Here's the coffin

Andrew Wodzianski: House

Now I know what the tiny coffins are all about... if you didn't get one: suffer!

A lot more on this later, but pencil in Thursday, October 8, 2009 and Friday October 30, 2009 at Flashpoint. Opening Reception: Thursday, October 8, 6-8pm, House Party: Friday, October 30, 9-12pm.

Andrew Wodzianski: House opens on the 8th of October and his paintings will lift imagery from William Castle’s b-movie horror flick from 1959, House on Haunted Hill, but this is going to far from just being another "painting" show.

OK, OK, this may be a "painting exhibition in its own right," but House will also incorporate the gimmickry and audience participation for which director Castle was legendary for movies. Around DC Wodzianski has becoming an "opening night legend" on his own right (such as showing dressed up as a ninja to an opening reception one time).

Six foot five Andrew Wodzianski as the world's tallest Ninja.
In this exhibit you will see thirteen artworks (not a coincidence), nine of which will be paintings. All nine paintings depict interior sets and props used in William Castle’s cult campy film House on Haunted Hill, which celebrates its 50th anniversary this year. The paintings are a triumph of technical and creative visual minimalism as still images from the film are manipulated and juxtaposed onto tinted canvas, and obfuscated by multiple layers of white glaze and velaturas [literally, there is only white titanium oil paint on a pastel ground]. Much like the 1959 film, the paintings themselves appear veiled and slightly threatening and unresolved.

Visitors to the gallery will be invited to participate in a scavenger hunt (the scavenger hunt, House Hunt DC, will begin October 8 during which the artist will release a series of five clues via Twitter (twitter.com/househuntdc)) and hunters will ultimately have the chance to win paintings from the exhibition. Scavenger hunt winners will redeem their findings to win actual paintings from the exhibition on October 30, during House Party, a costume party and gallery fundraiser.

There will also be a funerary performance by Wodzianski on the opening night of the exhibition (thus the tiny coffins as invites!). I will also have an essay on Wodzianski.

Abra Cadaver, an exhibition of Wodzianski's drawings will be on view concurrently at Fraser Gallery in Bethesda, MD. The exhibition opens October 9 from 6-9pm and runs through November 14.

Again, House Opening Reception: Thursday, October 8, 6-8pm and House Party: Friday, October 30, 9-12pm at Flashpoint.

What Pulse said...

This is what the selection committee at the Pulse Art Fair Miami said to me:

Oh well... there are 24 other fairs to apply to... sigh.

Tiny coffin

I just got a tiny coffin in the mail... will investigate.

Hirst versus the world

And nu... there's an ongoing fight between once poor artist-who-got-famous-real-quick and is now a multimillionaire marketeer Damien Hirst and a 16-year old teenager named Cartrain that he had arrested in a feud that started because the the kid had created some collages, and some of them included an image of the by now famous jewel-encrusted skull that Hirst had made and then sold (for what has been reported as £50 million British pounds which is a fucking lot of US Samolians)), and then Cartrain walked away with some Hirstonian artsy pencils.

Breathe deeply...

Hirst, who is apparently super sensitive about the "issue" (pronounced in BBC British as "easy-uh") that (like the Disney copyright police), he threatened to sue Cartrain and then forced the kiddie to hand over the artwork and to pay £200 British pounds (the British refuse to use Euros because, as explained to me by a drunk Brit in the high seas, they think of "Europeans" as WOGs) to Hirst.

But then a lot of artists got pissed off at Hirst and started creating more artwork using the Hirstonian skull as the subject matter in protest.

And now the whole "issue" gets more more bizarre lately, as Cartrain, probably seeing an Warholian moment, drops by a Hirst exhibition and walks away with a box of pencils that were in one of Hirst's works and leaves a ransom note (is this the DC Collector?) demanding his own artwork be returned.

Has Hirst been "played"?

How much is a box of pencils worth? Fifty pence? £3.99 if the pencils have rubbers on the ends? Well, if they're part of a Damien Hirst art installation, the value is £500,000. That is what 17-year-old graffiti artist Cartrain discovered when he pilfered some pencils from Hirst's sculpture Pharmacy. And that wasn't all – he was arrested, released on bail, and is waiting to find out if he will be formally charged with causing damage to an iconic artwork worth £10m.

And so... the constables now have valued that artsy box of pencils at £500,000 and then arrested the kid.

As the artworld turns...

Think Small 5

THINKSMALL5 the fifth biennial International Miniature Invitational Exhibition at art6 and artspace galleries located in Richmond, Virginia.

500 local, national, and international artists who have been invited to consider this challenge by the co-curators, Shann Palmer, Gallery Coordinator, art6 Gallery and Jessica L. Sims, Vice-President, artspace Gallery.

Exhibition Dates: Friday, November 6 through Saturday, December 20, 2009
Preview Reception: Thursday, November 5, 2009, from 7 to 10 pm
Exhibition Opening: Friday, November 6, 2009, from 7 to 10 pm

Some of the Participating Artists include Alan Entin, Anne Savedge, Annette Norman, Beth Beaven, Burton Tysinger, Cary Loving, Catherine Johnson, Chuck Scalin, Debbie and Andrew Campbell, Diego Sanchez, Emma Lou Martin, Foust, Gloria Blades, Hazel Buys, James Miller, Jane Vaught, Jessica Sims, Judy Anderson, Kathleen Westkaemper, Margaret Buchanan, Marian Hollowell, Martin McFadden, LRPS, Matthew Lively, Mim Gulob Scalin, Nancy Smith, Noah Scalin, Page Moran, Paul Kehrer, Rob Tarbell, Robin Ryder, Santa Sergio De Haven, Shelia Gray, Susanne Arnold, Tricia Pearsall, Virginia Tyack, Yvonne Cook and yours truly.

What I got for my birthday

And it is amazing from the world's greatest ever rock band! Get yours here.

New Acquisitions at Testudo U

From the University of Maryland:

In the spring of 2008, five gifted students were selected to be part of a committee that was taught the intricacies of contemporary art and sent on trips to New York City and Washington D.C, where they visited multiple galleries and artists ’ studios. The program concluded with the committee of students purchasing a number of pieces of contemporary art to be added to the collection of The Adele H. Stamp Student Union, Center for Campus Life.

The committee’s selections are currently on exhibition in The Stamp Gallery, located on the 1 st floor of the Stamp. The exhibition runs from August 31st-October 1st, 2009 with an opening reception on September 17th from 5-8pm .

This sounds like a really cool program and an art program that puts its money where its mouth is! I am already curious which galleries in DC they visited and if they also visited any other spaces in the Greater DC area.

For more information about the exhibition and the program contact the gallery at 301-314-8493 or stampgallery@umd.edu.

Lida Moser

I'm glad to report that photography legend Lida Moser was able to make it to her opening. This in spite of just being released from the hospital where she was as a result of a fall and associated bone fractures.


That's one tough New Yorker and in the background that's curator Erik Denker, the Senior Lecturer, Education Division at the National Gallery of Art, who is also an authority on all things Moser.

The end of a blog?

"I'm still not 100% sure that this post is the end of the road for Thinking About Art. There are several unfinished projects that have stalled and there is certainly more to say. There is more to learn as well, but the thing I have found is that the blog can really put pressure on some relationships. There are art dealers who were once friends of mine who now ignore me. It has been suggested that some of my reviews from 5 years ago might have played a role in me not getting into some MFA programs. I know for a fact that I've been excluded from shows and other opportunities because of the blog. Knowing this, has the past 5 years been worth it? Absolutely, yes. I've learned so much writing this blog and interacting with you, the reader, that I feel I have grown astronomically as an artist. The relationships I have formed because of this blog have been enriching and I value them immensely."

Read Kirkland's post here. In reading JT's post, I readily understand his points, and it doesn't take much to visit a few once super-active and interesting blogs, both local and national, to see that most art bloggers seem to have reached blogexhaustion with content and posts declining in most of them while others have translated their writing skills, honed through blogging, into paid gigs with magazines and newspapers. And in some cases, the sensationalist ingredient of political blogging has so poisoned some blogs' wells, that now they are nothing but harbingers of the art world's bad news and dirty laundry.

I'll be here while I am still having fun.

Baby Art Gifts

Frida Kahlo Baby Bib by Bethanne Shannon
Just received the most wonderful set of three baby bibs by Massachusetts multi-media artist, workshop leader, safe sex education advocate and peace activist Bethanne Shannon. The pieces were commissioned for Anderson Campello by the amazing Manon Cleary.

Like me, Bethanne is an avowed Kahlophile, see her Kahloworks here. She's also the founder and creator of My Pet Sperm and made these two other bibs for Anderson:

I made it! baby bib by Bethanne Shannon


One in a million! baby bib by Bethanne Shannon
Check Shannon's artwork at these links:

For sperm:
www.thesillyspermshop.etsy.com
www.mypetsperm.com
www.cafepress.com/sillyspermshop

For Frida:
www.fridainheaven.etsy.com
www.flickr.com/theartangel look in "SETS" find Frida.

An artist's true woe tale

The below true tale is from the Washington Glass School blog:

A True Story That Happened To Tim Tate From Several Years Ago

The Worst New York Gallery Experience in History

I fully realize that beginning with that title is tantamount to throwing down a gauntlet to every artist who reads this, but bear with me.

In the end, you'll be the judge.

For the sake of this article the events and the gallery discussed here. This is not an effort to protect the gallery, but an attempt to make this experience a little more universal. Remember, this could have happened to you. This was several years ago.

My tale begins with a common enough event... a charity auction. As artists, we participate in many such events. This one was particularly prestigious and national in scope. As luck would have it, my piece ended up in the live auction section and with spirited bidding created quite a stir. It was at this point that I was first approached by the "New York Gallery."

"Your work is incredible!" they said, "We would love to represent your work in our Chelsea gallery and also take you to SOFA New York! ( A large art fair in NYC)

What a fantastic opportunity... finally New York representation... and at SOFA NY to boot! All seemed right with the Universe.

As a non-New York artist I share a commonly held belief that if I could just procure gallery sponsorship in the Big Apple that my career would definitely take a big leap forward. No longer would I be a regional artist; I would become nationally known. Naive perhaps, but I entered this ordeal with these rose-colored beliefs.

My first hint of unease came when the gallery insisted that I do an "Installation." I knew that SOFA NY was not about installation work and neither was I at the time, but hey, what the heck? It's about time I moved in that direction. Don't all great artists? The gallery also claimed to have many clients who were museum curators who bought installation work. Ok.....done!

And video..... they want a video from me. Not just a bio.... but a video art piece. Great again! I've had a video I've wanted to do in my head for years, so here at last was my chance. The gallery owners say that they had numerous clients for videos who pay from $5,000 to $7,000 dollars for a single copy.

Wow!

Ok..... sure... I was skeptical, but I wanted to believe so badly! Here I was heading to New York as a video and installation artist. Pretty cool, huh? Obviously, New York was just waiting for me!

Unfortunately, the Universe has a tendency to punish such hubris. Lessons need to be learned the hard way. Let me also clarify. This story is not about money... it is about the validation that a New York gallery can impart to those of us outside of New York.

I spent the next 6 weeks making all the components for the big day. My regular art is quite labor-intensive. Throw in the video and I was kept very busy until the day I left for New York.

Now the fiasco begins.

Day One

My team gets to the SOFA space an hour ahead of me and calls to say that no one from the gallery is there, and that all the artists are confused as to where to install.

We knew the exact size of the space for our installation, so they have measured and decide that only one space is the correct size. They begin to install.

I arrive to SOFA..... not as an observer as in years past, but triumphantly as an honored participant! I get to the space and discover that my space is the only space in SOFA that actually faces the wall... not the aisle where the people are.

The owners arrived about this time and tell me not to worry. Everybody sees everything at SOFA. "Jeez," I think, "but what can I do? At least I'm at the show....and it won't be the first time I've overcome bad placement in a show." I’m just happy to be invited to this party.

Now that the owners have arrived it is clear that they have had a huge fight. They are a couple going through a painful and public divorce. For the purposes of this story we will know them as Joe Young and Joe Old.

Not surprisingly, Joe Old is the one with all the money, but Joe Young is the one with all the power. For some inexplicable reason Joe Young (and I mean young) has been given total control over the gallery, without a clue how to accomplish this. He is on a mission to become the cutting edge gallery in Chelsea. (see prior notes regarding hubris).

By this time my team and I have installed my work..... a little tight and very hard to find, but I'm at SOFA . So Joe Young says, "Hey, before you guys leave, could you help us move a pipe? Its another artists work, but its over at the gallery and we have to move it here."

"Ok, sure. We'd be happy to help!" and besides, I'm dying to see the gallery space. (I know.... and no, I hadn't ever seen the gallery).

It turns out there are six of us riding down in an SUV. Wow...this must be some pipe! This could not have been truer, as the pipe is 4ft high, 2ft. wide and 1/2 inch thick. This is one heavy pipe! With all of us helping (except the owners...who have strangely disappeared again), we get the pipe in the SUV. Now we enter the gallery.

It is in a wonderful building, filled with wonderful galleries. This is a good sign. This is a building I have always wanted to show in. Ok.... they have the smallest and most buried space in the building, but they are still here. We enter the gallery.

Standing in the middle of the gallery is a coat rack filled with coats and a picnic table covered in trash. Trash also covers the floor. Empty Coke bottles, mustard jars, Boone's Farm, Cheez-Whiz...... it's seems like some exploded leftovers from a Tennessee picnic.

"Oh my God!", I say, "What on earth happened!?!?".

"What do you mean?" they say, "This is an installation. Its all about consumerism."

Oh Lord.... I remember when kids would put a box of S.O.S. pads on a pedestal and called it consumerism art.... is that fad back again? I sincerely hope not. Maybe I'm just out of touch; I mean after all, I'm a non-New York artist. What do I know?

My work has been thought out for weeks. Every piece has been scrupulously made and the installation subtly and thoughtfully tells a story common to us all. Maybe this heavy-handed consumerism approach is back again. I hope that I haven't made a mistake!

OK.... home to bed... I want to get lots of sleep before the big day.

As I walk into the booth the next day, I see that the other artists showing with my gallery have had time to install their work.

Boy have they!

I should say that there is a glass artist, a wood artist and a ceramic artist sharing my booth (and who also share my fate).

In front of the booth they have forced the ceramic artist to put her work into a structure that looks like a puppet theater.... complete with red velvet curtains.

Next to me is another pile of picnic refuse as well. It seems that it is the brainchild of the gallery owner.

It's what he thinks the wood guy should be doing. "It's all about chaos theory," he says. Well... I agree about the chaos part.

On the other side of me is a huge installation titled "Dictator." This consists of two walls completely crammed with coffee mugs, t-shirts, pillows, thongs and boxer shorts with the word "Dictator" on them. Again..... its about consumerism (Ok..I get it).

The giant pipe is also there.

Well..... it's now very very tight to get into the booth..... maybe five feet of entry space left. Let's see..... how can they close it off more?

I know!...... let's paint a foozball table grey and completely cover four of the last five feet of entry space.

And let's put DVD players right at that last opening (although they never show the video that they had claimed they would show to curators).

The booth looks like a grocery store and a Thrift shop have mated. If you manage to wiggle in to see my work, it's extremely difficult to see it at all because it is surrounded by so much stuff.

The owners have also hired three youngsters to "sell" at the gallery. One seems to know what she is doing.... the other kids just talk about who's getting laid by whom while all the while congregating at the only one foot entrance into the booth.

Its now 5PM and the big black tie opening event has started.

All the big collectors, museum curators, etc. are there....... but not the owners of my gallery….they’ve been missing all day.

At 5:15; however, another 20-year-old kid runs in and says he's supposed to be hanging there too.

He's a painter..... and this is definitely not a painter's show..... but up go his paintings.

Nothing makes sense in this explosion.

There is no theme, there is no order (and there is no way to get into the space).

The owners finally arrive towards 6PM. In the meantime the painter has begun to drink heavily.

The owners have decided that their space was too simple, so in order to create a "happening" they have hired a performance artist. She is from Italy. It is her job to walk around the entire event and put red dots on all of everyone else's artwork. This is intended to create a buzz.

And buzz it creates…… people are getting very upset.

So upset that the security director escorts her out of the event. The security director believes that I am to blame because I am the only one at the booth (the owners and other artists are again no where to be found).

I assure him I am not; though this is not our last contact.

The painter.... very upset over the gallery's seeming inability to sell even one painting, has really started drinking. In fact he has had five large wine glasses filled with Scotch.

Straight Scotch.

The security director comes over to me again. "Is this your boy? " he asks. "He's peeing on the ground right over there. We are going to put him out for good."

Dear God……he is certainly NOT my boy!

I had better at least try to get him into a cab. After all, he is one of my fellow artists from the gallery (The owners are still invisible).

I go outside and try to talk some sense into him and send him home to his girlfriend. He is immediately hot headed..... so I start to go inside. At this moment, finally, one of the gallery owners comes outside; Joe Old.

Bad timing.

The painter is really wound up about promises not kept by the gallery. The painter takes a swing at the gallery owner and knocks his cell phone into traffic. The painter dives for it, narrowly missing being hit by a passing cab.

The painter grabs the cell phone, and throws it onto the roof of the neighboring building. He then turns around and punches the gallery owner full in the face. The gallery owner runs inside. Now I am left with a screaming, flailing kid on the middle of Lexington Avenue.

I'm holding him back as he rants.

It looks like I'm having a huge lover's quarrel with my child bride.

As this thought crosses my mind, I look up.

There... on the corner... is the entire staff of the most prestigious gallery for my kind of work in New York. They do not look amused.

Great! .... perfect.... just what I needed to boost my career.

How on earth could this get any worse?

I know.... let's have the cops join us, who have arrived on the scene with flashing lights.

Ok...that's worse!

The cops don't know what's happening; they are just responding to a call.

Their belief is that he and I are both creating a disturbance. I tell the cop that I barely know this kid, I'm just trying to get him a cab. The cop says that I have one minute to do so or he will run us both in.

Great!

I hail a cab and pay the driver $40 out of my pocket to get this kid to Brooklyn; why I will never know. The cops finally say that I can go.

By this time the huge black tie party is over... my collar is torn... and I'm out 40 bucks. Time to go home, lick my wounds, and try again the next day. Thus ended the longest day in my art career.

Day Two

Day two started off much better. I was full of hope and determined to cast off the bad mojo from the first day. I arrived on time, and again... no owners.

But hey....who needs owners? I'm at SOFA NY... I can sell my own work. Which I did almost immediately. Three pieces in fact. Alright.... this is gonna be great! Then in comes the three staff members.

Now the booth is too packed to get into again. This is when the testimonials begin.

All throughout the day artists keep coming up to me and pulling me aside. "Get your stuff out while you can!" they'd say, or "I had to sue them to finally get my money!" This happened six times that day.

And these are artists I respect; Where were all these guys when I was asking about this NYC the gallery in the first place?

And it's not just artists.

Its other gallery owners. They look at me consolingly and tell me how sorry they are for me. They, without exception, advise me to get my work out of there before the train wreck occurs. I sold nothing more that day; I left with a sick feeling.

Day Three

Day three continues along those lines, only today it's the other artists and gallery staff that offer tales of terror.

The most lucrative artist they show there tells me that while he has sold lots for them, he has yet to receive money. He is told his work is hanging in a millionaire's home and that the gallery hasn't been paid yet.

This was three months ago.

He also tells me that the owners are furious with me. "Why?," I ask.

"Because you sold three pieces of artwork."

Huh?

Seems that if you sell artwork and they don't, they get upset...supposedly because it points out they can't sell.

Huh? They hadn’t even come to work that day till 4pm.

The woman whom they have hired to run the gallery is pretty sharp. She tells me the ship is sinking... try to get your work out ASAP.

She says that they are the laughing stock of the Chelsea art scene. This is their employee.

Lord knows we are a laughing stock here; except to the art collector who came into the booth to loudly accuse the owners of stealing a 100 dollar bill off of his dresser while they were in his home.

Day Four

Day four is known as "Skank Day."

The owners have decided that they need more attention. They decide to hire two 20-year-old girls and have them dress in thongs and skimpy t-shirts and hand out water bottles with the booth number on it.

Being that the average age of collectors attending the event is 65, you can imagine how well this is received. Enter my new friend (the security director); Out they go.

Today the owner yells at the staff, "We are NOT here to sell artwork.... we are here to sell the gallery!,"

That sure explains a lot.

Wish they had told me that going into this. I am standing in the middle of a three ring circus, and there is nothing I can do about it.

Last Day

Word has gotten out about this train wreck. Everyone comes by to offer advice. Unfortunately, I can't leave with my artwork because I have a contract with the gallery. People tell me to break my contract, but I know I can't. I check into the booth before heading to the train station. Since before I'd arrived and all during this event I have told the owners how to move my work when they de-install.

Now as I leave they start freaking out... they are uncomfortable moving it. God knows what will happen.

I am writing this on the train returning home. I have no idea if I will ever see my artwork or my money ever again. The general consensus was that they will shortly file for bankruptcy and fold me into that. So much occurred that I didn't even report here (in the interest of brevity). Suffice it to say they lied to me daily and obviously.

So..... you non-New York artists out there: Let this be a lesson to you all.

Learn the easy way for a change; not the hard way. Maybe being a regional artist is not so bad. And when you plan to stretch to the Big Apple, try and get a recommendation first. This was an incredibly costly mistake for me, but I won't stop trying. You can be sure though.... the next time I will have a lot more questions to ask.

A true horror story uh? I find it interesting and part of "get a New York gallery" goals of most artists that Tate, arguably one of the best-known, if not the best known contemporary artist in the Greater DC area these days, and represented by galleries in Los Angeles, Chicago, St, Louis, Miami, Santa Fe, Philadelphia, Bethesda, London and of course DC, and whose hi-tech self-contained video installations consistently sell well in art fairs, still has to find a good New York dealer (this NYC art critic has a suggestion for a NYC dealer).

Major Andy Warhol collection stolen in Los Angeles‏

Between September 2 & 3, 2009, a home was burglarized along Angelo Drive in West L.A. owned by businessman Richard L. Weisman. The property taken included a multi-million dollar collection of (11) 40" x 40" original artworks by Andy Warhol. Ten of the artworks depicted famous athletes and were made between 1977-79. A Warhol portrait of Mr. Weisman was also taken.

A reward of $1 million has been offered for information leading to the recovery of the art. Contact the LAPD Art Theft Detail: Detectives Hrycyk or Sommer at (213) 485-2524 or (877) 529-3855.

You can view the stolen art here.

Weiss at Nevin Kelly

Ellyn Weiss' new work, titled "Dark Matter" will be shown at the Nevin Kelly Gallery from September 17 - October 17. I am told that it's all made of tar!

Opening reception, Thursday, September 17, 6 - 9 pm. Nevin's new space is right at the Columbia Heights metro.

Keeping a lid on cynicism and irony

... approach the art of seeing... in the spirit of an amateur... in the original sense of the word, as a lover, someone who does something for the love of it, wholeheartedly. The best amateur has the skills of a professional but true professionals stay amateurs at heart, keeping a lid on the cynicism and irony that can pass for sophistication in some circles. Skepticism is useful, and for critics, necessary. But in The Dehumanization of Art, in a section aptly titled "Doomed to Irony," the Spanish philosopher José Ortega y Gasset laments how our aversion to pathos and dependence on irony "imparts to modern art a monotony that must exasperate patience itself."

Michael Kimmelman
The Accidental Masterpiece

Tonight: Lida Moser at the Arts Club

Do this tonight!

Opening tonight and through Sept. 26, 2009, the Arts Club of Washington, DC (in the McFeely Gallery) will be hosting a solo exhibition of legendary American photographer Lida Moser, who now lives in retirement in nearby Rockville, Maryland. The opening reception is from 6:30-9:00PM.

This almost 90-year-old photographer is not only one of the most respected American photographers of the 20th century, but also a pioneer in the field of photojournalism. Her photography has been in the middle of a revival and rediscovery of vintage photojournalism, and has sold as high as $4,000 at Christie's auctions and continues to be collected by both museums and private collectors worldwide. In a career spanning over 60 years, Moser has produced a body of works consisting of thousands of photographs and photographic assemblages that defy categorization and genre or label assignment.

Additionally, Canadian television a couple of years ago finished filming a documentary about her life; the second in the last few years, and Moser’s work is now in the collection of many museums worldwide.

She was once called the "grandmother of American street photography" by an art critic, which prompted a quick rebuttal by Moser, who called the writer's editor and told him that she wasn't the "fucking grandmother of anything or anyone, and would he [the writer] ever describe Ansel Adams or any other male photographer as the 'grandfather' of any style."

Tough New Yorker.

I once sold one of her rare figure studies to a big famous photography collector from the West Coast (who collects mostly nude photography). There were four or five prints of the image, taken and printed around 1961, but one had all the markings and touch-up evidence of the actual photo that had been used by the magazine, and thus I sent him that one.

He called me to complain that although he loved Moser's work, that he wasn't too happy with the retouching, and could I ask Lida for one of the untouched photos.

Now, you gotta understand that these images were taken and touched-up by hand for publication in a newspaper or magazine (since they were nudies, the latter probably). They were not touched up for a gallery or an art show - they were "battlefield" prints of a working photographer.

I called Lida and explained the situation over the phone. "Sweetie," she said to me in her strong New York accent, "you call that guy right back and tell him that you talked to Lida Moser and that Lida Moser told you to tell him: Fuck You!"

I didn't do that, but just sent him an untouched vintage print.

Tough New Yorker.

Lida was a well-known figure in the New York art scene of the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, and a portrait of Lida Moser by American painter Alice Neel hangs in the permanent collection of the Metropolitan Museum in New York City. Neel painted a total of four Moser portraits over her lifetime, and one of them was included in the National Museum of Women in the Arts' "Alice Neel's Women" exhibition.

"Charles Mingus in his Apartment in New York City", c. 1965.

Among her body of works there are also loads of photographs of well-known artists and musicians that either hung around Lida's apartment in NYC or who were part of her circle of friends.



Lida Moser's photographic career started as a student and studio assistant in 1947 in Berenice Abbott's studio in New York City, where she became an active member of the New York Photo League. She then worked for Vogue, Harper's Bazaar, Look and many other magazines throughout the next few decades, and traveled extensively throughout the United States, Canada and Europe.

In 1950 Vogue, and (and subsequently Look magazine) assigned Lida Moser to carry out an illustrated report on Canada, from one ocean to another. When she arrived at the Windsor station in Montreal, in June of that same year, she met by chance, Paul Gouin, then a Cultural Advisor to Duplessis government. This chance meeting led Moser to change her all-Canada assignment for one centered around Quebec.

Armed with her camera and guided by the research done by the Abbot Felix-Antoine Savard, the folklorist Luc Lacourcière and accompanied by Paul Gouin, Lida Moser then discovers and photographs a traditional Quebec, which was still little touched by modern civilization and the coming urbanization of the region.

Decades later, a major exhibition of those photographs at the McCord Museum of Canadian History became the museum’s most popular exhibit ever.

She has also authored and been part of many books and publications on and about photography. She also wrote a series of "Camera View" articles on photography for The New York Times between 1974-81.

Her work has been exhibited in many museums worldwide and is in the permanent collection of the National Portrait Gallery, London, the National Archives, Ottawa, the National Galleries of Scotland, National Portrait Gallery, Washington, DC, the Library of Congress, Les Archives Nationales du Quebec, Corcoran Gallery, Phillips Collection and many others.

Moser was an active member of the Photo League and the New York School.

The Photo League was the seminal birth of American documentary photography. It was a group that was at times at school, an association and even a social club. Disbanded in 1951, the League promoted photojournalism with an aesthetic consciousness that reaches street photography to this day.


"New York City, Office Building Lobby" c. 1965


If you are a photographer, do not miss this opportunity to visit the Arts Club (every DC area artist should visit this great place once in a while) and meet one of the women who set the path for all of you. If you just love the arts, Moser is also a walking encyclopedia of anecdotes and stories about the New York art world of the 50s, 60s and 70s.

The Arts Club show is curated by my good friend Erik Denker, the Senior Lecturer, Education Division at the National Gallery of Art, who is also an authority on all things Moser. The show is titled "The World of John Koch" and depicts Moser's portraits of the renowed New York portrait artist John Koch taken over a 20 year span from 1954-1974. These photographs are exhibited in Washington for the first time and are only one of two portfolios of the portraits ever printed by Moser (the other was given to the Koch widow once the painter died in 1974).


John Koch, Silver Gelatin print by Lida Moser, c.1970
Read the WaPo review of one of her DC solo exhibitions here.

The opening reception is from 6:30-9:00PM. Do not miss it!

Opportunity for Artists

Deadline: September 30, 2009

Washington Dulles International Airport's Airports Authority is seeking artists with previous public art experience to develop three site-specific artwork proposals for the International Arrivals Building. Deadline: September 30, 2009.

Metropolitan Washington airports Authority
Office of Community Relations
Art Program
Attention: Margaret Bishop
1 Aviation Circle
Washington, DC 20001.

For more information, click here.

From Craiglist's

Gallery space for rent in Dupont Circle area in DC. Check it out here.

Congrats!

To DC area artist Cheryl Derricote, as two of her glass houses were selected for the 24th Tallahassee International, at the Museum of Fine Arts in Tallahassee, Florida. Show is up through 9/27/09.

Here is slide show of the exhibition.

O'Sullivan on the Trawick Prize

"The Trawick Prize: Bethesda Contemporary Art Awards is a dirty show this year."

Read the Washington Post's art critic Michael O'Sullivan's review of this year's Trawick Prize here.

Excellent review by O'Sullivan and I agree with him in the sense that Molly Springfield's work continues to amaze not only by its technical virtuosity, but also by the conceptual edge that she continues to give to it.

And a bravo to to the prize's sponsor: Carol Trawick!