Go listen to Zoe

The super talented Philly photogstar Zoe Strauss’ latest project is the 10-year long I-95 Project, an annual installation underneath I-95 in South Philadelphia. Strauss received a Pew Fellowship in the Arts in 2005, and her work was featured in the 2006 Whitney Biennial in New York.

From April 13 through May 4, 2007, her work will be featured in Gallery 1401 at the University of the Arts, in an exhibition entitled “If You Break the Skin,” co-sponsored by the Equality Forum. But, and more importantly, today, April 2, at 1pm at the CBS Auditorium of the University of the Arts, Zoe will be giving a lecture on her photography as part of the Paradigm Lecture series.

Oh yea; the lecture is free and open to the public.

Airborne again today and heading to Denver. More later...

A couple more Eakins could be heading out of Philly

"We're not a museum. We're not in the business of art education. That's what Thomas Jefferson University president Robert L. Barchi said in November in explaining the university's decision to sell Thomas Eakins' The Gross Clinic."

In spite of the fact that the sale of The Gross Clinic sort of blew up in their faces, according to the Philly Inquirer, "Barchi says that the school intends to deaccession two other pieces in the multimillion-dollar collection: Its remaining Eakins works, Portrait of Benjamin H. Rand and Portrait of William S. Forbes."

In fact Barchi stated that "We do not intend to sell any of our artworks other than the Eakins paintings, even if approached."

You can view a slide show of some of the art at Jefferson in this this website and you can read the excellent Inquirer report by Peter Dobrin, the Inquirer Culture Writer here.

Frida Kahlo Coming to Philly

Sometime in mid February 2008 (and running through May) at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, "the first American exhibition solely dedicated to Kahlo’s work in over a decade... will explore the relationship between her art and her life by examining hauntingly seductive and often brutal self-portraits in addition to works that amplify her sense of her own identity."

The show is coming to Philly from the Walker Art Center, where it was curated by Michael Taylor; from Philly it will travel to SFMOMA. I am a little disappointed that this show is not traveling to any DC area museum (it would have been a perfect blockbuster for the Corcoran or for the NMWA).

Lenny Campello is one happy camper. Read here how I became an addict of her work when I was 19. Below is "Seven Fridas," a huge drawing that I did in 1980-1 while at the University of Washington School of Art (click on the image for a larger version of the drawing).

It depicts Kahlo in seven incarnations as Nordic, Moslem, African, Punk (hey! it was 1980), Native American, Vulcan and Beatle. It is currently in the collection of Seeds for Peace.

"Las Siete Fridas (The Seven Fridas)"
Pen and Ink Wash, F. Lennox Campello, circa 1980-1981
Most recently, in 2005 I curated a worldwide call to artists for an "Homage to Frida Kahlo" exhibition hosted by Art.com with the sponsorship of the Cultural Institute of Mexico and the Frida Kahlo Museum in Mexico City.

Thus my interest and happiness!

PMA to open new galleries

In early September 2007, the Philadelphia Museum of Art will open the new Ruth and Raymond G. Perelman Building, which will house expanded galleries and state of the art study centers in an art deco building acquired by the Museum and then renovated and expanded by Gluckman Maynor Architects.

Next Week: Tomás Rivas opens in DC

The very talented and award winning Chilean artist Tomás Rivas' first DC area solo exhibition, "Left to my Own Devices," opens next week (April 5) at Douz and Mille and there's also a round-table discussion on April 25 from 6:30-8:30 PM. Details here.

The opening reception is Thursday, April 5, 2007 6:30pm - 8:30pm and it is at the space formerly occupied by Numark Gallery in DC. A full color catalogue will be published at the conclusion of the exhibition, featuring essays by David Gariff Ph.D., Lecturer, National Gallery of Art; Robin Rhodes Ph.D., Associate Professor, University of Notre Dame; and my good friend Laura Roulet, Independent Curator, with an introduction by the hard-working Rody Douzoglou, who is the "Douz" in Douz and Mille.

New art blog

I think.

DC area "performance artist F.W. Thomas" has a blog (new to me) at fwthomas.blogspot.com detailing coming multimedia performances and other random thoughts.

I am told that at the next performance (Monday, April 9, 2007 at DC's Warehouse Theatre and Galleries) they will be circulating a petition banning any further use of the Queen/Bowie collaboration "Under Pressure" as the soundtrack to any commercial, television show, movie or public radio segment. This alone is worth the visit!

Vist the blog often!

Opportunity for recent Art grads

Introductions is Irvine Contemporary’s annual summer show of works by recent art college graduates in the Washington, mid-Atlantic, and East Coast region.

For Introductions3 this year, Irvine has posted a web page with application instructions and information to assist artists with submissions for the show. The gallery tries to see as many thesis shows and do as many studio visits as possible, but they clearly can’t see everyone and they want to open the process to as many artists as possible.

Visit this website for information on submitting work for the show. This year the selection committee will include Washington area collectors as well as the Irvine Contemporary crew.

Airportism

I'm usually not a big fan of airport art, which I've dubbed "airportism" in the past, and which is usually generalized by tame, usually abstracted public art that tries really hard to avoid the figure at all costs.

The theme of flying is usually a common one -- and that's understandable, and artists can only go so far with it.

And yet... at the Philadelphia International Airport, between terminals C and D, on the main concourse there's an installation by Nancy Blum, titled Butterfly Wall (will be there through June 2007) that is a welcome and interesting departure from the usual blah flying geese or paper airplanes sculptures that one sees all over American airports.

"Butterfly Wall" is a work made up of 80 butterflies cast out of China clay with incised and raised patterns on the wings. The color is painted on the back and it is then reflecting onto the wall space. The pattern of the wings have been adapted from Islamic architecture, adding an interesting and unexpected visual element. Each butterfly is approx. 12 to 14 inches in height.

If you're around the Philly airport and have some extra time on your hands, swing by and take a look at this refreshing change for airportism. Nancy Blum is represented in the area by Pentimenti Gallery in Philadelphia.

Wanna go to the Gala to Benefit Africare in DC this Friday?

Celebrating the 10th Anniversary of International Visions at The Washington Club
(15 Dupont Circle) in DC. RSVP to 202-234-5112.

Friday, March 30th from 6:30 to 11:30 pm.

- Live music by Brother Ah & the World Music Ensemble as well as the Brazilian Samba Trio Band

- A silent auction featuring the African artwork and craft, artwork by renowned American artists, sports & entertainment collectibles, and much, much more.

- Mistress of Ceremonies: Dr. JC Hayward

- Special honors for artist Sam Gilliam and the Howard University Department of Art.

- An authentic African feast

It's nothing new

If you think that the common art critic malaise of denigrating realism as a viable genre of contemporary painting is something new then...(via the NY Sun):

"It's a New York story of courage and defeat followed by 50-year commitment to classical figurative painting. Next week, at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington D.C., a New York group of painters who bucked the tide of fashion will celebrate a painterly triumph.

In May 1961, some brash young figurative painters threw down the gauntlet to the modern art establishment. In an exhibition at the National Arts Club called "A Realist View," a group including Aaron Shikler, Daniel Schwartz, Harvey Dinnerstein, Burt Silverman, and David Levine declared their opposition to the trend toward abstraction in modern art. The abandonment of tradition in favor of personal style and individual expression had led to the impoverishment of the artist's imagination, Mr. Silverman declared in a "Statement by the Artists." "In our paintings we have not succumbed to the frantic search for something ‘new,'" he continued. "We are not concerned with being ‘of our times'…. Our concern is with the world around us."

Their protest against the apotheosis of Abstract Expressionism did not go unheeded; they were critically trounced. "[I]t's the quietest, oldest show you ever saw," the New York Herald Tribune's critic, Emily Genauer, wrote. "Nowhere are there fire, urgency, even innocence, the conviction that there are new things and new ideas in the world …. What showed in the paintings — apart from craft — was chiefly doctrinaire attitude."

Five gets you ten that this coming DC show will still get trashed in the printed media press and a few blogs, as there are very few brave souls out there willing to stray too far from the comfort of the art critic wolf pack.

If the WaPo's Blake Gopnik reviews the show, expect the usual eloquent but tired slogans about painting being dead, and realism continuing to try to exist even though nothing new has surfaced since the Renaissance, blah, blah, blah. He will also say something specifically aimed at the jugular of the NPG itself.

If my good friend Jeffry Cudlin reviews it for the WCP, I suspect that he will manage to find an Achilles heel somewhere in the show, explained away in Jeffry's usual and elegant theory-driven review pen.

The exhibition will be at the NPG March 30 to October 8, 2007.

Visual Art Website Opened for U.S. Service Families

As a veteran, I am psyched by the announcement that the National Arts Program Foundation, Malvern, PA, announced today that in support of the men and women of the armed services, it will post for free, pictures of original drawings, watercolors, oil and acrylic paintings, sculpture, photography and crafts of all active and retired military service members and DoD employees and their families.

Details here.

Benefit Art Drawing in Baltimore this Saturday next month

On Saturday, April 21, 2007, the Lotta Art Benefit, takes place in Baltimore to benefit School 33.

A continuous cocktail buffet begins at 5:30 p.m (Catering by The Brass Elephant). The art drawing begins promptly at 7:30 p.m. Event tickets include a work of art and the buffet.

The event begins at 7:30PM and features art by more than 145 local artists who have generously donated their work to benefit School 33 Art Center. Each event ticket holder is guaranteed a work of art in this lottery-style drawing.

Call 410.396.4641 for more info.

Senju Murals to go to Philly

Hiroshi Senju, one of Japan’s most revered and internationally acclaimed contemporary artists, showed 27 murals (syohekiga) at Japan’s Yamatane Museum of Art through March 4. The works, however, are ultimately bound for the United States. On May 1 of this year, the murals will be installed on the fusuma (sliding doors) and tokonoma (writing hall) alcove at Shofuso (“Pine Breeze Villa”), the Japanese house and garden in Fairmount Park [Philadelphia].

Read the A&A story here. Senju also is donating all copyrights from sales of reproductions of the murals to support the preservation of the Pine Breeze Villa.

A ton of comments

The WaPo's James V. Grimaldi, who has been reporting on the whole Smithsonian's Lawrence Small developments, had a live chat earlier today and there are a lot of good questions and some amplifying answers on this issue.

Read the archives here.

Congrats!

To the superbly talented DC area artist Adam Fowler, who will be having his first NYC solo at Margaret Thatcher Projects opening next Friday, March 29, 2007 with a reception from 6-8PM. The exhibition runs through May 5, 2007.

Fowler has been doing superbly since the WPA/C's "Seven" exhibition, where his work was included prominently. His drawings were featured in Selections Fall 2005 at the Drawing Center and this past year, Fowler's work was included in The New Collage show at Pavel Zoubok Gallery in New York.

Opportunity for Artists

Deadline for submissions May 14, 2007.

Vox Populi, a nonprofit artist collective located in Philadelphia, is currently accepting submissions for VOXXOXO. The exhibition will run from July 6 through July 28, 2007 and is being juried by Sheryl Conkelton, Director of Tyler School of Arts' Exhibitions and Public Programs, and Kirby Gookin, art historian, critic, curator and public artist.

Artists of all media are invited to submit 3 to 5 examples of completed works. All submitted works must be available for exhibition. Complete applications must include:

1. 3 or 5 images
a. Slides must be labeled with name, title and orientation dot positioned at bottom right hand corner.
b. CD-R: Images saved at 72 dpi resolution on CD-R, sized at 8"x10." Please label each image lastnamefirstname_1.jpg and so forth. CD-R submissions must be accompanied by a printout of images on one 8.5" x 11" sheet of paper.
c. Video: You may submit 2 minute clips of each submitted piece or we will view the first 2 minutes of each submission. The work must be submitted on DVD (NTSC).

2. Completed VOXXOXO submission form (found on their website at www.voxpopuligallery.org).

3. Current resume and artist statement.

4. SASE

5. $20 entry fee for 3 submissions; $30 entry fee for 5 submissions. Please make checks payable to Vox Populi. Do not send cash.

For more information, please visit their website at www.voxpopuligallery.org or call 215-238-1236.

Grants for Artists

Deadline: June 1, 2007

The Harpo Foundation is accepting proposals for grants funding. The Harpo Foundation supports artists that are unrecognized by the field. This applies to all artists whether emerging or further along in their careers. Proposals to the foundation can take the form of installations, public interventions, personal projects, residencies, and under certain conditions, exhibitions. Proposals should include a project description, examples of the artist's work (in digital format) and a resume. A detailed budget breakdown is not necessary, however grant will usually not exceed $10,000. For more information, please contact the Harpo Foundation at 305.442.8242 or email harpofl@earthling.net.

Job in the Arts

Executive Director: Cecil County Arts Council, Inc. - Maryland

CCAC is Cecil county's umbrella cultural organization and awards grants to school and nonprofits presenting arts programs. It has a two-person full-time staff, including E.D.; $92K budget from state grant funding, dues, corporate support and fundraising.

Qualifications: Commitment to community outreach; ability to maintain, nurture and inspire membership; knowledge of art-related issues; managerial, grant writing and fundraising experience; outstanding communication, presentation, public relations skills; experience in working with a board of directors.

Qualified applicants can expect a salary starting at $38,000-$41,000. Benefits: health and dental coverage, retirement, paid vacation, holiday, sick, personal time. Send resume, cover letter , references to:

Personnel Committee
CCAC
135 E. Main St.
Elkton, MD 21921

Or email copy of resume to maggie.creshkoff@gmail.com.

Congrats!

To DC area ubercollector Fred Ognibene, whose home was just featured in "At Home" magazine, in an article featuring loads of artwork and discussion on the (mostly) DC area artists that Fred collects.