Black Matter

Zenith Gallery, which is celebrating its 30 year anniversary (which in gallery years is around 200 years), has an interesting exhibition coming up at its alternative art space: Black Matter.

On exhibition through March 16, 2008 there will be three-dimensional mixed media and sculpture by Washington area artists from the Black Artists of DC Collective: Akili Ron Anderson, Ann Bouie, James Brown, Terry deBardelaben, Lillian Thomas Burwell, Cheryl Derricotte, Julee Dickerson-Thompson, Aziza Gibson-Hunter, Thomas Gomillion, Francine Haskins, Gloria Kirk, Serinity Knight, Harlee Little, Juliette Madison, Chris Malone, Uzike Nelson, Chris Randolph, Cynthia Sands.

The Alternative Gallery Space at:
1111 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20004
Open Weekdays 8am – 7pm Daily
Saturdays and Sundays, appointment only, Call 202-783-2963

Meet the Artists: Thursday, January 31, 5:30-8:30pm

Wanna go to an opening in DC tomorrow?

By now you should all know that the place to be is at the new R Street Gallery, located on the upper level of 2108 R St. NW Washington DC 20008, Tel: (202)588-1701.

Starting at 6PM there is a reception for "Color Invitations," a group show of several key DC area artists working the focus of color as a key ingredient of their work. There willnew work by Maggie Michael, Jeffry Cudlin, Amy Lin, Andrew Wodzianski, John Blee, Steve Lapin and myself. The show opened on the 10th, but the reception is tomorrow. It runs through February 4, 2008.


I will also be exhibiting two new paintings from the "Digitalia" series as well as some of the prep watercolors done for the original works from 1999-2000 that started the series. Details here.

Come by and say hi.

Malik Lloyd's Favorite Artwork

Malik Lloyd is one of the key members of the DC area art scene and definately one of the area's online information innovators. He is the Founder and Publisher of the FIND ART information bank, the winner of the Washington Area Lawyers for the Arts 1998 Rising Star Award, the winner of the District of Columbia 2000 Mayor's Art Award: Innovation in the Arts, and also has been nominated for Excellence in Service to the Arts, DC's Mayor's Art Award and also nominated for Outstanding Contribution to Arts Education, also for DC's Mayor's Art Award. Malik responds to my request for readers' favorite artworks.

Lloyd writes:

That is a very tough question, since my favorite changes with the mood that I'm in. However, Henri Rousseau's "The Dream," is the one that I would select today. When viewing it at the NGA a couple of years back, I could not keep my eyes off it. It is tranquil, surreal, mysterious and romantic - qualities that I usually try to capture in my artwork and in life; located at the Museum of Modern Art, New York

Dali would be a close second on my list. He is like the exciting place that you love to visit, but would not want to live there.

Henri Rousseau, The Dream, c.1910

Cavanaugh on DC area masterpieces

DCist's Amy Cavanaugh has the first in a new series exploring some of the paintings, sculptures and other works that are always on display in D.C. Read her first post here.

Art with a Twist

On January 17, from 7:30-9pm I will be doing a special presentation at the Greater Reston Arts Center in Reston, Virginia as part of their continuing education programs.

Space is limited and reservations are requested. Call 730.471.9242. Details here.

I will be doing a quick and fun walk through art history, all leading to contemporary art, where I will be discussing the work of some well known art superstars and also some Greater DC area artists.

Martinis are also involved.

Venus of Willendorf, c. 24,000–22,000 BC

The Power of the Web

One of the things that good art blogs can do, provided that the blogger is not lazy or seduced by the power of disseminating information, is to tell readers about good art shows that take place in alternative art venues that are usually ignored by the printed media.

And I have been hearing good things about the exhibition that Boston Properties, Inc., and Jean Efron Art Consultants LLC, have mounted in the lobby of 505 9th Street, NW in DC. The exhibition is open to the public during building lobby hours, Monday through Friday, 8:00 am to 7:00 pm. now through April 10, 2008

On exhibition are new encaustic paintings by West Coast artist Betsy Eby. Encaustic painting is a really harsh and difficult process that usually brings to my mind the works of the very talented DC area artist Pat Goslee, whose works I once regrettably described as "vaginalism."

Silent Voice Speaking: Hey! Look at this!

By the way... Goslee has an ass-kicking website that's an example to artists everywhere.

Phil Nesmith - My Baghdad: Photographs

Someone whose opinion I respect very much called me the other day to chat about things and then he told me that had attended the opening at Irvine Contemporary in DC for Phil Nesmith - My Baghdad: Photographs.

"Lenny," he said, "this is an amazing show, you gotta write something about it!"

The exhibition is a series of photographs shot in Baghdad and produced on glass plates using a dry plate ambrotype process. A set of editioned C-print enlargements from the glass plates accompanies the unique images in the exhibition, which goes through Feb. 17, 2008.

Phil Nesmith, MH47, 2007. Dryplate ambrotype
(sandarac varnished silver emulsion on black glass). 8 X 12 inches

This is what the photographer wrote about the works:

In 2003, soon after the fall of Baghdad, I began a year long stint in Iraq. The novelty of the experience wore off soon after arrival, and my days in Baghdad seemed to repeat themselves, like a film looped to play continuously, returning to the start the moment after it ends. The repetition created routine, the routine normalizing what would otherwise be extraordinary.

This normative process was one that I was both aware of and oblivious to, and was one that I realized was itself a repetition of what my father had gone through as a soldier in Vietnam. I started to become conscious that the daily existence of the soldiers around me, while surrounded by different, new technologies and capabilities, still maintained a surprising similarity to the life of soldiers on the battlefield in Vietnam or anywhere, going back centuries. The routine of life in a war zone this week would be recognized by soldiers from World War II, from the Spanish American War, or from the American Civil War.

Since returning from Iraq I have sought to find a way to evoke this sense of historical telescoping and the echoes of social memory in my work. I became interested in early photographic processes, and saw within them a way of creating a visceral connection between the contemporary and the historic, utilizing an old process to capture a new conflict. These images also blur the boundaries of photographic processes as well by mixing the cutting edge digital technology used to capture the image and a combination of nineteenth century techniques to bring the image to life.

Having served in several war zones during my time in the US Navy, I know what he means. And seeing that helicopter brought back memories of a helicopter crash at sea on a flight from Beirut to Larnaca, Cyprus that is a story for another day and reminded me what a lucky man I am.

See the photographs here