Art Wynwood next week!

This is the first time that we've done this fair in Miami, and we're really looking forward to another successful Miami fair.

We have a large booth (C-9) and we're showcasing mostly DMV artists: Audrey Wilson, Tim Tate, Sean Hennessey (all associated with the Washington Glass School), plus the amazing Novie Trump and Elissa Farrow-Savos, who kicked butt and took names at the last (e)merge art fair. Also for the first time we're showing several spectacular new pieces by the DMV's Michael Enn Sirvet. And we're as usual bringing our top international artists: The UK's Simon Monk and Mexico's Dulce Pinzon!

Sirvet is a contemporary sculptor, designer and structural engineer who creates two and three-dimensional works using metals, hardwoods, plastics and other materials. Michael’s vision makes use of industrial and hand processes to restructure and fuse the organic chaos of nature with the crafted precision of man-made construction. 

Fair Hours for 2014

Thursday, February 13     
VIP Preview: Access for Art Wynwood VIP Cardholders & Press

GENERAL ADMISSION: 6:00pm-10:00pm

Friday, February 14     11am - 7pm
Saturday, February 15     11am - 7pm
Sunday, February 16     11am - 7pm
Monday, February 17     11am - 6pm

Main Office: +1.305.432.2855 or info@art-wynwood.com

Location:

The Art Wynwood Pavilion
Midtown Miami | Wynwood
3101 NE 1st Avenue
Miami, FL 33137

Next week in Miami

"Red Bastion I"

2013

Powder-coated Aluminum

32" x 31" x 9"

By the DMV's Michael Enn Sirvet will be in booth C-9 next week at Art Wynwood in Miami.

Drop me a note if you'd like some passes to the fair...

Art Wynwood 2014 will feature 70 international galleries presenting emerging, cutting edge, contemporary and modern works and will have its own distinct identity and design. A unique feature is the highlight of street art, murals, pop surrealism and other genres from the contemporary underground movement. Art Wynwood is perfectly positioned to further the growing worldwide recognition of this movement by providing the enthusiast and seasoned art world traveler alike a distinctive opportunity to explore, learn and collect one of the most significant art movements of our time.

Art Wynwood 2014 will coincide with the 26th edition of the prestigious Yacht & Brokerage Show in Miami Beach (based less than five miles from the Art Miami Pavilion), which transforms Collins Avenue into a multimillion-dollar presentation of yachts and super-yachts. The Boat Show is known to attract qualified buyers from all over the U.S. and around the globe, including France, Brazil, China, Colombia, Russia, Argentina, Mexico, Italy and Sweden.

The 2013 edition of Art Wynwood attracted more than 26,500 visitors during its five-day run, with 6,100 collectors and art enthusiasts attending the Opening Night VIP Private Preview. The fair showcases a diverse range of fresh and edgy works by established, mid-career and emerging international contemporary and urban street artists from around the globe.

Art Wynwood shines a spotlight on Midtown Miami and the Wynwood Arts District as an international cultural destination flourishing yearlong. The fair will continue to distinguish the Wynwood Arts District as Miami’s epicenter where art, fashion, design and the culinary arts intersect.

Another old piece found

I must be getting to the age (mid 40s... cough, cough...) when people start emailing me asking "Is this piece yours?" - I'm now averaging about one a month... a few from the UK (where I lived from 1989-1992), but most from the US.

The vast majority of them are from the mid 90s, when I was an art-producing machine (I did 32 art shows in 1995!) or from my art school days, as I used to sell all my art school assignments at the Pike Place Market in Seattle, Washington.... I sold thousands of works there between 1977-1981.

Here's an old friend from my senior year at the University of Washington Art School... this is a pen and ink wash from 1981... images courtesy of the current owner, who bought it at an auction in Hawaii.

Munchies

Apparently the recent Super Bowl set new records for the munchies... 

Watchers went through around 11 million pounds of chips, 4 million pounds of pretzels, 2.4 million pounds of nuts, 3.8 million pounds of  pop corn and 8.2 million pounds of tortilla chips... 

The fact that both Washington and Colorado are both pot head states had nothing to do with that... Cough, cough...

How Pres. Obama pissed me off

OK dear readers... work with me here... if you are a left wing nut, then, substitute Bush or Reagan or Nixon or some other Republican President instead of President Obama in the following sequence of events. If you are a right wing nut, then... ah... Hmmm...

Anyway, most of you are not going to believe this, because you've allowed the media to paint a picture of a politician, who is after.... ah... a politician - and politicians have speech writers, and people who advice them about what to say... but... 

In President Obama’s speech about jobs that he delivered last Thursday at a General Electric manufacturing plant in Wisconsin, he said:

“A lot of young people no longer see the trades and skilled manufacturing as a viable career, but I promise you folks can make a lot more potentially with skilled manufacturing or the trades than they might with an art history degree. Now, there’s nothing wrong with an art history degree; I love art history, so I don’t want to get a bunch of e-mails from everybody."
         - President Barack Obama, 1/30/14

Guess what sir, you will get an email from me and also a letter... in fact it is already sent and it says:

Dear President Obama,

You recently delivered a speech about jobs at the General Electric manufacturing plant in Waukesha, Wisconsin on January 30, 2014, in which you said:

“A lot of young people no longer see the trades and skilled manufacturing as a viable career, but I promise you folks can make a lot more potentially with skilled manufacturing or the trades than they might with an art history degree. Now, there’s nothing wrong with an art history degree; I love art history, so I don’t want to get a bunch of e-mails from everybody.”

Personally, I think that you appreciate the arts and the humanities, although your art acquisition program for the White House is a little lacking. But, in fact, you are the first president in history to begin issuing official White House proclamations observing the month of October as National Arts & Humanities Month. You have also urged the nation to celebrate the arts and humanities in our cities, schools, and homes because you claim to understand the role that they serve in our nation’s history, cultural identity, educational development, and individual creativity.

However, some of what I thought we knew about you and the arts, specifically the role that it plays in the economy, now seems in doubt (based on that speech) and I would like to take this opportunity to inform you about the important role the arts and humanities serve in our nation’s economy as well.

Did you know that according to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis and the National Endowment for the Arts, the nonprofit and commercial arts combined produce a remarkable $504 billion in goods and services annually in the United States, representing 3.2 percent of the nation’s economy?

Did any of your advisors tell you that before that disturbing statement in Wisconsin?

Did you know that according to Americans for the Arts, nonprofit arts and culture organizations alone generate $135.2 billion of economic activity every year and support 4.13 million full-time equivalent jobs—including art historians?

4.13 million Mr. President... that's a lot of jobs in this anemic economy.

Did you know that creativity is one of the most important factors in producing innovation, and that according to the Conference Board, 72 percent of employers say creativity is of primary concern when they’re hiring, yet 85 percent of these employers can’t find the creative applicants they seek?

President Obama, the arts equal jobs, too. I urge you to meet with arts policy experts to incorporate the arts and culture into your economic strategies and policies to move America forward.

Call me.

Very Respectfully,

Lenny Campello

The Arts Action Fund has prepared an open letter to the President that brings to his attention the fact that the arts equal jobs too. We all need your help to send a clear and powerful message to the President. I used their open letter to re-craft it into mine.... but it takes a few seconds to send President Obama a rudder check on his attitude on this subject.

Please add your name to this letter, as well as encourage your friends to do the same.

Response from Bethesda Magazine

A while back I wrote a letter to Bethesda Magazine complaining about their lack of visual arts coverage for their readers. You can read that here.

And here is their response:

Mr. Campello,

Thanks for your thoughtful email.

I wanted to let you know that I agree with much of what you wrote--and that you will be seeing more coverage of the arts in Bethesda Magazine starting with the September/October issue. (You will also see some coverage in our upcoming March/April issue.)

I also agree with you about the Best of Bethesda, and we will have at least one arts category in next year's issue.

Thank you again for taking the time to write.

Steve Hull
Editor-in-Chief and Publisher
Bethesda Magazine
7768 Woodmont Ave., #204
Bethesda, MD 20814
301-718-7787, ext. 201
www.BethesdaMagazine.com

Campello Seahawks Salsa

That's a big ass sized bowl of my world famous (cough, cough) mango cilantro salsa... Marinating for a day so that it is ready to celebrate the Seahawks' victory tomorrow...

If it looks kinda orange is because of either all the mango juice in it or the fact that it predicts the ass whooping that the Seahawks are about to unleash on the Broncos tomorrow... they will make salsa out of them!

1 Large can of tomato sauce - the BIG can
1 can of mango juice (Goya is best)
1 entire bunch of cilantro, all chopped up
1/3 can of corn
1 chopped (small pieces) cucumber
1 chopped (tiny pieces) sweet onion
a lot of chopped garlic
About ten pieces of chopped frozen mango 
10 shakes of paprika
A few shakes of crushed red pepper
Juice from one lemon or one lime or both
Add a lot of hot sauce to your taste - Cubans don't eat spicy foods, so my version is pretty tame... sometimes I add chopped olives stuffed with pimentos, but that's an acquired taste... you can also add chopped up pineapple and/or peaches if you like a fruitier version.

Sometimes I add some beer to it... sometimes a little wine vinegar.

Go Hawks!