Mitt's Mexican Dad

"White House hopeful Mitt Romney rarely mentions a key fact as he works to woo Hispanics ahead of Tuesday's Republican presidential nominating contest in Florida -- his own Mexican heritage."

I mentioned this back in 2008, but read the more recent update to the story here.

And if we follow the silly definitions of "Hispanic" or "Latino", then Romney qualifies, since his father was born in a Latin American country, and could be the GOP's second "Hispanic" Presidential candidate!

Uh? Well... you see, since John McCain was actually born in Panama...

Makes my head hurt.

Emilio Sánchez

Without a lot of fanfare, the Smithsonian American Art Museum last year acquired a truckload of paintings by Cuban-born painter Emilio Sánchez, all donated to the SAAM by The Emilio Sánchez Foundation.

See and judge them here.

My favorite Smithsonian acquisition of 2011? So far these three by local DMV artist and metal wizard Chris Shea.

The ones that leave the least impression for me? These three gifts to the SAAM by Sean Scully.

Of course, a lot of that is informed by the fact that the SAAM probably wouldn't take any gifts of my own artwork, were I to offer it to them as a gift.

Just sayin' ...

Book Signing

There will be a book signing for my 100 Artists of Washington, DC book on February 16 from 6:30 - 8:30PM at the gorgeous BlackRock Center for the Arts in Germantown, Maryland.

Bring your own book (buy it at Amazon here) or get a copy from me at the Center (it will be cheaper at Amazon).

Many of the artists in the book will be there, so this is also a good opportunity to get your copy signed by them as well.

I will also be giving a talk about how this book came to be, and the selection process (an update) for the next two volumes.

BlackRock Center for the Arts
12901 Town Commons Drive
Germantown, MD 20874

301.528.2260 (administrative offices)
301.528.2266 (fax)
info@blackrockcenter.org (e-mail)

See ya there!

Call for Artists: Bethesda Painting Awards

Deadline: Submissions must be received by Friday, February 24, 2012

The Bethesda Arts & Entertainment District is currently accepting applications for the seventh annual Bethesda Painting Awards. Up to nine finalists will be selected to display their work in an exhibition during the month of June at Gallery B in downtown Bethesda, and the top four winners will receive $14,000 in prize monies.

Best in Show will be awarded $10,000; Second Place will be honored with $2,000 and Third Place will receive $1,000. Additionally, a “Young Artist” whose birthday is after February 24, 1982 may be awarded $1,000. Artists must be 18 years of age or older and residents of Maryland, Virginia or Washington, D.C.

All original 2-D paintings including oil, acrylic, watercolor, gouache, encaustic and mixed media will be accepted. The maximum dimensions should not exceed 60 inches in width or 84 inches in height. No reproductions. Artwork must have been completed within the last two years and must be available for the duration of the exhibit.

Each artist must submit either 5 slides, application and a non-refundable fee of $25. Digital entries will be accepted on CD in JPG, GIF or PNG format.

For a complete application, please visit www.bethesda.org, send a self-addressed stamped envelope to:

Bethesda Painting Awards
c/o Bethesda Arts & Entertainment District
7700 Old Georgetown Road
Bethesda, MD 20814

Or call 301-215-6660 x117.

Dennis Ritchie

You just gotta read this...

Read it here and then read the comments.

Smithsonian Institution being investigated by Congress

The Committee on House Administration has initiated an investigation into trips to Cuba sponsored by the taxpayer-funded Smithsonian Institution as part of a cultural exchange program.

On Friday, Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.), chairwoman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, praised House Administration Committee Chairman Rep. Dan Lungren (R-Calif.) for looking into the matter, which she publicly drew attention to earlier this month.

Read the article by Debbie Siegelbaum here.

Why is Ros-Lehtinen (who is Cuban-American) doing this? Read that here.

Margaret Bowland and the Stolen Painting - Part II

Remember the whole saga two years ago of how New Mexico art dealer Klaudia Marr allegedly conned the National Portrait Gallery to ship a painting by New York artist Margaret Bowland to a third party who apparently had paid Marr for the painting, even though, according to Bowland, Marr and Bowland had ended their relationship (and Bowland had earlier notified the NPG of this, and claims she has never received a penny from the painting's alleged sale).

Portrait of Kenyetta and Brianna, Oil on linen, 2008. 80 x 72 in. (203.2 x 182.9 cm) by Margaret Bowland
Read this article in the New York Daily News by John Mazulli about a law suit Bowland has filed against the NPG over the loss of her painting. I have obtained a copy of the complaint filed in Federal Court in Brooklyn and it is reproduced below:

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
EASTERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK
_____________________________________
:MARGARET BOWLAND HARRIS,
:(A.K.A.) MARGARET BOWLAND,
:Case No : _____________
:Plaintiff,
:
:v.
:COMPLAINT
:PURSUANT TO THE FEDERAL TORT CLAIMS ACT 28 U.S.C. 1346(b) & 2671-2680
:Defendants.
:THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION &
THE NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY,
_____________________________________

Plaintiff, by and through counsel, alleges as follows:

PARTIES, JURISDICTION & VENUE

1. Margaret Bowland Harris (“the artist”) lives and has a studio in Kings County, Brooklyn, NY. The artist’s professional name, under which she shows her paintings and is known to the public is Margaret Bowland.
2. The National Portrait Gallery and its parent organization The Smithsonian Institution, both located in Washington, D. C. are two of the most prominent museums and cultural forces in the United States. Both organizations are a part of the United States government.
3. This Court has jurisdiction over this matter and venue is proper because the artist’s residence in Kings County, NY is within the
jurisdiction of this Court. 28 U.S.C. 1402(b) & 1346 (a).
4. The artist initiated her claim by filing a Standard Form 95
with the office of the General Counsel of the National Portrait Gallery on January 12, 2011. This date is within two years of the date of the incident or occurrences which form the basis of this claim.
5. The artist was notified on July`22, 2011 by the Office of the General Counsel of the Smithsonian Institution that her claim had been denied.
6. All preconditions for an action based on the Federal Tort Claims Act having been established, the artist then timely filed this
Complaint.

THE PAINTING AND THE PORTRAIT COMPETITION

7. The artist created a painting in oils on canvas entitled “Portrait of Kenyetta and Brianna,” (“the painting”). The painting is approximately six feet six inches tall and six feet wide and depicts three life size female figures.
8. The painting was exhibited at the Klaudia Marr Gallery in Santa Fe, New Mexico from October 17, 2008 to November 29, 2008.
9. The Klaudia Marr Gallery was owned and operated by Klaudia Marr (“Marr”).
10. On or about November 15, 2008, the artist was notified that the painting had been selected for the Outwin Boocheever Portrait Competition at the National Portrait Gallery (“the NPG”) in Washington D. C.
11. The NPG sent a shipper to pick up the painting at the Klaudia Marr Gallery and deliver it to the NPG on or about November 29, 2008.
12. The artist signed an Incoming Loan Agreement (“the agreement”) dated November 29, 2008 with the NPG. The period of the loan was March 1, 2009 to October 1, 2010.
13. On February 26, 2009, in an email to both the artist and Marr, the NPG stated that Marr had acknowledged that the artist was the legal owner of the painting. Marr never objected to the statement by the NPG that the artist was the legal owner of the painting.
14. The exhibition of paintings from the NPG portrait competition (the exhibition”) opened on October 23, 2009 and ran almost one year, closing on August 29, 2010. The painting was named one of six finalists in the competition and at the end of the show was awarded “The People’s Choice Award.”

THE RETURN OF THE PAINTING

15. Under the terms of the agreement, the painting was to be released by the NPG at the end of the exhibition only to the lender (the artist) unless the NPG was timely notified otherwise in writing by the lender.
16. The artist never notified or authorized the NPG to release the
painting to anyone other than her.
17. Under the terms of the agreement, in case of any change in legal ownership of the painting during the period of the loan, the new owner shall give the NPG legal proof of such a change as soon as possible.
18. The NPG never received notice or legal proof that the ownership of the painting had changed from the artist to anyone else.
19. The credit line used by the NPG during the exhibition and in the catalogue of the exhibition was “From the collection of the artist.”
20. As the exhibition drew to a close, the NPG sent the artist two emails about returning the painting. These emails were sent to an email address that the artist had not used for over a year instead of to the email address the artist had been using for numerous emails between herself and the NPG during the past year. The artist did not receive the emails sent to the old address.
21. The NPG had the artist’s telephone number and street address but did not try to contact her through them. The artist never received any U. S. mail, overnight delivery service mail or telephone calls from the NPG about to whom the painting should be sent.
22. The NPG sent a “carbon copy” to Marr of its second email to the artist on August 27, 2010.
23. Not quite nine hours after the NPG cc’ed Marr with its email to the artist, Marr sent an email to the NPG directing that the painting be sent directly to her client, David Naylor of Santa Fe, New Mexico (Naylor).
24. Despite these facts: that during the exhibition the painting had been credited as being “From the collection of the artist;” that the artist had never authorized the NPG to send the painting to anybody but herself; that the NPG had never received any notice or proof that the painting had an owner other than the artist; and that, once the NPG attempted to confirm where the painting should be sent, the NPG had never contacted the artist by telephone, U. S or overnight mail or by the current email address in its possession, NPG shipped the painting to Naylor.
25. When the artist learned that Naylor had the painting, she contacted him several times in an attempt to either get the painting back or to receive payment for it. Naylor claimed to have already paid Marr for the painting, and to date he has neither returned the painting nor paid the artist anything for it.
26. Marr has never paid the artist anything for the painting.

FIRST CAUSE OF ACTION
BREACH OF CONTRACT

27. By signing the Agreement, the NPG was contractually responsible for returning the painting to the artist.
28. The NPG was in breach of the Agreement when it shipped the painting to Naylor.
29. As a consequence of the NPG’s breach of contract, the artist has been deprived of a valuable work of art which lawfully belonged to her.

SECOND CAUSE OF ACTION
NEGLIGENCE

31. The NPG owed the artist a duty of care to insure that the painting be returned to the proper person.

32. The NPG failed to take reasonable steps to insure that the painting was shipped to the proper person.
33. Failure to take reasonable steps to insure that the painting be returned to the proper person makes the NPG negligent in its duties to the artist.
34. As a result of the NPG’s negligence toward the artist, the artist has been damaged by being deprived of a valuable work of art which is lawfully hers.

WHEREFORE, plaintiff requests this Court to award compensatory damage of $100,000, against the United States of America, the Smithsonian Institute and the National Portrait Gallery and such other and further relief as appears reasonable.

Dated: January 19, 2012
New York, NY

Update: Read Court House News take on the issue here.

Update 2: Read an almost personal attack on Bowland by Julia Halperin in ArtInfo.com here

Book Signing

There will be a book signing for my 100 Artists of Washington, DC book on February 16 from 6:30 - 8:30PM at the gorgeous BlackRock Center for the Arts in Germantown, Maryland.

Bring your own book (buy it at Amazon here) or get a copy from me at the Center (it will be cheaper at Amazon).

Many of the artists in the book will be there, so this is also a good opportunity to get your copy signed by them as well.

I will also be giving a talk about how this book came to be, and the selection process (an update) for the next two volumes.

BlackRock Center for the Arts
12901 Town Commons Drive
Germantown, MD 20874

301.528.2260 (administrative offices)
301.528.2266 (fax)
info@blackrockcenter.org (e-mail)

See ya there!

Zhang Daqian Surpasses Picasso As Top Auction Earner

Chinese artist Zhang Daqian has knocked Picasso from a very high pedestal.

The artist generated $506.7 million from auctions in 2011 alone. Close behind the best-seller was another Chinese artist, Qi Baishi. Warhol was third ($324.8 million) and Picasso ($311.6 million) -- the former top seller -- took fourth. Another Chinese artist, Xu Beihong rounded out the top five with $212.9 million in sales.

Read the whole story here.

New book for 2012?

Just stirring to get a new art book out for 2012... all the stuff has to be done in 2-3 months in order to get a end of year publication.

For 100 Artists of Washington, DC I turned all the material into the publisher by August 2010, and yet the book didn't come out until April of the next year!

By the way, there will be a book signing on February 16, 2012 from 6:30 – 8:30 p.m at the BlackRock Arts Center in Germantown.

This is how you do it!

As constant readers know, I often post and bust online art scammers on DC Art News. But now artist and anti art scam samurai Katie Moe has taken the blade directly to the ever growing business of scamming artists out of their artwork.

Her blog Stop Art Scams deserves constant visits.., visit her online here.

Wilmar Villar Mendoza: Another Hero Dies

On Thursday evening, Wilmar Villar Mendoza died pursuant to a 56-day hunger strike protesting his unjust imprisonment by the brutal and murderous Castro regime.

He was imprisoned on November 2, 2011, after participating in a peaceful demonstration calling for freedom, human rights and democracy.

Wilmar was charged with “contempt” and sentenced to four years in prison in a hearing that lasted less than an hour.

Here's a picture of Wilmar during the peaceful demonstration (the "crime" according to the Castro regime) that cost him his life.

The sign reads "No More Lies."

From Human Rights Watch:

Prison guards placed Villar Mendoza in solitary confinement after he initiated the hunger strike on November 25, his wife said. He told his wife he was stripped naked and placed in solitary confinement in a small, cold cell. The last time she was allowed to visit her husband was on December 29, she said.

Read that report here.

In an official statement, President Obama said:

President Obama’s thoughts and prayers are with the wife, family, and friends of Wilmar Villar, a young and courageous defender of human rights and fundamental freedoms in Cuba who launched a hunger strike to protest his incarceration and succumbed to pneumonia.

Villar’s senseless death highlights the ongoing repression of the Cuban people and the plight faced by brave individuals standing up for the universal rights of all Cubans. The United States will not waver in our support for the liberty of the Cuban people. We will remain steadfast in our outreach to the Cuban people through unlimited Cuban American family visits and remittances, purposeful travel, and humanitarian assistance to dissidents and their families in support of their legitimate desire to freely determine Cuba’s future.

Lucy, Desi and Fidel

Below are three shots of "Lucy, Desi and Fidel." Charcoal, conte, LCD screen and Powerpoint presentation on paper. 3.5 x 13 inches framed to 16 x 26 inches.

Update: This piece is now in the collection of a major art collector in Miami Beach, Florida!

Cody Calamaio on Jesse Cohen

The Gazette's Cody Calamaio has a very cool profile piece on even cooler and good bud Jesse Cohen, the founder, driver and soul of artdc.org, now with over 2,400 members.

Read the piece here.

Drawing meet Powerpoint


A work in progress; the alternate Universe story so far:

We're sometime in the late 1950s, and late one night, Cuban actor and band leader Desi Arnaz, one half of the "I Love Lucy" TV super hit heads home to discover his wife, the gorgeous and talented Lucille Ball, in the arms of a fellow Cuban, soon to become an icon himself, if because of more brutal causes. In the background, a B&W TV set from the period plays scenes from "I Love Lucy."

Artomatic Returns to Crystal City in 2012!

Wooo Hoo!

The DMV's most spectacular art energy generator,Artomatic, returns to Crystal City in 2012 for their unique, massive, liberal and most Democratic free arts event, to be held in the biggest Artomatic building ever, from May 18 - June 24.

Artomatic will partner with the Crystal City Business Improvement District (BID) to transform the Transwestern Presidential Tower at 2511 S. Clark St. in Crystal City into a vibrant arts community that celebrates creativity and creates a unique and exciting event for tens of thousands of visitors - all free to visit.

Registration information to exhibit work at Artomatic will be available soon. Meanwhile, check it all out here.

Bethesda Artist Market

The Bethesda Arts & Entertainment District is looking for local and regional artists to display and sell their fine art and fine craft during the Bethesda Artist Market. This year’s Market will take place on three Saturdays this summer: June 9, July 14 and August 11.

· Each artist must submit five images of their work and one image of their booth.

· The images must be representative of the work the artist plans to exhibit at the Bethesda Artist Market.

· A non-refundable entry fee of $15 must accompany the application.

· A $50 booth fee will be required for each Market the artist attends, due after artist is accepted into the show.

Apply online here. If you would like a mail-in application, please send a self-addressed, stamped envelope to:

Valerie Hillman
Bethesda Urban Partnership
7700 Old Georgetown Road
Bethesda, MD 20814

Free Seminar Booked

On February 11, 2012 from 1-5pm, The Brentwood Arts Exchange and I will be once again hosting my well-known “Bootcamp for Artists” seminar at no cost to the artists.

As I predicted, the seminar is now fully booked. If you are still interested in signing up, contact them at 301-277-2863 / fax. 301-277-2865 / tty. 301-446-6802 and you'll be put on a waiting list.

If you love beauty

Then see this...