One month left to submit your proposals for an exhibition at artspace in the first half of 2018
Monday, May 01, 2017
Sunday, April 30, 2017
Frida Kahlo Show... and?
Over 20 years ago, The Washington Post called me "A Kahlophile since age 17", and even after all these years, that description still fits me to a tee.
Subsequently, I was lucky enough to curate two (in partnership with the Mexican Cultural Institute for the first one, and with the same Institute and the Frida Kahlo Museum in Mexico City for the second) worldwide "Homage to Frida Kahlo" shows - the first one at Georgetown's iconic Fraser Gallery, and the second one online with art.com.
Over the years, as documented here, I've done hundreds, if not thousands of works inspired, related or obsessed by Frida Kahlo, the Champagne Communist, pain-ridden lead for the title of most famous and influential Latin American artist... ever. And soon, very soon, I will be announcing another major Kahlo-related project... stay tuned!
Just found out that a new Kahlo-inspired show is about to make its debut in the DMV:
Subsequently, I was lucky enough to curate two (in partnership with the Mexican Cultural Institute for the first one, and with the same Institute and the Frida Kahlo Museum in Mexico City for the second) worldwide "Homage to Frida Kahlo" shows - the first one at Georgetown's iconic Fraser Gallery, and the second one online with art.com.
Campello's works are more than one-liners, though. They're also explorations of one of Campello's pet topics: race. In Las Siete Fridas (The Seven Fridas), he's envisaged Kahlo as Nordic, Arab, African, punk, Native American, Vulcan, and Beatle. The drawing was inspired by the 1980 census, the first to offer a complex menu of ethnicities for each American's self-identification. "This was my way of poking fun at the census and our governmental need to put labels on people," Campello explains on a nearby card. Las Siete Fridas was recently acquired by Seeds of Peace, an organization that promotes cross-cultural understanding. --- Pamela Murray Winters, Washington City Paper
Just found out that a new Kahlo-inspired show is about to make its debut in the DMV:
Exhibit:
Frida en Nosotros
Artworks inspired by Frida Kahlo
May 5- May 29
DMV area artists pay tribute to Frida Khalo as a transcendent Latin American cultural icon. Each artist has taken her image or imagery related with her as a starting point to explore how she relates to their own ethnic traditions and customs. Featured artist are Marily Mojica, Osbel Susman-Peña, Nicole Oxendine, Ric Garcia, Marla Mclean, David Amoroso, Gus Rodriguez, Kate Heneghan, Jobi Jovanka Magana, Juliana Vallejo, Shyama Kuver, Cluadio Olivos, Eloy Areu, Sergio Olivos
Reception:
Opening Night and Cinco de Mayo Celebration
Friday, May 5
5 pm-12 midnight
Happy Hour
Tapas, Vino y Margaritas
Location:
2309 18th Street, NW
Washington, DC 20009
An artistic culinary initiative in Adams Morgan, where art, music and Spanish food traditions fuse into a cultural experience. Patrons can enjoy art exhibits in the restaurants' basement gallery space and then pair the experience with a good glass of wine and a variety of tapas or a dinner that samples Spanish and Cuban cuisine traditions.
Saturday, April 29, 2017
Guerrilla Framing Techniques - Number One
Me: Custom framing is expensive!
You: Everybody knows that Lenster!
The average price for custom framing around the DMV is brutal - and sometimes complicated (or made complicated by frustrated designers posing as framers or artists who have seen too many Roccoco framing in museums.
Unless you're Frida Kahlo, generally speaking, the job of a frame for a work of visual art is first and foremost to protect the art.
Period.
And in the 21st century, and most of the 20th, the simpler the better; the less noticeable the frame, the more that the art is noticed.
If you have plenty of sheckels, then a good framer will do a great job. The best and least expensive framer around the DMV is Apex (703/914-1000, ask for Khalid and tell him Lenny sent you)
For the vast majority of artists, a frame should not cost as much as repairing your car's transmission.
You: Can you get to the technique part already?
Most artwork is done on geometric substrates; even if you cut paper or stretch your own canvas, most of the times it is either a square or a rectangle; ovals went out ages ago; in fact they were never really in... cough, cough.
In the USA, these art substrates come in standard sizes that apply not only to the substrates (paper, canvas, board, wood, etc.), but also to mats, frames, and glass.
Thus, if you work on a standard size substrate to start with, you're almost home, because then you can eliminate the middle man to getting your work on a wall: the custom framer.
An 8x10 substrate will fit into an 11x14 pre-cut mat and into an 11x14 pre-cut frame; and 11x14 substrate will fit into a 16x20, a 16x20 into a 20x24 and so on.
Around the DMV, both Ikea and AC Moore's have ridiculously affordable prices for acceptable, minimalist frames. With AC Moore's if you sign up for sales alerts, you'll be bombarded with coupons (the best one is their 25% off for your purchase - including sales items; otherwise you get their 55% off regular price coupon emailed to you every 30 seconds). Practically every frame at Ikea is a minimalist frame, but be careful because many of them are European size standards, which are different from US; however, Ikea frames generally come with acid-buffered mats, with is a nice "bennie" to have.
By the way, if you need a lot of frames in the same size - let's say two dozen frames, then I suggest that you find the ready made frame that you like and that will accommodate your work (this usually works for photographers), turn it over and see who makes the frame and then contact the manufacturer (if it's in the USA) and see if they will sell you the frames directly. There's usually a minimum order to "qualify" for this option, and thus situations may vary according to your needs.
If you want to do artwork in other than standard sizes, then more power to you, and framing just got a little pricier, but there's also a technique.
First find a ready made frame that is bigger than your odd shaped artwork and visualize the artwork inside the frame. If the proportions are agreeable to you (let's say you have a rectangular work which can be matted with both sides and top the same and bottom "heavy" - that is perfectly acceptable.
Once you have the frame, go to a framer and have them cut you a mat that has the outside dimensions of your frame and have them cut a window that fits your work. Now you are only paying them to cut a custom mat, rather than paying them to do that as well as creating a custom frame and glass from scratch. It should reduce your costs by about 80%.
Then just bring your matted work home, pop it into the frame and as the Brits say: "Bob's your uncle."
You: Everybody knows that Lenster!
The average price for custom framing around the DMV is brutal - and sometimes complicated (or made complicated by frustrated designers posing as framers or artists who have seen too many Roccoco framing in museums.
Unless you're Frida Kahlo, generally speaking, the job of a frame for a work of visual art is first and foremost to protect the art.
Period.
And in the 21st century, and most of the 20th, the simpler the better; the less noticeable the frame, the more that the art is noticed.
If you have plenty of sheckels, then a good framer will do a great job. The best and least expensive framer around the DMV is Apex (703/914-1000, ask for Khalid and tell him Lenny sent you)
For the vast majority of artists, a frame should not cost as much as repairing your car's transmission.
You: Can you get to the technique part already?
Most artwork is done on geometric substrates; even if you cut paper or stretch your own canvas, most of the times it is either a square or a rectangle; ovals went out ages ago; in fact they were never really in... cough, cough.
In the USA, these art substrates come in standard sizes that apply not only to the substrates (paper, canvas, board, wood, etc.), but also to mats, frames, and glass.
Thus, if you work on a standard size substrate to start with, you're almost home, because then you can eliminate the middle man to getting your work on a wall: the custom framer.
An 8x10 substrate will fit into an 11x14 pre-cut mat and into an 11x14 pre-cut frame; and 11x14 substrate will fit into a 16x20, a 16x20 into a 20x24 and so on.
Around the DMV, both Ikea and AC Moore's have ridiculously affordable prices for acceptable, minimalist frames. With AC Moore's if you sign up for sales alerts, you'll be bombarded with coupons (the best one is their 25% off for your purchase - including sales items; otherwise you get their 55% off regular price coupon emailed to you every 30 seconds). Practically every frame at Ikea is a minimalist frame, but be careful because many of them are European size standards, which are different from US; however, Ikea frames generally come with acid-buffered mats, with is a nice "bennie" to have.
By the way, if you need a lot of frames in the same size - let's say two dozen frames, then I suggest that you find the ready made frame that you like and that will accommodate your work (this usually works for photographers), turn it over and see who makes the frame and then contact the manufacturer (if it's in the USA) and see if they will sell you the frames directly. There's usually a minimum order to "qualify" for this option, and thus situations may vary according to your needs.
If you want to do artwork in other than standard sizes, then more power to you, and framing just got a little pricier, but there's also a technique.
First find a ready made frame that is bigger than your odd shaped artwork and visualize the artwork inside the frame. If the proportions are agreeable to you (let's say you have a rectangular work which can be matted with both sides and top the same and bottom "heavy" - that is perfectly acceptable.
Once you have the frame, go to a framer and have them cut you a mat that has the outside dimensions of your frame and have them cut a window that fits your work. Now you are only paying them to cut a custom mat, rather than paying them to do that as well as creating a custom frame and glass from scratch. It should reduce your costs by about 80%.
Then just bring your matted work home, pop it into the frame and as the Brits say: "Bob's your uncle."
Friday, April 28, 2017
Frida Kahlo at a steal!!!
C'mon blogosphere! You're making me look bad!
Anybody like Frida? This very cool painting that I did in art school and which sold originally almost 15 years ago, showed up at an auction house a while back and it is almost over and as of this morning it was available for around $120!
This painting sold for $1200 in the 1990s!
Follow the link! And bid already!
http://www.invaluable.com/catalog/searchLots.cfm…
#fridakahlo #frida #picasso #pablopicasso #fridapainting #lennycampello #artauction
Anybody like Frida? This very cool painting that I did in art school and which sold originally almost 15 years ago, showed up at an auction house a while back and it is almost over and as of this morning it was available for around $120!
This painting sold for $1200 in the 1990s!
Follow the link! And bid already!
http://www.invaluable.com/catalog/searchLots.cfm…
 |
| Frida Kahlo: Picasso Style Oil on Board, c. 1980 F. Lennox Campello |
#fridakahlo #frida #picasso #pablopicasso #fridapainting #lennycampello #artauction
Thursday, April 27, 2017
Stolen art
“It is absurd that the University of Oklahoma would act as if they have done a noble thing by returning a piece of stolen art to France. From the moment that the University of Oklahoma discovered the painting was stolen, university administration, led by President David Boren, has fought tooth and nail to prevent this painting from returning to its rightful owner. In order to accommodate a wealthy donor, President Boren went as far as spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to keep the art away from its rightful owner – a family that was nearly destroyed during one of the darkest periods of humanity,” said Rep. Mike Ritze.Read the story here.
Wednesday, April 26, 2017
Rockville openings
Artists and Makers Studios 2 Presents "anti-land" with Gregory Logan Dunn "Tulipmania" with Patty Hankins
Artists and Makers Studios 2 on Wilkins Avenue in Rockville will present one exhibit in the main galleries for the month of May.
"anti-land" with artist Gregory Logan Dunn will be featured in the Main and Merge Galleries on the second floor. Work in this solo exhibit represents a new group of paintings that continue to pursue traditional themes in the artist’s work: opacity versus transparency, multiple layers of paint accumulating on the surface while leaving visible existing layers underneath, through holes and rips from the layers above. Mystery, introspection, transformation, absolution. This process is highly personal - it has been an experience Dunn creates, individual and bereft of social or political commentary. Apolitical no more. Negative charges are fired in opposition saturating the American mindscape with polarizing fallout that land like lit fuses in the landscape of the national consciousness. What is fired across the aisle falls out onto the land, and it poisons, burns. There is no harvest in anti-land. "Tulipmania" with Patty Hankins of the Montgomery County Camera Club will open in the Photographers’ Hall, along with exhibits in New Master’s Gallery, Gallery 209, and artists’ open studios to round out the evening."anti-land"
"Tulipmania" Opening Reception
6:00 PM – 9:00 PM, Friday, May 5th, 2017
Artists and Makers Studios 2
12276 Wilkins Avenue
Rockville, MD 20852
Additionally AM presents three exhibits in three galleries for the month of May at the Parklawn location in Rockville, just 9/10’s of a mile from the buildings on Wilkins. "Navigation/Immigration" with Alonzo Davis, "Waterborne" with Cindy Packard Richmond, and "This Ain’t Yo Mama’s Textiles" with Melanye Coleman, along with resident artists’ open studios.
These exhibits at both locations open Friday, May 5, and continue through Wednesday, May 25th, 2017. Viewing hours are 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM, Tuesday-Friday, 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM Saturdays, and Sundays/Mondays by chance or appointment.
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