From the 1990s: Cy Twombly Over Picasso?

For TBT: This review originally published in the early 1990s:

"Cy Twombly Over Picasso?"
by
F. Lennox Campello

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Published in the Potomac News and Dimensions Magazine

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Twombly over Picasso? The National Gallery of Art's latest acquisition of an exceedingly boring painting by Virginia painter Cy Twombly succinctly brings to light a perfect example of the sort of poor decisions made in the seclusion of museum walls which exemplify why the general public is often at odds with our arts intelligentsia. 

Cy Twombly's "Untitled (Bolsena)" was acquired on Friday the 13th of October by the National Gallery of Art at a cost of about one million dollars. The gallery's Collector's Committee also considered a Picasso, a Giacometti and a Baselitz before choosing the Twombly painting, which was aptly described by Washington Post art critic Paul Richards as "evoking the butt-end days of New York action painting. Or a wall besides a public pay phone."

Although it is clear that the Twombly piece will now join the National Gallery's ever growing "Gee, Mom, I can do that!" collection of art, what isn't clear is the rationale for picking Twombly over Picasso or Giacometti. It has been said that Twombly's main claim to fame is his early associations with Jasper Johns and Robert Rauschenberg; if this is his main springboard into the walls of the National Gallery, then it is clear to me that a pathetic mistake has been made by the gallery's Collector's Committee. As a matter of fact one would be hard pressed to pick a Johns or a Rauschenberg over a Picasso!

A new Picasso acquisition would have brought the National Gallery some more public interest, and a price tag of a million dollars seems almost a bargain for perhaps the greatest painter of all time. Whatever his detractors, Picasso is a recognized entity which would attract people who both like and dislike his work. I suspect Twombly's "champions" are not enough to prevent this latest acquisition from being ridiculed by the public and dismissed by the critics. 

 It is also clear that the piece was vastly overpriced, as a similar Twombly sold less than two weeks ago in New York for $167,000. It would be interesting to see in which basement of the National Gallery this scrawling will gather dust in a few years. When it is put into storage, I hope it is well marked as a piece of art, or it may accidentally resurface on a wall next to a pay phone at the Smithsonian Metro Station.

Call for Photogs

Call For Entry Photo '15
National Photo Competition

Juror:  Sarah Greenough, Senior Curator and Head, Department of Photographs at the National Gallery of Art

You are invited to submit to Photo ‘15, a national juried fine art photography exhibit at Multiple Exposures Gallery at the Torpedo Factory Art Center in Alexandria, VA.  All artists 18 years of age or older who work in traditional, digital, or alternative photographic processes are eligible. 

Exhibit dates:                          October 20, 2015 - November 29, 2015
Awards and Reception:       Sunday, November 1, 2015,  2pm-4pm

Full Prospectus            
         
Entry deadline:  July 1, 2015.

Jack Boul at the WPG

April 1 - April 26, 2015

Opening Reception: Sunday, April 12, 3-5 pm

Reception and Artist Talk, April 18, 3-5 pm

 

from WPG:

"Washington Printmakers Gallery is pleased to showcase recent prints by master artist, Jack Boul. Boul's works are included in the country's foremost museums, including the National Gallery of Art and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and in major private collections. His distinguished exhibition record stretches back 60 years, and he has served as teacher and mentor to countless younger artists. 

Boul is master of the monotype, a difficult process where the artist manipulates ink on a bare metal plate to print a single image.  

New viewers will appreciate in Boul's work the qualities that curators, critics and Washington art lovers have long admired: intimacy, sensitivity and compositional rigor. Along with monotypes, this show includes selected paintings."

Please join The Washington Printmakers Gallery in honoring this distinguished printmaker.                       

This week in NYC

Glen Kessler at Hillyer Art Space

Friday, April 3 – Sunday, April 26, 2015

Opening Reception: Friday, April 3  6-9pm

Artist Talk: Saturday, April 18  1-3pm

Closing Reception: Sunday, April 26  3-5pm

“CircuitScapes”, an exhibition by the painter Glen Kessler, will be on display from Friday, April 3 through Sunday, April 26, 2015 in the main gallery of Hillyer Art Space, located at 9 Hillyer Ct, NW Washington DC 20008.  The Opening Reception is scheduled for Friday, April 3 from 6-9pm. An Artist Talk with Glen Kessler is scheduled for Saturday, April 18 from 1-3pm. A Closing Reception is scheduled for Sunday, April 26 from 3-5pm.   

The Gallery Hours are Mon 12-5pm; Tue-Fri 12-6pm; Sat 12-5pm; and by appointment.

“CircuitScapes” will feature over twenty new oil paintings from Rockville, MD painter Glen Kessler in the newly renovated Hillyer Art Space during the month of April. Kessler paints images that initially appear to be urban and industrial landscapes, but are, in truth, magnified views of circuit boards.  In his “CircuitScape” series, the analogous nature of these two worlds is formally and conceptually explored.  Similarities between city design and circuitry are obvious, each exerting a bias towards efficient geometric utility, but at the ‘street level’ which Kessler paints the connection becomes uncanny, leading viewers to contemplate how the hidden world of the microchip is increasingly the engine that powers our familiar macro urban centers.

Art Fair week!

Car renting in Miami

Waking up at four AM in order to make the 7:20AM flight to Miami from BWI is no way to start a weekend; but, sacrifices must be made in order to get there in plenty of time to take Anderson to visit his 92-year-old abuela, spend some time with his cousins and make it back to the DMV in time for him to make it to bed not too late on Sunday.

No matter where you land in Miami's gorgeous but enormous airport, it take a hike to get out, and a train ride to get your rental car. Renting a car in Miami must be disorienting to most people, but especially foreigners. And it is not just the somewhat complicated and surprising lack of good signage at the airport to direct you to the car agencies, but also the amazing cheapness of renting a car there.

I've rented cars in Miami for as little as five bucks a day (last March); the taxes were essentially as much as the car rental! In most of the world, auto rentals are pretty expensive, but it seems that competition has found an optimal environment in Miami in favor of the visitor.

The first thing that I always do (after renting the car) when I get to Miami to visit my mother, is to stop at Casablanca Bakery on 4th Street in Hialeah to get some Cuban pasteles, some croquetas, a couple of papas rellenas, some yuca rellenas, Cuban coffee, and a Cuban bread - all for for my mother.

After spending some time catching up with abuela, Anderson helps to eat some of the pastries, but waking up at 4AM is having the expected results in all of us, so we say our Adioses and head out to Little Havana, where we will be staking at my cousin's walled compound just a few minutes from Calle Ocho.