The Hidden Censorsip of Public Art

The FaceBookian Empire exploded last week when this happened (as detailed in WaPo article):

On Monday, the city’s arts agency added sweeping language to already approved grants requiring that artists and arts organizations avoid producing work that could be considered lewd, vulgar or political or be at risk of losing their funds.

The arts community protested, saying the amended contract infringed on their First Amendment rights. The DCCAH capitulated.

Read the whole article by Peggy McGlone here.

As I noted in several social media responses to this "reversal",  the censorship decision may be rescinded on paper... 

But... couhc, cough...

This isn't really much of a change... In fact - as noted in at least a trillion times in multiple posts over the decades in this blog, this censorship was already being done on the down low for decades and decades by arts commissions and arts organizations all over this great nation.

I suspect that the last time that DC as a city (Arts Commission, City, Federal, 1% for the Arts, Airport, etc.) - or for that fact, just about any other American city or state, or federal government arts entity - museums notwithstanding - acquired (for example) a nude work of art was probably during and by the WPA! 

Can you imagine what the reaction would be today, if anyone today designed naked statues such as the Roman Legionnaires in Union Station? 

Or the Sappho statue in Arlington cemetery? 

Prudes of all kinds would throw a moral fit! The PC crowd would go mad!

Feh! Betcha that nothing changes...

Del Ray Artisans' Holiday Market

Del Ray Artisans' 23rd Annual Fine Art & Fine Craft Holiday Market

First 3 Weekends in December 2018

(November 30-December 2, December 7-9

December 14-16)

Del Ray Artisans annual Holiday Market offers unique handmade fine arts and crafts from local artists. Different artists each weekend! Choose from wall art, pottery, photography, jewelry, glass, and much more! 

Plus FUNdraising 2019 wall calendars, cookbooks, and upcycled tote bags to support Del Ray Artisans. 

Free admission. 

Market is Nov 30-Dec 2, Dec 7-9, and Dec 14-16. Fridays 6-9pm and Saturdays & Sundays 11am-6pm. 2704 Mount Vernon Avenue, Alexandria. 

Details: DelRayArtisans.org/event/holiday-market-2018

15th Anniversary Transformer Silent Auction & Benefit Party

15th Anniversary Transformer Silent Auction & Benefit Party Saturday, November 17, 2018 Corcoran School of the Arts & Design PURCHASE TICKETS HERE!

In celebration of their 15th Anniversary Auction on November 17, artists from Transformer's past, present, and future discuss their art practices and the role Transformer has played in their work and the art community at large. Video featuring interviews with Amy Hughes Braden, Maps Glover, Rex Delafkaran, David Ibata, Carolina Mayorga, Joseph Orzal, Johab Silva, Naoko Wowsugi, and Georgie Payne, Exhibitions & Programs Manager at Transformer. Performances by Maps Glover, Khari Malik, Sifu Sun & guests. Produced in partnership with 2018 Auction Media Sponsor, Brightest Young Things. Video & Editing by William Sarmiento.

PURCHASE TICKETS HERE! 2018TRANSFORMERAUCTION.EVENTBRITE.COM Early bird discount ticket pricing of $175 through Saturday, November 10.

Call to artists and curators

The Howard County Arts Council is seeking artwork in all media to include in upcoming exhibits. Individual artists, aged 18 & older, as well as curators and arts groups interested in presenting a group show, are encouraged to apply. The Exhibits Committee meets quarterly to review applications and select artists for the exhibit space.

Detailed entry guidelines are available at https://www.hocoarts.org/explore/opportunities-artists-arts-groups/exhibit-opportunities-apply/ongoing/. 

The next deadline for submissions is Tuesday, January 1, 2019.

Art Basel’s parent company cuts regional art fairs amid major losses

Naysayers have been incorrectly predicting the demise of the art fair for years... but in my opinion art fairs have "expanded" too rapidly and there are too many of them... when December comes to Miami, there will be around 26 art fairs around the area.

MCH Group, the Swiss fair conglomerate that owns the Art Basel fairs, announced significant cost-cutting measures on Friday, including that it will abandon its two-and-a-half-year-old initiative to acquire regional art fairs around the globe. The move was announced by interim CEO Hans-Kristian Hoejsgaard, who took over direction of the live marketing giant in September amidst significant declines in revenue from its once-marquee Baselworld watch and jewelry fair.

MCH will consolidate its focus on the three Art Basel art fairs in Basel, Miami Beach, and Hong Kong, as well as Masterpiece London; Design Miami, with editions in Basel and Miami Beach; Baselworld; its car fair, Grand Basel; and a further, unspecified “large number of exhibitions focused on the Swiss market,” according to the announcement.

 Read the Artsy article here.

Last day to go see Superfine! DC

Two days ago I previewed the Superfine! DC art fair currently going on in DC's historic Union Market, and yesterday I visited the fair and did a photo review of the fair.

Today is the last day to see the fair, which stays open till 8PM! That's Zenith Gallery's booth, right by the entrance, which is showing my work!

LOCATION

Union Market

1309 5th Street Northeast

Dock 5 Event Space

Washington, DC 20002

View Map

Superfine! DC: The Review

Yesterday I gave you my thoughts on the Superfine! DC art fair currently underway at the District's historical Union Market. You can read those opinions here.

Today the crew and I visited the fair, and spent a few hours enjoying the artmosphere that any major art fair brings to any city, and chatting with a lot of old friends while making some new ones.

Bottom line: Apparently Superfine! art fairs has already announced that they'll return next year - that by itself is a major success in view of the DMV's past attempts to entertain and host a major fine arts fair such as the ones that routinely take place in many other world capitals as well as in Miami each December for the art world's big dance.

Upon entering the fair spaces, and as a veteran of nearly 100 art fairs all over the nation and overseas, I immediately noticed two things: (a) Zenith Gallery - which has my work at this fair - has the primo spot by the entrance, and (b) this fair's booths are superbly well designed and spaced, and unlike any other art fair that I've ever seen!

That's a good thing.

Why do I say that? Because every other fair on this planet has one mission in mind when designing their floor plan: maximize the number of booths, because the more booths that you can squeeze into a floor, the more Samolians that the fair organizer stands to make.

Kudos to Superfine! DC management for their booth arrangement.

Another important thing separates this fair from your typical New York or Miami art fairs: Artists can have individual booths. This is both a positive (especially in the DC art market) and a negative impact... but that's a story for another column.

In yesterday's preview, I mentioned how impressive Martin Swift's chiaroscuro portraits looked online - they look even better when closely examined! Swift's works are with Monochrome Collective and are a delight to the eyes. I also liked the giant poster that he created on one of the side exits of the fair... that's a close up below.

Martin Swift Mural outside Superfine! DC

Note the enviable agility with the brush and the mastery of the paint application! This artist is really good.

We visited several DMV gallerists, admiring the works by Gregory Ferrand and Jessica Drenk at Adah Rose Gallery. This art dealer is one of the hardest working gallerists in the area and her booth look superb! Drenk's work was one of my son's early favorites for best in show.

Gregory Ferrand at Adah Rose

Jessica Drenk at Adah Rose Gallery

My son was also mesmerized by Matthew Langley's hypnotic wall of color paintings in Susan Calloway's booth.

Matthew Langley at Susan Calloway

Yesterday I also mentioned how an impressive artist like Scott Hutchison can remain largely ignored by museum curators in this area - mostly because DMV museums think of themselves as "national" museums, rather than regional or local. In person Hutchison's new series of works are even more impressive. Check some of these gorgeous works here.

Imaginary Grasp by Scott Hutchison. 19x24 inches, oil on aluminum

I soon lost the family, as a decent crowd was packing the fair's well-designed floor, but I quickly found them admiring the work of Baltimore artist Daniel Stuelpnagel.  His elegant geometric work hides the extraordinary amount of compositional planning and work that it takes to deliver these intelligent pieces.

Campello clan chatting with artist Daniel Stuelpnagel

Work by Daniel Stuelpnagel

We then spent some time chatting with the hardworking art dealer Gabriela Rosso of Potomac's RoFa Projects - I was astounded to find that this is Rosso's 9th fair this year! All over the globe, by the way, not just the US.

Gabriella Rosso of RoFa Projects

RoFa's booth was full of impressive work, the output of this gallerist's focus on Latin American artists (mostly). I was taken by the photographs of Jesús Chacón, which (of course) remind me of my own work.

Jesús Chacón at RoFa Projects

After chatting a little with DC uberartist Anne Marchand, we set out to "discover" some new artists...

Campellos talking with artist Anne Marchand

Yesterday, when  I did my online preview, I thought that the work of Gaithersburg artist Hannah Sarfraz was fabric based, and essentially fabric design or painting on fabric... but they were in fact really well executed, hyper realistic water media paintings!

Hannah Sarfraz

Anderson soon made a straight line for Rogelio Maxwell's booth and was fascinated by his works and received a really nice reception and explanation of Maxwell's talented handling of color.

A picture of Mom taking a picture of Anderson being educated on Rogelio Maxwell

While I was there, I was quite impressed by the sculptural work that Maxwell brought to the fair - see some details images below.

Detail of sculpture by Rogelio Maxwell

Detail of Sculpture by Rogelio Maxwell

From there I found my way to the refined works of Wayson R. Jones, whose technique and presentation just keeps getting better and sharper! This is a key DMV artist deserving of more attention by the curatorial cabal of our area.

Drift II by Wayson R. Jones

Not too far from Wayson, this gorgeous wall of painted metal chairs, where the artist has kidnapped the substrate and made it into a work of high art, caught my attention.

It is the work of Dr. Bob, who is represented at the fair by the DMV's Gallery O on H... this piece below (detail) was my favorite and it was really bustin' loose.  This work needs to be acquired by the DC Arts Commission for the collection of the city.

Detail of Chuck Brown by Dr. Bob. Acrylic on metal chair, c.2015

Another artist who caught the eye of the young critic was Dennis Crayon, who was gracious enough to spend a lot of time discussing his techniques with an admiring 9-year-old fan!

Dennis Crayon at Superfine! DC

But no artist fascinated this young mind more that the Ft. Lauderdale artist known as Aliguori... see below.

His fascination was in large part driven by the 3D effect delivered by this painter's focused genre of monochromatic works that tickle the eye's ability to separate depths based on color warmth and position.

Looking at Aliguori's 3D paintings

The fact that the very nice artist was also kind enough to spend a lot of time discussing his art and technique with a young admirer is also a great lesson in art fair niceness! Thank you!

By now we had spent a few hours at the fair, and towards the end I discovered the booth of New York's Lori Cuisinier, whose Ariadne series of works were not only elegantly hung in the minimalist style preferred by the art fair management set - not only did she have the best hung booth at the fair - but was also the singularly sexiest booth in the entire fair and stood out in prudish Washington.

Ariadne bride cake by Lori Cuisinier. UV pigment on dibond, 55x54 inches

My overall impression of the fair was very positive, and I sincerely hope that the rumors that the organizers have already made the decision to return next year are true. This is a kick in the creative arse of the DMV, and it helps the capital's artistic juices in not only a seminal way, but also in one that helps our art foot print.

Tomorrow is the last day to visit Superfine! DC - the fair runs to 8PM... details here.