Artquotes

"A critic is basically an arrogant bastard who says 'this is good, this is bad' without necessarily being able to explain why."

Jonathan Jones
Art Critic
The Guardian

Annie get your camera

Celeb photog Annie Leibovitz may be losing the copyright to all her photographs and all her homes today...

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.

Update: More troubles:

Last week she came under fresh financial pressure when an Italian photographer sued her for allegedly stealing images he took.

Paolo Pizzetti sued Leibovitz in federal court in Manhattan, alleging she took material he shot at sites in Rome and Venice for her own use in an advertising campaign.

Read that here.

New DC art space

Vivid Solutions DC is a new fine arts space to the Historic Anacostia District. They also offer the new digital printing technique, Digigraphie. In fact, they are the first Digigraphie certified lab in the United States!

The space is located at 2208 MLK Ave, SE and is currently open by appointment or chance; Contact Andrea Hope for a look at the current exhibit and a tour of the facilities. Vivid Solutions "offers high-end digital printing for fine art utilizing cutting edge Epson technology, with salon-style exhibition space highlighting digital/photographic art."

They are currently showing a solo exhibition of works by Chandi Kelley, running through tomorrow, September 8th.

Her "Timelines," inspired by the theme of memory and mystery, are constructed of bookends, antique books and wallpapers reminiscent of vintage patterns. Methodically photographed, the spines of the books function as a timeline reading from left to right. The text and image combine in a striking, evocative collection.

Find out more about Digigraphie here.

Things not to do at an opening

This happened this past weekend at an art opening in the Mid Atlantic region.

An artist has been begging a particular gallery to include some of his work in one of the gallery's shows. The artist has a BFA and an MFA, both from really good art schools, and has recently moved to the area and wants to establish himself in this new area. The gallery is by far one of the top galleries in the city.

Finally the gallerist gives in and includes the artist in a group show. On opening night the show does well and several major pieces are sold (none of the artist's work). In fact it is the gallery's second best selling show ever and a welcomed relief in these austere financial times.

The opening is well-attended and supposed to end at 9PM, and the artist hasn't bothered to show up, but finally makes an appearance towards the end, around 8:30PM.

It appeared that he'd been celebrating in a nearby bar, and is quite inebriated. To make matters worse, he's been handing out show cards at the bar, and inviting all the bar flies to come to the gallery and enjoy free wine. Quite a few of the bar flies accompany the artist and they walk from the bar to the gallery.

They make quite an "impression" on the rest of the art clients still at the gallery, and soon all, except the barflies and the artist, leave as 9PM approaches. At 9PM the gallerist tells the artist that the opening is over and the gallery needs to close.

The artist begs the gallerist to stay open a little longer (and here's where the gallerist makes a huge mistake), and the gallerist agrees, perhaps believing the artist's claim that one of the bar flies will purchase a painting; and more wine flows.

Soon it is clear to the gallerist that the artist's posse is just interested in free wine and she kicks them all out and closes the gallery. In the process of doing so, some of the drunks become nasty to her.

Chances of this artist ever being invited to exhibit at this gallery again? The same chance as a snowball in hell.

Chances of this artist (once the gallerist tells the story at the next dealers' association meeting) of getting invited by another gallery? Slim to none.

Moral of the story? Pretty obvious, uh?

Tell Congress

Tomorrow the U.S. Congress is scheduled to return from their summer recess and the Senate will begin consideration of S. 1023, the Travel Promotion Act of 2009. The House of Representatives is expected to take up this legislation later this year. Please tell your Member of Congress to support inclusion of the nonprofit arts and culture sector in this bill!

Andersonian Video

Just watch it, will ya! Today is my birthday and this is one heck of a great B-day present!

Announcing the United States Mint’s 2009 Call for Artists

Application Period One: Nov. 9, 2009
Application Period Two: March 8, 2010
Application Period Three: July 6, 2010

The Call for Artists was officially launched last Friday, August 28th, and their brand new website which launched at this time as well. The Call for Artists invites artists from all over the country to apply for a paid position as an Associate Designer in the successful Artistic Infusion Program (AIP). Artists in the AIP program have the opportunity to take part in American history through the contribution of designs for coins that will be enjoyed by all Americans. In the past, AIP artists have submitted successful designs for coins released through the 50 State Quarters® Program and the Presidential $1 Coin Program. This year artists can apply online! The program will run year-long with three cut-off dates for applicant review. The first cut-off date is November 9th, 2009.

Here is a short description of the program:

The United States Mints invites artists to be a part of American history through coin design. The Artistic Infusion Program (AIP) provides gifted artists the opportunity to contribute creative and beautiful designs for coins that will be enjoyed by all Americans. AIP artists have submitted successful designs for coins released through the 50 State Quarters® Program and the Presidential $1 Coin Program. Honorariums are $2,000 for each design submission and $5,000 for each selected design. Visit www.usmint.gov/artists to apply.

Visit this website for more information.