Miami art critics fired

I don't know the who's and what's of the issue (yet anyway) are, but an email drive is underway to try to restore three art critics fired from the Miami Spanish language newspaper El Nuevo Herald. Here's the letter:

As people of the arts, we write to express our disappointment and frustration having learned about the decision of El Nuevo Herald to discontinue the collaborations of the art critics Ms. Janet Batet, Ms. Adriana Herrera and Mr. Carlos M. Luis, based on unfounded allegations of “conflict of interest”, brought by the owner of a local art gallery, who advertises in the art pages of El Nuevo Herald.

Ms. Batet, Ms. Herrera and Mr. Luis are recognized scholars of a long and distinguished careers in the field of the arts, in Miami and in other Latin American countries. Most relevant in this instance, is the fact that they have conducted their academic and journalistic work with the most rigorous ethics.

Losing their contribution to the paper, will certainly diminish the level of interest and intellectual impact of your publication.

The decision of El Nuevo Herald’s management has seriously compromised its editorial integrity, and its credibility damaged. We encourage you to reconsider this issue and provide a mutually agreeable solution for all the parties involved, and reinstate your readers trust in El Nuevo Herald.

Pep

(Via)

Guajira Guantanamera

I am told that the most recorded song in the world is the Beatles' "Yesterday."

But among the top 10 most recorded songs in the world, and also the most recorded Spanish language song in history is the Guantanamera (real title is Guajira Guantanamera or the "Peasant Girl from Guantanamo").

Even if you don't know it yet, you've heard this song a million times. And yet, there is fierce debate as to who is the author of the Guajira Guantanamera? Who is the author of the musical introduction? and where does its chorus come from?

Most of this because originally in Cuba, the song was, other than the chorus part, an improvisational song, where the words to the song would be improvised by the singer as he/she sang it. There are no words to the Guantanamera!

In the 1960s Peter Seeger added the verses from Cuban poet Jose Marti in a performance at Radio City Music Hall in NYC and thus now the most common version of Guantanamera is the one with the Marti verses.

But this amazing song has no real written words - one just sings it and improvises as one goes.

Three versions below - The Sandpipers, Celia Cruz, Pete Seeger... and in Japanese.

Dawson on DMV

The WaPo's Jessica Dawson covered a wide range of the DMV art scene in this review(s): She covered shows at McLean Project for the Arts, Thomas Drymon Selects at the Studio Gallery, Carroll Square Gallery, Amy Lin's exhibit at Addison Ripley, and Andrew Wodzianski's Pop-Up living space in 100 sq. ft. performance.

Think about this: in order to cover all those shows, Dawson had to travel all over the DMV - and I'm sure that she visited a lot more spaces than those that she wrote about.

That is why writing art criticism is so time consuming: it takes a lot of gallery hopping just to produce a good round-up article like this one. Good job!

Andrew Wodzianski: 24/7

Click here or watch below:

Andrew Wodzianski Live from his 100 sqft home

Paneling

I'm part of the panel Special Seminar: Social Networking and Marketing Your Art, which is is today Saturday April 24, from 1-3PM. All the details are here.

Why not the visual arts?

A while back I was told by a writer (and later by a photographer) from the Gazette newspapers (which are owned by the Washington Post), that the WaPo has been using articles originally published/done for the Gazette to augment its coverage.

Years ago I suggested to the WaPo Arts Editor exactly the same thing: that they augment their visual arts coverage by publishing the reviews from the Gazette in their Style section, especially during the Dawson/Gopnik off weeks.

It made sense to me; they own the articles, so why not re-use them as needed. Like the Post has done with all of my constructive criticism and improvement ideas, they filed it in the round file and I've never heard back from them.

But apparently this "re-use" has been happening with some Gazette articles recently - but not the visual arts. I don't know which articles, and I don't know how to find out, and I am told that the Style section co-editor/editor (I'm not sure what he is) Scott Vogel doesn't answer emails, and I don't know who to ask.

However, it still makes sense to me. The Gazette has two really good writers in their employ to this end: Dr. Claudia Rousseau and Jordan Edwards.

Rousseau is a highly educated art critic and scholar with an impeccable pedigree and highly respected not only in our area, but also in Latin America, where she wrote art criticism in Spanish for many years before returning to the US. Read some of her recent reviews here.

Edwards is a journalist with a taste for the fine arts. Since I've been back living in the Soviet Socialist Republic of Montgomery County, I've been following his writing in the Gazette and he has earned my respect for the mind-boggling diverse genres of art that he covers for them. Check him out here.

How about it WaPo? If you don't get it, you don't get it...