Today: Zoe Strauss Photography Installation Under I-95

Philly photographer and installation artist Zoe Strauss will exhibit 231 new and selected works today, Sunday, May 4th, 2008 from 1pm to 4pm under I-95 at Front St. and Mifflin St. in South Philadelphia.

The exhibition is free and open to the public. Selected pieces of Ms. Strauss's art will be available as color photocopies for purchase at five dollars each. The event will happen rain or shine.

This is the 8th year of Ms. Strauss's ongoing 10-year photo installation in South Philadelphia. Within the last 8 years Ms. Strauss has shown in the 2006 Whitney Biennial, had an acclaimed solo show at Silverstein Photography, is shooting for a book of her photography to be released in October 2008, has been commissioned to create a ramp project at the Philadelphia ICA, had eight prints purchased by the Philadelphia Museum of Art for their permanent collection, received a Leeway grant and became a member of the Leeway advisory council, shown a slideshow at the Philadelphia ICA and won the "friends of Arcadia award" for her piece in the Arcadia Works on Paper Show.

Zoe Strauss is also the executive director of the Philadelphia Public Art Project. For more information on the May 4 exhibit or on the Philadelphia Public ArtProject please visit this website or contact Zoe Strauss at info@zoestrauss.com or 267.250.4158.

Only two years left in the project! Don't miss it!

New one on me

"Art day trading" is what I am going to call this curious happenstance.

Gallerist tells me of selling a work of art to a collector during a preview of a show. Buyer pays around $30,000 for the piece and then says to the gallerist something along the lines of: "keep it for sale during the show and see if someone buys it for $40,000 by the end of the exhibition."

Never seen this before

We went gallery hopping around Philly's Old City section and the streets were packed with people, performers and artists. All the galleries were packed.

In fact, the opening at Wexler Gallery was so crowded last night, that the owners at one point had to regulate traffic flow into the gallery as people came in and out.

I've never seen a gallery so packed for three solid hours and when they finally closed the doors there were still tons of people outside.

I'll have a video of the openings and the artwork later...

Art for Obama

On Friday, May 23, 6:30-9 PM, Duality Contemporary Art, a new gallery located in Arlington, Virginia, near the Shirlington area, is hosting an "Art for Obama Benefit Reception."

Art for sale is priced from $100 to $800 and there's a silent auction as well. Work by: Deborah Coburn, graffiti artist Tim Conlon, Joy Every, John Gascot, Dirk Herrman, Elizabeth Grusin-Howe, Lucy Herrman, Beverly Ryan, Nancy Sausser, Langley Spurlock, Paula Wachsstock, Angelika Wamsler, and more.

Details here

Healing Arts Gallery Grand Opening

DC's Smith Farm will be hosting the grand opening of its new Healing Arts Gallery on Friday, May 9th from 5:30-8PM.

The Gallery is a first-of-its-kind exhibition space in the US, innovatively designed to provide each visitor with a unique experience of how the arts can enhance wellbeing.

Smith Farm Center, a renowned leader in combining art with health and healing, has leveraged its decade of experience at the forefront of this emerging field to design and construct the facility in the heart of the U Street historic art district in Washington, DC.

The Gallery, recently featured at the Museum of Modern Art’s (MOMA’s) “Value and Importance of Art in Health Care” Conference, is supported by the DC Commission on Arts and the Humanities for its groundbreaking approach. The public is invited to attend the grand opening events.

It’s also a “green” gallery – and I believe it may be the first in the nation. Whenever possible, Smith Farm has chosen to incorporate environmentally sensitive choices into the rehabilitation process. These choices include: compact flourescent lights throughout the space, No-voc paint, a donated, reclaimed brazilian cherry wood floor, low-water flow toilet and energy efficient HVAC system. The Gallery has a "green roof" and two living walls of plants that actually oxygenate the facility. The Gallery’s tenant is a store that focuses on green products.

Details here.

A note from J.W. Mahoney

Corrections from J.W. Mahoney on “Report from Washington, D.C.” Art in America, May 2008

It's always lucky whenever the DC arts community gets any major art magazine coverage, and, with only a few exceptions, noted below, I stand by the edit of the text of this article. My image selection for the piece, however, was largely ignored by the editors. There are images I consider redundant by some Color School artists – the art world knows all these people by now – and, without any disrespect implied to the artists themselves, any images by artists unmentioned in the text were selected by my editors. The piece looks good, but it's not as I designed it to look.

Some textual corrections: Philippa Hughes' name is spelled that way. The gallery representing Tom Downing's estate is the Addison-Ripley Gallery, even as Leigh Conner has often featured Tom's work. And Michael O'Sullivan is noted as "the only DC art critic to be taken seriously by local artists," when the original text was, specifically, "the only Washington Post art critic to be," etc. And the original piece was longer, and included more artists, from Jae Ko to Borf, to Yoko Ono.

What's important is that our arts community continue to wake up to two significant conditions: first, that we're radically, originally, rich aesthetically, however slim or quixotic the validation feels from our greater social community and its media - and its museums. Second, that we have to validate (or keep validating) ourselves and each other first, before and whether or not an art world of 2008 or 2009 ever does.

J.W. Mahoney

First Fridays Everywhere!

There's a seriously cool exhibition of paintings by Matthew Kucynski in a show titled "You're apocalypse!" going on right now at Philly's Pentimenti Gallery. The show goes on through May 31, 2008 and the reception for the artist is tonight, May 2 from 6-8PM as part of Philly's great First Friday openings.

And of course Damien Hirst, Tim Tate and others open (In)Between at Wexler Gallery; there's already buzz in Philly about this exhibition and this morning a clip of it was in the local CBS news. I'll be there tonight. Details on all the Philly area gallery openings here.

DC also has their First Friday gallery openings going on for the galleries around Dupont Circle. Also generally from 6-8PM. Details on DC openings here. Check out Washington Printmakers Gallery, they have "Tasting the Ghost," new prints by Heather Self through May 25. Their First Friday Reception is from 5 - 8 p.m., and the Artist's Reception is Sunday, May 4th, 1-4 p.m. with an Artist Talk from 2-3 p.m. Also look for Katya Kronick's paintings at Studio Gallery also opening tonight. A few minutes from Studio, drop by and see Anna U. Davis' solo at Hillyer Art Space.

Tonight is First Fridays in Fell's Point in Baltimore too! Check out DBK5's "Foundations of Style Writing" (Curated by Adam Stab) opening tonight.

Michael Platt

H&F Fine Arts in Maryland opens a solo exhibition of new work by artist Michael Platt. An opening reception will be held on Saturday, May 3 from 5:00–8:00pm; on Saturday, May 24, there will be a reading by poets Carol Beane and Maya James, and storyteller, Ken Ford at 5:30pm followed by a gallery talk with Michael Platt at 7:00pm.

"Lost and Found centers on work made in collaboration with poet and Howard University professor Carol Beane. The historical and contemporary traumas of American slavery and Hurricane Katrina are the implied backdrop for a stunning installation in which a New Orleans-style shotgun house is surrounded by prints of female figures on translucent polycloth. Whether fugitives from slavery or disaster, the figures are displaced, lost, fearful, and yearning. The obscured shotgun house, representing home, is seen but not accessible, telegraphing futility and despair while suggesting the possibility of hope, celebration, reflection, and return."

A 2007 recipient of the prestigious Franz and Virginia Bader Fund Grant, Platt has exhibited nationally and internationally. His work is held in many private and museum collections including the Corcoran Museum, the Smithsonian Museum of American Art, and the Library of Congress.

Artists' Websites: Jeffry Cudlin

"Une Balle au Coeur." acrylic on canvas, 24" X 48", c.2008 by Jeffry Cudlin

My good friend Jeffry Cudlin is a talented artist, a superb curator, the Director of Exhibitions for the Arlington Arts Center, the award-winning art critic for the Washington City Paper, and my WAMU sparring partner on the Kojo Nnamdi show. Visit his website here.

Delphine Perlstein at the Maison Francaise

French artist Delphine Perlstein's opening at Anacostia's Honfleur Gallery last year was ruined by the awful events that happened at Unifest -- remember the person who ran her Volvo through the crowds of people attending the street festival, with her 8 year old in the car?

That was the night of Delphine's opening at Honfleur Gallery, and needless to say, most of the guests could not make it as there was utter chaos, road closures etc. in Anacostia that night.

But Honfleur Gallery stepped up to the plate and worked to secure the artist an exhibition at the French Embassy's Maison Francaise in DC, from May 7th to May 23rd 2008.

If you haven't been to an opening at Maison Francaise, then you're in for a pleasant surprise! Please RSVP to attend the opening reception at 6pm on May 7th. Call 202.944.6091 or email cuturel.wahsington-amba@diplomatie.gouv.fr to RSVP.

Calling all art undergrads!

As I mentioned several times in the past, I've been retained by the Longview Gallery of Washington, DC to curate an exhibition for them focused on student work.

The exhibition hopes to deliver a survey of the best artwork by undergraduate art students working in accredited art school programs in Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, District of Columbia and Virginia.

Over the last few months I have visited a ton of schools up and down the mid Atlantic. In the process, the new Mayer Fine Art Gallery in Norfolk, Virginia liked the concept, and now the DC show will have selected students have art travel down to Norfolk for a second exhibition there.

I will curate the exhibition from both a submission process as well as visits to schools and studios. All selections and invitations will be made at my discretion.

Through this process, the exhibition also hopes to educate the selected students on the process of participating in a commercial gallery art exhibition, including advance preparations, presentation and delivery of artwork, opening receptions, dealing with the press, etc.

Calendar

May 5, 2008 - Deadline for postmark of entries to me

May 10, 2008 - Invited Artists Notified

June 5, 2008 - Deadline for Delivery of Art to Gallery

June 7, 2008 - Opening Reception

July 5, 2008 - Exhibition Closes

July 6, 2008 - Pick-up of Unsold Work


This exhibition is open to all art students 18 years and older who are enrolled in an accredited undergraduate art school program in Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, the District of Columbia and Virginia. At my discretion, the exhibition may also include a piece by the selected students' art professor. All work selected must be for sale and framed and presented professionally to conservation standards. Open to all two and three dimensional media. The size of the submitted artwork cannot exceed 40 inches in any one direction (excluding frames).

There are no fees or charges associated with this exhibition and process. Accepted artists are responsible for any costs associated with delivery and return of unsold work. All preliminary judging will be done from digital entries.

A formal opening and reception for the accepted artists will be held on Saturday, 7 June 2008 from 6-8 p.m. at the Longview Gallery. The gallery is located at 1302 9th street, NW, Washington, DC 20001, Tel: 202.232.4788.

A second formal opening and reception (dates to be announced) will be held in Norfolk for the second show.

All the details and prospectus can be downloaded here. Art professors desiring to contact me to set up a school visit should contact me directly via email: lenny@lennycampello.com.

Looking for DC area studio space?

The Glen Echo Park Partnership for Arts and Culture is seeking visual artists and nonprofit visual arts organizations to join the Park’s Resident Artists and to lease studio space in the refurbished Chautauqua Tower.

Artists are invited to join them for an Open House on Saturday, May 3 from 10:30am to 1pm for studio tours and more information. Two studios will be available for a 1-3 year lease starting on July 1, 2008. For further details about Glen Echo Park, its resident artists, and to download the Request for Proposals, please visit www.glenechopark.org. Responses to the Request for Proposals are due on May 27, 2008.

Art Basel news

"Thanks to the appearance of an exponentially more fabulous Art Basel Miami Beach fair each December since 2002, the once-tattered resort town has gained a new sense of itself as an aesthetic destination. . . . Now members of the local Establishment, enamored with their smart new friends—collectors, artists, and curators from around the world—want to see if they can get them to stick around. It’s partly about wishing to be taken seriously as a cultural alternative to New York and Los Angeles. But it’s also a bet that fertilizing the creative class is good economic-development policy—especially in a city hit hard by the real-estate meltdown. Which is why a local developer and collector, Craig Robins, is starting a free postgraduate art program in Miami."

Read the whole article by Brett Sokol here.

Speaking of Art Basel, Cay Sophie Rabinowitz today resigned as Artistic Director of Art Basel and Art Basel Miami Beach. Art Basel and Art Basel Miami Beach will be led now by Annette Schönholzer (formerly Director, Operations and Finance) and Marc Spiegler (formerly Director, Strategy and Development). Both now share the title Co-Director, Art Basel and Art Basel Miami Beach.

I'm also trying to confirm an interesting ABMB vs MB rumor... more on that later.

Senior Art Show at WCU

Because I am currently curating an undergraduate student show, which I have titled "Early Look," I have been visiting a ton of art schools along the mid Atlantic.

I recently visited West Chester University in West Chester, Pennsylvania and will soon review their "Senior Art Exhibition" here.

Meanwhile, see a quick walkthrough of the show below...

Scott Brooks - Under the Skin


One of the innovative, inventive, smart, and nicest artists from the Greater DC area is the very talented Scott Brooks and he is opening in DC's Longview Gallery. The opening reception is Saturday, May 10, 5-8pm.

I've been admiring how Brooks continues to grow and progress as an artist - and the most important "and" - to exhibit widely around the nation.

And thus I add him to my "Buy Now" list.

Buy Scott Brooks now!

Wanna go to a Philly opening on Saturday?

There's tons of openings in Philly and DC as part of the First Friday gallery openings routine, but just in case...

Strata Sphere, an artistic exhibition space at 1854 Germantown Avenue in Philadelphia, will be presenting the works of two area painters, Paul Hamanaka and Darla Beckemeyer Cassidy, in a show titled The Floating World, from May 3rd through June 7th.

The Floating World is a concept in Buddhism that "expresses the ephemeral nature of our existence." There will be an opening reception on Saturday, May 3rd, from 2pm – 5pm. The exhibition will run until June 7th.

Cuban reviews

Although I am Oh-for-two as far as reviews are concerned for the two shows that I have curated so far for DC galleries this year, the one currently on exhibition at Norfolk's Mayer Fine Art Gallery has been getting good critical coverage and exceptional sales.

One look at this exhibition makes it clear why Cuban art is especially hot right now.
- Betsy DiJulio
Portfolio Weekly

Last week it was reviewed by the Virginian Pilot (as soon as I can find a link I will put it up) and today it was reviewed by the Portfolio Weekly. Read that review here.

Danny Conant at Tibet House in NY

For many years now, DC area photographer Danny Conant has been visiting, photographing and developing a special relationship with the people and the nation of Tibet.

This relationship is clearly evident in Conant's beautiful new book Vanishing Tibet, which delivers ample proof of what can be created when a superbly talented photographer puts her passion and effort on a subject that is special to her.

And this Thursday, May 1, 2008, Conant also has an opening of her Tibet photographs from 6-8pm at Tibet House in New York. The exhibition runs to July 1, 2008.

Washington Report

Art in America magazine's May issue has a report on Washington, DC by AinA's DC editor, my good friend J.W. Mahoney (page 94).

(In)Between opens in Philly this Friday


This coming Friday Philadelphians will get a chance to see some interesting sculptures by British artist Damien Hirst and the District's own Tim Tate in what appears to be a superbly well-curated group show at Philadelphia's Wexler Gallery.

Damien Hirst, The Fate of Man (5/25), 2005, Cast silver, 6 x 5 x 8 inches
Curated by Sienna Freeman, Associate Director of the Wexler Gallery, the exhibition is based loosely on the idea of Vanitas - 16th century Dutch still-life paintings that celebrate life’s pains and pleasures while meditating on their inevitable loss.


Damien Hirst, The Sacred Heart, 2005. Cast silver, 12 x 17 inches
Featured artists include Damien Hirst, Randall Sellers, Adelaide Paul, Tim Tate, Anne Siems, Dirk Staschke and Joe Boruchow. The show will run from May 2nd through June 28th, 2008. *An Opening Reception will take place on First Friday, May 2nd from 5-8pm.


Tim Tate, Love in the New Millennium. Blown and cast glass, electronic parts, original video. 14 x 6 x 6 inches

I know that you know that I have no objectivity when it come to Tate, and I have been telling you this since his sculptures were $600 a pop, but buy Tim Tate now!