About time...

For years and years, when artists donated a work of art to a museum, all that they could deduct from their taxes was the cost of the materials to make the artwork.

However, this past March, Congressmen Jim Ramstad (R-MN) and John Lewis (D-GA) have introduced the "Artists-Museum Partnership Act" – a bill to provide a fair-market value tax deduction for works of arts donated by artists to arts institutions. By the way, Congressman John Lewis is an avid art collector himself and a very visible presence at the occasional art gallery opening in both DC and Atlanta.

This bill, (known in Congressional lingo as H.R. 1524) has been gaining Congressional co-sponsors, now standing at 58, with a number of them serving on the powerful House Ways & Means Committee.

The Senate bill, sponsored by Sen. Robert Bennett (R-UT) and Sen. Pat Leahy (D-VT), has 25 co-sponsors in the Senate.

Here's how you can help: The Congressional Arts Caucus recently circulated a “Dear Colleague” inviting members to join the bill as a co-sponsor. To see if your House or Senate member has co-sponsored this legislation, visit this website. If they have ignored HR 1524, then give them a call or email them a note scolding them for their apathy towards artists. You can email them or call them from here.

And if you don't do that, then you give up your right to bitch about everyone else's apathy towards the arts and the people who create it.

Slow Movin' Outlaw

Willie Nelson and Lacy J. Dalton (Lyrics by Waylon Jennings)

All your stations are being torn down a high flying trains no longer roar

The floors're all sagging with boards at a suffering from not being used anymore

Things're all changing the world's rearranging a time that will soon be no more

Where has a slow movin' once quickdraw outlaw got to go...

The whiskey that once settled the dust tasted so fine now taste so faint
And the mem'ries that once floated out come back stronger
And more clearly with each drink you take

And the women who warmed you once thought so pretty now look haggard and old

So where has a slow movin' once quickdraw outlaw got to go

This land where I travel once fashioned with beauty now stands with scars on her face

The wide open spaces are closin' in quickly from the ways of the whole human race

And it's not that I blame them for claming her bounty
I just wish they're takin' her slow

Cause where has a slow movin' once quick draw outlaw got to go

Tell me where has a slow movin' once quick draw outlaw got to go

Whitney Biennial 2008

The artists for the 2008 Whitney Biennial have been announced.

As usual, the list is essentially (again) the New York and California Biennial, with a sprikling of artists from a handful of other places.

Congrats to Philly's own Karen Kilimnik and the Charlottesville's Kevin Jerome Everson, who were some of the rare non New Yorkers in the show.

I just don't know how to fix this show so that it's just not another New York artists show...

artDC returns

artDC, the District's only major international art fair, returns for its second year on May 16-18, 2008, with an opening night VIP Preview scheduled for May 15.

Read my review of artDC 2007 here.

The New Media section, which I helped to curate last year, also returns for a second year and "this small group of exhibitors will display a variety of digital, sound and installations of mixed-media works, along with other gallery artists."

artDC 2008 will also feature "Art W," which is described as "a project paying tribute to contemporary and historical women artists. As an invitational, Art W will highlight select women artists whose work merits special recognition. Art W will additionally be spotlighted in on- and off-site seminars addressing the topic of women in the arts and in special events with partner institutions in Washington."

I suspect that we will see a lot more Mid Atlantic area galleries represented in this second year, as the relative success of the first year insures some sort of safety net for galleries with a limited art fair budget to do a "new" fair. I know this because one question that I get all the time as I wander through Philly's galleries is "how was artDC?"

And I know that we will see a lot more DC area galleries as well, as the fair's first year success now gives some sort of degree of assurance about the art being exposed to a large body of attendees and collectors.

On Collecting Prints

One word that has been hijacked from the art lexicon by the art merchants is the word "print."

A print is a woodcut, or a linocut, or an intaglio etching, etc. It is created by the printmaker, from beginning to printmaking. Anything else is a reproduction.

So if the original is a watercolor, or an oil, etc. and then you get digital copies of it, or four color separations, etc. all of those are reproductions of the original. However, it's hard to sell something when you describe it as a reproduction, and thus why dealers and artists alike describe their reproductions are "prints."

Giclees is a modern artsy way to describe a reproduction. Giclee is the French word for "spray" or "spurt." It describes the Iris burst printers originally used to make the beautiful new digital reproductions that started appearing in the art world around 15 years ago.

Nothing pisses off a printmaker faster than hearing a reproduction called a print.

On Tuesday, November 20th, from 6:30-8:00 pm, Pyramid Atlantic has an excellent opportunity for beginning and experienced print collectors: Pyramid & Prints: An Evening on the Potomac. This is a presentation by Mary Bartow, Director of Prints and Drawings, Sotheby’s New York.

The presentation will take place at the Old Potomac Boathouse, Georgetown (3530 Water Street, NW, Washington DC 20007).

6:30-7:00 pm Wine and hors d’oeuvres
7:00-7:30 pm Talk by Mary Bartow
7:30-8:00 pm Discussion and allocation of prints

Tickets: $100 and as their gift to you, an original print is included to add to your collection from one of the artists listed below. For tickets, please call 301.608.9101

Participating Artists include:

Andis Applewhite, Rob Evans, Joyce Jewell, Jake Muirhead, Tate Shaw, Maria Barbosa, Aline Feldman, Gabriel Jules (Zepecki), Nina Muys, Tanja Softic, Scip Barnhart, Micheline Frank, Maria Karametou, Lee Newman, Renee Stout, Dorothea Barrick, Helen Frederick, Barbara Kerne ,Minna Nathanson, Lou Stovall, Sally Brucker, Yolanda Frederikse, Madeleine Keesing, Judith Nulty, Henrik Sundquist, Wilfred Brunner, Jenny Freestone, Kathleen Kuster King, Martha Oatway, Lynn Sures, Judy Byron, Inga Frick, Robert Kipniss, Cara Ober, Terry Svat, F. Lennox Campello, Lonnie Graham, Mai Kojima, Mary Ott, Helga Thomson, Kathy Caraccio, Mary Heiss, Andrew Kreiger, Terry Parmelee, Caroline Thorington, Y. David Chung, Richard Hellman, Akira Kurosaki, Margaret Adams Parker, Claudia Vess, Charles Cohan, Ellen Hill, Bridget Lambert, Susan Due Pearcy, Vicky Vogl, Rosemary Cooley, Lisa Hill, Trudi Ludwig, Tracy Pilzer, Joyce Ellen Weinstein, Pepe Coronado, John Hitchcock, Tonia Matthews, Michael Platt, Ellen Verdon Winkler, Sheila Crider, Shireen Holman, Betty McDonald, Steven Prince, Liz Wolf, Lama Dajani, Joseph Holston, Kevin McDonald, Pyramid Atlantic Ann Zahn, Richard Dana, Tai Hwa Goh, Clay McGlamory, Andrew Raftery, Jason Zimmerman, Joan Danziger, Susan Goldman, Nancy McIntyre, Cecilia Rossey, Deron Decesare, Jody Isaacson, Michele Montelbano, Miriam Schaer, Erik Denker, Judy Jashinsky, Johanna Mueller, and Gretchen Schermerhorn.

By the way, Jose Dominguez is the new Executive Director of Pyramid Atlantic, and he starts on December 3, 2007. However, you can meet Jose at the opening of PM's CONTINUUM exhibit on Saturday, December 1st, from 6-8 PM with remarks from Katherine Blood (Curator of Fine Prints at the Library of Congress and the exhibit's curator), at 6:30PM.

Evolution of a drawing

It's always interesting how a piece of art evolves over time to be reborn (sometimes). Below is a ink and watercolor drawing that I did in art school around 1980.


I found it while rooting around the studio, and it's part of dozens of such drawings that I did in art school with people with all sort of things growing out of them.

And that 1980s piece gives birth to the following:

"Porcupine Woman"
Charcoal on Paper, 2007. 9 x 12 inches
By F. Lennox Campello

Speaker's Corner Tomorrow

The Arlington Arts Center is hosting Speaker’s Corner tomorrow, Saturday, November 17, from 12 – 4 pm . No subject is off limits! This is a special opportunity to speak out about issues of concern. Walk-ups are welcome, but if participants would like to reserve a 2 to 4 minute slot within a particular hour, they are advised to register in advance. Please call 703.248.6800 to register.

The program is part of "The 0 Project" - inspiration of artist Rosemary Feit Covey, an interactive installation art piece involving worldwide participation. Its official launch was at the Arlington Arts Center on October 5, where the centerpiece of the project—0 (Zero), a 300-foot long, 15-foot high banner that wraps AAC’s building on Wilson Boulevard — will be on view until February 2008.

Cornelius at Curator's Office

If you haven't checked out Kathryn Cornelius new work at Curator's Office then you are missing work by one of the Greater Washington DC's most refreshing and innovative young artists and another name on my "Buy Now" list.

Read the CP review by Kriston Capps here and the Artinfo.com review here and the essay by Jeffry Cudlin here. The exhibition goes through December 22, 2007.

Then go and buy Kathryn Cornelius now.

Call for Exhibition Proposals

Deadline: February 8, 2008.

The University of Minnesota Visual Arts Committee is now accepting applications for the 2008/2009 school year and there's no entry fee!

The Visual Arts Committee organizes nine solo, group, or theme-based exhibitions per year at the St. Paul Student Center''s 520 sq. foot Larson Art Gallery. It also organizes four solo exhibitions at Coffman Memorial Union''s Coffman Art Gallery.

Please make sure to include all of the following with your application:

* Note which Gallery you are applying for (coffman or larson).

* 2-5 slides of your artwork or digital images in jpeg format.

* Artists'' statement.

* Self-addressed stamped envelope for return of images.

The deadline for Fall2008/Spring2009 submission drive is February 8th, 2008, but they accept applications for consideration year-round. Send complete proposals to:

Minnesota Programs & Activities Council''s Visual Arts Committee
University of Minnesota- Coffman Memorial Union
300 Washington Ave SE
Minneapolis, MN 55455

Nude Bush Update

Remember when the below painting by Kayti Didriksen caused all that uproar at Artomatic and became the Internet's most downloaded image? It became the most popular contemporary political art of all time.

As an update, Kayti tells me that she

"Sold the painting to a diplomat who asked to remain anonymous. When I delivered the painting to his home in Brooklyn, I asked why he wanted it; his response was perfect, he thought that it was a great souvenir of his time in America."

Delaware Arts in Trouble?

Maureen Milford, writing for the News Journal, has an excellent article about the state of arts organizations in Delaware. Read that article here.

As an aside, I've yet to find one independently owned fine arts commercial arts gallery in Wilmington, If there's one, someone please let me know.

Randi Hopkins on Campello



Boston's Randi Hopkins at The Phoenix discusses the current exhibition Ozspirations at at the New England School of Art & Design and mentions my How Dorothy Killed the Witch.

"How Dorothy Gale really killed the Wicked Witch of the East"
Read it here.

Amy Lin Preview

I don't know how tonight's opening of Amy Lin's solo at Heineman-Myers Contemporary in Bethesda, MD went, but I dropped in yesterday to take a look at the work.

Buy Amy Lin now.

Wanna go to a Philly Opening this Friday?

Damian Moppett's After the Fall, which will run from November 16, 2007 - February 17, 2008 opens at the Temple Gallery in the Tyler School of Art. The openingr eception for the artist is Friday, November 16, from 6 to 8 p.m. The exhibition will be accompanied by several programs; for more information visis this website or call 215.782.2776.

Some good lots

Rago Arts and Auction Center has a Post-War and Contemporary Art Auction on November 17, 2007 (exhibition starts today) and as usual there are some great "estimated" deals to be had...

- A Gene Davis color pencils on paper.

- This Wolf Kahn pastel

- Also a great deal on this Teo Gonzalez.

- A signed Rauschenberg print for under a thousand and also this screen print for under a thou.

- A Sol Lewitt drawing for under $500. Also litho for under a thousand.

- Four huge William Christenberry Polaroid transfers in one lot estimated at around $800 each ($2K - $3K for the lot).

- Jenny Holzer estimated at $2,000.

I have conveniently not mentioned the lots that I am bidding for, but there are a lot more "estimated" deals to be had.

The Other Woman

Steven Earl Weber, the co-director of Kelly & Weber Fine Art in Philadelphia, will be guest curating a series of four shows in conjunction with the Coral Street Arts House.

The first of these exhibitions will be a duel site exhibit of the artist collective, The Other Woman.

The Other Woman consists of Darla Jackson, a sculptor, Laura Graham, a photographer, Laura McKinley, a painter, and Aubrie Costello, who works in various mediums. For this dual site exhibition Kelly & Weber Fine Art will be exhibiting the works of Darla Jackson and Aubrie Costello and the Coral Street Arts house will host the works of Laura McKinley and Laura Graham.

View a video interview with these artists filmed on a set built for one of Laura Graham's recent photographs and hear what they have to say for themselves and their artwork here.

Wanna go to some DC openings on Friday?

It's the third Friday of the month coming up and thus the extended nights and openings for the Canal Square Galleries at 31st Street, NW and M Street in Georgetown. While there check Rackie Diankha Diallo's work at Parish Gallery.

Danielle O'Steen on DC

Danielle O'Steen pens a really good over view of what's going on the DC area for artinfo.com.

Read it here.

Delaware Area Artists' Sale

Creative Wilmington has 115 Regional Artists on exhibition that want collectors to purchase artwork directly from them priced at $250 or less. Exhibition is Saturday, November 17 from 10AM - 5PM at Creative Wilmington.

Artwork by Lynette Ashby, Jennifer Marano, Kinga Baransky, Karen Mason, Larissa Baransky, Helen Miller, Jo Bellamy, Joe Miller, Frank Bielsky, Kelley Morris, Teresa Bland, Nick Mowers, Charles Bowden, Monique Mueller, Kim Bowman, Gaye Murphy, Mike Bryand, Nicolle Nicolle, Robert Bullock, Elizabeth Norton, Lauren Caddell, Christine O'Connell, Stephen Cai, Gail O'Neil, Todd Carignan, Maria Ortado, Kate Cathey, Karen Pait, Macon Cathey, Peter Patterson, Deborah Cavenaugh, Lori Payne, Robyn Chapman, Brooks Pearce, Sarah Collier, Candy Pegram, Francisca Dekker, Brian Peterson, Lois DeWitt, Deborah Petoskey, Timothy Dols,Courtney Pickett, Karen Domaney, Nancy Ping-Robbins, Jamie Dorfman, Wendy Pittillo Rae, Jude Eden, Michael Polomik, Jay Edge, JG Priestly, Jennifer Elder, George Rabito, Daisy Faith, Dennis Reifsnider, Paula Fitzpatrick, Kay Robbins, Gina Gambony, Loraine Scalamoni, Kit Garfield, Lara Schuhmann, Wade Giddens, Mick Scott, Cape Fear Camera Club, Donna Simpson, Pamela Kim Hartman, Florence Simpson, Lisa Haskins, Stephanie Smith, Barton Hatcher, Lee Spivey, Steven Heiner, Dixon Stetler, Deborah Hendricks, Polly Tait, Geoffrey Henshall, Sarah Tector, Jack Hernon, Sue Thompson, William Hubbard, Nii Narku, Rebecca Huntzinger, Nia Thurber, Julia Jensen, Clay Trotter, Angela Johnson, Laura Venters, Mitzy Jonkheer, Sandra Vigneri, Jennifer Joyner, Maike Walbrecht, MZ Julee, Gail Beavers Walls, Sharon Kane, Cindy Weaver, Michelle Kaskovich, Tracy Weaver, Rachel Kastner, Travis Weller, Doug Kazantzis, Sarah Westermark, Mary Kate Kennish, Kee Wilde-Ramsing, Aiden Kenny, Rhonda Willett, Gloria Madill, Mike Williams, Beth Maisonpierre, Amy Winston, and Mossy Wynn.

Wanna go to some Baltimore openings on Saturday?

Not only famous for its diverse art, but also for its sushi and good wines at their openings, Baltimore's Light Street Gallery opens its "Small Works Exhibit" on Saturday, November 17 from 6-9PM.

Also on Saturday, from 6-9 p.m. there's an opening reception at Gallery 211 for Washington, DC landscape artist Freya Grand. A catalogue of the show will be available at Gallery 211, with an introductory essay by Jack Rasmussen, Director of the Katzen Art Museum at American University in Washington, DC. For details phone 410-244-1340 or visit www.gallery211.net.