Rocky Red Stripe

Rocky The Squirrel in Red Stripe Jamaican Lager Box

Trawick Prize Finalists

The Trawick Prize: Bethesda Contemporary Art Awards is a visual art prize produced by the Bethesda Arts and Entertainment District that honors artists from Maryland, Washington, D.C. and Virginia. The annual juried competition awards $14,000 in prize monies to selected artists and features the work of the finalists in a group exhibition.

The 2013 exhibition will be held September 4-28 at Gallery B, located at 7700 Wisconsin Avenue, Suite E, Bethesda, MD 20814. 

Congratulations to the 2013 finalists!

Lauren Adams - Baltimore, MD

Selin Balci - Annapolis, MD

Travis Childers - Fairfax, VA

Adam Hager - Washington, D.C.

Mariah Anne Johnson - Washington, D.C.

Gary Kachadourian - Baltimore, MD

Kate Kretz - Colesville, MD

The 2013 competition was juried by Cynthia Connelly, Alexander Heilner and Vesela Sretenović - interesting to note that possibly for the first time or second that I can recall, there are no Richmond-based jurors, and thus the lack of Richmond-based artists. The MICA juror brings in two Baltimore artists (and possibly the Annapolis artist), but the rest are DMV area artists, reflecting the other two DMV-based jurors.

Cynthia Connolly, Photographer and Visual Arts Curator at Artisphere, Arlington, VA, was born in Los Angeles, and grew up in Washington, D.C. where she attended the Corcoran School of Art (bachelor’s degree in Graphic Design 1985). In 2003 she received a certificate from Auburn University’s design/build architecture program The Rural Studio. Internationally shown and a prolific artist, she is known for works in the Beautiful Losers exhibit, the book Banned in DC, her post cards, and curatorial work at DC Space, the Ellipse Arts Center and Artisphere. Her photography is in many private collections as well as the Smithsonian Museum of American History and the Corcoran Gallery of Art. Her art connects disparate places, people and things.

Alexander Heilner is a multi-disciplinary artist who works in photography, video, digital imaging, installation, lighting design and sculpture. His work has been exhibited, screened, and performed nationally and internationally, from MoMA to Burning Man. Earlier this year, he won Baltimore’s Baker Artist Prize and his commissioned digital collages were featured in the new Johns Hopkins Hospital complex. Alex earned his bachelor’s degree at Princeton University and his master’s degree from the School of Visual Arts in New York. He has been teaching photography at Maryland Institute College of Art since 2003, and currently serves as the college’s Associate Dean of Design and Media Studies.

Dr. Vesela Sretenović is senior curator of modern and contemporary art at The Phillps Collection in Washington, D.C. She joined The Phillips Collection in January of 2009, bringing significant experience as a museum professional and scholar. Prior to joining the Phillips, Sretenović spent 10 years as curator at the David Winton Bell Gallery, Brown University. She has also taught courses in contemporary art and art theory at the Rhode Island School of Design. Earlier in her career, Sretenović worked for the University at Buffalo (SUNY) Art Gallery and the Brooklyn Museum of Art, as well as several galleries in New York. She received her doctorate in humanities from Syracuse University; a master’s degree in modern art history, theory, and criticism from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago; and a bachelor’s degree in the history of art from the University of Belgrade, former Yugoslavia.
Who's gonna win? I'm like batting 70% picking these, so let me do a little research and by next week the Lenster will have the inside scoop on the potential winner... I like the fact that for the first time the Trawick had an artist in its jury panel...

Wanna be in the (e)merge art fair?

Deadline: Monday, September 2, 2013 at 5pm

Washington Project for the Arts is pleased to announce a call for 8” x 8” works on paper by WPA Member Artists to be on view and for sale in WPA’s room during the (e)merge art fair. 

All current WPA members are invited to submit one 8” x 8” work on paper. Work submitted MUST be 8” x  8” and must be delivered without a mat or frame. If a member artist wishes to submit a work that is smaller than 8” x 8”, it must be submitted mounted to an 8” x 8” sheet of paper. WORK THAT IS LARGER THAN 8” X 8” WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED. 

Check out the usual great opportunity by the WPA here.

(e)merge art fair's Call for Volunteers

CALL FOR VOLUNTEERS: (e)merge art fair
CALL FOR VOLUNTEERS (Click here to view this as a .pdf online.)

WHAT: The third edition of the (e)merge art fair is coming right up and they need your help! Every year, volunteers provide instrumental support to their team by working the box office, assisting with production, and creating an inviting and warm atmosphere for fairgoers. Volunteers receive complimentary admission to one day of the fair for each shift worked. As a volunteer, you will also have the opportunity to engage with artists, curators, collectors, and industry professionals throughout the 4+ days of the fair. All volunteers must attend an Orientation session in advance of the fair (details forthcoming).

WHEN: The following represents the schedule of volunteer shifts for the 2013 (e)merge art fair, which runs from 5:00 PM, Thursday, October 3 through 5:00 PM, Sunday, October 6. Please note that a shift can run from 4-5 hours, depending on your availability:

Tuesday, October 1 (production): 11:00 AM – 3:00 PM
Wednesday, October 2 (production): 11:00 AM – 6:00 PM
Thursday, October 3: 11:00 AM – 10:00 PM
Fair Hours: VIP/Press Preview 5:00 PM – 7:00 PM; Opening and Concert 7:00 – 9:00 PM
Friday, October 4: 11:00 AM – 8:00 PM
Fair Hours: 12:00 – 7:00 PM
Saturday, October 5: 11:00 AM – 8:00 PM
Fair Hours: 12:00 – 7:00 PM
Sunday, October 6: 11:00 AM – 6:00 PM
Fair Hours: 12:00 – 5:00 PM

WHERE: The Capitol Skyline Hotel, 10 “I” Street SW, Washington, DC 20024 (Green Line: Navy Yard Metro)

WHO: Students, artists, art enthusiasts…all are welcome to apply. Some event volunteer/management experience is preferred (but not required), with a big plus for art fair experience. Reliability, strong customer service orientation, flexibility, positive attitude, and sense of humor required.

HOW: Email a resume, cover letter, and availability to info@emergeartfair.com with “Volunteer Application” in the subject line. Interviews will be held from September 13-14, 2013.

The Lilith

"The Lilith"
7x5 inches. Watercolor on Paper
Heading to the (e)merge art fair next month!
Sold! Now in a private collection in Australia

Four years old!

Anderson Lennox Franklin Lars Timothy Angus Pict Eric Florencio Brude James Tiberius Campello Anderson Cruzata Jaspersen Alonso Zaar Marrero Karling Comba Noren Dalke Hartsell y Lennox is four years old today!

Adam and The Lilith heading to (e)merge

Adam and The Lilith
Watercolor on Paper
5 x 7 inches
Will be in Room 215 next month at the (e)merge art fair in DC

Same on you - Sydney U!

Photograph: Jennifer Yiu/Honi Soit

"Eighteen vulvas. All belong to women of Sydney University, and feature on the cover of Honi Soit, the university's student newspaper. We were told to cover them with ugly black bars before publishing. Why, even after complying with this, were the issues taken off the stands?"

Read the whole article here.

The Art of Political Change at MOCA

“The Art of Political Change” is an invitational show curated by DMV area artist Roy Utley – the show is all about art and politics and has been getting quite a bit of pre-opening attention from the press in this most political of towns.

The show opens on my birthday (Sept. 6) and the Opening Reception is Sept 14th from 6:00 to 10:00. The exhibition runs through September 28 at the legendary MOCA DC gallery in Georgetown, and there’s an open mike political poetry night on Sept 20 from 6:00 to 10:00, followed by a Film screening night on Sept 21 from 6:00 to 10:00 (hosted by Lucy Gebre-Egziabher) and a Closing Party on Sept 27 from 6:00 to 10:00.

The show features distinctive works of social commentary by a diverse group of Washington area artists, including yours truly. They come from all across the artistic landscape – painters, sculptors, poets, filmmakers and more. The dozens of works on display by the artists will connect with the viewer on a personal visual level, as only visual art can, while the live video feeds will enable everyone with internet access to view the events as they happen.

My own exposure to political art is that (in the past) it has been usually (or maybe mostly) the left doing negative artwork about the right. 

And that's cool! 

Political art is seldom "positive" (other than in Nazi Germany, the former USSR, North Korea and Cuba - that's a smiling lot ain't it?).

The Presidency of George W. Bush left behind a huge trail of political art of all genres, all harshly critical (and a lot quite threatening) of the former President. 

Some of it was very smart and intelligent and some of it downright offensive and mean, and c'mon - once you step into the White House, you sort of expect to be the target focus of harsh political criticism.

Some artists, such as Richard Serra’s crayon drawing of an Abu Ghraib prisoner with the caption "STOP BUSH”, employed that time sensitive and horrifying war issue to achieve instant fame, and now the minimalist sculptor is perhaps best known for that rather simplistic and powerful piece, which essentially got him a ticket to a Venice Biennale.

From my experience/exposure, other than a few right wing nuts here and there, anti Presidential political art has been all but AWOL during the Obama presidency, perhaps because the mainstream media has been rather successful in re-calibrating their approach to the President and also in exacting harsh revenge on anyone who dares to deviate from a overly positive depiction of our current President.

Even Shepard Fairey’s embarrassing path to the famous “HOPE” poster art from the historic 2008 campaign (he ripped off the image from DMV area photographer Manny Garcia) was not enough to stop the National Portrait Gallery from acquiring the artwork, in violation of its own rules about acquiring portraits of living persons only if done from the live subject. They also ignored the fact that the image had been ripped off from another artist.

I sent them an email asking for clarification on this issue, and since I never heard back, then I wrote them a letter... still waiting for a response.

In view of the current multiple woes of the administration, ranging from the NSA revelations to the IRS scandal and others, the vast left wing nuttery has begun to turn on the President, and I will be curious to see if Utley’s political show addresses the anti-Presidential venom so common to past political American art, but now with an Obama focus. 

It is clear from Dana Ellyn's always sharp eye and caustic talented brush, that the answer is apparently yes!

“He’s Making a (Kill) List” by Dana Ellyn 

I love this country! See ya there! 

The artists are:

Alicia "Decoy" Cosnahan
Roger Cutler
Gregg Deal
Cheryl Edwards
Dana Ellyn
Ric Garcia
Lucy Gebre-Egziabher
Grayson Heck
Jeannette Herrera
Regina Holliday
Kevin "Jazi" Irvin
Danny Jean-Jacques
Hanna Kebbede
Fareeha Khawaja
Peter Krško
Carolina Mayorga
David R. Quammen
Lisa Dee Schumaier
Matt Sesow
Eric “E-Baby” Smith
Henrik Sundqvist
Roy Utley
Asad "Ultra" Walker

Role of Galleries

Traditionally, we think of the gallery as having the following functions: providing an exhibition space that allows the public to view art; offering the artist and the curator exposure and access to their consumers; and acting as an intermediary between artists and the market, providing artists with the potential to earn an income as a professional. The first two functions, which connect cultural producers with their audiences, can be executed much more efficiently on the Internet. Artists have the ability to create vast social networks online, promote themselves and their artworks, and use social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Tumblr to share images themselves. Further, while galleries restrict how, when, and where their represented artists show their work to keep demand high, the attention economy rewards artists who produce and share frequently, encouraging artists to be productive and prolific. The Internet allows the artist more autonomy, more agency over the dispersion and reception of their work. Artists can be more effectual than the gallery in cultivating attention and connecting with their audiences. Yet the gallery continues to have the upper hand in connoting value within the art market, and the white cube continues to be the quintessential marker of art-world status.

Read the whole article in The New Inquiry here.

New Life on the Fair Circuit

Dealers worldwide earned about 36 percent of their sales on average through local or international art fairs in 2012, an increase of 6 percentage points from 2010, according to the European Fine Art Foundation’s Art Market Report by Arts Economics, which surveyed 6,000 dealers. 

For some, the share is even higher: according to Mr. VeneKlasen, 75 percent of his sales 10 years ago were made in his galleries, but now nearly two-thirds of revenues are earned on the road. 

Read the whole article in the NYT here. DC's own art fair -- (e)merge -- opens next month.

50% off!

Click here for a 50% off coupon off anything tomorrow at AC Moore!

Go buy a nice frame or a really BIG canvas!

Opportunity for Artists

DEADLINE: September 16, 2013

The Corcoran is pleased to announce a call for artworks benefiting the Human Rights Campaign at the 17th Annual Human Rights Campaign National Dinner and Silent Auction on Saturday, October 5, 2013. 

This dinner brings together more than 3,000 HRC members, friends, family, and allies for an evening of celebration and inspiration and attracts the nation's top figures in entertainment and politics.
Work submitted must be wrapped and installation-ready and delivered to HRC. Each work will be labeled with the artist's name, work title, media, and price, and will be exhibited in a designated Corcoran Gallery auction area, as well as featured on the HRC auction website and in the digital auction program. 
DEADLINE: September 16, 2013
WORK DROP-OFF: August 9-September 16, 9AM-6PM
UNSOLD WORK PICK-UP: October 14-18, 2013 9AM-6PM
    
Click here to register online.

Email connect@corcoran.org for additional information.

Dali quotes redux...

Those who do not want to imitate anything, produce nothing

Salvador Dali

Dali quotes...

Drawing is the honesty of the art. There is no possibility of cheating. It is either good or bad.

Salvador Dali

Interview with Jessica Naresh

This week, the WPA spoke with Jessica Naresh, Art Consultant with The Art Registry and WPA Board Member, about art advisors, their relationships with artists, and their potential to advance an artists career. 

Washington Project for the Arts: Thanks for speaking with us today. So, what role do art advisors play in the art world, exactly? What do you do?

Jessica Naresh: It depends on the client’s needs – art advisors can play a large or small role in the acquisition of artwork. Often a collector doesn’t have the time to devote to studying the market of an artist, or to research the myriad options available when beginning to collect art. An advisor can help guide their search and seek out things that they may not have known about. Depending on the client’s knowledge base, the advisor can help educate the client so that they can make an informed decision. Through The Art Registry, I work with clients to find suitable pieces for their home or corporate collections. Often my clients don’t have time to go to galleries or artist studios on the weekends, so I do that for them and then bring a selection of work back to their space so they can see it in its intended location.

WPA: Does an art advisor act like an agent for artists?

Naresh: I wouldn’t say that advisors are like agents because ultimately the advisor’s goal is to find what is right for their client. I think galleries function more as agents for artists. That said, advisors can be another avenue through which artists can gain exposure for their work.

WPA: Why would an artist seek a relationship with an advisor? How can artists benefit from contacting advisors?

Naresh: Because advisors can have access to buyers who don’t visit traditional art venues and would not otherwise encounter your work. Basically, it is another avenue for your work to be seen, and ideally purchased, by more people. If an artist doesn’t have gallery representation an advisor can be especially helpful in getting your work in front of interested buyers. And if you do have gallery representation, it will still provide you the same benefits.

WPA: What are some ways that artists can broaden their potential for sales, or broaden their audience and collector base?

Naresh: Maintain a website that you keep up to date with new work. Join organizations like WPA that have active member exhibitions and programs as well as an online area for you to have images of your work. I’m always looking for new-to-me artists. Even if I don’t have a project that is right for their work at the moment, I hang onto the info in case a future need arises.

WPA: Is the market challenging? How has the economy impacted your industry?

Naresh: Over the past 5-7 years there have definitely been market fluctuations. DC is somewhat insulated from the extremes of this fluctuation, but it feels to me like things are currently on an upswing. There used to be big budgets with corporate clients, and that totally fell off in 2007 – 2008. But there has been a shift in the last 2 years and we have seen a return of some corporate clients, not to what it was, but it is encouraging nonetheless.

WPA: What do art advisors not do? What are some limitations or misconceptions about the profession?

Naresh: Not all art advisors promote your work to the greater public. The Art Registry is a bit unique in this area because we do host events a couple of times a year, which often include a pop-up exhibition. We have found that our clients enjoy coming out to these events, and it also give us the opportunity to work with artists who are new to us. But an advisor’s main goal is to serve their clients. Part of this includes maintaining good relationships with artists and staying current on the art market, so that they are able to locate the right piece for the right buyer.

To become a WPA member click here. For more information on WPA and resources for artist members, contact WPA Membership Manager Christopher Cunetto at ccunetto@wpadc.org or by calling 202.234.7103 x 2.

Art Romp This Friday!

Opening Reception Friday, August 23 from 5 -9 PM

Where:  Anacostia Arts Center
1231 Good Hope Rd. SE
Washington, DC
anacostiaartscenter.com

Anacostia Arts Center is excited to welcome "Art Romp Anacostia," curated by the legendary DMV area curator Molly Ruppert! 

The show features over 50 artists from all sides of the river. The event is FREE and open to the public! Opening Night is Friday, August 23 from 5-9pm. The show begins the following day, August 24th, and runs until September 15th. During this time the center will be open Tuesday-Friday from 11am-5pm and on Saturdays from 12pm-6pm.

Notorious for its lively, eclectic and tremendous shows featuring all forms of artistic expression, back for the first time since 2007, renowned curator Molly Ruppert and Anacostia Arts Center are bringing Art Romp east! 

You can be that the Anacostia Arts Center will buzz with the work of more than 50 local artists from every side of the river. And no medium will be spared. Art Romp Anacostia will exhibit the work of numerous photographers, painters, sculptors, performers, among countless more. The opening will include live music, performances, and a cash bar.

Our America

"Our America: The Latino Presence in American Art" - Opens at Smithsonian American Art Museum Oct. 25

"Our America: The Latino Presence in American Art" presents the rich and varied contributions of Latino artists in the United States since the mid-20th century, when the concept of a collective Latino identity began to emerge. The exhibition is drawn entirely from the Smithsonian American Art Museum's pioneering collection of Latino art. It explores how Latino artists shaped the artistic movements of their day and recalibrated key themes in American art and culture.

The exhibition presents works in all media by 72 leading modern and contemporary artists. Of the 92 artworks featured in the exhibition, 63 have been acquired by the museum since 2011, representing its deep and continuing commitment to collecting Latino art. "Our America" will be on view from Oct. 25 through March 2, 2014. Following its presentation in Washington, D.C., the exhibition will travel to six cities across the United States. The exhibition is organized by E. Carmen Ramos, curator of Latino art at the Smithsonian American Art Museum.

"The exhibition 'Our America' is the culmination of a major collecting initiative, still underway at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, to build a significant collection of Latino art in the nation's capital," said Elizabeth Broun, The Margaret and Terry Stent Director of the Smithsonian American Art Museum. "It is particularly exciting to debut so many artworks newly acquired for the museum's permanent collection."

The exhibition includes works by artists who participated in all the various artistic styles and movements, including abstract expressionism; activist, conceptual and performance art; and classic American genres such as landscape, portraiture and scenes of everyday life. Latino artists across the United States were galvanized by the civil rights movement of the 1960s and 1970s. They created new images of their communities and examined bicultural experiences. Many critically probed American history and popular culture, revealing the possibilities and tensions of expansionism, migration and settlement. Other Latino artists in the exhibition devoted themselves to experimentation, pushing the limits of their chosen medium. "Our America" presents a picture of an evolving national culture that challenges expectations of what is meant by "American" and "Latino."

DNA results are in...

My Genome Project DNA final results are in... 



As noted previously, I'm 2% Neanderthal and 1% Denisovan ... The rest: 50% Mediterranean, 32% Northern European, 12% Southwest Asian and 3% Native American... The last one was a surprise!


For comparison Greeks are 54% Mediterranean, 28% Northern European and 17% Southwest Asian and Germans are 36% Mediterranean, 46% Northern European and 17% Southwest Asian, while Spaniards are 48% Mediterranean, 37% Northern European and 13% Southwest Asian.

At the Montgomery County Fair

Nothing, absolutely nothing like a good ole County Fair...