Arts get their cut

Just moments ago, the U.S. House of Representatives approved their final version of the Economic Recovery bill by a vote of 246-183. We can now confirm that the package does include $50 million in direct support for the arts through the National Endowment for the Arts grants. The exclusionary Coburn Amendment language banning certain arts groups from receiving any other economic recovery funds has also been removed. Tonight the Senate is scheduled to have their final vote, and President Obama plans to sign the bill on Monday - President's Day.

We all hope that these art funds make their way down to artists and are not swallowed up by art burocrats lest I rat on them and have them sitting in front of Barney on the same seats still warm from all those banking moguls.

Moves

My good friend Mark Coetzee, who for the last eight years has been directing the Rubell Family Collection in Miami is moving on.

Mark will soon become the Program Director for PUMAVision and Chief Curator of PUMA.Creative and work out of Nairobi, Kenya.

Artomatic 2009: Tenth Year!

Time for DC area art critics to roll their eyes: Artomatic is back!

The tenth version of the massive art shows that artists, collectors, gallerists and the public loves and most DC art critics hate (but would love if it took place in NYC, or Berlin or London) will deliver over five weeks of art, music, theatre, workshops and more this year in Washington, DC's Capitol Riverfront neighborhood from May 29 - July 5.

The 2009 Artomatic will be held at 55 M Street, S.E. - atop the Navy Yard Metro - celebrating its tenth anniversary in a newly built 275,000 square foot "LEED Silver Class A building", whatever that means.

Registration for Artomatic 2009 will begin in March, and is open to all artists - including painters, photographers, sculptors, graphic designers, musicians, poets, actors and dancers. Artomatic is an unjuried open event, so all artists are welcome and that is precisely the reason that makes Artomatic great and unique and precisely the reason that most art critics, art writers and some art bloggers hate it, in their odd need to have art shows curated, trimmed and ruled.

Held regularly since 1999, Artomatic transforms an unfinished building space into an exciting arts event that is free and open to the public. In addition to displays by hundreds of artists, the event features free films, educational presentations and children's activities, as well as music, dance, poetry, theater and other performances.

Artomatic 2008 attracted a record-breaking 52,500 visitors and 1,540 participating artists. Visit their Flickr site to see over 4,000 photos captured at Artomatic 2008 or check out the below video.

Who will be the emerging art star of this AOM?

Who will be the artist who cracks us up?

Will "The Collector" make a comeback?

Who will be the prima donna?

Congrats!



The Washington Project for the Arts has selected my good friend Jack Rasmussen as the 2009 recipient of the Alice Denney Award for Support of Contemporary Art.

The award will be presented on Thursday, February 26, 2009, at 6:30 pm during the WPA Auction Preview Night event in the Abramson Family Recital Hall at American University’s Katzen Arts Center.

The event is free and open to the public but a RSVP is requested by February 25 to (202)234-7103x4 or aatkinson@wpadc.org.

Rasmussen's work as curator and director of the beautiful Katzen Museum has been nothing short of spectacular and a lesson on how a museum can combine local, regional and international shows.

A well done to Jack!

Five-Year Plan

Don't worry, the Soviet Union is not making a comeback; this five year plan is the District's thinkologists trying to assemble one and Heather Goss has the skinny here.

WPA Auction


The Washington Project for the Arts 2009 Art Auction Gala is Saturday, March 7, 2009 at the Katzen Arts Center at the American University. The Auction Preview Night is Thursday, February 26 from 6:30 pm to 9 pm. Details here.

Lawsuits all over the place

The street artist Shepard Fairey has filed a lawsuit against The Associated Press, asking a judge to declare that he is protected from copyright infringement claims in his use of a news photograph as the basis for a now ubiquitous image of President Barack Obama

Read about it here.

Art for Valentine's Day Weekend

This weekend in DC's Capital Riverfront neighborhood...

How to Build Your Resume

An artists' resume is one of the key factors not only in potentially helping to sell artwork, but also in getting grants, residencies and awards, as well as attracting gallery and collector attention. In tonight's webminar I will cover a variety of proven tactics for building your resume quickly and easily. The tactics are applicable to new Art school graduates, emerging and mid career artists as well as those starting a new career in the visual arts after retiring from another career.

Click on the image below for more info. The webminar starts at 7PM and there's a 50% discount on the prices.

Opportunity for Artists and Curators

Deadline: April 3, 2009

Boston's Center for Latino Arts (CLA) Gallery is now accepting portfolio submissions for solo and group exhibitions of contemporary art for its 2010-2011 season.

Participating artists will be selected by the CLA Curator, and one of four 6-8 week shows will be awarded to qualified and relevant artists whose proposed works are closely aligned with their mission and goals (see below). Artists working in any number of mediums are eligible and encouraged to apply; suggested mediums include painting, drawing, photography, sculpture, digital media, video, new media and installation. Exhibitions will be scheduled between September 2010 and August 2011.

The CLA Gallery presents contemporary works that are unique and innovative in concept and presentation. The CLA Gallery will provide promotional flier design, printing and distribution for each exhibition in addition to extensive listings and press releases. Each artist is responsible for providing finished works for awarded exhibitions, to include framing and/or other gallery presentation materials (for new media and video, this includes monitors, projectors and other devices inherent to the presentation of the work).

To Enter, Please Submit, an Exhibition Proposal to include:
- Call to Artists Application (available here)
- Exhibition Statement (Please make clear if proposal is for existing or new works to be created. If submitting for a group show, please explain how each artists’ work is related to, inspired by or compliments the other, with a maximum of 3 artists per group show)
- Artist Statement(s) and CV(s)
- 10 to 15 proposed images/works per artist on CD/DVD. Printed images or links to websites will not be accepted. Each submission should contain 3 copies of a printed list that corresponds to the images on CD (and numbered accordingly) including the title, year, dimension and medium(s). Images should be provided at, or near, 300 dpi as a JPEG, TIFF, PDF, BMP, or GIF file
- 250-500 word Statement of Purpose explaining why you would like to exhibit at the CLA Gallery and how your work furthers their mission.

Mail to:
CLA Gallery Artist Call
Attn: Evan J. Garza
405 Shawmut Avenue
Boston, MA 02118

Congrats!

To Michael Janis and all the other nominees who have been selected as finalists for the DC Mayor’s Arts Awards.

Janis is a finalist in the category of Outstanding Emerging Artist. The Mayor’s Arts Award is the most prestigious honor given by the District of Columbia to individual artists, arts organizations and patrons of the arts.

Join Mayor Fenty as award recipients are selected from among the finalists and announced live from the stage at the Mayor’s Arts Awards Ceremony on Monday, March 23, 2009 at 6:00 PM at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in the Concert Hall.

Admission is free and having been to many of them, it is a boatload of fun, with great live music and entertainment and loads of good food and drinks.

Buy Michael Janis now!

New drawing for the Habatat Auction

I told you a few days ago that Habatat Galleries in Tyson's Corner, Virginia is sponsoring a special art auction for charity. Already many prominent artists have donated works of art with 100% of the proceeds going to The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.
The artists will display their art work for silent bidding in an exhibition titled "Habatat for Healing."

Lindsey Scott, President of Habatat Galleries was nominated by the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society for their Man and Women of the Year contest. Ms. Scott has conceived "Habatat for Healing", a special exhibition and auction of exceptional works of art in support of LLS.

Artists such as Jon Kuhn, Mark T. Smith, Bennett Bean, Tim Tate, Tanija & Graham Carr (Australia) and Petr Hora (Czech Republic) to name a few, have already generously donated art works ranging from the $100s into the $1,000s for this wonderful event.

The exhibition opens on March 5th for display and the start of silent bidding. The exhibition will continue through the evening of April 7th when several key-pieces will be auctioned live and winning silent bids will be announced.

Woman Jumping into the Void. Charcoal on Paper. 11x14 inches framed.
F. Lennox Campello, c. 2009.
I plan to donate the above drawing to to this charity, and in the event that some of you are interested in donating a work of art for the auction (deadline is end of February), please contact:

Lindsey Scott
8020 Towers Crescent Drive
Tysons Corner (Vienna), VA 22182
703-989-7110
lindsey@habatatgalleries.com

The Art League's 42nd Annual Patrons' Show


If you were crazy enough to be hanging around Old Town Alexandria about 4 AM on a cold morning last January 17th, about that time you would have noticed people forming a long line in the brutal cold outside the Torpedo Factory. They were waiting for a chance to get original art for their collections – or perhaps some brave souls starting to collect art.

"A line for art?" you must be asking, "who is crazy enough to freeze lining up at Oh-dark-thirty just to buy artwork?"

Hundreds.

They were lining up for one of the great art deals of the year: the Art League's Annual Patrons' Show. It's very simple: artists donate original artwork to the Art League, who inspects it, selects it and often frames it. It is quality stuff, ranging from huge abstracts to delicate pencil drawings. The Art League represents nearly 1,800 artists in the area, so there's plenty of possible sources of art donated by generous artists. See some of the donations here.

It is one of the largest art events in the country, with around 600 original works of art finding a new home in one day.

Usually about 600 pieces are donated and hung salon style in the Art League’s gallery on the first floor of the Factory. The raffle tickets went up for sale at 10 AM on January 17th, and they usually disappear within an hour or two; and each ticket equals a guaranteed a work of art. Thus as work is donated, more tickets become available.

The Art League's annual Patrons' Show usually features between 500-600 works of fine art donated by Art League and Torpedo Factory artists, and the number of tickets sold matches the number of works donated. The show may be viewed in The Art League Gallery from February 4-15 (or some of them online here, and ticket-holders may come during this time to view the show and note their favorite pieces.

The actual drawing for the 2009 Patrons' Show will be held Sunday, February 15 in the main hall of the Torpedo Factory Art Center.

Thus on that Sunday, February 15 at 5PM, people who have a ticket begin gathering into the main floor of the Factory and they bring chairs, tables, food and loads of booze (this is like an art picnic) as it will be a long, loud, fun, cheery and boozy evening as the tickets are drawn at random; and as they are called, ticket-holders select a piece of art from the work on display on the walls.

Everyone with a ticket is guaranteed a work of art. The tickets cost $175 each - an amazing deal once you see the work that you can get.

The first ticket called gets the first choice and so on - you get to pick the best piece (to you) from around 600 works of art). You better pick one quickly, or the crowds begin to shout and whistle and demand a choice be made.

It is without a doubt, the most sought after art ticket in town, and often incredible acquisitions are made... and I hear that there are some tickets available on the wait list.

Call the Art League at 703/683-1780 and more details here.

Went to Projects last Friday I went to Projects Gallery in Philly's Northern Liberties neighborhood on Friday night for the opening of dual shows: Guilty Pleasures and Obama-rama. I have a drawing in each one of these shows and several lithographs of Obama done in 2007 and 2008. The gallery was packed and we were greeted at the door by the amazing team of Roberta Fallon and Libby Rosof, as they were handing out copies of their Obama OK book, edition of 100, to people as they arrived. Roberta and Libby also have the cool paintings that make up up the book on exhibition. Seems like I have been to and in a dozen Obama shows in the last month alone, but in my own prejudiced and subjective view, this was one of the best ones that I have seen, mostly for its spectacular diversity of interpretations of the theme and the media that artists used to express their Obama viewpoints. The below huge installation of black and white portrait paintings by Frank Hyder titled Fifty States of Obama to me was the most visually striking piece in the show, and maybe a predictor for the next election?

Frank Hyder. Fifty States of Obama. 100”H x 40”W. Ink paint on canvas I also liked Cheryl Harper's Count on Me Obama Bank, a stoneware and acrylic paint 3D work that when executed in 2008 had one meaning and now, in view of the spectacular financial mess that we are allegedly in, acquires a whole new meaning and presence. Cheryl Harper. Count on Me Obama Bank. 15"H x 8.5"W x 9"D. Stoneware and acrylic paint Tatyana Fazlalizadeh's Is He Black Enough? smartly touches on the revolving issue of Obama's "blackness." During my frequent drives between Philly and DC, one of my favorite radio spots in the morning is the Baltimore area's Larry Young Show on WOLB, where Larry and the Coach discuss a lot of issues affecting the African American community in Baltimore and in general. I recall the early days of the Obama campaign, and the sometimes heated discussions on that same topic as WOLB's audience opined on Obama's blackness. Fazlalizadeh's oil flexes the representational genre's ability to take a subject and present and ground it viscerally.

  Tatyana Fazlalizadeh. Is He Black Enough?. 24”H x 18." Oil on canvas

I also liked Mia Rosenthal's January 19, 2009, another ink and graphite on Bristol board which continues Rosenthal's intelligent tiny composite and obsessive drawings addressing all facets of history and issues and Alex Queral's Yes We Can!, another one of his 3D acrylic on carved phone book pieces that must be seen to be believed, as they are difficult to describe the brilliant effect that this artist accomplishes in carving a phone book. See the exhibition online here. Guilty Pleasures was exhibited in the gallery's rear and lower spaces, and for a show with a "viewer discretion is advised" warning, I was pleasantly surprised to discover that not all of the pleasures were about sex. In fact my favorite piece in the entire show was Atticus Adams' Love Spasm, a potent wall sculpture that was not only an unique interpretation of the subject, but also had the interesting, and perhaps unintended ability to create very sexy shadows on the wall because of its overhead lighting in Projects' lower gallery. It was also a steal at $250. Call Projects right now and buy this piece.

  Atticus Adams. Love Spasm, 11"H x8.5"W x 7"D. Found Objects.
I also liked Brooke Holloway's two drawings and Cara Jung's smart sculptures as well as Jack Thompson's Siamese (Conjoined) Twins. Also quite good were Craig Cully's 49 Kisses, a wall installation of 49 tiny oil paintings and each one a steal at $180 each or $5,000 for all 49 paintings. Craig Cully. 49 Kisses, 2.5"H x 2.5"W each, oil on panel (detail)
See the Guilty Pleasures exhibition online here. Finally, here was talk at the show about traveling the Obama-rama exhibition to a few cities, including Washington, DC, and there was also talk from a publisher who came to see the exhibition, about compiling and publishing a book about this show. More on that later. After the show we walked a couple of blocks to Standard Tap for dinner and brews. I have been there a few times and need to devote some time writing about this superb Philly gem of a bar with a spectacular kitchen. Suffice it to say for now that this place offers some of the best grilled octopus, if not the best, that I have ever tasted. Coming from someone who lived in several Mediterranean countries, that is quite a statement. More on Standard Tap later; for now, the octopus was delicious, the Lancaster Stout was great and the scallop salad out of this world.

DC gallery to move to Brooklyn

Heather Goss over at DCist has the story on the Randall Scott Gallery move to B'klyn.

Read it here.

Politics as unusual

Yesterday afternoon the Senate voted for the Coburn Amendment to the massive economic recovery bill and the amendment, which virtually eliminates all art funding from the package among other things, passed by a wide vote margin of 73-24, and included support from many high profile Senators including Chuck Schumer of New York, Dianne Feinstein of California, Barbara Mikulski of Maryland, Bob Casey of Pennsylvania, Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, Russ Feingold of Wisconsin, and several other Democratic and Republican Senators.

Shepard Fairey arrested

I've been told that artist Shepard Fairey was arrested last night in Boston, where he was for the opening of a show at Boston's Institute of Contemporary Art.

Apparently the arrest was because of warrants due to graffiti tagging of private property.

Clearly the Boston police must know that they just added a huge new publicity boost to Fairey and the ICA show.

Update: Boston Globe says arrest was due to the fact that the "Police said they had warrants on Fairey from last month after he allegedly tagged property in Boston with graffitti based on his Andre the Giant street art campaign."

Art advice for the White House tenants

Life has an interesting way of forcing us to sometimes either reversing what we once thought were final positions, and other times life offers us a chance of defending both sides of a position.

I have been generally against the segregation of artists by race (black, white, Asian or native American) or by ethnicity (Hispanic, Semitic, etc.), and yet sometimes a void or need is so egregious that the solution is very clear and may cross lines that we may have thought as cast in concrete.

When we all discovered a couple of years ago that 66% of all the artwork by black American artists currently in the White House art collection had been acquired by the Bushes, depending on what side of the political aisle you stand, this fact may either raise an eyebrow from right wing nuts or some sort of conspiracy theory from left wing nuts.

But when we also discovered the fact that only three works (out of an estimated 375 pieces) were by black Americans, both sides of the aisle should find that surprising... and maybe in need of attention by the Obamas.

A little recap and an update: In 2007 I reacted in my usual self-righteous, irate manner to having American artist Jacob Lawrence described as a great African-American artist, rather than just a great artist. And then the Washington City Paper in the process of policing that whole issue, came up with an interesting fact.

Jacob Lawrence, pen and ink, circa 1980 by F. Lennox Campello
In an Private Collection
According to the City Paper, Betty Monkman, the curator of the White House, revealed that, "while Lawrence’s painting isn’t the sole piece by a black artist in the executive mansion, it’s close to it — there are only two others."

That's now three out of "an estimated 375 total in the White House’s art collection."

Geez.

That implies that Simmie Knox's portrait of President Clinton is not considered part of the White House’s art collection, which doesn't make sense. Knox is a DC area artist by the way, and a brilliant painter.

So let's take off the first century and a half of the White House's art acquisition process. During that time we can safely assume that they probably just focused on American artists from one of the four races, and somewhat let me reverse my stand on segregating artists by race, rather than just artistic merit, and let me take the uncomfortable side of trying to again ask the question, "Why aren't there more works by black artists in the White House art collection?"

Even if one ignores skin color, and just looks at the art and artistic achievement, there are plenty of great American artists, who happen to be black, whom I think would make a great update to the White House collection.

Some art greats, by artistic default, I would think, would have to be Black, or Asian, or Native American, not just Caucasian artists of all ethnicities - after all, all four races of mankind create art and all four and their many mixtures, live in America.

Back in the 1980's, Jacob Lawrence was awarded the National Medal of Arts from President George Bush The First. Why did it take 27 years for one of his paintings to become part of the White House's permanent collection?

The City Paper research identified the other two paintings: "Henry Ossawa Tanner’s Sand Dunes at Sunset, Atlantic City (1885), which hangs in the Green Room, its home since 1996, and an 1892 painting by one “Bannister” (possibly Ed Bannister) acquired in 2006 and which was then undergoing conservation.

So two of the three have been acquired by the Bushes, and before 1996 there wasn't a single work of art by any black artist in the President's home, in spite of the fact that artists such as Jacob Lawrence, Romare Bearden, Sam Gilliam, Martin Puryear, Alma Thomas, and others are all just great American artists, period, and have even broken the National Gallery of Art code, and should all probably have been acquired by the White House years, and years, and years ago.

Makes my head hurt.

And let's agree, as Jonathan Melber notes in the HuffPost, that the White House's collection is not exactly, ah... contemporary.

But let's say that a traditional acquisition focus on painting were to remain, and thus we would immediately unfortunately eliminate a lot of good contemporary choices. After all, the White House is not an art museum, and the case could be made that it sort of "feels" that it should be an art collection where all things somewhat say "America" in a variety of traditional visual ways, and I submit that for that goal, painting is still first among equals. That still leaves Romare Bearden, Sam Gilliam, Alma Thomas and others I am sure.

So if the Obamas were to continue what President Bush started, and expand the White House's collection to be more representative of American artists and the American people, I would suggest that (in addition to perhaps more Lawrence), Romare Bearden, Sam Gilliam, Martin Puryear, and Alma Thomas would be a good start.

And, if as Malber suggests, the Obamas should expand the White House collection to more than just paintings, then in addition to some Lawrence collages, I would suggest work by other blue chip artists such as Kara Walker, Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons (who is not only a brilliantly accomplished artist, but also happens to be both Hispanic and Black) and Lorna Simpson.

But I don't know if the Obamas personally collect art, and even though I am one myself, I don't really buy the idea of a staff White House art adviser.

If the Obamas are like most people, they probably don't "really" collect art with a focus or intensity to say, the Podestas in DC or the Rubells in Miami (either one of whom, by the way, would make excellent unpaid volunteer art advisers to the White House, if having an adviser was the choice made to change the visual arts acquisition status quo).

So... since the odds are that they would be beginning collectors, then I would suggest the same thing that I do to all beginning collectors: start looking first at emerging artists, which generally can be acquired for much less money than a well-established artist from the upper crust of the rarified artmosphere. Do this until you establish your tastes, desires and somewhat of a focus, and then, if your financial status allows it, begin expanding into the big museum-level names.

And if the Obamas listen to Malber's excellent point of looking locally (as Clinton did in selecting Simmie Knox to do his Presidential portrait), then I would add one of the terrific works by Rikk Freeman to the White House.

A huge Freeman painting would do wonders for the White House collection and also do wonders for Freeman. Not only would it add a presence and feel to the collection that is missing right now and which is an integral part of American history, but it would also set a new, fresh change of venue of how artwork has been acquired in the past, and the kind of artists that get acquired.

Change.

Dr. Oscar Elias Biscet

Dr. Oscar Elias Biscet Gonzalez is a Cuban physician, imprisoned in Cuba since 2003, for his work for democracy and freedom for that unfortunate island.

“I am of the opinion that as long as a Castro-communist dictatorship exists in Cuba, we, Cubans, will not be able to live in freedom and democracy and that the violations of human rights will continue. I ask the democratic governments of the world and the individuals who love justice and freedom to support the Cuban people and not the government of the island which usurped power, betrayed the people, by sullying them. The conquest of liberty for Cuba is the present priority and will require a struggle that is detailed in its organization and persevering. My steps are headed towards the conquest of that priority. Hear, oh God, my cry, listen to my prayer fulfilling my vows day by day. Free me and free the Cuban people.”

Click on the image for more details...

On the road...

Heading back up North today.