Henrietta Lacks at NPG

The Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery recognizes the life of Henrietta Lacks with the installation of a 2017 portrait by Kadir Nelson. The painting will be installed on the museum’s presentation wall on the first floor Tuesday, May 15. The portrait was jointly acquired by the National Portrait Gallery and the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture as a gift from Nelson and the JKBN Group LLC, and will be shared by the two museums. The artwork will be on view at the Portrait Gallery through Nov. 4. 

“It is fitting that Henrietta Lacks be honored at two Smithsonian museums, as each approaches American history from unique and complementary perspectives,” said Kim Sajet, director of the National Portrait Gallery. “Lacks’ story presents moral and philosophical questions around issues of consent, racial inequalities, the role of women, medical research and privacy laws, providing rich platforms for historical understanding and public dialogue.”

“Henrietta Lacks (HeLa): The Mother of Modern Medicine” by Kadir Nelson, oil on linen, 2017.

“The National Museum of African American History and Culture has always felt that the story of Henrietta Lacks is a significant and important moment that deserved greater recognition,” said Lonnie Bunch, director of the museum.

Lacks (1920 – 1951) lost her life to cervical cancer at age 31. During her treatment, doctors took cells from her body and discovered they lived long lives and reproduced indefinitely in test tubes. These “immortal” HeLa cells have since contributed to over 10,000 medical patents, aiding research and benefiting patients with polio, AIDS, Parkinson’s disease and other conditions. Considering the history of medical testing on African Americans without their permission, the fate of Lacks raises questions about ethics, privacy and race. 

Addressing those issues forthrightly, Rebecca Skloot’s 2010 book, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, prompted Oprah Winfrey and HBO to explore her story on film. Commissioned by HBO, Nelson used visual elements to convey Lacks’ legacy. The wallpaper features the “Flower of Life,” a symbol of immortality; the flowers on her dress recall images of cell structures; and two missing buttons allude to the cells taken from her body without permission.

Art Scam Alert!

Avoid this mutant trying to rip off artists! Pass this post to fellow artists - and if you want to know how the scam works, go the blog search box on the upper left and type in "art scam" in quotes and it will describe the different variants of this scam.

From: Thomasfred50005000@gmail.com

Good Day Im Thomas Fred From NC. I observed my wife has been viewing your website on my laptop and i guess she likes your piece of art work, I'm also impressed to have seen your different piece of works too, : ) You are doing an amazing job.I would like to receive more information about your piece of artwork and what inspires you. I am very much interested in buying a piece of art ,to surprise my wife. Kindly reply for the immediate art work for purchase ?? (Thomasfred50005000@gmail.com) Best Regards Thomas

Donations wanted

CALLING ALL ARTISTS: Local, National and International!
Somewhere Over the Interconnected Rainbow & Prospero’s Grand St. Masque, 6/8/18 - 6/10/18
All Works Accepted. No Fee to Submit.

This is a Grand St. Convent Farewell Fundraiser Event as we need to build out and move to our new uptown space! Click here for more information about our unexpected transition.

ALL ARTISTS EVERYWHERE ARE WELCOME TO BE PART OF THIS EXHIBIT.
Just like Prospero’s Masqued Ball in Edgar Allan Poe's Masque of Red Death, our final exhibition in the convent will feature seven rooms in seven colors, and to symbolize the promise of the rainbow, we will have an eighth room, which will be yellow, and red will run through the hallway. Each room will be filled with artworks that respond to the designated colors. Through our creative hanging and curation system, in each room ​all the works will be connected to one another. 

Everyone is invited to participate by donating one or more unframed work(s) for the event. Our intention is to create an exciting and inclusive show with artists we've shown over the years and those who haven't had an opportunity to show their work in our unique convent space. We want to fill each room with as much artwork as it can hold. (We’re blasting out of our current space in style!) All works will be for sale at $200 each. All proceeds go to Drawing Rooms. Works unsold at the end of the exhibit weekend can be returned to the artist. 

Submission Guidelines:
Fee:                               No Cost
Size:                              8 x10 inches - 11 x 14 inches
Media:                         any 
Material:                    Any type of paper or paper-like substrate or material 
Unframed:                All works must be able to be hung by clips
Concept:                    Art work can be on ANY concept or idea but think about COLOR
Price of Work:       $200. Proceeds go to Drawing Rooms.  
Registration:           click on a link below to choose color by 5/25/18
Submission Due:   MUST be received by 6/2/18

Note: You are only donating your commission on sale of the artwork to Drawing Rooms, not the work itself. If we sell it, you are letting us keep 100% of the sale, if we don't sell it, you get it back.

Registration:            Please SIGN UP in the color room below by 5/25/18, so we can get you all the info
BLUE
BLACK
RED
WHITE
ORANGE
VIOLET
YELLOW
GREEN
PURPLE

Delivery:
Please write your name and email address on the back of your artwork.
Mail submission(s) in a large envelope to the following address and include a stamped self-addressed return envelope if you want the work sent back, if it isn’t sold. 
James Pustorino
74 W. 46th St
Bayonne, NJ 07002

Date of Events
6/8/18 Fri: Artists Only 7-10p
6/9/18 Sat: Artists, Friends and Visitors TBD
6/10/18 Sun: Artists, Friends and Visitors TBD

Suggested Contribution
We have to build-out and move to a new space!
While there is no fee to attend the event (please buy art!), we would appreciate if you contribute at one of the levels listed below:
$10 - $24.99       Acquaintance
$25 - $49.99        Friend
$50 - $99.99        Better Friend*
$100 - $499.99  Best Friend*
$500+                      BFF*
 Click HERE  to contribute. Thank you!
​*you will also receive a copy of our latest Rainbow Thursdays Artists catalogue!

All contributions and profit from the sales of artwork will go towards the new space so we can continue to show artists' works.

​Questions??  please see FAQS

Note:
​We have limited resources at this time and are unable to answer any questions as we are planning, fundraising, packing, getting estimates for construction, working with contractors and a million other things!

Drawing Rooms is a project of Victory Hall Inc., a 501c3 non-profit organization producing exhibitions and classes in the NY/NJ area since 2001.

Art Scam Alert!

Beware of this scammer:

From: John Steinmann -  j.steinmanninc@outlook.com

Am interested in your pieces , do you ship to Switzerland and accept US issued credit card as payment?, you will contact my shipper who handles all of my shipment, they pick up the items at your location and deliver directly to my store doorstep without hassle. Let me know if i can e-mail you what am interested in ordering.

John Steinmann

American University’s Studio Art MFA program

American Universtiy Museum at the Katzen Arts Center

On view:
May 5-May 27, 2018 

Saturday, May 5 5-7:30PM
Thesis Candidate Reception 
A gallery talk will be held from 5-6PM, and the Opening Reception from 6-7:30PM. Free and open to all.

This exhibition represents the culmination of two years’ work by the eight graduating members of American University’s Studio Art MFA program. At the close of four semesters of experimentation, discovery, dedication, and reinvention, these artists claim their space and their purpose in an exhibition that is both an ending and a beginning. Featuring artists: Holly Trout, Tim Magenta, Tiffany Raquel, Fallon Chase, Ban Alwehaibi, Michelle Gagliano, Michelle Tangires, and Paige Stewart.

How to Hang Your Artworks

Not from me... 

Read the tips here.

Modern Gothic: The Photographic Art of Jamie Mahon

If you are a fan of the erotic dark side of spectacularly beautiful women who in many cases transform themselves into unbelievably sensual (and dangerous)... and somewhat predatory examples of what happens when natural beauty descends (or climbs) into the realms of darkness...

Then this is the book for you! 

Had H P Lovecraft seen these photos, he would have understood the nuances behind some of these awe-inspiring models, all captured in brilliant dark glory by a very talented photographer.  These are not the historical Goths who destroyed the Roman Empire in the 400s and raided their way through Western Europe and settled in Spain, France and northern Italy to make up those modern nations.

These are today's Goths.

Mahon is a master of the set-up, of the light (ironic no??) and of the posture... I can almost hear him whispering to the clear-eye beauties in this book, trying to draw even more danger and darkness from the dark moistness that is their bodies and the harsh light that beams from their eyes. 

Mahon must be familiar with Robert Ervin Howard's "The Song of a Mad Minstrel", which can be (almost) heard being whispered behind some of these unique women:

There was never a king or priest to cheer me by word or look,
There was never a man or beast in the blood-black ways I took.
There were crimson gulfs unplumbed, there were black wings over a sea,
There were pits where mad things drummed, and foaming blasphemy.

There were vast ungodly tombs where slimy monsters dreamed;
There were clouds like blood-drenched plumes where unborn demons screamed.
There were ages dead to Time, and lands lost out of Space; 
There were adders in the slime, and a dim unholy Face.

Oh, the heart in my breast turned stone, and the brain froze in my skull--
But I won through, I alone, and poured my chalice full
Of horrors and dooms and spells, black buds and bitter roots--
From the hells beneath the hells, I bring you my deathly fruits.