Technology things I don't like

I am really bugged by what happens when you accidentally hit a button or something on your phone and an alluring female voice says to you: "Say a command..."

First Friday Openings Tonight in DC

Today is the first Friday of August and thus usually time for the openings and extended hours of the Dupont Circle area galleries. Openings are generally from 6-8PM, but make sure to check their websites for the correct times or call your favorite gallery, as some of them close for August.

Julie Niskanen, Illusionary Reflection, mezzotint.
The 12th Annual National Small Works, juried by my good friend Jane Haslem, Director of Jane Haslem Gallery will be at Washington Printmakers Gallery and it is always one of the top juried shows on my list each year in the DC region and a great place to see what printmakers around the country are doing. Their reception is from 5-8PM and there will be a juror's talk on Sunday, August 9 at 1PM.

Also check out Six in the Mix - "Selections by Renee Stout" at Hillyer Art Space from 6-9PM.

Wanna go to an opening in DC this Saturday?

"Almost Surely, Almost Everywhere," an exhibition including the works of Echo Eggebrecht, Ken Fandell, Mike Iacovone & Billy Friebele, open this Saturday, August 8th, from 7-9pm at Hamiltonian Gallery.

Wanna go to an arts reception in Lorton this Sunday?

The Awards Reception for the Workhouse Arts Center’s First Juried Photographic Competition is this Sunday August 9th from 2-4pm. Juror Ann Shumard, Curator of Photographs at the National Portrait Gallery selected 64 of the 219 images submitted by 75 photographers from around the country for this show. The Workhouse Arts Center is just off 95S 9601 Ox Road Lorton, VA, twenty minutes from DC.

And this fall the Workhouse Arts Center will present Poetic Art: a benefit for the Yellow Ribbon Fund. YRF is a non- profit organization created in early 2005 to assist our wounded troops from Iraq and Afghanistan, and their families, while they recuperate at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center and the National Naval Medical Center.

The exhibition on the second floor of Gallery W16 at the Workhouse Arts Center will feature both professional and amateur poets and artists working in collaboration to produce Poetic Art. The work of art will inspire the poet’s words, or the poem will inspire the artist’s creation. The exhibition will be open to the public Oct. 21 - Nov. 20, 2009. An opening reception October 25th, will feature a reading of some of the submitted poems.

The exhibition will feature both invited and juried artists and poets.

All work must be for sale. Artists and Poets will retain all copyrights. LAF will take a 50% sales commission from sold work. The artists/poets will establish a single price for their combined work and determine the division between themselves of sales proceeds. Artists/poets are encouraged to donate a part or all of their sales proceeds back to LAF & YRF.

A full color show catalog will feature the paired art and poem to be sold as part of the fundraiser. Each participating artist and poet will receive a copy of the Show Catalog. However, none of the proceeds from the sale of the Show Catalog will be paid to the artists/poets.

For more details and the prospectus, email martikirkpatrick@lortonarts.org.

Ann Liv Young Flavored Pork

Visitors at the small, experimental space PS122, which hosted a tribute show of video, dance and musical performances dedicated to rap artist Kanye West, were probably shocked when the hip hop star showed up at the event himself. But they were likely not as shocked as Kanye, as the night progressed, when performance artist Ann Liv Young came on stage, completely naked, and berated the rapper for his most recent album "808s & Heartbreak". And to add to the bizarre diatribe, while she was complaining that the CD was not his best work, Young rubbed barbecued pork onto her genitals, before eating it.

AN has the story here.

Annie in money troubles

Celebrity photographer Annie Leibovitz may be better off declaring bankruptcy than battling a creditor suing her for breaching a contract related to a $24 million loan, bankruptcy experts said.

Art Capital Group, a New York-based company that makes loans using art as collateral, extended Leibovitz $22 million in September 2008 backed by the rights to her photographs and real estate in Manhattan and Rhinebeck, New York, court papers said. Three months later, she got $2 million more, according to a suit filed last week in New York State Supreme Court in Manhattan.

The financing company sued Leibovitz, alleging she refused to cooperate in the sale of the copyrights to her photographs and won’t give real-estate agents access to her properties for sale. Leibovitz has to repay the loan with interest and other expenses by Sept. 8, according to the suit.

Read it in Bloomberg here.

John Grazier Magazine

The immensely talented DC artist John Grazier has self published a really good magazine about his art, quotes by individuals and collectors.  Grazier writes to me:

"Other artists might consider doing something similar to promote their work.  Publishing it is free!  I think the concept is great, and if someone wants a profit, they just take that option, pricing the publication above print on demand cost-- they will receive payment via paypal."

See the mag here... and yes, Grazier's work is spectacular!