CBS does Artomatic

DC's Channel 9 went to see Artomatic and this is what they videotaped.

The video includes interviews with artists Dana Ellyn, Matt Seesow, the amazing Frank Warren from PostSecret, George Koch, and Tim Tate.

Is she busy or what?

"Barely emerging" DC area artist Kathryn Cornelius may be in the process of graduating to "emerging."


She has a live performance on the opening night of artDC, this Thursday at 8pm as part of the Curator's Office presence at the fair. Cornelius writes:

I am especially excited about this performance because it involved a lot of participation of multiple parties as a portion of its conceptual underpinnings, which has been an interesting way to work... I am grateful for all those individuals and organizations that have been a part of this piece -- thank you!

Then she has some photographs in a show at the Palazzo delle Arti in Naples, Italy. The exhibition is called Eroi! come noi...? (Heroes! like us ...?) and runs April 5 thru June 27, 2007. Curated by Julia Draganovic of The Chelsea Museum in New York, the exhibition includes artists Charlotte Ginsborg, Marco Giovani, Ilya Kabakov, Tom Sanford, and Hu Yang among others.

Also, this spring she will have a video work displayed in a group video show at Galerie Anita Beckers in Germany.

Buy a Cornelius this weekend - do not wait any longer.

Future of Warehouse Theatre and Galleries Uncertain

Via Wonkette I learned last nigt that the future of the Warehouse Galleries and Theatre in DC is suddenly quite uncertain.

A couple of years ago I curated "Seven" for the WPA/C and it took place in seven of the eight gallery spaces that Warehouse hosts in the buildings built and owned by the Ruppert family for many, many decades. In the process I got to know its owners, Molly and Paul Ruppert, quite well.

Molly Ruppert is an independent, feisty, hardworking person with a kind, open heart that nonetheless is able to integrate business and kindness with a sharp art savvy personality and an indefatigable sense of community. Together with Paul, they are a hands-on business model that make up the main workforce at Warehouse, be it as bar tenders, waiters, gallerist or theatre managers (they do have an excellent chef!). And yet, the Warehouse is not a money-making operation.

But she and Paul and their buildings are an asset and an important part of the cultural tapestry that makes up the Greater Washington, DC area art scene.

While I was curating "Seven," Molly and I discussed the surrounding neighborhood, and the important cultural contribution that I felt Warehouse had added by retaining a little cultural DNA for a neighborhood that was almost swallowed whole by the huge Washington Convention Center.

Not that I think that the Convention Center is a bad thing; in fact it is a great asset economically to Washington and to the neighborhood, but a neighborhood also needs places like Warehouse to remain alive, and not just become another soul-less block of cookie cutter businesses and franchises.

In discussing the surrounding buildings, Molly confided in me that she was bleak about the future of her property, and that she had already turned down several offers from developers to buy her family buildings. However, she suspected that once these developers got the ear of the city administrators, she would be forced out of the neighborhood.

"How can they force you out?", I asked.

She answered by telling me that she suspected that at some point the city would double or triple her property taxes, effectively making it financially impossible for Ruppert to continue her business model or even ownership of the spaces.

And it is brutally ironic that at the same time that we're all congratulating Molly Ruppert's sense of community for stepping up and saving J.T. Kirkland's "Supple" project, we get the news that Warehouse property taxes for next year are increasing over 500%!

A 500% property tax hike is an obscene tax hike no matter who or what for, but especially in a city such as Washington, DC, which owes so much of its revitalization to private industry and to hard-working small businesses like the Warehouse.

I am not sure what "we" can all do, but I have a few ideas, and the first one is for organizations such as the Washington Commission on the Arts and Humanities, and the Cultural Alliance of Greater DC, and other such cultural organizations and entities of the capital region to step up and use whatever contacts or networks they have to make sure that (as I suspect), in the same way that some developer got the "ear" of some city politician, that these organizations in turn get the "ear" of some political allies (or even get Hizzoner's ear) to ensure that this obscene tax hike gets reviewed and reduced or eliminated, and Warehouse afforded a chance to remain in place as one of DC's leading cultural icons.

Update: Jessica Gould of the WCP already had stepped up to the plate and had a great posting on this issue yesterday here.

ArtDC opens tomorrow

The capital's first major international fine arts fair opens tomorrow at the Washington Convention Center. Not that you'd know it by the coverage that our local newspapers have given it so far, but this is the biggest thing that has happened to the visual arts around here in a long time, maybe ever.

The opening night festivities will benefit the Cultural Alliance of Greater Washington. Considering the boost that the Cultural Alliance of Greater Washington is getting from this visual arts event, I sincerely hope that (a) more visual arts organizations and galleries join the CAGW and (b) that CAWG increases what they do to boost the visibility of DC area visual arts.

Thursday, April 26, 2007
Washington Convention Center, Hall E
800 Mount Vernon Place, NW, Washington DC

5:30-7:30, Drinks and Hors d' Oeuvres - Tickets are $100
7:30-9:30, Cash Bar - Tickets are $30
For tickets call 312-587-8124 or email jrabion@dc-artfair.com

On Friday, April 27 the fair is free and open to the public, after that: April 28-30, $12; $5 for seniors and students. 11 a.m.-7 p.m. April 27-29, and 11 a.m.-5 p.m.

Call 866-727-7953 or visit this website for details.

Since on Friday the fair is free, there's absolutely no excuse for not getting into an orgy of art this Friday.

First drop by and spend a couple of hours at artDC, then swing by the Warehouse Gallery across the street, have a beer or a cup of coffee and say hi to Molly Ruppert, then take the Metro over to Crystal City and visit Artomatic, which has a ton of parties and music events going on till 1AM. And ferchristsakes: buy some art somewhere along the line!

See ya there!

Wanna go to a DC opening tonight?

With an exhibition titled "Inside/Out", Washington artist, Raye Leith, unveils a group of portraits of well-known figures grouped with Washington insiders and power players.

Her series, part of a New York project of 100 portraits she recently embarked on, includes larger than life figures such as John Lennon and Albert Einstein as well as such Washington players as Septime Webre (Director of the Washington Ballet), Valerie Plame (exposed CIA operative), President of the United States George W. Bush, and Mayor of Washington, D.C., Adrian Fenty.

Inside/Out opens on April 25th and runs through May 20th, 2007 at Knew Gallery in Georgetown.

JS Adams' Artomatic Top 10 Picks

DC area artist JS Adams writes:

Not being able to participate in this year's Artomatic, it was strangely freeing to view it all from a different perspective as an outsider. As ever, a handful stood out among the roughhewn and ordinary. For me, specifically:

Photographers: Phil Nesmith's ferrotypes, the in-camera collages of Erin Antognoli and selections from the Past Presence series by Joanna Knox

John Adams' sublime site-specific wall drawing; and the conceptual reinterpretations of urban street scenes/movement by Jessi Moore.

Glass artist Tim Tate for his mini/multi-media reliquary, Expectations Denied.

Kudos to the group of eighth floor artists – who through either sweeping grand gesture or intimate engagement – hold your attention amidst an otherwise vast and cold exhibition space: Rob Lindsay – who, forgive the pun, takes printmaking to new levels; amazing anthropologic-inspired ceramics by Novie Trump; Veronica Szalus' skewered newsprint totems; and Keith Stanley's elegant ikebana.

What continues to please me most about Artomatic is the discovery of new artists, plus seeing evocative and innovate, new directions from favorites.

I always knew that he was a dork

DC area uberartist Tim Tate (who just had a record-breaking sales weekend at an art fair this last weekend) will be speaking at Dorkbot DC tonight (Tuesday, April 24, 7-9 PM). This meeting will be held at the Lapis Auditorium of the Artomatic Space (6th Floor, 2121 Crystal Drive, Arlington, VA).

Other speakers will include circuit bending audio artist Peter Blasser, and Second Life virtual world architect Jack Whitsitt.

By the way, if there's one reason to visit AOM, it is the amazing marriage of science and art that the Dorkbot DC artists have at Artomatic.

The WPA\C Experimental Media Series - ColorFieldremix

You just can't catch your breath this month if you love the visual arts and live in the DC region!

As part of the Colorfield.remix events going on around DC, Richard Chartier has curated a show for the WPA/C that has been described to me as "different --- new work, and a lot of sound and media... it is amazing, I previewed it yesterday. Richard has found work that incorporates a fresh look at color and sound."

Done through the WPA\C’s Experimental Media Series, this project challenged artists to reinterpret the Color Field artists with experimental video, sound and performance pieces, and Richard Chartier curated the one opening Wednesday, April 25, 2007 7:00 – 9:00 pm at the Corcoran Gallery of Art's Armand Hammer Auditorium (free and open to the public), and Brandon Morse on Wednesday, May 30, 2007 (same place and times).

Details here

Grants for DC artists

Deadline: Wednesday, May 23, 2007 at 7 pm

The Small Projects Program (SPP) offers grants up to $1,000 to individual artists and arts organizations. The program seeks to make grant funds more accessible for small-scale arts projects. Projects may include but are not limited to:

- Art presentations
- Assistance in fundraising, marketing and management
- Documentation of artistic activities through photography, brochures, portfolios and demo tapes
- Conferences, workshops or seminars that will enhance artistic and professional development.

Details here.

Funding For Professional Fine Artists And Their Families

Emergency funding from the Artists' Fellowship is available during times of emergency, disability, or bereavement. The Fellowship does not accept requests from performance artists, filmmakers, craft artists, hobbyists, commercial artists, or commercial photographers. For more information, contact:

Artists' Fellowship, Inc.
47 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY 10003
Tel: 646.230.9833

Colorfield openings

Below is a video of the last openings at Conner Contemporary and Marsha Mateyka Gallery in DC which are part of the whole Colorfield.remix project going on around the capital. The video starts silent, allowing viewers to revel in the works on display, and then has an interview with Ryan Carr Johnson around the end of the first silent minute.

Video courtesy of 205 Lavinia Street, Videos for Artists/Galleries/Events.

Call for Public Art in Takoma Park, MD

Deadline: Friday, May 4th, 2007

The City of Takoma Park, MD is soliciting proposals for public art. The selected work is to located on the Metropolitan Branch Trail in the City.

ELIGIBILITY: Open to all artists or artist teams

PROJECT BUDGET: $15,000 (includes but is not limited to artist fees, materials, fabrication, and installation)

DEADLINE FOR PROPOSALS: Proposals must be submitted to the City of Takoma Park's Department of Housing and Community Development, 7500 Maple Avenue, Takoma Park MD 20912, by 4:30 pm on May 4, 2007.

GENERAL DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS: The selected artwork is to be located on a green area adjacent to an off road section of the Metropolitan Branch Trail and installed at ground level. The area is an irregular shape and roughly 1400 square feet.

FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: More detailed information and a copy of the Request for Proposal can be found on the City's web site at www.takomaparkmd.gov

For more info: call 301.891.7219 or email DavidS@takomagov.org

Supple exhibition is back on

Yesterday I told you that J.T. Kirkland's "Supple" exhibition had been cancelled at the last minute (it was). But now Kirkland has been offered a new space and "Supple" is back on and will open at the Warehouse Galleries this Thursday, April 26 at 7PM.

All the details here.

This whole process has been not just a valuable learning experience for Kirkland, but also another example, in its resolution, of the terrific sense of artistic community that exists in the Greater DC area, in spite of the apathy of the lamestream media.

Kudos to Molly Ruppert of Warehouse Galleries for being such a good mensch!

Busy Week

April continues to roar as a spectacularly busy art month in the Greater Washington, DC area.

Artomatic continues to attract thousands of visitors to Crystal City, Virginia. Make time to swing by AOM this week.

With an exhibition titled "Inside/Out" at Knew Gallery, Washington artist, Raye Leith, unveils a group of portraits of well-known figures grouped with Washington insiders and power players. Her series, part of a New York project of 100 portraits she recently embarked on, places larger than life figures such as John Lennon and Albert Einstein alongside such Washington players as Septime Webre (Director of the Washington Ballet), Valerie Plame (exposed CIA operative), President of the United States George W. Bush, and Mayor of Washington, D.C., Adrian Fenty. Inside/Out opens on April 25th and runs through May 20th, 2007 at Knew Gallery in Georgetown.

Also in DC, the District's major international art fair, artDC opens on Thursday at the Washington Convention Center. Several DC area galleries are participating, as well as dozens of national and international galleries. There are also loads of art talks and panels scheduled as well as a section on "New Media," part of which I helped to curate. Details here.

Colorfield.remix activities continue throughout the DC area with a variety of events scheduled, including the opening of a new show titled "ColoField remix: Saturated" at Bethesda's Heineman Myers Gallery. Zoe Myers has handpicked 19 contemporary DC area artists whose work owes a debt to the Color School. Opening reception on Friday, April 27 from 6-9PM.

Also on Friday, April 27, at 7pm, at the Cultural Institute of Mexico (2829 16th Street NW, Washington, DC 20009), and you need to R.S.V.P. to (202) 728-1675 or icm@instituteofmexicodc.org, is "Directions: DC Contemporary Latino Art," curated by DC area artist Irene Clouthier and my good friend Laura Roulet, a DC-area based independent curator. Selected artists include Roxana Bravo, Irene Clouthier, Coronado, Edgar Endress, Muriel Hasbun, Gabriel Martinez, Tomás Rivas, José Ruiz, Catalina Torres and Ricardo Zapata. Feature presentation: “Bola Suriana”, playing music from Michoacán, Mexico. Through June 15, 2007.


In Bethesda, on Friday, April 27th from 6-9pm, Heineman Myers Gallery in Bethesda, MD has an opening reception for “Colorfieldremix: Saturated.” This will also be an artist party and Zoe Myers is encouranging colorful attire and she promises that "colorful cocktails will be served."

Right across the street from artDC (which is being held at the DC Convention Center, the Warehouse Gallery is hosting a show of local artists called “No Representation” from April 26 to May 12, 2007. The show, curated by Molly Ruppert, Sondra N. Arkin, Ellyn Weiss and Phillipa P.B. Hughes, will include all media and has two rules only: all of the art is by local artists and all the work is abstract. Artists in the show are artists include: Sondra N. Arkin, J. Belmar, Mark Cameron Boyd, Renee Butler, Tory Cowles, Laurel Farrin, Michael Gessner, Janis Goodman, Pat Goslee, Tom Green, Eve Hennessa, Kristin Holder, Brece Honeycutt, Becky Jones, Joanne Kent, Adrian Loving + Ayodamola Okunseinde (Dissident Display), Aubrie Mema, Elizabeth Morisette, Emily Piccirillo, Lynn Putney, Marina Reiter, Nooni Reatig, Chris Tousimis, Dan Treado, Andres Tremols, CC Vess, Gail Vollrath, Anita Walsh, Rex Weil and Ellyn Weiss. The opening is Saturday, April 28 starting at 6 pm.

Bummer

If like me, your plans this week included attending the J.T. Kirkland-organized "Supple" exhibition in DC, last night Kirkland informed me that the show, which he has been working so hard to make happen and which was supposed to open this week, has been cancelled.

Details here.

Update: Looks like JT may have found another space not too far from the original space. More later...

Opportunity for artists

Deadline: May 4, 2007

The Capitol Hill Arts Workshop (CHAW), a 35 year-old nonprofit multi-disciplinary arts education organization, is joining the School Libraries Project to solicit and select artists to design and produce murals in eight public school libraries on Capitol Hill. This exciting opportunity will take place in the summer of 2007. The approximate size of each of the murals is 10 ft. x 10 ft. Up to $2500 honoraria provided, pending funding.

For more information, please visit this website or contact Moira Connolly at moira@chaw.org or call her at (202) 547-6839.

Selection Process & Deadlines
Artists must submit original design proposals to the Selection Committee by May 4, 2007. Please submit the following:

1) Design proposal on an 8.5 x 11 inch piece of paper. Artists may submit up to three designs per school library.

2) A slide sheet or digital photo CD of former completed projects (if available).

3) Completed submission form.

New Shows Open at the Katzen this week

Several important shows open AU's Katzen on Tuesday, and several more open the first week in May. The openings receptions to celebrate the AU Museum’s spring season and all these new shows, will be on Saturday, May 5, from 6 to 9 p.m, kicking off at 5 pm with a gallery talk on the American prints by Baltimore curator Jay Fisher. All shows will be open for viewing during the reception, so save May 5th on your art calendar..

On view starting Tuesday:

"Resolutions: New Art from Northern Ireland," is a 49-piece, multi-media show introducing 21 artists who are part of an extraordinary cultural resurgence in a region long plagued by violence, religious strife and social upheaval, opens Tuesday, April 24, at the American University Museum at the Katzen. This centerpiece of the "Rediscover Northern Ireland" program, was curated by Museum Director Jack Rasmussen. Through Sunday, July 29, 2007.

Also opening Tueday is "Black Masters," which is a a mini-survey of fifteen paintings and works on paper by fourteen black artists from the 19th and 20th centuries. This rare look at African-American artists is a good thing not only for the Katzen, but also for the whole DC area museum scene, which sorely lacks a proportionate curatorial look at art by African-American art and artists. Kudos to the Katzen and to Jack Rasmussen! At 5PM there will be a lecture by Sherman Edmiston, owner of the Essie Green Galleries in Harlem, New York City, and Lou Hudnell, American University School of Education. Through Sunday, May 27, 2007.


Also opening on the 24th is "High Fiber," a tapestry show by nationally known artists Squeak Carnwath, Enrique Chagoya, Chuck Close, Bruce Conner, Rupert Garcia, April Gornik, Hung Liu, Alan Magee, Ed Moses, Deborah Oropallo and William Wiley. Through May 13, 2007.

"Made in America," The Washington Print Club 19th Biennial also opens on April 24, and runs through Sunday, June 24, 2007. More than 100 examples of printmaking in America over the past 70 years — including works by George Bellows, Jack Boul, Jasper Johns, Faith Ringgold, Richard Tuttle and many others.

Finally, three out-sized brightly colored steel sculptures by Jules Olitzki — from the Vermont-based artist’s last major works, the Cyclops Series of 2006 — enliven the Katzen Arts Center’s plaza parallel to Massachusetts Avenue. The works, from the collection of Dr. Cyrus and Myrtle Katzen, comprise the AU museum’s contribution to the Colorfield.remix celebration going on around the District.

Circular Criticism

Seattle is the center of the fine arts glass universe, and it is appropriate that an intellectual battle of words involving the world's most famous glass artist has been going on around the blogs and newspapers of that beautiful city, so dear and near to my heart.

Circular criticism, or as the Seattle Post-Intelligencer's eloquent art critic Regina Hackett calls it "Prizes in Hypocrisy," is a very good story on two newspapers first trashing an artist on a particular point and then later taking the other viewpoint.

First she recalls (through the writing of Trevor Fairbrother's 1996 essay about the collaborative paintings of Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat) the New York Times critical drubbing of the Basquiat and Warhol art collaborations. Hackett writes:

Writing there in 1984, Vivian Raynor observed that Basquiat might turn into a substantial artist if he doesn't become an "art-world mascot." (A year later, reviewing the Basquiat-Warhol collaboration, she repeated the mascot charge and added that the jointly produced paintings were Warhol manipulations with Basquiat as the "all too willing accessory."

Wounded, Basquiat distanced himself from Warhol, who had functioned as an anchor for the younger artist. After Basquiat's death at age 27 in 1988, the same New York Times called him a "genius" who unfortunately had cooled his relationship with his mentor "partly out of fear that he was being viewed as Mr. Warhol's mascot."

Then Hackett brings to national attention the fact that the Seattle Times in 2006 wrote a three part series focused on Dale Chihuly by Sheila Farr (the Times art critic) and Susan Kelleher (in which Chihuly's work process is compared to Thomas Kinkade's) which starts like this:

If we measure an artist's importance by the number of museum exhibitions, books, articles and television appearances he has, Seattle glass guru Dale Chihuly is right up there with the greats.

His work is in the collection of most every U.S. art museum you can think of, as well as many abroad. Museum exhibitions of his work circulate continually and stacks of hefty coffee-table books praise his talents. And who hasn't seen one of those often-aired documentaries about him on PBS?

But what many don't know is that Chihuly — a Northwest icon who has built a multimillion-dollar business — generates the bulk of that exposure himself.

Most of those hugely popular exhibitions weren't organized and distributed by art museums, but by Chihuly Inc. And those books and television shows? Most of them were produced by Chihuly's publishing company, Portland Press.

All that publicity has inflated the public notion of Chihuly's status in the art world.

Kinda tips your hand as to where these articles are heading, uh?

And yet, the more you think and see the articles as a purely investigative series of articles, the less they appear to be "bloated and inconsequential," as Hackett describes them. Generally Farr and Kelleher do a pretty good job of describing and somewhat exposing an amazing business and propaganda machine, which -- other than the fact that the business empire happens to be that of an artist -- is much like any other article that investigative reporters write, and like many of those, we know from the beginning words what the conclusions will be, or in this case, what flavor they want to leave the readers with once they are finished reading the series.

If we began to read an investigative article in the Washington Times about the finances of Move.org, or in the Washington Post about the finances of the Republican National Committee, we'd all know from the beginning what the conclusions or findings will be, right?

And although Farr and Kelleher tip their hand early on, and generally leave a somewhat negative taste at the end of the series, nearly all of what they write appears to be fact, I think.

It is fact reporting from a negative, and perhaps somewhat unfair viewpoint, but facts nonetheless, and their negativity is probably because the artworld is not used to famous artists who are also astounding business wizards. And when the big, famous artist who is the most famous artist in your city sues lesser-known artists, then we have victims and victimizers.

Artists are supposed to be always the victims, not also the victimizers.

The articles are also a little naive in the sense that the writers approach Chihuly's success from that sort of ivory tower view of the artworld that so many art critics have that leads them to assume and believe that mixing business and publicity with artmaking is a bad thing. And if you're as good as the Chihulian Empire is at all those three, then you're Darth Dale as far as some art writers are concerned.

And Hackett righly points out that then the Seattle Times seems to be contradicting some of their own nuances in the Chihuly series by noting later on that this artist's work is indeed quite similar to Chihuly's.

This is sort of what happens when a WaPo movie critic trashes a film on Friday, and then a second WaPo film critic loves it on Saturday. Kinda...

Hackett has written her own excellent piece on Chihuly, not necessarily "defending" him, but presenting him from a more positive viewpoint. This piece by Hackett is the counterpoint to the articles by Farr and Kelleher.

And she does a pretty good job of presenting Chihuly in a good light, even delivering a very convincing argument why it is OK for us all to accept the fact that Chihuly actually doesn't make any of his artwork himself. And in her blog, Hackett goes a little more out on a limb when she writes:

After six months of digging, the Seattle Times produced a bloated and inconsequential three-part Chihuly series, suggesting grave wrongs were being uncovered at Chihuly Inc., maybe just over the hill of the next paragraph.

As written by Seattle Times investigative reporter Susan Kelleher and Seattle Times art critic Sheila Farr, there was nothing but smoke over that hill. My favorite headline in the tell-all wannabe series was "Chihuly Benefits from his own Philanthropy." Who doesn't?

Mmmm... I think that this is perhaps an easy pass by Hackett, for the million dollar profit reported by the Times article.

Then Hackett apparently went on a war of words with the Stranger's (a Seattle alternative newspaper) art critic Jen Graves over this interview. It all led in turn to Graves responding with this article.

It would be fair to conclude then that the art critics from Seattle's three main newspapers are now somewhat arctic to each other over the issues, allegations, facts, opinions and printed words brought forth by that walking publicity machine that is Dale Chihuly, who -- along with the savvy art aficionados of the Seattle area who are lucky enough to have art critics and newspapers who care about stuff like this -- is the only winner from this glass skirmish.

Wanna go to a Silver Spring, MD opening tonight?

Gateway’s Heliport Gallery opens "20901, 20902, 20903, 20904, 20906, 20910" tonight with a reception from 6 – 8pm.

The exhibition features over 20 Silver Spring artists and was curated by Nevin Kelly Gallery Deputy Director Julia Morelli and Gateway’s Project Manager David Fogel. The selection process was predominantly done through online submissions via ArtDC.org.

The exhibition includes work by Kanchan Balse, John Brodkin, Laurie Breen, George Carr, Andrew Cronan, Mary D. Ott, Clara Graves, Sy Gresser, Steven Hanks, Brian Hewitt, Susan Holland, Yoshiko Jaeggi, Pauline Jakobsberg, Dana Jeri Maier, Jaclyn Martin, Julie Miller, Cristina Montejo, Steven Robinson, Ellen X. Silverberg, Berta Stegmeier, Alfreda Gourdine-Southerland, Bernie Van Leer, and Michael Winger.