Artomatic Opens Tomorrow!

If you are an artist or art lover reading this post, then chances are that you already know what Artomatic (or AOM) is and all about this amazing spectacle.

But just in case, a little review.

About once a year or so, under the guiding hand of a board of hardworking artists and volunteers, a large, unoccupied building in the Greater Washington, DC area is identified, and eventually filled with hundreds of artists’ works, loads of theatre and dance performances, panels, and everything associated with breathing a powerful breath of energy into the Greater DC art scene.

Let’s review: The idea behind AOM is simple: find a large, empty building somewhere in the city; work with the building owners, and then allow any artist who wants to show their work help with staging the show, pay a small fee and work a few hours assisting with the show itself.

Any artist.

Artists love AOM, but most DC area art critics hate it.

Why?

I think that in order to write a proper, ethical review of AOM, a writer must spend hours walking several floors of art, jam-packed into hundreds of rooms, bathrooms, closets and stairs. And I think that this is one of the main reasons that most art critics love to hate this show. It overwhelms them with visual offerings and forces them to develop a “glance and judge” attitude towards the artwork. It’s a lot easier to carpet bomb a huge show like this than to do a surgical strike to try to find the great art buried by the overwhelming majority that constitutes the great democratic pile of so so artwork and really bad artwork.

Add on top of that, an outdated, but “alive and kicking” elitist attitude towards an open show, where anyone and everyone who calls him or herself an artist can exhibit, sans the sanitizing and all-knowing eye of the latest trendy curator, and you have a perfect formula for elitist dismissing of this show, without really looking at it.

This harsh and elitist attitude towards art is not new or even modern. It was the same attitude that caused the emergence of the salons of the 19th century, where only artists that the academic intelligentsia deemed good enough were exhibited. As every art student who almost flunked art history knows, towards the latter half of that century, the artists who had been rejected from the salons (because they didn’t fit the formula of good art) organized their own Salon Des Refuses, sort of a 19th century Parisian Art-O-Matique.

And a lot, in fact, most of the work in the Salon Des Refuses was quite so so, but amongst the dreck were also pearls like Manet's Le Dejeuner sur 'Herbe (Luncheon in the Grass), Monet's Impression: Sunrise, (and we all know what art “ism” that title gave birth to) and an odd and memorable looking portrait of a young lady in white (The White Girl, Symphony in White, No. 1) by an American upstart by the name of James McNeill Whistler.

Everyone who was anyone in the art world hated and dismissed this anti-salon exhibition; except for the only one that really counts: Art History.

But how does a writer cover an arts extravaganza of the size of AOM once the eyes and mind become numb after the 200th artist, or the 400th or the 1,000th?

As an art critic, I once started a review of a past AOM by complaining how much my feet hurt after my 5th or 6th visit to the show, in a futile attempt to gather as much visual information as possible in order to write a fair review of the artwork. Over the years I have discovered that it is impossible to see everything and to be fair about anyone; the sheer size and evolving nature of the show itself makes sure of the impossibility of this task. But AOM is not just about the artwork.

As a gallerist, I also have visited AOM looking for new talent amongst the vast numbers of artists who come together under one roof. Over the years, together with my fellow DC area gallerists, we have plucked many artists from the ranks and files of AOM. Artists who since their first appearance at past AOMs have now joined the collections of museums and Biennials and have been picked up by galleries nationwide. Names like Tim Tate, the Dumbacher Brothers, Kelly Towles, Michael Janis, Kathryn Cornelius, Richard Chartier and that amazing worldwide phenomenon and best-selling author Frank Warren of PostSecret fame. But AOM is not just about the emerging superstar artist.

As an artist, one year I decided to participate in AOM, just to see what the guts of the machine looked like. "I know the monster well," wrote the poet Jose Marti, "for I have lived in its entrails."

My volunteer hours patrolling the halls on a Wednesday night at midnight, and still seeing people come in and out, and explore art on the wee hours of the morning, also left a footprint on the public impact of the exhibition. Dealing with prima donna artists, recharging my own artistic batteries from hundreds of fellow artists, many of them in their first public exposure, also left an impression. But AOM is not just about the public.

AOM is two things to me:

It is perhaps the nation’s most powerful incarnation of what it means to be a creative community of hundreds of working creative hands all aligned to not only create artwork, but also put together a spectacular extravaganza that re-charges the regional art scene as no museum or gallery show can. AOM is a community of artists employing the most liberal of approaches to art that there exists: the artists are in charge, and the artists make it work, and the artists charge the city with energy and zeal. And these descendants of those brave souls who challenged the academic salons of the 19th century face the same negative eye from the traditional art critics and curators of our museums, who challenge not just the art, but the concept of an open, non-juried, most democratic of art shows: a community of artists in charge of energizing the community at large. All good group shows must be curated! shout these chained critical voices.

And AOM is certainly the easiest and most comprehensive way to discover contemporary art at its battlefront lines, right at the birth of many artists, paradoxically showcasing the area's artworld's deepest and also its newest roots. This is where both the savvy collector, and the beginning collector, and the aspiring curator, and the sharp-eyed gallerist can come to one place with a sense of discovery in mind. And the ones that I missed in the past, and who were discovered by others, are ample evidence of the subjectivity of a 1,000+ group art show.

Viva AOM!

This year’s AOM runs from May 29 through July 5, 2009, and it is located at the new building at 55 M Street, S.E. - essentially on top the Navy Yard Metro - celebrating its tenth anniversary in a newly built 275,000 square foot "LEED Silver Class A building", whatever that means. It is all free and open to the public and all the details and dates and parties and performances and panels, as well as all the participating artists can be found at Artomatic.org.

Artists' Websites: Claudia Hart

Ophelia (detail) by Claudia Hart, c.2008
Claudia Hart has been active as an artist, curator and critic since 1988. She creates virtual paintings that take the form of 3d imagery integrated into photography, animated loops, and multi-channel animation installations. Featured above is an out-take from Ophelia (2008), a single-screen work.

Visit her website here.

The UK comes to Artomatic

Remember Glass3, the international glass show in Georgetown that incorporated artists from the UK's National Glass Centre last February?

Well, they are back!

24 glass artists are part of this year's Artomatic and the DC art extravaganza's first international participants. The artists will be also performing demonstrations of their unusual techniques at the Washington Glass School in Mount Rainier and at DC GlassWorks in nearby Hyattsville.

Saturday, May 30, 2009: starting at 1.30 pm, Phil Vickery and Roger Tye will be glass blowing at DC GlassWorks. RSVP to info@dcglassworks.com.

On Sunday, May 31, 2009, starting at 2:00 pm, Stephen Beardsell and Karin Walland will be demonstrating their techniques at the Washington Glass School.

Karin will show how to cast small objects in frozen glass powder (an alternative to the messy lost wax method). Stephen will be showing and describing his method of creating great depth with frit casting and inclusions.

RSVP to washglassschool@aol.com

Both events are free and open to the public.

Artomatic early report

An artist from AOM writes:

Went around looking at other peoples artwork after finishing install on Monday.

With 8 floors of art to see I went through it all pretty quick - but noticed the following:

(a) still a lot of artists had not set-up.

(b) On level 5, the British artists who are participating in this year's AOM are due in tomorrow (Wed) but all thru the levels there were still untouched walls - hopefully all wait-listed artists are in and working today.

(c) Glad to see Anne Benolken's Kali series is back; Level 2 has some knockout works, with Drew Graham's 3-D tatoo inspired wall sculptures are strong as ever.

(d) Margaret Dowell has a painted portrait of artist Joseph Barbacia holding that penis knife that you had in 'Seven' - creepy cool.

(e) I got tired going down from Level 9, but there was so much on Level 2 that was good, that I'd recommend that one does not overlook that floor .

(f) Many of the Washington Glass School artists are on 8 - Tim Tate, Erwin Timmers, Syl Mathis, Cheryl Derricotte & Michael Janis are all in one bay, facing Laurel Lukaszewski and Novie Trump's setups.

The building is easy to walk thru and see a lot.

Bummer

I'm bummed out because my application to Pulse Miami was rejected. I had applied to bring the work of one of our artists to Pulse.

Young Photographers 2009

Opening Reception and awards ceremony for the "Young Photographers" exhibition is on Saturday, May 30th, 5:00 - 6:30 PM at Photoworks Gallery, 1st Floor Arcade Building in Glen Echo Park, MD.

This exhibition is all about a talented group of photographers from high schools, middle schools and elementary schools throughout the Washington Metropolitan Region.

"What is so gratifying here is to know in one's bones that the young photographers displayed on these walls love the process of making pictures. You don't produce work like this without loving the process -- the physical act of taking photographs."

Frank Van Riper, Juror
Young Photographers Competition

Artists' Websites: Ana Serrano

Came across Ana Serrano's work through Regina Hackett and loved the cardboard work (that's a detail of Serrano's Chalino to the left).

Serrano recently graduated from the Art Center College of Design with honors, and currently resides in Los Angeles.

Visit her website here.

Aqui Estamos talk tonight

If you are around the Northern Liberties' section of Philadelphia later today, drop by Projects Gallery for my talk on the subject of Cuban art.



You can't miss the gallery. It's the one with the giant milk cross by Alejandro Mendoza hanging above it. Talk starts at 6:30PM.

The Power of Democratizing Art

Billed as the first arts competition of its kind to incorporate public voting in an online forum, the inaugural Baker Artist Awards recently invited artists from Baltimore and its surrounding counties to upload examples of their work to a Web site. More than 650 people responded, in disciplines as diverse as drawing, sculpture, painting, photography, video, film, animation, spoken and written word, dance, theater, graphic design and craft.

More than 35,000 visitors to the site then voted on their favorites, narrowing the field to a top 10, from which three were chosen by an interdisciplinary panel of experts to receive $25,000 each, no strings attached. Each of the seven runners-up got a check for $1,000. As with the MacArthur Foundation "genius" fellowships, the judges were anonymous. The money comes from the William G. Baker Jr. Memorial Fund, established in 1964 in memory of a Baltimore investment banker but only focusing on arts and culture since 2007.

And guess what? The results, on view in a bricks-and-mortar showcase at the Baltimore Museum of Art, aren't half bad. You can view, listen to or watch submissions by all 656 artists at http://www.bakerartistawards.org. But to fully appreciate the work of the top three prize-winners -- sculptor John Ruppert, jazz saxophonist Carl Grubbs and Hadieh Shafie, whose works here are in a variety of 2-D media -- you'll need to tear yourself away from your computer.

Read WaPo art critic Michael O'Sullivan here.

O'Sullivan also has another small piece on the same subject here.

An ailing art market

Since the financial crisis began, the art market has taken a series of severe blows and is now subject to various external and internal pressures. In the United States, for example, the fall in private subsidies to the Arts has led to significant personnel reductions at some of the most prestigious museums (the Detroit Institute of Arts and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles have both cut staff by 20%). At the same time, an enormous volume of cash that was fuelling the market has literally disappeared as the new ultra high net worth individuals in Russia, India and Turkey have seen their fortunes substantially diminished (by the end of Q1 2009, the world counted 300 less billionaires) and the banks have stopped financing acquisitions of art works: the giant UBS has closed down its art advisory pole dedicated to buying and selling artworks.

Read the analysis in Artprice.com here.

Opportunity for Artists

The Delaplaine Arts Education Center in Frederick, Maryland is seeking proposals for solo and small group shows. They are currently scheduling for 2010-2011. The Center houses 6 galleries; the shows change on a monthly-bimonthly basis.

All media is considered, a preference is given to regional artists, but every properly submitted proposal is reviewed.

For more information please visit their website and download a prospectus from the bottom of the EXHIBITS page or email Diane at dsibbison@delaplaine.org.

Aqui Estamos in City Paper

The Philadelphia City Paper highlights Aqui Estamos, the Cuban group art show that I curated for Projects Gallery in Philadelphia.

Read it here.

Mrs. Obama supports Artomatic

You have to read between the lines but, here it is!

National Gallery of Art Returns a Non-Holocaust Painting

Chaim Soutine’s iconic painting entitled Piece de Boeuf (Piece of Beef c. 1923) is being returned to the Shefner Family in resolution of litigation commenced against the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC. From the news release:

A unique and unusual settlement regarding Chaim Soutine’s iconic painting entitled Piece de Boeuf (Piece of Beef c. 1923) was approved last week by Judge Laura Taylor Swain of the Southern District of New York. Pursuant to the settlement, the painting is being returned to the Shefner Family in resolution of litigation commenced against the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., Maurice Tuchman and Esti Dunow, the authors of the Soutine Catalogue Raisonné.

The settlement is believed to be the first time that the National Gallery of Art has deaccessioned a non-Holocaust work of art from its permanent collection. The stated policy of the National Gallery of Art is not to deaccession any of its permanent collection. In consideration of the unique nature of the settlement agreement and the circumstances surrounding the painting’s return, the parties have agreed that the painting shall remain on loan to the National Gallery of Art for the benefit of the American public for the near future.

“The Shefner Family is pleased to be welcoming this iconic Soutine back to their family,” said Karl Geercken, of Alston & Bird LLP, lead attorney for the plaintiff. “We believe this is a positive outcome for all parties involved.”

Chaim Soutine, a Russian-born French expressionist painter, lived from 1893 until 1943. His series of ten beef carcass paintings are considered to be among his most notorious and controversial works. The majority of the beef paintings are currently in prominent museums. This painting is one of the last in the series to be privately owned.

As noted by the National Gallery of Art, Piece of Beef (accession 2004.126.1) is an outstanding example of 20th century expressionist art that makes “deliberate reference to a long tradition of the subjects of butchers, market-stalls, and game in paintings by Rembrandt, Chardin, and Goya, whose works Soutine studied in his visits to the Louvre.” Soutine’s work has also been described as being especially significant during the 1950s to painters such as Willem de Kooning.

Armed Robbery at Dutch Museum

From the Art Loss Register:

In the first of two robberies at Dutch museums this month, two important 20th century artworks were stolen by a group of masked and armed thieves from the Scheringa Museum for Realism, located about 30 miles north of Amsterdam. The robbery occurred around noon on May 1. The artworks, a surrealist gouache by Salvador Dali and an art deco portrait by Tamara de Lempicka, were among the most valuable pictures in the museum's collection.

The theft coincides with a recent interest in Lempicka's work. Days after the heist, a similar painting by Lempicka sold at auction in the US for $6 million, setting the record for the artist. According to the Art Loss Register's database, Salvador Dali is the fourth-most stolen artist, with over 400 artworks currently missing.

From Top: Salvador Dali, Adolescence, 1941, gouache, 17.5 x 12 in., signed and dated lower right; Tamara de Lempicka, The Musician, 1929, oil on canvas, 51 x 28.75 in., signed and dated lower right. ALR Ref # L09.335.

Frida Kahlo on Ebay

Wanna own an original Campello vintage 1979?

This drawing of Frida Kahlo by yours truly just made an appearance on Ebay and is going for $40 - certainly a steal on a 20 year-old Campello original.

It is being sold by Americana Illustration Art. I did that drawing while I was a student at the University of Washington School of Art.

Bid on it here. Hurry, the auction ends May 25.

MAP has new director

Cathy Byrd is the new Executive Director of the Maryland Art Place.

After an expansive national search, MAP’s Board of Trustees has selected Cathy Byrd to lead the organization in efforts to maximize its engagement with the Baltimore cultural community. “Cathy's background has prepared her for all of the opportunities available to MAP today. I have confidence that she will lead and strengthen the organization in significant ways,” says Suzi Cordish, Board chairperson.

Ms. Byrd comes to Baltimore after eight years as Director of the Ernest G. Welch School of Art & Design Gallery at Georgia State University in Atlanta. In that position, she conceived and produced a series of contemporary art exhibitions and events that involved extensive local, national and international collaboration and outreach. Among her signature projects are Book Unbound; PG-13: Male Adolescence in a Video Culture; Strange Planet; Potentially Harmful: The Art of American Censorship; Re\constructing Atlanta: a contemporary continuum ; and New Wave Atlanta: When Urban Intervention Speaks French . Ms. Byrd is one of three curators currently organizing the exhibition Losing Yourself in the 21st Century through the blog site .

During her tenure in Atlanta, Ms. Byrd co-organized public talks and performances by renowned artists including Ann Hamilton, Janine Antoni, Liliana Porter, Meschac Gaba and Karen Finley. A public art advocate, Ms. Byrd was a member of Atlanta’s Metropolitan Public Art Coalition. She served on review panels for city and county public art projects and for the Hartsfield Jackson International Airport’s newest international terminal. At GSU, she initiated and directed an annual Student Sculpture Garden Project, as well as a sustainable native garden in downtown Hurt Park, a temporary truck fountain in Cleopas R. Johnson Park, and Le Flash, a one-night performance art and installation event in Castleberry Hill District .

Her engaging conceptual projects have been awarded significant funding through local, regional, national and international institutions, including the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Etant donnés: The French American Fund for Contemporary Art, and the Cultural Services of the French, Belgian and Dutch Consulates.

Ms. Byrd has produced books for Potentially Harmful and Re\constructing Atlanta and is currently completing a DVD box set to document New Wave Atlanta. She is a widely published art writer whose reviews and features on artists including Pierre Huyghe, Janet Biggs, Dan Graham, Carrie Mae Weems and Antoni Muntadas have appeared in contemporary magazine, London, Art in America, Sculpture, Art Papers, Beaux Arts and Public Art Review, among other publications.

We all wish her the best of luck in her new endeavor!

Call to Artists: In the Spirit of Frida Kahlo

Deadline: June 6, 2009

Frida Kahlo remains one of the most influential artists of the 20th century, but her spectacular life experiences, her writing and her views on life and art have also influenced many artists throughout the years.

From July 1 - August 29, 2009 The Joan Hisaoka Healing Arts Gallery at Smith Farm Center in Washington, DC will be hosting Finding Beauty In A Broken World: In the Spirit of Frida Kahlo.

This exhibition hopes to showcase the work in all mediums of artists influenced not only by Kahlo’s art, but also by her biography, her thoughts, and her writing or any other aspect in the life and presence of this remarkable artist who can be interpreted through artwork.

This will be the third Kahlo show that I have juried in the last decade and we are seeking works of art that evoke the prolific range of expression, style and media like that which Frida Kahlo used as an outlet for her life’s experiences.

Get a copy of the prospectus by calling (202) 483-8600 or email gallery@smithfarm.com or download it at www.smithfarm.com/gallery/FINALProspectus.pdf

Artomatic opens in 9 days!

Artomatic (or AOM) opens in nine days!

The Pittman WPA Scam

Some asshole is using the WPA Online Artfile to try to scam artists. If you get an email from ssgpittman115@yahoo.com, claiming to be from a soldier in Iraq, delete it and send the originator a mental curse in the name of some ancient god.