I've received nearly 200 emails in the last two days or so dealing with Artomatic; either dealing with the Gopnik root canal of the show or with the diversification of "lists."

Loads of interesting postings will be coming in the next few days (time permitting)... keep checking, and please go visit Artomatic: the show.

Last night I made my third visit, and spent about five hours re-visiting the show together with Prof. Chawky Frenn from George Mason University. I managed to find quite a few artists that I had missed during my first three visits, although I still haven't found Colin Winterbottom!

By the way, those people who have emailed me bitching about Gopnik's review of Artomatic - please remember that it is his right as a critic to express his opinion, and as much as I disagree with it, I will defend his right to express it.

If you disagree with Blake, respect his right to write his opinion, and then send a letter to his boss to express yours!

Letters should be sent to:

Arts Editor
Style Section
The Washington Post
1150 15th St. NW
Washington, D.C. 20071

Emails should be sent to Arts@washpost.com.

In your letter or email you need to include a daytime and nighttime phone number and an address, and the letters may be edited for length and clarity.

Area artist Jamie Wimberly steps into the Art-O-Matic debate ring with the below note:

"Well, Sacha and Blake really stepped into it . And now I go into the void. With reluctance, I may add since I will probably get blasted for it. But I have to agree with the general criticism made by Blake. Not necessarily about the Art-O-Matic show or the pieces in it, because I actually think the Jeff Koons and Damien Hirsts' of the world are much worse, but the need for standards in art.

There is a general perception that everything is art and everybody is an artist. This thinking came out of intellectual arguments on the most central question in art - what is art? - dating from Duchamp (R. Mutt toilet) and Warhol (15 minutes of celebrity, commercial images as art given a certain context), and really before them. But the thought process has been lost and now we simply have the rotten fruit. That there is no "bad" art and every hobbyist deserves to have their work up in public. Turned on its head, logically speaking, that is the same as saying: Nothing is art and nobody is an artist. After spending oodles of money and time in art school, in the studio, hitting the streets, etc., I, as an artist, absolutely reject that notion.

Given that there does not seem to be any definition to art, a vacuum has been created. And as everyone knows, nature abhors vacuums. So, I would argue non-art values have been filling that void - celebrity, propaganda, political correctness, marketing, corporate affiliations, art as commodity, shock/ outrageousness/ spectacle, or in the case of many of the respondents so far, a chance to party, to name a few. There are very real consequences to this state of affairs, including but not limited to:

1) Art - all contemporary art at least - gets somewhat devalued. And it is very hard - almost impossible - to make a living as an artist. Contrary to the depiction of galleries as ogres with their 30 to 50 percent commission structures, I would add that most galleries as well are struggling mightily. I would not want to be in that business.

2) Art schools have virtually stopped teaching art.

3) True patrons are an increasing rare breed. There are simply buyers of art.

4) Public support for spending on art is scarce due to public boredom/ disgust what is being purveyed as art, so companies are increasingly relied on for funding/ buying art with their own agendas.

5) Criticism - especially strong criticism - does not occur. And when it does, as with the case of Blake's piece, it is declared "elitist" and less likely to be repeated.

6) Superstar artists have become producers and do not actually touch the work themselves. They direct or design.

7) Art has become an excuse and platform - as therapy, to get laid, to party, to become a celebrity, etc.

8) Art has become a marketing exercise with as a commodity to market around.

I could go on. But I wonder what kind of legacy we are leaving in regard to art of this generation. What can be considered "important" art - which, to me, means what will influence future generations? Not much, I am afraid.

I would argue that there is a clear need for standards in art - not in regards to medium (with the conceit that "painting is dead"), or style, or substance/ content. But there needs to be a new/ old way of evaluating art. I offer four suggested standards:

1) Craftsmanship - How well is the piece made? Is it archival? Does the artist show mastery of their chosen medium? Most art today is sloppy and falling apart.

2) Aesthetics/ Beauty - Does this artist deal with the question of beauty in the work - even if the piece is intended to be off-center or even ugly? This is particularly important in regard to painting. Art today is oftentimes willfully ignorant of aesthetics.

3) Spirituality - What I mean here is what Kandinsky referred to as spirituality in art. Does the artist put something of themselves in the work? Does the work have essence? Art today can be awfully sterile.

4) Influences/ History - It is important to know what preceded you. What/ who influenced the work? What is the work trying to contribute? Traditionally, with guilds, a long apprenticeship was required before an individual artist would even be allowed to put that one touch or flourish that was their signature mark. Today's art seems to be very post modern in orientation - trashing history to always be creating the "new new". This is a race to the bottom.

Finally, I would add the all important ingredients of artistic success: hard work, discipline, talent, striving for excellence and luck.

Not everyone is an artist, and not everything is art.

Jamie Wimberly

You can email me responses to Jamie's points if anyone so desires.

Art-O-Matic Top Ten Lists

As you know, I spent seven hours walking Artomatic's halls, passageways and rooms in order to select my top 10 artists from that show. That list is here. I have begun to receive other people's top ten lists and will post them here soon.

I am also working on the following "other" lists:

(a) Copyright Infringement List
(b) Porn List
(c) Hannibal Lechter Art List
(d) Funniest Art List
(f) Top Ten Artists I Had Never Heard Of List

Some advance notice on those lists:

(a) has been won in a close race by Robert Steel. I applaud his courage to take on THE Mouse.

(b) has been won by Iver Olson's photos of lesbian fisting.

(c) has been won by Ira Tattelman's really disturbing installation. Someone best put an ankle tracker on Ira ahead of time.

(d) is still up for grabs... more visits needed.

(f) is still a work in progress... more visits needed.

Sorry folks, there won't be a "Best Dicks in the Show" list, although there are plenty of entries in that stiff category as well. If anyone wants to email me such such a list, I will gladly post it here.

Fun with Lenny and art...

If you haven't visited Art-O-Matic yet, then please do so over the next few days. The show runs until December 5, 2004.

Meanwhile, you can view a lot of the artwork online here. In that online library of artwork, artist Dana Ellyn Kaufman sends this response to Gopnik's review with the painting to the right.

ArtDC and Thinking About Art have both joined the storm caused by Gopnik's rootcanalization of Art-O-Matic. I still think that Gopnik's review will be better for Art-O-Matic in the long run and also reveals his disdain for nearly all things that involve Washington area artists and galleries.

Over at Jesse Cohen's ArtDC, Thomas Edwards (who has one of the most creative pieces at the Artomatic wonderland) writes:

"I'm sorry - I simply don't believe in the hierarchical theories of art criticism. Like a lot of the social sciences, it is mainly BS. Good art speaks for itself, and I believe art critics should talk more about artwork and less about their BS theories and trying to predict what art historians will theorize about in 50 years."

One of ArtDC's commenters writes: "Oh well, I guess the clown couldn't pass up the opportunity to insult 700 people at once, instead of the one or two he usually gets to criticize."

That is funny!

The Washington Blade reviews Art-O-Matic and offers a slightly different viewpoint and in the process re-affirms the true power of this event: the tremendous artistic energy that it generates.

Alexandra Silverthorne and Scott Lassman both note at Thinking About Art that:

In view of Blake Gopnik's overarching dental school analogy, I thought this quote from the Washington Blade article was pretty humorous:

"This is the first major exhibition for gay painter Fortunato “Forty” Dela Cruz, who is finishing his art degree part time at University of Maryland, University College, while working full-time as a dental lab technician."

Maybe Blake was on to something . . ."

Nice catch Scott...

"My sources in the Post tell me..." (does that sound pretentious or what?)

Anyway... the Blake Gopnik root canal of Art-O-Matic is getting so much heat and complaints at the Post, that the world's second most influential newspaper has opened a forum for people to discuss Art-O-Matic, Blake and associated angsts.

Visit the forum and express your opinion.

And let us not forget, that as much as we may disagree with Gopnik's carpet bombing of this most democratic of art shows, it is his right as an art critic to express his opinion.

And let's not forget that if given the choice between no review at all, or a murderous review such as this one, it is manna from heaven to have such a biased, short-sighted, blindfolded review as Gopnik's was.

Why? Because dental surge of anti-provincial negativity will help to drive people by the hordes to Art-O-Matic.

All of the Art-O-Matic artists should send Gopnik thank you notes!

Art-O-Matic Top Ten List

This was not easy to do: 600 plus artists in a maze of rooms and corridors involving over seven hours of walking during the last two nights. Later I will post the top ten lists of several other gallerists, dealers, curators and artists. Email me your top ten list and I will also post it here. They are listed in alphabetical order:

Joseph Barbaccia
Margaret Dowell
Matt Dunn
M. Rion Hoffman
Michal Hunter
Michael Janis
Mark Jenkins
Syl Mathis
Allison B. Miner
Tim Tate

Of the ten artists listed above, I was familiar with the work of all but M. Rion Hoffman, Syl Mathis and Mark Jenkins. We, of course, represent the work of Tim Tate.

Note that four of the artists on this list do not have a web presence (at least that I can find). I find this astounding in this day and age.

Even after all the hours spent so far at Art-O-Matic, I am pretty sure that I've probably missed quite a few artists, as sometimes the building can get quite disorienting.

I am also preparing the following lists:

(a) Copyright Infringement List
(b) Porn List
(c) Hannibal Lechter Art List
(d) Funniest Art List
(f) Top Ten Artists I Had Never Heard Of List

And, no... I've decided not to publish my "Somebody Please Burn This" list. Sorry...

Right on cue for all the Friday night gallery openings and parties scheduled tonight: the rain arrives.

Yesterday the Post's Arts Beat column discussed some artwork stolen from a Dupont Circle area gallery as well as giving kidos to area artist Tim Tate (represented by us) and reports that:

"The gay magazine Out has included glass sculptor Tim Tate on its annual "Out 100" list of notable people. Tate, a founder and co-director of the Washington Glass School, was named an Outstanding Emerging Artist earlier this year at the Mayor's Arts Awards. He joins a mix of established and rising figures in the visual arts section of the "Out 100" -- including pop art icon David Hockney, sexually provocative photographer Anthony Goicolea and Korean interdisciplinary artist Erica Cho."

That newsbit was first discussed here two weeks ago.

Also yesterday, the new issue of the Washington City Paper has a fascinating story by Chris Shott and John Metcalfe on the effects upon the National Gallery of Art's guards to the continuous exposure to Dan Flavin's bright artwork.

"Ever since the gallery’s Oct. 3 opening of “Dan Flavin: A Retrospective,” staffers watching over the sprawling display of 44 illuminated works by the fluorescent-tube-obsessed minimalist have complained of headaches, anxiety, and nervousness—all allegedly brought on by excessive wattage. A combined 48,600 watts, to be exact. One staffer is said to have passed out."

Man do my feet hurt...

It's one AM... and just back from spending about four hours at Art-O-Matic to do the "art dealers top ten" pick.

Ran into several gallerists walking the halls and rooms of Art-O-Matic, including Sarah Finlay and Patrick Murcia from Fusebox, Steve Krensky from Light Street Gallery and others.

Later today (after I get some sleep) I will post my list of top ten artists in the show, and then later I will post some other people's top ten.

If any reader visits the show, email me your top ten and I will post here as well.

Tonight we have the opening of Cuban Artists: Three Generations at Fraser Bethesda, with new work by Sandra Ramos and Jacqueline Zerquera Tejedor, as well as work from the Estate of Carlos Alfonzo.

Mojitos, Sangria, Cuba Libres and Cuban music to go along with the Cuban art will be available as part of the opening from 6-9 PM.

After my opening I'm heading down to the Art-O-Matic opening party.

See ya there around 10 PM!

Surprise, surprise...

Blake Gopnik brutalizes Art-O-Matic in today's Washington Post.

Don't worry... I'll give you guys a real, objective review in a few days, rather than one that (in my opinion) was pre-conceived in his mind and perhaps even his word processor before this eloquent man stepped into the building.

Read it here. The good side of the story is that brutal reviews such as this one is tend to actually benefit the show being destroyed by the critic. I bet that in the coming Sundays, the Post's Sunday Arts will have plenty of letters both agreeing and disagreeing with Gopnik.

And that dialogue is good for the show, for the artists, and for Washington. If you want to send a letter to the editor about the review, learn how to do it here.

So, I actually think that this carpet bombing of Art-O-Matic will be good for the show. It is actually a lot better than a lukewarm review.

Natalie Koss reviews Gehry at the Corcoran and Malone at Fraser Georgetown.

Just back from the press preview of Art-O-Matic, and if anything, it is by far the best one ever! I have sensory overload, after all there are well over 600 artists present, but first impressions are very good, especially as it pertains to the fabulous building.

Lots of familiar faces tonight at the press preview, including Conner Contemporary's hardworking owner Leigh Conner, who was picking out her ten top Art-O-Matic artists list.

Leigh's list will join several other art dealers top ten lists (including my list, Fusebox's Sarah Finlay and Fraser Gallery's Catriona Fraser, which will be used by Art-O-Matic to promote the event.

I will visit Art-O-Matic several times over the next few days (tomorrow I will pick my top ten) and then write a review for the CrierMedia newspapers and one for NPR.

You can read my 2002 review of that year's Art-O-Matic here, and a second review here and a segment from my review of the 2000 show here

I'm not holding my breath waiting for the NGA to answer my question about the cost of their latest acquisition.

Back in 1993 or 1994, I wrote a piece about a Cy Twombly piece that they had acquired and then inquired as to its total cost. My piece ended up getting picked up by a couple of newspapers, including the Washington Post, and it received quite a bit of publicity. I then asked the NGA via letter for the cost of the Twombly acquisition. Ten years later I am still waiting for an answer.

Here's that piece just for fun (if you are a Twombly fan: my apologies for MY opinion about his work):

Twombly over Picasso? The National Gallery of Art's latest acquisition of an exceedingly boring painting by Virginia painter Cy Twombly succinctly brings to light a perfect example of the sort of poor decisions made in the seclusion of museum walls which exemplify why the general public is often at odds with our arts intelligentsia.

Cy Twombly's "Untitled (Bolsena)" was acquired on Friday the 13th of October by the National Gallery of Art at a cost of about one million dollars. The gallery's Collector's Committee also considered a Picasso, a Giacometti and a Baselitz before choosing the Twombly painting, which was aptly described by Washington Post art critic Paul Richards as "evoking the butt-end days of New York action painting. Or a wall besides a public pay phone."

Although it is clear that the Twombly piece will now join the National Gallery's ever growing "Gee, Mom, I can do that!" collection of art, what isn't clear is the rationale for picking Twombly over Picasso or Giacometti. It has been said that Twombly's main claim to fame is his early associations with Jasper Johns and Robert Rauschenberg; if this is his main springboard into the walls of the National gallery, then it is clear to me that a pathetic mistake has been made by the gallery's Collectors Committee. As a matter of fact one would be hard pressed to pick a Johns or a Rauschenberg over a Picasso!

A new Picasso acquisition would have brought the National Gallery some more public interest, and a price tag of a million dollars seems almost a bargain for perhaps the greatest painter of all time. Whatever his detractors, Picasso is a recognized entity which would attract people who both like and dislike his work. I suspect Twombly's "champions" are not enough to prevent this latest acquisition from being ridiculed by the public and dismissed by the critics.

It is also clear that the piece was vastly overpriced, as a similar Twombly sold less than two weeks ago in New York for $167,000. It would be interesting to see in which basement of the National Gallery this scrawling will gather dust in a few years. When it is put into storage, I hope it is well marked as a piece of art, or it may accidentally resurface on a wall next to a pay phone at the Smithsonian Metro Station.

Thinking About Art's posting on Kirkland's disappointment with DC Artists (vis-a-vis their response to his project) has generated a lot of good comments.

One comment discusses the "extremely high cost of digital media. In order to participate, one would need to somehow digitize several works of art so that they could be viewed on your website."

This is incorrect.

The best way to start out in the digital world and avoid the "high cost" is simply to take your own photos of your work, any film type and take it to your corner film developing store and ask them for digital images on a CD ROM.

Or even better, and what I do, is to ship the film to Photoworks and for a very reasonable price (under $25) you'll get two sets of slides, two sets of photos, negatives, a CD ROM of digital images and a webpage on their server (password protected for you) where they store your digital images and you can email them around, or copy them to your PC as needed.

I've been using Photoworks since I was in Art School (1977-1981) and they were called Seattle Filmworks. They are fast and efficient, and this digital service can't be beat.

Next excuse?

Kriston over at Grammar.police has some interesting words on the acquisition of Rachel Whiteread's "Ghost", which as Paul Richard put in his piece last weekend in the Post is "a signature piece of the "YBAs," the chic Young British Artists, and of London's soaring rise in the international art world, and of all that that implies."

Richard suggests that the piece cost in excess of a million dollars and that the billionaire who came up with that money is a local one: Mitchell Rales, who lives in Potomac, and who is an art collector.

The sculpture is on the mezzanine of the East Building, and just like Kriston, I must have walked past it without noticing it (if it truly was there over the weekend). I guess that's a true triumph of minimalism.

I'd like to know how much the piece cost, and frankly since the NGA is a government institution, it should not be a secret. After all, Mr. Rales will get a well-deserved tax write-off (that he can spread over the next five years) for his generous donation. Our kudos to him.

So Dear NGA, we're curious: How many sheckels did this thing cost?

Opportunities for Artists

Deadline: November 13, 2004. Baker Arts Center National Juried Art Exhibition. $8500 in prize money. 2 and 3-dimensional original Fine Art including Photography completed within the past 2 years. For More Information call 620/624-2810. For prospectus send SASE to:
Baker Arts Center
624 N Pershing
Liberal KS 67901

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Deadline: November 16, 2004. A new Chicago gallery is organizing artists and themes for upcoming Winter and Spring programs. Interested established and emerging artists please submit digital images (jpeg), slides, photos etc. along with artist statements, bios, proposals etc. All correspondence to:
Sacha Warholic
LUX Gallery
3036 N Lincoln Ave., Suite 3A
Chicago IL 60657

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Deadline: November 20, 2004. The Masters's Mystery Show, a high profile exhibition and sale of original artist's postcards to benefit the Florida International University's MFA program, will take place at the MB Ritz Carlton concurrently with Art Basil MB '04. The project will follow a format wildly successful in Europe. Works donated by established artists, including some international stars, will be shown along with famous architects, designers and celebrities. All works will have a fixed size (6" x 9") and will be sold at a fixed and very affordable price. The Mystery is that while the names of the participants will be widely publicized, the artists will not be identified during the exhibition, and the signature on each work will only be revealed after the sale is completed. So the public has to "play detective." If you want to participate, please contact them via this email or call 305/490-4852. They will provide the blank cards and return envelopes. All artwork must be received by November 20, 2004.

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Deadline: November 30, 2004. Juried Exhibition - Written Word IMAGINESTATION presents the first of its juried exhibitions for 2005. The theme of this juried on-line show is Written Word. Text must be incorporated into the piece. Artists are invited to interpret this theme in 2 or 3 dimensions in any media. November 30, 2004. Exhibition Dates: January 15 - February 28, 2005. Application Fee: $12 - Members, $15 - Non-Members. Send SASE to: ISQ105 - Written Word
C/O IMAGINESTATION LLC
Box 20326
Lehigh Valley PA 18002-0326

Web site: here or email them here.

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Deadline: January 31, 2005. Art.com and Cultural Institute of Mexico, AN HOMAGE TO FRIDA KAHLO, curated by yours truly. Inviting works in photography, painting, watercolor, drawing and mixed media that feature new portraits of Frida Kahlo, or images influenced by the artist, her life or her work. Prizes include paid trip to Kahlo Museum in Mexico City, cash award and print-on-demand package.

Potential exposure to more than five million art lovers every month. No entry fee, and easy, online image upload and submission process. DEADLINE JANUARY 31, 2005. Virtual collection displayed April 5 through July 6, 2005. For more information, visit Art.com, or email originals@art.com or call toll free 866/308-8597 (US and Canada) or 919/831-0015, x3135 (international).

As an art dealer, one of the things that I have discovered (as the web progresses and artists and artwork become an integral part of the Global Information Grid), is how adept the new young, savvy collectors are at detecting emerging young artists by the art of Googling them.

It is easy to see that lamestream media reviews are slowly but surely becoming a thing of the past, and what's more important (at least to a collector who is not familiar with an artist - but attracted to the work), is the digital footprint that the artist in question has on the Web.

Some, many artists do not seem to understand this yet... some do. Many gallerists certainly don't understand this. I know that our success as a gallery is a puzzle to many elitist people in this area who think they know a lot about art and galleries and yet have never ran one or sold any artwork. I was recently asked by a very important museum curator: "So, you guys are doing pretty good... getting a lot of press and making museum sales... who is your backer?"

She probably thought that I was kidding her when I answered that for our first couple of years it had been "Mr. Visa and Mr. Mastercard."

But I meander... look at your computer screen and see the future of art history. And the meat of selling art (and selling the artist).

The above rant was triggered by the failure of DC area artists and galleries to respond to Thinking About Art's call for artists to discuss their work and ideas and thoughts in 100 words or less. Several have responded and yet Kirkland is justifiably astounded as to the apathy which his project has encountered.

Sometimes I think that the "A" in Art around here stands for Apathy; and yet, now that Thinking About Art has opened its project to all artists (not just DC area), we should see a surge in interest from national artists, and a kick in the ass to our area's artists.

Our Fraser Gallery of Bethesda, Maryland, has an opening this coming Friday Nov. 12 at 6-9 PM. We will host a show titled Cuban Artists: Three Generations which will include new works by Sandra Ramos and Jacqueline Zerquera Tejedor, as well as works from the Estate of Carlos Alfonzo.

These artists represent three generations of Cuban contemporary artists. Alfonzo is regarded as one of the most important Cuban artists in recent years (he died of AIDS in 1991), while Ramos is without a doubt the most talked-about and one of the most collected contemporary Cuban artists alive today (in the collection of many American museums already).

Zerquera is a very respected Havana artist who is now emerging in the international scene.

Opening reception on Friday, Nov. 12 from 6-9 PM. In addition to our famous Sangria, we will also have Cuban music, Mojitos and Cuba Libres.

The opening is part of the Bethesda Art Walk, which now provides free walking tours of the various participating galleries. Free and Open to the public.

See ya there!

WCP vs WP

The Washington City Paper has taken a swing at the Washington Post Sunday Source.

Ben Watson writes: The Washington Post’s Sunday Source section offers light and bubbly how-to’s on burnless dinner parties, easy outings, and mistake-proof craft projects. As the typical young, urban reader whom the section caters to, I thought it would be good to put the Source—and my skills—to the test. I decided to take on Laura J. Vogel’s craft column, “15Min.” Could I find all those craft supplies without a car? Could I assemble them into something cute and useful? Could I do it all in 15 minutes?

It's quite funny! read the whole thing here.

What I don't understand is why this guy was naked...