Landmarks: Washington Sculpture Group

The King Street Gallery presents work from the Washington Sculptors Group in Landmarks. The exhibit opens October 24, with a reception and gallery talk October 27. Dr. Claudia Rousseau, professor of art history at Montgomery College, curated the exhibition. 

Landmarks explores the concept of a landmark in all its possible meanings: from political landmarks to totems to moments of historical change. Montgomery College invited members of the Washington Sculptors Group to submit works that expressed this concept in sculpture. Dr. Rousseau curated the exhibition, choosing works based on a variety of interpretations of landmark. 

The Washington Sculptors Group (WSG) fosters the exchange of ideas among sculptors, collectors, and the public. The organization curates exhibitions in the DC area and beyond. WSG also organizes artists' panels, presentations, workshops, and social gatherings. WSG received the Mayor's Arts Award for Excellence in Service to the Arts in 2004. 

Exhibiting artists include Jan Paul Acton, c.l. bigelow, Alan Binstock, Nizette Brennan, Jacqui Crocett, Alonzo Davis, Joel D’Orazio, Kate Doyle, Jeffery Cooper, Annie Farrar, Martin Feldman, Mary Annella Mimi Frank, Marilyn Geldzahler, Linda Hesh, Penny Jacoby, Craig Kraft, Ruth Lozner, Rosemary Luckett, Gordon Lyon, Joan Mayfield, Kass McGowan, Rob Muir, Iris Posner, Christopher Romer, Mike Shaffer, Diane Szczepaniak, L. S. Watson, Roy Ysla, and Julie Zirlin. 

Landmarks: Washington Sculpture Group runs October 24–November 22 at the King Street Gallery. A gallery talk occurs October 27 from 5–6 p.m. A reception follows from 6–8 p.m. 

The event is located at the Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation Arts Center. For more information, visit http://cms.montgomerycollege.edu/arts-tpss/exhibitions/. 

Free and open to the public.

Cuban by Ancestry...

Below is the video that is embedded in my most recent video work...



As I usually do, I've used the "cracks" on the background wall to (employing the Navy's Falcon Codes) double encrypt a background message (also using Ogham)... more on the show later...

"Cuban by Ancestry, But American by the Grace of God."
Charcoal and Conte and Embedded Video. 18x24 inches, circa 2016.

"Cuban by Ancestry, But American by the Grace of God."
Charcoal and Conte and Embedded Video. 18x24 inches, circa 2016.

"Cuban by Ancestry, But American by the Grace of God."
Charcoal and Conte and Embedded Video. 18x24 inches, circa 2016.

"Cuban by Ancestry, But American by the Grace of God."
Charcoal and Conte and Embedded Video. 18x24 inches, circa 2016.

Opportunities for Artists

Deadline: Midnight, November 27, 2016.


Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art’s (MOCA) annual juried exhibition, New Waves 2017. Cash prizes awarded. Juror: Ken Harman is a curator and gallerist based in San Francisco, CA. He is the owner of two galleries, Hashimoto Contemporary and Spoke Art, which have locations in San Francisco and New York City. Previously, Harman was the online editor for Hi-Fructose Magazine where his writings appeared in multiple print and online features. Submissions currently open. 


Website: http://www.virginiamoca.org/new-waves-2017

Life imitating Art... or ripoff?

This is the most recent Lowe's ad on TV.


This is a still from that ad:

And this is a still from DMV artist Kathryn Cornelius' 2005 video "Resolve"

Life imitating art? Or Lowe's imitating Cornelius?


Just sayin'

PHOTO '16 at Multiple Exposures

October 2016 issue of Washingtonian magazine

“Curators from the Hirshhorn or National Gallery would rather take a cab to Dulles Airport to look at emerging artists in Berlin than they would take a cab to Adams Morgan to look at emerging artists here,” says Lennox Campello, an artist and former gallery owner. “They don’t do a good job of tending their own back garden.”

The current issue of Washingtonian magazine has a terrific article on ubercollectors Mera and Donald Rubell and the powerful impact they've had upon the DMV's art scene and the even more tectonic impact they're about to deliver with their plans for The Randall School:

The Rubells partnered with Telesis, a developer in DC, to buy the old school from the Corcoran for $6.5 million. Twenty percent of the apartments will be reserved for affordable housing, including live/work space for artists. The museum, which will occupy the Randall building, is to house part of the Rubells’ art collection. 

Says Telesis president Marilyn Melkonian: “It will be a total change and regeneration of that whole part of the neighborhood.”

Read the article by Brendan L. Smith here.

Studio space available

If you are a glass artists, and have always wanted a studio space to work on your glass, but didn't have room where you live, or didn't have a huge amount to invest in a giant glass studio.....then you might like the thought of becoming one of the studio artists at the Washington Glass School.


Your table/studio space runs $300 per month, and not only do you finally have a dedicated space for you to work in, but you also join a vibrant and successful community of glass artists and opportunities.


Details here.


3700 Otis Street, Mount Rainier, MD 20712202-744-8222
WashGlass.com

Two down and three to go!

This weekend we did both the Affordable Art Fair in NYC and the Texas Contemporary Art Fair in Houston (thank you Jodi Walsh for manning the booth in TX!).

Brutal work doing an art fair, but nearly always a benefit to an artist and to an art gallery.

Next?

SOFA in Chicago, CONTEXT Art Miami in Miami, and SCOPE Art Fair in Miami Beach!

Art Scam Alert!

Stay away from this scam artist:

From: dave@daveclemsonllc.com

Am interested in some of your products, do you ship to Switzerland and accept US issued credit card as payment?, you will contact my shipper who handles all of my shipment, they pick up the items at your location and deliver directly to my store doorstep without hassle.

Let me know if i can e-mail you what am interested in ordering.

Dave

Top picks for the Affordable Art Fair NYC

The Affordable Art Fair New York opened last Wednesday in Chelsea and runs through the weekend.

This popular art fair, versions of which run in multiple American and international cities, is clearly (based on my observations over many years) one of the key venues to acquire reasonably-priced art, both by new collectors as well as seasoned collectors looking for new talent.

I will also admit that this is one of my favorite art fairs on the planet: cool, trendy, well-organized, and superbly run.

As most seasoned art critics, artists, gallerists and art symbiots know, when you walk through art fairs over a period of years, in diverse cities and settings, often trends and connecting lines appear that are clearly obvious to the most casual observer.

The trend here this year seems to be an over abundance of pop art derivatives from artists all over the planet. There are also many artists, in all sorts of media and substrates, whom are rather effectively channeling the epic artists of the Washington Color School. There is stripe art everywhere, in every shape and form and drip factor!

There are also multiple flat brushes channeling Carmen Herrera minimalist style, which remained ignored though most of her life until the Brits "discovered" her work a few years ago, and suddenly the octogenarian became darling of the New York art scene (she's currently at The Whitney).

Warhol look-alikes are also all over the place, but this Warholian footprint is visible in every single art fair on the planet, from the most exclusive to the lowliest ABMB satellite fair.

Overall though, the fair remains a cornucopia of really good talent at very good prices, and AAFNYC continues to earn its reputation as a solid, good art fair for both emerging artists and emerging galleries. And it is also a place where we also always see some of the top blue chip galleries in the world showcase their new talent.

Here are some pieces that caught my eye:

Michele Mikesell ("Enmascarado" is depicted above) shows with DECORAZON, which has galleries in both London and New York. I was immediately attracted to her work, which reminded me a little of the DMV's Matt Sesow or the early work of Alabama's Michael Banks. Mikesell's wet sanding process delivers a beautifully crafted oil painting whose images are intelligent, disturbing and hypnotizing.

London Contemporary Art, obviously based in London, is showcasing the work of Michael Lukasiewicz, a very talented painter who could teach a lesson or two to the Washington Color School channellers about how a contemporary painter can stand on the shoulders of giants from the past and deliver something related, but fresh and new. Look at the way in his "Breathless" (acrylic and gesso on canvas) uses a little of Sam Gilliam's draped paintings color to offer a radical new approach to the use of color.

"Queen", depicted above, is from a series of gorgeous photographs by Dagmar Van Weeghel, represented by Amsterdam's The Public House of Art gallery. The power, presence and scale (very large photo) make an unforgettable impact from the very beginning. At the risk of revealing my childhood heroes, Conan The Barbarian is not too far from this powerful woman, and in some universe she might be his queen.

I also liked Marek Zya's sculptures with Carmel, Indiana gallery Evan Lurie, and the mixed media pieces by Ruben Ireland with NYC's CURIOOS gallery.

The fair is at the Met Pavilion in Chelsea and runs through Sunday.

"Tipping Point" finds a home in NYC

That's Alma Selimovic's "Tipping Point" being packed up and heading to the home of an NYC collector! We're at the Affordable Art Fair in NYC, booth 1.36

Wanna show your work in Miami?

 Update: All done with the below call...

We have an opportunity to sponsor an artist for a solo exhibition at the "public spaces" of the next Context Art Fair in Miami during Art Basel week. Context is the sister fair to Art Miami and in my opinion one of the top fairs during ABMB. It's the fair that we do each year!

Artist would be responsible for all logistics, costs, etc., and keeps 100% of all sales - we're just the sponsor... Anyone interested send me an email to lennycampello at hotmail dot com for all details...

Hurry! Will pick one person in next 24 hours!

In NYC #aafnyc

Whitney Museum of Art, one street over from my NYC hotel

Arrived at NYC after a surreal drive where I never slowed down all the way from Maryland, all the way through the empty Holland Tunnel, and eerily empty Manhattan backstreets... made it all the way to the hotel on Jane Street in 3.5 hours or so!

$60 bucks a day to park the gallery van across the street from the Met Pavillion, where the Fall edition of the Affordable Art Fair starts tomorrow!

The Affordable Art Fair, specifically designed and curated for those just beginning to collect art as well as seasoned collectors looking for emerging artists, is back in New York, from September 28th to October 2nd!

Van's packed

The van is packed, and we're heading to NYC later tonight - the Affordable Art Fair NYC opens tomorrow. We're featuring Lori Katz, Dulce Pinzon, Elissa Farrow-Savos and Alma Selimovic!


Come see us in booth 1.36.

Tipping Point
2016 by Alma Selimovic
110x60x75in
Welded steel, wire, copper patina, stone

We're going to the fair!

Lori Katz
Wall of Squares
55” x 45” x 2.5"

Stoneware with slips, underglaze, glaze, and mixed media including high-temperature wire,
oil paint, cold wax, metal leaf

You will be able to see this piece and many others works by DMV master ceramic artist Lori Katz in New York at the coming Affordable Art Fair. We will have works by Katz, Dulce Pinzon, Elissa Farrow-Savos, Alma Selimovic and The Lenster.

UUUUUUyyyyy!

Check out this call for artists....

If I was a politician.... then:

One side: This is a scandalous rip off designed to charge a huge commission (66%) to artists....

Other side: This is an opportunity for artists to support an arts organization via your artwork, while at the same time "seeding" your art through new collectors.

Everything has a ying and a yang, everything has two sides, for every action there's an equal, but opposite reaction.

Moral of the story? ====> Dogma in politics sucks! (Brought to you by a fine arts example...)

Cough, cough.... 

PS - I plan to participate and support this call.

Artomatic@Baltimore

CALL FOR ARTISTS

Artomatic@Baltimore

Artomatic is pleased to announce Artomatic@Baltimore as the first 

independently organized and licensed Artomatic event.

Artomatic@Baltimore 

is happy to announce the 

Call For Artists! 

 Be a part of the first ever 

Artomatic event of its kind to be held 

in Baltimore, within the historic 

Montgomery Park building 

November 4, 2016-December 10, 2016

Online registration began Monday, September 19th!

www.artomaticbaltimore.org

New Altar piece heading to Texas

The Affordable Art Fair is in New York City next week (send me a note if you'd like some passes). And the Texas Contemporary Art Fair is in Houston also next week and at the exact same time! (send me a note if you'd like some passes). 

In New York we will debut new work by Mexico's amazing photographer Dulce Pinzon and in Texas we will showcase her epic True Superheroes series. 

Also in NYC, there will be new work by the very talented Lori Katz, Elissa Farrow-Savos and Alma Selimovic!

In Texas we will also showcase work by the superbly gifted artists Jodi Walsh and Georgia Nassikas.

The below new piece is heading to Texas... it has several hundred digital files of artwork randomly selected from the web using Google Images and script that does random search on parameters such as "famous artist", etc. The digital image changes every five seconds.

“At the Altar of Modern Art" by F. Lennox Campello
2016. Charcoal, Conte and Embedded Electronics. 36 X 18

“At the Altar of Modern Art" by F. Lennox Campello
2016. Charcoal, Conte and Embedded Electronics. 36 X 18

“At the Altar of Modern Art" by F. Lennox Campello
2016. Charcoal, Conte and Embedded Electronics. 36 X 18

“At the Altar of Modern Art" by F. Lennox Campello
2016. Charcoal, Conte and Embedded Electronics. 36 X 18

“At the Altar of Modern Art" by F. Lennox Campello
2016. Charcoal, Conte and Embedded Electronics. 36 X 18

 

Opportunity in the other Washington

 Deadline for application: Monday, October 17, 2016

The City of Auburn is seeking artists and/or artist groups working in two-dimensional media to exhibit their work at three City of Auburn gallery spaces during 2017. Galleries are within City operated buildings including City Hall, Auburn Senior Center (Cheryl Sallee Gallery) and Community and Event Center. Artists and/or artists groups of diverse mediums are encouraged to apply, including but not limited to: paint, ink, pencil, mixed media, textiles, mosaic, glass, recycled materials, photography, calligraphy, collage, fiber art, etc.

Details here.

Opportunity for Artists

The City of Mountain View’s Visual Arts Committee is inviting artists and artist teams working in a variety of media to exhibit public art in the lobby of the Center for Performing Arts for the 2017 season.

This year the Visual Arts Committee is requiring a theme of Global Cultural Art. Global Cultural Art is described as how cultures and communities have defined and derived their art, art representitive of different cultures. All artwork must be able to be hung on the Center for Performing Arts system per the requirements listed under Installation on the Floor/Site Plan.
The rotating exhibits are approximately nine weeks in length and are viewed by thousands of people visiting downtown Mountain View and attending shows at the Center for Performing Arts. The Visual Arts Committee would like to encourage exhibits by all local professional artists residing in the 11 San Francisco Bay Area counties (Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, San Benito, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Solano and Sonoma) and, the City will provide insurance, installation and will offer a small stipend to help defray costs.

Apply here - No fees!