Update: On my 4th AOM visit on Saturday, I discovered some new artists and spaces that I had missed the first time and thus, the AOM review and awards have been updated below. The updates have been mixed into the review so that you have to read the whole thing again...
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A few days ago I discussed my overall first impressions about
Artomatic, and now, having returned to the gigantic exhibition twice, I remain with some of the same overall conclusions:
- Every year the overall "quality" of AOM improves and this year is
noticeably better looking and more professional-looking than any other
year.
- There are a lot of blackboards with blackboard art all over the place.
- There's a lot less porn in AOM this year. In fact, there's a lot less nudes of all kinds.
- The range of the quality of the work, even in a postmodern world
where everything is art, still ranges from the mind-boggling bad to the
artistically sublime.
- There are several brand new (at least to me) artists in AOM who can show anywhere right now.
- There is a lot of art about The Beatles and blues musicians.
- There's more video art than I expected.
- There are a lot more well-known DMV area "gallery" artists in this AOM than any previous one (except the first one in 1999).
- There's a lot of artists working with discarded computer boards and parts.
- There are a lot of glass artists and every single one of them is really good.
- There are a lot of dark room style galleries and a lot of "blue light" art.
- There is a lot of artwork about Obama.
- There is a lot of left-wing nuttery artwork.
- There are a lot of really good sculptures.
- There are a lot of artists who make it really hard for someone
interested in buying their work to get the basic details (how much is it
and how do I buy it?)
On my return visit I did notice that many artists took my advise
and did put prices up and easy to find contact information. I have
never been a fan of anything that is for sale and which yet makes you
ask what the price is. In this context, just like in a commercial
gallery context, art is a commodity and if you want to sell your
artwork, you better make it very clear how much the artwork is.
Enough of that.
As
I've developed my AOM "eye" since 1999, each year I try to find the key
new artists (new to me) in each show, and as difficult (well, really
impossible) as it is, I also settle on my Top 10 Artists of the show,
fastidiously avoiding any artist which has previously been awarded a DC
Art News Top 10 Artomatic Award.
For many years now,
I've also developed my own set of individual genre awards, and this year
was a particularly good one for that.
Starting on the 11th floor, I liked
Joe Granski's
large and expressive portrait work; I've noticed Granski's work in
previous AOM reviews as well. Also standing out on this floor is the
glass work by well-known DMV artist
Kirk Waldroff. Other artists not to miss are painters
Marina Reiter and
Todd Gardner, as well as
Andrew Wodzianski and
Jamie Caplinger, and the very cool installation by
Gloria Chapa
(which was vandalized on 23 May and subsequently restored by the
artist, only to have it vandalized again on the 25th) and photos by
Mark Parascandola. On the 10th floor go see
Peter Duvall,
Roger Cutler and
Tracy Lee's kids mosaics of Legos and
daughter's superb photography. On the 8th floor I liked the work of
Melissa Badenhop and the elegant abstract works on birch by
Ellen Hill and the nudes by
Marcie Wolff-Hubbard and the cool etchings by
Henrik Sundqvist (his
Murcielago Santo is gorgeous). On the 9th floor do not miss
Rania Hassan and
Sean Hennessey (they're next to each other), also
Nancy Donnelly
(who's exploring some cool new concepts with her work and another
artist that PG County needs to acquire),
Rita Elsner, and
Zofie Lang. I also liked
Erin Antognoli's
sharp new presentations.On the 5th floor I liked the nice charcoal
nudes by the artist known as "Ray" and the really superb landscape oils
by
Parisa Tirnaz. On the 4th floor I liked
Jamie Gerhold and
Jessica Murray. and Frank Mancino. On the 3rd floor, even though he's in the corner of a giant room,
Greg Minah's swirling works really stand out as do
Susan LaMont's works; also go see
Jessica Beels. On the 2nd floor, see
Gregory Ferrand and
Michael Janis and I really enjoyed the very nice paintings of
Mary Catherine Starr
(which are also a great price deal) and another great discovery was the
work of Sue Ahn (who needs a website!). On the first floor, check out
the always amazing dress metal sculptures by
Donna McCullough. And while you're at AOM, don't miss
Tim Tate's new video piece.
Best Conan Females - The artist known as
Wolverine on the 11th floor. As a
Frazetta fan, I bow to you sir.
Best Aerial Landscape - The electronic circuit boards and parts used in
Eric Celarier
on the 11th floor to make computer-age quilts. He really makes them
work and stands out in a show over-populated with artists doing this
sort of work. Eric needs to get a hold of the
Microsoft Collection curator, as they collect art based on technology.
Best Clouds -
Emily Piccirillo on the 11th floor. The cool presentation also makes the work stand out.
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| Clouds by Emily Piccirillo, 11th floor, AOM 2012 |
Best Use of Light -
Sarah Louise Chittenden on the 11th floor. This was a tough category, as there are a lot of darkened rooms using light as part of their process.
Best Use of Black Light -
Michael Auger on the 11th floor wins this subcategory.
Best Organic Sculpture -
Liz Lescault wins a tough sub-category; there are a lot of good sculptures at AOM.
Best Glass Art -
Joseph Corcoran
squeaks by in the toughest category in AOM; there are a LOT of really
good glass artists in this show. This is no surprise, as the DMV is one
of the glass world's epicenters. He really should share this award with
David D'Orio, but since D'Orio
received a separate award, Corcoran gets to keep his award solo.
Scariest Picture of Obama - Easily won by hardworking DMV artists
Matt Sesow.
Most Adoring Picture of Obama - Dike Harris on the 7th floor.
Best Odd Project - "
15 Miles of Vanity," which are photos of vanity plates; it is sort of cool to read what people want the rest of the world to know.
Best Robot - "Robama 2012" by Benson Z. Anspach wins the always hotly contested robot art category.
Most Innovative Modernization of the Washington Color School -
Nancy Donnelly's
new work takes the color stripes from the canvas of the 1960s giants of
DMV painting and re-invents it ina fresh new approach to a 21st
century dialogue in glass and concrete.
PG County needs to buy some of these.
Best Tool Artwork -
Richard Appelt, Jr.
"I didn't know he was a racist award" - Won by
Ishmail Basha Reaves,
who has a display of really well done portraits of African American
icons, civil rights leaders, etc. and somehow includes a painting of
Che
Guevara, who once wrote: "The Negro is indolent and lazy, and spends
his money on frivolities, whereas the European is forward-looking,
organized and intelligent." This is one of many such racist statements by the guy on the T-Shirt.
Scariest Artwork -
Kasia Swierczek
on the 11th floor dominates the art of the scary. Don't get me wrong,
this is really good work, but even her name is a little scary to me.
Best Deal for $100 -
Corey Oberndorfer paintings of donuts on color swatches are not only gorgeously painted, but a steal at $100 from a DMV blue chip artist.
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| Corey Oberndorfer paintings of donuts at Artomatic 2012 |
Best Deal under $50 - Any of the
"Obama Versus" series on the 10th floor; Fun ideas superbly presented, but I'm not sure who the photographer is, but this is his/her
website.
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| "Obama Versus" photographs on the 10th floor of Artomatic 2012 |
Best Innovative Use of Star Wars Imagery -
Isaac Lange's
"dARTH vay-dEER" is a gorgeous marriage of Star Wars with Frida Kahlo;
how could he not win? And this is a tough category as well, there are a
LOT of Star Wars in AOM.
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| dARTH vay-dEER by Isaac Lange, AOM 2012 |
Second Best Innovative Use of Star Wars Imagery - Princess Leia naked by
Paul Oberle merits a mention and an award in this tough category! I always suspected that Leia had nice tits!
Best Innovative Use of Star Trek Imagery -
Rob Sprouse has Mr. Worf as Marilyn Monroe; what else can I say but Brilliant!
Best Gay Use of Star Trek Imagery - Well, actually the only gay use of Star Trek imagery... do not miss
Sarah Palaszynski's evolving Space Opera.
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| Amok by Sarah Palaszynski |
Best Adaptation of Another Artist's Work -
Ric Garcia
has some really good pieces in AOM, and he has evolved Andy Warhol's
Campbell Soup cans motifs into a 21st century dialogue with his use of
Goya Black Bean soup cans. I think PG County needs to buy this guy's
work under their county art collection focus on AOM.
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| Celia Cruz, Desi Arnaz and Goya Black Bean Soup, Ric Garcia, AOM 2012 |
Best Channeling of Another Artist -
Marti Deppa Kirkpatrick's elegant paintings from her "Channeling Rothko" series.
Made Me Hungry Award -
Rebecca Gordon has unexpectedly beautiful photographs of bacon on the 10th floor.
Best WalMartist
-
Elizabeth Brown has some spectacular
sculptures on the 10th floor that really stand out - especially the one
using the light bulbs (how did she get those little notes inside the
bulb?) and her
Terminator prints on dollar bills.
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| Detail of Elizabeth Brown's sculpture on the 10th floor of AOM 2012 |
Cool Use of the Nude Award - "
Eye of Ra" photography on the 10th floor.
Best Nude on the Rocks - I don't know how
Bert Pasquale
got those nudes to climb those rocks, but the resulting photographs are
eye catching and superbly well done; this is one fine photographer at
work.
Most Unusual Use of the Nude - The artist
known as "Ralph" on the 2nd floor has a wall full of nudes doing all
sort of interesting things that people usually don't do in the nude, but
probably should (play football, do synchronized peeing into the river,
etc.).
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| Painting of people peeing by Ralph, 2nd floor of Artomatic 2012 |
Best Installation -
Lilianne Blom
has a really cool installation in yet another dark room - it has sound,
lights and it all marries together with her digital paintings.
Worst Artomatic Presentation Ever - Whoever the artist is in the room located to the left of the bar on the 7th floor. See the picture below for an explanation.
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| The worst looking gallery room at Artomatic 2012 |
Best Painter of Blues/Jazz Artists - There are a lot of people painting blues musicians and thus
J. L. Hussey on the 2nd floor had a lot of competition, but wins jazz hands down.
Best Printmaker -
Kathryn Trillas'
sensitive monotypes are not only eye-catching in their softness and
intimacy, but because of the latter draw you in like a magnet in order
to verify the process and method.
Best Landscape Artist - This is one tough category in a building full of excellent landscapists, but I think that
Sarah Wardell's intimate and superbly priced work on the 8th floor merits this highly contested award, which she shares with
Jeff Wilson's beautiful oils (mostly of tornado events) on copper plates on the 4th floor.
Best Charcoal Landscape Artist -
James Halloran on the 8th floor.
Best Political Art - Roy Utley's
Manisfesto
takes this hotly contested award away from a large continent of
extremists' art; it is smart, well presented and very interesting.
Best Sexual Art -
Jaden O'Doyle
made it look easy with a series of very attractive and intelligent
images on a wide range of taboo subjects. Someone left a comment that
summarizes it all; the visitor wrote in the guest book: "You made me
horny!"
Best Urban Landscapes -
Pattee Hipschen has some very painterly works with a focus on urban imagery, but are really a riot of color.
Ignore the Subject Matter and Look at the Painting Skills Award -
Cynthia Sheppard
on the 8th floor displays superb painting skills. I actually like the
subject matter, but I know that most of you pansies won't. In any event,
this is a master painter working as an illustrator (I think), but still
a really good painter.
Coolest Artist Name -
Marie Dominique Bondet de la Bernardie, 3rd floor, gallery 210.
Best Sculpture - The bicycle sculpture by
David D'Orio
on the 8th floor manages to marry together such a discordant and
different set of ideas and topics (coupled with a pristine presentation)
and materials (the bike, gorgeous glass, an old radio, etc.) that it
really stands out - as a
local critic
put it: "The radio atop is tuned to WMAL, a station that broadcasts the
conservative points of view through conservative opinion broadcasters
like Chris Plante and (the syndicated
shows of) Rush Limbaugh and Mark Levin." I noticed during my second and
third visits that someone had changed the radio station to a music
station.
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| Detail of David D'Orio's sculpture at Artomatic 2012 |
Best Image of Dicks - I was surprised how the
always popular subject of penises was not as prevalent in this AOM as in
the past. The artist known as
Fr. Defenestrato was the top
pinga in this category.
Largest Dick Award -
Andrei Trach on the 3rd floor.
Best Looking Tits at AOM -
Roy Utley's superb photo of model
Angelina Leigh on the first floor. This model may in fact have the nicest looking tits in North America and possibly the whole New World.
Scariest Pussy Award - And
Andrei Trach
wins again with a sleep-robbing image of the scariest-looking vagina
that I have ever seen; the thing actually projects out of the canvas, as
if it wants to snap out of the linen and start crawling on the floor,
making wet sounds and leaving a mucky trail behind it as it attacks
viewers on the 3rd floor.
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| Painting by Andrei Trach on 3rd floor of Artomatic 2012 |
Best Giant Artwork -
M. Helene Baribeau has
several really well-crafted knitted pieces (and some prints made from
her knitted work). The scale of the gloves is really attractive and they
truly make an impact.
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| M. Helene Baribeau's Giant Gloves |
Best Pet Portrait Artist - Whoever "sheppardbear" is on the 3rd floor shares this coveted prize with
Glen Kessler (I also liked his "Icon Series").
"I Don't Get It" Award - Artist Judith Claire's rambling installation - I'm not sure if it is anti or for racism, but it left me all confused.
Best DC Focus Art -
Robert Kincheloe
on the 3rd floor finally hits his stride with an awesome wall
installation of individual glass pieces commemorating the capital's
famed cherry blossoms. Kincheloe takes this potentially saccharine
subject and hits an artistic grand slam. This is another PG County
artist whose work needs to be acquired by the county.
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| Glass sculpture by Robert Kincheloe, 3rd floor Artomatic 2012 |
Best Pastels -
Ellen Cornett
takes on this most difficult of genres with pastel oils that are
vibrant and colorful - she really muscles a lot of power out of her
various subjects. Yet another PG artist for the county collection.
Best Abstract Art -
Shanti Chandrasekar
offers a pristine and elegant array of abstraction influenced by a
variety of South Asian nuances. Her "Chakra" is a perfect example of
what a talented artist can produced with a limited palette of cool
colors. This is also the most improved artist in AOM.
Best All Over the Place Art -
Nicolas Zimbro
on the first floor is armed with an impressive set of painting and
drawing skills. I love this guy! He reminds me of me, except that he can
paint much better than I can. I loved how his subject matter meanders
all over the place. Zimbro even meanders within a painting - there's
hyper-realism, abstraction, maybe even manga mixed all in there.
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| Painting by Nicolas Zimbro, 1st floor Artomatic 2012 |
Best Flower Photography - Camille Mosley-Pasley on the 11th floor. This is new stuff from Camille and the work is not only fresh in a really popular subject, but also superbly priced.
Best Flower Art - Elizabeth Floyd's hyper-realistic flower paintings manage to capture this popular subject vividly with intelligent use of color and texture.
Best Drawing - Christian Tribastone showcases not only some fantastic drawings, but also some mixed media drawing/painting that stands out now that I've managed to discover it on my 4th visit.
Best Mixed Media - Stephanie Booth's "She Always Wanted to be a Blonde" series of photographs employ the artist showcasing her grandmothers' wigs - coupled with that is embroidered words that use Booth's hair and continues this talented artist's fascination with that product of the body.
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| Stephanie Booth (Detail from She Always Wanted to be a Blonde series) |
Best Fabric Art - The amazing creations by Aeren Waters are all tucked into a small space, but nonetheless stand out for their ingenuity and detail.
As I discussed here, PG County announced their intention to
make significant purchases of artwork by Prince George's County artists
at this year's Artomatic. These are my recommendations for them to acquire:
Matt MacIntire
Nancy Donnelly
Ric Garcia
Robert Kincheloe
Ellen Cornett
Michael Janis
Jessica Murray
And
after much haggling with myself, here are my recommendation as the Top
10 Artists of this year's AOM. This year I decided to focus the top ten
on artists whom are either new to me or who have never been on my
previous AOM Top 10 List. As I've noted earlier, I also noticed that
there are a lot of well-known and very talented DMV area "gallery
artists" in this year's AOM. In the past, I know for a fact that
gallerists discouraged and even prohibited their represented artists
from participating in AOM. It is a significant chunk of evidence to
where AOM has come to in 2012 to see some of those well-known names show
up in the world's largest free-for-all art group show.
Here are my Top 10 new finds in this year's AOM in alphabetical order:
Sue Ahn
Melissa Badenhop
Elizabeth Brown
Shanti Chandrasekar
Joseph Corcoran
Ellen Cornett
Bert Pasquale
Kathryn Trillas
Jeff Wilson
Nicolas Zimbro
In 1952, a small group of artists presented an outdoor art show at the Virginia Beach
boardwalk, with the proceeds benefiting a fellow artist who had fallen
ill. Those artists later formed an organization which is today the
Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA). In 1956, the first official
Boardwalk Art Show was held. Top prize was $25 and 104 artists
participated. Today, Best in show wins $10,000 and the Boardwalk show is
ranked as on of the top 100 outdoor art shows in the country. 
