Art Scam Alert!

Beware of this mutant! It's a rip off scheme:

fayette Humel (fayette.humel@outlook.com)

Hello,
I am emailing to inquire about availability of artwork for sale in your gallery/inventory, if you can ship international and also if you are able to process Visa and Master Card for payment.
Let me know so that i can communicate with you on the artworks that interest me then you can also indicate to me which of the arts are sold and which are available on your website furthermore you can respond with your recently updated website.
I will be looking forward to reading from you soon.
Sincerely
Mrs Humel

"Art Heist" from a Taco Bell

This is what happens when you get the munchies...

On the curious case of Montgomery College and Greenfest

As I noted late last night and updated this morning, the potential censorship situation at Montgomery College has been avoided because of the college's administration refusal to censor the show (this art program goes back to 1974).

A Bravo Zulu to Montgomery College for taking the difficult, but correct road. However, I remain very concerned about what this says about the organization that requested and then demanded the censorship and the County Executive's Office willingness to give in to that kind of ignorance.

I will be formally requesting that my Councilmember, Roger Berliner, investigate this issue and ensure that there are no future reprisals against Montgomery College.

Update: The Gazette's article on this issue here.

The copy that wasn't

A new Peter Paul Rubens painting has been discovered, and it's a castoff from New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Ben van Beneden, director of Antwerp's Rubenshuis, has now declared Portrait of a Young Girl, possibly Clara Serena Rubens to be authentic...

Details here.

MAP's Out of Order

Out Of Order 2015 | April 24, 2015

Maryland Art Place's Annual Spring Benefit, Silent Auction & Party!

Out Of Order (OOO), one of Maryland Art Place's most popular annual events, is just one month away!!! MAP is pleased to present this iconic, annual fundraising event at 218 West Saratoga Street in its newly renovated gallery. OOO is a one-night-only event that provides a space for hundreds of artists to hang their work wherever they please, covering the walls from floor to ceiling! As many as 500 guests filter in and out of Out of Order to view and bid on a wide range of artworks. OOO plays host to a variety of artists from students and emerging artists just getting their start in Baltimore’s creative sector, to established professionals.

 

Tickets are available for purchase through MissionTix | $45 pre-sale or $50 at the door. Ticket purchase includes an evening of music, body art by Abby Fitzgibbon, plentiful desserts, beer by Union Craft Brewing and admission to the After Party @ Current Space from 10 - midnight with DJ John Eaton.

Want to be an OOO Sponsor, call 410.962.8565 or send an inquiry to: assistant@mdartplace.org

We Need Your Art! Artist Install Day
Tuesday, April 21 | 7AM - midnight
 

MAP needs artwork to fill the walls! Out Of Order is open to any all artists willing to install their own pieces. Installation day is April 21, 2015 from 7am - midnight. Installation is on a first-come-first-serve basis.

Only one piece per artist permitted. (**Works larger than 40" x 40" will not be permitted) No reservation required, just show up, register, pay your $10 entry fee & find your wall space!

Please read the FAQs for more details

Did Ike Leggett just attempt to censor an art exhibit at MontgomeryCollege?

I am told that allegedly the Chief Executive of Montgomery County has (so far successfully) pressured Montgomery College to censor an art exhibit in the school's Open Gallery. The exhibit is entitled Cindi Hron: Back Pain, and "explores the lingering psychological affects of pain through watercolors and embroidery of abstracted bodies." The Open Gallery is located in the Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation Arts Center, and is run by the department of Visual and Performing Arts.

Parts of the exhibit may/will be censored tomorrow, March 28 during the Montgomery County GreenFest event being held at the college. GreenFest runs 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on the West Campus of Montgomery College's Takoma Park and Silver Spring Campus.

I am also told that on Wednesday evening, March 25, the GreenFest " administration" requested that the exhibit in the Open Gallery be removed for their event. Vice president and Provost Brad Stewart correctly responded on Thursday that the artwork would not be removed because Montgomery College does not condone censorship, and the Open Gallery is a professional exhibit space hosting an external artist (good for him!). As the GreenFest occurs during gallery open hours, Dr. Stewart apparently saw no way to remove the exhibition without damaging the gallery's and the college's reputation.

However, apparently the administration of the GreenFest then contacted Montgomery County Chief Executive Ike Leggett with their complaint. Allegedly Leggett in turn then contacted administrators above Dr. Stewart and allegedly told them to censor the Back Pain exhibit. Faced by this request from the Chief Executive during a budgetary review cycle, the college administration seems to be considering backing down (according to my source) "for fear of budgetary reprisal." Upper level administration then allegedly directed Dr. Stewart to ensure that Cindi Hron: Back pain is censored during tomorrow's GreenFest event. As of this blog post, a final decision by Dr. Stewart has not yet been released. However, short of a gutsy push-back on the college's part, the exhibition may/will be censored

This is all the information that I have currently and as such, I am also contacting Vice President and Provost Brad Stewart (brad.stewart@montgomerycollege.edu, 240-567-1312) and also Siobhan Quinn (siobhan.quinn@montgomerycollege.edu, 240-567-5794), whom as the Director of the Cultural Arts Center would have the most information on this topic. For the gallery's perspective, I have contacted Maureen Kohl (maureen.kohl@montgomerycollege.edu, 240-567-1393), Art Center and Gallery Coordinator, and Wilfred Brunner (wilfred.brunner@montgomerycollege.edu, 240-567-1461), Professor and Chair of the Exhibition Committee.

If this is all true, and however it ends, this is not only reprehensible and unacceptable, but once again reveals why the American people are so disillusioned with most of our elected officials. If "Democrat" Leggett, Chief Commissar of the Soviet Socialist Republic of Montgomery County did indeed pressure Montgomery College to censor the exhibition, his alleged art censorship is now on a direction that puts it on a dangerous path to potentially join a notorious set of political art troglodytes that include such monsters as Hitler, Stalin, Mao, Castro, the fig-leaf painters of a few centuries ago, and many such other "leaders."  And if the GreenFest leadership did initiate the pressure, it also says something about that organization... doesn't it?

If any of the people that I have/will be contacting can add any further info to this issue, I will publish it here.

Update: (Saturday AM): I now have final word on what's happening. Apparently the college administrators stood their ground against censorship, so the Greenfest decided to pull out of the Cafritz Arts Center entirely rather than having exhibitors near the Back Pain exhibit. Greenfest is now being held in the Cultural Arts Center and Jessup Blair Park only, not in the Cafritz Arts Center.

In defense of Jessica Dawson

Yesterday I noted the mess that former WaPo art critic Jessica Dawson is in due to her recent review of an African-American artist, where she's being accused of being a racist.

Jessica Dawson is not a racist. Her art criticism is almost always negative, often offensive, very snarky and she's unable to give an artistic positive compliment without doing it in a backhanded manner. That, unfortunately for the DC area artists whom she used to review in the Washington Post for years, is a known fact (see here for my empirical evidence). She was once even kicked out of a DC gallery and prohibited from ever entering again! 

This critic is one who, when she departed the Post, noted that over the years she "wised up and recognized that there are kinder ways of saying "shape up" than likening art to "a dental hygienist scaling your tartar with a metal pick."

I seem to also recall when she once compared someone's artwork to "looking at a fat lady's butt" ... 

DC artists will also tell you that she hates realism... She once wrote: "Anyone in the art world will tell you: Realism has been done. Remember those cave painters back in 15,000 B.C.? Could those guys render a bison or what?" 

Her Art History background and depth of knowledge was also questioned often, as a few of her reviews had jaw-dropping art history errors... But a racist? Not a chance... She's simply an equal opportunity Debbie Downer art scribe, and I will always defend, even as I may disagree, for her right to write a negative art review about anyone, regardless of race, and in this case, I think that Jillian Steinhauer is not only showing her youth, but also her formation, and unfortunately using the "race card" in the wrong place, something that she's probably learned due to the ubiquitous use of that card by nearly everyone these days.

Call for Graffiti and Aerosol Mural Artists

REQUEST FOR QUALIFICATIONS 

The DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities (DCCAH) in collaboration with the DC Department of Public Works (DPW) seeks graffiti artists and artist teams to design, create and install aerosol murals that inspire the various communities in which they will be placed. Selected artists will be required to work with the young apprentices (ages 14-23) by introducing and refining each student's artistic skill in the discipline of graffiti style sketch work and aerosol mural painting. 

  

MuralsDC was created to replace illegal graffiti with artistic works, to revitalize sites within communities in the District of Columbia, and to teach young people the art of aerosol painting. This initiative aims to positively engage the District's youth by teaching proper professional art techniques, providing supplies, and a legal means to practice and perform their artistic skill in a way that promotes respect for public and private property and community awareness. 

  

The three platforms on which the MuralsDC project is based are: 

• Illegal Graffiti Abatement 
• Youth Outreach 
• Community Revitalization 

There are more than 50 MuralsDC projects across the District. Each mural tells a unique story of DC's diverse neighborhoods while deterring further illegal graffiti. 

  

ELIGIBILITY 

This commission is open to Graffiti and Aerosol Mural Art Artists and Artist Teams.
 

All Artists must: 

• Be 18 years of age or older. 
• Have Graffiti and or Aerosol Mural Art experience. 
• Be a practicing professional. 
• Be in good standing with the MuralsDC program.
• Be record free.

*Preference will be given to District of Columbia Artists. 

  

BUDGET & PAYMENTS 

Depending on site dimensions, the total budget for each mural will range from $3,000 to $13,500. 

• The mural budget must include all artist fees and costs associated with design, fabrication, travel, transportation to the site, insurance, permits, installation, graffiti protective coating, working with young people and documentation of the artwork. 

• The overall project budget includes the artist's design fees, compensation and travel expenses, all materials and fabrication costs, shipping and transportation of materials to the site, preparation of mural site, installation of the artwork, application of protective coating, and any applicable taxes and/or insurance. 

• Payments will be made directly to Final Artists. Principals and fiscal agents of any kind are prohibited. 

Funds under this program may not be used to fund colleges, universities, or other government agencies. 

  

TENTATIVE PROJECT SCHEDULE  

DATE	ACTIVITY
May 1, 2015	Application Deadline
Mid May 2015	Application Review Roster / Semi-Finalist Selections Notifications Issued
Late May 2015	Final Artist Selections Notifications Issued
Late may 2015	Site Assignments
Early- Mid June 2015	Mural Concept Designs Begin
Mid- Late June 2015	Final Approval of Mural Designs
July 2015	Mural Installations Begin
Early Fall 2015	Program Dedication / Culminating Event

 

APPLICATION DEADLINE 

Friday, May 1, 2015 

All materials must be received no later than 4:00 PM. 

This is not a postmark deadline. Incomplete or late applications will not be considered. 

APPLICATION 

To obtain a copy of the prospectus and application, please visit dcarts.dc.gov

FOR MORE INFORMATION 

Call 202-724-5613 or email Keona.Pearson@dc.gov

Original Mujertees at auction

Signed vintage prints from my "Mujertrees" series have sold at auction as high as $500... this 1992 original piece is opening at Ebay for less than $150 bucks!!!

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!

Bid for it here.

Holy crap! Jessica's in trouble!

Former WaPo freelance galleries art critic Jessica Dawson is in serious kimchi because of this review (I didn't even know that Jessica was still writing art reviews!).

And while Dawson's style of art criticism has a vast and serious set of negative critical issues associated with it (as I've often documented in this blog while she was a freelance art critic for the WaPo), and while The Dawsinator was (and maybe remains) a very thin-skinned recipient of return fire, and because I've met and had a lot of personal interaction with Dawson while she was the WaPo's main gallery art critic, one fact that I can say with a very high degree of assurance, is that her art criticism is not based on racism, as many people now claim because of this review.

As this blog entry is written, there are 124 comments debating Jessica (is she a racist or not, or just a bad art critic???)

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

---

Published in the Potomac News and Dimensions Magazine

---

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

---

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!