MIA – Day 5: The Last Day

0900 – Up and early again and heading out to Miami Beach. Thank Mr. Garmin for GPS navigation, as Calle Ocho was closed for some sort of event and I just kept driving parallel to it until the GPS found a back way to Miami Beach. It’s very cold at the beach, in the low 30s and everyone is wearing coats and hats. At the door to the café where I stop for coffee and pastries, two old Cuban black men are discussing various Cuban dances and arguing which one is the best one. I listen to their discussion while I drink my coffee. Picking up the machine-gun fire speed of the dialects from Havana and Oriente as they argue back and forth.

1000 – I run into Dr. Fred Ognibene, who is here with the medical convention that is taking place alongside the art fair at the convention center. I leave a couple of passes for Dr. Fred at the “will call.”

1100 – The fair opens and it is pretty quiet, so I walk around and shoot an 11 minute walkthrough video of the art fair. It will be uploaded later.

1530 – A trustee from the Miami Art Museum drops by and we chat a long time about Sandra Ramos’ work. She wants to see more images of the new work that I just received back in DC while I was here. We also discuss some possible museum donations. She also asks me to send her a CD with my own images and CV.

1600 – I sell one of my pieces to a collector who gets very passionate about it.

1645 – Although attendance has not been spectacular, the last two days have been the busiest. Still, sales are slow to come by. My niece and mother come to visit. It is the first time that my mother has visited me in an art fair. She also participates in the Argentinean fingerprint art project.

1700 – A young collector falls in love with two of Michael Janis’ gorgeous scraffito pieces. She asks for a collectors’ discount on two. I give it to her, and then she says that she has to clear it with her husband. She comes back repeatedly and takes photos of the works which she then sends to her husband. He is recalcitrant. To make a long story short, after nearly two hours of texting and negotiating, she gets one of the pieces at a dealer’s discount (she’s a Ft. Lauderdale gallerist).

1900 – Fair ends and I am exhausted and now the real hard work of packing begins.

2400 – I am finished packing and cleaning the walls. The fair is over. Tomorrow the shipper comes by, picks up the work and ships it back North (except for all the Tim Tate’s works, which will be at Art Palm Beach next weekend with Projects Gallery.

0030 – I arrive at Little Havana; the power has been off in my cousin’s side of the street for hours and he has been waiting for me to let me into his walled compound, as the electric gates do not work.

0100 – I get to bed, a flashlight by my side; feh!

MIA Day Five – Rainy Saturday

0800 – I’m awake and out of the Little Havana apartment bright and early as I want to do some visiting before heading out to Miami Beach. It is rainy and cold (in the 40s).

1200 – Fair opens and there is also another fair at the Convention Center which is now open; appears to be some sort of medical expo.

1400 – There seems to be a marked increase in traffic; maybe the bad weather is driving people indoors. I’ve shot a little video of the fair and dropped by to talk to LA gallerist Seth Carmichael. He represents DC-based artist Mark Jenkins (DC’s famous Tape Dude) and will give Mark a solo in his LA gallery in a couple of months. Seth has a well-known Jenkins sculpture in his booth.

1500 – The lady whose husband busted the Ann Plan piece on opening night comes back and buys a Sandra Ramos original collage. You reap what you sow.

1510 – The curator of the Latin American pavilion at the Shanghai Art Fair comes over and invites me to exhibit at the fair.

1605 - A local curator who has been walking around the fair invites me to leave some of my artwork with her for some of her curatorial projects. She is one of the curator's at MIA's "Next Generation" hall and so I agree to leave some drawings with her.

1630 – The woman who put the Tim Tate on hold a few days ago returns with her husband and another couple. They ask a million technical questions. She really wants the piece, but hubby is tough. He then wants to switch video cards between two separate sculptures and offers $5,000 for the piece. I say no. The wife still wants the piece. He then wants to see if he can work directly with Tate. I tell him that Tate can consider a commission. Wife still wants the piece that she wanted. He then mulls back about $5,000. I say no. He says he only wants the glass part and the Digiviewer and not the stand. I tell him that what he does with the piece once he owns it is his business, but that one can never tell what the future holds and that separating the pieces may harm the integrity of the work. I suggest that he can install the work so that only the glass part shows, and give him a couple of ideas on how to do this. He seems to like that aspect. He wants to come over to Washington and see what else Tate has. I tell him that he is welcome to do that, but that I have his latest work here and Tate is preparing for a museum show and doesn’t have that much more work available. Wife still wants the piece. They give me their contact info and promise to come back after they debate it. He mulls about $5,000 and I say no.

1645 – The director of the fair comes back and tells me that I have the best installation in the fair.

1730 – German collector comes by and is really interested in a Tate piece. As I am working with him, the 1630 couple comes back. I’m in the booth by myself and can only work one at a time. The German collector notices that the other couple when they say: “Let’s close the deal.” He tells me that he’ll be back and leaves.

1900 – 90 minutes later I am exhausted after working the most difficult sale in my life with the most difficult man in Boca Raton. They buy a Tim Tate and I believe that they will swap video cards and play their own videos in the sculpture once the piece gets delivered. It is an exhausting exercise which is fueled by a bad economy and the need to at least break even in this fair.

2100 - Saturday is over. Tomorrow is the last day. I head over to Little Havana; it's in the 30s in Miami Beach and raining.

MIA Day Four - The Weekend begins

0800 - I'm up and about as I need to get some new video cables to see if I can make the digital player work and project Tate's videos onto the wall. First I stop by a new bakery and grab three Capresse empanadas for breakfast. Then I drop by a Radio Shack and get a new video cable. Sounds easy, but it actually involved going to two Radio Shacks and one Office Depot before I found the friggin' video cable.

1100 - I arrive at the Convention Center and start fiddling with the video projector. My hunch was right and the video cable was bad. However, I also discovered that the Digiviewer is also bad. I then hunt down a new Digiviewer to replace the bad one. By the time it is noon the damned thing is finally working and the Ophelia video is projecting onto the booth wall.

1200 - 1800 - Yawn. Somewhere in there I sell an Erwin Timmers recycled glass sculpture.

1820 - Someone is interested in buying my Ophelia drawing, but they can't get over the title association with the character.

1915 - A curator from a Central American museum is interested in seeing how she can get some Sandra Ramos and Tim Tates for the museum. She tells me that the museum has no acquisition funds, which makes the issue an usually difficult one. In this case, however, I happen to have two collectors lined up to donate both Tates and Ramos' to museums who want them (hear that museum curators?). We exchange cards. She apologizes by saying that her National museum is privately funded and they don't get any money from their government. I remind her that in the US all museums are privately funded. She looks a little quizzical until I explain that even though some museums are funded by the federal government, the said government gets its funds from private citizens and private companies, and thus, by extension of my logic, all US museums are privately funded as well, with some having the government as a middle man.

2000 - I sell a Ann Plant sculpture, her second sale of the show, which is her first show ever. First sale of the day.

2100 - Day over; they're expecting a really cold rainy day tomorrow... great.

2130 - Dinner at El Chalal again with Frank and Helen. Great seafood as usual and two good Peruvian beers. Then I head back to Little Havana.

2200 - On the drive home I talk to my daughter Elise, who tells me that she just finished doing a song in a CD and will be in DC and NYC soon to do some promotional work on the radio and on TV. All the others in the CD compilation are big names; very impressive! More on that later.

MIA Day Three - Opening Day

0717 - I am up and trying to catch up on work email and returning phone calls.

1030 - I am out of the apartment and heading to the bakery to get food and water for the day. I get a Cuban Pork Sandwich for breakfast and a Medianoche for lunch later plus an assortment of stuffed potatoes, stuffed yucca rolls, pastries and sweets. Enough food for a week actually. I also get some soap, as in my cousin's apartment, which is vacant all the time, there's no shower soap and I've been using some old shampoo to cleanse my body and I am a little tired of smelling like kiwi and watermelon all day.

1100 - Arrive at the Convention Center for the long day of the actual opening.

1400 - Tim Tate video is put on First Right of Refusal till Sunday. I've handed out about 25 cards about his video work today as his work continues to attract people like moths to my booth. The digital video player is still not working and I am contemplating switching the DigiViewer to see if that's the issue.

1430 - Prof. Chawky Frenn swings by and we chat a little. Chawky is an amazing painter; he's looking for representation.

1500 - It's really slow and so I stroll around the fair a little. There are a lot of Argentinean galleries in this fair. They all seem to have German names. One of the gallerinas is the spitting image of actress Tia Leoni.

1630 - A major collector, who last month bought a Sandra Ramos from me at Red Dot comes by to say hello. I discuss with them that I have a couple of donors looking to donate Sandra Ramos' works to museums. They give me the name of a curator at a local museum and tell me to use their names.

1900 - Prof. Chawky Frenn comes by again. He has been trolling the fair looking for potential galleries for his work, which is so politically and homo-erotically charged that it is very difficult for some. He looks a little dejected. We walk over to the Argentinean worldwide art project next to me. They take gold fingerprints of people all over the world and are staffed by several beautiful girls from the Americas. Chawky goes over and does the whole fingerprinting part and then begins to chat the girls. He then meets Carlos Woods, a gallery owner from Guatemala and Chawky shows him the last book published of his work. Minutes later Woods is offering Chawky a solo in Guatemala. Prof. Frenn has accomplished his mission.

1930 - A curator from the Miami Art Museum comes by and we discuss Sandra Ramos. I pass to her that I have two collectors in the DC area who are looking to donate several Sandra Ramos' pieces to museums. She leaves me several names at the museum to contact.

2000 - It's all over; heading to Little Havana for the night.

Wanna go to an opening tomorrow?

Washington Sculptors Group: Sculpture Now 2010 (January 5 until February 12, 2010).Opening Reception - Friday, January 8 from 6:00 to 8:00 pm. at Pepco’s Edison Place Gallery (702 Eighth Street, NW, Washington, DC 20001). The reception will include an awards presentation of first and second place prizes with top honors being named after long-time WSG member and artist Tom Rooney. Juror’s talk - Saturday, January 9 beginning at 2:00 pm

The exhibition was juried by Ryan Hill, Curatorial Research Associate for the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Adjunct Professor at George Washington University, and artist. Speaking about his selections, Mr. Hill stated that he was "interested in artworks that used non-traditional materials, explored layering and decentered compositions, and reflected our information-driven society."

Artists selected to participate in the exhibition include: Karen Bondarchuk, Leah Frankel, Kerry Furlani, Tom Greaves, Jason Haber, Ray Hau, Leila Holtsman, James Mallos, Bill Moore, Elena Patino, Mike Shaffer, John Simpkins-Camp, Erwin Timmers, Patricia Tinajero, Elizabeth Whiteley, and Alice Yutzy.

MIA Day 2 - Set Up & VIP Night

0245 - I wake up, thinking that I've heard Little Junes crying. Even though I am exhausted, it takes me forever to go back to sleep.

0730 - I wake up half an hour before the alarm. After S-S-S (read yesterday's account to know what that means), I head out to MIA. On the way I stop over at a Cuban deli and buy some Cuban pastries to share with the Hyders. I end up eating my share on the drive to the Miami Beach Convention Center.

0930 - Arrive at MIA. It's $15 to park all day, but the parking lot is directly on the other side of Exhibit Hall A, which is where MIA takes place. It's a long assed walk and during the walk I discover that one should never wear brand new shoes to an art fair. Today I have to hang and prepare my booth, so I'm wearing jeans, but I've brought the suit and tie for later tonight, when the VIPs come. It's gonna be a long day, as the fair ends at 11PM.

0945 - My booth still doesn't have electricity, and I discover that I've forgotten my power drill, so I start hanging seven Tim Tate self contained videos using a screwdriver. I'm concerned because I can't test the videos until I get electricity into the booth. SO I start arranging the other work to be hung. As soon as I am finished, a floor cleaning crew shows up and wants to clean my booth's floor. I remove all the work and wait while they steam clean the cement floor.

1015 - The cement floor is nice and clean, the booth's walls are freshly painted, and the work is all back in, spread out and ready to be hung. But no electricity. I begin to hang all of Tate's metal boxes components of his video work, and unpack Sandra Ramos, Cirenaica Moreira and Marta Maria Perez Bravo's work. A dozen long trips to the Hyder's van to store away the packing detritus follows.

1200 - All the Tate's metal wall boxes are hung, and the cardboard boxes containing the glass and video parts are aligned under them, on the floor, like soldiers itching to join a war. But there's no electricity.

1225 - I hang Michael Janis' heavy-assed "Lovers" in a few minutes, then spend a friggin' hour aligning and hanging his four smaller pieces. But at the end it looks good.

1230 - The sculpture floor stands arrive, and I open the FEDEX shipment box containing Erwin Timmers' two sculptures. When I open the box, they are both broken.

1330 - I've hung Ramos and Moreira, and the electrician arrives! I then hang my own work last.

1400 - I've got electrical power, so I begin the process of testing and then hanging the video components of Tate's seven sculptures.

1640 - Tate is done being tested and hung; it all works fine and even the digital projector has been set and is projecting Ophelia video onto the wall.

1700 - The electrician (a really nice guy) finishes my booth and now I have lights. I am sweaty and my feet are killing me.

1715 - I borrow a ladder and put up artists' names and adjust the lights, managing to cook some hands in the process.

1730 - I head for the bathrooms with a suit and a cordless shaver. I emerge a few minutes later as "Mr. Art Dealer," all clean and slick. The digital video player has ceased to work and 30 minutes of fiddling by me and my neighbor yield zip results. This means that I can't project videos onto the wall; my master plan for attracting moths to the light. Great...

1800 - The fair starts and I realize I don't have any "merchandise removal passes" which is the piece of paper given when you sell something so that the client can take it with them. Someone points out to me that my front wall is unlit, and I realize that the electrician forgot to install one key light fixture. I rush to the office to see what can be done. Result: That front part of the booth will be dark tonight, but at least I've got plenty of sales exit forms.

1900 - Slow, some family members who live in Miami show up. My cousin Estrellita, a high powered "green" lawyer buys one of my drawings. Even though it is VIP night, unlike other fairs, there's no free booze or food anywhere to be found. I realize that I haven't had a drink of water all day and that my lips are parched. I pay $4 for a bottle of water.

1905 - Prof. Chawky Frenn comes by with a few friends and we chat a little.

2000 - Women in Miami really like to wear those spiky boots, I notice. Because there's no free booze, the crowds are lethargic.

2050 - More work sold: more of my drawings and a cool Ann Plant glass landscape. The client who buys the Plant also buys one of my drawings. And he knows about the WPA Auction and Mera Rubell's part in it (have the Miami papers done a story???). He also asks if I was one of Mera Rubell's "sweet 16." I launch into my Rubell story. I talk him into flying to DC for the WPA Auction after I show him online the piece that Rubell selectd. As usual, the Tate videos attract a lot of attention. I almost sell Janis' "Lovers" but can't close the deal.

2100 - A husband and wife couple who are on the Collectors' Committee for the Miami Art Museum come to check out the Sandra Ramos work - they love one of her collages, but ask for a card and then leave. A while later they return with a local art dealer, who also has a booth at MIA. He gives the piece a good endorsement. Then the husband backs into the pedestal holding one of Ann Plant's sculptures and knocks it down on the floor, where the glass piece shatters into a million pieces. A hush envelops the floor. It looks like the poor old guy is about to have a heart attack. It's a $500 piece (thank God only $500). They apologize; no one offers to pay for the broken artwork. The guy looks really frail and I'm really nice to him because I don't want him to stress out any more. The client who bought the other Plan piece returns and he almost breaks into tears when he sees the demolished piece. "Iwanted that!" he cries to the couple. I wrap it up and give it to him. He now owns two Plants. The museum couple tell me that they're really interested in the Ramos, but then they leave again.

2215 - I notice that a glass of champagne costs the same as a bottle of water. Weird... And my new shoes are killing my feet.

2300 - VIP night over. Tomorrow the show opens to the public. And tomorrow I am bringing food and water. I've never been to an art fair where the exhibitors don't get any refreshments.

2315 - I walk the long-assed walk to the parking lot and drive back to Little Havana. Once I get there I realize that I've forgotten to call my wife and that I've left my suit bag back in the booth with my shaver.

2355 - My new shoes are off my wounded feet and I am heading to bed, but I start to write this post. My cousin has filled the fridge with beer; is he a mensch or what?

2359 - Blog updated with this post. I am exhausted but OK. Tomorrow the show opens to the public at noon. It would be nice to make enough sales on opening day to cover costs.

Wanna go to an opening this Saturday?

Apronology.

It’s defined as “the study of the art of the apron,” and it’s a word that appeals to Virginia-based artist Trudi VanDyke, curator of the upcoming mixed media exhibit “Personal Armor: Artists’ Concepts of Aprons” at BlackRock Center for the Arts.

“I thought that was just a hoot,” said VanDyke, an independent curator, consultant and juror who is also an adjunct professor of art management at George Mason University, a freelance writer on the arts and the former director of both the Ellipse Arts Center in Arlington and Alexandria’s Torpedo Factory. “But I like to work with themes that artists can interpret independently – and I’m always on the lookout for artists whose work I admire, because I want to see how their work might come together in the show.”

In this show, which runs from Wednesday, January 06, 2010 through Friday, January 29, 2010, the work of 31 artists from Maryland, DC, Virginia, Colorado, Florida, South Carolina and Pennsylvania reflect on the common theme of the apron – with intriguing results.

“What does the apron represent?” muses VanDyke. “There are a lot of feminist statements in the work: for some artists it represented how they’d been held back by the apron, the Father Knows Best sort of theme.”

Other artists used the apron to represent their own apron-wearing mothers; VanDyke says even the plight of battered women comes to light in the exhibit. Wood, wire, glass and metal make appearances, along with more unusual media, and the moods run from sentimental to mysterious to whimsical.

VanDyke points out that the Artist Reception will be held on Saturday, January 9, from 5:30 - 7:30 p.m. She hopes art lovers will gather to learn more about this unusual and interesting show – whether they themselves wear aprons or not.

Personal Armor: Artists’ Concepts of Aprons
Wednesday, January 06, 2010 through Friday, January 29, 2010
BlackRock Center for the Arts
Gallery Hours: Monday to Friday 10 a.m.-5 p.m.
Saturday 10 a.m.-2 p.m.
Admission is free
Artist Reception Saturday, January 9, from 5:30 - 7:30 p.m.

MIA – Day One: Travel and Hang

0200 – I’m having trouble sleeping, and the alarm is set for 2:45AM, and the taxi will arrive at 3:30AM. I look at the alarm clock and it reads 2:07. I hope to catch at least half an hour more of sleep. Today will be a long day, as I’m flying down to Miami with a 6:10AM departure from BWI. It’s installation day for the Miami International Art Fair (MIA), which opens formally tomorrow with a VIP reception.

0245 – The alarm rings and I’m surprised that while I thought I was awake most of the time, I was actually catching some Z’s. I spring from bed, hoping that Little Junes will not awake, and proceed to what the morning wake-up ritual known in the Navy as “shit-shower-and-shave.”

0305 – I’m out of the shower and dressed, and I close the luggage and carry it from the bedroom to the front door, hoping that the squeaky hardwood floors will not wake up Little Junes. My wife awakens and follows me to the door and kisses me goodbye. I send her back to bed; this will be a tough week for her as a single mom to a four month old. I pack up the laptop, remember to grab a box of red dots and then step outside to the 25 degree Potomac early morning to get my Blackberry ear plugs out of the van. Bones (that’s his real name), my cab driver, is already there in the driveway and waiting for me.

0320 – On the way to BWI Bones tells me about his daughter who is about to graduate from Maryland. This burly cab driver has three daughters and he’s put all three of them through college. He is a hero. Bones is originally from Nigeria, and he likes to talk about art. On this trip I discuss the work of artist Viktor Ekpuk for him. Bones dissects the name and tells me where in Nigeria Viktor is from. He promises to look for Viktor’s work in the Internet.

0410 – We arrive at BWI. Outside the airport is quiet, almost deserted. Inside it is also deserted except for a huge line at the American Airlines counters. I’m flying AA, so I resign myself and join the line. I’m really early anyway. A gregarious AA Skycap is herding people along to the check in counters. When I check in I discover that AA now charges $20 for your first checked in bag. It used to be $15. It also used to be explained that the charge was because the price of airline fuel was so high and was “temporary.” But now that the price of fuel has dropped, the checked-in charge not only remains but has increased. And flights are packed but airlines still lose money. Something doesn’t make sense to me in this industry.

0430 – I’m surprised to find the security line almost non-existent and go through the TSA portals. Something in my laptop backpack catches their attention and they search for it. The backpack is filled to the brim with assorted electronic junk such as the GPS unit (I find that now I can’t drive without GPS aid), the removable hard drive, the Flip video recorder, the digital camera, assorted power cables and books. Finally they find the offending item: a wine corkscrew. I had no idea that it was inside the backpack. Since the corkscrew doesn’t have a blade, it’s OK and I’m passed through.

0440 – I find a seat by a wall outlet and plug in the laptop to do some Facebooking and surfing. A teen it’s a couple of seats from me and begins to alarm me with his coughing, sneezing and snorting. It is obvious that he has a cold. It is also obvious that no one has told him that he should cover his mouth when he sneezes. I debate whether to move seats or tell him to cover his mouth. As electric wall outlets are not easy to come by at BWI, I elect for the latter and tell him. He doesn’t respond, but simply moves away from me, to infect someone else.

0540 – We begin boarding. The flight goes to Miami and then to Cancun. It is loaded with folks dressed for tropical weather and who earlier on froze their butts getting to the airport, but by noon will be sipping Margaritas by the beach while I’ll be installing the artwork at the Miami Beach Convention Center.

0610 – We actually depart on time, and I get prime seating on the first row, with the extra leg space and on the aisle with two empty seats in my row. Good start to the flight day. I’m reading “Seven Days in the Art World” by Sarah Thornton and rediscover what an asshole Chris Burden is.

0840 – We actually land a few minutes ahead of time.

0915 – 1100 - I swing by Casablanca Bakery in Hialeah and have breakfast (eggs, Cuban bread, ham and coffee for $3) and pick up two boxes of Cuban pastries and two Cuban breads. I visit my parents in Hialeah and my aunt in Miami Beach, drop the pastries and bread. I am also forced to eat in both places even though I am full.

1130 – I arrive at the Miami Beach Convention Center; the big leagues of art fairing and home to Art Basel Miami Beach. I meet Philadelphia artist Frank Hyder and his wife, Helen, director of Philly’s hardworking Projects Gallery. They are my Philly dealers and we’re doing this fair together. They tell me that my booth has been moved to a new location by the fair management. Also, about 75% of the booths still have not been finished nor painted. There is clearly a lot of work still to be done before a single thing can be hung.

1230 – 1430 – Lunch at the Hyder’s Miami Beach condo – the one with a breathtaking view of the ocean. We load up a vanload of artwork and take to the Convention Center. Poor Frank is hobbling because he took a nasty spill in Philly ice recently. The booths are still far from being finished. Lots of painting and wall re-arrangements being done. Frank Hyder walks me through the spectacular sculptural works by Federico Uribe. His work, done from shoe laces, sneakers (Puma gave him 30,000 running shoes for a particular project), and other common objects – including a toilet plunger which has been transformed into a flower via the use of wooden clothes’ hangers – make him the best WalMartist that I have ever seen. Uribe’s work alone is worth the price of the entrance to the fair. The bright yellow sun made out of yellow shoelaces, thousands of them is a transformative piece worth of worship by the Egyptians.

1500 – I find the guy in charge of painting and construction and tell him (more like beg him) that my booth has been moved from its original location and now the booth design closes up the booth too much and I need one wall moved. The booth still needs to be painted. It may be hours before a crew can get to it. I used the Cuban angle and the HMFIC sends the painting crew to my booth. Now I just need to get one wall moved to open up the gallery.

1700 – Construction guy shows up and says that the wall will be moved in ten minutes. 45 minutes later I am still waiting.

1800 – Wall crew arrives. They are very friendly and quite experts at their work. After a 15 minute Union-mandated break, they start adding a new wall and removing the blocking wall in my booth. It is hard work.

2000 – All the booth hard labor is done. The crew has done a terrific job. And I have a shiny, newly painted booth, in a new arrangement and in a new spot. Now at G-11 instead of G-13.

2001 – I hang one large photograph by Cuban artist Cirenaica Moreira, and exhausted call it quits for the night. Loads of other galleries are nowhere to being close to being ready.

2015 – The Hyders and I have a terrific meal at a Peruvian Restaurant called Chalan in Miami Beach (at 1580 Washington Ave) . I have one of the most amazing seafood dishes that I’ve had in a long time. It has a rather forgettable Peruvian name, Cau Cau something. It is very yummy.

2345 – I'm at my cousin's beautiful home in Little Havana, staying in his empty maid's quarters' apartment in the rear of his home. I post this blog and exhausted get ready to sleep a few hours. Tomorrow we hang the artwork and by 6PM the VIPs arrive.

Great exhibition opportunity for artists

Deadline: January 17, 2010

This is the kind of opportunity that I like: absolutely no fees to submit and zero commission on sales: click here for the prospectus.

I'll be jurying this show, which will be in Norfolk's best gallery (in my opinion).

Airborne

Heading to Miami for the Miami International Art Fair at the Miami Beach Convention Center. Fair is from 6-10 January.

If you want some free tickets to the fair, drop me an email.

Drawing Show Extended

More art writing

Philippa has a superb round-up of the sudden surge in visual art writing around the DC region. Read it here.

I agree with her. I also know that now that I'm back in the DC area, I plan to get back to my old ways and write a lot more about the DC area visual arts.

Running for cover(age) Tonight

Running for cover(age) is a panel discussion on arts criticism in the DC area presented by the WPA.

Moderator: Kriston Capps
Panelists: Jeffry Cudlin, Isabel Manalo, Danielle O’Steen
When: Monday, January 4, 2010 from 6:30-8:00pm
Where: Capitol Skyline Hotel (lounge), 10 I Street SW, Washington, DC 20024
(Free and open to the public)

Coverage of Mera Rubell’s DC studio tour by journalist Jessica Dawson in The Washington Post touched a critical nerve in the DC arts community, and set off impassioned conversations here and on social networking websites such as Facebook here, about the quality of life for artists in the area. Artists, writers, and arts professionals weighed in on aesthetics, isolation, ambition and support for the visual arts.

This panel discussion will address questions about local arts media coverage and its effect on the cultural life of the city. During the Q&A portion of the program, panelists will provide suggestions of both existing and new models for generating dialogue about the arts.

I've noted this before, several years ago, but when I was the co-owner of the Fraser Galleries, one thing that I noted, and thus qualifies as empirical, rather than anecdotal data, was that we would get a lot more responses and new visitors to the gallery when our show was mentioned in the recommendation section on the first page of the Post's Weekend section.

You know the section that I mean (its title escapes me now)... the one where someone recommends a theater show, or a dance show, or a visual arts show?

I know this for a fact, because the usual mention would detail a bit about the gallery show, give the gallery name and the phone number. For the next few days our phone would ring off the hook with people wanting to know the gallery's address.

In fact, a mention on that Weekend section spot did a lot more to get new visitors to the gallery than any review in the Galleries column! I suspect this is because the Galleries column's demographics tend to be mostly people interested in art: artists, gallerists, art symbiots and the rare collectors. On the other hand, the people who glance and read that recommendation section in Weekend are your average reader and average public; precisely the "new" section of the population that a gallery hopes to reach.

Interesting huh?

Congrats!

To former DC artist (now residing in Brooklyn) Matthew Langley, who is having a show at New York's Blank Space (along with Heejo Kim). The show 0pens January 14, 6 - 8pm - The exhibition runs into February.

Blank Space
511 25th Street Suite 204
New York, NY 10001

DCist Exposed Photography Contest -- 4 days left!‏

The 2010 DCist Photography Show is currently open for entries -- but only until January 6, this Wednesday! Heather Goss' Ten Miles Square is a sponsor of the fourth annual exhibit, which will be held at Long View Gallery in March.

Over 1000 people attended last year's opening reception of photography featuring the music and nightlife, sports and recreation, and the historical as well as the quiet moments of the people who live and work in D.C. It's only $5 to enter three photos -- head over to DCist for all the details. Hurry!

Happy 2010 to All!

Amidst all the economic and political woes of 2009, the year was a magnificent year for the Campello clan, highlighted by the arrival of the extended Campello family's first boy since my own birth (my family genetics tends to favor women, and Anderson is his grandfather's first boy and his great-grandfather's first name-keeping great-grandson).

I wish a great 2010 for all of you!

Running for cover(age) this Monday

Running for cover(age) is a panel discussion on arts criticism in the DC area presented by the WPA.

Moderator: Kriston Capps
Panelists: Jeffry Cudlin, Isabel Manalo, Danielle O’Steen
When: Monday, January 4, 2010 from 6:30-8:00pm
Where: Capitol Skyline Hotel (lounge), 10 I Street SW, Washington, DC 20024
(Free and open to the public)

Coverage of Mera Rubell’s DC studio tour by journalist Jessica Dawson in The Washington Post touched a critical nerve in the DC arts community, and set off impassioned conversations here and on social networking websites such as Facebook here, about the quality of life for artists in the area. Artists, writers, and arts professionals weighed in on aesthetics, isolation, ambition and support for the visual arts.

This panel discussion will address questions about local arts media coverage and its effect on the cultural life of the city. During the Q&A portion of the program, panelists will provide suggestions of both existing and new models for generating dialogue about the arts.

Kriston Capps is a critic, reporter, and commenter. He contributes regular news and reviews to the Guardian, Art in America, Art Papers, Art Lies, the American Prospect, Huffington Post, and other publications. Kriston taught a graduate studio colloquium at the University of Maryland College Park and will teach an arts journalism course through the WPA ArtScribe program at George Washington University in the Spring.

Jeffry Cudlin is an artist, curator, art critic, and musician living and working in Washington, D.C. He serves as the Director of Exhibitions for the Arlington Arts Center and writes for the Washington City Paper.

Isabel Manalo is an artist represented by Addison Ripley Fine Art and Assistant Professor at American University’s Art Department in Washington, DC. She runs the award-winning blog The Studio Visit which features artists from the DC region in their studios.

Danielle O'Steen is a freelance journalist, contributing to publications such as Art + Auction, Capitol File, Flash Art and Washington Post Express. She previously worked as an editor at Art + Auction magazine in New York. Currently, she is also a graduate student in art history at George Washington University, specializing in modern and contemporary art.

Bruce McKaig on CHAW's 4th Annual Photography Exhibition

By Bruce McKaig

Why have an exhibition of contemporary photography? Why send out a call-for-entries, review submissions, select some to hang on the walls of a gallery? Why have an opening reception, attended mostly by the participating artists and their social circles, then return most of the work to the artists a few weeks later? How did such a ritual begin and why does it persist?

Exhibitions at art galleries are a fairly modern practice. As submitted by Ethan Robey in The Utility of Art: Mechanic’s Institute Fairs in New York City 1828-1876, they are an offshoot of state or national fairs, where booths are set up and visitors can look at mechanical gadgets, scientific discoveries, jellies, pies, and well-bred livestock. By the late 19th century, some artists were hosting public receptions in their studios.

Eventually, some entrepreneurs – like Steiglitz and his Gallery 291 – decided to propose a year-round place where art and public could meet. As I looked at submissions for CHAW’s fourth annual photography exhibition, and as I gear up for my next solo exhibit at the Orlando Museum of Art, I find myself asking: Why not open year-round places for public and livestock to meet? Who doesn’t love beautiful sheep, especially a young one? Would a galerie des moutons be more preposterous than an art gallery?

Photography became public property in 1839 when Daguerre read his process out loud to the French senate. Photography was democratized in the 1880s when Thomas Edison invented 35mm film and George Eastman invented the word Kodak. In the mid-to-late 19th century, both the making and the viewing of photographs were not so much a daily bombardment as they were occasions. In most cases, if several people were to look at a photograph, they would usually be in the same room at the same time.

Clearly, that has changed.

According to The Camera and Imaging Products Association (CIPA), the number of digital cameras shipped in 2008 was 119,757,000, not including cell phones. As of October 2009, there were four billion images on Flickr. With over 300,000 images uploaded to Facebook every second, there are over 850 million images added every month. Last summer, I photographed a wedding and had to edit out numerous images that were overexposed because of how many other flashes kept firing. It seemed like most guests were also photographers.

On a recent field trip to the US Botanical Gardens, the number of people taking pictures was truly phenomenal. From cell phones to cumbersome SLRs with hefty attached flash units, people were lining up to photograph or be photographed in front of various floral arrangements amidst the holiday decor. Such colossal production rates beg the question, how much time do people spend looking at photographs? Has the priority, the principle activity, become making, not viewing?

The persistence of exhibitions and the excitement over the Internet coexist because one confronts confusion with a semblance of order; the other confronts the semblance of order with confusion. The gallery’s elitist approach strives to select and organize works in a momentary setting, as much an event or performance as a body of work, all in an effort to provide ground for discovery, debate, and direction.

The Internet’s democratic approach strives to neither select nor organize images, and the 24/7 open call-for-entries results in a bubble that can never burst because it has no dates, deadlines, or locale. The perception that the Internet is everywhere and always open implies both a trust in its availability and a lack of urgency, or even preciousness, when it comes to discovery, debate, or direction.

I suggest that people go to exhibitions because sometimes there is a precious urgency to discovery, debate, and direction.

The Fourth Annual Photography Exhibition at Capital Hill Arts Workshop is, once again, a sampling, an across-the-board look at diverse ways artists chose to approach the medium of photography, produce a piece, and connect with a viewer. By no means exhaustive, the diversity of the works conjures thoughts on defining what is an artist and what is a successful photograph. The diversity, however, does not succeed in masking the various themes that appear across the works when compared and contrasted.

Several of the images are formal studies, exploring shape and color. Red Deck, by Mark Walter Braswell, is a color image of the side of a building. Not an architectural study, with a confusing rather than informative perspective, the geometry and color are all that is left, is needed, to contemplate. Sue Weisenburger’s works are also formal studies. Foundation is more rigid, V&A in December is more organic, but both brush up against the narrative with their poetic use of geometry. In Vickie Fruehauf’s black and white scenes of water, the formal qualities have been wedded to an almost spiritual presence, in her words, “the silent observers within the natural world.” Judy Searles’ images are close-up looks at elemental materials. The materials, initially man-made, have been shaped and colored by the battering of weather and time. The temporal aspect to her work is explored in different ways by several other artists in the show.

Time as an element in photography is explored in several artists’ works, through the blurry stretching of time, or the juxtaposition of images side-by-side or sequentially in a slideshow format. Tom Pullin layers the fourth dimension of time into Fussa-Tokyo33107 thanks to a slow exposure. Similarly, Jim Blackie’s Down depicts an isolated traveler descending a quivering escalator. In the Motion Studies portfolio by Mark Issac, temporality is explored through, in Issac’s words, “the manner in which solid objects break apart and dematerialize.” Patricia Goslee and Siobhan Hanna both work with multiple images and the juxtaposition of different angles or objects has an element of time travel. In the back-and-forth observation for a viewer, the passage of time becomes a part of the experience. Leland Bryant also uses multiple images, but strings them out in a slide show. In this format, the images move by at the author’s chosen pace, not the viewers, and they run from first to last per author’s selection. Goslee, Hanna and Leland all use somewhat cumbersome titles or text that the viewer is left to appreciate or ignore.

Photo documentary works are also part of the exhibition. Gabriela Bulisova exhibits three images of anonymous Iraqi refugees. Heads cut off – by the picture frame – or eyes banded – by a wooden railing – or the human body replaced by its shadow, these images speak both of the individual and the collective. Kristoffer Tripplaar exhibits five images from Galveston Texas in the wake of a natural disaster. There are no people in Tripplaar’s images, just man-made structures with signs of nature’s rage. The absence of people succeeds in broadening the images’ story to a more universal struggle between urban humanity and nature. Another image in the show that uses absence to create atmosphere is Christopher Schwartz’s Off Duty, a shot of a deserted lifeguard station. Without people or activity, the strong colors come across bleak and doll-like. People are full-face present in Michael Stargill’s documentary sports images in a somewhat comical, somewhat iconic mixture of reportage and theater.

Photo by Jared Ragland
Several other artists in this exhibition turn directly to iconic elements and theatrical approaches. Jared Ragland’s socio-political commentary uses iconic items to construct blunt social commentaries. Ragland’s artist statement says, “While not always adhering to the traditional structure of narrative I seek nonetheless to open relationships between fragments of content and combine images to form loose associations and representations of the subconscious.” Whereas Raglan constructs his choreography with photomontage, Carolina Mayorga goes directly to theatrics in her exploration of religious ritual and rhetoric. Mayorga’s artwork addresses issues of social and political content and are produced as a mixture of drawings, sculptures, videos, or performances.

This exhibition fails to answer my questions about photography but succeeds in furthering the discovery and debate. I still don’t know how much time people spend looking at photographs. I still don’t know if a gallery of sheep would be more or less preposterous than a gallery of art.

What: CHAW”S 4th Annual Photography Exhibition
When: Jan 9th – Feb 4th 2010, opening reception Sat Jan 9th 5-7pm
Where: Capitol Hill Arts Workshop 545 7th Street SE WDC 20003
202 547 6839
www.chaw.org

Opportunity for artists

Deadline: Januray 15, 2010

Art of the Soul: A Woman’s View of Sexism & Oppression

If oppression was art, what would it feel like? If sexism was art, what would it look like? Art of the Soul is an exhibition of the feelings, thoughts, and prejudices of those often unheard, in this event, women! Since the Victorian age, women have been a target of sin and disgracefulness, an oppression that has affected our sexuality, self-esteem, and character. Through the collaboration of fashion and visual arts, this event will educate the public on issues affecting women that are often deemed “inappropriate” to talk about.

This 18 day exhibit will explore the prevalence of female injustice present in our community. Our collaborative event will strive to facilitate communal dialogue surrounding female related issues and explore ways we can contribute to overturning these injustices, both collectively and individually. Art of the Soul will highlight and discuss the topics of self-esteem, judgment, sexism, AIDS, beauty, domestic violence, FGM (female genital mutilation), and many other issues affecting women.

What we are seeking are visual artists of all disciplines; painting, sculpture, photography, film, etc. to take part in this movement. Art of the Soul will be featured in a unique space in downtown Washington, DC with over 1200 sq ft. of wall space, large windows for display, and heavy foot traffic. We have paired up with local and national organizations, Hamiltonian Gallery, and Albus Cavus organization/artist collective, to gear this exhibit towards success.

Be a part of something great by becoming an Art of the Soul featured artist. You have the option to sell or auction your art and take part in our opening reception with over 150 expected guest where you can discuss your work, network, or explore future opportunities in the DC metropolitan area. With programming scheduled within the space throughout the life of the exhibit, Art of the Soul is more than just a collection of art but a voice for women and all others that have been oppressed.

If interested or if you have any questions, comments, or concerns, please feel free to contact Kaira Johnson at theartandsoul.dc@gmail.com. Also, if you know any organizations or persons that would like to organize a program or workshop under the Art of the Soul, please forward this information to Kaira as well.

Art of the Soul
Feb 12-28, 2010
486 K Street, NW
Washington, DC

Presented by Fever Couture and Sponsored by Hamiltonian Gallery and Albus Cavus.

Opportunity for Artists

Deadline: Feb 28, 2010

The M-NCPPC space in the Gateway Arts Center is actively seeking both exhibition proposals for the 2010-11 season, as well as craft artists interested in showing & selling work at the center.

Craft proposals are being reviewed immediately and on an ongoing basis.

The next deadline for exhibition proposals is Feb 28, 2010.

The Gateway Arts Center (formerly called the Brentwood Art Center) will celebrate it’s grand opening on March 19, 2010. The center, located at a gorgeous space at 3901 Rhode Island Ave. in Brentwood, is dedicated to presenting and promoting the visual arts.

It is home to a dozen artists’ studios (Studio rents are starting at $13 s/f, plus utilities. For more information or to make an appointment to see the studios call John Paradiso at 301-864-3860 ext.3.), a gallery operated by the Gateway CDC, and the Prince George’s African American Museum & Cultural Center and certainly the heart of a new area home to many artists studios and several emerging art galleries.

The Maryland-National Capital Park & Planning Commission occupies approximately 1/4 of the building, featuring a gallery, a contemporary craft store, and an arts class/meeting room. It is a place for people of all ages to meet, engage and learn about art, purchase one of a kind craft objects, and explore new talents.

Proposals/applications should include:

* A résumé or CV
* Appropriate digital documentation with a list of images that includes titles, media, size, and dates.
* Exhibition proposals should include and artist/curator’s statement.

Send to:

Attn: Gateway Arts Center
Arts & Cultural Heritage Division, M-NCPPC
7833 Walker Dr. Suite 430
Greenbelt, MD 20770

If you have any questions, would like additional information or a full prospectus, please contact:

Phil Davis, phil.davis@pgparks.com

tel. 301-277-2863; tty. 301-446-6802; fax. 301-277-2865