Crystal Bridges to Be Delayed?

The opening of Wal-Mart heiress Alice Walton's Crystal Bridges museum of American art may be delayed by a year or so, the Associated Press reports.

The museum itself has not announced a delay to the original 2010 opening date, but Bob McCaslin, the mayor of Bentonville, where the museum is being built, said in a recent state of the city address that the museum would open in 2011. A subcontractor for the project, designed by Moshe Safdie, said that the job "will run through 2011."

Read the story here.

Rent this Bethesda condo

C'mon people, you're hemming me up! Rent this condo already!


This is a really nice two bedroom, two bath, three level condo in Bethesda in Pooks Hill, close to everything... minutes from the Beltway and I-270 and all the Bethesda restaurants and galleries and NIH and the Naval Hospital.... in a quiet Bethesda backstreet; see the listing here.

Things I'm Sick and Tired Of

Sorry about the dangling preposition, but I've just about had it with irony in contemporary art.

Suddenly, all of that work seems heavy handed and cheesy.

More Troubles...

A month after he was arrested on the way to his own exhibition opening at the Institute of Contemporary Art for tagging property with graffiti, street artist Shepard Fairey stands to face new charges in the Massachusetts capital.

Read the ArtInfo story here.

Get your Kahlo on

Frida Kahlo remains not only one of the most influential artists of the 20th century, but her spectacular life experiences, her writing and her views on life and art have also influenced many artists throughout the years.

The Washington Post once described me as a "Kahlophile since age 17," and since the very first time that I walked into a museum in Mexico City at that age and came across Kahlo's "Las Dos Fridas," I have been hypnotized and seduced by this most Mexican of Mexican viragos.

Frida Kahlo Wearing an Elvis T-Shirt.
1981. Ink Wash Drawing. 24 x 20 inches.
By F. Lennox Campello
In the past couple of decades I have curated two hugely successful international homages to Frida Kahlo, both in partnership with the Cultural Institute of Mexico in Washington, DC and the last one also in partnership with the Museo Frida Kahlo in Mexico City.

And later this year I will be doing it again, this time in partnership with the Joan Hisaoka Healing Arts Gallery at Smith Farm Center in Washington, DC. This exhibition hopes to showcase the work in all mediums of artists influenced not only by Kahlo’s art, but also by her biography, her thoughts, and her writing or any other aspect in the life and presence of this remarkable artist which can be interpreted through artwork.

More details on deadlines, prizes, etc. soon! The all media exhibition dates will be July 1 - August 29, 2009.

AOM Registration Opens Soon

Registration to be part of Artomatic 2009 opens online Friday March 27th.

The tenth anniversary event will run from May 29 to July 5 at Half Street's 55 M Street, S.E. - blocks from Nationals Park - atop the Navy Yard metro in D.C.'s Capitol Riverfront neighborhood.

Artomatic is unjuried, unfettered, popular, crazy, and all artists are welcome. Registration is on a first-come, first-served basis and will end when space is filled. The artists and the public love this amazing art explosion, while the critics usually hate it in their Freudian need for a curatorial hand or someone in charge.

Artomatic.org will have all you need to know by March 27. For registration questions, e-mail register@artomatic.org. To volunteer, e-mail volunteer@artomatic.org.

Major Art Fair coming to DC


The third annual International Caribbean Art Fair is coming to the nation's capital later this year, a change of venue from its usual New York location, where ICAFair has been held for the last two years.

ICAFair, a first-of-its-kind art fair exclusively for the representation of Caribbean Art, will be held at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center from September 10-13, 2009.

ICAFair provides exhibition opportunities to galleries and art dealers representing artists of Caribbean heritage.

At $2,400 for a 12' x 12' booth, this fair is a steal compared to the booth prices of every other fair around, so it may attract enough galleries willing to take a chance in today's negative-driven economy. From what I hear, the fair has done well in the last couple of years.

If you're curious what constitutes "Caribbean heritage," see the definition here.

I also know that ICAFair organizers have already been working hard and have been meeting with Cultural Attaches at the Caribbean embassies in DC to forge partnerships and help create awareness in their home countries. They've also just announced a joint-lecture partnership with the IDB Cultural Center scheduled for June 11th at 6:30pm at their location in Washington, DC.

This is great news for the District's arts scene, and I really hope that some sponsors and the District of Columbia Commission on the Arts and Humanities step up to the plate to help make this art event a success.