Derivative Composition
A while back I was honored to be one of three jurors for VSA's "Derivative Composition" juried exhibition at the Kennedy Center.
The Derivative Composition exhibition at the Kennedy Center will be installed this coming Monday. I’m told that it is one of the most ambitious and interesting exhibitions that VSA has produced to date.
The opening is scheduled for Thursday, June 26, beginning at 5 pm. Several of the artists (which come from all over the country) will be attending. In addition, they will host two exclusive performances:
Mark Wittig, from Oklahoma, will present the performance component of his installation, To Have Straights. The performance will emphasize the potential of the physical act as a learning tool.
The Skin, by artist Emily Eifler, will awaken and walk among guests. The textural, full body costume serves to represent a visual boundary that recalls a different, invisible boundary: disability
Saturday, June 14, 2008
Steinhauer on the Affordable Art Fair
Artinfo.com's Jill Steinhauer reports on the Affordable Art Fair here.
The Affordable Art Fair New York is one of the least pretentious places to see high-quality international contemporary art in the city. The annual fair, now in its seventh edition, runs June 12–15 at the Altman Building and adjoining Metropolitan Pavilion, and with general admission priced at only $17, it’s cheaper than a trip to MoMA or the Guggenheim.Read the whole article here. From the reports that I gathered yesterday, almost all galleries were selling well.
An affordable art fair may sound amateurish to some, and the art on view here does range in quality, but the gallerists I spoke with yesterday had almost entirely positive things to say about the event, whose self-proclaimed mission is “to serve every kind of art enthusiast.” “This fair is much better than the Affordable Art Fairs in Australia,” said first-timer Peter Gant of Carlton, Australia–based Peter Gant Fine Art.
Thursday, June 12, 2008
DC News
Tony Gittens, the executive director of the D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities, announced a couple of days ago that he is leaving that post after 11 years. Read the WaPo report here.
Memo to Mayor Fenty: Appoint George Koch to the job.
Silly-Matic
Artomatic's odd developments with respect to "the Collector" are chronicled here by the WaPo's Reliable Source.
Affordable Art Fair New York report
The press preview and collectors's night (on Wednesday night) was packed to the gills and the AAFNYC staff told me that it was the largest turnout they've ever had for an opening.
Loads of press people, including a lot of NYC art bloggers, and a significant number of young people drinking the free booze. In our booth, Sheila Giolitti was selling loads of her paintings on this preview night.
Today was the "real" first day of the fair, and when we got there at noon, there was a line of people waiting to get in. I made some quick sales almost immediately of Cirenaica Moreira photos, and Tim Tate's video reliquiaries (as they did the preview night) continued to attract people like moths to a light. At $8,000, they're at the top price scale for this level of art fairs.
Sheila Giolitti continued to sell well, and the anecdotal reports that I received from the other DC, MD and VA galleries in the fair sounded like they were all doing well.
The press was back today to our booth to discuss Cuban art and the state of art fairs; seems like trying to gather if the fair market at this "battle front" level is also putting on the brakes.
More tomorrow...
Fairing
At the Fair in NYC all week with my new Alida Anderson Art Projects venture... more later.
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Videos, Movies, Animation & Art at the Whino
National Harbor's Art Whino & Art Outlet will partner up again for the FLIK Movie Festival & Interactive Exhibit.
For FLIK 2008, Art Outlet has partnered with the Art Whino Gallery to expand upon last year’s success by expanding the call out to all mediums of animation and experimental film. There will be more screenings, a larger venue, a coinciding interactive exhibit, and a licensing of the program to allow for screenings both locally and internationally – thus expanding exposure for the selected filmmakers.
Friday, June 21 from 6 – 8pm is the opening reception from 8pm – 12am. On Saturday the sked is as follows:
9am – 3pm Workshops
3pm – 6pm Interactive Exhibit open to the public
6pm – 8pm Reception
8pm – 12am Screening / Performance
On Sunday: 12pm – 6pm Exhibit open to public
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
She's So Articulate
At the Arlington Arts Center: Black Women Artists Reclaim the Narrative!
Faith Ringgold, Who's Bad?, acrylic on canvas with pieced fabric border, 79.5" X 92.5", 1988
Work by Maya Freelon Asante, Renee Cox, Stephanie Dinkins, Djakarta, Nekisha Durrett, Torkwase Dyson, Faith Ringgold, Erika Ranee, Nadine Robinson, Renee Stout, Lauren Woods at the Arlington Arts Center in Arlington, VA.
Opening reception: Friday, June 13, 6:00 to 9:00 pm - the exhibition goes through July 19, 2008.
The week of November 15-22, 2008 will mark the launch of FotoWeek DC, the first annual gathering of a diverse and wide-ranging photography community in the nation’s capital, including photographers, museums, universities and all those involved in the profession across the metro D.C. area, including Virginia and Maryland. Unique among American cities, Washington, D.C. is a nexus of artistic, business, political and public sector energy, in which photography plays an integral role. FotoWeek DC seeks to bring together all photographers and imaging professionals from every discipline to join with the public in celebration of the medium.Details here. They were really keeping that event a "secret"! This is first heard for me and they've already got a whole series of events planned and an ass-kicking website and seems like almost every key art gallery in the Greater DC and DMV region is in the mix.
When Museum Guards Go Bad
A former Carnegie Museum of Art guard charged with vandalizing a $1.2 million painting simply "snapped" due to life's normal pressures, including impending fatherhood, his defense attorney said.Read the story here.
Fair State
Art Basel, the largest international fair of contemporary art, wound up Sunday after registering some major sales but with a suggestion that the overall market may be slowing in reaction to the world's financial turmoil.You can read the whole AP report here.
The show management's final report said the results were "outstanding" and that all participants "considered it a very good year," but it gave no overall sales figures.
Headlines were chiefly made by Roman Abramovich, the Russian multibillionaire and owner of Chelsea soccer club, who topped the list of collectors present.
Abramovich appeared to have stayed below his spending spree last month in New York, where he paid US$120 million (€77 million) at Sotheby's record-breaking auction, including US$86 million (€55 million) for the top lot, a Francis Bacon triptych.
In Basel, he bought one of Alberto Giacometti's elongated woman sculptures for a seemingly modest US$14 million (€9 million), according to The Art Newspaper's special Basel edition.
The sale of a Lucian Freud, "Girl in Attic Doorway," for US$12 million (€7.7 million) to an undisclosed buyer was also confirmed.
The organizers said their surveys showed that "all the exhibiting galleries were able to find buyers for their works."
The 300 participating galleries offered works by more than 2,000 artists, priced between a few thousand and millions of dollars.
It was left to the individual galleries to disclose sales, and many did not.
Despite the positive report of the organizers, the weekend edition of The Art Newspaper headlined, "Market keeps moving, but the brakes start to go on."
The reports that I have been getting directly from dealers have (as always) been mixed. Later this week I will be going to the Affordable Art Fair New York, the art fair that I consider to be at the front battle lines of the art fair world, since it limits prices of work to be sold to a max of $10,000 per piece.
I should be able to discuss what the state of "affordable" art is once I get a feeling how this fair is doing.
Florida Gallery Seeks Street Art
The 621 Gallery, a contemporary exhibition space in Tallahassee, FL, seeks entries for an exhibition dealing with contemporary street art scheduled for July 2009. They are interested in themes relating to contemporary street art including graffiti, murals, stenciling, and guerilla art. Send them a CD of images (at 300 dpi) of your work, your contact info (mailing address, phone, email), and a short statement (1 page maximum) on why you make what you make. Send materials to:
Street Art
c/o 621 Gallery
621 Industrial Drive
Tallahassee, FL 32310
Opportunity for Artists
Deadline: July 1, 2008.
The Art Gallery at Lower Columbia College in Longview, Washington is accepting submission for exhibitions for the 2008-2009 and 2009-2010 academic years. The gallery functions as a resource for students, educators, artists and the public-at-large. Submissions are limited to 2-D, 3-D and installation work. This is an open call, but preference will be given to proposals received by July 1, 2008. For more information, go to this website.
Art-In-Architecture Artist Registry
Deadline: July 31, 2009.
The GSA Art in Architecture Program commissions the nation's leading artists to create large-scale works of art for new federal buildings. These artworks enhance the civic meaning of federal architecture and showcase the vibrancy of American visual arts. Together, the art and architecture of federal buildings create a lasting cultural legacy for the people of the United States. For more information, go to this website.
Studio Visit
My studio visit with Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons is here. Read it and prepare to be impressed by this dynamo of an artist.
“When I am not here/Estoy Alla” c. 1994 by Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons
Monday, June 09, 2008
Gopnik on Transformer
The WaPo's Chief Art Critic does something that he rarely does: review a Washington, DC art gallery.
And Gopnik does a really good job in showing us what this show is all about, and in making us all wish that he did this more often.
Read it here.
Lorton Arts
Last month I juried the Lorton Arts Foundation exhibition at the University of Phoenix, Reston Campus. Below is a quick video of that exhibit.
