Art for Humanity Auction

I am honored to be one of the invited artists to participate in the first ever Art for Humanity Auction & Cocktail Reception 2012, which is the first annual fundraiser to support the work of Habitat for Humanity in Washington, D.C. It will take place on Thursday, March 29, 2012.

DC Habitat will be honoring Peggy Cooper Caftritz for "the significant role she has played in advancing the arts and education in Washington, D.C."

Produced in collaboration with artnet Auctions, the Art for Humanity Auction features a collection of work by prominent contemporary artists from the local, national and international communities, including yours truly.

The event will take place at Woolly Mammoth Theatre, a "spectacularly modern space designed by award-winning architect Mark McInturff and Theatre Projects Consultants. Located in the heart of Washington’s Penn Quarter, at the corner of 7th and D Streets, NW, the theatre is easily accessible to parking garages."

Music by The Washington Jazz Arts Institute Ensemble.

Details here.

Up in the mountains

We're up in the Poconos for the long weekend; sounds like many of you have heard from "Brandon", the art scammer busted in the previous post.

And nice snow here... the kind that makes everything white except the roads!

Art Scam Alarm

Received the below a few minutes ago:

Date: Fri, 17 Feb 2012 08:47:39 -0800
Subject: Greetings/I Am willing To Purchasing artworks
From: bjjm01@gmail.com
To:

Hello,

I saw your artwork on http://www.theartsmap.com.I need you to send me the list of the artworks you have for sell ,wow!! beauty to behold, will add a spark to my new apartment and am willing to purchase your artwork. My son and I will be moving into our new apartment next month.

I want you to please get back to me with the present condition,your location and your last price offer.Kindly let me know how much you can let go and send me pics.will take care pickup after payment. get back to me vis.. brandon5079@yahoo.com asap.

Cheers,
Brandon

And my immediate response to Brandon:

Dear Brandon,

I am delighted that you are interested in my artwork. I have apartments and studios in various cities around the world
- Wellington, NZ
- Sidney, AU
- London, England
- Madrid, Spain
- Paris, France
- Buenos Aires, Argentina

and my favorite studio, Bonfuck, Egypt

Before I send you any data, I am very, very picky as to who owns my artwork, so I need to know the following from you:

- What school did you attend?
- Are married or single?
- Are your parents divorced?
- DO you believe that man is the only cause of global warming?

Please let me know and soon you will have some great artwork on your new walls!!!

Congrats!

The Lenster

The email addresses that I pulled out of the scan email were: bjjm01@gmail.com, brandon5079@yahoo.com and bowenkate@ymail.com - some of those may be hijacked emails, as "Brandon" gave brandon5079@yahoo.com as the one he wanted an answer sent to.

Be careful out there...

Tonight: Rosemary Feit Covey & Laurel Hausler at Morton

"Rosemary Feit Covey and Laurel Hausler have been paired in this two woman exhibition to highlight their respective artistic processes and approach to subject matter. Rosemary Feit Covey whittles away the surface of her wood block with extreme precision, utilizing a time-staking and unforgiving engraving process until her detailed image appears. Laurel Hausler works in a subtractive process by covering her canvas with multiple layers of paint, wax, charcoal or found objects and then removes the layers to reveal the subject. Both women are fearless in their psychological approach to subject matter – raw and depth oriented, they explore subsurface in the realm of the unconscious, not afraid of the obscure."

"Excavate" at Morton Fine Art
An Exhibition of New Work by Rosemary Feit Covey & Laurel Hausler
February 17-March 14, 2012
Opening Reception: Friday, February 17, 6:00-8:00 pm

Morton Fine Art
1781 Florida Ave NW (at 18th & U Sts)
Washington, DC 20009
202.628.2787
mortonfineart@gmail.com

A Palette of Paper - the Collages of Megan Coyle

The Center for the Arts, Caton Merchant Family Gallery in Manassas, Virginia will feature Megan Coyle’s collage art in a solo exhibition called “A Palette of Paper.” The art center consists of a theater, an art gallery, and classrooms that are located inside a historic Candy Factory building in Old Town Manassas. Coyle’s show will display portraits of people, animals, as well as landscape and cityscape collages.

“A Palette of Paper” will showcase a group of collages that look like they were made from acrylic or oil paint, when they were actually made from magazine strips. Each creation is the product of Megan Coyle’s intricate efforts in cutting and layering paper. It is only when you step up close to one of these collage “paintings” that you can pick up on all the fragments of photographs, textures, and patterns that have been pulled from magazine pages. This is the very reason why Coyle calls her technique “painting with paper” – the process of manipulating magazine clippings in such a way that they strongly resemble the brushstrokes in a painting.

The exhibit will open on February 8th, 2012 and run until March 22nd. Coyle will have an artist talk on February 18th at 1:00p.m. If February 18th is a snow day, the artist talk will be held on February 25th.

Megan Coyle is a practicing collage artist and designer living in Northern Virginia. She graduated in 2008 from Elon University with a degree in painting and creative writing. Her work has been featured in international publications like the Washington Post, Papirmasse, and Somerset Studio. She has exhibited nationally in venues that include the Smithsonian Ripley Center, Art League Gallery, Fisher Gallery, and Krempp Gallery.

"A Palette of Paper - the Collages of Megan Coyle"
February 8th - March 22nd, 2012
Artist Talk: February 18th (snow day: February 25th)

Today: Book Signing at BlackRock

There will be a book signing for my 100 Artists of Washington, DC book today, 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.

Tomorrow: Book Signing at BlackRock

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!

February 14

OK, so it may be Valentine's Day today, but for us history buffs, in real history, in 1778 the United States flag is formally recognized for the very first time, in this case at sea by a foreign naval vessel, when French Admiral Toussaint-Guillaume Picquet de la Motte renders a nine gun salute to USS Ranger, commanded by the legendary John Paul Jones.

That's the spectacular painting by Edward Moran depicting the moment.

Ichiuji on Tom Green


Details here.

Artists' Websites: Russ McIntosh

There are hardworking artists and then there's Russ McIntosh. If I told you that in the last year alone this talented digital artist has been included in over 20 exhibitions around the nation, you'd be as awed as I was when I discovered this fact.

Galadali by Russ McIntosh
Check out his amazing work here.

Fridaphiles of the DMV: Artisphere

Artisphere is the first and only venue in the United States of America to present Frida Kahlo: Her Photos - an exhibition of photographs about one of the most iconic artists of the 20th century.

Free public opening reception: Thu Feb 23 / 7-10pm.

Mexican artist Frida Kahlo (1907-1954)’s extraordinary life and iconic biographical paintings have earned her international renown in the world of modern art. Upon Kahlo’s death in 1954, more than 6,500 personal photographs and items belonging to her and husband/artist Diego Rivera were sealed and put in storage. For more than half a century this great collection of personal memorabilia remained hidden from the public. In 2007 this collection was opened and Mexican photographer and curator Pablo Ortiz Monasterio inventoried and catalogued 259 images to create the Frida Kahlo: Her Photos exhibition.

These images reveal a little-known side of the artist and lifelong resident of Coyoacán, a Mexico City suburb and Arlington, Virginia's sister city. The collection of photographs in this exhibition reflect Kahlo’s tastes and interests, the experiences she shared with those close to her, and her complicated, but also thrilling, personal life. Viewers get an insider’s look, not only through who was behind the camera, in front of the lens or the anonymous nature of some of the work but also through the annotated writing found on the back of many of the photographs.

From family pictures and snapshots taken with lovers to images that reveal relationships with Russian Marxist revolutionary Leon Trotsky and American photographers Edward Weston, Alfred Stieglitz, artist Georgia O’Keefe and actress Dolores del Rio, this exhibition provides a glimpse into Kahlo as never seen before.

Many of you know that I've done around 1,000 works of art (drawings, paintings, statues, videos, etc.) about Kahlo since I was hypnotized by her work almost 40 years ago, so... See ya there!

The ultimate toilet paper?

At least for Cubans!

Finally you can now make your Cuban or Cuban-American's dreams come true! Cuba's brutal dictator and for over 50 years the suffocater [[Verb] To stifle; to destroy; to extinguish; as, to suffocate] of the Cuban people, deserves to be in the mierda tanks of history.

Full roll of toilet paper with Fidel Castro's face on every sheet. Ideal for parties, reunions or for plain personal pleasure. Order more than one. The ideal gift for your Cuban friend.

Send me some... por favor!

Ave Frida Es Regina

So here is the next iteration of my marriage of drawing with embedded electronics. In this case my ubiquitous Frida with an embedded video player which gives the owner of this piece to choose between a Power Point presentation or a video of Kahlo.

Above is the drawing with the heart cut out of her bosom - note that Kahlo's heart is fanged - this was a woman who took a bite out of life.


And here is the electronic component which will be installed behind the drawing. In this frame it shows one of the multiple images which play by default when the machine is turned on.


Here's the drawing with the electronics playing the slide show through the heart window.


Here's a close up.


And in this close-up, the video of Kahlo is playing.

And below is the video:

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!

Pencil this in for March!

Born in Dublin, Ireland (which according to Irish creation myths was settled by Spaniards sent by King Milesius and thus why I'm always wondering why Irish people aren't considered Hispanic/Latino... Ireland that is... not Dublin (named after a witch who drowned in a pool of water), which was founded by Vikings and is thus not very Irish after all...), DMV area artist Jackie Hoysted made her home in Maryland in 1996 after working in France, England, Ireland and Florida as a software engineer.

She has a degree is Computer Science from Trinity College, Dublin (which happens to own a lot of my artwork in their private collection) and a fine arts degree from the Corcoran College of Art & Design (which happens to own zip of Campello art... is that weird or what?).

She has had multiple solo shows of her artwork throughout the US and has been featured in publications, including, The Gazette, the Washington City Paper and the Examiner and even here!.

She was selected by Scott Ligon for inclusion his book The Digital Art Revolution and this wizard and talented artist is the creator of the project Send Me Your Last Cigarette.

When you walk into Gallery 555dc you will be surrounded by Jackie’s current series “Out of Context” Girls! Nice Doesn’t Cut It. These women are "not to be messed with, taken for granted or pigeon holed. They can stand alone or together as sisters."

Champagne Reception: Saturday, March 3rd, 1-5pm and the show hangs till March 30th!

Groucho redux

Although it is generally known, I think it's about time to announce that I was born at a very early age.

-- From Groucho Marx's autobiography Groucho and Me (1959)

Heard on Univision

Another woman running for President in Latin America; this time trying to get rid of the despot ruining Venezuela:

Congresswoman and Presidential Candidate, Maria Corina Machado, with the courage that only a Latina can have, stood up and faced President Hugo Chavez, as no one has ever done before in Venezuelan history, and called him a liar and thief.

Read about her here.

Molly Ruppert

The Washington Project for the Arts’ Alice Denney Award for Support of Contemporary Art was initiated in 2006. It is named for the founder of WPA, Alice Denney, and is presented annually to an individual who has supported the organization for many years and has made a sustained commitment to the greater DC arts community.

This year’s honoree, Molly Ruppert, will receive the award at the SELECT exhibition opening reception on February 11, 2012.

Molly Ruppert is one of those key instruments that makes up the DMV's cultural orchestra and which, in concert with the other instruments, makes our cultural art scene one of the best on the planet.

Think of her as the big bass drum, or the cello, or the harp; any of the real key instruments without which the symphony is off and out of synch. Also think of her as working behind the scenes as well as leading it.

Molly - and the entire Ruppert clan have been a powerful force in the DC arts scene. With the multiple opportunities the Warehouse Arts Complex have given over the years, Molly and her family have been one of the most commited supporters of the arts in our region.

Personally, I am also indebted to her.

When I curated the epic exhibition known as "Seven" for the WPA a handful of years ago, it was Molly who stepped up and offered the entire Warehouse complex to house all the WPA artists whom I had selected.

I was very pleased by the spectacular success of that show, but even more pleased when I ended up also meeting there, at one of the talks, the woman who would become my wife and best friend.

Thank you Molly!

Topher Forhecz on Banks and Nordin


The Gazette's Topher Forhecz pops in with a nice review (also nicely illustrated) of Michele Banks and Kendall Nordin's exhibition at The Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation Arts Center on Montgomery College’s Takoma Park/Silver Spring Campus.

Read the review online here and then go to the opening reception from 6 to 8 p.m. on Feb. 9.