Glass Doors

The Washington Glass Studio (WGS) has started the creation of the new cast sculptural glass doors for the Library of Congress (LOC) in Washington, DC. The design of the project started in 2004, when the Architect of the Capitol (AOC) first asked WGS about advise on their initial proposal to replace the original historic bronze door.

Details here.

New Art Scammer: Rip Off Alert!

 If you are in the WPA Artfile, expect to hear from this scam artist...

From: michealjohn218@yahoo.com

Date: May 14, 2012 7:07:57 AM EDT

Subject: ArtFile Online: enquiry to buy

**This following message was sent to you by a person who found your artwork on Washington Project for the Arts's  ArtFile Online website. artfile.wpadc.org Please report any problems or concerns regarding this email to
artfile@wpadc.org

Hello am micheal and am interested in one of your paintings, i just want to buy it for one of my daughter because she loves art paintings a lot, and i will like to pay you through cheque and i hope you dont mind beacause that,s the most preferable method for me and i hope you will be able to bear with me. Thanks

Tim Tate Re-Invented...

Ever since his debut at the old Fraser Gallery in Georgetown, for years we have been following Tim Tate’s work, its extremely distinctive and unique look: Victorian bell jars hiding mysterious videos…each one very thoughtful and complex and full of clues, meanings and arcane paths.  

Then suddenly this year, Tate’s work veered.  

Fewer domes, larger works, almost "sweet" in theme.  There were certainly commercially successful, but so different in feel to the older, edgier work.  When asked about his new work, Tate would change the topic or say “I have a soft side too, ya know.” 

Perhaps the DMV's best-known artist claimed to be working on "secret projects"...  And he would not talk about them. 

Well, maybe he does have a "soft side", but I've never hidden the fact that I love and admire those deeply thoughtful and complex pieces that he has become so well-known for; that was my favorite Tate and several of those pieces hang in my home.

Well….this week Tate will unveil what he has been working on under wraps for the last six months…..and it was worth the wait!  Expanding on his video fascination and leaving the domes behind, Tate offers an innovative and revolutionary new format to showcase his video work.  The first of these new pieces, the first of many to come, will be shown at the upcoming Artomatic show to give it a test run. 

Here is what's coming: Tate takes a 42” flat screen TV, and then frames it with an ornate Empire frame….and then, as if that wasn't enough, he paints the frame with a Charles Rennie Mackintosh satin black. This gives the TV a slightly Gothic / Steampunk look, while at the same time also making it look as fresh and contemporary as any shown at ArtBasel. 

Tate’s video work has also been refined completely. Now working in high definition (HD), and in color, his richly textured and multi-layered video has morphed more into the vein of a surrealist dialogue of contemporary realism than his older work; but abstract enough to be compelling and mysterious.

The title of the first seminal piece is “Reforged Each Morning, My Fate My Own.” It is a collaborative work with Tate’s long time photographer (and a very gifted one at that) and friend Pete Duvall. This initial piece highlights the skills of both artist and technician. As it unfolds, seduces and hypnotizes the viewer, you can’t take your eyes off of it. 

Why? It references early Maxfield Parrish in a way….with the deep rolling clouds that deliver the ever shifting texture. Add inverted glass objects coming into the frame; smashing and reconfiguring over and over: You cant take your eyes off of it!

Still from “Reforged Each Morning, My Fate My Own" by Tim Tate and Pete Duvall

This video has all the look of a spectacular painting, but instead of a three-dimensional object, Tate takes the viewer into the 4th dimension... sliding the view through the painting over the next minute or so. Think of it as a painting that is 24" x 48" x 60 seconds. 

Let me repeat: Height by Length by Time: Welcome to the 21st century of art.

This piece, and those that will surely follow, show Tate entering his mature artist phase. For those of us less than subjective fans who have followed his career for this last decade, it couldn’t be more fresh and exciting.

Because it was Artomatic a decade ago who gave Tate his artistic wings, Tate is using Artomatic as a test audience for his newer style, complete with a comment book on the pedestal in front. A "test run" before releasing the new works in the broader contemporary art world.   

Let him know how you feel about it…..I think that this may be his best and most sophisticated work yet.

Artomatic opens  on Friday, May 18 at 6PM with a massive art party.

Sculptural Video Drawing

Later this year in September, the second Courage Unmasked auction will take place at American University's gorgeous Katzen Arts Center. For that event, together with several other artists from around the nation, I was invited to create a mask for the fundraising auction, and for quite a while I have been refining a three dimensional version of my embedded video drawings to make them jump into the fourth dimension with a mask.

Below is the almost finished product. This is tentatively titled "Eyes of  Frida Kahlo" and consists of an assembly of two small LCD screens embedded within the mask and each playing two separate Powerpoint presentations; each has 68 embedded images of Kahlo's self portraits.

The focus of the piece is to envision triumph over pain, as the brave people who have to undergo radiation therapy for head and neck cancer (HNC) have to do.

Eyes of Frida Kahlo (front view)

Eyes of Frida Kahlo, left view

Eyes of Frida Kahlo, right view

Eyes of Frida Kahlo, seen in a dim light

Eyes of Frida Kahlo, seen in the dark

Congrats!

To DMV artist Michael Janis, who is currently not only on the cover of Glass Art magazine, but it also has a very cool article about his work inside.

And as if that wasn't enough, also congrats to fellow Washington Glass School co-founder Erwin Timmers, possibly the DMV's first "green artist" (before we even knew what that was) and who also has a very cool article about working green in the same issue.

CHAL Opening Tonight

I recently had the honor and pleasure of reviewing a lot of gorgeous artwork for the Capitol Hill Art League's May juried competition. As usual, this is hard but rewarding work.

 The opening reception for this exhibition and my juror's talk is tonight Saturday May 12 with an opening party 5-7pm and the juror's talk at 5:30pm.
 

The award winners are:

First Place:  Sonia Robed, Jacqueline Saunders,   Watercolor 

Second Place: Candice No. 100, John Reef, Pigment Print
Third Place: Slumber Party, Fierce Sonia, Photo on Acrylic
Fourth Place: Koan Run, Latex on Wood, Patricia Goslee

Honorable Mention Awards:
Galadi, Russ McIntosh, Digital Photo Illustration
Birth of an Island, Tati Valle-Riestra, Watercolor
 

Sonia Robed, Watercolor by Jacqueline Saunders

Candice No. 100, Pigment Print by John Reef

Slumber Party, Photo on Acrylic by Fierce Sonia

Opportunity for Printmakers

Deadline: May 19, 2012. 

Washington Printmakers Gallery seeks entries for a juried printmaking exhibition, August 1-26, 2012 in Silver Spring, MD. 

First Prize: Solo Show, August 2013. Other prizes awarded. Juror: Brian Garner, Founder and Master Printer, Litho Shop, Inc. Open to printmakers age 18+ nationwide creating hand-pulled prints (no digital or photographic processes) under 170 square inches.  Fee: $30/4 images. 

Visit website for prospectus at: http://washingtonprintmakers.com/programs/small-works-exhibition, or send a SASE to: WPG, attn NSW, 8230 Georgia Ave, Silver Spring, MD 20910. Questions? Contact Annie Newman at info@washingtonprintmakers.com or 301.273.3660.