Gallery moves

Michael O'Sullivan yesterday had an excellent spread in the WaPo's Weekend section detailing an assortment of gallery moves and new spaces in the Greater DC region. Read it here.

Barista Art

As I've often repeated myself, I have fond memories of when I was an art student at the University of Washington in Seattle and used to sell all my art school assignments at the Pike Place Market.

I also have fond memories of the original Starbucks there, and the great deals that they would give artists and craftspeople and farmers at the market.

Now, if you are in DC area, you can experience the art beyond the apron at "Avant-Grande 2008," Washington DC's exhibition of visual art and spoken word created by Starbucks baristas.

The event will be hosted at DC's House of Sweden on November 17, starting at 7:30pm. The evening will include hors d'oeuvres and cocktails at this one-of-a kind location on the Georgetown waterfront overlooking the Potomac. Tickets are $20 (including the open bar and food). 100% of ticket sales will benefit Sol y Soul, an arts based organization whose focus is on supporting, creating and inspiring artists of varied backgrounds and proficiencies.

If you would like more information please check out the website at www.starbucksavant-grande.com or contact Aubrey Davis at aubrey@bwfcom.com.

Open bar for twenty bucks! C'mon it's a great deal at a gorgeous location and great views.

Red Dirt Open Studios


Red Dirt is having their Fall Open Studio show and sale this Sunday from 1-5 PM, and the cool thing is that you can also walk to and visit Flux Studios, Washington Glass School, Blue Fire Studio and other neighborhood artists at the same time.

Work by Margaret Boozer, Kate Hardy, Ani Kasten, J.J. McCracken, Joanie Turbek, Irma Alba, Graham Boyle, Sara Caspi, Sandy Dwiggins, Joe Hicks, Leila Holtsman, Ume Hussain, Sean Lundgren and Tetyana Wittkowski. The last time that I visited Red Dirt, visiting artist Joanie Turbek was working on her Prostethic Lawn installation, which will be ready for the open studios.

Red Dirt Studio is at 3706-08 Otis Street, Mt. Rainier, MD 20712... next to the Washington Glass School and a bunch of other artists' studios. More info at:202/607-9472.

Call for a new MLK statue

Deadline: December 5, 2008November 2008

The City of Hollywood, Florida invites interested artists with bronze sculpting expertise to submit a proposal to create a sculpture of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. to be displayed at the newly renovated ArtsPark at Young Circle in Historic Downtown Hollywood. Adult artists with bronze sculpting expertise are encouraged to apply. Artist teams are eligible to apply, including teams of artists from multiple disciplines.

The artist will also provide a schematic design for the bust’s concrete base to include the incorporation of Dr. King’s “I Have A Dream” speech in its entirety. The project will be publicly displayed outdoors at the ArtsPark at Young Circle and provide a new platform of public art to facilitate community interaction of diverse populations. The maximum budget is $20,000. For Questions or an Application Please Call: Renée Jéan, Grants Manager, at 954-921-3201.

Tonight: Fixation photography exhibit at Fight Club‏ in DC


This Friday, November 14, from 8:30 pm - 2 am at the Fight Club (1250 9th Street, NW, enter through the rear in Blagden Alley, from N St., between 9th and 10th).

Taxing Botero

"Colombian painter and sculptor Fernando Botero is being investigated on suspicion of tax evasion, Italian authorities said Tuesday.

Tax police in the northern town of Viareggio said they are investigating whether Botero, famous for works of plump figures, should have declared 7 million euros ($8.92 million) in earnings from 2003-2008.

They allege that Botero must pay taxes in Italy because his artworks are produced entirely by companies and foundries in the country that distribute them to galleries worldwide."

Read the AP story here.

Opportunity for Artists

Deadline: December 9, 2008.

Florida's Art in State Buildings Program announces a new public art project at the University of North Florida. The College of Education & Human Services has a budget of $40,000 and the art selection committee is open to commissioning site-specific work and/or purchasing existing artwork. Interested artists can view the new Call by going to the University of North Florida's Facilities Planning & Construction website and clicking on Art in State Buildings under Quick Links, and then Call to Artists: www.unf.edu/dept/facplan. For more information, contact the Project Administrator:

Linda Sciarratta
University of North Florida
1 UNF Drive
Jacksonville, FL 32224.

Call 904.620.281 or email lsciarra@unf.edu.

Viva Chile in Philly

Later today Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter will make a proclamation naming this week in November the “Viva Chile in Philadelphia!” week for Philadelphia.

He will be joined by Chilean Ambassador Mariano Fernandez who will honor Hizzoner with the Orden de Bernardo O’Higgins, Grado Comendador, Chile’s highest commendation for non-Chilean citizens. The award, which is approved by the President of Chile, is the first such commendation from Chile a Philadelphia Mayor has ever received. Bernardo O'Higgins was the son of an Irish-born Spanish colonial administrator in Chile (figure that one out) and he rose from obscurity to become the Hero of the Wars of Independence from Spain. His father, Ambrosio O'Higgins, Marquis of Osorno, was a Spanish officer born in County Sligo in Ireland, who later became governor of Chile and later viceroy of Peru. Because Spanish government officials in the Americas were forbidden to marry locals, and Bernardo's mother was a Chilean creole, Chile's independence hero was born as an illegitimate son, and yet rose to lead the new nation's asskicking of Spanish rulers.

Philadelphia will then open its cultural arms to embrace Chilean culture as the city celebrates the sights, sounds and flavors of Chile in a series of events called Viva Chile in Philadelphia.

This set of events will offer performances of Chilean musicians, an exhibition of Chilean Art from the 1960s, a celebration of Chile’s gastronomy, tastings of Chilean wine, a film festival, seminars, talks and much more.

Events take place November 13-21, 2008 and details are here. Most events are free and open to the public.

Viva Chile everywhere!

New DC gallery

LUMAS has 14 galleries around the world and they represent over 120 contemporary photographers and classic estates. Their Grand Opening reception and "Foto Week DC Blowout" in their brand new 3500 square foot Georgetown space is Thursday, November 20, 2008 from6:00pm - 11:00pm.

Finding Equilibrium tomorrow in Alexandria

I'm hearing all kinds of good things about a really cool sculpture exhibit at Alexandria's Target Gallery by Tennessee artist Travis Graves.

I'm hearing it from people’s reactions when they get a glance from the hallway of the Torpedo Factory and see his work and it draws them right in to see if they can figure out just how he did that. His craftsmanship is impeccable and the unsettling feeling that he is trying to convey is quite successful.


At first glance it appears to be just logs that he has cleverly balanced or suspended in unlikely ways, but further inspection into the artist’s process leads to discovery of exceptional talent and craftsmanship. He is taking real logs and completely deconstructing and putting them back together again, bark and all, and visitors can’t even tell from the naked eye how he did it.

Graves is coming in from Tennessee for the reception and he will be providing a brief gallery talk about his process and message on Thursday, November 13 at 7pm.

Rosetta DeBerardinis Interview

Our own Rosetta DeBerardinis gets interviewed by Radar Magazine... see it below:

Driving criticism

Jay Busbee at Yahoo! Sports has a reoccurring thread about NASCAR fan consumption. Recently he reviewed one of DC area artist Andrew Wodzianski's 'Android' pieces, "Tony, I'll be there soon."

Jay's report, and his readers' comments, may be the funniest criticism that has ever been written. Read it here.

Tony, I'll be there soon, by Andrew Wodzianski

Insane

"A legal battle rages over the rights to works given away by a Mexican artist confined in US asylums...

A row has erupted over the legacy of one of the most celebrated exponents of "outsider art", more than 40 years after his death.

During his deeply troubled lifetime, Martín Ramírez's paintings were ignored by the art establishment. A poor Mexican immigrant to the United States, Ramírez painted in near obscurity for more than 30 years while incarcerated in Californian mental hospitals until his death in 1963.

But Ramírez's artistic reputation has undergone an extraordinary re-evaluation in the last few years, with his paintings now fetching hundreds of thousands of dollars at auction. Now a multi-million dollar legal battle has begun over the ownership of his paintings, hundreds of which he simply gave away in the hospital ward. An auction of 17 paintings at Sotheby's was recently halted when lawyers for the Ramírez family claimed them."

Read the story from the Guardian here.

Opportunity for Artists

Deadline: December 12, 2008.

The Athens Area Arts Council of Athens, Georgia, in partnership with the Athens Transit System and the Unified Government of Athens Clarke County, announces its second Art Bus Shelter Design Competition. This year's theme, Art Rocks! asks designers to pay artistic tribute to the musical talent of Athens. Eight bus shelters will be installed along two major arteries near downtown Athens. Winning designs will receive an award of $5,000 per shelter. Bus shelter fabrication, materials and shipping budget limited to $9,160 per shelter. This is a nationwide competition open to all artists, architects, students and designers. Deadline for submissions is December 12, 2008 (extended from November 30). Details are available on the Arts Council website at www.athensarts.org.

Art Sales

Not surprisingly, last week's Impressionist and modern art sales in New York were unable to live up to the price estimates set months ago, when the full scale of the credit crisis had yet to affect the upper end of the art market. In the summer it seemed possible these sales would make at least $800 million (£508 million) - the same amount as this time last year. But by the time the art had been hung, billions of dollars had been lost in financial markets worldwide. As Marc Porter, president of Christie's America, put it before the sales: "Prices of assets have fallen - stocks, gold, oil, real estate - and it would be unrealistic to expect art to be immune to the market's pressures."

The extent of the downturn, from $800 million to a final count of $470 million by Friday night, looked bad. Seven lots estimated to fetch more than $10 million each did not sell, and the total accumulated was the equivalent to the amount fetched in New York two and a half years ago.

Read the Telegraph story here.

Veterans Day

I went into a public-'ouse to get a pint o' beer,
The publican 'e up an' sez, "We serve no red-coats here."
The girls be'ind the bar they laughed an' giggled fit to die,
I outs into the street again an' to myself sez I:

O it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Tommy, go away";
But it's "Thank you, Mister Atkins", when the band begins to play,
The band begins to play, my boys, the band begins to play,
O it's "Thank you, Mister Atkins", when the band begins to play.

I went into a theatre as sober as could be,
They gave a drunk civilian room, but 'adn't none for me;
They sent me to the gallery or round the music-'alls,
But when it comes to fightin', Lord! they'll shove me in the stalls!

For it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Tommy, wait outside";
But it's "Special train for Atkins" when the trooper's on the tide,
The troopship's on the tide, my boys, the troopship's on the tide,
O it's "Special train for Atkins" when the trooper's on the tide.

Yes, makin' mock o' uniforms that guard you while you sleep
Is cheaper than them uniforms, an' they're starvation cheap;
An' hustlin' drunken soldiers when they're goin' large a bit
Is five times better business than paradin' in full kit.

Then it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Tommy, 'ow's yer soul?"
But it's "Thin red line of 'eroes" when the drums begin to roll,
The drums begin to roll, my boys, the drums begin to roll,
O it's "Thin red line of 'eroes" when the drums begin to roll.

We aren't no thin red 'eroes, nor we aren't no blackguards too,
But single men in barricks, most remarkable like you;
An' if sometimes our conduck isn't all your fancy paints,
Why, single men in barricks don't grow into plaster saints;

While it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Tommy, fall be'ind",
But it's "Please to walk in front, sir", when there's trouble in the wind,
There's trouble in the wind, my boys, there's trouble in the wind,
O it's "Please to walk in front, sir", when there's trouble in the wind.

You talk o' better food for us, an' schools, an' fires, an' all:
We'll wait for extry rations if you treat us rational.
Don't mess about the cook-room slops, but prove it to our face
The Widow's Uniform is not the soldier-man's disgrace.

For it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Chuck him out, the brute!"
But it's "Saviour of 'is country" when the guns begin to shoot;
An' it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' anything you please;
An' Tommy ain't a bloomin' fool -- you bet that Tommy sees!

-- Rudyard Kipling

Matchmaker Finds Patrons for Artists’ Work

They also represent a small success story for a new arts fellowship program, United States Artists, a nonprofit group in Los Angeles that has developed a knack for bringing patrons and artists together. Ms. Early discovered Mr. Millepied’s work just over a year ago, not onstage but in the Los Angeles boardroom of United States Artists, where she agreed to provide a $50,000 fellowship for him.

Such relationships are “bridge builders,” said Katharine DeShaw, executive director of United States Artists. “It’s a great thing for artists to find someone who cares deeply about the arts, who might introduce them to others who care deeply about arts, who might support other projects of theirs, who could really open doors.”

Read the NYT story here.

Los Cubanos

Video of the work at "Aqui Estamos" (Here We Are) at H&F Fine Arts.

The show is on exhibit through November 30, 2008. Go buy some artwork.

Sidney Lawrence at DFA

I hear that Sidney Lawrence is a pretty good jazz vocalist, but Lawrence has visual arts in his genes and this coming Nov. 15, from 5-8PM he opens his second solo show with DC's District Fine Arts gallery in Georgetown.

Tribe, 2008 by Sidney Lawrence.
Oil and modeling paste on paper canvas and compressed board, 17 3/4 x 22

This show of oil portraits, including a small painting of Martin Luther King Jr., an island wall relief, a dog head, ink drawings of cities, and an illustrated travel diary is Lawrence's first solo exhibition at DFA since 2005.

One of DC's key arts presences, Lawrence is also a writer, curator and art-PR specialist. He served as the Hirshhorn Museum's press officer from 1975 to 2003 and as an occasional curator there, and more recently organized "Roger Brown: Southern Exposure," for the Jule Collins Smith Museum at Auburn University, Alabama.

For over two decades he exhibited at Gallery K (until that venerable gallery closed when both owners suddenly died) and other DC venues and has also exhibited work in Massachusetts and California. Lawrence's self-revealing, funky style draws from influences as diverse as Red Grooms, JMW Turner, Lucian Freud and Edward Koren.

Sidney Lawrence, Recent Works, through January 17, 2009 at DFA, with an opening reception, on Saturday, November 15, 5 - 8 pm and an Artist Talk, 5:30 - 6 pm and a Book Signing, Ink Cities on Saturday, December 13, 4-6 pm.

FotoWeekDC

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.

There are dozens and dozens of gallery shows, dozens of lectures by famous photographers, loads of book signings, many workshops for all you photo geeks and everything associated with making lovers of the silver gelatin happy.

This is a massive, city-wide event and clearly a ton of work by the organizers has taken place; my kudos to all of them!

Now let's see how the (a) city fathers and mothers, (b) DCCAH and (c) the media add their part to the event so that (d) the local collectors and buyers react to it so that (e) the international photography market and (f) other collectors and (g) curators and (i) national museum curators pay attention and thus make it impossible for (j) for local DC area museum curators to ignore it.

This is a once in a decade opportunity for DC area museum curators to get off their butts and go visit a couple of dozen art venues and see a myriad of photography shows (and earn their pay) and perhaps discover a good local photog here and there, and even a gallery here and there. Get the fuck out of your offices and do your jobs!

This is a once in a decade opportunity for the Washington Post and the Washington Times and the Washington City Paper and Washingtonian magazine and all those other thick, full of ads DC area magazines to record for posterity this important local effort on behalf of art and photography in a city and region where the moniker "local" raises semantic eyebrows. And yes... I know several of these media outlets are "sponsoring" the event - thank you! But now I'd like for all of them to leave a newsprint and digital footprint of the event.

Visit this website, learn all about it, and visit DC, Bethesda, Virginia and all of that great artsy area known as the Greater Washington DC region to see some great photography and then buy some photos!

Cheerleader in Chief and proud of it.