Wednesday, January 18, 2006
Tapedude gives DC streets a sugar rush
Mark Jenkins has been at it again.
This time he has transformed the parking meters around the Department of Energy into huge lollipops.
See them all here.
"Who Do You Love?"
Ian Jehle is moderating a series of art panels at DCAC and it's time for round two this coming Sunday.
On Sunday he's moderating the second panel of the four part panel series "Who Do You Love?" This one will focus on abstraction. The scheduled panelists are: Jonathan Bucci, Isabel Manalo, Jiha Moon, Jack Rasmussen & Robin Rose.
The event starts at 7:30 in the theater at DCAC. Thanks to everyone you made it to panel #1 and to the first group of panelists: Richard Chartier, Kathryn Cornelius, Jeffry Cudlin, Brandon Morse and Jefferson Pinder.
7:30 pm, DCAC, 2438 18th Street NW, Washington DC 20009 - (202) 462-7833
Jan 22 - Part 2: Abstraction, not Abstraction - panelists: Jonathan Bucci, Isabel Manalo, Jiha Moon, Jack Rasmussen, Robin Rose
Feb 5 - Part 3: Using the Figure - panelists: Lisa Bertnick, Nekisha Durrett, Allison Miner, Michael O'Sullivan, Erik Sandberg
Feb 12 - Part 4: Installation, Site-specific - panelists: Mary Coble, Jayme McLellan, Ira Tattelman
Talking points will include:
- "Who's your great grand daddy?" - artistic lineage: personal and public
- "Within these hallowed halls" - public museums as the apex of the art venue pyramid
- "Raphael is my copilot" - technique, refinement and presentation vis-a-vis the Old Masters
- "The boys and girls of spring" - the influence of major collectors (Phillips, Mellon and others)
- "What's not to love" - gaps in the DC artistic paean
- "And now ..." - where does individual practice and our local art scene intersect the contemporary art world?
Scheduled panelists include: Lisa Bertnick, Jonathan Bucci, Richard Chartier, Mary Coble, Kathryn Cornelius, Jeffry Cudlin, Nekisha Durrett, Isabel Manalo, Jayme McLellan, Allison Miner, Jiha Moon, Brandon Morse, Michael O'Sullivan, Jefferson Pinder, Jack Rasmussen, Robin Rose, Erik Sandberg & Ira Tattelman.
Tuesday, January 17, 2006
Campello Comes Down Tomorrow
My current exhibition at the Fraser Georgetown space comes down tomorrow.
Below is the review of the show published in the last issue of the Georgetowner newspaper by John Blee:
The Obsessions and Duende of Lenny Campello
F. Lennox (Lenny) Campello, one of the lynchpins of the DC art scene, is having a show in Georgetown at the Fraser Gallery (1054 31st St. NW, Tues. - Fri. Noon - 3pm, Sat. Noon -6pm).
Campello renders mythic scenes with mystery. He has complete mastery of his medium and works on a ground that seems to come from deep dreaming.
Campello writes on his dcartnews.blogspot.com, the premiere art blog of DC, "For some reason snowy days seem to inspire me to get down and draw. And I was up and early this morning and finished (a) somewhat silly drawing."
The drawing, "Woman on the Moon About to be Swept Off Her Feet by a Flying Bald Man," has a relation to Goya's darkness, or duende. Unlike Goya, Campello does not offer a social or political message. Like Goya, he creates enigmatic juxtapositions of figures or figure and space (as in "Another Obsessive Jackie Kennedy Portrait"), hinting at something disquieting.
Campello states "Myth is one of the driving forces in my work! I love it when someone discovers a bit of legend, or history or religion through one of my works."
Being a gladiator at heart, Lenny takes on some of the major myths from Marilyn to John the Baptist to Frida Kahlo to Saint Sebastian. He is fearless.
His Frida Kahlo is an homage to the Mexican artist and icon. The work presents a calm Kahlo, but in its off-placement on the page there is something that makes it not quite rest-in-peace. It is Campello's uneasy atmosphere of dream that is as much the subject of the work as the stormy Kahlo herself. Campello has been drawing Kahlo since 1977. He has also done hundreds of portraits of Marilyn and Che.
In his "Saint Sebastian" it is the flight of the arrows that is as much the drama as the piercing of the flesh of the poor saint. The enclosure and evocation of the space in the drawing is again the subject as much as the arrow's fight and their unfortunate trajectory.
Campello's drawings from the female nude, including "An Unmarried Woman" and "Woman Thinking of the Sun" present a different aspect of this artist. Here there is a quiet and devout sensuality: a worshipper at the source. (through January 18, 2006)
New blog
Adrian Parsons has a new arts blog: In the City for Art and a Job.
Visit here.
And already Adrian has gone dumpster-diving and come up with some good art!
Unpleasant memory
DC artist Christopher Goodwin is auctioning off a very unplesant memory/art on Ebay.
Bid on it here.
Here we go again...
Bailey is having fits (funny fits anyway) over Blake's plan for the Smithsonian, while Kirkland and his readers are discussing Gopnik's use of new adjectives to describe the status of artists.
Sunday, January 15, 2006
Mid City
The Mid City Artists are holding their Winter Art Exhibition at the Results Gallery at Results the Gym Capitol Hill January 17 – March 12, 2006.
The Mid City Artists are a group comprising some of Washington’s most exciting artists whose talents are helping fuel the art scene in the City’s dynamic Dupont/Logan corridor.
The diverse group of visual artists, sculptors, and photographers participating in the Winter Art Exhibition at Results the Gym Capitol Hill includes Sondra Arkin, Jody Bergstresser, Kristina Bilonick, Tanja Bos, Robert Cole, Gary Fisher, Glenn Fry, Charlie Jones, Betto Ortiz, Anne Marchand, Regina Miele, Mark Parascandola, Byron Peck, Brian Petro, Mary Beth Ramsey, John Talkington, Peter Alexander Romero, Mike Weber, Angela White & Christine Williams.
Please join them for an opening reception held for the artists Thursday evening January 19, 2006, 6:30 – 8:30 PM at the Results Gym, 315 G St. SE, Washington, DC 20003.
Saturday, January 14, 2006
Brit painter wins inaugural Sovereign Art Prize
British painter Susan Gunn has beaten 30 shortlisted competitors from 22 countries to win 25,000 euros (a ton of dollars) in the first ever Sovereign Art Prize.
The prize was set up to celebrate the best in contemporary European painting and raise funds for the arts.
"This is a beginning for me... I'm not represented by a gallery yet and that's the next step," said Gunn.
Read the story here and see all thirty finalists here.
Interface opening
The opening for Interface: Art & Technology last night was very packed, and the whole performance of "Hopscotch" by Trawick prize winner David Page at 7PM was very interesting (and well-documented by the many people filming it). More later, but meanwhile here are some photos:
The above is one of four magnetism-driven sculptures by recent VCU Sculpture program graduate and now New York resident Claire Watkins. In the piece, a plastic armature suspends a square magnet, tilted askew, which is then rotated slowly by a hidden motor. The needles approach the magnet from several angles throughout the corner of the gallery where the sculpture has been installed, and float towards it, attracted and suspended by the power of the magnet. And as the magnet rotates, the needles dance a sensual dance driven by the magnetic fields of the ever-moving magnet.
In this piece, Hutchison has created a series of oil paintings of his eyes, looking in various directions. Working with Edwards, he has then created a video of the eyes that is governed by a computer program written by Edwards, that allow the eyes to follow you as one walks in front of the piece (it has a motion detector); as the eyes follow you, a hidden voice whispers to you.
Friday, January 13, 2006
Missing Close Calls with Big Money Art
Martin Bromirski at Anaba has found a piece of art in a Richmond Thift Shop by an artist apparently included in the 1973 Whitney Biennial.
Makes one wonder about the path for that piece, or what has happened to that particular artist (Lester Van Winkle). Read it here.
Finding (and sometimes missing) great artwork at unexpected places is one of the great thrills of an art lover's life... I think.
It has crossed my path a few times in the past.
First time: And I'll admit that I am not sure if this is a great piece of art, but it sure is an interesting and challenging one! Here's the story: When I was a student at the University of Washington School of Art from 1977 to 1981, as most of you know, I was already a rare but active Kahlophile, seeking and loving everything dealing with Frida Kahlo.
I can't recall where, I think it was in Bellevue, Washington, or perhaps in Richland (or one of the other Tri-Cities) in the desert area of Washington state, in a thrift shop, I found a large oil of Frida Kahlo (not by Frida Kahlo, but of Frida Kahlo) done in 1956.
The oil was framed, and inscribed on the back of the frame, was the notation (in Spanish) declaring that it was a portrait of Frida Kahlo de Rivera, commenced in 1949 and finished in 1956 (a few years after her death). I've spent countless hours trying to track down the artist who did the piece to no avail. But when I do find out who did this really early oil portrait of Kahlo, I hope that it will be big.
Oh yeah... (in case someone out there can help), it is signed by someone named "S. Goldbar" or "S.Golbor."
Second Time: Now it's 1986 or 1987... and I am at Post Graduate school in Monterey, California. And my then sister-in-law Donna came to visit, and we dropped by a small auction house in Monterey.
Donna liked a framed piece that was identified in the auction catalog as a poster by R.C. Gorman.
I looked at it and told Donna: "This looks like an original to me."
We discussed it for a while, and after me admitting that I wasn't a fan of Gorman (and she was), I agreed to bid for her (as the auction was to take place after she would have left Monterey).
To make a long story short, I won the lot for her for around $10; and it was - once I took it home and unframed it - an original piece just as I had suspected.
I took a Polaroid of the piece, and shipped it (along with the art) to Donna, telling her that she now owned an original R.C. Gorman, and she should contact the artist and send him the Polaroid and ask about the piece.
So I shipped it to her, and she apparently contacted Gorman, who wrote back (happy to find out where his original pastel was), confirming the piece's provenance.
That pastel must be worth a few tens of thousands Benjamins now...
Third Time: I think that it was in 1989, and I was living in Scotland and went for a weekend stay in Edinburgh and while there I visited the Royal Scottish Academy’s annual exhibition, which was opening on the same day that I arrived at that beautiful city.
They had two paintings by an unknown Scottish ex-miner named Jack Vettriano, and they reminded me of a very tough Hopper. I actually tried to buy them but at the last minute I chickened out.
They were around 300 pounds each (maybe $500 each at the time), and (as I had just received a huge heating oil bill), I talked myself out of buying it. They both sold on the first day of the exhibition.
Those two Vettriano paintings are probably each worth around a couple of million dollars today.
Fourth time: And Donna comes to visit me in Scotland, where I lived until 1992.
I am living at the Little Keithock Farmhouse, near Brechin, and I was hooked on going to the bi-monthly auctions in Panmure Row, Montrose by Taylor's Auction Rooms.
And we went to Taylor's Auction Rooms while she was visiting, and she liked one of the lots.
As I recall, it was a dirty mezzotint, correctly identified as a 19th century mezzotint by Landseer, with the subject of horses. It was framed in a handmade frame with broken glass, which had punctured and cut the mezzotint.
"Ah..." says Donna, "bid five pounds for me."
Donna leaves... auction comes up.
And I win it for her. Only one bid for five pounds.
And I bring it home.
And I take it out of the frame.
And (hidden by the moulding) I see a pencil note (and the seal) by Landseer's printmaker asking how Landseer likes this proof of the mezzotint, and I see Landseer's response, essentially approving the proof.
And (later after I ship it to her), Donna finds out that the Landseer proof of the mezzotint is worth a few thousand pounds (after it was restored).
Fifth time: And later on I became a good friend of Ian Taylor, who was the owner of the auction house.
And they even auctioned off several of my originals works of Scottish landscapes that I painted while I lived near Brechin in Angus.
And because of him (well, because of his auctions) I subsequently met Catriona at the auction house. And at the moment and and in the process of meeting her, I missed my bidding opportunity to win a sweet deal in winning an auction of an original watercolor by Jack Butler Yeats that sold for fifteen pounds!
Anxiously waiting for the sixth time.
Another story: Chris Goodwin relates that
My story isn't quite so dramatic, but was fun nevertheless.Email me your stories if you have some good one!
In late 2004, I was at Weschler's auction house and saw a large portfolio of posters, most of which were worthless and in poor shape. On top, though, and there for everyone to see, was an austere black and white geometrical image of Tony Smith's gargantuan sculpture "Gracehoper."
The poster was from the Detroit Institute of Art and commemorated its installation. Anyhow, I noticed in one corner what appeared to be a small signature by Tony Smith in white conte crayon.
I got the lot of posters for $35. I contacted a couple of his dealers and they verified that it was his signature and one of the dealers bought it for $450. Not too bad....
Thursday, January 12, 2006
Interface: Art & Technology
Yesterday I dropped by our Bethesda gallery to pick up some artwork that had to be handed to our delivery department (in other words me), and while there I ran into three of the artists installing work for our show opening tomorrow.
As I discussed earlier, this exhibition has been in preparation for over a year, and will showcase some truly amazing exercises of what happens when a talented artist meets technology.
I met the fair Claire Watkins, whose novel work first amazed me when I discovered it at the re-opening of the Arlington Arts Center. For Interface, Watkins has created two sets of works. In the first, she continues to explore the line of work that I first saw at Arlington - that is, wall sculptures that use hidden motors and magnets to deliver a visceral and organic pieces where metal shavings and pins move and dance on top of the surfaces of the works, in a constant and shifting and moving (almost organic) sculpture.
In a second piece, Watkins really pushes herself. She has installed a hanging wall bracket, from which a powerful (if small) earth magnet hangs. At an angle from the wall, and anchored to the wall, a series of threated needles float away from the wall, suspended in mid-air by the power of magnetism. It is minimalism at its purest and most elegant form!
And Trawick Prizewinner David Page continued to build the massive machinery that has everyone on the square abuzz.
Looking like some sort of medieval instrument of torture, the installation and performance will be take place tomorrow during the opening from 6-9PM. After that, DVDs of the performance will be available.
The exhibition includes new work by barely emerging artist Kathryn Cornelius (I'm itching to see her new video on the subject of technology), Claire Watkins, Scott Hutchison, Thomas Edwards, David Page, Philip Kohn and Andrew Wodzianski.
Don't miss this opening tomorrow at Fraser Bethesda from 6-9PM. See ya there!
Artist Housing Survey
The Cultural Development Corporation (CuDC) partners with developers to create affordable space for area artists and their families.
Currently, CuDC is hard at work cultivating new artist live/work housing projects in the District of Columbia and they need your input.
As CuDC begins to consider design specifications, amenities, and renting/owning expectations, an increased understanding of artists' specific needs is critical to the success of these projects.
Please visit this survey page to take this important survey.
Also, please join CuDC staff and other area artists to learn more about CuDC's current projects at one of the following Live/Work Housing Information Sessions:
* Tuesday, February 7, 2006, 6:30-8:30pm
* Sunday, February 26, 2006, 1:00-3:00pm
Both sessions will be held at the Mead Theatre Lab at Flashpoint: 916 G
Street, NW, convenient to both the Gallery Place and Metro Center Metro
stations. For more information call 202-315-1324.
Gallery Round-up
Thinking About Art has a good round-up of current exhibtions along the 14th Street area.
Read them here.
And JT has added a round-up of Dupont Circle galleries. Read that one here.
Coming to the Katzen
The American University Museum at the Katzen Arts Center is already asserting its presence in our region under the guidance of its savvy Director and Curator Jack Rasmussen. The Katzen is and will continue to grow as one of the most important art venues in the Mid Atlantic.
And next week they open their 2006 year with three equally interesting exhibitions; from their news release:
Remembering Marc and KomeiAll three exhibitions will open to the public on Wednesday, Jan. 18 and continue through Sunday, March 12, 2006.
This exhibition introduces the outstanding art collection of H. Marc Moyens who, with Komei Wachi, owned and operated Gallery K in Washington, DC for nearly three decades until their deaths, months apart, in 2003. Mixing local and national artists with Europeans often known better abroad than in the United States, Moyens and Wachi eschewed fashion in favor of the offbeat, the magical and the visually arresting. This selection, the first of its kind since Walter Hopps curated a show of Moyens's holdings for the Corcoran Gallery of Art in 1969-70, encompasses surrealistic/fantastic images by Ernst Fuchs, Jess, and Sandy Skoglund; expressive, metaphorical and raunchy figures by Lisa Brotman, Roy de Forest, Jean Dubuffet, Fred Folsom, Jody Mussoff and Joe Shannon, and diverse abstractions by Edward Dugmore, Tom Green, Pierre Soulages, and Ken Young.
From the Studio
This exhibition will showcase work by the 21 artists who make up the studio faculty in the Department of Art for the 2005-2006 academic year. The work addresses a wide range of contemporary issues through painting, drawing, sculpture, and multi-media installation. Exhibiting artists include: Tom Bunnell, Zoe Charlton, Mary Cloonan, Billy Colbert, Tim Doud, Ben Ferry, Sharon Fishel, Carol Goldberg, Lee Haner, Kristin Holder, Tendai Johnson, Deborah Kahn, Don Kimes, Isabel Manalo, Mark Oxman, Randall Packer, Luis Silva, Jeff Spaulding, Robert Tillman, Seth Van Kirk, and Susan Yanero.
Comic Reality: Political Cartoons by Ibero-American Artists
This exhibition presents more than 100 new or never-before-published political cartoons from 20 Latin American countries, Spain and Portugal, by Ibero-America's best-known practitioners of the genre. Chico Caruso of Brazil, Oscar Sierra of Costa Rica, Elizandro de Los Angeles of Guatemala, Jimmy Scott of Chile, Pancho Cajaz of Ecuador and others, present humorously incisive images leading the charge against hypocrisy, the misuse of power, scandal, incompetence and buffoonery.
Beck's art nominations announced
The nominations for this year's Beck's Futures contemporary arts prize have been announced.
The thirteen artists up for the £20,000 award include sculptors, film-makers and illustrators. I cannot think of a single American art prize where illustrators would be included as "fine artists," as in our nation, we tend to segregate illustrators away from the fine arts.
I think that is silly.
Of the 13 artists, only two come from the Americas: Mexican installation artist Stefan Brueggemann and Brazilian photographer and filmaker Flavia Mueller.
Read the story here.
Only in America
Art by jailed politician; methinks the club may expand soon. See it here.
Thanks James!
Wednesday, January 11, 2006
The Year in Review
In January:
- We were informed that painting was hot again (yawn).
- In DC, Kelly Towles was (and still is) hot at Adamson in his first solo show.
- In Germany, some street cleaners were punished with having to take modern art lessons when they erroneously threw away some public art that they thought was abandoned garbage.
- I almost became an eunuch.
- Anne Ellegood was selected as one of the new Hirshhorn curators (I still haven't met Anne).
- I started raving about PostSecret.
- The Arlington Arts Center re-opened after a long refurbishment hiatus.
- We were told that painting is no longer hot.
In February:
- I revealed how I once fooled a curator by guessing her choices.
- Hot DC painter Ian Whitmore had a great solo at Fusebox.
- Isamu Noguchi opened at the Hirshhorn. Gopnik hated it; I liked it.
In March:
- I raised old issues about missing DoD art.
- A new gallery opened in DC: Shigeko Bork MU Project.
- I urged artists to contact their elected representatives to support the artists' bill making it possible once again for artists to receive a fair market value deduction for donated works.
- Local blogger Kriston Capps raised issues about me contributing gallery announcements to DCist, so I quit.
- The then new WaPo Style editor Deb Heard promised to re-assess gallery coverage. We're still waiting.
- I reviewed some Seattle galleries.
- The exhibition "Faces of the Fallen" caused a lot of angst and opinions.
- The 48th Corcoran Biennial opened.
In April:
- The National Portrait Gallery announced their portrait award competition.
- I curated a worldwide homage to Frida Kahlo.
- Lida Moser became our best selling photography show ever.
- I threatened to kick another blogger's ass.
- The Katzen Arts Center was about to open.
In May:
- Melissa Ichuiji caused a local stir with "Stripped."
- Blake Gopnik had an idea for the Corcoran and the Corcoran responded. And then Bailey interpreted it for th rest of us.
- I was asked to curate Seven for the WPA/C.
- DCist almost outed Borf.
- The Corcoran director called it quits.
- Olga Viso was chosen as the new director of the Hirshhorn.
In June:
- A local artist told us about the Worst New York Gallery Experience in History.
- Joe Kabriel won the inaugural $10,000 Bethesda Painting Prize.
- Kodak announced that all black and white silver gelatin photographic papers have been discontinued.
- Seven opened.
In July:
- The WaPo explained why Blake Gopnik does not review our area art galleries.
- I kicked a Neo wannabe out of the gallery.
- Borf was arrested.
- I reported from the International Comic Book Convention.
In August:
- I discussed the impact of subject matter.
- Michael Brand was chosen as the new head of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts.
- I explained what a "gallery backer" is.
- We began art auctions to help Katrina victims.
In September:
- Hot DC artist Jiha Moon opened at Curator's Office and also took the $10,000 Trawick Prize.
- Warhol Legacy: Selections from The Andy Warhol Museum opened at the Corcoran.
- A list of things that make me go mmm...
- Testudo is coming.
- Options 2005 opened. I reviewed the show here.
- Mark Jenkins got in hot water over plastic excrement.
- Andrew Wodzianski had the first DC podcast of a visual art show.
- I made a proposal to the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities. Nothing heard so far.
- Hot DC sculptor Yuriko Yamaguchi opened at Numark.
In October:
- The city announced $4 million in additional arts funding.
- Alice Neel opened at the NMWA.
- PostSecret was the second highest ranked blog in the world.
- Hot DC artist Tim Tate opened his third solo at our Bethesda space.
- Blake Gopnik announces a new category of artists: "barely emerging."
- The Galleries column moved to Saturdays.
- Terry Teachout wrote about art blogs and art criticism.
- A new gallery opened.
- The Art Bill passed the Senate.
- The Smithsonian debuted a new arts blog.
- I discussed the Vlogging Revolution.
- The Whitney Biennial list was announced and a reader broke it down. No DC area artists were included.
In December:
- Paul Greenhalgh was selected as the new Corcoran director.
- I wrote how video killed the art star.
- The Hirshhorn finally added some DC area artists to its collection.
- PostSecret WPA/C show opened in Georgetown. It became (easily) the most heavily attended non-museum visual art show of the year.
- Borf pleaded guilty.
- JET Artworks closed.
- What Your End-of-the-Year Top 10 List(s) Says About You
Tuesday, January 10, 2006
Spanish Subject
From 2004:
In Spanish, Mona Lisa means (roughly translated) "Smooth Female Monkey."
And now it seems that Leonardo's subject for his most famous masterpiece may have been a Spanish noblewoman.
Read it here.
Bad Things Artists do to Galleries
This actually happened to one of our neighbors in Georgetown:
One of the galleries there (at one time there were eight galleries in Canal Square - soon they will be down to four) had given a show to a local (at the time "hot" artist) who was a painter (I say "was" because I haven't heard of the dude in years).
The artist was supposed to deliver and help hang all the paintings on a Wednesday, in order to be ready for the Georgetown third Friday openings. He did show up on Wednesday with about 50% of the work, and brought some more (freshly finished) on Thursday and to the gallerist's horror, even brought some more on Friday, and even as the show was opening at 6PM, was adding the last painting touches to several of the works.
Needless to say, several of the oils were actually wet.
On opening night, it was crowded (let us not forget that this was a very "hot" painter) and someone apparently rubbed against one of the paintings and smeared some of the oil paint.
Now the gallerist is faced with a very irate person, demanding that his suit be cleaned (it eventually had to be replaced) and with a furious artist, demanding that the gallery pay him in full for the damaged painting.
If I am to believe the gallerist, the case actually went to court, where the judge threw it out.
More bad things that (a) galleries do to artists or (b) artists do to galleries or (c) galleries do to collectors here, and here and here.
