Scrapping the artists

Here's the story: There's a 1.6-acre property adjacent to the National Institutes of Health Open Space in Bethesda. The initial proposal by developer Patrinely Group of Houston, Texas included 25 percent "moderately priced dwelling units and about 2,000 square feet within the main building for an arts incubator, which would have offered studio and exhibit space for emerging artists." That all went away when the condo market collapsed in Bethesda and now StonebridgeCarras, which purchased the site about a year ago, has a new proposal:

The vacant Trillium lot could be home to 360 luxury appartments and a grocery, if plans are approved by the Montgomery County Planning Board on Thursday.

And first thing to go in the StonebridgeCarras proposal: The arts incubator.

How does the Greater Bethesda-Chevy Chase Chamber of Commerce feel about that?

 “We really support that,” said Ginanne Italiano, executive director of the Greater Bethesda-Chevy Chase Chamber of Commerce. “It’s not the whole concept that the other organization had, but I think this is going to be an even better concept.”

Yeah Ginanne, another grocery store is an even better concept than an arts incubator. After all, there are only about a dozen or more grocery stores in Bethesda and ahhh... zero affordable space for artists and nothing even remotely close to an arts incubator, and most Bethesda area art galleries have closed in the last couple of years; thank you for your moral support.

Good move StonebridgeCarras (nice artsy name!) and let DC Art News be the first to welcome to Bethesda, yet another Safeway, or yet another Giant, or considering the artsy name of the developer, perhaps another Whole Foods.

Makes my head hurt.

Read the Gazette story by Jessica Ablamsky here and read the developer's news release here.

Around Town

That busload of San Francisco art collectors visiting the DMV is out and about town today. They started with a pep talk this morning (at the home of a most gracious Chevy Chase art collector) and then headed out to the District to visit art studios, artists' homes and galleries.

They were last seen visiting Flux, Red Dirt and the WGS and all of those artists' studios in that area.

Collatz Conjecture and Art

I'm probably only one of a handful of people on the planet who has an Undergraduate degree in Art as well as a degree in Mathematics and a Master's in Artificial Intelligence.

As such, I'm always thinking about ways to explore Math in Art... Hidden in the shadows of most of my drawings (shadows cast by bodies as well as shadows in the bodies themselves) are often to be found other figures and clues, and just as often mathematical equations, progressions, theorems, conjectures, etc.

One recurring and fascinating issue to me, buried in the shadows of a drawing that I sold last week in New York is the Collatz Conjecture:

Take any natural number and let's call it n.

If n is even, then we divide it by 2 to get n / 2.

If n is odd, then we multiply it by 3 and add 1 to obtain 3n + 1.

Repeat this division/multiplication indefinitely (and this is where "indefinitely" becomes an issue, as the British say).

The Collatz Conjecture is that no matter what number you start with, you will always and no matter what the starting number is, eventually reach 1.

This conjecture property has also been called "oneness."

Can art help represent this? I don't know - that's why I bury them in the shadows of the drawings and not try to solve them per say; but often it is the drawings themselves that trigger the specific mathematical clue/issue being associated with the piece.

At Morrison House on Tuesday

WHAT:  “The story behind the 100 Artists of Washington, DC book” - Morrison House Presents: F. Lennox Campello, Author

DESCRIPTION:  Author F. Lennox Campello discusses his controversial book, 100 Artists of Washington, DC, and provides insights into the selection process, the publication of the book and the subsequent eruption of controversy in the Greater DC area art scene.

WHEN: Tuesday, May 1, 6 to 8pm

WHERE: Morrison House, 116 South Alfred Street, Alexandria, VA 22314

INFO: Morrison House: www.morrisonhouse.com / Phone: 703-838-8000

ADMISSION: Free admission (Food and drink available for purchase)

Roberto Rodriguez and the Cuban Jewish All Stars

The Jewish Music Festival is featuring a very special act this year:  

Roberto Rodriguez is a true innovator whose artistic vision synthesizes Cuban and Jewish music into an entirely new creation that breathes joy and melancholy. Born in Havana and raised in Miami, the percussionist and composer’s groundbreaking music explores his cross-cultural roots and influences, melding his native Cuban music with contemporary genres of world, Sephardic, pop, jazz, electronic and classical music.

 Details here.

Opportunity for Artists

Deadline: July 8, 2012

A national juried exhibition of emerging artists, ages 16-25, with disabilities. Sustaining / Creating asks emerging artists to showcase work that illuminates innovative viewpoints on sustainability and contemporary creativity. Beyond its scientific definition, sustainability references notions of responsibility and stewardship of our natural world in all facets of human interaction–from the environmental to the cultural. Sustainability indicates the capacity to endure.

Submitted artwork should illustrate these thematic ideas, which may be achieved through broad, abstracted references or detailed personal creations. Your submission might also reflect your experience of living with a disability and its role in shaping or transforming your art.

This exhibition is presented by the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts’ VSA & Accessibility Office and Volkswagen Group of America, Inc.

Details here

The Scream

The frenzy around the imminent auction on May 2 of Edvard Munch’s The Scream at Sotheby’s in New York is reaching a peak here in Europe, where predictions abound that it will break the record price paid for a work of art at auction: $106.5 millions two years ago for Pablo Picasso’s “Nude green leaves and bust.”

Read the story here.