From the 1990s: Cy Twombly Over Picasso?

For TBT: This review originally published in the early 1990s:

"Cy Twombly Over Picasso?"
by
F. Lennox Campello

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Published in the Potomac News and Dimensions Magazine

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Twombly over Picasso? The National Gallery of Art's latest acquisition of an exceedingly boring painting by Virginia painter Cy Twombly succinctly brings to light a perfect example of the sort of poor decisions made in the seclusion of museum walls which exemplify why the general public is often at odds with our arts intelligentsia. 

Cy Twombly's "Untitled (Bolsena)" was acquired on Friday the 13th of October by the National Gallery of Art at a cost of about one million dollars. The gallery's Collector's Committee also considered a Picasso, a Giacometti and a Baselitz before choosing the Twombly painting, which was aptly described by Washington Post art critic Paul Richards as "evoking the butt-end days of New York action painting. Or a wall besides a public pay phone."

Although it is clear that the Twombly piece will now join the National Gallery's ever growing "Gee, Mom, I can do that!" collection of art, what isn't clear is the rationale for picking Twombly over Picasso or Giacometti. It has been said that Twombly's main claim to fame is his early associations with Jasper Johns and Robert Rauschenberg; if this is his main springboard into the walls of the National Gallery, then it is clear to me that a pathetic mistake has been made by the gallery's Collector's Committee. As a matter of fact one would be hard pressed to pick a Johns or a Rauschenberg over a Picasso!

A new Picasso acquisition would have brought the National Gallery some more public interest, and a price tag of a million dollars seems almost a bargain for perhaps the greatest painter of all time. Whatever his detractors, Picasso is a recognized entity which would attract people who both like and dislike his work. I suspect Twombly's "champions" are not enough to prevent this latest acquisition from being ridiculed by the public and dismissed by the critics. 

 It is also clear that the piece was vastly overpriced, as a similar Twombly sold less than two weeks ago in New York for $167,000. It would be interesting to see in which basement of the National Gallery this scrawling will gather dust in a few years. When it is put into storage, I hope it is well marked as a piece of art, or it may accidentally resurface on a wall next to a pay phone at the Smithsonian Metro Station.

Call for Photogs

Call For Entry Photo '15
National Photo Competition

Juror:  Sarah Greenough, Senior Curator and Head, Department of Photographs at the National Gallery of Art

You are invited to submit to Photo ‘15, a national juried fine art photography exhibit at Multiple Exposures Gallery at the Torpedo Factory Art Center in Alexandria, VA.  All artists 18 years of age or older who work in traditional, digital, or alternative photographic processes are eligible. 

Exhibit dates:                          October 20, 2015 - November 29, 2015
Awards and Reception:       Sunday, November 1, 2015,  2pm-4pm

Full Prospectus            
         
Entry deadline:  July 1, 2015.

Jack Boul at the WPG

April 1 - April 26, 2015

Opening Reception: Sunday, April 12, 3-5 pm

Reception and Artist Talk, April 18, 3-5 pm

 

from WPG:

"Washington Printmakers Gallery is pleased to showcase recent prints by master artist, Jack Boul. Boul's works are included in the country's foremost museums, including the National Gallery of Art and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and in major private collections. His distinguished exhibition record stretches back 60 years, and he has served as teacher and mentor to countless younger artists. 

Boul is master of the monotype, a difficult process where the artist manipulates ink on a bare metal plate to print a single image.  

New viewers will appreciate in Boul's work the qualities that curators, critics and Washington art lovers have long admired: intimacy, sensitivity and compositional rigor. Along with monotypes, this show includes selected paintings."

Please join The Washington Printmakers Gallery in honoring this distinguished printmaker.                       

This week in NYC

Glen Kessler at Hillyer Art Space

Friday, April 3 – Sunday, April 26, 2015

Opening Reception: Friday, April 3  6-9pm

Artist Talk: Saturday, April 18  1-3pm

Closing Reception: Sunday, April 26  3-5pm

“CircuitScapes”, an exhibition by the painter Glen Kessler, will be on display from Friday, April 3 through Sunday, April 26, 2015 in the main gallery of Hillyer Art Space, located at 9 Hillyer Ct, NW Washington DC 20008.  The Opening Reception is scheduled for Friday, April 3 from 6-9pm. An Artist Talk with Glen Kessler is scheduled for Saturday, April 18 from 1-3pm. A Closing Reception is scheduled for Sunday, April 26 from 3-5pm.   

The Gallery Hours are Mon 12-5pm; Tue-Fri 12-6pm; Sat 12-5pm; and by appointment.

“CircuitScapes” will feature over twenty new oil paintings from Rockville, MD painter Glen Kessler in the newly renovated Hillyer Art Space during the month of April. Kessler paints images that initially appear to be urban and industrial landscapes, but are, in truth, magnified views of circuit boards.  In his “CircuitScape” series, the analogous nature of these two worlds is formally and conceptually explored.  Similarities between city design and circuitry are obvious, each exerting a bias towards efficient geometric utility, but at the ‘street level’ which Kessler paints the connection becomes uncanny, leading viewers to contemplate how the hidden world of the microchip is increasingly the engine that powers our familiar macro urban centers.

Art Fair week!

Car renting in Miami

Waking up at four AM in order to make the 7:20AM flight to Miami from BWI is no way to start a weekend; but, sacrifices must be made in order to get there in plenty of time to take Anderson to visit his 92-year-old abuela, spend some time with his cousins and make it back to the DMV in time for him to make it to bed not too late on Sunday.

No matter where you land in Miami's gorgeous but enormous airport, it take a hike to get out, and a train ride to get your rental car. Renting a car in Miami must be disorienting to most people, but especially foreigners. And it is not just the somewhat complicated and surprising lack of good signage at the airport to direct you to the car agencies, but also the amazing cheapness of renting a car there.

I've rented cars in Miami for as little as five bucks a day (last March); the taxes were essentially as much as the car rental! In most of the world, auto rentals are pretty expensive, but it seems that competition has found an optimal environment in Miami in favor of the visitor.

The first thing that I always do (after renting the car) when I get to Miami to visit my mother, is to stop at Casablanca Bakery on 4th Street in Hialeah to get some Cuban pasteles, some croquetas, a couple of papas rellenas, some yuca rellenas, Cuban coffee, and a Cuban bread - all for for my mother.

After spending some time catching up with abuela, Anderson helps to eat some of the pastries, but waking up at 4AM is having the expected results in all of us, so we say our Adioses and head out to Little Havana, where we will be staking at my cousin's walled compound just a few minutes from Calle Ocho.

Meme

From the 90s: Michael Auld at Fondo del Sol

For TBT, this is one of my reviews originally written and published in the late 1990s. I've updated the links.

  Michael Auld at Fondo del Sol: An Art Review
By F. Lennox Campello

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Originally Published in Visions Magazine for the Arts

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I remember as a little boy the story of Hatuey, told to me by my grandmother, who had been raised as a little girl in Cuba. Hatuey was a Taino Indian Chief from the island of Hispaniola who was a witness to the atrocities the Spaniards were committing upon his people. 

The Hispaniola Tainos had received Columbus and his fellow Europeans with open arms, and the Spaniards had brutalized the Indians in return. Hatuey sailed to neighboring Cuba and warned the Cuban Tainos about the Europeans. 

When Columbus and his ships showed up, they were received not with open arms but with armed resistance. Eventually Hatuey was captured by the Spaniards and prepared for burning at the stake. 

A Spanish priest asked Hatuey if he wanted to repent from his sins and be baptized before being burned at the stake. The baptism, promised the priest, would ensure that Hatuey go to heaven and live happily among the Christians. Hatuey asked if the bearded white men would go to heaven when they too died. The priest nodded yes and said that the Spaniards would go to heaven because they were good Christians. 

"In that case," replied Hatuey as the flames began to lick at his feet, "I want to go to hell."
Just like my grandmother, I have always believed and been told that the Caribbean Indians, comprised of the peaceful Tainos, the warlike Caribs and the Arawaks were all extinct as a result of mass suicide, murder, disease and Spanish enslavement. 

We were all wrong! The Fondo del Sol Visual Arts Center in Washington currently has on display an extraordinary exhibit by sculptor Michael Auld which not only pays homage to many of the Caribbean Indians' legends and stories, but also offers (via two fascinating videos), clear evidence that descendants of the Caribbean Indians still live in isolated, mountainous areas of the Caribbean islands. 

The exhibition's center piece is an extraordinary wooden sculpture of Itiba Cahubaba, the legendary Earth mother of Taino legend. This stunning piece depicts the Earth mother giving birth simultaneously to two sets of twins, who became the fathers of mankind. This is a gripping piece not only because of its artistic value, but more importantly because it marks the rebirth of Taino culture after nearly 500 years of being nearly forgotten, erased and virtually destroyed. 

Also on display are three large wooden totemic sculptures depicting three stories in the Spanish conquest of the islands. The Hatuey story is here, as well as the story of the rape of a Carib woman by Spanish Conquistador Miguel de Cuneo, recorded in his own words: "I captured a very beautiful Carib woman, who the Admiral gave to me... I conceived a desire to take my pleasure... but she did not want it... I beat her with a rope...Finally we came to terms...She seemed to be brought up in a school of harlots."
 
The third piece represents the drowning of a Spaniard by Cuban Tainos. The Spaniards had passed themselves as Gods, and the Cuban Indians decided to test this claim, and one day submerged one of the Conquistadores under water in a river. When he died, the Indians realized that he was a mere human, and the word quickly spread to other Indians on the island and the Europeans had to fight from there on. 

There are many great pieces on exhibition at the Center, and the show establishes Michael Auld (who was born in Jamaica) as one of the best sculptors in the city, but it equally re-affirms the importance of a place like the Fondo del Sol, which gives artists like Auld an opportunity to exhibit work which most commercial galleries and museums would ignore. 

Furthermore, the evidence recorded in video by Auld (during a visit to the island of Dominica in 1992), which depicts visual evidence of a supposedly "extinct" people holding on to a remote enclave in the north of the island, is a visceral reminder of a people nearly destroyed, almost erased and yet shouting to be heard. 

This is an extraordinary, seminal yet important show, which for the first time in art history presents a people's cultural ancestry being rediscovered via contemporary art. Mr. Auld, and just as importantly, the Fondo del Sol Visual Arts Center are to be complemented and honored for delivering this exhibition, and I hope the Smithsonian anthropologists and historians are listening! 

The Fondo del Sol (which is run by its exuberant, Havana-born director Marc Zuver), is an artist-run alternative museum located at 2112 R Street, NW in the Dupont Circle area of Washington, D.C. The exhibit closes on February 10, and the museum can be reached at (202) 483-2777.

Come join me tonight

Lenny Campello

Covering the Arts
6:00 PM – 8:00 PM
Wednesday March 18, 2015
VisArts at Rockville
Kaplan Gallery
155 Gibbs St.
Rockville, MD 20850

Details here.

Come and pick my brain about developing your resume, art fairs, dealing with art galleries, the press, curators, documenting your work, grants, residencies, contracts, etc. Free!

Call For Submissions: UnBound4!

Deadline:  April 17, 2015

No entry fees!

Candela Books + Gallery announces their fourth annual invitational and juried exhibition: UnBound4! The summer group exhibition will feature work from a wide range of fine art photographers. 

An UnBound4! gala (as in good times) event, will raise funds to purchase select works from the exhibition. Works purchased by Candela through this event will subsequently be included in the Candela Collection.

The Candela Collection mission is to support photographers through the purchase of their original photographic work and to actively pursue future opportunities to donate said works to notable permanent collections.

UnBound! generates opportunities and exposure beyond the traditional group or juried show. Our hope is that photographers will support us with their active participation just as we hope to support their work and careers in return. All accepted photographers will have their artwork featured at Candela Books + Gallery, a gallery space in the downtown arts district of Richmond, Virginia.

For a look at last year’s exhibition, go here: Unbound3! 2014

To celebrate the opening of the exhibition, on Saturday, July 11th, Candela will host its annual UnBound! event which will include food & drink, live music, and curious entertainment …along with incredible photography. The ticket and raffle sales from this event will be used exclusively to purchase work from the exhibition for the Candela Collection.

All artwork accepted for exhibition will be selected by the Candela founder, Gordon Stettinius, and Associate Director, Ashby Nickerson.

Details here.

Tomorrow night

Lenny Campello

Covering the Arts
6:00 PM – 8:00 PM
Wednesday March 18, 2015
VisArts at Rockville
Kaplan Gallery
155 Gibbs St.
Rockville, MD 20850

Details here.

Come and pick my brain about art fairs, dealing with art galleries, the press, curators, documenting your work, grants, residencies, contracts, etc. Free!

Trawick Prize

The Trawick Prize: Bethesda Contemporary Art Awards is a visual art prize produced by the Bethesda Arts & 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.

 

Awards 

Best in Show - $10,000
Second Place - $2,000
Third Place - $1,000
Young Artists* - $1,000

*Young Artist whose birthday is after April 7, 1985 may be awarded this prize. 

The Jurors will select up to 9 finalists who will be invited to display their work in a group exhibition at Gallery B in downtown Bethesda in September 2015. 

Deadline to apply is April 7, 2015.  Click here for more info & to apply.

Questions?  Please send an email to artist@bethesda.org.

Mujertrees Number Three

Signed vintage prints from my "Mujertrees" series have sold at auction as high as $500... this 1992 vintage piece is opening at Ebay for less than $50 bucks!!!

And I believe that this is the original drawing from which the 100 prints were pulled, so this would be a steal at the current opening price! It is being listed as a print!

Bid for it here.

Arts Job: Carroll Community College in Westminster, MD

Deadline:  4/3/2015   

Description:   The position of FACULTY MEMBER OF FINE ARTS/DISCIPLINE COORDINATOR OF FINE ARTS is available in the Academic AffairsDivision. This position is on a full-time 10 month basis, reporting to the Chair of Visual Arts.

FUNCTION: Serves as faculty teaching a reduced load to perform Discipline Coordinator duties. The Faculty Member/Discipline Coordinator is responsible for: planning and making available appropriate study materials; conducting educationally valuable activities in the classroom or laboratory; making assignments of student work; evaluating and grading student progress; collecting and analyzing outcomes assessment data; reviewing and revising curricula; attending departmental meetings; general faculty meetings and College-wide meetings as required; serving on appropriate College committees; hiring, mentoring and handling promotion reviews of adjunct instructors; searching and contracting artists for gallery exhibitions throughout academic year; writing and submitting copy and relevant images to the Publications Department for exhibit related materials; invitations and brochures within the required timelines; receiving and hanging artwork for all exhibits and arranging and attending gallery receptions for openings; creating wall-text, title cards and ancillary materials for exhibits (including student shows), contacting and/or responding to news media requests for interviews and information concerning exhibits; purchasing gallery supplies and caring for and protecting the College’s art collection as needed; and responding to the need for a full appraisal and accounting of its contents every four years; and performing other duties as assigned.

REQUIREMENTS: Master's degree or higher in the teaching discipline or Master's degree or higher with a concentration in the teaching discipline. Two years of demonstrated teaching experience at the college level and evidence of exhibit/curatorial experience outside of one’s own artwork. Candidate should have both studio and art history knowledge with the ability to teach either if necessary. Administrative/managerial experience is required.

SALARY: Instructor rank on the 10-month Carroll Community College Salary Scale. Actual salary placement based on education and experience. Position includes excellent fringe benefit package.

APPLICATION PROCESS: Interested applicants must submit a cover letter, resume, a one- to two-page statement of teaching philosophy, ten images of applicant’s professional work, and ten images of applicant’s student work postmarked by April 3, 2015, to the Human Resources Department at Carroll Community College, 1601 Washington Road, Westminster, Maryland 21157 or email hr@carrollcc.edu. In order to qualify for employment, candidates must successfully complete a criminal background check.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION FOR FACULTY APPLICANTS: Generally, the College places new faculty at the rank of Instructor, where the minimum based salary is $38,356. One-half of reasonable travel expenses are paid by the College for the first visit. The entire cost of travel for the second interview is paid by the College. The College does not pay for relocation expenses, nor does the College have tenure. However, following a one-year probationary period, year-to-year contracts are provided until three years of satisfactory service are completed, after which time 3-year contracts are provided.
 “An Equal Opportunity Employer”

Wanna a great deal for a great signed print?

Signed vintage prints from my "Mujertrees" series have sold at auction as high as $500... this 1992 vintage piece is opening at auction for less than $50 bucks!!!

Bid for it here. And it is for a GREAT cause!

At the Affordable Art Fair next week...

Salon: A Conversation with me

Lenny Campello

Covering the Arts
6:00 PM – 8:00 PM
Wednesday March 18, 2015
VisArts at Rockville
Kaplan Gallery
155 Gibbs St.
Rockville, MD 20850

Details here.

Come and pick my brain about art fairs, dealing with art galleries, the press, curators, documenting your work, grants, residencies, contracts, etc. Free!

Yoani Sánchez to talk at GMU

Yoani Sánchez is an acclaimed Cuban blogger, journalist and founder of 14ymedio, Cuba’s first independent daily digital news outlet. She is currently the Yahoo! Fellow at Georgetown University in Washington, DC.

A University of Havana graduate in Philology, she emigrated to Switzerland in 2002 to build a new life for herself and her family. Two years later, she returned to Havana, promising herself to live there as a free person. In 2007, she began Generation Y, her personal blog about daily life in Cuba. She has been arrested and detained by the Cuban government for starting her activities.

In 2009 U.S. President Barack Obama wrote that her blog “provides the world a unique window into the realities of daily life in Cuba” and applauded her efforts to “empower fellow Cubans to express themselves through the use of technology.” TIME magazine listed her as one of the World’s 100 Most Influential People, stating that “under the nose of a regime that has never tolerated dissent, Sánchez has practiced what paper-bound journalists in her country cannot: freedom of speech.” Foreign Policy magazine has named her one of the Top 100 Global Thinkers.  

She will be speaking at GMU on Tuesday, march 17, 2015 from 4:30pm - 6:15pm. RSVP here. 

I will be there to listen to a true hero, who can teach some lessons here in the US to some wanna-be "victims."

I also plan to give her a gift of a watercolor that I did in 1977 while I was a student at the University of Washington School of Art in Seattle, Washington. This piece was the second in a series of works all focused around the island of Cuba as a prison. It has followed me all over the planet and lived in Seattle, San Diego (CA), Spain, Monterey (CA), Bowie (MD) twice, Scotland, Sonoma (CA), Dumfries (VA), Media (PA), and Potomac (MD) thrice.
 

"Isla Prisión" (Prison Island)
Watercolor on Paper by F. Lennox Campello, c. 1977
2x4 inches

Hopefully, she will accept it and it will then live with a real life hero. 

New ceramics prof. at UDC

Artist Derek Thomas Hambly has just been appointed a professorship at the University of the District of Columbia (UDC) where he will teach ceramics and develop its arts program. Derek was one of the artists that helped the Washington Glass Studio create the DCCAH public artwork sculpture “Community Gateway“.

Check out the full article in East City Art here.