Last Night

Was a packed house at Mate in Georgetown, where nearly everyone and anyone with a footprint in the Greater DC area visual art scene was present for the launching festivities for artDC.

Believe it or not, I hadn't been to G'town since we closed the original Fraser Gallery, which is about a block up the street on 31st Street, NW in Canal Square. The Parish Gallery, which used to be our neighbor in the Square knocked down the wall between the two galleries and now Norman Parish's old space looks really nice with the expanded area.

Anyway, Mate was packed to the gills and there was good food and an open bar, and all the head honchos for ArtDC were there, as well as their media co-sponsors, DC Magazine.

In addition to a significant number of handsome men and goodlooking women, who came clearly because of the magazine's co-sponsorhip of the event, many of DC area [also goodlooking] gallerists such as Leigh Conner, Martin Irvine, Julia Morelli and others were present, as well as some of the folks from the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, a museum director or two, including Jack Rasmussen from the Katzen, a lot of curators like Vivienne Lassman, Sarah Tanguy, Angela Jerardi and others, and even some of the folks from the mainstream media who rarely come to openings showed up, including WaPotistas Michael O'Sullivan and the fair Jessica Dawson. Also saw some of DC's rare and few ubercollectors, such as Dr. Ognibene, Podestas, etc., some of which were actually co-sponsoring the event.

Didn't see too many artists, other than painters Candace Keegan and Sondra Arkin.

We were told by Ilana Vardy, the fair's director, that so far 80 or so galleries from 12 countries have been accepted into DC's first major international commercial fine arts fair, and it is clear that the artDC organizers are trying to align every possible thing that can be aligned to ensure that the fair takes root and that it becomes not only a commercial success, but also a recurring event.

The fair will take place April 27-30, 2007 at the Washington Convention Center, Hall E. Details here.

Lilith Waiting for the Apple

While I was in Colorado last week, I did a couple of drawings while watching TV in the hotel room at night.

Below is "Lilith Waiting for the Apple," 14" x 4" on 300 weight Rising white paper and executed while watching Rome on HBO, by far the best series on TV these days. Click on the drawing for a larger version.

Gopnik and African Art

The WaPo's chief art critic's recent review of "African Vision: The Walt Disney-Tishman African Art Collection" again presents this intelligent man's Oxford-made and flawed Anglocentric view of the art history of the world (remember the El Greco fiasco?) and has raised some interesting comments here and the ire of the Right Reverend.

Wanna go to an opening tonight?

The head out to the University of Maryland's Union Gallery for "I Walk the Line: Three Abstract Artists in the 21st-Century: Mary Early, Linn Meyers, and Douglas Witmer" curated by Jonathan Walz – PhD Candidate, Art History. Opening Reception: Thursday, March 1, from 5-7 PM and the exhibition runs through April 12, 2007.

Jury Duty

Last night was the first of a few nights hanging around Flashpoint in DC as part of a jury team selecting new media works for artDC. Together with ubercollector Philip Barlow, David Gariff from the NGA, independent curators Angela Jerardi and Laura Roulet, and Art in Embassies boss Sarah Tanguy, we spent a few hours reviewing the submitted works and found several good ones, but loads more left to review.

It was a long day, as I had spent the entire day in meetings in DC prior to circling 9th and G for 15 minutes looking for a parking spot at 5PM.

More later...

Congratulations

To super hardworking DC area artist Matt Sesow, who has one of his paintings being shown on the VH1 Top 20 Video Countdown (started last Saturday Feb. 24th). It repeats until this coming Saturday. Matt has built a mini-video on his website that shows the segment where they show his work. Click here to see it.

Matt also has a solo show opening next Saturday, March 3, 2007 in Oceanside/San Diego at the D Gallery. They have just under 70 of his paintings on display. Matt Sesow paints, shows and sells a lot.

Weekend Openings

Because it is First Fridays, the coming weekend is certainly one filled with the opening of important and interesting shows across the Middie-A. Take a look below, set aside some gallery time and go out and see some shows.

Greater DC

Friday: It's First Friday and most of the Dupont Circle area art galleries will have either openings for new shows or extended hours.

Studio Gallery will be featuring Jan Willem van der Vossen, who will be showing paintings on tile, cityscapes, and collages. A reception will be held Friday, March 2, 6- 8pm (in conjunction with the Galleries of Dupont Circle 1st Friday openings) and a second reception will be held on Sunday March 4, 2.30 - 5.30pm.

Conner Contemporary will be kicking-off Matthew Sutton's "The Kudzu Project" from 6-8 PM. Details here. Leigh will also have new drawings by Mark Bennett (same opening times).

Saturday: Andy Moon Wilson is at it again and this time Curator's Office will showcase a 1000 business card drawing installation plus additional large-format and scroll drawings. Let me be the first one to congratulate Andrea Pollan on taking on this hard-working young artist and also the first one to feel sorry for her in having to hang 1000 drawings in her office/micro-gallery! Business by Andy Moon Wilson runs Saturday, March 3 through Saturday, April 7, 2007 and opens on Saturday, March 3 from 6:30 - 8 pm.

Also on Saturday, Irvine Contemporary has "Joseph McSpadden: Flesh and Bone," on exhibition from March 3 - April 7, 2007 and opening reception with the artist on Saturday, March 3, 6-8 PM.

Baltimore

Thursday (OK, OK not really weekend): The Maryland State Arts Council 40th Anniversary celebration multi-media exhibition "New Legacies and Living Icons" at the James Backus Gallery in Baltimore, Maryland from March 1 - May 4, 2007. On exhibit recent works by Denee Barr, Min-Jung Cheon, Linda Day Clark, Richard Cleaver, Pepe Coronado, Jane Cottis, Annet Couwenberg, Brent Crothers, Laure Drogoul, Luis Flores, Carol Frost, Joan Gaither, Craig Herndon, Jose Mapily, Ulysses Marshal, Nancy Roeder, Jann-Rosen-Queralt, Joyce Scott, Rene Trevino, Deborah Winram, Gene Young, and Al Zaruba. Opening Reception Thursday, March 1st from 5-7pm with Gallery Talk at 6pm. Curated by Dr. Leslie King Hammond, Dean of Graduate Studies at the Maryland Institute College of Art. Location: Maryland State Arts Council James Backus Gallery 175 West Ostend Street, in Baltimore.

Friday: It's also First Fridays in Baltimore and most of the Fells Point galleries and art venues will have openings and extended hours. Details here.

Philadelphia

Friday: It's also First Fridays in Philly and most of the Old City's galleries and art venues will have openings and extended hours. Details here.

Projects Gallery concludes its group show season as it stages an exhibition that challenges the typical vision of the landscape show. Projects Gallery has selected artists who present a different view of the subject of landscape: “Altered Landscapes” opens Friday March 2 with a First Friday reception from 5-9PM. Work by Douglas Wirls, Nic Coviello, Frank Hyder, Steve Cope, Tom Brady, and Venezuelan painter Henry Bermudez. The exhibition continues through April 1st, 2007.