Secrets on the air

That spectacular success story known as Frank Warren will be on the Kojo Nmandi show today on WAMU 88.5 to discuss his amazing PostSecret project.

Tomorrow, there will be a special one day only PostSecret event at the American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore. Warren will have a couple hundred postcards on display, most, never before seen, He will also be talking about the project and signing books. The are also going to try to get the new PostSecret DVD playing.

Update: Listen to Warren on the air here.

Chawky Frenn Opening

The professor opened his third solo exhibition with us to packed crowds this last Friday who came to see Frenn's latest. Below is the main gallery wall just before the opening:


Frenn is not an easy artist to sell because his work is so visceral in nature, and without an ounce of irony. In fact, in the three solo exhibitions that he has had with us, every single painting that has sold, has been acquired by either collectors from Europe or from New York. We've yet to find the Washington, DC collector with the courage to hang work so loaded with political or social commentary.


And Frenn, and his difficult work, is a perfect example of the many different parts that go into running an independent fine arts gallery with a focus and cultural dialogue that is serious and committed to developing both presence and substance.


He certainly packs the gallery with visitors, and it is obvious that his students adore him as a teacher, and the critical press has been all over him in the last few years, but it takes a special collector to hang work that is presented by a master painter who revels in delivering difficult subjects and harsh topic after harsh topic.



The New York Times once wrote that "Chawky Frenn is a painter who has nailed down the figurative mode, and this accomplishment gives him the license to convey anything he wants, including the grand theme: the elusive meaning of human existence."


The Washington Post wrote that his work "is most effective, however, not when it's taking rather obvious swipes at American imperialism... but when it's making subtler hints about xenophobia, homophobia, racism, sexism and other tools of oppression."


The show runs through March 8, 2006.

Snowbound

For a long time it looked like it wasn't going to stick, but it kept falling and falling and last night it looked like this:

And this morning is pretty deep out there; this is the view from my second floor window and looking out towards the front of the house:


And now a couple of things for sure:

- Althought the Soviet Socialist Republic of Montgomery County is the highest taxed county in the United States of America, and property taxes went up 69% last year, and Kommissar Duncan's appetite for more taxes continues to be legendary, my street will probably never be cleaned. I can only recall one time that it was actually cleaned, and then it was by the third or fourth day.

- One reason for that may be because at some point today, one of my neighbors will attempt to leave the cul-de-sac where we all live, and get his or her car stuck in the slight uphill, forever blocking any exodus for the rest of us, or any entry to any snow-cleaning truck that may actually get lost and wander into our street to clean it. This has happened every single year that I have lived here. I haven't been outside yet, but I bet that there's a stalled, stuck car out there already.

Buy What You Love

Art Addict has a great tip on what art to buy; and I agree with her.

Read it here.

Reviews

Kriston Capps on Fusebox's last show.

Jeffry Cudlin on Ian Whitmore at Fusebox.

Jeffry Cudlin on Heike Baranowsky at G Fine Art.

Louis Jacobson on Vesna Pavlovic at Fusebox.

Mark Jenkins on Remembering Marc and Komei at the Katzen.

Louis Jacobson on Madame Yevonde at Kathleen Ewing Gallery.

Louis Jacobson on Jason Zimmerman at Irvine Contemporary.

Rachel Beckman on Jason Zimmerman at Irvine Contemporary.

Joe Dempsey on Maria Leontovitsch Manley at Alla Rogers Gallery.

Jessica Dawson on "What Sound Does a Color Make?" at UMBC.

Michael O'Sullivan on Appropriately: Five Artists Exploring Humor at the University of Maryland's Union Gallery.

Michael O'Sullivan on Assimilation/Dissolution at Gallery at Flashpoint.

JT Kirkland's Northern Virginia Gallery Round-Up.

JT Kirkland's 14th Street Galleries Round-Up.

Alexandra Silverthorne on Whippersnappers at Connor Contemporary.

Robin Tierney on Cupidity at Neptune Gallery.

Nigerian Art Scam

In the past I have discussed a little bit about the very convincing Internet scam that seems to address a lot of art from artists and art galleries. A few years ago (when this scam was very new) we came really close to losing a lot of money, but luckily (and only after we really pressed our bank for assistance) did we avoid it.

We still get 2-3 emails a week from the scammers.

Can You Picture That (which is a new DC Blog and has been added to the Blogroll) has a good tutorial of how the scam works.

All gallerists and artists should definately review this posting.

Visit Can You Picture That often!

WWIII

I think that the Right Reverend Bailey is trying to start World War III. Read it all here and start stashing up water and toilet paper.

He also seems to have his own wiretapping surveillance program going, as his Top Ten List of Art Bloggers indicates!