Things that make me go Uh?

As a former rock-throwing liberal who's evolved into a social progressive and a fiscal conservative, and thus feels more relaxed now as a registered independent voter who's seldom seduced by the dogma of both nutty ends of our major parties, I went to vote today knowing that as a registered independent I would not be able to cast my vote in Maryland for either the Democrats or Republican candidates for anything.

"What party sir?", asked the nice lady at the voting station. I told her that I was an independent.

"Then you are aware that you'll only be voting for the Board of Education candidates?" she added.

"I know," I responded.

"Some people have been surprised and upset by that," she expanded as she handed me the plastic card with an embedded chip in it.

"Why?" I asked. "It was clear to me that as a registered independent, Maryland is one of those states that doesn't allow us to vote for Democrats or Republicans during the primaries."

She looked at me, almost expecting me to figure out the great illogical consequence of what I would figure out next.

And I did.

"But wait!" I almost shouted, and the nice old lady behind me in line jumped back a little. "Why can't I vote for independent candidates?" I looked at her, already knowing that she had heard this song before.

"Doesn't make sense does it?" she sighed. "People have been complaining all day."

What's up with that Maryland?

And yet another art scammer!

I've started a conversation with this rip-off master:

To: lennycampello@hotmail.com
Subject: ArtFile Online: Asere Si o No? 2009 Charcoal on Paper 19 x 48 inches
From: dr.jamesgreene@yahoo.com
Date: Thu, 29 Mar 2012 10:55:28 -0400

Morning,I would love to purchase Asere Si o No? 2009, Charcoal on Paper 19 x 48 inches ,please get back to me with details..I appreciate your prompt response
james

dr.jamesgreene@yahoo.com

And my response

From: Lenny Campello
Subject: RE: ArtFile Online: Asere Si o No? 2009 Charcoal on Paper 19 x 48 inches
To: dr.jamesgreene@yahoo.com
Date: Friday, March 30, 2012, 12:52 AM

Dr. Greene,

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

I was about to be evicted from my home due to lack of money to pay my rent... this will allow my six daughters and I to stay here 2-3 more months.... I have shown your email to my landlord and he's allowing me to complete this sale and then pay him for the overdue rent.

What details do you need?

Blessings to you and your family.

Me

And he responds in turn

Date: Fri, 30 Mar 2012 03:34:34 -0700
From: dr.jamesgreene@yahoo.com
Subject: RE: ArtFile Online: Asere Si o No? 2009 Charcoal on Paper 19 x 48 inches
To: lennycampello@hotmail.com

you havent even told me the price and how you want payment made..kindly get back to me with those,thanks

So, I then lead him on more:

From: lennycampello@hotmail.com
To: dr.jamesgreene@yahoo.com
Subject: RE: ArtFile Online: Asere Si o No? 2009 Charcoal on Paper 19 x 48 inches
Date: Tue, 3 Apr 2012 20:21:29 +0000

Dr. Greene,

How I hate to sully the transaction of art with talk of money... but I must pay my rent... I hope you understand.

Will you be paying for shipping fees? Where will I be shipping this wondrous creation of mine?

My six daughters, my landlord and I send you blessings.

Lenny

Art Scam Alert

Here's the text and email address of the would be scammer:

Morning,I am interested in buying your True Believer 2009 Charcoal and Colored Pencils on Paper 24 x 14 inches ,i would like to know how payment would be made,and the price you listed for it.have a nice day..I appreciate your prompt response
Scott

scottwood889@yahoo.co.uk

You know I'm gonna go see this show...

Dmitry Volkov

I know that this blog is all about the visual arts, but recently I had the pleasure to be invited to and then astounded by, a private cello performance by a very young and immensely talented cellist that had a profound impact upon me.

Winner of the 2009 Carlos Prieto International Cello Competition, cellist Dmitry Volkov performs solo concerts across the Globe. Mr. Volkov won First Prize in the Midland-Odessa Symphony National Young Artist Competition (2011), the Heifetz Institute of Music Concerto Competition (2009), and the Togliatti International Competition for Strings, (2002), as well as Second Prize in the Teacher and Student International Competition (2003). Having graduated from the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory in the studio of Natalia Shakhovskaya in 2011, he is pursuing an Artist Diploma at the Peabody Institute in the studio of Amit Peled.

Volkov's talent is undeniable, but I think that it is his passion for the music that he makes that will set him apart and make him an important star in the vastly gifted firmament of contemporary classical music.

As I sat there watching his impossibly long fingers dance all over the cello, I was thinking to myself how mankind continuously replenishes itself with ever more advanced talent, always pushing the line a little further along the unquantifiable "it" that makes us open out mouths and minds in wonder.

Volkov is about to embark on a tour of Mexico; check out his website here.

O'Steen on Caldwell

Danielle O'Steen reviews Colby Caldwell's two concurrent exhibitions in DC - read that review here.

This dual-solo show event(s) has got to be a first for me and for the DMV in general: one artist having two individual shows at the same time in two separate individually owned, independent commercial fine arts galleries.

Caldwell is one of the artists in my 100 Artists of Washington, DC book.

Way to go Colby!

WaPo announces the new guy in charge of Arts coverage

John Temple, former editor and publisher of the Rocky Mountain News, has been hired by the WaPo as a managing editor.

Temple will oversee the areas that focus on the WaPo's local DMV audience, including its Metro section, sports and arts coverage.

DC Art News welcomes Temple to the area, and if he ever wants to listen to the DMV's number one expert on how the WaPo can improve its local arts coverage, the beer is on me.

Opportunity for DC area artists

Deadline: April 19, 2012

The Capitol Hill ART League presents its Third Annual Metro DC open juried exhibition: It’s a Wonderful World?

All artists, 18 years of age or older residing in the Washington, DC metropolitan area are eligible to enter.

Deadline for submissions is Thursday April 19, 2012.

The Capitol Hill ART League (CHAL) is a program of the Capitol Hill Arts Workshop. Located in the historic Capitol Hill neighborhood in Washington, DC, CHAL is composed of approximately 100 artists. Each season CHAL mounts a series of seven juried exhibitions and conducts gallery talks at the openings; CHAL hosts lectures on a variety of art related topics, offers workshops, and strives to develop a supportive artistic community. The greater Washington community is encouraged to participate in all of these events.

JUROR: I am honored to return as this year's juror.

ENTRY: Selections for the show will be made by the judge from JPEG images submitted by the artists. All work must be original and signed by the artist. Any work previously shown at a Capitol Hill ART League juried show is ineligible. All work must have been created within the last three years.

ENTRY FEES: Up to 3 entries may be submitted for a non-refundable fee of $15 for current Capitol Hill Art League members or $30 for the community at large (non members). Up to two additional entries may be submitted at $5 each. Artists submitting 3-dimensional work may provide two images of each piece.

AWARDS: Awards will be decided by the judge and will include cash awards for ‘Best in Show’, and ‘Merit’ awards. Two Honorable mentions will be awarded. All awards will be presented at the opening reception with the judge’s talk on Saturday, May 12, 2011 from 5:00-7:00 PM.

SALES: A 30% commission will be deducted from CHAL members’ exhibition sales and 35% commission on all non-member exhibition sales. All work must be for sale and the price submitted on the registration form will be the price presented at the time of the show for accepted work.

Exhibition Calendar:
April 19, 2012 - deadline for entries
April 30, 2012 - Notification sent to accepted Artists
May 4-9, 2012 - Art delivery dates
May 12, 2012 - Artists’ Reception and Awards, Presentation (5:00 - 7:00 pm)
June 1, 2012 - Exhibition closes
June 2-6, 2012 - Pick up artwork

Contact info: caphillartleague@yahoo.com Prospectus at: www.caphillartleague.org

Opportunity for artists

Deadline: May 1, 2012

Rochester Contemporary Art Center's (RoCo) international small art phenomenon returns with thousands of original artworks, made and donated by celebrities, international & local artists, designers, college students, youths, and YOU. Each artwork must be 6x6 square inches (15cm) or mounted to a 6x6 board, and signed only on the back, to be exhibited anonymously. All entries will be accepted, exhibited and will be for sale to the public for $20 each (in the gallery and online for global purchasing) to benefit RoCo. Artist names will be revealed to the buyer upon purchase and all artworks remain on display through July 15, 2012. Sold Out artists' names will be revealed next to their work online on July 6. Anyone may enter up to 10 artworks of any medium (2D or 3D) and there is no fee to enter.

Mail Artworks to:
Rochester Contemporary Art Center
137 East Avenue
Rochester, NY 14604

Details: here.

Judge sides with Maine governor on removing mural

Maine Gov. Paul LePage was within his rights when he ordered the removal of a mural depicting the history of the labor movement from a state office building, a federal judge ruled Friday, a year after the mural was put into storage at an undisclosed location.

Judge John Woodcock dismissed a lawsuit aimed at restoring the labor mural to its original location in on the ground floor of the Department of Labor building.

The governor's decision created a national uproar that proved to be a major distraction, but LePage felt vindicated by the judge's ruling.

“We've always believed this was a frivolous, politically motivated lawsuit,” said Adrienne Bennett, the governor's spokeswoman. “It would be stunning if government officials were to be barred from making different artistic choices than their predecessors.”

Read the whole story here.

"Lost" Cezanne Found

Auction house Christie's said today that a "lost" watercolor by French master Paul Cezanne has been found and is expected to fetch between $15 - $20 million Samolians at auction in New York.

The watercolor study for the painting "Joueur des cartes" ("Card Players") was last seen in public in 1953 and was recently "found in a private collection in Texas."

Five gets you ten that someone will pop out from somewhere claiming that this watercolor is theirs.

Brown Bares It

It has been called a microcosm of Brunonian culture, a "Craigslist for Brown" and an inspiration for students and alums to pose nude on the roof of the GeoChem Building, in Faunce House, in Sayles Hall, in Steinert Practice Center and in Salomon Center. While much of the hype of BrownBares.com on campus has died down, the site remains active months after its creation in mid-November.

BrownBares is a "subreddit" of reddit.com, a site that allows users to submit photos and comment on others' submissions under self-created usernames. While certainly not the only site of its kind, BrownBares is one of the only "not suitable for work" subreddits exclusive to a university.

With approximately 1,000 to 2,000 unique hits every day, dozens of users and nearly 300 subscribers, "the place in which Brown bares all" has occupied a unique niche in Brown's culture of sexual positivity.

Read the story in the Brown Daily Herald here.

What's good for the goose...

"A recently released painting of President Barack Obama holding a burning copy of the U.S. Constitution has seemingly set the political world on fire as well.

Jon McNaughton’s picture, titled "One Nation Under Socialism" shows the president with a furrowed brow and hardened face and appearing decidedly unfazed by the flames licking closely to him as the Constitution is torched."

Read the Salt Lake Trib report here.

The LAT's Christopher Knight, who one can safely assume (from reading his extensive and eloquent criticism - often touching on political art) is left of the political centerline, calls it junk, and that is certainly his opinion as a respected critic to deliver (although Knight accidentally reveals a little of his personal critical agenda when he feels obligated to expand that "the painting is junk (yes, junk) not because its style is realist or anti-Modern or the image is pandering or inflammatory."

Knight just sort of showed his cards here a little. Would he have ever written "the painting is junk (yes, junk) not because its style is abstract or Post Modern or the image is pandering or inflammatory."

Naw... This inner look at Knight's personal art agenda is also nothing that is not easy to learn from this giant of the art world once you read a few dozen of his reviews. Also note how he cleverly diminishes the artwork itself by calling it an "illustration."

But where Knight steps over the line, again revealing his personal contribution to the ugly side of American political discourse, is when -- in the context of doing an art review (I think) -- he then gets a little too personal (in my opinion) and somewhat goes after the artist himself, rather than after the art.

Replace Obama with Bush and the Constitution with ... ahhh... the Constitution, and a whole different discourse about the artsyness of the painting would be happening right now.

I get a little bit of chills when we start going after people rather than critically going after their artwork. Regardless of where you stand on the political minefield of contemporary American politics, the one thing that we as Americans should agree on is the freedom for all artists to use their talents to depict whatever drives their inner fires, and if it's OK for countless artists to use their talents to vilify the previous President, so it is OK for them to demonize (or praise) the current one and whoever comes after President Obama.

The artist's website is here. This is clearly an artist with a political agenda wedded to a religious one. The fact that his artwork is caustically anti-Obama does what any political agenda in art does: offend a lot of people and also align you with a lot of people who already felt like you do when it comes to politics.

Doesn't justify going after the artist, be him or her a right wing artist or a left wing artist.

And we all then breathe a sigh of relief thanks to people like artist Dan Lacey, who can use the power of art to make fun of anything!.

National Medal of Honor Day


The United States Congress has designated March 25th of each year as National Mdeal of Honor Day, a day dedicated to Medal of Honor recipients.

A salute and thank you to all recipients.

Ave Jacquelinas er

Below is Ave Jacquelinas er, charcoal and conte on watercolor paper with embedded digital player.

Over at Strathmore

You Are What You Eat, the exhibition at Strathmore that just closed was one of the most interesting shows that I have seen in a long time. The show featured nine artists whose work “comments on perception of body image and the cultural significance of food, with a bent toward American idolization of consumption.”

I wish that I had visited the exhibition earlier on so that I could have encouraged all of you to go see this show; my failure at proper time management.

The exhibition included painting, sculpture, photography and multi-media works by Danny Rozin, Peter Anton, Matthew Lawrence, Pamela Michelle Johnson, Davette Leonard, Rhonda Harris Banes, Matt Freedman, Joey Manlapaz and Donna McCullough.

Area artists McCullough and Manlapaz were well-known to me; both are gifted not only as technical masters of their genre (McCullough as a sculptor and Manlapaz as a painter), but also as conceptual and intelligent artists who wield their respective skills like visual art weapons to drive home their ideas and vision.

New to me was the work of sculptor Danny Rozin, whose large scale picture plane Trash Mirror #3 was one of the most innovative, fun and impressive interactive works of art that I have seen since DC artist Tim Tate started incorporating motion detectors, mini speakers, miniature cameras and video into his sculptural work a decade ago.

But whereas Tate’s work is self-contained, beautiful and intimate and often presents a technical surprise to the viewer, Rozin’s spectacular massive offering is composed of 500 pieces of discarded refuse collected from the streets of New York— this guy has employed wrappers, cans, cigarettes packs, coffee cups, coupons, tickets, hotel room keys and other ephemera to create a rare successful marriage of found, discarded objects and technology. In this work, each piece of found NYC garbage is attached to an individual motor that moves in response to any motion in front of the piece, reflecting the motion in a Seattle stadium wave-like effect that is both surprising and elegant.


And the accomplishment in taking garbage to the heights of elegance is not a trivial task. In one single piece of jaw-dropping artwork, Mr. Rozin has wiped out 30 years of personal dislike for what passes for most found object art.

I send my thanks to him for opening my mind and senses; Rozin and Tate should get together and plan big things.

New Commissioners

The D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities is pleased to welcome five new and six reappointed commissioners, appointed by Mayor Vincent C. Gray, to the D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities.

The commissioners of the D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities are volunteers who are appointed by the Mayor and approved by the City Council. They represent all eight wards of the District. The commissioners are key stakeholders who oversee commission activities, policy recommendations, the grant adjudication process as well as representing the commission with local executive and legislative branch relations. The commissioners also play a key role in public art project decisions.

The new commissioners are Carl C. Cole (Ward 8), Edmund C. Fleet (Ward 7), Alma H. Gates (Ward 3), Danielle M. St. Germain-Gordon (Ward 7) and MaryAnn Miller (Ward 3). The reappointed commissioners are Marvin Bowser (Ward 7), Christopher Cowan (Ward 5), Rhona W. Friedman (Ward 2), Philippa Hughes (Ward 1), Rogelio Maxwell (Ward 3) and Lavinia Wohlfarth (Ward 5).

"As Chair of the D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities, I am delighted to welcome our new and returning commissioners," said Judith Terra. "I am confident that with the leadership of this Commission we will help steer the arts in this city so that D.C. continues to grow as the culture capital of the United States."

"The D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities continues to grow in its reach and scope. As an arts agency, we look forward to continuous growth as our commissioners are deeply involved in their communities and have a strong interest in the arts," said Lionell Thomas, Executive Director of the D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities.

Opportunity for DC area artists

Deadline: April 19, 2012

The Capitol Hill ART League presents its Third Annual Metro DC open juried exhibition: It’s a Wonderful World?

All artists, 18 years of age or older residing in the Washington, DC metropolitan area are eligible to enter.

Deadline for submissions is Thursday April 19, 2012.

The Capitol Hill ART League (CHAL) is a program of the Capitol Hill Arts Workshop. Located in the historic Capitol Hill neighborhood in Washington, DC, CHAL is composed of approximately 100 artists. Each season CHAL mounts a series of seven juried exhibitions and conducts gallery talks at the openings; CHAL hosts lectures on a variety of art related topics, offers workshops, and strives to develop a supportive artistic community. The greater Washington community is encouraged to participate in all of these events.

JUROR: I am honored to return as this year's juror.

ENTRY: Selections for the show will be made by the judge from JPEG images submitted by the artists. All work must be original and signed by the artist. Any work previously shown at a Capitol Hill ART League juried show is ineligible. All work must have been created within the last three years.

ENTRY FEES: Up to 3 entries may be submitted for a non-refundable fee of $15 for current Capitol Hill Art League members or $30 for the community at large (non members). Up to two additional entries may be submitted at $5 each. Artists submitting 3-dimensional work may provide two images of each piece.

AWARDS: Awards will be decided by the judge and will include cash awards for ‘Best in Show’, and ‘Merit’ awards. Two Honorable mentions will be awarded. All awards will be presented at the opening reception with the judge’s talk on Saturday, May 12, 2011 from 5:00-7:00 PM.

SALES: A 30% commission will be deducted from CHAL members’ exhibition sales and 35% commission on all non-member exhibition sales. All work must be for sale and the price submitted on the registration form will be the price presented at the time of the show for accepted work.

Exhibition Calendar:
April 19, 2012 - deadline for entries
April 30, 2012 - Notification sent to accepted Artists
May 4-9, 2012 - Art delivery dates
May 12, 2012 - Artists’ Reception and Awards, Presentation (5:00 - 7:00 pm)
June 1, 2012 - Exhibition closes
June 2-6, 2012 - Pick up artwork

Contact info: caphillartleague@yahoo.com Prospectus at: www.caphillartleague.org

Tonight: Reception for Virtually Digital VI at Montogomery College

Virtually Digital VI is a biennial exhibition that features the fine art work of regionally, nationally and internationally known artists who incorporate some form of digital method in the creation of their art. Works in this exhibition includes drawings, paintings, photographs, prints, video and mixed media.

The organizer and curator of the Virtually Digital biennials is Professor Mike Cantwell who is the coordinator of the Computer Graphics: Art and Animation program at Montgomery College.

There is an artist reception later today, Wednesday March 21st in the CAT (Communication Arts Technologies) Gallery at Montgomery College Rockville Campus from 6 to 8 PM. The reception is free of charge and open to the general public.

The participating artists are Professor Anne Benolken, Richard Dana, Clay Harris, David Kastner, Agniezka Ligend, Russ McIntosh, John McMahon, Professor Harry St. Ours, and I am honored to have been invited to exhibit in this show as well.

The Gallery is located in room 106 Technical Center (TC) on the Rockville campus, Montgomery College and is open Monday through Wednesday 10 AM until 6 PM, Thursdays 10 Am until 8 PM, Fridays 10 AM until 1 PM, and Saturdays by appointment.

For more information call 240-567-7535, 240-567-7520 or e-mail mike.cantwell@montgomerycollege.edu.

See ya there!

Campello Performing

My daughter Elise: