The Power of the Web

A while back, Thinking About Art was rightfully so ranting about artists not responding to his online project and how some artists and a lot of dealers do not understand the power and importance of having a web presence.

I agree with J.T., and every once in while I try to point out just what the Internet can help to accomplish in the business of art business and establishing a foot print as an artist.

An immediate and personal example is through my current exhibition in Georgetown. In the last couple of weeks, of the 20 or so drawings in the exhibition and others, 9 drawings (and two prints) have so far sold. Of those sales, six have been through the Internet, and four drawings are heading to Ireland!

Update: AJ brings to light a a study by PEW/Internet that adds evidence to the importance of the web for artists.

2004 Gallery Report

This past weekend we met with our accountant to review 2004 and the galleries' business.

Two years ago, Sotheby's decided, without much warning, to end its online art business. We were one of only two or three DC area galleries who were Sothebys Associates, and very quickly Sotheby's became our largest sales process, accounting for well over 60% of our art sales for three or four years in a row.

Then they decided a couple of years ago to end their online business (don't even get me started on how Sotheby's screwed this all up) and we held our breath!

Somehow we recovered, and I am happy to report that 2004 was our best year ever!

In 2004, with the exception of Sandra Ramos, whose Georgetown show sold out, and Aimee Garcia Marrero, whose Georgetown show sold quite well, the vast majority of our business took place in the Bethesda gallery and about a third of the business was strictly an online affair.

In 2004 we had three reviews in the Washington Post, two reviews in the Washington Times, six reviews in the Washington City Paper, three reviews in the Gazette, two reviews in the Georgetowner and six reviews in other national and international magazines and newspapers.

It is clear to me that our area's visual art scene is growing in leap and bounds, and even the business of art seems to be growing. Any other area gallerist who'd like to share some words as how 2004 was for them, is welcomed to email me and I'll publish it here.

2005 opens on January 14 in our Bethesda gallery and on January 21 at our Georgetown gallery with two group shows of the best of Art-O-Matic 2004 from our perspective.

See ya there!

Dan Flavin, minimalism, store-bought art materials, flourescent light bulbs, the seduction of money, provenances, and the Dark Side of Success (thanks Jesse).

"One factor in valuing a Flavin, however, dwarfs all others: the certificate that accompanied its production. To those who wonder what the difference is between a Flavin and the lights in their office, the certificate, more or less, is the answer.

Each of the more than 750 light sculptures that Flavin designed - usually in editions of three or five - were listed on index cards and filed away. When one sold, the buyer received a certificate containing a diagram of the work, its title and the artist's signature and stamp. If someone showed up with a certificate and a damaged fixture, Flavin would replace it. But without a certificate, the owner was out of luck. Today, Christie's won't even consider a Flavin sculpture unless it's accompanied by an original document."

Read Greg Allen's whole article here.

Update: Todd Gibson points out that Allen followed up the NYT article in his BLOG with excerpts from two additional interviews (curator and collector Emily Rauh Pulitzer and son Stephen Flavin, who now controls the Flavin Estate) that took place after the Allen article went to press.

Final Art-O-Matic Top 10 Artists List

Happy 2005!

As most of you know, during the recent Artomatic exhibition, I received quite a few lists by artists, gallery owners, curators and art critics.

These lists detailed their "picks" as the most notable artists (in their view) of DC's giant Artlovefest. Since the lists came out, six area galleries have already scheduled exhibitions (and some of them already on exhibit), and there are more coming in 2005, for many more Artomatic artists based in part from these lists.

I had also promised to gather a list of the top 10 Artomatic artists who appeared the most in all the lists submitted to me. I recorded all the artists, and the number of times that his or her name appeared on the lists.

Provided that the logistics are worked out, these artists in the final list will be invited to exhibit their work by a gallery in Canada.

The lists were sent in by:

JS Adams
James W. Bailey
Marilyn Banner
Philip Barlow
F. Lennox Campello
Kriston Capps
Jesse Cohen
Jean Lawlor Cohen
Leigh Conner
Sarah Finlay & Patrick Murcia
Anne C. Fisher
Faith Flanagan
Catriona Fraser
Rob Goodspeed
Pat Goslee
Elyse Harrison
Kristen Hileman
Matt Hollis
Milena Kalinovska
Nevin Kelly
J.T. Kirkland
Angela Kleis
Natalie Koss
Anne Marchand
Adrianne Mills
Michael O'Sullivan
Fred Ognibene
Donna Robusto
Claudia Rousseau
Tim Tate
Krystyna Wasserman

And here is the final Top 10ish List (in order of number of appearances in the above lists).

1. Linda Hesh
2. Kelly Towles
3. Kathryn Cornelius
4. Chris Edmunds
5. Tim Tate
6. Thomas Edwards
7. Syl Mathis
8-10. Dylan Scholinski
Ira Tattelman
Joyce Zipperer
Allison B. Miner
Amy Martin Wilber

Some clarifications: Hesh and Towles had the same number of mentions by the list-makers, and were the top two most mentioned artists.

Cornelius and Edmunds, coming in second, also shared an equal number of lists between them.

Third most mentioned were Tate, Edwards and Mathis and they also had equal appearances.

Scholinski, Tattelman, Zipperer, Miner and Wilber round up the top set of artists, and they also had equal appearances as the most often listed artists.

Congratulations!

These artists should immediately contact Richard Dana, who will bring them up to speed on the Canadian exhibition. As soon as that deal is finalized, I will announce the details here.

New Timeout

The current Timeout 2004 guide for Washington, DC has really good coverage of DMV art galleries; in fact it is the only DC guide that offers any decent "guiding" to Washington area galleries.

It is written by Jessica Dawson, who also pens the "Galleries" column for the Washington Post.

Read her introduction (you'll need an Amazon password) here and her favorites here under "Names of the Game."

Jessica nails it when she recognizes in her intro that a new "optimism" is kindling a really good art scene in our region.

Throughout the pages dedicated to the galleries, and as it is to be expected, there are quite a few comparisons to New York this, New York that all over the place.

And reading through Jessica's descriptions of the various galleries also offers an honest and rare insight as to how this critic evaluates and views (she seems to have something about "safe art," whatever that is) most of our region's art galleries. For example Dawson praises Zenith Gallery's Margery Goldberg for her "tireless activism," but describes the gallery as "while influential in the neon art scene, consistently shows mediocre painting and craft."

Addison/Ripley is praised for selling "high-calibre paintings, photography and prints," but "their selections, while lovely, are awfully safe."

Cheryl Numark is "Washington's power dealer", while Leigh Conner shows work by the "kind of cutting-edge artists that Washingtonians usually travel to New York to see."

MOCA is "DC's answer to the hip, alternative galleries of New York."

We "concentrate on photography, but occasionally shows innovative sculpture and work in other media," while our Bethesda outpost is a "bright, glass-walled gallery [that] exhibits realist painting and photography."

Hemphill Fine Arts "plays host to many of Washington's strongest artists," but "the art here tends towards the decorative."

Fusebox is "sharp and savvy," and has "raised the bar for visual art in Washington," and their openings are "events to see and be seen at."

Does anyone know why Jessica has never reviewed Fusebox in her "Galleries" column? Fusebox is easily one of our top area galleries, and I'm curious as to why it is so nicely praised in Timeout, but (so far) avoided in Dawson's bi-weekly column at the WaPo.

Anyway... Bravo Timeout!

More galleries to open in 2005

One strong sign that the Greater Washington area "art scene" is really strong and gathering more heat is evidenced by the significant number of new galleries that opened in 2004, and the news that a few more will open in 2005.

I hear of a "Plan B Gallery" opening soon at 1530 P Street, as well as a second gallery (don't know name) being opened by a former Fusebox intern at 12th and U Street. If anyone has details on these two new spaces, email me.

And Zoe Myers is still looking for a large space so that she can open a gallery. If anyone knows of a substantial available space, then email her with details.

The Power of the Web

Yesterday I posted James W. Bailey's clever marriage of DC's top visual art shows with the cultural contributions of the mighty state of Mississippi.

Within a few hours, Bailey had received phone calls from the Directors of the Mississippi Arts Commission and the Mississippi Museum of Art thanking him and DC Art News for publishing the piece.

And get this... Bailey has even received a phone call from Governor Hally Barbour's Chief of Staff acknowledging that the Director of the Mississippi Museum of Art had forwarded the piece to the Governor's office.