On Saturday, Star Wars always wins

I continue to sell lots of the Bisque pieces, and all the other artists in the booth (Cory Oberdornfer, Jeannette Herrera and Elissa Farrow-Savos) are also selling well.

Sold both of my two largest works - one from the "Sleep is the Cousin of Death" series and "Suddenly, she wasn't afraid any longer" (one of my "Obsessive" series) to a very lovely lady from Brooklyn.

Suddenly, she wasn't afraid any longer
2022 Mixed Media painting by F. Lennox Campello

Wanna know about the obsessions? Read this review by Dr. Rousseau.  

Also, these critics have written specifically about the obsessive imagery of "Suddenly, she wasn't afraid any longer."  Read Prescovia Wilson here and Hope Harrison here.

At the end of the fair, and after several days on my feet at the booth at the Affordable Art Fair, I usually walk the two blocks to the Chelsea Inn and crash and go to sleep right away -- tonight, this was on... so of course I had to stay up and watch it!

 

A walk around the booth at AAFNYC

 

Fair opens to the public

Today the fair officially opened to the public and once again it was packed! Happy to report that the Bisque drawings keep selling like crazy - I've even sold several to other gallery owners and artists at the fair. This is a special honor for me.

 

Affordable Art Fair NYC - The VIP Preview

I worked my ass off hanging amazing work by Herrera and Farrow-Savos (and mine), while the superbly talented Cory Oberndorfer hung his great paintings on the back wall of our booth... by four o'clock I was done, walked over to my tiny room at the Chelsea Inn, showered and headed back for the VIP Preview.

Once the doors opened, the crowds flow in, and my drawings on Bisque are selling like... sorry... hot cakes! And to my horror I discover that I have left my credit card reader in my hotel... and that means that every sale has to be entered manually (which means that fucking Paypal charges you a little "extra"). 

A couple of times there's actually a back-up! They are selling really, really good.

Affordable Art Fair NYC - The drive

Fair Ops for 2022 - drove to NYC today and unloaded at the loading dock of the Met Pavilion on 19th Street West with the usual union guys sitting around chewing the shit - three fat Italian guys, a couple of hardworking PRs and a Dominican or two -- no one really "working" but, then... it is NYC.

I unload boxes of artwork and store them away as I can't really set up until tomorrow.

Once unloaded, I park in the parking garage on 18th Street that weirdly enough doesn't really show up on any parking map - the South American dude who's been working there for years knows me well by now.

I almost have a heart attack walking my luggage over to the Chelsea Inn... there's a lot of weight being dragged and carried... my room is the size of my bed, but at least there's a tiny fridge and a shower and toilet! That alone is worth the almost thousand bucks - and it's only a couple of blocks from the fair.

Here's the van - all packed before the long drive to NYC.

Opportunity for Artists: Trawick Prize

The Bethesda Arts & Entertainment District is inviting local artists to submit work to the annual Trawick Prize Awards

This exceptional juried art competition awards $14,000 in prizes to four selected winners. The deadline for submissions is Monday, April 25, 2022. Up to eight finalists will be chosen to display their work at Bethesda’s Gallery B in September 2022.

The competition will be juried by Alexis Assasm, Assistant Curator of Global Contemporary Art, Virginia Museum of Fine Art; Thomas James, Visual Arts Curator, Creative Alliance, Baltimore, MD, and Maria del Carmen Montoya, Assistant Professor of Sculpture and Spatial Practices, Director of Graduate Studies, M.F.A. in Fine Arts and Social Practice, Studio Arts Program, Corcoran School of the Arts and Design.

Submission requirements:

• Artists must be 18 years of age or older
• Residents of Maryland, Virginia, or Washington, D.C.
• All original 2-D and 3-D fine art including painting, drawing, photography, sculpture, fiber art, digital, mixed media, and video will be accepted
• The maximum dimension should not exceed 96 inches in any direction. No reproductions.
• Artwork must have been completed within the last two years and must be available for the duration of the exhibition.
• Selected artists must deliver their artwork to the exhibit site in Bethesda, MD.
• Each artist must submit five images, an application, and a non-refundable entry fee of $25.

The first-place winner will be awarded $10,000; second place will be honored with $2,000 and third place will be awarded $1,000. A “young” artist whose birth date is after February 22, 1990, may also be awarded $1,000.

Artists can apply online or download an application at https://www.bethesda.org/bethesda/trawick-prize. For information on the Bethesda Painting Awards, visit www.bethesda.org or call 301-215-6660.

Innovate Grants

The deadline for Innovate Grant's Winter Cycle is Thursday March 24 2022, have you applied yet? Now is the perfect time to share your work, so why wait?

Innovate Grant awards (2) $550.00 grants each quarter, to one Visual Artist and one Photographer. In addition, (4) honorable mentions (2 in art and 2 in photo), will be featured and recognized on our website and join a growing community of vibrant and talented artists. Innovate Grant's commitment extends beyond the grant cycle by promoting the work of selected winners and honorable mentions into the future. They've simplified the grant process, so that artists and photographers can focus on making their innovative work. The work should speak for itself and our application reflects that.

How to Apply:

All media and genres are accepted. All applicants (visual artists and photographers) 18+ years and older, from all around the world, are eligible to apply. All applicants retain the right to the work they submit. Apply today at https://innovateartistgrants.org

Explore the work of Past Innovate Grant recipients and Read their Interviews at https://innovateartistgrants.org

Category: Multiple disciplines and genres accepted

Deadline: March 24, 2022

Region: US & International

Awards: $550.00 USD Grants

Apply Online Today

https://innovateartistgrants.org

Phoenix Art Museum

I am thrilled to find out that this 1980 mixed media piece from my "Cuba" series is now part of the Phoenix Art Museum permanent collection!

Isla Prision - from Cuba series
1980 mixed media by Florencio Lennox Campello

At Gallery B in April

Captivating, vibrant landscapes by oil painters Jennifer Howard and Kathleen Byrnes will be on display at Gallery B throughout April. The gallery welcomes back Jennifer and Kathleen who will present their exhibit, “Color + Light,” from April 6 – May 1, 2022. The show will be open Wednesdays – Saturdays 12-6pm and Sundays, April 24 and May 1, 12-5pm. Gallery B is located at 7700 Wisconsin Avenue, Suite E, Bethesda, MD - at the original second site of the legendary Fraser Gallery.

Jennifer Howard

Jennifer Howard, a painter and graphic designer, strives to convey a textural quality in her work. She applies the paint honestly and emotionally, creating layers of color with an emphasis on capturing light. A lover of the outdoors, Jennifer has always had a need to connect with nature and found great fulfillment in plein air painting. She relishes painting in the moment and absorbing nature in all its power. Her love of nature bloomed during her childhood in the Hudson Valley and many trips to the Adirondack Mountains of New York, but after more than 30 years in Washington, D.C., much of her inspiration comes from the surrounding local area. Jennifer has a Bachelor of Science in graphic design from SUNY College of Buffalo and has also studied at the University of Siena, Italy; Corcoran College of Art and Yellow Barn Studio.

Kathleen Byrnes

As a plein air artist, Kathleen Byrnes paints with quick but studied expression as she interprets the scenes with a signature palette. Her works explore the light and structure and unique perspectives of destinations throughout Washington, D.C. the countryside of Virginia and Maryland, as well as the inlets, towns and marshlands of Southern New Jersey. Painting in both oil and pastel, her goal is to express the soul of the landscape, whether the site is natural or manmade. Her work has been informed and influenced by the challenge of mastering both the intellectually controlled mark and the emotionally and physically expressed mark. Her painting has earned her several awards. She has exhibited in both solo and group shows and her work also appears in private collections.

Re-Reading the News: Black Women Stewarding Cultural Memory

Afro Charities presents Re-Reading the News: Black Women Stewarding Cultural Memory, with Imani Haynes, Deyane Moses, Alexis Ojeda-Brown and Angela Rodgers-Koukoui this Thursday, March 31st from 6-7:30pm at Eubie Blake National Jazz & Cultural Center. 

According to the Society of American Archivists, only 3% of archivists identify as Black. Come learn from a panel of Black women cultural memory workers about how their identities inform their work, what collections they steward, and what practical tips they can offer for exploring a career as an archivist, or in adjacent fields.

Click here to sign up.

Hamiltonian Artists and East City Art Partner to Present Essays on Art

Two of the DMV's key art scene power players, East City Art and Hamiltonian Artists, have partnered to present Essays on Art, an online publication series dedicated to promoting critical writing on visual art in the area. Each commissioned essay will be penned by a different author and focus on the work of Hamiltonian Fellows. Essays on Art serves as a public record to document the dynamic arts scene and to support writers with paid assignments. The essays will be co-published on the Hamiltonian Artists and East City Arts webpages in conjunction with the fellows’ solo exhibitions.

Installation view of We Were Here
Hamiltonian Artists, February 12–March 19, 2022.
Photo: Vivian Marie Doering.

The first Essay on Art is by curator and art historian Danielle O’Steen on Madeline A Stratton’s solo exhibition We Were Here, on view at Hamiltonian Artists through March 19. Read it here.

Things you find in the web

This piece, found unexpectedly through a Google image search, is a work that I did in 1993 and which was part of an international project curated by Mauricio Guerrero in 1993 called El Arbol de la Vida at the Rufino Tamayo Museum in Mexico City, although I believe that this work (all of them from the project) are now part of the collection of the Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana also in Mexico City.

El Arbol de la Vida
1993 pen and ink by Florencio Lennox Campello

Another piece pops up at auction

Auction alert! This 1997 original ink wash drawing just showed up in my alerts - it was on auction at Barneby's and the winner of the auction already contacted me and it's heading to New Jersey!

1997 Nude Study Ink Wash by F. Lennox Campello

When Snipes come out...

When Snipes come out in the sun
1985 Navy cartoon by Lenny Campello

As some of you know, I used to do a lot of cartoons while I was in the Navy... some were published in base newspapers,  Navy magazines,  Stars & Stripes, etc. I gave most of them away over the years... 

Call for Artists

 Call for Artists: Maryland Art Place

Maryland Art Place (MAP) is proud to announce the 25th year of their Art Auction and benefit exhibition, Out Of Order. Out of Order provides a salon-style display space for hundreds of artists to hang their work wherever they please. OOO plays host to a variety of artists and professionals practicing in the visual arts and is a great opportunity for students and emerging artists to get their feet wet in Baltimore’s creative sector.

MAP will be holding an Artist Information Workshop on Saturday, April 2nd from 1-3pm. OOO will open on April 22, 2022. Visit MAP's exhibition page for more information.

Attention youth artists! Maryland Art Place is happy to introduce KIDOOO, a youth version of MAPs annual Spring Benefit exhibition Out of Order.

The opening of KIDOOO will take place in tandem with MAP's annual Out of Order event on April 22. Any artist is welcome to hang one original work of art on the first-come, first-served installation day of KIDOOO.

KIDOOO serves as an opportunity for young artists to exhibit their work in a major arts venue and to expand MAP’s services to students in elementary, middle and high school level arts classes. 

To participate in the KIDOOO exhibition, artists must be ages five-seventeen. Visit MAP's website to learn more and to participate.

Rejected!

I can't really complain this time -- I've been in the charity auction several times and even juried it one year when it hung at the Corcoran! Another example of the thick-skinning requirement for artists!

Dear Florencio,

On behalf of Washington Project for the Arts, thank you for submitting artwork to the Collectors' Night 2022 benefit auction Open Call. We appreciate your time and effort, but regret to inform you that your work was not selected for inclusion in the auction this year.

Despite this disappointing news, we hope you will stay connected by signing up for our e-newsletter or following us on Instagram if you haven't already. We post opportunities throughout the year and we also review Open Call for Ideas submissions on a quarterly basis. The projects that evolve out of these submissions constitute the main work we have been doing since our strategic realignment in 2018, which is collaborating with artist-organizers on inquiry-driven projects. We also host an artist-organizer-in-residence program; run a Warhol-Foundation-funded regrant program; and recently opened a new store for art books and editions. 

Wishing you all the best, and we look forward to seeing you soon,

Emily Fussner

Events Manager & Resident Designer

WASHINGTON PROJECT FOR THE ARTS

Opportunity for Artists

Exhibit Opportunity: Bernice Kish Gallery at Slayton House

The Bernice Kish Gallery at Slayton House is seeking exhibition proposals for 2023. 

The Bernice Kish Gallery at Slayton House is a non-profit gallery located in Columbia, Maryland. Operated by the Wilde Lake Community Association, the gallery features two spaces within the Slayton House lobby and Conference Room that hosts multiple juried art exhibits per year.

Send completed application forms to Lisa Kim at events@wildelake.org. 

Second Life Art Exhibit at Del Ray Artisans

The “Second Life” exhibit (April 1–30, 2022) at Del Ray Artisans gallery features art using recycled materials. Various workshops and events are scheduled throughout the month, including Earth Day (April 22).

View artwork at Del Ray Artisans Gallery, 2704 Mount Vernon Avenue, Alexandria VA. Open Thursdays 12-6pm, Fridays 12-9pm, Saturdays & Sundays 12-6pm (closed on May 1st). 

Details at DelRayArtisans.org/exhibits 

33rd National Drawing & Print Competitive Exhibition at Gormley Gallery

 33rd National Drawing and Print Competitive Exhibition

On view March 7 through April 14, 2022

33rd National Drawing & Print Competitive Exhibition is now on view! Visit this Saturday for an artists' reception and gallery talk by juror Joy Davis.

Artists' Reception and Juror's Talk Saturday, March 12 4:00 to 6:00 pm Please note that masks are still required in the gallery RSVP here to receive event reminders and updates

Exhibiting artists:

J. Bradley Adams Erin Barry-Dutro Noah Breuer Morgan Dowty Dan Talib Latif Flounders John Grunwell Jo Hendricks Zach Manuel Eleisha Faith McCorkle

Kathy McGhee Diane McLeod Joshua Morgan Nicholas Ruth Holly Trout Julie Wallace Dawn Whitmore Carole Winters Dontavius Woody

Juror: Joy Davis, Director and Curator of Waller Gallery For a sneak peek of the exhibition, visit our website, gormleygallery.com

The ZEITGEIST of ZENITH

Zenith Gallery’s 44^th

Anniversary Celebration!

March 4 – April 16, 2022

OPENING RECEPTIONS:

Friday, March 4, 5-8 PM &

Saturday, March 5, 2-6PM

1429 Iris St NW, Washington DC, 20012

Free timed tickets required for entry available here: FRIDAY | SATURDAY

* Masks & Proof of Vaccination required *

FEATURING: Doba Afolabi, Linda Atkinson, Richard Binder, Holly Boruck, Jackie Braitman, Ram Brisueno, William Buchanan, F. Lennox Campello, Sheryll Cashin, Lea Craigie-Marshall, Buzz Duncan, Cheryl Elmo, Elissa Farrow-Savos, Margery E. Goldberg, Len Harris, Bernie Houston, Hubert Jackson, Ronni Jolles, Mihira Karra, Katie Dell Kaufman, Barbara Kobylinska, Joan Konkel, Michael Madzo, Chris Malone, Anne Marchand, Carol Newmyer, Katharine Owens, Joanathan Ribaillier, Larry Ringgold, Suzy Scarborough, Gavin Sewell, Ellen Sinel, Bradley Stevens, Patricia Skinner, Jennifer Wagner, Marcie Wolf-Hubbard, Curtis Woody, and Paul Martin Wolff.

“Zeitgeist, the defining spirit or mood of a particular period of history as shown by the ideas and beliefs of the time. It basically means "The Spirit of the Age.” 44 years ago we were sitting around and talking about what to name the gallery, my father said you want to be at the beginning of the alphabet or the end, you don’t want to be stuck in the middle. With my knowledge of numerology we started with Z, the first word I liked was "Zeitgeist" but my father reminded me that no one knew what it meant. The next word was Zenith and that is how we picked the name. Now people actually know the meaning of Zeitgeist! “ Margery Goldberg

Justice for All by Bradley Stevens

 

The Dual Nature of Love by Elissa Farrow-Savos

Gasoline woes

I usually don't like to brag about the expensive places that I have been to, but yesterday I went to the gas station... cough... cough

Boise Art Museum Presents: 'Contemporary Cuban Art: History, Identity, and Materiality'

The Googles just alerted me that I am included in this museum show in Idaho!

The Boise Art Museum is bringing a collection of Cuban art from the collection of the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art and compiled by guest curator Jill Hartz.

This is the story behind my work in this show.

Details here.

Some of the Artists in the Exhibition

• Juan Carlos Alom
• Abel Barroso
• F. Lennox Campello
• Raúl Corrales
• Miguel A. Couret
• Adrián Fernández Milanés
• René Francisco (René Rodríguez Hernández)
• Alejandro Gonzalez
• jorge & larry (Jorge M. Hernández; Larry J. González)
• Liudmila & Nelson (Liudmila Velasco; Nelson Ramirez de Arellano Conde)
• Alfredo Manzo Cedeño
• Eduardo Marín
• Armando Marino
• Ibrahim Miranda
• Reynier Leyva Novo
• René Peña
• Fernando Rodriguez Falcón
• Belkis Ayón Manso
• José Bedia
• Augustin Bejarano
• Marta María Pérez Bravo
• Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons
• Roberto Fabelo
• Aimeé García Marrero
• Alejandro Gonzalez
• Eduardo Hernández Santos
• Elsa Mora
• Sandra Ramos
• Ishmael Rodriguez
• José Manuel For
• Glenda León
• Aurora Molina
• Cirenaica Moreira

Sanctions paper

I understand that all the various sanctions which will be coming soon against Russia for invading Ukraine will be printed on toilet paper so that the Russians can at least do something with them... cough... cough...

Washingtonian magazine and DC visual arts

Over the last two plus decades, I've contacted Washingtonian magazine multiple times to take them to task over their absolute apathy and lack of coverage when it comes to any coverage of the DMV's visual arts scene.

Multiple editors over the years have responded to my complaints with mostly never filled promises and/or excuses.  Many of them have been documented in this blog over the decades, as testimony to their lack of interest in DMV visual arts and art galleries and spaces... and artists.

There's new blood and new leadership over at that legendary magazine and today Damare Baker pops in with a really cool opinion piece on which she highlights her ten fave visual art spaces around the DMV.

Check the article out here.  Then email Damare and tell her how much you enjoyed the article and wouldn't it be nice if 2-3 times a year the magazine would review a DC art gallery, or art space, and/or highlight or profile a DMV artist?