The Art of Street Portraiture

While traveling in Cuba with National Geographic Expeditions I had the fortunate opportunity to interview a real life ¨fotógrafo minutero¨ that expanded my knowledge on a craft that is used less frequently now a days, but still in Cuba, Argentina and other locations around the world.

The beauty of these fotógrafos minuteros or street portrait photographers, is it’s authentic nature, and it’s ability to develop photos instantly. The liveliness caught with this type of practice, and equipment is something unlike anything else in the photography world used today. It has a raw, yet intimate style all at the same time.

Read  the whole piece (Via) here...

The Lilith and Eve (After The Sin) - detail

The Lilith and Eve (After The Sin)
Charcoal and Conte on Paper. 4x12 inches
Will be at SCOPE New York next month!

DATES & TIMES

• VIP and Press First View, Wednesday, March 6: 3pm – 9pm (By Invitation)

Daily

• Thursday, March 7: 11am - 8pm
• Friday, March 8: 11am - 8pm
• Saturday, March 9: 11am - 8pm
• Sunday, March 10: 11am - 7pm

SCOPE NEW YORK PAVILION
Skylight at Moynihan Station
New York City Main Post Office
312 West 33^rd Street
New York, NY 10001

The Virgin Mary as Superhero

Meet ‘Super Mary’, a pop culture version of her former self, part of a series by French artist, Soasig Chamaillard, who restores and transforms damaged statues, either donated or discovered in garage sales.

Details and lots more versions of this artist's work here. 

By the way, those of us who have been to Artomatic over the years, know that there is an Artomatic artist whose name escapes me now, that several years ago did this idea first (if I recall correctly in more than one Artomatic) where instead of the Virgin's statue, he used statues of The Christ, which he then transformed into a whole array of new versions of Jesus that a few centuries ago would have merited frying at the stake.

If anyone recalls that artist's name, please leave it in the comments!

Spiderman Naked

Spiderman Naked
Charcoal and conte on paper
14 x 8 inches. 2013
Will be part of the "Superheroes" exhibition at SCOPE NY next month. Booth J09.

DATES & TIMES

• VIP and Press First View, Wednesday, March 6: 3pm – 9pm (By Invitation)

Daily

• Thursday, March 7: 11am - 8pm
• Friday, March 8: 11am - 8pm
• Saturday, March 9: 11am - 8pm
• Sunday, March 10: 11am - 7pm

SCOPE NEW YORK PAVILION
Skylight at Moynihan Station
New York City Main Post Office
312 West 33^rd Street
New York, NY 10001

Portlandia mocks postmodernism

Labeling everyday objects as postmodern "art" is dangerous, as the creators of Portlandia demonstrated last week.

Check it out here.

Rousseau reviews

Dr. Claudia Rousseau has a couple of really good reviews in The Gazette (which is owned by the Washington Post) here.

The Wapo, since they own The Gazette, often reprint Gazette articles in the WaPo, but have never re-used an art review, which I find odd, considering that Dr. Rousseau, an award winning writer, is one of the most talented art writers around and already in their employ.

It's a good thing that Mark Jenkins is doing a GREAT job at the WaPo since he took over the freelance arts coverage job from Jessica Dawson, but one would think that once in a while the WaPo would augment the visual arts coverage with a Gazette review here and there.

If you don't get it... you don't get it!

(e)merge back this October

The third edition of (e)merge takes place October 3-6, 2013 at the Rubell Family's Capitol Skyline Hotel, in Washington, DC.

Details here.

Yap, yap, yap

The kid doing what he loves to best and a genetically programmed function on all Homo Cubanesis: exercising his gums at the recent talk at the Edison Gallery on the subject of Artomatic.

Wanna go to an opening tonight?

“Transmission” (meaning light falling through glass) - an exhibition of work by the very talented DMV area artist Nancy Donnelly opens this evening, 7-9 PM. 

There's an artist talk at 8PM.
 

VisArts

Common Ground Gallery.

150 Gibbs St.

Rockville (part of Rockville Center).

There’s a metro stop nearby, and also a big parking garage close by. 

Also a ton of great restaurants and bars in a very pedestrian friendly zone - if you haven't been to the "new" Rockville downtown in a while, prepare to be surprised.

Artists: OUT OF ORDER is coming...

YOU SHOULD DO THIS!

FRIDAY, APRIL 5th, 8PM @ MAP

Maryland Art Place's annual spring benefit, silent auction and party! Out of Order, one of MAP's most celebrated annual events, is right around the corner. Join them to view and bid on works from a wide range of regional artists—from emerging and students artists to established professionals. TICKETS Available for $45 at the door or online through MissionTix.com. SPONSORSHIPS Offered at three levels this year! $250 | $500 | $1,000 Contact Emily Sollenberger for additional information or view the form here. ARTISTS Any artist is welcome to hang one original work in the silent auction exhibition. Installation takes place on a first-come, first-served basis on Tuesday, April 2nd from 7a - midnight. For details, visit mdartplace.org.  I always do this and I always sell my piece! Mark your calendars for Friday, April 5th and stay connected with mdartplace.org for more information & details!

2013 OOO Committee: Morgan Gilligan - Chair, Robbye Apperson, Niki Ballard, Karen Bokram, Liz Wade Cairns, G. Brian Comes, Suzi Cordish, Dawn Gavin, Ted Hart, Chris Janian, Peter Kilpe, Nate Larson, Stacey Murray, Tiffani Norris, Harris Peace, Sam Polakoff, Amy Eva Raehse, Jon Royce, Lucky Thompson, Jessica D'Argenio Waller

Gleason on Charity Auctions

There is a tradition of auctioning original works of art donated by artists to raise money for charitable causes. There are many good causes that hold such events. No matter how good the causes, though, I have come to the conclusion that artists must stop donating to every single one of them.

Don't ever donate your art to a charity auction again. Half a century of charity art auctions have changed the way collectors buy art. These fundraisers have depressed prices of art across the board and kept artists in a subordinate position that has no career upside or benefits.

Read the article in the HuffPost here.

Artists and Obamacare

 What, exactly, can be expected now that the ACA is moving forward? Data from a report by the group Leveraging Investments in Creativity specifically lays  out how artists could be affected by the President's new health care law, based on data about creative workers and their situation. Since the Supreme Court has officially upheld the law, ARTINFO broke out a few parts that are most likely to affect the arts community:

 Details here.

Amy Lin's new show at Addison Ripley

AMY LIN

DIFFUSION 

March 2 -April 27, 2013

opening reception for the artist,  

Saturday, March 2, 5-7pm 

3D pen?

The World’s First 3D Printing Pen that Lets you Draw Sculptures!!!

 Come again?

 Just see it here... 

2013 Sondheim Semi-Finalists

Big field for Baltimore's Sondheim Prize semis... just. to show how new and thus strong this Baltimore-centric small army is, I've bolded the artists' whose work is familiar to me. This is a good, fresh thing -- my kudos to the Sondheim!

A Baltimore art prize takes care of its own! Imagine that!
 

Laura Amussen, Towson, MD
Catherine Borg, Baltimore, MD
Gabriela Bulisova, Alexandria, VA
Amanda Burnham, Baltimore, MD
Dustin Carlson, Baltimore, MD
Lynn Cazabon, Baltimore, MD
Cindy Cheng, Baltimore, MD
Mina Cheon, Baltimore, MD
Wesley Clark, Hyattsville, MD
Sarada Conaway, Baltimore, MD
Ricardo Contreras, Baltimore, MD
Larry Cook, Landover Hills, MD
Hoesy Corona, Baltimore, MD
Caitlin Cunningham, Baltimore, MD
Frank Day, Washington, DC
Erika Diehl, Baltimore, MD
Lisa Dillin, Baltimore, MD
Amy Finkelstein, Takoma Park, MD
FORCE Upsetting Rape Culture, Baltimore, MD
(Rebecca Nagle & Hannah Brancato)
Zoe Friedman, Baltimore, MD
Lorenzo Gattorna & Mary Ancel, Baltimore, MD
Marian Glebes, Baltimore, MD
Clarissa Gregory, Baltimore, MD
Joshua Haycraft, Washington, DC
Jeff Hensley, Ellicott City, MD
Hedieh Ilchi, Rockville, MD
Brian Kain, Emmitsburg, MD
Jordan Kasey, Baltimore, MD
Dean Kessmann, Washington, DC
Sung Hwa Kim, Baltimore, MD
David Knopp, Baltimore, MD
Nate Larson, Baltimore, MD
Jonathan Latiano, Baltimore, MD
Kimberly Llerena, Baltimore, MD
Curtis Miller, Baltimore, MD
A. Moon, Baltimore, MD
Jeffrey Moser, Lancaster, PA
Charles Norton, Baltimore, MD
Louie Palu, Washington, DC
Mark Parascandola, Washington, DC
Ruth Pettus, Baltimore, MD
Benjamin Piwowar, Baltimore, MD
Tatjana Plitt, Odenton, MD
Steve Prince, Silver Spring, MD
Adam Rush, Baltimore, MD
Miguel Sabogal, Baltimore, MD
Dan Steinhilber, Washington, DC
Adejoke Tugbiyele, Baltimore, MD
Stewart Watson, Baltimore, MD
Melissa Webb, Baltimore, MD
Karen Yasinsky, Tilghman, MD

Next month in NYC: Judith with the head of Holofernes

"Judith with the head of Holofernes" is a charcoal drawing with an embedded digital presentation.

The "heads" of Holofernes rotate inside Judith's sack, showing the heads of the hateful leaders of some of the contemporary (still oppressed) nations of the ancient Assyrian Empire, who a few thousand years later still want to destroy Israel (their leaders that is)... we see Ahmadinejad, Khamenei, Muqtada al-Sadr, Assad, Morsi, Rafsanjani, etc.

The piece measures 16.75 x 12 inches and will be matted and framed to a larger size and (unless some savvy collector buys it between now and then) it will make its exhibition debut at Scope New York next March, where it is sure to piss off a lot of anti-Semites.

Opportunity for Artists

Deadline: April 5, 2013

The Delaplaine Visual Arts Education Center located in historic downtown Frederick, Mayland announces the 2013 Annual Juried Exhibit. Dates: May 4 - June 23. 

Open to any artist living or working in the United States, all media is eligible, no size restrictions. $1150 in prize money awarded, $500 first prize. Juror: Gerald Ross, Director of Exhibitions at the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) in Baltimore, Maryland. 

For details on how to enter visit this website.

Dental care for artists

Maryland Art Place is partnering with students of the dental hygiene program at The Community College of Baltimore County – Dundalk Campus. Patients pay $20 for a professional checkup and cleaning (no insurance required). X-rays available at an additional cost. Please ask about discounts for current students and senior citizens.

Take advantage of this special opportunity if you are an artist in need of:

•      dental checkup
•      teeth cleaning
•      x-rays

For more information visit mdartplace.org or contact Julie Smith, 443.717.1617,
jsmith791@hotmail.com

The Batman Naked

The Batman Naked
Charcoal and Conte on Paper
34 x 8 inches
2013 by F. Lennox Campello

Will be exhibited at SCOPE NEW YORK next month as part of the "Superheroes" exhibition - Booth J09!

Bruce Wayne: The Trapped Batman

Bruce Wayne: Trapped Batman
30x30 cm. Oil and Alkyds on Wood. 2013 by Simon Monk

This new work by British artist Simon Monk will be part of the curated exhibition "Superheroes" at the SCOPE Art Fair New York next month in NYC.