Artists sue AI art generators over copyright infringement

A group of artists — Sarah Andersen, Kelly McK­er­nan, and Karla Ortiz — have filed a class-action lawsuit against Midjourney and Stability AI, companies behind AI art tools Midjourney and Stable Diffusion, and DeviantArt, which recently launched its own artificial intelligence art generator, DreamUp.

The suit alleges that these companies “violated the rights of millions of artists” by using billions of internet images to use train its AI art tool without the “consent of artists and without compensating any of those artists.” These companies “benefit commercially and profit richly from the use of copyrighted images,” the suit alleges. “The harm to artists is not hypothetical,” the suit says, noting that works created by generative AI art are “already sold on the internet, siphoning commissions from the artists themselves.”

Read the full article here. 

Dora Patin

As I noted earlier this week, this March, we will return to our 17th year in a row (less the year of the attack of the Covidian monster) to the Affordable Art Fair in New York City, we're bringing in a whole new group of artists from the DMV, most of whom I first met via their artwork when I juried the 2022 Paint the Town event in the pretty area of downtown Kensington, Maryland.

Let me repeat myself: jurying any art show always exposes the juror to new talent, and when I juried this show, as 2022 Paint the Town I often do, I selected some of my fave artists to bring to NYC for an art fair.  In my mind we wanted to "curate" a booth for the fair that showcased realist work at its best. Booth curation is a somewhat subjective process (pun intended).

And one of my prizewinners (in fact the Best in Show winner!) Dora Patin is coming to NYC with us in booth D-10 at the fair!

I think that Patin is a painting prodigy.  She has only been painting for a handful of years, and yet her trompe l'oeil paintings are breathtaking in their ability to fool the eye. She's yet another great testimony to the teaching skills of Glen Kessler at The Compass Atelier.

Note the facility in delivering one of the hardest subjects to fool the eye: paper. 

In this new series focusing on cards, Patin flexes her painting skills to deliver superb work that not only fools the eye, but also subtly reminds us that it is a painting.  These are opposite goals on the horizon of an artist as he/she commences a new work, and yet, in these works she accomplishes both of them easily. This is sooooo hard to do, and yet she accomplishes it with deceptive ease.

The Optimist by Dora Patin
c. 2023, 5x7 inches, oil on panel

Monarch by Dora Patin
5x7 inches - Oil on Panel c. 2023 

Luck or Skill? by Dora Patin
c. 2023, 12x12 inches, oil on panel

Patin's works will be in booth D-10 at the Affordable Art Fair New York City, March 22-26 in Chelsea.

Jennifer Kahn Barlow

As I noted earlier, this March, we will return to our 17th year in a row (less the year of the attack of the Covidian monster) to the Affordable Art Fair in New York City, we're bringing in a whole new group of artists from the DMV, most of whom I first met via their artwork when I juried the 2022 Paint the Town event in the pretty area of downtown Kensington, Maryland.

Let me repeat myself: jurying any art show always exposes the juror to new talent, and when I juried this show, as I often do, I selected some of my fave artists to bring to NYC for an art fair.  In my mind I wanted to "curate" a booth for the fair that showcased realist work at its best. Booth curation is a somewhat subjective process (pun intended).

And one of my prizewinners is coming to NYC: Jennifer Kahn Barlow! She is "an oil painter inspired by food.  She is stirred by vibrant, texturally dynamic, and unique cuisine, which leads much of her subject matter to be of confectionary, the gooier and more colorful the better."

She is that... but what Kahn Barlow truly is goes beyond that - she's a master artist who elevates and transforms the visual aspect of food to the visual beauty of food as only a well-executed work of art can do. 

Blossom Stack by Jennifer Kahn Barlow

In Blossom Stack there are three stacks of color disguised as macaroons... the brushwork comes through first and foremost - it's a painting first and a painting about dessert second.  At the risk of repeating myself: Only a really good artist can elevate the mundane to the sublime through the gift of art!

Kahn Barlow's works will be in booth D-10 at the Affordable Art Fair New York City, March 22-26 in Chelsea.

Jennifer Lynn Beaudet

I was at Strathmore yesterday to review the Compass Atelier show on the second floor - amazing show. The review will be in the next issue (February) of the Crier Media Newspapers.

I first came across Jennifer Lynn Beaudet’s work at the Paint the Town event last year which was my honor to jury -- as I recall she was an honorable mention winner at that show.

Her work at Strathmore is amongst the best in a show where there is not a single bad painting.

This artist has that hard-to-describe ability to capture the human essence of her subjects in paint. 

Connections - 24x24 oil on canvas by Jennifer Lynn Beaudet

That sentence is so easy to write and so immensely difficult to deliver on canvas. Her human subjects in two dimensions of paint are able to transmit visual clues and nuances that help to decipher and understand something individual about them.  

This is an exceptional gift that few artists have in such abundance as this artist does, and she flexes this gift via her artistic muscles in nearly every work in this show!

Big Warrior Goddess at Strathmore

I was at Strathmore today to review the Compass Atelier show on the second floor.  On the main floor, the O Street Studios artists had their own show, and this terrific print by Kimberly King caught my eye.

Kimberly King - Big Warrior Goddess

Seen at Strathmore Mansion

I was at Strathmore today to review the Compass Atelier show on the second floor.  On the main floor, the O Street Studios artists had their own show, and this this wall of striking abstract work by Cianne Fragione caught my eye.

Cianne Fragione at Strathmore 

Go to this opening tonight

The Compass Atelier has what I consider the best artist schooling in the DMV -- better in fact that all the major Universities in our area.  That's a big statement to make, but it comes from me, and thus I am ready to back it up as needed.

Want proof? Then go tonight to the opening of the first of two thesis exhibitions at the beautiful Strathmore Mansion galleries on Rockville Pike.  

I plan to visit the show and write about it.  The Mansion's galleries are at 10701 Rockville Pike in North Bethesda/Rockville, MD 20852 within walking distance of the Metro stop by the same name and with plenty of free parking.

MASTER ARTIST PROGRAM - THESIS EXHIBITIONS (GROUP 1)

JANUARY 14-FEBRUARY 11, 2023

ARTISTS RECEPTION: THURS, JAN 19  7-10PM

SUZI BALAMACI

JENNIFER LYNN BEAUDET

ANNE BROONER

SHEILA HADLEY

KARA LIN

CHRISTINE MERRY

ROB PEARLMAN

DEBORAH POLLACK

SAMEER SHARMA

MICHAEL SCHOPPMAN

SOPHIE SPENCER

DIANNE STEWART

ANDREA VAN DEN HEEVER

Amanda Coelho

This March, as we return to our 17th year in a row (less the year of the attack of the Covidian monster) to the Affordable Art Fair in New York City, we're bringing in a whole new group of artists from the DMV, most of whom I first met via their artwork when I juried the 2022 Paint the Town event in the pretty area of downtown Kensington, Maryland.

Jurying any art show always exposes the juror to new talent, and when I juried this show, as I often do, I selected some of my fave artists to bring to NYC for an art fair.  In my mind I wanted to "curate" a booth for the fair that showcased realist work at its best.

One of them is the superbly talented Amanda Coelho.

Coelho has only been painting since 2018, and thus in artistic developmental years, she's still a baby, but a baby with formidable crawling skills, and one who can already wield brush superpowers which emerge here and there in several of her works.

A Bear Necessity by Amanda Coelho

In "A Bear Necessity", she lets the color (green in this case) tell the entire narrative of the work. In doing so, with just the barest hint of white highlights, she not only illuminates the subject gummy bear, but creates the depth and illusion of depth in the painting.  She has accomplished what only a good painting can do: deliver a most common and trivial subject to the sublime status afforded by a good painting.

See it again on another trivial subject, a chocolate kiss, now forever immortalized as a spectacular triumph of painting skills over subject matter.

A Kiss is just a Kiss by Amanda Coelho

Coelho's works will be in booth D-10 at the Affordable Art Fair New York City, March 22-26 in Chelsea.

Call for artists

Click on the image for details!

Congrats to Meg Medina

The Library of Congress and Every Child a Reader will soon announce the appointment of Cubana author Meg Medina, who lives in Virginia, as the next National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature for 2023-24. 

Medina, who is of Cuban ancestry  will be the first Latina to serve as the national ambassador!

Congrats Meg!!!!

Ally Morgan

The more that I look at Ally Morgan's works, the more that I like the hints of narrative in these wonderful watercolors. We will be bringing some of these works to New York for the Spring version of the Affordable Art Fair.

The ones below are from my fave series from her current work. She calls these series Concerning the Divide.

"Among the Wolves" by Ally Morgan
Watercolor on Paper, 30x22 c. 2020

"Girls" by Ally Morgan
Watercolor on Paper, 19x12, c. 2016

She writes about this work:

Is there a point where animal ends and human begins? Western philosophy suggests that the being known as “Animal” is forever positioned on the complete opposite side of the divide; a divide that reassures “Man” as superior. But, is that divide permeable? I would say yes. Nonhuman animals, especially those species that interact with us transcend that divide on a daily basis. Not human yet not animal, these species occupy a new type of existence. They are instead referred to as “Other”.

In my art, I explore the concept of the “Animal Other” as well as my relationship with them. Animals are not just beings of beauty and awe, but rather rich, complex, knowing individuals. As an artist, I feel compelled to reconstruct the human, nonhuman animal relationship as well explore our experiences with those of other species in order to examine the deep symbiotic relationship between all living creatures.

Ally Morgan's works will be in booth D-10 at the Affordable Art Fair New York City, March 22-26 in Chelsea.

Adam Bradley opening

I went to the Adam Bradley opening at the Stone Tower Gallery in Glen Echo - more on the spectcaular work by Bradley later - meanwhile that's me with Erik Sandberg and Adam Bradley... and yes, they're both pretending to be my height!

Erik Sandberg, Lenny Campello and Adam Bradley

Wanna go to an opening tonight?

Adam Bradley is without a doubt one of the most talented sculptors in the DMV, and one who seems to be under the radar for many - NOT for me! This artist is easily one of the most creative manipulators of objects to deliver images that challenge the perceptions of sculpture.

If you go to an opening this year - come with me tonight to Bradley's solo show opening at Glen Echo's Stone Tower Gallery in historic Glen Echo Park... The exhibition is titled "Furies: Within the Wilderness" and it is from 6-8PM.

Adam Bradley

Within the Wildness  |  January 14 - February 19, 2023

Stone Tower Gallery Hours: Saturdays & Sundays, 12 pm – 6 pm

Opening Reception: Saturday, January 14, 6 - 8 pm

The Stone Tower Gallery presents Within the Wildness, a solo exhibition by sculptor Adam Bradley. Bradley's current body of work deals with the isolation of anxiety and the loneliness of grief.  The characters struggle to maintain identity while trying to find reason in a world that no longer makes sense. Some cling desperately to a thread of self, while others have given in, letting go of logic to cope with a situation they cannot control.  They are at the same time vulnerable and predatory, innocent and savage.  Within the wildness, there is tender fragility, a sliver of hope so delicate it could crumble apart leaving nothing but fear and instinct.

7300 MacArthur Blvd.   

Glen Echo, MD 20812  

Phone: (301)634-2222

Closings: (301)320-2330

info@glenechopark.org

Call for Art for Global Climate Summit

Eligibility: National

State: District of Columbia

Entry Deadline: 1/27/23

Days remaining to deadline: 10

More info here

The U.S. Global Change Research Program, in collaboration with Smithsonian Institution, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the National Science Foundation, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, invites artists to engage in the development of the Fifth National Climate Assessment by creatively visualizing climate change in the United States: its causes, impacts, and manifestations; our shared vulnerabilities; and the strength of our collective response.

Art x Climate seeks to strengthen partnerships between science and art and demonstrate the power of art to advance the national conversation around climate change. Up to 100 selected art submissions will be featured in the Fifth National Climate Assessment, a report seen by hundreds of thousands of people across the country and around the world. Selected artworks may also be used in case studies or public events. The top finalist will receive $1000 for their submission. A second finalist will receive $600.

Bookmaking 101: Making a Soft Cover Sketchbook

From Washington Printmakers Gallery:

Bookmaking 101 Making a Soft Cover Sketchbook with Arthur Kohn Friday, February 10, 2023 3:00-6:00 pm

Make Your own sketchbook with mixed media pages and a marbled softcover. Learn to fold and bind a text block and attach a marbled sumi paper cover. Although this sketchbook will be bound with blank watercolor pages the same process can be applied to pre-printed pages as well. Take a bone folder and roll of waxed thread home with your final book for future bookbinding projects!  This workshop or Bookmaking 101 are prerequisites for Bookmaking 201 to be offered in March. Click here to sign up through Eventbrite the cost is $130, all materials included class size 5-15, masks optional Arthur's Instagram

A Rainy Weekend, Elvis, and a Harbor Called Gig

We’re airborne as I wrote this somewhat odd and unusual column, sitting in row 21 of a 737, which puts us right over the wings. The roar of the engines drowning everything else out, and I think about that fact that the sound produced by the mighty Boeing is now and always a perennial part of the universe, traveling in all directions forever, perhaps to be picked up by alien and faraway sensors, who will perhaps also wonder as to the origin of such mighty sounds.

Read about my recent trek to the Great Pacific Northwest here - I suspect that you'll enjoy the writing.

Call for artists: National Art Competition

Click on the image for details!

John Grazier

DC area artist John Grazier died at the end of December in Pennsylvania as reported in this excellent obit by Emily Langer in the Washington Post.

John Grazier, an artist who at times lived homeless even as his works were housed at galleries and museums in Washington and beyond, his slanted depictions of Victorian houses, Greyhound buses and empty phone booths beckoning viewers into worlds at once familiar and strange, has died at 76.

He was found dead at his home in Shamokin, Pa., on Dec. 28 and was believed to have died the previous day of a heart attack, said his daughter Rebecca Grazier. He had spent much of his professional career in Washington before settling in Pennsylvania approximately two decades ago.

Although as far as I can recall I never met Grazier personally, I corresponded electronically with him multiple times over the years.  He was an immensely talented artist and draftsman, and an acute and observant critic of other artists artwork! He writes to me in an email on October 10, 2009:

Nice drawing of Christ.  I generally do not criticize other artists' works, but don't you think Christ might have looked more like a skinny, abused Jew, rather than a muscular Schwartzenegger?  It is a very nicely done drawing.  Keep up the good work, your great hand in creating artworks, and also your significant contributions as a journalist.

I am not going to repeat all the points made by Langer in the WaPo obit, but now let us observe how the art world - mostly the DC artwork "discovers" Grazier after his death.  By the way, not sure how Langer missed the fact that Grazier was and is represented (for many years) in the DC area by Zenith Gallery.

Dalhousie Arch

This is "Dalhousie Arch, Edzell, Angus, Scotland." 

It's from around 1990 and one of the many ink drawings of the arch that I did while stationed at NSGA Edzell. 

It has been part of the US Navy art collection since then. 

"Dalhousie Arch, Edzell, Angus, Scotland"

After the base closed, it hung at the old CNSG... it is now hanging at Fleet Cyber Command/US TENTH Fleet in Fort Meade.

Upcoming exhibition: wanna go to an opening this Friday?

Ubertalented Adam Griffiths recently opened a new Comics and Cartooning Arts arts compound / workshop / gallery in downtown Silver Spring called DWIGHTMESS.

Here's the info about the show:

D W I G H T MESS

Cartooning & Comic Arts Compound

Upcoming exhibition: Art Hondros: CHIMERA POLITICK - examines creativity through the symbolic language of #comics and #cartooning when the same artist makes both political and surreal narratives for publication.

When: NEXT FRIDAY the 13th at the gallery in Silver Spring, 6-8pm, light refreshments [Address listed on map, entrance on Ripley St.]. :: IG: @dwightmess