Wanna go to an opening tomorrow?



The Brentwood Arts Exchange @ Gateway Arts Center
3901 Rhode Island Ave.
Brentwood, MD 20722
tel. 301-277-2863
tty. 301-446-6802

Judkis on Wodzianski

With the exception of the interviews and the constant influx of well-wishers, Wodzianski is sleeping a little lighter, painting a little less, but still spending his mornings with the Washington Post and the Diane Rehm Show over a cup of coffee. “This is the most boring porn ever,” one commenter remarked on his live stream.

The City Paper's Maura Judkis has a fascinating piece on the current Andrew Wodzianski performance going on in his 100sq. ft. residence. Read it here.

Wanna go to an opening this Saturday?

Addison/Ripley Fine Art in Geortgetown presents "an uncompromising selection of new works by Washington artist, Dan Treado. This work continues to surprise and delight with the artist's signature serial imagery; layers of color, light as air, add dreamy associations and an impossible depth to the lush surfaces. In some of the paintings, appropriated samples from selected illustrations and texts provide tense contrast. In others, a crazy quilt of disparate organic images is woven together by this talented painter. At once cryptic and mesmerizing, the paintings in this third exhibition by the artist at Addison/Ripley demonstrate a rich complexity and accomplished maturity."

The reception is Saturday, May 1st, 5-7pm.

Wanna go to an opening Saturday?

Nancy Donnelly and Jill Finsen open Saturdaay, May 1st at City Gallery, 804 H St NE in DC. The reception is 6-9 pm.

Nancy's glass bird forms in colors, are now swooping around the gallery, the egg shapes, also in colors, are lit from below and are quite beautiful.

Supergirl Flying Naked

The latest offering from my naked super heroes series. And just to stop the question: no, I'm not doing a drawing of Krypto, the super dog who belongs to Superman, and no, I'm not doing Superboy either, just in case.

Supergirl Flying Naked Above Gotham, c. 2010. Charcoal and color pencils on paper. 24 x 20 inches.

At the Katzen

Convergence: New Art from Lebanon, the first comprehensive North American exhibition of art made in the aftermath of that country’s tumultuous civil war (1975-1990), is currently on exhibition at the American University Museum at the Katzen Arts Center in Washington, D.C. It continues through Sunday, May 16.

In case you haven't noticed, this show has been getting a lot of critical attention both locally and nationally.

The exhibition includes nearly 50 paintings, sculptures, installations, photographs and media-based art by 29 artists—more than a third of them women—based primarily in Beirut. "Reflecting the memories, hopes, dreams and political and religious realities of a culture seeking to reclaim itself, the exhibition introduces Americans to the vitality and volatility of today’s art from Lebanon."

Locals are well represented in the show by work from GMU professor Chawky Frenn.

Let me say this again: The Katzen's exhibition agenda continues to impress me by its diverse mix of shows that not only bring international art and artists to the DC area - often setting such firsts as this one - but also has become the DMV's only museum space that pays attention to its own backyard.

Kudos to Jack Rasmussen.

By the way, this Friday, in in the Katzen Arts Center Rotunda, is the opening of the First-year MFA students exhibition.

LEF Foundation Grants

LEF Foundation Grants offers funding for contemporary works in the visual arts, performing arts, literary arts, architecture, design, film and new media. The intent of the grants are to provide opportunities to produce and present new work; to honor creative merit and foster critical discourse; encourage dissemination of work by emerging and under-recognized artists; increase exposure of established artists in regions where they have not been widely represented; to promote new concepts, technologies, and approaches that are experimental or innovative; to support work that may be considered controversial or provocative; and to enhance the voices of marginalized cultures.

Interested applicants should send a one page Letter of Intent. Applications accepted on an ongoing basis. For more information or program guidelines, contact:

LEF Foundation
945 Greene St.
San Francisco, CA 94133

Wanna go to an artist's talk tomorrow?

*a pop-up project invites you to join them for an upcoming artist talk with NYC artist Mikel Glass at 6 pm on Thursday, April 29th. The talk will be held in the former Numark Gallery space at 625 E St, NW Washington, DC 20004.

Mary Coble at Conner

One of my favorite artists on this planet is Mary Coble and her upcoming solo show "Source" and performance at Conner Contemporary Art in Washington, DC opens on Saturday, May 15th, 6-8pm.

Important News follow: Mary Coble's performance begins at 2pm and will continue on into the opening which is from 6-8pm. Coble will also be showing video, photography and an installation piece as part of the exhibition.

New video and photographs by New Yorker Janet Biggs in an exhibition titled Nobody Rides for Free will also be on display. This is Biggs' first solo exhibition with the gallery.

Be there!

Batman and Robin Naked

The Bat Cave will never be the same again, but here's my latest offering from my series of naked superheroes:

Batman and Robin Naked, c. 2010. Charcoal on Paper. 8 x 18 inches.
This is my first crack at the dynamic duo, I will do a couple more versions in the near future.

New Art Market in Alexandria

The Opening day of a new art market in Alexandria, Virginia is June 5th!

Kimberley Bush is the creator and market coordinator for the Alexandria Art Market, or as she calls it: "your monthly dose of art in the heart of Del Ray."

The monthly market will be held on the 1st Saturday of June, July, August, September and November from 10-4pm at Colasanto Park at 2704 Mount Vernon Ave in the Del Ray neighborhood of Alexandria, VA.

Bush brought a proposal to the board of Directors to create an Art Market in December 2009 and the Board gave me approval to move forward in March 2010...and now they are set to go live June 5th!

She reports that she has many artists who have applied and expect the Opening Day on June 5th at Colasanto Park at the Del Ray Artisans Gallery to be huge. They also expect to have yummy eats and several multicultural performance groups. It is all free and open to the public.

Ladies in White

Why is the Cuban government so afraid of the current six women members — down from nine last week after the brutal beating by Castro's thugs — of the Damas de Blanco (Ladies in White):

After seven years of peaceful protests following Mass in Havana's upscale Miramar neighborhood, Cuba has begun blocking the "Ladies in White" from marching since the group never obtained written permission to do so.

Details here.

This is their leader, an elderly lady named Laura Pollan, who is the wife of jailed Cuban dissident Hector Maseda Gutierrez.

Libertad!

Miami art critics fired

I don't know the who's and what's of the issue (yet anyway) are, but an email drive is underway to try to restore three art critics fired from the Miami Spanish language newspaper El Nuevo Herald. Here's the letter:

As people of the arts, we write to express our disappointment and frustration having learned about the decision of El Nuevo Herald to discontinue the collaborations of the art critics Ms. Janet Batet, Ms. Adriana Herrera and Mr. Carlos M. Luis, based on unfounded allegations of “conflict of interest”, brought by the owner of a local art gallery, who advertises in the art pages of El Nuevo Herald.

Ms. Batet, Ms. Herrera and Mr. Luis are recognized scholars of a long and distinguished careers in the field of the arts, in Miami and in other Latin American countries. Most relevant in this instance, is the fact that they have conducted their academic and journalistic work with the most rigorous ethics.

Losing their contribution to the paper, will certainly diminish the level of interest and intellectual impact of your publication.

The decision of El Nuevo Herald’s management has seriously compromised its editorial integrity, and its credibility damaged. We encourage you to reconsider this issue and provide a mutually agreeable solution for all the parties involved, and reinstate your readers trust in El Nuevo Herald.

Pep

(Via)

Guajira Guantanamera

I am told that the most recorded song in the world is the Beatles' "Yesterday."

But among the top 10 most recorded songs in the world, and also the most recorded Spanish language song in history is the Guantanamera (real title is Guajira Guantanamera or the "Peasant Girl from Guantanamo").

Even if you don't know it yet, you've heard this song a million times. And yet, there is fierce debate as to who is the author of the Guajira Guantanamera? Who is the author of the musical introduction? and where does its chorus come from?

Most of this because originally in Cuba, the song was, other than the chorus part, an improvisational song, where the words to the song would be improvised by the singer as he/she sang it. There are no words to the Guantanamera!

In the 1960s Peter Seeger added the verses from Cuban poet Jose Marti in a performance at Radio City Music Hall in NYC and thus now the most common version of Guantanamera is the one with the Marti verses.

But this amazing song has no real written words - one just sings it and improvises as one goes.

Three versions below - The Sandpipers, Celia Cruz, Pete Seeger... and in Japanese.

Dawson on DMV

The WaPo's Jessica Dawson covered a wide range of the DMV art scene in this review(s): She covered shows at McLean Project for the Arts, Thomas Drymon Selects at the Studio Gallery, Carroll Square Gallery, Amy Lin's exhibit at Addison Ripley, and Andrew Wodzianski's Pop-Up living space in 100 sq. ft. performance.

Think about this: in order to cover all those shows, Dawson had to travel all over the DMV - and I'm sure that she visited a lot more spaces than those that she wrote about.

That is why writing art criticism is so time consuming: it takes a lot of gallery hopping just to produce a good round-up article like this one. Good job!

Andrew Wodzianski: 24/7

Click here or watch below:

Andrew Wodzianski Live from his 100 sqft home

Paneling

I'm part of the panel Special Seminar: Social Networking and Marketing Your Art, which is is today Saturday April 24, from 1-3PM. All the details are here.

Why not the visual arts?

A while back I was told by a writer (and later by a photographer) from the Gazette newspapers (which are owned by the Washington Post), that the WaPo has been using articles originally published/done for the Gazette to augment its coverage.

Years ago I suggested to the WaPo Arts Editor exactly the same thing: that they augment their visual arts coverage by publishing the reviews from the Gazette in their Style section, especially during the Dawson/Gopnik off weeks.

It made sense to me; they own the articles, so why not re-use them as needed. Like the Post has done with all of my constructive criticism and improvement ideas, they filed it in the round file and I've never heard back from them.

But apparently this "re-use" has been happening with some Gazette articles recently - but not the visual arts. I don't know which articles, and I don't know how to find out, and I am told that the Style section co-editor/editor (I'm not sure what he is) Scott Vogel doesn't answer emails, and I don't know who to ask.

However, it still makes sense to me. The Gazette has two really good writers in their employ to this end: Dr. Claudia Rousseau and Jordan Edwards.

Rousseau is a highly educated art critic and scholar with an impeccable pedigree and highly respected not only in our area, but also in Latin America, where she wrote art criticism in Spanish for many years before returning to the US. Read some of her recent reviews here.

Edwards is a journalist with a taste for the fine arts. Since I've been back living in the Soviet Socialist Republic of Montgomery County, I've been following his writing in the Gazette and he has earned my respect for the mind-boggling diverse genres of art that he covers for them. Check him out here.

How about it WaPo? If you don't get it, you don't get it...

Congrats!

The Cultural Development Corporation (CuDC) has announced the 2010-2011 Creative Communities Fund (CCF) grantees. Just over $50,000 will be awarded to 25 outstanding artists working in the DC-metro area. Grants will be given to artists participating in the Flashpoint Gallery, Mead Theatre Lab at Flashpoint and Source Festival programs.

Grantees include a wide range of visual, literary and performance artists; funds will support the creation of 12 new works for the stage and five exhibitions from visual artists.

“We are thrilled to provide cash grants to artists along with the space and support we offer through the Flashpoint and Source programs. The Creative Communities Fund enables Cultural Development Corporation to provide artists with the nurturing environment necessary to develop outstanding new work,” says CuDC Executive Director Anne Corbett.

Launched in 2005 by The Community Foundation for the National Capital Region, CCF seeks to improve the ability of artists to live, work and flourish in the DC-metro area. In 2008, CuDC was selected to be the Fund’s lead agency and entered into a two year partnership with The Community Foundation for the program’s transition.

The visual arts grantees are:

* Patrick McDonough, media: installation
* Adam Griffiths, media: drawing, installation, mixed-media and painting
* Adam de Boer, media: painting
* Alexa Meade, media: installation, mixed-media, new media, painting, photography, sculpture, video and performance art
* Michael Dax Iacovone, media: photography, installation

Also my good friend Kristina Bilonick for the Source Festival | Artistic Blind Dates.