Wanna go to a DC opening tomorrow?

Rebecca C. Adams: Compulsory Figures and ∞ at Transformer.

Using sound and large street drawings to interpret an archaic division of figure skating, this indoor and outdoor installation captures the sonic environment of practicing compulsory figures on ice, while visually striving to reproduce similar exercises on pavement. Opening : July 26, 6:30 - 8 PM.

Coming to the Corcoran

The Corcoran's fall season will feature two photography exhibitions, Ansel Adams, opening September 15, and Annie Leibovitz: A Photographer's Life, 1990-2005, opening October 13.

Yes, another Annie Leibovitz exhibition at the Corcoran.

When I got the news release, I sent the Corcoran's director, Paul Greenhalgh (who by the way, has been doing a really decent job since taking over the reigns of the Corcoran) a couple of suggestions for future photography shows. One idea "augments" the Ansel Adams exhibition, which will hopefully add a new dimension to yet another Adams photo show.

To start, I will admit that "Moonrise Over Hernandez" is a great photograph and people will oooh and aaah over it, as they have done for the dozens and dozens of previous Adams' exhibitions over the years.


Here's my idea: The Library of Congress has a HUGE collection of Ansel Adams negatives that are the property of the people of the United States.

It is my impression that anyone can (for a nominal fee) get the Library of Congress to print them photos from the Adams' negatives (or any other negative in the public domain I suppose). Already the LofC has even worked out a deal with Zazzle.com to buy a lot of LofC repros/stuff online. In fact, here's an Ansel Adams photo that you can buy from them.

Here's the novel idea: Why not set up an electronic online booth(s) at the Ansel Adams Corcoran exhibition where Corcoran visitors can also preview the hundreds (if not thousands) of other negatives that the LofC owns the copyright to, and provide an easy way for visitors to the Corcoran exhibition to order Adams' photos?

Probably much rarer Adams' photos that seldom see the light of day, much less the moonriselight.

Ahead of time the Corcoran can set up a deal where a percentage of the costs of the Adams' photos would be donated to the Corcoran as a "pass-through-fee."

And then this is a win-win situation for all, as visitors come away with an Adams' photograph, the LofC gets some money out of it, and the Corcoran also gets some additional funds out of it.

The technology is the easy part; getting two separate institutions to cooperate is the hard part.

Nothing heard back from anyone yet.

Pediatric AIDS/HIV Care Fundraiser

The Pink Line Project will host a happy hour fundraiser to support Pediatric AIDS-HIV Care, an organization dedicated to children living with AIDS/HIV in the Washington metropolitan area. Their program employs creative approaches - including art and music - to help children cope with the stress and stigma associated with this disease.

Great video art from "barely emerging artist" Kathryn Cornelius, Jeff Wyckoff, Kathleen McGlaun, Koike Susumu, and Live Music by Ben Gilligan (from French Toast and Small Doses)!

Wednesday, July 25, 6 to 8 PM at 18th Street Lounge (1212 18th Street, NW in DC).

Spray Painting

Depending on many variables (most of which I think have to deal with culture, upbringing, formation, sense of inferiority, elitist aspirations, and hidden wanna-be issues), often artsy people stand on definite sides when it comes to what the art world describes as "low brow art" and "high art."

In the various earlier discussions here on what makes good art, a lot of theory and art history has been discussed and written about.

I'm of the opinion that the only proven and tested art critic of what makes good art is time.

And often what was once considered low brow art, or art that wasn't good enough, stands the test of time just as well (or even better) than what the contemporary critics or artsy folks of the time would have selected.

History is full of such examples: Ukiyo-e in Japan, Salon des Refusés in France, most 19th century steelpoints, Frida Kahlo in Mexico, Norman Rockwell in the US, most photography until Steiglitz dragged it into art galleries, Florida's Highway Men, and on and on.

But now, even though anything and everything is art, there's still a world of low brow art that makes most members of the artworld scene roll their eyes. We all do it.


On the other hand, some low brow art has managed to make the jump to the high art side.

Like John Currin. Or Lisa Yuskavage and many others.

And that's OK - everything is art.

Perhaps one of the most refreshing developments of the last few years has been the recognition of the artists sometimes described as "street artists." Many, like Banksy, and in the DC region artists like Kelly Towles and Mark Jenkins, have made the jump and show equally at ease in galleries. In Jenkins' case, he has become a worldwide fixture and now creates his street tape sculptures all over the planet.

Another form of street art, which is new to me, are "spray paint artists."

A few weeks ago I was wandering around South Street in Philly, when I came across a group of people, including a cop, avidly observing a young man create artwork while kneeling down on the sidewalk at the entrance to the South Street Pedestrian Bridge. In front of him were displayed 20 or 30 pieces of art on cardstock... about 30 x 20 inches each.

He worked with amazing speed, to the tune of a very hip beat that played on the boom box next to him. His paper was taped to a spinning table, and he sprayed, dabbed, removed and spun to the beat of the music. We all watched hypnotized as image after image appeared.

It took him about 90 seconds to create a painting from scratch. "I may not be the best," he told me when I started talking to him during a break and while I was buying one of his pieces, "but I am the fastest spray painter around."

The subject imagery is of no consequence. It seemed to focus on otherwordly landscapes, Star-Trekkie vistas, or surrealist dreams. Mine was a mixture of some sort of a Anakin Skywalker viewpoint married to a glowing penis.

But the imagery is the least of the concerns here. What hypnotized and mesmerized the crowd was the performance of this young artist, arms flying, spray cans tumbling, music playing and the "ooohs" and "ahhhs" of the crowd as he created work after work every 90 seconds.

See for yourself in the below video (filmed in Mobile, Alabama earlier this year):

His name is Joshua Moonshine, and the streets of US cities are his galleries.

Wanna go to a Tyson's Corner, Virginia opening today?

Details here.

Bailey on What Makes Good Art?

One can always count on the Reverend to add some spice to any argument. Herewith Bailey's opinion on What Makes Good Art?

I really have to agree with Kevin Mitchell’s comments regarding art critics and their biased definitions of "great art."

A self-proclaimed art critic attempting to spin a definition of "great art" strikes me as being remarkably similar to a self-proclaimed Supreme Court Justice cop pulling a citizen over and attempting to define that citizen's Miranda Rights. This is the point I was attempting to make with this post.

Just as a rogue cop thinks he has the right to render on-site Supreme Court rulings defining the limitations of a citizen's Miranda Rights, so too do art critics think they have the right to spin a biased definition of great art. What's long been amusing to me is that art critics inevitably invoke the name of Clement Greenberg to "prove" their one-sided definitions by pulling something out of context that Greenberg once said and either agreeing or disagreeing it.

If a citizen were to question a cop about that cop's definition of the citizen's Miranda Rights, that cop (and they're trained to do this) will inevitably invoke the latest Supreme Court decision that affects the definition of Miranda Rights to either "prove" or "disprove" his definition.

The issue is one of authority, who has it, how did they get it and what are they doing with it.

One can only imagine the violent confrontation that would occur if a private citizen attempted to pull over a cop for speeding, ask for that cop's driver's license, read that cop his Miranda Rights before attempting to question that cop, and then arresting that cop when that cop attempts to resist.

That's exactly what I am encouraging artists to do to with respect to art critics who want to define the phrase "great art."

Of course, to be open and honest about my own bias with respect to the debate between Jeffry Cudlin and Mark Cameron Boyd, I have to confess that I'm sympathetic to the arguments of Mark. Not because I think Jeffry is a bad art critic, but because Mark's opinions are not published in a weekly newspaper that features art criticism. A newspaper that publishes art criticism is somewhat like the Supreme Court publishing its decisions. I question every word of every published Supreme Court decision.

The more the Supreme Court attempts to “define” our Miranda Rights, the more the more those rights evaporate. The more an art critic attempts to “define” great art, the more great art becomes an illusion.

The Right Reverend James W. Bailey

Congratulations!

To Gean Moreno, who creates multi-textural, suspended images, and who is the 2007 winner of the $15,000 Cintas Foundation Emilio Sanchez Award in Visual Arts for artists of Cuban lineage residing outside of Cuba.