Collecting the Work of Emerging Artists

On Wednesday, April 18, 2007 from 6:30 – 8pm, DC's Transformer, in partnership with Civilian Art Projects, will present FRAMEWORK Panel #6 – Collecting the Work of Emerging Artists. This event will take place at Civilian Art Projects, 406 7th Street, NW, 3rd Floor (7th & D Streets).

Collecting the Work of Emerging Artists will be moderated by DC area ubercollector and arts enthusiast Philip Barlow, and will feature several area art collectors including James Alefantis, Monica Bussolati, Allison Cohen, Melvin L. Hardy, and Dr. Michael Pollack. The panel will focus on how each participating panelist "developed his or her current art collection, the importance of collecting the work of emerging artists, as well as where the panelists look to purchase work."

Attendance for this event is free, but seating will be limited. Rsvp your attendance to info@transformergallery.org or call 202-483-1102.

A Secret History of the Washington Body School

Save this date: Friday May 11, 2007 from 7-9pm. That's when Ian and Jan: The Undiscovered Duo, A Secret History of the Washington Body School, featuring Jeffry Cudlin and Meg Mitchell opens at DCA in the District.

Cudlin and Mitchell will stage an art historical intervention, weaving an alternative history for Washington art.

While Washington celebrates the Washington Color School through the multi-gallery Colorfield.remix project, Cudlin and Mitchell will mount a retrospective for their alter egos, Ian and Jan — a fictitious husband-and-wife performance art duo.

According to the exhibition’s premise, "Ian and Jan led the Washington Body School , a group that, in the late ‘60s and ‘70s, exhibited their body art alongside the work of prominent Washington abstract painters.

Ian and Jan: The Washington Body School will provide humorous commentary on Washington ’s cultural legacy, on revisionist art historical agendas, and on gender bias and power politics in the arts. The show will include photographs, drawings, props, and videos of the couple in action."

Does that sound cool or what?

PS - Oh yeah... the previously mentioned Cudlin skinny buttocks is viewable below! :-)

Art-O-Matic Saturday Sked

AOM is in full swing and in addition to the great and the not-so-great artwork, there are loads of free music events and dancing scheduled for Saturday.

Today's schedule is here and it includes live music by Circus of Saints, Mary Shapiro, Opposite Sex, Layne Garrett, The Mesmers, Hailcon, Alona, Medium Underground, and Jeremy Parker.

Free and open to the public.

The model as the star

My recent readings of various Georgia O'Keefe biographies bring to mind that the young O'Keefe career received an interesting boost through the lenses of Alfred Steiglitz, whose series of nude photographs with O'Keefe as the subject caused quite a sensation during the first decades of the 20th century and made the young painter a household name amongst American art aficionados duirng those halcyon years for American art.

Fierce Sonia is a young Greater DC area model and photographer, whose work I included in "Seven" (and it sold well) when I curated that mammoth project for the WPA/C.

And now Fierce Sonia is making waves of her own on the web as a model working with professional photographer David Allio.

The second new art exhibition of 2007 by David Allio brought nearly 10,000 viewers to the online gallery on opening day. The ten-image exhibition entitled "A Day with Sonia" is an artistic twist on a more-traditional photojournalistic look at one day with a professional figure model.

"The concept of following a single subject for one day is nothing new to a photojournalist. But, a few of the rules of traditional photojournalism were bent slightly for artistic effect," Allio admitted.

"My primary challenge for this exhibition was to find the right model to be featured in this creative collaboration. The project was discussed with several potential feature models. But, Sonia was the first person to bring to me both the fierce desire and commitment to balance her creative insight, strength, charisma, and confidence with a trust of my skills and vision in this artistic collaboration."

This was Sonia's fourth artistic collaboration with David Allio. Artworks from previous projects have earned the duo an OMP Fine Art Showcase Award and Best Picture Award from Japan's Photo Unlimited.

Exhibition is online here.

Wanna go to an Alexandria opening tonight?

Gallery West, the member operated fine art gallery at 1213 King Street in Old Town Alexandria, VA has a solo show of hand turned wood pieces by Alan Becker showing from April 4 - May 6, 2007 and the opening reception is tonight Saturday April 14, 2007 6-9PM.

After that go and check out Art-O-Matic, as there are several parties and events going on there until 1AM.

Art-O-Matic is Rockin' Now

Just back from my first quicklook at AOM, and the 2007 location is just amazing and wait until you see the views that one gets from the 6th and 8th floor of 2121 Crystal Drive.

There are dozens of parties going on right now even as I write this and there will be a lot of parties this weekend, as well as performances, music and other artistic efforts.

Soon I'll be writing my first take on this amazing show, based on this first walk-through and also tell you about the rumor sweeping through AOM.

As usual there's a lot of great art and a lot of dreck, and a lot of Kelly Towles-wannabes, but already one can feel the palpable great artistic energy that is AOM's true gift to the visual arts community of the Greater DC region.

Wanna go to a Baltimore opening tonight?

The Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) highlights eight first-year students in MICA’s graphic design master of fine arts (M.F.A.) program in conjunction with the Graphic Design MFA Thesis Exhibition. First-Year Graphic Design MFA Exhibition provides a glimpse into the work of emerging artists and graduate students in the College’s graduate programs. The exhibition takes place in Bunting Center’s Pinkard Gallery at 1401 Mount Royal Avenue, with an opening reception on Friday, April 13, 5–7 p.m. and open studios on Friday, April 13, 7–9 p.m.

Works by 11 students form the First-Year MFA III Exhibition from Friday, April 13–Sunday, April 22, with an opening reception on Friday, April 13, 5–7 p.m. and open studios on Friday, April 13, 7–9 p.m. The students are Mount Royal School of Art students Lauren Boilini, Michael Burmeister, Andrea Chung, and Ben Steele; Rinehart School of Sculpture students Katie Cirasuolo, Jessie Lehson, and Elena Patino; Hoffberger School of Painting students Osvaldo Budet and Dominic Terlizzi; and photography and digital imaging program students Andrew Buckland and Anna DiCicco.