New Bisque pieces for New York

New works on reclaimed, broken Bisque done for the Affordable Art Fair 2021 (Fall) in New York City...

 #affordablertfairnewyork

Asmodeus

 I keep drawing this guy...

Who is this demonic Asmodeus? (part of my "Fallen Angels" series)

Asmodeus - Al Gore's Internet keeps telling me - is one of the “seven princes of hell." This fucker is a demon whose awful and awesome and nasty wickedness is matched only by his intelligence, power and ability to react. He specializes in spreading lust - or wantonness... and he reaches into all kinds of peopleses... not just ordinary folks, but even divine beings!

Lust is a powerful thing!

A Woman being absorbed

 Woman Being Absorbed by Abstraction by F. Lennox Campello
Mixed Media with Embedded Electronics circa 2021
16x20 inches

 

Another Navy cartoon

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... here's another one of the fabled Seaman Schmuckatelli.

Seaman Schmuckatelli Discovers Ouzo
A 1983 Navy cartoon by Lenny Campello

Navy cartoon

 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... 

Sailors at the liberty line
Navy cartoon from 1984 by Lenny Campello

Art on Paper

Let the art fairs begin again! 

At Art on Paper Art Fair with the great Sheila Giolitti , Judith Peck, and Matthew Langley! Anyone who would like a pass, email me!

The first casualty!

Trawick Prize Winners!

The Trawick Prize: Bethesda Contemporary Art Awards, a juried art competition produced by the Bethesda Arts & Entertainment District, announced the 2021 prize winners during tonight’s awards reception. Video artist Cecilia Kim of Richmond, VA was awarded the prestigious “Best in Show” title and received the $10,000 top prize. Abigail Lucien from Baltimore, MD was named second place and given $2,000; Sobia Ahmad from Silver Spring, MD was bestowed third place and received $1,000; and Monsieur Zohore from Potomac, MD was awarded the Young Artist Award and received $1,000.

Cecilia Kim, a Korean video artist, has traveled extensively and called several different countries home, including Australia, England, Singapore and the United States. Kim’s work has been shown both nationally and internationally in solo and group shows including The Immigrant Artist Biennale (virtual), 0 GALLERY (Seoul, Korea), Openarts Space MERGE (Busan, Korea), W36 Art Space (Nanjing, China), Target Gallery (Alexandria, VA) and Hume Gallery (Chicago, IL). Her short films have been selected at film festivals and screenings including the NoFlash Video Show, The Anderson Gallery, Around International Film Festival Amsterdam and Student Experimental Film Festival Binghamton. She was awarded a scholarship at Oxbow School of Art and Artists’ Residency and was a resident artist at the Busan International OpenArts Residence. Kim is a Master of Fine Arts candidate at Virginia Commonwealth University. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago where she was a UWC-Davis scholar.  

2021 Trawick Prize Finalists

Sobia Ahmad, Silver Spring, MD

Stephanie Garmey, Baltimore, MD

Cecilia Kim, Richmond, VA

Abigail Lucien, Baltimore, MD
Mojdeh Rezaeipour, Washington, D.C.

John Ruppert, Towson, MD

Ernest Shaw, Baltimore, MD

Monsieur Zohore, Potomac, MD

 

The Trawick Prize: Bethesda Contemporary Art Awards, established by Carol Trawick in 2003, is one of the first regional competitions and largest prizes to annually honor visual artists. A longtime community activist in downtown Bethesda, Ms. Trawick has served as the Chair of the Bethesda Arts & Entertainment District, Bethesda Urban Partnership, Strathmore and the Maryland State Arts Council. The Jim and Carol Trawick Foundation was established in 2007 after the Trawicks sold their successful information technology company. A former teacher and entrepreneur, Ms. Trawick remains engaged in a range of philanthropic causes through the Foundation, which was established to assist health and human services and arts non-profits in Montgomery County

 

The work of the finalists will be on exhibit at Gallery B, 7700 Wisconsin Avenue, Suite E, until October 3. Gallery hours for the duration of the exhibit will be Thursday-Saturday, 12 – 5pm and Sunday, 11am – 4pm.

 

Entries were juried by Mark Cooley, Director of New Media Arts & Associate Professor, George Mason University; Oletha DeVane, Director, Tuttle Gallery at McDonogh School and 2019 Trawick Prize Winner; and Betsy Johnson, Assistant Curator, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden.

Scam Alert!

 Beware of this mutant attempting to rip off artists:

Beltrami, Kevin -- Kevin.Beltrami@gts-bellevue.de

Mon 9/6/2021 11:24 AM

Top of the Morning to you,

I actually observed my wife has been viewing your website on my laptop and i guess she likes some of your art piece, I must also say you are doing a great job. I would like to know what inspired that work. I am very much interested in the purchase to surprise my wife.

Regards

Captain Kenneth

kennethmx007@gmail.com

Outdoor Art Show this weekend!

The Northern Virginia Fine Arts Festival will take place on September 10 – 12, 2021 showcasing more than 200 artists annually working in the fields of fine art and craft.

 The Festival has become one of the region’s most anticipated events, attracting approximately 30,000 people to the unique, outdoor environment of Reston Town Center located in Reston, VA. 

Comprised of one-on-one experiences, performances, and special events that engage visitors with compelling artistic voices, the event leaves an exciting, thoughtful mark in the region.

Check out the artists here and details on where and times here. Plenty of free parking and loads of food choices!

Come say hi! I'll be in booth 409!

Elizabeth Neel

 Elizabeth Neel was eight years old when she got her first set of oil paints, a Winsor & Newton paintbox, as a gift from her grandmother, the late, great portraitist Alice Neel.

Neel’s earliest painting experiences were with Alice, working side by side. But there was never any pressure to follow in her footsteps.

“I liked to draw a lot and she wanted to encourage that, because she thought I was good and she had a connection with me. We had a lot of fun together,” Neel told Artnet News. “She was a great grandmother, even though she never allowed anyone to call her that. She was always Alice to us.”

Read the artnet article here. 

$500,000 for a painting by Hunter Biden

 Who parts with that much cash for the work of a new, not exactly critically acclaimed, painter? We may never know. Hunter’s new career raises obvious ethical issues for his father and, in an attempt to avoid accusations of influence peddling, the Biden administration has asked the gallerist to keep all information about the buyers and prices of Hunter’s work confidential. The gallery has also agreed to reject offers that seem suspiciously generous.

Even without those safeguards in place, I highly doubt Biden’s policies would be affected by sales of his son’s terrible paintings. (The New York Times generously described them as “leaning towards the surreal”, which is a polite way of saying: “Looks a bit like a Covid-stricken Mr Blobby vomited on a canvas.”)

Read the article by Arwa Mahdawi here.

Wanna go to an art fair?

I'm joneysing to do an art fair! Indoor or Outdoors! So gonna do both next month!

My work will be showcased at the Art on Paper fair in New York City - together with the spectacularly talented Judith Peck, Sheila Giolitti, and Matthew Langley! If you wanna score some VIP passes to the fair, drop me an email. September 9-12 - details here.

I'm also gonna do the 2021 Northern Virginia Fine Arts Festival - September 10–12. Now in its 30th year, the Northern Virginia Fine Arts Festival highlights more than 200 artists who are "creating unique, handmade works in the fields of fine art and fine craft. In the competitive artist application process, each submission is reviewed by a juror panel, made up of visual arts leaders, artists, and practitioners, who select top ranked artists across ten categories to present their work at the Festival.

Drawing upon a robust exhibitor and collector base coupled with Tephra ICA’s contemporary art foundation, the Festival has become one of the region’s most anticipated events taking place in the outdoor environment of Reston Town Center. Save the date and join us this year for one-on-one experiences, performances, and exciting special events.

Hours

September 10–12, 2021

10am–5pm, rain or shine

Reston Town Center in Reston, VA.

Safety precautions will be implemented this year including but not limited to, hand sanitation stations, vaccination requirements for Festival volunteers, and encouragement of social distancing and face mask-wearing in artist booths. 

Check out the 2021 roster of Festival artists here.

Always

Always do whatever's next.

George Carlin

On driving

Have you ever noticed that anybody driving slower than you is an idiot, and anyone going faster than you is a maniac?

   -- George Carlin

Great deal at auction!

These four prints of mine are on a GREAT sale price on Ebay - no idea who is selling them and how they got them! Two of them are from the 1980s, one from 1990s and the Obama one from 2007 from a series that I did on new Senators.

Bid for it here.

On wit

You have a ready wit. Tell me when it's ready.

 - Henny Youngman

Isla Roja Bajo Rejas en un Mar Verde Olivo

"Isla Roja Bajo Rejas en un Mar Verde Olivo" (Red Island Behind Bars in an Olive Green Sea), c. 1980, oil on canvas with wood dowels... poor Cuba... while the world world, and the Pope, and the United Nations... all look the other way.

"Isla Roja Bajo Rejas en un Mar Verde Olivo" (Red Island Behind Bars in an Olive Green Sea)
c. 1980, oil on canvas with wood dowels by F. Lennox Campello

Cuba - Prision Island at auction

This 1980 work is being offered at auction on behalf of the original buyer, who acquired it from me in 1980 at the Pike Place Market in Seattle while I was a student at the University of Washington School of Art.

"Isla Encarcelada - Isla Golpeada y Prisionera" (Jailed Island - Beaten and Captive Island) is an original hand-colored monoprint mixed media on paper from my "Cuba" series, which I started in the 1970s and which continues to this day.

"Isla Encarcelada - Isla Golpeada y Prisionera" (Jailed Island - Beaten and Captive Island)
1980 F. Lennox Campello

It is being offered at auction here.

This weekend

 

Remembering Washington DC Sculptor, Nancy Frankel

 From Margery Goldberg...

Nancy Frankel (1929-2021)

Mother, Grandmother, artist, sculptor, teacher, friend, mentor, and extraordinary person who never said a unkind word about anyone.

It was my pleasure meeting Nancy at the Katzen Center opening of her exhibition, Nancy at Ninety, a retrospective of seven decades of work as Nancy celebrated her ninetieth birthday in 2019. Later that year Zenith Gallery held an exhibition at 1111 Pennsylvania Ave NW called Organic, showing Nancy's sculpture with another Zenith Gallery artist, Anne Marchand. Nancy was a complete delight to work with and had so many of her friends and admirers come to her opening.

In 2020 we sold her largest sculpture called “The Conversation” to the University of Durham in Durham England. 

I am so thrilled by the outpouring of love and support from around the country for Nancy. She will be sincerely missed by everyone who knew her.

We are blessed that her art will live on for centuries if not millenniums. 

Nancy said of her work, "I use organic geometry to give form to my love of nature and architecture. My work as been one long meditation, an effort to get past the surface aspects of reality to find deeper meaning.

Over the years I have worked with a variety of materials, according to the needs of my particular focus at the time. In turn, these different materials have their own demands, often causing me to think and work in new ways.

My sculptures come in many sizes for both interior and exterior environments.

Whether large or small, dynamic or serene, an explosion of forms, or a gentle curve answering another within a single piece, I hope my work communicates a sense of joy and wonder."

The PAINTER Act

Earlier this month, the White House reportedly reached an agreement with Hunter Biden’s art dealer stipulating that all information related to the sale of the First Son’s artwork—including prices and the names of buyers—would be kept confidential. 

It was said that the agreement would prevent bad actors from buying works of art as a way to curry favor with the president. But the move quickly proved to be controversial, with skeptics fearing that the lack of transparency could actually encourage lobbyists, foreign officials, and others to clandestinely exert influence. (The day after news of the agreement broke, a conspiracy theorist vandalized Biden’s gallery.)

Now, a Republican member of the House of Representatives is aiming to do away with the secrecy surrounding Hunter Biden’s burgeoning art career for good. Florida Congressman Mike Waltz introduced a new bill today that would require current and future presidents (and vice presidents) to disclose their adult children’s finances. Its not-so-subtle name is the Preventing Anonymous Income by Necessitating Transparency of Executive Relatives—or PAINTER—Act. 

Read the article in artnet here. 

Re-review

 I love to re-review shows and see if I agree or disagree with their choices.  Art is a very subjective thing and artists must all have thick skins.

Read what I mean here. 

In comic tsrips

 In comic strips, the person on the left always speaks first.

  -- George Carlin

He will not be forgotten!

 

This hero is Juan Elias Navarro Vaillant from Santiago de Cuba. He was arrested on July 11th during the historic Cuban uprising against their Communist dictators and is currently on a hunger strike against his Marxist oppressors. This hero will not be forgotten!

She will not be forgotten!

 

Dailén Ramírez Quintana from Santiago de Cuba was arrested during the historic Cuban uprising. She will not be forgotten!

Isla Llorona

This painting was done in 1978 while I was a student at the University of Washington School of Art (1977-1981). On this piece, painted are the words:

"La mar, testigo de mi ansiedad, las veces que me ha visto llorar, cuando otro hijo se me va."

The words in Spanish translate to:

"The sea, witness to my anxiety, the times that it has seen me cry when another son leaves me".

She will not be forgotten!

Daimelin Abreu Rodríguez from Matanzas was arrested during the
historic Cuban uprising. She will not be forgotten!

Mujertrees from 1979

A nice lady from Washington state sent me these photos of a "Mujertrees" print that she bought out there at an auction - a lesson here for conservation framing! Lack thereof! 

I most likely sold this work at the Pike Place Market in Seattle between 1977-1981 - since this is a 1979 print... most likely a "market" print.

She will not be forgotten!

Melissa Castellano has been arrested during the historic Cuban uprising against their Marxist dictators and her family has not been able to see her since. She will not be forgotten!

#SOSCuba #11J

 

She will not be forgotten!

 

Deysi Del Cueto from Havana was arrested during the historic Cuban uprising. She will not be forgotten!

She will not be forgotten!

 

Katherine Martín from Regla was arrested on the first day of the historic Cuban uprising together with her sister Mariam and their mother Mayra Taquechel. They are all still in prison and they will not be forgotten!

She will not be forgotten!

Lázara Hernández from Havana was arrested on the first day of the historic Cuban uprising on July 11th and is still behind bars and her family has not been allowed to communicate with her. She will not be forgotten!

Prizewinners for the Phillips' Invitational Show

About 1,300 works of art were submitted for review for the ongoing Phillips Collection invitational show Inside Outside, Upside Down, and about seventy works were chosen by the jurors, Elsa Smithgall (Senior Curator, The Phillips Collection), Renée Stout (DC artist and guest curator of the exhibition), Phil Hutinet (publisher of the local news source East City Art), and Abigail McEwan (Associate Professor of Latin American Art at the University of Maryland). I am proud and honored to have been one of the chosen artists – thank you to the jurors.

The jurors awarded the First Prize to Dominick Rabrun’s work titled Dr. LaSalle, The Spider Queen, and Me, a 2021 digital mixed-media video installation. The Second Prize went to Kristina Penhoet’s installation fiber piece titled How Many More? and Honorable Mentions went to Desmond Beach’s fabric and paper work titled #SayTheirNames 2, to Marta Pérez García’s Your Hand, a molded cotton handmade paper and stitching work with yarn, and to Richard L. Williams’ touching photograph titled Claudette, Roman and Rashard – February 2021.

Constant readers know something about me and jurors -- I love to re-review shows and see if I agree or disagree with their choices. Art is a very subjective thing and artists must all have thick skins.

My choice for Best in Show – not just First Prize – would have been Werllayne Nunes’ gigantic oil on panel painting titled Us. The work vibrates with happiness and power and reaches deep into every child’s memories as well as delivering a powerful social message.

Werllayne Nunes, US,
2021, Oil on linen panel, 30 × 60 × 2 1/2 in

Judith Peck is one of the DMV’s painting superstars – her technical skills are almost supernatural and her breath-taking ability to infuse her work with psychological power legendary. Her painting titled State Collapse, depicting a young woman in bed, is able to transmit fear, anxiety, and angst and summarize 2020 in one gorgeous work of art. She gets my First Prize award.

Second Prize goes to Carol Antezana’s sensitive portrait photograph titled Las Gringas. She writes about this work:

“Las Gringas is a photographic self-portrait analyzing the balance between being both Bolivian and a first-generation American amid political turmoil and uprisings in both countries. Disagreements about politics have been a specter for many families and the differences are ones of morality, core values, and character, creating tension and division. I was always taunted by my family for being “una gringa” because I cannot speak Spanish perfectly, yet there was no importance in keeping our Indigenous language, Quechua, alive. As a child of immigrant parents, the act of balancing, adopting, and assimilating cultures can be daunting; there are deeply rooted racial double standards in both countries. Through redefining my identity, I am striving to decolonize my mind—my attempt at breaking the intergenerational trauma in my family.”

Carol Antezana - Las Gringas

Honorable Mention goes to Cathy Abramson’s oil painting titled Waiting for Takeout (to go), another cool work which captured the Covidian Age perfectly! 

Cathy Abramson - Waiting for Takeout (to go)

I also like Aaron Maier-Carretero’s somewhat disturbing enormous painting titled not in front of the kids. The palpable, hidden violence is terrifying in the work.

Aaron Maier-Carretero - not in front of the kids

Congrats to all the prizewinners! And to my prizewinners!

The Phillips Collection and the DMV

As most artists in the DMV know by now, the Phillips Collection’s call for area artists to submit artwork for Inside Outside, Upside Down, a juried invitational show (currently on view through September 12), where the museum invited artists of the Greater Washington area to submit recent artwork that “addresses the unprecedented events of the past year” was and is the talk of the visual arts community for the last few weeks.

The call was part of the museum’s 100th anniversary celebration, and according to the Phillips' news release continues “founder Duncan Phillips‘s commitment to present, acquire, and promote the work of local artists.”

About 1,300 works of art ranging from paintings, to sculptures, videos, drawings, etc. were submitted for review, and about seventy works were chosen by the jurors, Elsa Smithgall (Senior Curator, The Phillips Collection), Renée Stout (DC artist and guest curator of the exhibition), Phil Hutinet (publisher of the local news art source East City Art), and Abigail McEwan (Associate Professor of Latin American Art at the University of Maryland). 

I am proud and honored to have been one of the chosen artists – Muchas thank yous to the jurors!

Several of the DMV area blue chip artists were selected, including megablue chip artists like Tim Tate, Michael Janis, Kate Kretz, Judith Peck, and others – all with immense artistic pedigree, huge exhibition histories and a proven and deep international presence.

A lot of new artists – at least new to me – were also chosen, which is always a great sign of a well-curated exhibition; kudos to the jurors for the internal mental amplitude to select work based on visual impression rather than recognizing a name or presence.

What caught my eye - other than the many great works in the show, was this:

“After an extraordinarily difficult year that has shaken the world, we feel it is important to join with our entire region to celebrate human resiliency, and especially the strength of artists and the arts,” said Vradenburg Director and CEO Dorothy Kosinski. “Duncan Phillips hosted this type of exhibition annually from 1935 to 1950, and we are proud to continue this tradition to support our talented community.”

Shall I repeat that?

“Duncan Phillips hosted this type of exhibition annually from 1935 to 1950, and we are proud to continue this tradition to support our talented community.”

Wait... whaaaat? 

Why did the Phillips stop? OK - I don't care --- what I do care about and what I hope the Phillips will do, is to re-start that initiative so that  Inside Outside, Upside Down, is not a 2021 anomaly, but the first of annual local area shows like Duncan Phillips organized for 15 years!

The ball is on your court Phillips!

The showcased artists below - and see the digital catalog of the show here.

Cathy Abramson

Simone Agoussoye

Maremi Andreozzi

Carol Antezana

Desmond Beach

Julia Bloom

Michael Booker

Kimberly Brammer

Nikki Brugnoli

Florencio Campello a.k.a. Lenny

Carlos Carmonamedina

Sandra Chen Weinstein

Peter Cizmadia

Wesley Clark

Dominick Cocozza

Robin Croft

Sora DeVore

Sarah Dolan

Mike Dowley

Nekisha Durrett

Tae Edell

Bria Edwards

Kate Fleming

Chawky Frenn

Amelia Hankin

Michael Hantman

Leslie Holt

Michael Janis

Jane Kell

Jean Jinho Kim

Katherine Knight

Ara Koh

Kokayi 

Gary Kret

Kate Kretz

Catherine Levinson

Kirsty Little

Kim Llerena

Aaron Maier-Carretero

Timothy Makepeace

David Mordini

Barbara Muth

Werllayne Nunes  

Zsudayka Nzinga

Jennifer O’Connell

John Pan

Judith Peck

Shedrick Pelt

Kristina Penhoet

Marta Pérez García

Lydia Peters

Junko Pinkowski

Dominick Rabrun

Mojdeh Rezaeipour

Marie Ringwald

Janathel Shaw

Joseph Shetler

Nicolas F. Shi

Tim Tate

Julio Valdez

Jessica Valoris

Ian White

Richard L. Williams Jr. 

Colin Winterbottom