs" after reading the Washington City Paper article and your post.
During my 2 ½ years at the Greater Reston Arts Center, they never missed any of our openings, including fine art openings in the main gallery, Market Street Bar & Grill openings for solo artists at Reston Town Center, children’s art openings for the children who participate in Summer Art Camp and GRACE’s Art-in-the-Schools Program, it didn’t matter. If we had an opening that included wine and food, you had better believe they were there.
When I was new to Reston, several Restonians told me that they were one of the original new town pioneer couples who moved to Reston during the early 1960’s; that they had fallen on hard times and that the only thing they had left was their $600,000 Lake Anne home and were struggling to survive on their last $200,000 in the bank.
Having lived in New Orleans for 20 years - New Orleans being the poorest American city per capita - I know a thing or two about real poverty and people really down on their luck and doubted the accuracy of many of these Reston tales about them. Again, being from New Orleans their eccentric behavior and dress would merit them about one quarter of one nano second of attention in the Big Easy where Bank Officers, Corporate Executives and Baptist preachers parade around dressed like something out of a Mardi Gras nightmare. However, in Reston, they were obviously something of a spectacle. Finally, my curiosity got the better of me and I just flat out asked them who they were and what they were all about while they were munching away on imported English cheese and crackers at one of our openings.
They were kind enough to share the history of their lives and experiences (pretty much per the article) and, yes, their art interests, with me. This conversation took place in probably October or November of 2002. Later in 2003 they attended one of our catered functions at Market Street Bar & Grill (a very very popular venue for them because the Hyatt puts on quite an impressive seafood spread with decent wine) and I told them about being notified that I had been selected for a solo exhibition at the Rachel M. Schlesinger Concert Hall and Arts Center for October of 2004.
They both gave me this profoundly disappointed look and said that they had stopped going to that venue because the artists themselves cater their own receptions and the quality of their past experiences was appalling. I promised them that being from New Orleans I could guarantee that they would leave my reception dancing in the streets with joy over the spread I would be importing from some of the finest restaurants in Louisiana. They said they would consider it as my show got closer.
On the day of my reception, 9-11-04, I was starting to panic around 2:45 pm. My reception was scheduled to run from 1:00 – 3:00 pm. During the process of taking down the food and beverage tables, along with "The Death of Film" installation piece designed by a friend of mine and fellow Board Member of the LRA, Robyn Spence, suddenly I looked up and there they were... with a look of calm hunger on both their faces. They proceeded to filter through various food items that had already been packed into the ice chests. I was so relived. I told them that I too would have considered myself a failure had they not attended my reception.
They didn’t buy any of my work. They never bought any work while attending GRACE functions to my knowledge either. It’s really a wonderful pleasure to know that there are people in this world who love art enough to protect the value of their wallets. I’m not sure just what that means that I just said, but I do know that they have promised to come to my January 2005 solo show in Reston, even though I’m not catering food and wine for that one!"
Sunday, September 19, 2004
DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities: Money For DC Artists 18 to 30 Years Of Age
Deadline: Tuesday, October 12, 2004
The Arts Commission recognizes up and coming DC artists with The Young Artists Grant Program, which offers grants of up to $3,500 to DC artists between the ages of 18 and 30. For more information and an application, call 202-724-5613, or visit this website.
Saturday, September 18, 2004
John Metcalfe's "The Hunger Artists" in the current edition of the Washington City Paper is one of the most readable and funny articles that I have read in ages.
I had always heard that they "bought" work, but in over 100 shows between the two Fraser Galleries, they've eaten a ton of food and drank gallons of Sangria, and yet never, ever even feigned remote interest in any of the artwork - now I know why: we don't show colorful abstraction.
But they still come to every opening, devour whatever is on the plate, and head straight out to the gallery next to us.
And let me tell you: These guys know this city's art scene (as long as there's food) better than anyone else! They could give even the most seasoned of gallery goers and every art critic in this town a lesson on art spaces and where they are and what food they serve.
And I don't know how they do it, but they are also at every embassy, restaurant opening, etc. I've seen them as far south as Virginia Beach.
In Canal Square we call them "the grubs." There are several others in the locust pack besides the ones mentioned in the article.
Worst story I've heard allegedly about them: A now defunct gallery in Leesburg actually had some of Coxe's works in a group show (she's a stained glass artist); the whole gang was there, and apparently it was the daughter's birthday.
To the gallery owner's dismay, he discovered that once all the food and drinks had been devoured in the main gallery, and before he noticed, the grubs all went to the backroom area, and ate all the food that was stored inside the refrigerator there plus two cases of beer.
When he took them to task for doing this, they responded that they were celebrating the daughter's birthday!
I was told that he was so upset that he had her remove her work from the show and threw them out!
It takes all kinds to make a city's art tapestry: Even the grubs!
Opportunities for Artists at University Galleries
None of these have any application or review fees...
Deadline: October 1, 2004
Monterey Peninsula College is currently reviewing slides by U.S. artists for new exhibitions for the 2005-2006 season. Send up to ten slides and supporting materials to:
MPC Art Gallery
Monterey Peninsula College
980 Fremont St
Monterey, CA 93540
(831) 646-3060
Deadline: October 15, 2004
Valdosta State University's fine arts gallery is now reviewing proposals for solo and small group shows for the 2005-2006 season. Open to all U.S. artists. No sales commission. Send proposal letter and 20 slides, resume and statement to:
Valdosta State University
Dept. of Art
1500 N. Patterson
Valdosta, GA 31602
(229) 333-5835
Deadline October 23, 2004
Cecilia Coker Bell Gallery at Coker College is reviewing proposals for five solo shows in 2005-2006. No sales commission. Send ten labeled slides, slide list, statement, resume and SASE to:
Larry Merriman
Gallery Director
Cecilia Coker Bell Gallery
Coker College
300 E. College Avenue
Hartsville, NC 29550
(843) 383-8156
Deadline November 30, 2004
Edinboro University's Bruce Gallery is reviewing proposals for inclusion in small group shows for 2005-2006 season. Send letter of intent, eight slides, resumes, statements and supporting materials to:
Gallery Director
Bruce Gallery
Art Department
Doucette Hall
215 Meadville Street
Edinboro University of Pennsylavania
Edinboro, PA 16444
(814) 732-2513
The best thing that happens to Washington, DC visual arts is Art-O-Matic and there will be one in 2004!
This is Nirvana for visual artists... if you don't know what Art-O-Matic is then, visit their website and then read my review of the 2002 show here and a second review here.
Over the three Art-O-Matics that have taken place over the years we have picked several artists for our galleries by visiting Art-O-Matic.
Artists such as Adam Bradley, Erik Sandberg, Scott Hutchison, Brad Rudich, Tim Tate, Ardath Hill, and others first came to our attention through these huge, wonderful shows.
Friday, September 17, 2004
This review discusses a new medical theory that tries to explain that the 17th century Dutch master may have had one misaligned eye.
Apparently "the eye on the right side of the painting tends to look straight ahead and the other eye deviates outward," according to a letter published in the Sept. 16 issue of The New England Journal of Medicine.
Apparently this is known as "stereoblindness" and has the same effect as closing one eye, which is what artists do as they try to create three-dimensional images on flat surfaces.
Advantage Rembrandt!
More here.
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