Who's he calling an idiot?

Jackie Trescott has an interesting interview and profile with the Corcoran's new director: Paul Greenhalgh.

Pronounced Green-halggg, or maybe Green-HA-elgg; no wait: Green-halsh! In what language does "halg" sound like "halsh" anyway... silly Brits.

Anyway, it sounds like Greenhalgh is taking the Corcoran by the horns and doing a superb job so far - this appears to be a man who knows that he needs to clean up house, fix it up and then re-establish it as one of America's great art venues. So far it seems like his hiring was the right thing and the right choice.

And I like Greenhalgh's firmness in his words and beliefs.

And I wonder if he is responding to the Blake Gopnik recommendation that the Corcoran become a museum of photography when he says:

"The idea that you would brand yourself with one message is, of course, the idiot's approach to museums," he says. "Museums are complicated places. There is no reason we can't be the edgiest institution and the most experimental over a period of years."

Now, that's what I call a response... if he's responding... ehr.. to the photography idea... that is.

Last night

Great opening at my last show with Fraser Gallery. Thanks to all of you who came by to say "goodbye" and "hello" in my new incarnation sans Fraser.

NBC 4 was there filming the opening and discussing my next moves and the history of DC Art News, etc. They also interviewed the fair Katie Tuss, who will be one of the writers helping me expand DC Art News.

There were also a couple of newspaper writers, a few gallerists (I finally met face to face with Nevin Kelly), some curators, a museum director and tons of artists and friends. Thanks to all of you for coming.

Brisk sales, including both pieces by Amy Lin, who is very hot right now - my advice: Buy Lin now before she skyrockets. Lin is currently in at least two more shows around town and selling well everywhere. And she should sign up with a gallery soon.

Best in show winner was a new artist (new to me anyway): Taryn Wells from Medfield, Mass. Powerful, powerful skilled drawings that convey not only exceptional techical skill but also that immensely hard ability to deliver a powerful message via a visual image.



Both of Wells' pieces also sold as soon as the show opened, and I see bright things in the future of this artist.

Award winners:

Best in Show: Taryn Wells

First Place: Andrew Decaen
Second Place: Joseph Hamilton
Third Place: Jenny Davis

Hon. Mention: Anna Conti
Hon Mention: Roland Delcol
Hon. Mention: Angela Grey

This is the kind of lunacy that makes me wanna...

From: Luis A. Luna
Assistant Administrator, Office of Administration and Resources Management

To: All EPA Employees

As you may know, on March 15, 2005, GSA initiated the Section 106 consultation process, under the National Historic Preservation Act, regarding the current setting of the historic murals in the headquarters Ariel Rios North and South buildings. GSA established a consulting group and developed a Web site to solicit comments from interested parties: www.gsa.gov/arielriosmurals.

An executive summary of these comments is now posted on the Web site.

The next steps of this process include GSA identifying a panel of experts that will meet in mid-October to provide them with a higher level of information and input on the murals. EPA employees, members of the Native American community and other interested parties will be invited to participate. At the completion of the forum, the recorded dialogue will be made available to the general public and a final round of public comments will be taken. Based on the information derived by the forum and the public comments, GSA is expected to make its final determination regarding the murals by January 31, 2007.

In the meantime, GSA has completed the design of a temporary screen that will be placed in front of the murals on the 5th floor of the Ariel Rios building. The screen is expected to be ready for installation no later than July 21, 2006.

This will be the subject of a rant from me later on... below is "The Red Man Takes the Mochila."

DCist Love

She's cute, she's very funny on her own personal blog and she's developed really quickly into a damned good art writer and critic as well, and Heather Goss sends DC Art News some Internet love and some really good advice on an area that has really been the subject of a lot of thinking for me: Keeping my focus on the Greater DC area constant and prevent it from thinning when I start sniffing around Philly and Baltimore and all that's between.

Read it here.

Then come by tomorrow to the Fraser Gallery between 6-9PM and say hello, goodbye and hello again.

Corcoran Opening

Packed house last night at the Corcoran's private opening for "redefined: Modern and Contemporary Art from the Collection."

Ran into the legendary Lida Moser and we had a nice walk-though of the exhibit, which provides an opportunity to see many of the museum’s most important works from the 1950s to the present.

If I have time I will return and do a better (and slower) walkthrough of the show, but on a first look, I think that this massive Ida Applebroog steals the exhibitions, and the Cornell boxes are always amazing (as usual).

I was also taken by this large oil by Kim Dingle, which reminded me of the recent work of local painter Rachel Waldron (who was at the Corcoran last night).

Art for Life

The 13th annual cocktail reception and live auction benefiting Whitman-Walker Clinic's Latino Services event will take place on Friday, November 17, 2006 at the beautiful Organization of American States, one of the city’s premier venues.

They will feature the live/silent auction format again this year allowing them to accommodate a larger number of works of art from artists, as well as keep our guests engaged in the auction throughout the night.

This is one of my favorite art auctions and a major fundraiser for the Whitman-Walker Clinic.

I really encourage artists to donate work to this auction.

Hurry! The deadline to register is today!

To donate art for the auction go here or contact:

Martha N. Miers
Associate Director of Special Events
Whitman-Walker Clinic
1407 S Street NW
Washington, DC 20009
202.797.3529 (o)
202.797.3560 (f)
www.wwc.org

Artwork for Dulles

The airport is looking for some proposals to add artwork to some of the Dulles Metrorail stations.

Deadline is August 4, 2006 and the prospectus can be downloaded here.