New Drawing

"Rear Nude"
Matted and Framed to 12.5 x 12.5 inches. Charcoal on Paper, C. 2008 by F. Lennox Campello

Wanna go to an Alexandria, VA opening?

The Northern Virginia Fine Arts Association (NVFAA) will host an innovative new exhibit, TXT MSG, in the Athenaeum Gallery August 16 through September 21, 2008.

Featuring Four Letter Words by John James Anderson and Song for Europe by Mark Cameron Boyd, TXT MSG is an artistic exploration touching on letters as design icons, the meaning of words and how their impact resonates beyond their mere definition, and interactive experiences that reflect a world view of language and art.

Exhibition Dates: August 16 – September 21, 2008
Opening Reception: Saturday, August 16, 5:00 – 7:00 (no charge)
Song for Europe Gallery Talk, Sunday, September 7, 5:00 (no charge)

At Projects


Philly's Projects Gallery opens its 2008-09 season with Fresh! 2008. Inspired by Philadelphia’s rich and multi-faceted artistic talent, this invitational exhibition highlights this city’s emerging artists.

Selected by gallery Director Helen Meyrick because of her immediate visceral response to their work, these artists diversely employ sculpture, photography, painting and drawing.

Work by Catherine Badger, Rosanne D'Andrea, Talia Greene, Brooke Holloway, Carl Marin, Itsuki Ogihara, Marilyn Rodriguez-Behrle, Lynn Rosenthal, Mia Rosenthal, Krista Rothwell, Gregory Farrar Scott, Heather Sundquist, and others.

Both Cat Badger and Krista Rockwell were two of the students that I had earlier selected for my Early Look student shows in Washington, DC and Norfolk, VA.

Fresh! runs from Friday August 29 through September 27, 2008 with a First Friday artist reception September 5th, from 6-9 p.m.

At Hemphill

DC's Hemphill Fine Arts has a group show currently up showcasing recent additions to the gallery's inventory. Work by James Brooks, Jason Gubbiotti, Alfred Jensen, Robert Rauschenberg, Ed Ruscha, Al Souza, Antoni Tàpies and Alma Thomas.

Through August 29.

Opportunity for Artists

Deadline: September 26, 2008

The Center for Civil and Human Rights announces a call to artists for "Learn Promote Defend", held December 10, 2008 at Mason Murer Fine Art in Atlanta, Georgia. Awards: Public art exhibition and potential to become part of CCHR's permanent collection. Open to all professional artists 18 years of age or older (as of January 1, 2008) from all geographic locations where this Competition is not prohibited or restricted by law.

Interested artists should interpret one or more articles of the UDHR (the preamble and thirty articles may be read here) and provide a Resume and Artist's statement.

Entries will be accepted in all two-dimensional visual arts media, including, but not restricted to: painting, drawing, watercolor, weaving, photography, prints, video, film and digital animation. The work entered may be traditional, representational or more experimental, but it must be based on one or more of the articles of the UDHR.

Jurors: Sylvie Fortin; Christopher Hauck; Jodi Hauptman; Louise Shaw. No entry fee. Download prospectus (PDF format) here or send a SASE to:

Center for Civil and Human Rights
50 Hurt Plaza
Suite 110
Atlanta, GA 30303.

Questions? Please contact Tiffany Powell at tpowell@cchrpartnership.org or call 404.658.1877.

Racist Ad

Already with one of the most disturbing histories as a nation, Spain's basketball team adds to it with this sad ad in a Spanish magazine, which depicts the Spanish Olympic basktetball team pulling back their eyes to mimic the Asian epicanthic fold.


Several of those players also play in the NBA. Sigh...

Opportunity for Artists

Deadline: August 29, 2008

Accepting works for consideration on upcoming Eastern Seal stamps. Works should be a vertical drawing or painting of a lily, in watercolor, oil, pastels, colored pencil, or computer generated image. Size limitations: no smaller than 8-1/2” x 11” and no larger than 18” x 24”. White or off-white stock is preferred. Three entry categories available: Student; Adult (up to age 60); and Senior (over age 60). No entry fee. For more information, contact:

Easter Seals
Attn: Lisa Skaggs
230 West Monroe St.
Ste. 1800
Chicago, IL 60606

Phone: (312) 726-6200; or check website here.

Not Cute Enough

"Lin Miaoke, left, is shown during the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympic Games on Friday. An official ordered her to lip-synch 'Ode to the Motherland' because seven-year-old singer Yang Peiyi, right, wasn't deemed cute enough."
Read the AP story here.

Artists' Websites: Cristina Montejo



I first saw Cristina Montejo's work at the last Artomatic in Washington, DC and was quite impressed by her work. She recently showed at the Corcoran's White Walls Gallery. See her work here.

Keep your eye on this artist.

Van Gogh's hidden portrait

A Vincent van Gogh portrait of a peasant woman that was painted over by the artist has been revealed in extraordinary detail through use of an x-ray technique that has never before been applied to a painting.



Research had previously disclosed the vague outline of a head behind the painting, entitled Patch of Grass, but the face of the woman emerged from the centre of the work only after the picture was subjected to x-ray fluorescence spectroscopy.

Read the story here.

Opportunity for Maryland Artists

Deadline: September 2, 2008 at 5 PM.

The Howard County Center for the Arts, a 27,000 square foot community facility located in Ellicott City, Maryland, is seeking proposals from artists for Art MD 2008, a biennial multi-media juried exhibit. The juror for Art MD 2008 is Leslie King Hammond, Graduate Dean, Emeritus, Director Center for Race and Culture at Maryland Institute College of Art. A minimum of $1,000 will be awarded by the juror.

The exhibit will be on view from October 31 – December 12, 2008 with a reception and remarks by Dr. King-Hammond on December 5, from 6-8pm.

Entry is open to all artists, 18 years or older, residing in Maryland or within a 100-mile radius of Ellicott City, MD. Artists may submit slides or digital images of up to three works completed in the last two years and not exhibited previously in the HCCA galleries. All work must fit through a standard doorway measuring 54” x 80” and fit appropriately in the HCCA galleries. The Center’s two galleries total over 2000 square feet, with 9 ½ foot high walls, professional track lighting and hardwood floors. There is a $20 ART MD entry fee. The fee is waived for current Howard County Arts Council members.

For entry details or more information call 410-313-2787, email info@hocoarts.org or visit the website www.hocoarts.org.

Sotheby's Profit Falls

Sotheby's, the world's largest publicly traded auction house, said second-quarter profit fell 11 percent after it shifted its London contemporary-art sales to the third quarter from the second.

... Chief Executive William Ruprecht said profit would have increased were it not for the new auction schedule. He said wealthy people with more than $100 million -- who are insulated from economic woes -- remain their best customers.

Read the story here.

Art for Life

The last day to submit a donation to Art for Life is Friday, August 15th. Please participate in this year's auction, by filling out your donation information online.

This event could not be possible without the generosity of artists like you. Your donation will truly make a life-saving difference for more than 13,000 clients that the Whitman-Walker Clinic serves. HIV/AIDS is at epidemic proportions in the District of Columbia. DC has the highest HIV rate in the nation – one in 20 adults in the District is HIV positive.

This year, Whitman-Walker will present the 15th annual Art for Life art auction, benefiting prevention services to communities of color. They and I invite you to participate in this very important cause by donating a piece of artwork. In addition to having your work and bio featured in 5,000 auction catalogues, your gift of art will provide the gift of HIV prevention and education, thus preserving the gift of life. While your work will be displayed in someone’s home, your generosity will ensure that we are able to get critical education information and testing opportunities in African-American and Latino communities.

You can donate online now or by calling (202) 797-3520.

A reception and art auction to benefit Whitman-Walker Clinic'sHIV/AIDS prevention services in communities of color will be held Friday, November 14, 2008, from 6:30 - 8:30 pm at the Carnegie Institute of Washington (1530 P Street, NW, Washington, DC).

Cuban thoughts...

As far as I know, American companies are forbidden from doing business in Cuba's brutal dictatorship regime... and the only two items that can be imported from the prison island are books and art.

So... tonight as I watch (on TeleMundo) the graceful and powerful Cuban female beach volleyball team of Estevez and Crespo fight the equally powerful and graceful German team of Pau and Pohl, I notice that the Communist nation's bikini bathing suits sport the Adidas logo.

Why is Adidas sponsoring a Cuban team? (Update: Because they are a German company I am told)

Cuba is an imprisoned nation whose government segregates HIV+ people, and that has "cured" gay people by lobotomizing them, and that has a government that is one of the worst offenders of human rights in the world?

Is that what Adidas wants its name associated with? A gay-bashing, lobotomizing, HIV-segregating, human rights-violating, old-style Communist dictatorship?

And how does an American company (Adidas is American-owned... right???) get to do business with the Castro brothers' bloodstained regime? (Update: Because they are a German company I am told)

Shame on you Adidas...

Opportunity for young female photographers

As part of its 80th anniversary celebration, the Inter-American Commission of Women (CIM) of the Organization of American States (OAS), in coordination with the Art Museum of the Americas (AMA), invites all 11 to 14 year old girls from OAS Member States to participate in the Photography Contest “When I Grow Up…”

This competition aims to capture the vision young girls have about their future: their dreams, their personal and professional ambitions, and what they imagine that their world will be like when they reach adulthood. Through their photographs, the girls will reflect the evolving changes in gender stereotypes due to women’s empowerment. Moreover, they will illustrate how the new generations assess the progress achieved by women regarding their role in society and what is still to be achieved by young women such as themselves when they grow up…

Click here for terms and more information about the contest.

Opening Ceremonies Blues

I watched the Beijing Olympics opening ceremonies last night, and while admiring the spectacular artistry and synchronization of 2008 humans on the field doing all sorts of unbelievable things, slowly this sort of mental connectivity to the Berlin Olympics from decades ago began to emerge.

When the Chinese soldiers goose-stepped to raise the Chinese flag, and the Chinese children representing the 50-odd ethnic groups in China began singing the Chinese national anthem while doing a curious arm salute to the anthem, at least for me the Olympic connection between Nazi Germany and Communist China was cemented in an odd way.

By the time that the ceremonies got to the part where China, perhaps one of the world's worst human rights offenders, and a nation who is destroying its own environment at a brisk pace, does the bit on the future of the planet, global warming, peace, etc. I was a way beyond skeptical about the heavy handed, sometimes hypocrythical messaging of the opening ceremonies.

Let's just get the competitions going, shall we?

The Chinese Art Market

In all this foment, the contemporary art scene is somewhat at a standstill. Yes, new records are being set for contemporary Chinese works at every successive Sotheby’s and Christie’s auction. And every foreign visitor to Beijing, art aware or not, now has to walk around “798”, the chic factory café and gallery area, formerly a wonderfully anarchic artist community. And it seems that “millions” are being made by all concerned within this bustling, over-heated art market. But the art itself isn’t moving. The big five names are all producing exactly the same cartoonish works they have done for years, because that is what sells. Every new artist who arrives on the scene produces not-so-subtle variants of that same work because that is what sells. And even reproduction specialists have switched from copying Degas, Monet and Rembrandt, to producing “genuine” Wang Guangyi, Zhang Xiaogang and Yue Minjun knockoffs, because…

Read the Art Newspaper article here.

Olympic Predictions

The Olympics start tomorrow - we'll be watching avidly and predict that:

Several Chinese athletes whom no one has ever heard of, will win gold medals in some arcane sports that no one watches.

An American sprinter, favorite to win a medal, will pull a muscle in one of the qualifying rounds.

Sullen-looking Russian female gymnasts will battle it out with very young Chinese gymnasts who never smile either, but somehow manage not to look sullen.

Cuban boxers with years and years of "amateur" experience will beat up on everybody.

Skinny African-born long distance runners will run for a variety of non-African nations - where they are now citizens - and sometimes still lose to someone still running for Kenya.

Because of the way that she looks, Americans (and only Americans) will wonder in silence how come Dara's last name is "Torres."

Some nation which has never won the FIFA World Cup will nevertheless win the Olympic gold medal for soccer.

The United States better win the gold medal in basketball or someone is getting their butt kicked.

The Franz and Virginia Bader Fund

Deadline: September 15, 2008

The Franz and Virginia Bader Fund welcomes applications from visual artists aged 40 years or older, who live within 150 miles of Washington, D.C. and can demonstrate that they have the potential to benefit as artists from a grant.

The Franz and Virginia Bader Fund does not, however, accept applications from filmmakers, video artists, and performance artists. In 2006 the Franz and Virginia Bader Fund awarded three grants totalling $50,000.

The deadline for applications is September 15, 2008. Application forms may be downloaded from the fund's web site: www.baderfund.org or may be requested by sending an email to grants@baderfund.org or by sending a request to:

Bader Fund
5505 Connecticut Avenue, NW #268
Washington, D.C. 20015

Wanna go on an art tour in DC?

On Saturday, August 9th at 11a.m., artist Craig Kraft and my good friend and art collector and founder of Pink Line, Philippa Hughes, will give a tour of the Foggy Bottom Outdoor Sculpture Exhibit – sharing their unique points-of-view with the audience.

"We are so excited about having both Craig and Philippa lead the tour," says Jill Nevius, Arts in Foggy Bottom organizer. "We think this will make for an informative and lively conversation about art."

The tour will begin at the corner of New Hampshire Avenue and I Street NW (a few blocks from the Foggy Bottom Metro) and there will be a reception to follow at the Watergate Gallery. You can download the brochure here which shows the pieces in the exhibit with a map of the neighborhood.