Thank You Marc and Komei

Before I get started: the more that I visit the new Katzen Art Center’s galleries, the more that it dawns on me that we now can boast to having one of the best visual art spaces in the Mid-Atlantic; the place is just amazing, and I am hypnotized by the way that walls pop in and out and curve around, forcing the visitor to admire not only what’s on display, but the space as well.


On display currently is the massive "Remembering Marc & Komei" exhibition through March 12, 2006.

This exhibition introduces 92 artists from the 2,500 plus art collection of H. Marc Moyens and Komei Wachi, the deceased owners of the now closed Gallery K in Washington, D.C.

This exhibition, the first to show the collection since Walter Hopps curated a show of Moyens’s collection for the Corcoran Gallery of Art in 1969-70, is a truly unique opportunity to view, study and learn what makes successful art collectors and successful art dealers often merge into one entity.

At first sight, the initial reaction is to try to write that Moyens and later Wachi had an amazing diverse and eclectic taste in art. Once we check that initial impulse with the fact that the collection spread over many decades, it is easy to see that their tastes and insights changed over the years, but never their curiosity and zeal to acquire and grow their collection.

In fact, it’s a fascinating guessing game to see what and who came first. This is not easy, as these two gentlemen collected both area and national artists as well as many European artists who were often known better abroad than in the United States.

It has been written that "Moyens and Wachi eschewed fashion in favor of the offbeat, the magical, and the visually arresting." And I would agree with some reservations, in the sense that I don’t think that they eschewed fashion, but were in several cases, ahead of the coming fashion trend, and like experienced collectors, often stuck with their instincts, and were handsomely rewarded later, once the ever swinging art fashion pendulum swung back to align with their selections.

Let’s walk through this amazing show.

On the ground floor gallery, we discover a very early Joe Shannon. Titled "Businessmen" and painted in 1970, it is a precursor to the harsh, warring paintings that Shannon would produce over the next 35 years. It is also curious to see a fully dressed Shannon appear in the painting (he’s the bearded man to the left), as Shannon usually makes his appearances in his works in the buff.

This talented Puerto Rican artist has been a key member of the DC art scene for nearly five decades now and he has been ignored way too long, and Shannon is overdue for a major museum retrospective here in DC.

Take a deep breath.

And then we are surrounded by my earlier points. How could a collection be so eclectic and diverse? How could the same collector that picked up John McLaughlin’s "#21-1959" possibly in 1959 and Annie Truitt’s "Arundel XIV" in 1975 and Morris Graves barely there pastel on paper "Bird of the Inner Eye" in 1955, also select Fritz Kothe’s "Honda" in 1966?

Arundel XIV by Annie Truitt
Because he or they, liked them.

And sometimes there are stories associated with the pieces, that remind us what kind of mensch these two gentlemen truly were.

There’s an amazing, and highly personal piece in the exhibition by DC artist Sidney Lawrence. It is called "Peaceable Kingdom" and Lawrence created it in 1982, when it was part of his solo exhibition at Gallery K.

Peaceable Kingdom by Sidney Lawrence
The piece, which depicts the artist (Lawrence's face is in the sun) and was dedicated by Lawrence to his father (who had died about the time that the work was created and is depicted as the phantom face on the left) in a very intimate and story-telling world, sold to a local DC collector. The iconographic work depicts Abram Lerner, then Lawrence's boss at the Hirshhorn, talking to artist Jody Mussoff. Lawrence created the work from a photograph taken at an opening, and as he recalls, they were discussing the fact that a drawing by Mussoff was about to be bought by Joe Hirshhorn, and then donated to the museum.

This intimate, iconographic work was not an easy piece of art to acquire, and it shows a courageous and savvy collector with a very good eye for art.

A few years later the collector died, and his children, who obviously did not share their father’s valiant taste in artwork, asked Komei and Marc if they could return the piece and get their money back.

I was astounded that someone could be so bold as to ask to return a work of art acquired years earlier.

But I was even more astounded to discover that Komei and Marc, did indeed return their father’s money and then decided to keep the piece for their own collection.

It is also clear to see that these two gents liked surrealistic and fantastic images in their collection. There’s a spectacular Ernst Fuchs oil and tempera on board titled "Angel of Death" (c.1952-58) that reminds me of both Bosch and more specifically of DC’s own Erik Sandberg, who exhibited with Gallery K for a while, but is curiously not included in this exhibit, and probably should have been (if his work is in their collection).

Angel of Death by Ernst Fuchs
But my favorite work in this genre was an odd painting of a bald lady, appropriately titled "Bald-Headed Lady" and painted in 1960 by Zoltan Von Boer, superbly standing alone in its oddity and outsider-like feeling.

Bald-Headed Lady by Zoltan Von Boer
Another masterful work in this genre is Margarida Kendall Hull’s (who was Sandberg's biggest influence when he was her student at GMU) jaw dropping "Lillith," painted by Kendall in 1993. Kendall Hall had a series of highly successful solo shows with Gallery K, and has since then, in a paradoxical departure, enjoyed spectacular success in Europe, where her work has been selling so briskly, both to museums and collectors, that Kendall now has a sizeable wait list, while all but disappearing from the local DC art scene.

Lilith by Margarida Kendall Hull
There are other surprises from the area artists in this collection (besides seeing a dressed Joe Shannon).

Such as a great graphite on paper drawing by Fred Folsom titled "Chesterfields" and done by Folsom in 1978. Another one of my favorites is a dual litho by Scip Barnhart and Jody Mussoff, a joint self-portrait of these two well-known DC artists done in 1993.

Duet by Scip Barnhart and Jody Mussoff
Who else is there?

There are strong pieces by Lisa Brotman, Jean Dubuffet, Edward Dugmore, Pierre Soulages, and Ken Young. There’s a box (done in the 1950s) by Joseph Cornell, a 1977 Sean Scully and Sandra Skoglund’s weird Ciba "Revenge of the Goldfish" from 1981 and Andrea Way’s "Floating Time" from 1985.

Revenge of the Goldfish by Sandra Skoglund
But the lesson here is very simple.

When you love art, (if you can) you buy art. And then you buy what you like love.

Thank you Komei; thank you Marc.

From the Studio at the Katzen

The top floor gallery of the beautiful Katzen Arts Center’s galleries is currently hosting "From the Studio," a group show that brings together the artists that make up American University’s studio art faculty (both full time and adjunct professors).

It seems that more and more I like to reveal my hand very early on a review, especially when reviewing a group show, and let me tell you right away that the best work in this show is by Zoe Charlton, who is exhibiting several pieces from her Undercover Series (sorry - I don't have any good images).

Charlton, who works mixed media on vellum, is an artist who has managed to create and deliver on a very hard assignment: the marriage of sensuality with the most economical presentation possible. It is as in viewing her work, perhaps anchored by the bare presentation on vellum, we are seeing individual cels from an animated, sexy film, the kind that one would see at those artsy erotic film festivals in San Francisco or Seattle, but never here in DC.

In any event, this professor brings some fresh new ideas and loads of talent to our area, and I’m really looking forward to seeing more of her work over the years.

AU students seeking to learn how to paint properly, should all immediately sign up for Ben Ferry’s class (I hope that he’s teaching paining); he’s without a doubt the best technical painter in the faculty, and his mysteriously-titled painting "Jumping in the Grass," easily shows that even the most common of subjects (in this case a dog) can be elevated to a sublime place by that most ancient of mediums, which keep surprising all of those who keep clamoring that painting is dead. As long as talented painters such as Ferry wield brushes, painting will never die.

Jumping in the Grass by Ben Ferry
Trawick Prize finalist Jeff Spaulding shows why he nearly won that highly competitive prize a few years ago, and his "Endgame" sculptural installation was not only evocative in its mental references to Saint Sebastian, but also popped into my head that famous painting by Frida Kahlo where she has depicted herself as a deer full of arrows.


Endgame by Jeff Spaulding
Luis Silva’s video installation, titled "March 6" and Susan Yanero’s weird and super busy "Mollie’s Life," a huge oil on canvas, rounded up what I thought were the most successful works in this group show.

"Mollie's Life" by Susan Yanero
Overall the exhibition is an excellent opportunity to peek inside the faculty at AU and discover both fresh new talent, established artists and the usual head-scratcher that comes along with any group show.

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.

The exhibition runs through March 12, 2006.

Gopnik on Dada

The WaPo's Chief Art Critic reviews the terrific Dada exhibit at the NGA, and very early on the review he shows his solid neoCon right wing colors by throwing in the now blase reference to Abu Ghraib in an art review, which will surely merit a few thousand words of response from you know who.

And you get to read the review here and now (a day and a half early), as it will be published next Sunday!

The review also includes a really cool "Learn the ABC's of Dada" link. See that here. I don't know if the printed version of the review will carry it, but online it is a brilliant departure from the usual type of review, and yet another marker on the road to the burial of the printed press.

Well done to Gopnik and to the WaPo for this multimediaish review!

O'Sullivan on Bourgeois

Michael O'Sullivan has a really good review of the "Louise Bourgeois: Femme" exhibition at the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore.

Read it here.

Midwives at Round House

Last night I snagged a couple of free tickets and went to see Midwives at the Round House Theatre in Bethesda.

The play is based on the #1 New York Times bestseller and Oprah's Book Club selection novel Midwives by Chris Bohjalian. It was adapted by Dana Yeaton and directed by Mark Ramont.

The play is set in a small Vermont town (I wish I had known this at the beginning of the play - more on that later), and as the play unfolds, we discover that we're witnessing, and being somewhat part of, the events and memories leading up to the trial of Sibyl Danforth (played by MaryBeth Wise), a lay midwife, who has been charged with manslaughter in a childbirth gone disastrously wrong.

The play starts 15 years after the event, with a very pregnant woman making an entrance into a hospital room from within a very beautiful stage prop that arches over the entire stage. It is sometimes lit, and sometimes translucent, and it is sort of a remarkable cage where stripped tree branches are caged and suspended around and over the stage, looking like a huge Yuriko Yamaguchi sculpture.

The pregnant woman, we soon find out is Charlotte Bedford (played superbly by Kimberly Parker Green), and she now lives in the imagination of the retired midwife, who is recovering from cancer.

Her daughter (Connie Danforth, played by Stephanie Burden), is now a medical student in Boston, and is visiting her mother, who has apparently shipped her all of her journals to Connie.

Narrated by a variety of characters, the play moves back and forth in time, slowly decomposing for the audience a set of clues and information about what happened on the night that the childbirth went wrong.

As Connie looks back on her mother's trial, both her and her mother (and silently the ghost of the dead woman) are attempting to understand and figure out what truly happened on that night, and heal the wounds left on their psyches in the years that followed.

The audience is treated to a very horrific re-enactment of the childbirth, which is taking place in the Bedford's home on a wintry and icy New England night. A night when the phone lines are down and the the roads are so slick with ice that no one can even get to their car when the delivery gets complicated.

The midwife, thus unable to get her patient to a hospital, tries courageously to save both the mother and unborn child while her inexperienced apprentice of three months and the woman's terrified husband (who is a minister and is played by Gene Gillette) generally get in the way.

The audience is led to believe that the mother dies but that the baby is saved thanks to an emergency C-section done by Sybil with a kitchen knife.

And this is where the issue becomes complicated, as first the the apprentice and then the husband suggest that maybe the mother wasn't really dead when the midwife cut her open.

And the rest of the play presents the case, showing bits and pieces of the trial, re-enactments of the operation, and the final resolution between mother and daughter, as to what may or may have not happened that night.

For the first twenty minutes or so of the play, the Charlotte Bedford character is completely silent, usually just ghost-stepping around the stage or sitting on the bed. And I was thinking to myself: "This actress has the best role ever in a play: no lines to learn!"

Soon I became fascinated by her silence, and began to realize how her facial and body postures were affecting the audience and I.

Eventually, when she spoke, both in her role as Charlotte Bedford and later as the voice for the judge in the trial of Sybil Danforth, it was clear to me that Kimberly Parker Green had the most difficult role in this play and she stole this show.

Kimberly Parker Green, managed to make her silent parts become integral parts of the discussions and fights going on between mother and daughter. In part thanks to excellent lighting, in repose she (because this actress is very fair skinned and light-haired), became almost like a Vermeer painting, except when her subtle facial expressions added fuel to an argument (Sybil can see Charlotte) or reproachment to an excuse.

One thing that I completely missed: Why were both Bedfords (the preacher and his wife) speaking with heavy Southern accents in a scene set in rural Vermont?

Either they have their geography wrong, or maybe I missed a part where they were Southeners who had moved to Yankee-land. In any event, it was a bit distracting and out of place with everyone else's lack of any noticable accent, as no one attempted a New England accent (caps instead of cops, ps instead of pierced, and yaaad instead of yard, etc.).

The play is powerful and well-directed, and the audience (average age around 65) visibly winced many times at the harshness of the events unfolding in front of them.

With the singular exceptions of Parker Green, and Lynn Steinmetz (who superbly plays both a nurse and a doctor in two different roles) I became somewhat annoyed by the rest of the acting performance.

In part this was a cascade effect from the extended arguing scenes between the midwife and her daughter. Both actresses kept the same tone and style of speech throughout all levels of fighting; the daughter very shrill and screechy, and the mother very stoic. Meanwhile I kept thinking: "This isn't how people really argue - at least no one that I know."

Nonetheless this is a very powerful play, and surprisingly eye-opening in the sense that it offers us a window into a nearly extinguished aspect of American life: the lay midwife.

The play runs through Feb. 26, 2006. Read the WaPo review of the play by Lisa Traiger here, and read the Wash Times review here, and the WCP review here. Isn't it nice how every paper in town reviews theatre? When was it the last time that we saw the big three review the same gallery show?

Sibyl Danforth: MaryBeth Wise
Charlotte Bedford: Kimberly Parker Green
Connie Danforth: Stephanie Burden
Bill Tanner: Paul Morella
Louise, Dr. Gerson: Lynn Steinmetz
Lori Pine, Anne Austin, Patty: Rana Kay
Asa Bedford, David Pine: Gene Gillette
Stephen Hastings: John Lescault
Dr. Lang, Barton Hewitt: John Dow

Russian books

This story almost makes me want to cry.


Read it and weep.

Parsons on Frenn

Adrian Parsons reviews our current Chawky Frenn exhibition at Fraser Bethesda.

Read the review here.

LAT looking for art critic reporter

This was emailed to me (not interested), but we all know someone who is somewhat qualified for this job, and who should apply to it, and who then should be hired by the LAT and then pleeeeease move to LA!

The ad:

Arts writer, Los Angeles Times:

The Los Angeles Times hopes to add an additional arts reporter to its staff. This person would be expected to break news, write a range of features and help analyze the exciting developments in visual and performing arts in the region and the country. This will be an exciting job for a writer with proven reportorial skills and the energy to keep up with the fascinating cultural life of L.A. Expertise in visual arts, architecture, classical music, theater, dance or any combination would be a plus, but curiosity and flair are what's required. Mail resume and clips to Lisa Fung, arts editor, or Bret Israel, Sunday Calendar editor, Los Angeles Times, 202 West First Street, Los Angeles, CA 90012. No calls or emails, please.

Opportunities for Artists
Deadline March 3, 2006

Photo Exhibition to Aid New Orleans. Photographs will be sold to benefit displaced New Orleans artists. Photos should include emotional and political statements thematic to New Orleans. Contact:
Denise Berthaiume
LeMieux Galleries
332 Julia St
New Orleans, LA 70130
or call 360-385-2135 or email mail@lemieuxgalleries.com

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Deadline: Mar 15, 2006

Dimensions 2006. Open to all media. May 5 - June 3. Slide or Digital Entry. 1st prize: $1000. Juror: Brooke Anderson, Director of the Contemporary Center, American Folk Art Museum, NY. For prospectus send SASE to:
Associated Artists of Winston-Salem
301 West Fourth Street
Winston-Salem NC 27101
or 336-722-0340 or email staff@associatedartists.org

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Deadline: March 31, 2006

Direct Art Magazine, Volume 13 Sixth Annual Competition for publication in Volume 13 of Direct Art Magazine, Fall/Winter 2006 issue. Twenty six awards; over $22,000.00 in value, including covers of magazine and feature articles. For prospectus e-mail Direct Art at mailto:DirectArtMag@aol.com or download the prospectus here.

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Deadline: May 19, 2006

IX Annual International Fine Arts Competition. Open to all 2D artists (except photography) wall-hung sculptures, 18 years and older working in a realistic or representational genre. Enter via slides or digital files. The winner of the Best in Show award shall receive $500 in prize money. First, Second and Third Prize winners will receive $200, $150 and $100 respectively in prize money. Juried by yours truly. Visit this website for more details and an entry form or call 301/718-9651 or send a SASE to:
Fraser Gallery
7700 Wisconsin Avenue
Suite E
Bethesda, MD 20814

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Deadline: June 15, 2006

International Juried Digital Art Exhibition. They are seeking entries from 2D artists for exhibition, Jul 5-31, 2006. Open to all styles, techniques, and themes (except racist references, comics, jokes, or caricatures). Submit only one work. Selected entries will be printed in color, A4 format, and framed (55x45cm) for exhibition. Prizes include 3-week solo exhibition, travel and accommodations to Venado Tuerto, Argentina. No entry fee. Please send entries with subject heading of full name and with message of name, DOB, address, title of work, technique, .JPEG attachment (min. 150dpi/in, min. 1MB) in A4 format, and attachment
with artist's photograph to address listed here email Oscar Poliotto.

Eyelevel on Boozer

Eyelevel has an excellent profile on the very talented Margaret Boozer. Read it here.

Read my review of Boozer's last solo show here.

Visit Boozer's website here.

Bailey, Bailey, Bailey...

Bailey is on the warpath, or whatever it is that madmen from the South do when something gets under their skin.

In this case it deals with Charlie Finch and Artnet, and with the CSA, and with Ayaan Hirsi Ali, and with Freedom of Speech (I think).

Me on Video

The ArtsMedia News TV program has been putting some clips from the TV program on Google Video.

This is a clip of me from a show that we did last summer on outdoor art fairs.

And this is a clip of the Nicholas Nixon show at the NGA.

And this is a clip of the Warhol exhibit at the Corcoran.

If you don't get... you don't get it

The WCP has an excellent article by Mike DeBonis and Jason Cherkis on what happens to freelancers who don't toe the line and follow the rules at the WaPo.

The Rules:

Rule No. 1: Don’t Suggest That Your Beat Is Lame
Rule No. 2: Save Your Opinions for Your Review
Rule No. 3: Don’t Make Mistakes
Rule No. 4: Don’t Place a Post Superstar in a Negative Light
Rule No. 5: Don’t Tell Your Paper to "Eat... a ‘Bag of Cocks’"

Read the article here.

Congratulations

Catriona Fraser has just selected the photographers for the IV Annual Bethesda Photography Competition and they are:

The following photographers has been selected for the exhibition;

David Ashman, Annapolis, MD
Kerry Stuart Coppin, Providence, RI
Sandi Croan, Centreville, VA
Chris Davis, Arnold, MD
Adriana Echevarria, Bethesda, MD
Lee Goodwin, Washington, DC
David Hovgaard, San Jose, CA
Eleanor Owen Kerr, Baton Rouge, LA
Prescott Moore Lassman, Washington, DC
Veronika Lukasova, Washington, DC
Jesse Mechling, Bethesda, MD
Eric Moore, La Plata, MD
David Myers, Kensington, MD
Margaret Paris, Rockville, MD
Aleksei Pechnikov, Gaithersburg, MD
Victoria Restrepo, Potomac, MD
Chris Scroggins, Lutherville, MD
Bert Shankman, Olney, MD
Mary T. Vogel, Bakersville, NC
Cynthia Walker, Black Mountain, NC

Sigh...

The Philadelphia Inquirer has a great story on Zoe Strauss, the talented and exuberant Philly photog who was selected for the next Biennial.

Zoe is terrific.

And it also makes me sigh because I cannot recall the last time (or ever) when one of our local major newspapers ever had a story such as this one for one of our area visual artists (even the ones who have been selected in the past to exhibit at the Whitney).

A little help needed

Iona Rozeal Brown had two notebooks taken from her car last night as it was parked behind 1515 14th Street.

They contain all of the work she did in her recent 6 month residency in Japan. If anyone comes across any info about the the notebooks or about pages from the notebooks that have a hip hop asian feel, please get a contact number for the person and let me know.

New Art Blog

Mark Cameron Boyd has started Theory Now, a new art blog which he describes as "an ongoing discursive site about the relevance of art theory now."

Mark started the new blog so that his Corcoran students (from his "Theory Now" class) would have a forum for their discussions involving art theory, contemporary art topics, and plain old "shop talk" -- but they're open to "posts" from anyone.

Visit Theory Now often

Text Update

As most of you know, last year I was retained by the Washington Project for the Arts/Corcoran (WPA/C) to curate a multi-gallery exhibition for them called Seven.

After looking at nearly 30,000 slides and digital files, I organized seven thematic exhibitions in seven separate gallery rooms for them.

In one of the rooms I began the exploration of artists who employ textual elements as an integral, key part of their work. What was initially explored in that Seven exhibition has evolved into a "Text" exhibition, curated by me, which will open next April 1, 2006 at the Greater Reston Arts Center in Reston, Virginia.

Set aside that date and see you there at the opening!

New photo auction record set

A rare print taken by US photography pioneer Edward Steichen has set a new world record for the highest price ever paid for a photograph at auction.

The photograph (titled Pond-Moonlight ) was taken in New York in 1904 and was auctioned by Sotheby's for $2.9m, more than doubling the previous record.

It was put up for sale by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which has another copy in its collection.