Auction

Transformer is having its Second Annual Silent Auction Benefit & Reception, Saturday, October 29, 2005 from 7 to 10pm, hosted by Fusebox Gallery.

$50 before Saturday and $75 at the door. Details here.

45 pieces of art will be up for auction. The work was curated by a savvy group of DC area experts. The artists are:

Gabriel Abrantes, Ken Ashton, Lisa Bertnick, Kheshan Blunt, Chan Chao, William Christenberry, Mary Coble, Billy Colbert, Cynthia Connolly, Frank Day, Djakarta, Jason Falchook, Suzanna Fields, Sabrina Gschwandtner, Jason Gubbiotti, Linda Hesh, Lucy Hogg, James Huckenpahler, Jeff Huntington, Erick Jackson, Susan Jamison, Judy Jashinsky, Nicholas Kahn & Richard Selesnick, Dean Kessmann, Avish Khebrehzadeh, Jae Ko, Bridget Lambert, Pepa Leon, Mike Lowery, Kevin MacDonald, Maki Maruyama, Mimi Masse, Maggie Michael, Jiha Moon, William A. Newman, Piero Passacantando, Beatrice Valdes Paz, Lucian Perkins, WC Richardson, Luis Silva, Jeff Spaulding, Dan Steinhilber, Zach Storm, Trish Tillman, Kelly Towles, Jason Zimmerman and Ian Whitmore.

Open Studio Tour

Paint and Plaster has an excellent tour of some of the 52 O Street Studios' artists.

Read it here. Sean discusses Betsy Damos,Matt Hollis, Andrea Haffner, Thanasi Papapostolou, and Micheline Kragsbrun Frank.

Takin' to the streets (Museums)...

Are street art and street artists the newest "new"?

Read this.

And in Europe, check this amazing Brit.

In my opinion, DC's three heavy hitters of street art are (in alphabetical order):

Borf (now retired I assume)

Mark Jenkins

Kelly Towles

Update: A couple of readers have pointed out to me the similarities (read he copied him) between Borf and Banksy.

Update II: I am told that Borf is far from retired and is now putting up work in NYC.

Hirshhorn Lectures (Is Painting you-know-what?)

There are a few of interesting lectures coming up at the Hirshhorn.

Next Wednesday, MOMA director Glenn Lowry delivers "Ranking the Modern: New Perspectives," as part of the Second Annual James Demetrion lecture. Wednesday, October 26 at 7PM at the Ring Auditiorium.

On October 28, 2005 at 12:30 pm, Renée Stout, who is a Washington, DC-based artist whose work I first saw at a past Art-O-Matic, and who uses objects from everyday life in her art, will explore the ways "modern and contemporary artists have transformed ordinary materials into works of art." Stout's work is now on view at Hemphill Fine Arts and closes Sat. Oct 29th. Meet Stout at the Information Desk.

And this one should be interesting: Canadian-born and now DC-based painter Lucy Hogg, whose superb work I reviewed here a while back (and who is the wife of "painting is dead" acolyte and WaPo chief art critic Blake Gopnik) will deliver a talk with the interesting (and tired) subject of Is Painting Over?

Hogg's lecture is November 4, 2005 at 12:30 pm. Hogg will be "looking to works in the Hirshhorn's collection and will examine the relationship between abstraction and figuration in 20th-century painting. She will explore the similarities between contemporary painting and work created prior to World War II." Meet at the Information Desk.

That last one sounds interesting, doesn't it? Let's keep an eye and an ear out for it.

Something New

That overrated qualifier, something new, happens in the world of contemporary art tonight, as Andrew Wodzianski opens in our Georgetown gallery.

Andrew's innovative marriage of technology, not as part of his artwork, but as a vehicle to discuss it and learn about it, has so far received a lot of interest from the press and assorted art venues.

Opening is tonight from 6-9PM as part of the five Canal Square Galleries openings. Catered by the Sea Catch Restaurant.

See ya there!

Bromirski on Options 2005

Anaba discusses Options 2005.

Read it here.