Opportunity for DMV Artists

Deadline: October 30, 2010

The BlackRock Center for the Arts has a huge gorgeous gallery space and their call for artists for the 2011 art season is now up.

The 2011 Call to Artists is open to all artists residing in Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, DC over the age of 18 for original artwork only. This call will cover exhibits in the gallery from October 2011 through August 2012. An exhibit may include on applicant or a combination of applicants, based on the judgement of jurors. The jury panel is comprised of Kathleen Moran, Jack Rasmussen and yours truly.

Details here.

Howard County Cultural Arts Showcase 2011

Deadline: November 5, 2010.

The Howard County Arts Council is now accepting artist applications for its annual Cultural Arts Showcase presented in partnership with the Recreation & Leisure Service Branch (RALS) of the Maryland Recreation & Parks Association (MRPA).

The event will be held at Howard County Center for the Arts at 8510 High Ridge Road in Ellicott City on March 3 & 4, 2011. Showcase is a program designed to assist school and civic organizations in identifying performing, visual and literary artists for workshops, performances, demonstrations, and in-school residencies. Attendees of Showcase include cultural arts representatives, PTA Representatives, festival and special event coordinators from Recreation and Parks and other members of the community.

For artist application information, please contact the Howard County Arts Council at 410.313.2787 / MD RELAY 711 or visit them on the web at www.hocoarts.org.

Enrique Chagoya Opens in DC today

The Bing Stanford in Washington Art Gallery will host Collisions Between Historical Visions: The Art of Enrique Chagoya. This exhibition of paintings, drawings, sculpture, and prints "highlights cultural clashes of religious iconography, ethnic stereotypes, ideological propaganda, and pop culture" by the Stanford University professor whose work recently caused the nationwide furor for his depiction of Christ in a show at Colorado's Loveland Museum.

Enrique Chagoya was born in Mexico and attended the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México where he contributed political cartoons to student and union newsletters. In 1977 he immigrated to the United States and received a BFA in printmaking from the San Francisco Art Institute and a MA / MFA at the University of California, Berkeley. He was awarded a fellowship at Monet’s Giverny Gardens and was in residence at the Cité international des Arts in Paris. Chagoya’s art commonly addresses cultural clashes over both space and time. He currently serves as a Professor of Art and Art History at Stanford University and has been chosen as the 2010 Navigation Press distinguished visiting artist at George Mason University. From October 11 to the 15th Mr. Chagoya will work with School of Art students to produce a new etching. He will present a lecture in the Harris Theater on Thursday October 14th as part of the Visual Voices lecture series

.The Bing Stanford in Washington Art Gallery is located at 2655 Connecticut Avenue, NW; Washington, DC 20008. Red Line to Woodley Park-Zoo / Adams Morgan. Hours are 9:00-7:00 M-F, 12:00-6:00 Sat & Sun.

The exhibit runs from October 12, 2010 until January 2011. The opening reception is today from 5:30 - 8PM. RSVP required to Meghvi at 202/332-3247.

For more information please call 202-332-6235 or visit this website. Admission is free.

Poconoing

Spending the long weekend in the Poconos. Heading home tomorrow.

Farm near Sugarloaf, Pennsylvania, October 10, 2010


Little Junes at Maylath Farms, Sugarloaf, Pennsylvania, October 10, 2010.

EJ Montgomery

Coming out of the woodworks

I've got yet another former Klaudia Marr Gallery artist writing to me with a horror story about his relationship with the former Santa Fe gallerist. More on that as I dig around.

Since I first started digging around this storyline, I've called Ms. Marr and left a voice mail, and also sent her emails to get her side of the story on all of this, any corrections, clarifications, explanations, etc. but so far she has ignored me.

This makes me wonder; are there any artists in the DMV who have been ripped off by any of the DMV's art dealers? Or gallerists ripped off by artists? (it happens both ways). If so, drop me an email.

Update: Here's the Better Business Bureau current rating for the Klaudia Marr Gallery: F.

Folded Mohammed? Nope: Another Folded Christ

Steve Miller claims to have found a whole new angle to the story about the piece in an art exhibit at the Loveland Museum/Gallery which apparently depicts Jesus Christ involved in what some say is an act of oral sex.

The piece is a folded-paper lithograph and woodcut panel depicting cultural icons. Titled "The Misadventures of the Romantic Cannibals," it was created by California-based artist Enrique Chagoya, a professor at Stanford University.

The Misadventures of the Romantic Cannibals by Enrique Chagoya. Color lithograph/woodcut. 7½" x 90". Ed. 30. $3400
You can buy it online used to be able to buy it online here, but now it's gone, so maybe it is sold out!

I blasted the professor for taking easy short cuts to Serranoesque/Offiliesque shock art and challenged him that "For his next panel, if he wants to get international attention of a diverse nature to say the least, I dare him to do a similar Muhammad panel."

But apparently, the professor had done this already! And no one has mentioned it, as far as I can tell. According to Steve Miller in a comment in my original post: "None of the talking heads seem to have noticed that Mohammed IS portrayed on one of the panels. He seems to be kneeling before a pair of pigs dressed up like hookers in one of the panels."

See it in the bottom panel? It's the second scene.

Can someone verify this? I will try to email the professor and also the print shop where the piece was made and also the museum.

If this is correct, then my kudos to the professor; he's got some big cojones and I stand corrected.

Update: Prof. Chagoya responded to my request for verification and passes that it is not Mohammed in that panel but another representation of Christ; he says:

First of all there are no representations of the prophet Mohamed. In my book my original source is actually coming from a representation of Jesus in a Persian Manuscript from the 17th Century reproduced in an [Newsweek, March 27, 2000] article by Kenneth L. Woodward in March 27 2000. In my book it represents the spiritual (represented by the Persian illustration of Jesus) protecting himself from temptation with flames around him (the pig ladies are the symbol of temptation in my book). In the online version there are no illustrations but the article matches the hard copy.

So there are no representations of Mohammed in the piece by Prof. Chagoya.

By the way, some idiot destroyed the work that had been on exhibit in the museum:

A woman armed with a crowbar entered the Loveland Museum/Gallery on Wednesday afternoon and destroyed a controversial exhibit that some said shows Jesus Christ engaged in a sex act.

"The Misadventures of Romantic Cannibals," by Stanford University's Enrique Chagoya, has been the subject of a week's worth of protests by those who claim it is blasphemy.

"It's sad and upsetting," Chagoya said Wednesday night by phone from California. "I've never had this kind of violent reaction to my art. Violence doesn't resolve anything."

The suspect was identified by police as 56-year-old Kathleen Folden of Kalispell, Mont. She is in custody on a charge of criminal mischief, a Class 4 felony with a fine of up to $2,000.

Police said the woman entered the museum about 4 p.m. and stood in front of the exhibit. Using a crowbar or similar tool, she broke the plexiglass protecting the image and tore up the artwork. She also cut herself in the process.

Read the story online here.