The Fleer Gallery of Art

Brian Beutler has an interesting and original piece in the current Washington City Paper titled "The Fleer Gallery of Art: The Washington City Paper’s first set of collector collector cards. Bubble gum not included."

The first set of cards depict Fred Ognibene, Tony Podesta, Philip Barlow, Juanita & Mel Hardy, and Aaron Levine.

I guess that I am surprised by who's not in the article, as missing are perhaps two or three Ubercollectors with massive collections. One missing couple has, I would guess, around 4,000 pieces of art in their collection.

Brian Beutler: for your next set of cards, email me baby!

Heading South

I'm driving down to Norfolk today, hopefully arriving in time to be able to watch the Pacific Northwest Oceanic Warbirds from the beautiful leftwing nuts city of Seattle destroy the Blue Collar Steel Workers of Pittsburgh.

I'll be back either Monday or Tuesday.

Bailey on Kennicott

The Rev. Bailey opines on the WaPo's Phillip Kennicott's thin logic in Kennicott's Clash Over Cartoons Is a Caricature Of Civilization.

Read it here.

Cubicle Ten Opening Tonight

Tonight Cubicle Ten is hosting a festive visual experience entitled "Without Formula" at 1827 Sixth Street, NW, Washington, DC.

With this project, Cubicle Ten, has collaborated with MP Development and will turn a newly renovated four unit condo building into a 3,000 square foot art gallery.

Cubicle Ten has selected the following artists to showcase in this exhibition:

Andrew Au, Zoe Charlton, Clark, Billy Colbert, Jeffry Cudlin, Rick Delany, Chris Hoeting, Candace Keegan, David Meyer, Bridget Lambert, Michael Platt, Jefferson Pinder, Jennifer Purdum, Colin Williams, Alex Schuchard, Jonathan Sears, and Trish Tilman.

Opening Reception is tonight, Saturday, Feb. 4, 2006 from 7pm-12:30am - Catering by Local 16 Restaurant. Tel: 202-247-0595.

Wanna go to an opening tomorrow?

Carl Root opens at Glenview Mansion tomorrow, Sunday, Feb. 5, 2006 with an opening reception from 1-4PM.

Wanna go to an opening tonight?

Robert "Rob" Redding author, nationally syndicated radio personality and editor and publisher of the Redding News Review, has a show (titled "Smeared")opening tonight at Warehouse Gallery across from the Washington Convention Center on 7th Street, NW through to Feb. 26, 2006. The artist reception is scheduled for Feb. 4, 2006 at 5 p.m.

Congratulations

To our own Andrew Wodzianski, who in spite of being Fraser Gallery's art critics punching bag, had a terrific opening last night at the Rodger Lapelle Galleries in Philadelphia and whose last solo at our Georgetown gallery will travel to Old Dominion University later this year!

"Who Do You Love?"

Ian Jehle is moderating a series of art panels at DCAC and it's time for round three coming Sunday.

On Sunday he's moderating the third panel of the four part panel series "Who Do You Love?"

This one will focus on the figure. The scheduled panelists are: Lisa Bertnick, Tim Tate, Allison Miner, Michael O'Sullivan, and Erik Sandberg.

The event starts at 7:30 in the theater at DCAC.

Feb 5 - Part 3: Using the Figure - panelists: Lisa Bertnick, Tim Tate, Allison Miner, Michael O'Sullivan, and 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?

Solution

Opening today, Saturday, February 4th, 2006 4-8 pm at the Graham Collection, is the opening reception of "Solution," a group exhibition of new paintings, all of which address a problem facing the black community and suggesting a solution.

The Graham Collection
3518 12th St., NE Washington, DC 20017
Tel: (202)832-9292

Cudlin on Interface

The Washington City Paper's Jeffry Cudlin reviews our current "Interface: Art & Technology" exhibition at Fraser Gallery Bethesda and really likes Kathryn Cornelius' video.

Read the review here.

WPA/C Auction Preview

Last night I went to the WPA/C's preview of the upcoming auction, fully planning then to go on to the opening at Nevin Kelly Gallery.

The preview was quite good, and a veritable who's who of DC art bloggers, power collectors, artists and even a Corcoran curator or two.

I made the mistake of arriving at the preview on a completely empty stomach, as I had been working all day and forgot to eat.

"I'll grub at the preview," I thought to myself as I headed to the Corcoran.

So I get there a little early, get to walk around the entire auction set-up, nicely displayed on the second floor of the Corcoran. The works were selected by:

- Philip Brookman, Senior Curator of Photography and Media Arts, Corcoran Gallery of Art.

- Kendall Buster, Artist and Associate Professor, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond , VA.

- Howie Chen, Branch Manager, Whitney Museum of American Art at Altria and Independent Curator, New York , NY.

- Jean Efron,Principal, Jean Efron Art Consultants, L.L.C., Washington, DC.

- Ashley Kistler, Curator, Visual Arts Center of Richmond, Richmond, VA.

- Adolfo V. Nodal, Arts Impresario (currently Project General Manager of Not A Cornfield Project), Los Angeles, CA.

- Sally Troyer, Former Gallerist, Independent Curator, Art Consultant, Washington, DC

I then went down to listen to the curator's talk, and at the risk of sounding disrepectful, made the huge mistake of sitting on the very front of the auditorium. I say this because I thought that it would be a matter of 30 minutes or so, but by the time that it was over, it had consumed an hour and fifteen minutes, and I was squirming and struggling to keep my stomach from growling too loudly (at least I didn't fall asleep and started snoring, as did some poor bastard above me).

The talk started at 6:30PM, and it was interesting and informative. Present were Effron, Buster and Brookman, and essentially these three highly talented and creative people discussed how (with some rare exceptions) they selected work by talented, creative artists that (a) they had known for years, (b) taught at the Corcoran, (c) taught at VCU or (d) shared a studio with them.

I particularly enjoyed the presentation by the tiny Kendall Buster, who brought a refreshing group of Richmonders to the auction, including some of my favorite pieces in the auction by some of those amazing young artists coming out of VCU's sculture program.

And so I get upstairs around 8PM, to find that most everyone else had skipped the lecture and had done a locust number on most of the good food that the Corcoran always puts out.

So I grab a beer on an empty stomach (bad idea) and munch on some asparagus tips that are left over (is it just me, or are asparagus way overrated as food?), and luckily there's still plenty of nice fresh fruit, and some cheese, but obviously the good stuff has come and gone... sigh.

Back to the artwork and a little bit of chatting with super generous Ubercollector Fred Ognibene and artists Tim Tate, Margaret Boozer and many others. And a few more rounds to look at the artwork. By the time that I got done, it was too late to make it to the Nevin Kelly opening (sorry Nevin - owe you an opening visit).

First of all let me re-affirm that this auction is a terrific opportunity for collectors not only to acquire art by some very talented artists, but also to contribute to the well being of our leading artists' organizations: the WPA/C. Furthermore, under Kim Ward's exceptional leadership, this organization is not only back on track, but also ablaze with activity and enthusiasm.

Here are my picks for the best in this auction in no particular order:


Noelle Tan. Easily the best photograph in the auction belongs to this talented artist, and at a $600 starting bid, it should go early!


Ledelle Moe. This is one of a set of eight or nine sculpted heads exhibited together as one piece under the title "Congregation," by this artist. I am told that she teaches at MICA and has a studio in DC. I've never seen her work before, but I quite liked what I saw here, and I think that she will be one of the "finds" of this auction. She also appears to have an exhibition currently at GMU.


Luis Camejo. This monochromatic painting by this Cuban artist boasts of action and energy, and it reminds me of one of those old illustrations for 19th century pre-photography newspapers. A good addition for collectors of Cuban art.


Michael Fitts. An amazing master of fooling the eye, Fitts works on discarded metal to create amazing oil paintings within that genre. We represent him, and his work has been selling briskly, so this piece will probably go early and sell high.


Susan Jamison. This talented and fair artist is having one terrific run! Whoever bought her painting at "Seven" got a terrific steal. Since then Jamison (now represented by Irvine) has sold out at Scope Miami and has a waiting list for her artwork!

The auction is at the Corcoran on Saturday, February 11, 2006, and to attend please print out and return the RSVP card here.

See ya there!

Trials, Tribulations and Successes of a Gallerist

John Pancake, who is the Arts Editor at the Washington Post, once told me that he felt that running an art gallery was a heroic act.

I don't know about that, but running an independent, commercial fine arts gallery certainly takes a lot of commitment, truckloads of patience, an understanding of what running a business really means (while hopefully contributing to many different understandings of what a cultural discourse truly represents), an ability to share both in the triumph and failure of artists, an immense poker face when telling an artist who has just been destroyed in a review: "Don't worry, a bad review is better than no review at all," endless gritting of teeth from refraining in choking to death the next person (who's never run a gallery) who insists on giving you nonsensical advice on how to run a gallery, and the great sense of relief that floods in when one of your artists does well and succeeds.

A few days ago, as I was driving home after meeting with our accountant and reviewing the year and preparing for 2006, a few things popped into my head about some of the trials and tribulations and successes since we opened the first Fraser Gallery in 1996 in Georgetown.

First, this popped into my head:

Now is the winter of our discontent
Made glorious summer by this sun of York;
And all the clouds that lour'd upon our house
In the deep bosom of the ocean buried.
Now are our brows bound with victorious wreaths;
Our bruised arms hung up for monuments;
Our stern alarums chang'd to merry meetings,
Our dreadful marches to delightful measures.
Grim-visag'd war hath smooth'd his wrinkled front;
And now,--instead of mounting barbed steeds
To fright the souls of fearful adversaries,--
He capers nimbly in a lady's chamber
To the lascivious pleasing of a lute.

So I shook my head to clear Will out of it and then recalled...

- The know-it-all art hanger-on who walked into our first gallery in 1996, looked around and said: "I give you six months."

- Our second show ever, by a brilliantly talented printmaker named Grant Silverstein. We sold dozens and dozens of etchings and thought to ourselves: "WOW, this gallery business is going to be a piece of cake!"

- A huge article in the Washington Post announcing the opening of our Georgetown gallery. We then thought to ourselves: "WOW, it's great getting all this newspaper coverage!"

- How we managed to survive one long summer in 1997 without a single sale! Thank God for our financial backers: Mrs. Visa and Mr. Mastercard!

- How, every year since we opened in 1996, has seen a rise in sales and 2005 was our best year ever.

- The time that a couple came into the Bethesda gallery, he complaining of the price of an omelette at the Original Pancake House, and then he buying out the entire exhibition!

- The artist who complained because we were selling too much of the artist's work.

- The photographer who didn't want to exhibit his work because his photograph didn't sell immediately in a previous group show.

- The young man, who while looking at black and white infrared photographs of Scotland actually asked if everything in Scotland was really black and white.

- The hundreds of people through the years who stand at the front of the door and ask how much does it cost to come in.

- The photographer who shipped a massive photograph, framed under glass in a flimsy cardboard box without any protection and then almost had convulsions when informed that his work had arrived nearly demolished.

- The painter who shipped his small painting is a massive wooden crate meriting inclusion in the Fort Knox Hall of Fame, and paid more for shipping than the painting's price.

- The joy and pride caused by the first time that a museum acquired one of our artists' works.

- The guy who knocked a framed piece down, broke the glass in the fall, and then said: "It was broken before it fell."

- The afternoon before that night's opening when the entire ceiling in the gallery space collapsed because the air conditioning unit's drain pan had been installed backwards. Somehow the entire ceiling was rebuilt in a couple of hours and the opening took place without any problems.

- The time that it rained so hard in Georgetown that the Canal Square flooded and there was a foot of water in each gallery and we ran in and out to rescue the artwork; all the while electric wiring was underwater and hot.

- The time that we arrived at the new gallery in Bethesda to find the new $15,000 wooden floor completely flooded by rainwater.

- The time, after the foundation leaks had been fixed, and a new wooden floor installed to replace the damaged one, when we arrived at the same gallery to find the new floor flooded again from a new hole in the foundation.

- The time that the gallery flooded a third and fourth time from (a) the wrong filter for the A/C unit or (b) leak in the roof.

- The many times that we thanked God because in all these floods not a single piece of artwork was damaged.

- The famous multimillionare who (after attempting to haggle for a photograph selling for $300), said: "If I have this delivered to Great Falls, can I save on the sales tax?"

- The California collector who bought an $11,000 painting on the Internet, sight unseen.

- The three different curators from a museum out West, who flew on three different occasions to see an artist's show, and were gagga over a particular sculpture (priced at $2500) and then, after spending God knows how much money on flights and per diem, asked that it be donated to the museum, as they were short on acquisition funds.

- The art critic who made 61 cell phone calls over a 24 hour period to ask (and re-ask) some very basic questions which could have been answered by reading the press release, and killed my cell phone minutes allowance for that month in one day.

- The many people and writers and critics who made appointments on Sundays and Mondays or during odd hours and then never show up.

- The lawyer from New York who keeps calling trying to find certain gallerists no longer in business who have ripped off his clients years and years ago.

- The poor artist(s) who always show up at a crowded opening and want you to look at his or her portfolio.

- The super rich artist-wanna-be who always shows up at a crowded opening, wants you to look at his or her photographs of an African safari and asks: "What does one have to do to sell stuff in this store?"

- The delight in the face and eyes of an art student making his or her first gallery sale ever.

- The first time that we got a review in a national art magazine.

- The artist who planned her American debut for an entire year and then wasn't allowed to travel to the US for her opening, which sold out before the show opened.

- The time that the man hole cover blew up in Georgetown in front of the gallery, starting an underground fire, closing the neighborhood down and ruining the opening.

- The second time that another man hole cover blew up in Georgetown in front of the gallery, starting an underground fire, closing the neighborhood down and ruining another opening.

- The time that an electrical power outage shot down all of Georgetown and ruined our Frida Kahlo exhibition's opening.

- The first time that a show sold out before it actually opened up to the public.

- The people who ask every once in a while: "Does anyone actually, ever buy art?" And the many times that we actually ponder the same question.

- The time that the really expensive magazine ad had the wrong opening date.

- The local museum curator who never comes down to DC galleries, but who acquired one of our artist's works while it was on loan to another gallery in another city.

- The first time that a museum asked to borrow work for an exhibition.

- The collector who said on the phone: "Just pick one of her paintings that you'd think I would like and put a dot on it."

- The first time that one of our artists received a review in the New York Times.

- The time that the city fathers of Washington, DC wanted to prohibit galleries from serving wine at the openings.

- The many times that someone offers us money to host their exhibition. And the many times that we then see that "artist" exhibiting that vanity exhibition in another gallery in town.

- The first time that a museum in another country acquired work by one of our artists.

- The first time that a museum asked for one of our exhibitions to travel to the museum.

- The rich "artist" who wanted us to exhibit her really ugly paintings; each one boasted to have over $60,000 of precious stones embedded into the thick, impasto paint.

- The grubs who come to the opening, look around the space (not at the art) and then ask: "Where's the food?"

- The time that Sotheby's asked us to become an Associate Dealer, and how we managed to create over 800 secondary art market sales for emerging DC area artists.

- The time that a collector wanted to buy a nude painting of a man, but wanted the artist to paint over the genitalia.

- The amazing number of times that it either snows or rains on opening night.

- The time that a furor was created in Bethesda over our exhibition of huge paintings of very large, nude women.

- The first time that one of our exhibitions was featured on television.

- The first time that we got a review in an international art magazine.

- The time that I handed back a photograph to the photographer who wanted me to look at it. He/she dropped it a few minutes later, broke the glass and scratched the photo and then wanted to have our insurance pay for it.

- The dozens and dozens of "collectors" from Nigeria who email us everyday and who want to buy everything in our "art store" if only we send them our banking details so that they can wire the payments to it.

- How, after nearly ten years as a gallerist, there are still art critics or writers, who apparently write about DC art, DC artists and DC galleries, and yet I've never met and as far as I know have never set foot in our galleries.

- The many times that someone walks either into our Bethesda gallery or our Georgetown gallery and says: "I didn't know there were any galleries around here."

- The invited curator who "curated" a show of mostly his friends and colleagues.

- The other invited curator who put together one of the most amazing juried shows ever staged in our gallery.

- The still incredible fact that our website gets over a million hits a month, and every month it kills my bandwidth allotment.

Wilson Building as a DC Artists' Collection?

As I mentioned here, the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities is currently accepting applications for the Wilson Building Public Art Collection.

The Wilson Building is located downtown at 1350 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW in our capital.

The historic building serves as the headquarters for the Mayor and City Council for the District of Columbia. The works purchased through this call for entries are specifically designated for permanent installation in the Wilson Building.

And this is a very big building, with some very art-friendly walls, is just waiting to be filled with artwork. Only DC, Virginia and Maryland artists are eligible, and I believe that DC residents have some priority.

And I really think that this collection stands a chance to become a very strong and significant opportunity to put together (in one place) a very good sampling of Washington, DC regional artists.

And (of course) this being a public art collection, it immediately leaves out all nudity and any remotely controversial subject - but that's not the Commission's fault, nor the curator's; it's just an unwritten rule in American public art.

Nonetheless I think that this opportunity is as good as any as they come because:

(a) There's no cost associated (entry fees, etc.)
(b) It's easy to enter (you can send slides or CD ROM)
(c) You have a month to prepare (deadline is Feb. 24, 2006)
(d) The curator (Sondra Arkin) is actually someone who has really deep roots in the DC art scene, and knows what makes it tick - artists, galleries, dealers, schools, etc.

No excuses!

And I sincerely hope that some of my fellow gallerists encourage some of their big name area artists (just as we have) to apply and submit to this call, and hopefully be included in the closest that we'll have in this area to a permanent DC artist exhibition.

Download the application here.

Art Bank

Update: The website has been updated and the entry forms are here.

Even thought the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities website does not say so, they are currently accepting entries for their Art Bank. The deadline is February 24, 2006.

I am told that independent curator Vivienne Lassman, a former gallerist (she was a partner in the Troyer-Fitzpatrick-Lassman Gallery, which was once located where Irvine Contemporary now is), and who also worked for the Commission in helping to select the artists for the Washington Convention Center, will be helping to select the works accepted into this round of Art Bank.

Call 202/724-5613 for an entry form or download a copy here.

Claire Watkins

The current "Interface" exhibition in our Bethesda gallery has really been drawing a diverse and constant flow of visitors, including several schools who have come in groups to see the show.

And Claire Watkins amazing magnetism-based kinetic sculptures have really been drawing the "oohs" and "aaahs" from nearly everyone. Watkins is a recent graduate of VCU's highly acclaimed postgraduate sculptural program, ranked number one in the nation (I am told).

The hypnotizing sculpture of the rotating magnet, hanging from a plastic, clear bracket and attracting a set of ever moving, dancing needles has clearly become the star attraction of the exhibit.

To me, the interesting thing about this sculpture is the fact that it will never be the same once de-installed and re-installed in whatever collector's home it ends up in (it's still available for sale by the way). When the sculpture sells, Watkins will have to go to the collector's home and install the work in a chosen area.

I suspect this will be a placement chosen by both artist and buyer, and brings some interesting questions to the whole classification of the piece. For example, a smart thing for the collector to do, is the video the whole installation event, as I found it fascinating to see Watkins weave the installation of the sculpture in the gallery's corner space. It would be particularly interesting to see her re-create that, in a different space (someone's home) once the piece sells.



On the gallery’s main wall, her other three sculptural arrangements hang: two triptychs and a diptych. They are ink and acrylic etchings on a copper plate, floating away from the wall, projected from a plastic armature that hides a small motor. The hidden motor rotates a small magnet, and this magnet, in turn, causes pins and iron filings to dance and move on the surface of the etchings.

And the interesting thing that I've noticed over the days since she installed the pieces, is that the metal filings, pins and other metallic objects that dance and move on the surface of the etchings... ah... move! So it seems that the movement is not only driven by the rotating magnet behind it, but also by the ever changing magnetic fields of the Earth itself.

What does this mean? It means that these sculptures are never, ever quite the same at any given second; they're always evolving and changing and moving. One day the filings have climbed atop pins and radiate outwards; a few days later a lonely pin has drifted away from the pack, and so on.

Watkins, who now lives in New York City, is currently speaking with several New York galleries and I am sure that we will continue to hear great things about this talented young artist.

"Interface" runs through February 8, 2006.

Whippersnappers

Conner Contemporary Art is damned pleased to introduce the work of Fatima Hoang, Michael Magnan, Maki Maruyama, Annie Schap, Zach Storm and Matthew Sutton in Whippersnappers – an exhibition of young, bright, culturally astute artists who, in their opinion, rock.

There will be an opening night reception at Conner Contemporary Art on Friday, February 3rd from 6-8pm, and the show runs through March 11.

Opportunity for Artists

Deadline: February 15, 2006

Cows, Pandas, Elephants, Crabs, Apples, Mermaids, Testudos and now doors!

"Making an Entrance" offers an opportunity for artists to create artistic doors.

Details here and the prospectus here.

Bodypainters

Adrianne Mills and company had a load of fun painting some bodies last weekend at the Anne C. Fisher Gallery in Georgetown. See loads of images here.

By the way, the person getting painted is the very talented artist Michal Hunter.

There's still time to catch "Bodies of Work" at the gallery, and see some of Mills' intelligent photography on this sensual subject. The show runs through Feb. 11, 2006.

Gopnik on Kessman

A rare mini review by the WaPo's Chief Art Critic of a Washington, DC gallery show.

Read Gopnik's mini review of Dean Kessman at Conner here.

What Good Are the Arts?

Read this WaPo review of a recent book on the above subject. More on this later.