Pot Calling the Kettle Black

In an interesting and well-crafted review of "The Art of Richard Tuttle" at the Whitney Museum of American Art, the WaPo's Chief Art Critic writes (italics mine):

"Hilton Kramer, then a famously conservative critic at the New York Times, took the show as the perfect occasion to release some of his trademark bile. He called the exhibition "irredeemable," "pathetic," "a bore and a waste."

Mmm... a review of the Pot's last couple of years' worth of art reviews may reveal a few violations of the Kettle's trademarks.

Breaking Down the Whitney Biennial List

A DC Art News reader has spent some time doing some research in breaking down the list of artists selected for the 2006 Whitney Biennial. As expected (considering the curators): lots of home movies, photography and sculpture/installation.

Other fun facts: The researcher counted two people from Cal Arts and five people from Houston, Texas. Also about four people were art critics as well as artists. There may also be a few gallery owners. Here's the breakdown (and also see updates at bottom of posting):

All over the place - Jennifer Allora and Guillermo Calzadilla
? - Dawolu Jabari Anderson
Video - Kenneth Anger
Video - Dominic Angerame
Anonymous Collection
Video - Christina Battle
Video - James Benning
Video - Bernadette Corporation
Photography - Amy Blakemore
Video - Louise Bourque
Mixed Media on Canvas - Mark Bradford
Drawing and Photography - Troy Brauntuch
Video Installation and Drawing - Anthony Burdin
Video - George Butler
? - Carter
Performance/Happenings - Carolina Caycedo
Research Organization - The Center for Land Use Interpretation
Video - Paul Chan
Video - Lori Cheatle and Daisy Wright
Poetry/Photography/Multimedia - Ira Cohen
Video - Martha Colburn
Painting - Dan Colen
Photography - Anne Collier
Composer or Video - Tony Conrad
Performance and Lecture Group - Critical Art Ensemble
Photography/Mixed Media - Jamal Cyrus
Grass Roots Satellite Network - Deep Dish Television
Mixed Media/Installation/Painting -Lucas DeGiulio
Sculpture/Installation - Mark di Suvero and Rirkrit Tiravanija
Painting - Peter Doig
Video/Performance - Trisha Donnelly
Photography/Installation - Jimmie Durham
? – Maybe Sound art - Kenya Evans
Sculpture/Installation - Urs Fischer
Video - David Gatten
Video - Joe Gibbons
Sculpture/Installation/Drawing - Robert Gober
? - Deva Graf
Video/Photography - Rodney Graham
Sculpture/Mixed Media - Hannah Greely
Painting - Mark Grotjahn
Sculpture/Photography/Drawing - Jay Heikes
? - Doug Henry
Video/Sculpture/Photography - Pierre Huyghe
Printmaking - Dorothy Iannone
Sculpture/Installation - Matthew Day Jackson
Video - Cameron Jamie
Robotics - Natalie Jeremijenko
Music/Cartoonist - Daniel Johnston
Video - Lewis Klahr
Painting - Jutta Koether
Video - Andrew Lampert
Sculpture/Assemblage/Installation - Lisa Lapinski
Sculpture - Liz Larner
Photography - Hanna Liden
Video - Jeanne Liotta
Video - Marie Losier
Photography - Florian Maier-Aichen
Painting - Monica Majoli
Drawing - Yuri Masnyj
Performance/Video - T. Kelly Mason and Diana Thater
Photography/prints - Adam McEwen
Video/Poetry/Performance - Taylor Mead
Installation/assemblage - Josephine Meckseper
Photography/Painting - Marilyn Minter
Sound art - Momus
Sculpture/Drawing - Matthew Monahan
Painting - JP Munro
Photography - Jesús "Bubu" Negrón
Photography/Installation - Kori Newkirk
Drawing/Painting/Printmaking - Todd Norsten
? - Jim O’Rourke
Collaborators - Otabenga Jones & Associates
Must be a MultiMedia Video Installation - Tony Oursler and Dan Graham with Rodney Graham, Laurent Berger, and Japanther
Hybrid Sculpture/Painting - Steven Parrino
Painting/collage - Ed Paschke
Video - Mathias Poledna
Drawing/Sculpture/Installation - Robert A. Pruitt
Painting/Drawing - Jennifer Reeves
Sculpture - Richard Serra
Installations/sculpture - Gedi Sibony
2 artists named Jennie Smith.. One paints; one does glass. Who is it? - Jennie Smith
Photography - Dash Snow
Video - Michael Snow
"fictional artist, performer and art dealer" - Reena Spaulings
Mixed Media/Painting/Drawing - Rudolf Stingel
Photography - Angela Strassheim
Photography/Installation - Zoe Strauss
Video - Studio Film Club
? - Sturtevant
Painting - Billy Sullivan
Painting/Drawing - Spencer Sweeney
Video - Ryan Trecartin
Painting - Chris Vasell
Video - Francesco Vezzoli
Sculpture/digital manipulation - Kelley Walker
Sculpture - Nari Ward
Photography - Christopher Williams
2 artists with this name. One painter, one video - Jordan Wolfson
It’s a small Gallery - The Wrong Gallery
Video - Aaron Young

The Art Newspaper interviews the curators. Read it here.

Update: Chris from Zeke's Gallery comes through with some updates:

1. "Dawolu Jabari Anderson" is probably "Jabari Anderson."

2. "Carter" might be Rob & Nick Carter (but then again might not).

3. "Deva" might be a tag name for a GRAFfiti artist.

4. "Kenya Evans" appears to be more of a painter than anything else. See it here.

5. "Jim O’Rourke" is a member and the producer of Sonic Youth (the downtown NY noise band)

6. "Sturtevant" is here.

And Chris also can't find anything concrete for Doug Henry, and Jennie Smith.

Corcoran Director

Paul Greenhalgh is the new Corcoran director.

DC Art News extends a welcome to Greenhalgh and wishes him the best of luck in running the only DC area art museum that actually pays a little bit of attention to DC area artists.

Read the WaPo article here.

Whitney Biennial List

According to their press release, the 2006 Biennial is the "signature survey measuring the mood of contemporary American art." It is however, loaded with European artists.

Nonetheless, congratulations to all the artists in the Biennial!

Jennifer Allora and Guillermo Calzadilla
Dawolu Jabari Anderson
Kenneth Anger
Dominic Angerame
Anonymous Collection
Christina Battle
James Benning
Bernadette Corporation
Amy Blakemore
Louise Bourque
Mark Bradford
Troy Brauntuch
Anthony Burdin
George Butler
Carter
Carolina Caycedo
The Center for Land Use Interpretation
Paul Chan
Lori Cheatle and Daisy Wright
Ira Cohen
Martha Colburn
Dan Colen
Anne Collier
Tony Conrad
Critical Art Ensemble
Jamal Cyrus
Deep Dish Television
Lucas DeGiulio
Mark di Suvero and Rirkrit Tiravanija
Peter Doig
Trisha Donnelly
Jimmie Durham
Kenya Evans
Urs Fischer
David Gatten
Joe Gibbons
Robert Gober
Deva Graf
Rodney Graham
Hannah Greely
Mark Grotjahn
Jay Heikes
Doug Henry
Pierre Huyghe
Dorothy Iannone
Matthew Day Jackson
Cameron Jamie
Natalie Jeremijenko
Daniel Johnston
Lewis Klahr
Jutta Koether
Andrew Lampert
Lisa Lapinski
Liz Larner
Hanna Liden
Jeanne Liotta
Marie Losier
Florian Maier-Aichen
Monica Majoli
Yuri Masnyj
T. Kelly Mason and Diana Thater
Adam McEwen
Taylor Mead
Josephine Meckseper
Marilyn Minter
Momus
Matthew Monahan
JP Munro
Jesús "Bubu" Negrón
Kori Newkirk
Todd Norsten
Jim O’Rourke
Otabenga Jones & Associates
Tony Oursler and Dan Graham with Rodney Graham, Laurent Berger, and Japanther
Steven Parrino
Ed Paschke
Mathias Poledna
Robert A. Pruitt
Jennifer Reeves
Richard Serra
Gedi Sibony
Jennie Smith
Dash Snow
Michael Snow
Reena Spaulings
Rudolf Stingel
Angela Strassheim
Zoe Strauss
Studio Film Club
Sturtevant
Billy Sullivan
Spencer Sweeney
Ryan Trecartin
Chris Vasell
Francesco Vezzoli
Kelley Walker
Nari Ward
Christopher Williams
Jordan Wolfson
The Wrong Gallery
Aaron Young

Read about the Biennial here.

New Corcoran Director

I promised my source that I wouldn't reveal the name, which the Corcoran will announce on Friday Thursday.

But here's a hint: England.

New

Thinking About Art has a great discussion going on about the relative merit (if any) of the "new" in art.

Read it here.

Rising Voices Update

Giovanni Battista

I have been sort of having an artist's block lately when it comes to my own drawings, which is a bad thing, since I have a show opening December 16 at Fraser Gallery Georgetown.

I'd like to have about 25 new drawings, and so far... ahhh...

So whenever I am stuck, one of the subjects that I tend to return to are the recurring images in my artwork, such as images of Frida Kahlo, which I have been drawing, painting and sculpting since 1977, when I first saw her amazing work, or Che Guevara, whose iconic face and figure keeps reappearing in my art throughout the years.

Or in this case, the image of John The Baptist. The below piece is a new drawing (charcoal on 300 weight paper, about 3 x 9 inches):

Opportunities for Artists

Deadline: January 15, 2006

New Contemporary Gallery in Denver, Colorado is now accepting submissions for its 2006 exhibition schedule. Open to national artists with an emphasis on contemporary works. Email inquiries to Remmifineart@aol.com or please send resume, bio, SASE and 15 images of work on slides or CD to:
Remmi Fine Art
776 Santa Fe Dr.
Denver, CO 80204

---

Deadline: January 27, 2006

The 2006 Bethesda International Photography Competition. Open to all photographers 18 years and older. All photography not previously exhibited at the Fraser Gallery. The maximum dimension (including frame) should not exceed 40 inches in any direction. $950 in cash prizes. Details and entry forms here or email the Gallery for an entry form or send a SASE to:
Fraser Gallery
7700 Wisconsin Avenue
Suite E
Bethesda, MD 20814
301/718-9651
info@thefrasergallery.com

---

Deadline: March 1, 2006

The Second Chance Foundation Gallery is located on Martha's Vineyard, and they are accepting artist submissions for exhibition opportunities. Qualifications: emerging and professional artists with regional/national experience and exposure. Note: only submissions with a bio, resume and a minimum of five color slides will be considered. Send SASE to:
The Second Chance Foundation
c/o Artist Submission
P.O. Box 727
Vineyard Haven, MA 02568

Tate on TV

Around Town has a piece on Tim Tate currently running on WETA TV. See it online here.

It will also be on TV tomorrow (Wednesday evening) at 10:52PM.

The Vlogging Revolution

DMV artist Rob Parrish is a Vlogger and Hopper Video is his Vlog.

Vlogging (aka video podcasting) should be of interest not only to video artists but to all artists and art venues in general. The key event that has made posting video so attractive is that there are now several sites that will host your video for free. This eliminates worries regarding bandwidth issues. If you're interested check out FreeVlog. It is a very well done guide to vlogging.

And I agree with Rob Parrish in that Vlogging has some potential for artist self-promotion, especially since it can be done for free!

Anyway... Vlogs are essentially blogs that have video content in addition to text. And like podcasts, you can subscribe to a vlog and have the videos downloaded to your computer via iTunes or via specialty vlog aggregators (Check out MeFeedia.com and also GetFireAnt.com).

Mefeedia has some interesting tools to search for vlogs. FireAnt comes with about thirty or so vlogs pre-loaded.

Another fun way to find vlogs, if you've got some time on your hands, is to go to vlogmap.org. There you will find a satellite picture of the world via Google Earth. On the picture are flags, and each flag represents a vlog's physical location and contains a link to the vlog. So, you can trot around the world checking out vlogs.

Soon, perhaps we will have all of our artists discussing their shows through an online video, and perhaps even sooner, we'll have online art bloggers doing our art criticism thing through a terrific marriage of words and video and imagery.

Can anyone else hear the end of the printed newspaper creep a little closer?

Lawrence on DC art round-up

Sidney Lawrence writes a really good round-up of our area's visual arts goings-ons published at Art Net Magazine and in the process mentions DC Art News!

Thank you Sidney! Read the Capital Roundup here.

For all the new art devotees checking in: come back often.

Smithsonian debuts art blog!

Kriston has been keeping all of us in check about announcing Eye Level, the new art blog by the Smithsonian, but today it's official!

So what's this new important art blog about?

Here's the short version: Eye Level investigates American art—its history, evolution, and currents. The hope is that this blog hosts a vital conversation among artists, curators, collectors, and enthusiasts on a broad range of subjects related to American art. It's the kind of conversation you have in a museum—that unique social space that a museum provides—that Eye Level would like to bring to the blogosphere.

More about what Eye Level is about here. Visit often: Eyelevel is here.

When are the openings?

This is the most common question emailed to me, as new readers and new people interested in the DC area visual art scene discover DC Art News and our area's visual art scene itself.

DC area art galleries are generally now centered on six loosely gathered gallery concentrations: Dupont Circle, Bethesda, 14th Street area, Georgetown, 7th Street corridor, and Old Town Alexandria.

First Fridays: With 21 member galleries and art venues, the Dupont Circle galleries has the largest number of galleries roughly concentrated around the Dupont Circle area of DC. Many of these galleries host openings and extended hours (generally 6-8PM) on the First Friday of each month.

Second Thursdays: Seven galleries in and around King Street in Old Town Alexandria host openings and extended hours on the Second Thursday of each month. Other galleries in the area, as well as the 83 artists studios inside the Torpedo Factory host different openings ad hoc.

Second Fridays: With 12 member galleries and art venues, the Bethesda Art Walk also has a good number of participating visual art spaces offering openings and extended hours (6-9PM) as well as a free guided tour on the Second Friday of each month.

Third Thursdays: A handful of art galleries and venues are within walking distance of each other around the 7th Street, NW corridor and still host (I think) joint 3rd Thursday extended hours and openings.

Third Fridays: The five galleries inside the Canal Square (31st and M Street, NW in Georgetown) host joint openings or extended hours from 6-9PM each and every 3rd Friday of the month. The other half dozen or so Georgetown galleries within walking distance host their openings ad hoc.

14th Street: Initially anchored by Fusebox Gallery, a handful of very good art galleries and art venues now congregate around the 14th Street, NW area and host openings at various times throughout the month.

Georgetown Openings

Next Friday, December 2, from 6-8PM, two of the Canal Square galleries are having openings from 6-8PM.

On the second floor, the Anne C. Fisher Gallery hosts a reception in honor of their well-received, current exhibition, South American Holiday. This lively exhibition by several South American artists is a feast for the eyes! It includes mixed media collages by Joan Belmar, paintings in acrylic on canvas and acrylic on paper by Patricia Secco, and monoprints, hanging paper constructions and the video Zapatos Blancos by artist Helga Thomson.

Under the Anne C. Fisher Gallery, our neighbor Parish Gallery opens a new group show with work by Floyd Coleman, Victor Ekpuk, Ron Flemmings, Liani Foster, Naza McFarren, Roberto Morassi, Deanna Schwartzberg, Stephanie Parish Taylor, and Yvette Watson.

Congratulations

The Smithsonian American Art Museum has awarded the 2005 Charles C. Eldredge Prize for Distinguished Scholarship in American Art to Elizabeth Johns, professor emerita of the history of art at the University of Pennsylvania.

Her recent book, Winslow Homer: The Nature of Observation, is recognized for its complex and sympathetic portrait of the artist. She has written several influential books on American art, and curated a number of exhibitions.

Johns will be giving a lecture on Thursday, December 8 starting at 3:30 p.m. with a reception to follow.

Gallery Talk

This Saturday, Nov. 26th at 1 pm Tim Tate will be giving a gallery talk about his new work at our Fraser Gallery in Bethesda. Plenty of validated parking underneath the gallery, and one block north of the Bethesda Metro stop on the red line.

What : Tim Tate's new solo sculpture show: "Caged By History" - Gallery Talk
Where :
Fraser Gallery
7700 Wisconsin Ave
Bethesda Plaza, Suite E
Bethesda, MD 20814
301-718-9651

When : Saturday, Nov. 26th at 1pm
Show runs thru Dec. 7th, 2005

Art Bill Passes in the Senate

Last March, I asked everyone to write their congressperson in support of H.R. 1120 "ARTISTS' CONTRIBUTION TO AMERICAN HERITAGE ACT" Introduced by Congressmen Jim Ramstad (R-MN) and Ben Cardin (D-MD) and Senate Bill S. 372 "ARTIST-MUSEUM PARTNERSHIP ACT" Introduced by Senators Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Robert Bennett (R-UT).

The artists' bill is making it possible once again for artists to receive a fair market value deduction for donated works and has been making its way through the legislative process. The bills had been reintroduced in both the House and the Senate and the wording of the bill was approved Friday as an amendment to a broader $59.6 billion tax relief bill passed by the Senate.

It now goes to a House-Senate conference committee. Unfortunately, the House version of the tax relief bill does not currently include the arts provision, but the senators who introduced the amendment - Charlie Schumer, Democrat of New York, and Pete Domenici, Republican from New Mexico, both have apparently stated that they are hopeful that the House committee would support it.

So... contact your House Representative ASAP! If you do not know how to contact your legislator, visit this website. A sample letter is available here.

Currently, when an artist donates a work of art, the artist can deduct the cost of the materials; however, if anyone else (but the artist) donates the work, they can deduct the actual fair market value of the work. This law would allow the artist to deduct the fair appraised value of the donated work, if donated within a certain period of time.

New DC Arts Blog

Painterly Visions is a new arts blog by DC area artist Anne Marchand.

And she already comes up with a scoop by revealing that CuDC no longer hosting the 3rd Thursdays gallery crawls in the Penn Quarter.

I invite CuDC to respond, but I hope that this is not true, as we need to continue to grow, not scale back, our gallery scene.

Read Painterly Visions here.

Silverthorne on current shows

Alexandra Silverthorne reviews Gilliam, Warhol and Scully at various venues around town.

Read them here.