Stripped
While at the Corcoran yesterday I ran into an interesting card announcing a "36 hour non-performance in front of the Corcoran Gallery of Art on the corner of 17th Street and New York Avenue in Washington, DC."

The non performance, by Corcoran student, actress, former WPA/C intern and dancer Melissa Ichiuji, is titled Stripped and asks the question "How much would you loose to appreciate what you have?"

Stripped will take place May 10 starting at 6AM and finish May 11 at 6PM. More info here.

Artsy Friday

There are a ton of great art openings and art parties going on all over town tonight! If you've got nothing to do, then you haven't been paying attention!

I'll be at the Warehouse Gallery party for artists who donated works for their fundraiser.

See ya there!

The Thursday Reviews

In the City Paper, Louis Jacobson reviews William Christenberry at Adamson.

In the WaPo, Jessica Dawson's Galleries column reviews a museum show as she writes about Tim Rollins + K.O.S. show at the Kreeger Museum.

In the Gazette, Chris Slattery reviews Elisabeth Lescault at Creative Partners.

League of Reston Artists (LRA) Juried Show

I will be jurying the LRA Annual Juried Show this coming June. The deadline is May 31, 2005.

This annual Juried Exhibition will take place at the Reston Community Center at Lake Anne's Jo Ann Rose Gallery in Reston, Virginia from June 6 – July 4, 2005.

The competition is open to all Washington, D.C. Greater metropolitan area artists working in all media and there is a $500 Jo Ann Rose Award and $1,000 in Equal Merit Awards.

Details, entry forms, etc. here.

More Opportunities for Artists at the Arlington Arts Center

In addition to the great opportunity first posted here, the newly renovated Arlington Arts Center has a couple more excellent opportunities for artists:

Art from Arlington: July 19 - August 27, 2005. Application Deadline May 25, 2005. All artists living or working in Arlington, Virginia are invited to apply for this group exhibition of artworks in all media. Prospectus may be downloaded at AAC's website.

2005 M.F.A Graduates Exhibition: July 19 - August 27, 2005. Application Deadline May 25, 2005. Open to 2005 M.F.A. Graduates studying in Virginia, Washington DC and Maryland. Artworks in all media will be considered. Floor plans and prospectus may be downloaded on AAC's website or call 703.248.6800, ext 12.

Wen Ma Video

Shigeko Bork mu project will next showcase Jennifer Wen Ma's video installation and performance, "Flight and Cleansing Walk."

Wen Ma's work is like a one-person funerary procession. It is a quiet demonstration of loss and grief, and (at the same time), a personal ritualistic cleansing and purging. The opening reception for the artist will be on May 11 from 6 - 8pm.

The video installation will be on view from May 11 till May 27, 2005. Ms.Ma will perform "Cleansing Walk" in Washington, DC from May 6 - 9.

For the time and location of her performance, please call the gallery. Shigeko Bork mu project is located on 1521 Wisconsin Ave., N. W. No. 2, Washington, DC 20007. The phone number is 202.333.4119

Gallery Openings This Friday

This is the First Friday of the month... and of course that means that the galleries around the Dupont Circle area will have their extended openings. By the way... whoever maintains this website needs to really update it! Some of these galleries have closed while others have opened!

Anyway...Specially interesting will be the opening at Conner Contemporary, where Leigh will have Kehinde Wiley and Sabeen Raja. If you have time for only one show, go see this one.

BLOGs

The Examiner checks in with a timely article on the impact of BLOGS.

Tuesday Arts Agenda

The DCist Tuesday Arts Agenda is here.

Silverthorne Opening

Alexandra Silverthorne's photography exhibition "No More Hiroshimas! No more Nagasakis!" (which is co-organized by the Hiroshima/Nagasaki Peace Committee of the National Capital Area) opens this Thursday at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Library located at 901 G Street, NW in Washington. The opening reception is on the 2nd Floor, goes from 6:30 to 8PM and refreshments will be served.

The exhibition runs through May 29, 2005. For more information visit her website.

Opportunity for Artists

Solo Exhibitions for 2006 in Arlington Arts Center
Deadline: Friday, July 01, 2005

Ten to fifteen artists will be selected for solo exhibitions to take place in 2006 in one of Arlington Arts Center's newly renovated galleries.

All artists living or working in Virginia, Washington DC, Maryland, West Virginia, Delaware, and Pennsylvania are invited to submit slides. Artworks in all media will be considered.

For more info visit this website or contact them at:

Arlington Arts Center
3550 Wilson Blvd
Arlington, VA 22201

Walsh at Nevin Kelly

I've been hearing some very good things about the current exhibition of paintings by Thomas Walsh at Nevin Kelly Gallery.

Walsh's show runs through May 8, and I certainly hope to be able to drop by and take a look before it closes.

Manassas Opening

One of the best watercolorists in our area is Chris Krupinski, and she'll be having a new exhibition at the Center for the Arts' Caton Merchant Gallery in Manassas.

The exhibition opens this Friday as part of the Manassas Gallery Walk from 6-9PM. The reception for the artist is next May 14 from 6-8PM. Free and open to the public, but RSVP requited to 703/330-2787.

Watkins Opening

Julia Rommel's thesis exhibition is opening at American University's Watkins Gallery this coming Thursday with an opening reception from 7-9PM.

Rommel's work has (so far) been my favorite from the MFA thesis shows exhibited at AU.

The exhibition closes on May 11, so hurry!

One Night Stand

Samantha Wolov is putting on a one night erotic photo installation this coming Friday, May 6, from 6-9PM, at the Washington Gallery of Photography.

Its called "One Night Stand", and it is a one night-only installation and Wolov says about her work that

"Essentially, I wanted to create sexually arousing imagery without using the techniques used in modern pornographic magazines -- i.e., no posing, no acknowledgment of the camera, etc. Looking back at art history, the techniques used in Playboy, for example, actually had the opposite, more "sobering" effect.

I am hoping to make a form of "anti-porn" that was still arousing; no posing, complete disregard for the camera, very spur of the moment."

Wolov plans to set up an intimate viewing area, and her photos will then be projected onto the gallery walls.

The installation is free and open to the public and for more information, please email Wolov here.

Century Opening

There's only one gallery in our area that concentrates exclusively on classical realism, and that's Century Gallery in Alexandria.

And Century is hosting a reception this Saturday May 7, 2005 from 6-9PM for four area artists who have achieved a lot of recognition for their classical work; they are: John Murray, Dan Thompson, Randy Melick and Rick Weaver.

Porn as Art

The last great taboo barrier is apparently coming down as porn enters the rarified atmosphere of high art. The NYT has an interesting article on the latest and greatest here. You can get a password for the NYT site from Bugmenot here.

In 1997 I did an exhibition of my portraits of porn movie stars and starlets, and although it did really well (they all sold, and some are in the permanent collection of the Museum of Sex), it still received a rather prudish review in the Washington Post.

I wonder what the reaction would be now?

New Exhibit Up

A new solo Art exhibition featuring the works of Afrika Midnight Asha Abney is currently on exhibition at Norton Kirby Advertising, 2410 18th St NW in Washington, DC.

Hours are Monday - Friday, 10am - 8pm, and weekends by appointments only. The show has been curated by Collin Klamper, Afrika Midnight Asha Abney and David Dyer of Art N Deed. For more information send an email to Aashawarrior@aol.com or call 202/538-3403.

Jacobson on Pluta

While I was away, the City Paper's Lou Jacobson reviewed our current Andrzej Pluta photography show in our Bethesda gallery.

Read the review here.

Kirkland Opens Today

One of the bennies you get by being an arts blogger is that we all read each others' BLOGs and thus everyone who is anyone in the BLOGsphere knows that my good friend J.T. Kirkland is opening his first ever solo show today.

What: "Studies in Organic Minimalism" -– J.T. Kirkland solo art exhibition

Who: Presented by the League of Reston Artists and the University of Phoenix Northern Virginia Campus

When: May 2 – June 25, 2005
Special Reception for the artist: Friday, May 13, 2005 – 6:00 – 9:00pm

Where: University of Phoenix Northern Virginia Campus
11730 Plaza America Drive, Suite 200
Reston, Virginia
For directions, see the LRA's website.

Viewing: Exhibition is free and open to the public during regular business hours
Monday – Thursday 9:00am – 10:00pm
Friday 9:00am – 5:00pm
Saturday 9:00am – 1:00pm