On the road again

Getting underway later today and heading to the East Stroudburg University of Pennsylvnia for a variety of business stuff.

Will continue to post from PA, so keep reading...

Art Deal of the Week

My pick this week is this almost painterly color digital photograph by American photographer Sandi Croan. She has captured the side of a ship, where the tires (serving as bumpers), have created a painting on the side of the ship's seaborne bulkheads. As a result, at first glance the photo looks like a painting or a watercolor, until closer examination reveal its true details.

It is titled "UMS" and the photograph measures 17.25 x 12.5 inches and then it is matted in a white pH-balanced acid free white museum mat and framed in a black moulding under glass to a framed size of 29x23 inches. Photo is signed by the photographer. The price (including frame): $300. That's an incredible deal for this large photo.

To buy it call 301/718-9651 or email the gallery.

Call for Erotica

Deadline: October 1st, 2006

Erotic Signature has launched the World's Greatest Erotic Art Competition (WGEAC).

With prizes ranging from $1,000 to $10,000 and the opportunity to have your work viewed by the world's leading publishers, curators, artists, academics, collectors, editors, and established masters in the field of erotic art.

This competition will culminate into a coffee table book entitled The World's Greatest Erotic Art of Today. This annual publication will be comprised of each year's 200 WGEAC's winners and all profits from its sale donated to an organization fighting to find a cure for HIV/AIDS.

All entrants are required to submit an entry fee of $45 for the first artwork, another $40 if you submit two and a total of $110 if you submit the maximum entry of three artworks during your initial registration.

Entries can be done via both their website application system online or by mail. Mail-in entries must include payment, CDs and all application forms, and be sent to:

Erotic Signature
P.O. Box 014837
Miami, Florida 33101

Visit www.eroticsignature.com for more details.

Opportunity for Photographers

Deadline: May 15, 2006

My good friend Philip Brookman, who is the Senior Curator of Photography and Media Arts at the Corcoran Gallery of Art will be the juror for the 2006 Photo Review Photography Competition.

The Photo Review, a highly acclaimed critical journal of photography, is sponsoring its 22nd annual photography competition with a difference. Instead of only installing an exhibit that would be seen by a limited number of people, The Photo Review will reproduce accepted entries in its 2006 competition issue. Thus, the accepted photographs will be seen by thousands of people all across the country and entrants will have a tangible benefit from the competition.

Also, the prize-winning photographers will be chosen for an exhibition at the
photography gallery of The University of the Arts, Philadelphia, and will be
exhibited on The Photo Review’s website.

Awards include a Microtek i800 scanner, $350 in gift certificates from Calumet Photographic, two Lensbaby 2.0 SLR selective focus lenses with macro kits, two $100 gift certificates from Sprint Systems, a professional level membership in Women in Photography International (worth $235), several Case Envy portfolios from Lost Luggage, and $250 in cash prizes.

An entry fee of $30 for up to three prints, slides, or images on CD and $5 each
for up to two additional images entitles all entrants to a copy of the catalogue. In addition, all entrants will be able to subscribe to The Photo Review for $34, a 20% discount. All entries must be received by mail between May 1 and May 15, 2006.

For a prospectus and details, send a self-addressed, stamped business-size (#10) envelope to:
The Photo Review
140 East Richardson Avenue, Suite 301
Langhorne, PA 19047

The prospectus may also be downloaded from The Photo Review website at www.photoreview.org/compete.htm. For further information call
215/891-0214.

Back from H-M Opening

Just back from the grand opening of the new Heineman Myers Gallery in Bethesda.

Tons of people, including a rare sight: major collectors from Baltimore in a DCish opening. This was a class opening, with uniformed waiters, a beautiful catalog of the exhibition, and the great photography of a proven big name and talented photographer: Connie Imboden (and a magnificent video of how Imboden does her photography on a large screen flat TV).

And also a good warm sight, in seeing all the major gallery owners in Bethesda show up to wish Zoe Myers a warm and auspicious opening. Unfortunately, we also learned that Ozmosis Gallery will soon be closing its doors, and its owner moving to New York in hope of finding greener pastures in the Big Apple.

Pics later...

Openings on 1st Friday

There's a ton of openings tomorrow, being first Friday and all...and most of the Dupont Circle area galleries will have extended hours from 6-8PM. Go see (and buy) some artwork!

And Saturday don't forget to swing by the grand opening of the new Heineman Myers Gallery in Bethesda, just a few minutes from the Bethesda Metro stop.

And also on Saturday, Engineers Without Borders, which is an University of Maryland student group on campus that works with developing communities around the world to improve people's lives through specific projects are hosting an art auction to be held Saturday April, 8th from 5-8pm and Sunday, April 9th 2-4pm. The auction will be held at the Leland Community Center, located at 4301 Willow Lane in Chevy Chase, Maryland.

O'Sullivan on TEXT

The WaPo's art critic Michael O'Sullivan reviews the current Text exhibition at the Greater Reston Arts Center.

Read the review here.