Tired words

I’m so tired.

As I write this, I am aboard Southwest Airlines, somewhere 30,000 feet above the Eastern seaboard and heading home from North Carolina. By the time this post is published I will be home, after what feels like endless travels through the South. For the last ten days or so it has been a blur of never ending driving and airport waiting and airplanes and strange beds.

And yet, there are always pleasant and enriching surprises where one least expects them. Such as finding a particularly unique piece of sculpture in a show where it is alone amongst its brethren, a seminal piece which tempted me into considering awarding it a Best in Show but ended with a lesser Honorable Mention because I think that the artist has a lot more to explore in order to push the concept behind the work. He needs to enter the world of electricity and lights and videos and then he will be there. There was also the enriching experience of meeting artists who are truly and deeply enamored of their art. And the shock of awarding a Best in Show to a small work whose merit may be overseen by most, like the flower in a dandelion is seen as a weed in a garden of manicured flowers.

And memorable and most unexpected images of predatory jacks-in-the-box dressed like harlequins being fed honey. They made me shiver with concern as to their creation seed, like a character in Stephen King’s “Duma Key” reacting to one of Edgar Freemantle’s hypnotic paintings.

And green trees everywhere, clean manicured lawns and mailboxes guided by Home Owner’s Association standards.

And the unexpected and welcomed surprise of having a rich conversation while being driven to the airport that strikes a special chord, and perhaps triggers thoughts, both light and dark, and ideas, both harsh and moist.

Sometimes a very talented and special artist flourishes amongst a field of good artists. They stand out in a special way, viewed by some as outsiders and out layers and by others as beautiful. Like the powerful yellow of a dandelion flower is seen as a bad weed by the vastness of the majority and also as a pretty flower by those with a delicate eye for beauty.

But beauty demands the delicacy of steel, shiny and flexible, and composed of mixed components, each strong on their own, but not as strong as when they are forced to couple together in the cauldron of molten ingredients. The scent of beauty has iron ore and coke and alloys and eventually it becomes steel.

The conversation floated around art, beauty, and the creative process. The words and idea revolved rapidly around love for art and love for being an artist and how love helps to create art; love as a driving force.

“Not just love,” I added, “also hate.”

After some exploration of this idea, we quickly agreed that what was really needed was passion. Poets and common folk have struggled with the nearness of love to hate and the quickness of how they can be molten into one by events and perceptions. Molten like iron and coke and alloys are molten to make steel.

Can art be created from hate?

“From the hells beneath the hells, I bring you my deathly fruits,” wrote Howard in his dark, some would say hateful poetry.

It is a dreadful question and one that I hadn’t really thought about much until a wonderful exchange of ideas with an unexpected kindred art soul brought it to my mind and then to my lips.

Was Goya driven by hate when he etched his horrible “Disasters of War”? I think so; but a very special kind of hate.

The same Goya who so loved the Duchess of Alba, a woman that he couldn’t have, that he painted her with brushes and paints loaded with love, and with desire, and even with direction and wishful thinking.

I think that I think that any passion can drive an artist to create meaningful and powerful art. The fervor of religion has given us some of the greatest masterpieces of art in the world, and not so curiously, as man steps away from God, so has the importance of contemporary religious art.

But it is so disturbing to me to think about pure incandescent hate as a driving force in the creativity of art.

Maybe I should diminish hate.

I hate green peppers.

I had a really good Greek salad for a lovely lunch a couple of days ago, and I was so engrossed in the conversation that I forgot to ask the waiter to skip the green peppers.

The salad was bountiful and tasty, and loaded to the brim with the offending vegetable. And the guilt of wasting food was there as I piled strips of green on the edge of my plate while consuming the rest of the salad voraciously. It’s odd how often I’m not aware that I am hungry until food is presented to me.

I eat too fast. My mother’s aunt once told me that she chewed each bite 33 times. But then you’d spend too many precious minutes chewing food. The answer to this mundane tragedy is somewhere in between three and 33. On the other hand, she lived to be well over 100 years old, 103 or 104 I think.

I hate how allergens can penetrate your body’s defenses and torment your nose, throat and eyes and make never ending days full of physical misery. I often wonder how cavemen survived in moldy caves in a world of sneezing. They must have been killed by their companions. How can a sneezing caveman sneak silently during the hunt? And they really couldn’t be demoted to gatherers instead of hunters, because they’d be sneezing their hairy heads off as they gathered berries and nuts and roots among the pollen rich world in which they lived.

I hate that HBO cancelled “Rome” and left us hanging with Pullo walking away with Caesarian.

I know, I know… different kinds of hate.

Still, I will never paint or draw green peppers.

I’m so tired, but happy.

Masked

"Masked," curated by my good friend Joan Weber is at School 33 Art Center in Baltimore through June 27, 2009 with an opening reception on Saturday, May 9, 2009 6-9pm and a Curator's Talk on Saturday, May 23, 2009 1-3pm and a poetry reading on Thursday, June 11, 2009 6:30-8:00pm.

MASKED is an exploration of work about concealment, secrets, self-conscious and social constructions of identity which ultimately reveal a new face – a brilliant corona of strength, integrity and courage. Each work is a performance piece of sorts; the artists have used their own bodies or their own biographies to very directly create a presence that suggests a story or a secret. However, rather than being a study in psychology or narrative, where one might work to discover that secret – this assembly is exciting in that even while experiencing the powerfully posited content on the surface, we know that there is an equally powerfully complex internal life.

The artists in the exhibition include: Dawn Black (paintings), Iona Rozeal Brown (pigment prints), Lynden Cline (sculpture), Bailey Doogan (drawings), Susan Fenton (hand painted silver print photographs), Inga Frick (pigment prints), J.J. McCracken (performance), Ledelle Moe (sculpture), Elsa Mora (photographs), Elena Patino (painting), Phyllis Plattner (painting), and Athena Tacha (sculpture) and the poets are Teri Cross Davis, Clarinda Harriss, Judith McCombs, and Rosemary Winslow (Poetry curator).

Red and Blue Philistines

Today the Pennsylvania Senate is calling for ZERO funding for arts and culture in the FY 09-10 state budget. If the Senate version (SB 850) prevails, there will be no arts and culture grants in the state of Pennsylvania starting on July 1 of this year.

Take action here.

Nam June Paik

The Smithsonian American Art Museum has acquired the complete archive of the artist Nam June Paik, one of the most influential artists of his generation and one who helped to transform television and video into artists' media.

"The Nam June Paik Archive is a landmark addition to the resources available to scholars and curators at the Smithsonian American Art Museum. The museum now becomes the major center for Paik scholarship," said Elizabeth Broun, The Margaret and Terry Stent Director of the Smithsonian American Art Museum. "The museum has made a strong commitment to Nam June Paik's work through acquisitions, which makes it the perfect home for his archive."

Call to Artists: In the Spirit of Frida Kahlo

Deadline: June 6, 2009

Frida Kahlo remains 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.

From July 1 - August 29, 2009 The Joan Hisaoka Healing Arts Gallery at Smith Farm Center in Washington, DC will be hosting Finding Beauty In A Broken World: In the Spirit of Frida Kahlo.

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 who can be interpreted through artwork.

This will be the third Kahlo show that I have juried in the last decade and we are seeking works of art that evoke the prolific range of expression, style and media like that which Frida Kahlo used as an outlet for her life’s experiences.

Get a copy of the prospectus by calling (202) 483-8600 or email gallery@smithfarm.com or download it here.

Job in the Arts

Position Opening: Gallery Director

International Arts & Artists, a visual-art non-profit in Washington, DC seeks a Gallery Director to coordinate Hillyer Art Space and its programs. Hillyer Art Space (HAS) is a contemporary exhibition site which presents quality exhibitions and programming to the public, and is an integral part in IA&A’s local, national and international initiatives. IA&A fosters intercultural and international understanding through the arts.

HAS presents a dual series of exhibitions in its two-room space showing work from artists living and working in the mid-Atlantic region, particularly the DC area, alongside work of their international peers. Exhibitions feature artists of both emerging and established stature and are solo, group or thematic. The exhibitions are selected by a panel of renowned artists and other professionals and in consultation with other IA&A program staff.

In addition to their exhibitions, they also present the Hillyer Open Mic Events (HOME), the Hillyer Art Space Film Series (HASFS) and life drawing sessions on a regular basis. Other events can include artist group meetings, private receptions, and other relevant events. HAS partners with artists, curators, arts organizations and cultural institutions to foster a collaborative spirit within the local and global art scene. In this way, HAS serves as an open forum for a variety of artistic visions and disciplines.

International Arts & Artists is looking for candidates who are passionate about artists and supporting their work. This position is “artist focused” as opposed curatorial in nature. We have a selection committee for our shows and the Director will need to liaison and coordinate the selection process for our advisory committee.

This individual will be required to work outside of normal work hours to manage programming at Hillyer Art Space. The successful candidate will need write and communicate clearly; present him/herself to foundations and funders well; be very organized; supervise others; handle press; budget; and all matters related to operating Hillyer Art Space. Fund raising and grant writing / reporting are central to this position. The Gallery Director needs to have proven experience in organizing, working cooperatively with others, and getting tangible results.

To be considered candidates applications must include:

- cover letter with specific minimum salary requirements
- chronologically arranged and comprehensive resume
- professional references (including past supervisors for last 5 years)

Send to info@artsandartists.org

Airborne


Heading South to Cary, North Carolina to jury the Fine Arts League of Cary 15th Annual Juried Art Exhibition.

From what I've already seen in the digital entries, it promises to be a terrific show! That's Susanna Pantas' "Slumber with Friend" to the right. These are the artists selected to exhibit.

More later!