Shiri Achu virtual exhibition

41inPrint:Worldwide

A VIRTUAL ART EXHIBITION

By Award-winning International Artist SHIRI ACHU

SAT. APRIL 10TH – MON. APRIL 19TH 2021

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April 10th - Private Zoom Opening party

April 11th – 18th - 41InPrint Virtual Exhibition (7:00 pm – 7:30 pm daily)

April 19th - Virtual book launch.

From my good friend Shiri Achu:

Tune out and Zoom in from the comfort of home with a glass of wine to the Opening party of 41InPrint:Worldwide on Saturday 10th April at 7pm EST. Following the Zoom Opening Party, again, tune in, this time on YouTube and Facebook where the International artist Shiri Achu will be hosting DAY 1 of her first ever online exhibition entitled, 41InPrint:Worldwide. This 8 day long Virtual Exhibition will be opened to the public - WORLDWIDE - from Sunday, April 11th 2021 through to Sunday April 18th 2021, starting each day at 7:00pm EST. Each day of the exhibition will have its own theme and will be presented by one of four seasoned hosts; Diane Daiga of Ddtalks, Gwendoline F.D of Gwendy Media, Nico Kang and MC Chaz. The program will also have a daily special guest for the ‘4+1 talk’, interview segment. This is not an event to be missed!

Born in Cameroon, raised in London, and now residing in Washington DC, this marks the 6th of such ‘InPrint’ exhibitions. With her ‘InPrint’ annual series of exhibitions, Shiri selects a focal destination city to exhibit her art and to showcase and expose the African culture to its citizens. The first of the InPrint series, 35InPrint:LONDON took place in April 2014 at The Strand Gallery in Central London. 36InPrint:DC took place in May 2016 at Gallery A in Central Washington DC. 37InPrint:AUSTRALIA took place in July at Mama Jambo in Australia. 38InPrint:JAMAICA took place in August 2017 at The Regional Headquarters of the University of the West Indies, Kingston, Jamaica. 

39InPrint:TORONTO, took place in November at Ariilon, Toronto, Canada.

This time, because of the Worldwide Pandemic, the gallery comes to you in an intimate series of daily online unveilings of skillfully crafted depictions of everyday life and culture throughout the continent of Africa. Shiri Achu’s fluid yet grounded style creates layers of dimension and emotional depth that allow the viewer to truly enter into the earthy yet colorful lives of everyday lives all across Africa. The online exhibition will also feature a host of special guests daily including, Famous American Soul Singer Angie Stone, renowned Jamaican Dub Poet Mutabaruka, Nigerian movie industry pioneer, actor Zack Orji and revolutionary Cameroonian musician Witty Minstrel among many others. During the ‘4+1 TALK’ time, Shiri talks about ‘art’, the pandemic and other topics with each of her special guests.

All art pieces unveiled during that day of the exhibition will be available on her website www.shiriachuart.com immediately after the exhibition for purchase. The last piece on day 8 will mark 41 pieces exhibited throughout the 8 days. On Monday April 19th, Shiri Achu will launch a Virtual book, an anthology collection inspired by her art.

Everyone (art lovers, supporters, fans, where ever you are in the world etc) can register for the exhibition on her website www.shiriachuart.com and receive a 20% discount on all art purchased throughout the exhibition. Registered persons will also receive the Private viewing ‘Opening party’ zoom link. During the 8 daily exhibition broadcasts, a secret number or letter will appear in the live stream, and the first three people who correctly guess the secret word or phrase will be eligible to win some awesome prizes.

Wherever you are in the world, you are cordially invited to 41InPrint:Worldwide. Take a journey through the motherland and enjoy the daily unveiling of fresh, bold African inspired art.

41inPrint:Worldwide

8 Days Exhibition & Special Guests on ‘4+1 TALK ’

Day 1 - Sunday 11th - Bishop Darlingston Johnson & Pastor Chrys Johnson

Day 2 - Monday 12th - Witty Minstrel

Day 3 - Tuesday 13th - Jessica Mbangeni

Day 4 – Wed. 14th - Naomi Achu & Myra Maimoh

Day 5 - Thursday 15th - Blick Bassy

Day 6 - Friday 16th - Mutabaruka

Day 7 - Saturday 17th - Angie Stone

Day 8 - Sunday 18th - Zack Orji

Michelle L. Herman at VisArts

Michelle L. Herman will be showing her work at the Common Ground Gallery at VisArts in Rockville from April 2–May 14 as part of the MICA MFA in Studio Art 2020 Thesis Exhibition. 

Michelle L. Herman is a multidisciplinary artist whose practice spans theoretical and philosophical research, feminist and disability politics, comedy, and conceptualism. Herman’s work broadly traverses the margins between ability and what is beyond our reach: particularly the limits of perception, attention, connection, and categorization in the digital age. Through installations, sculptures, and video Herman investigates the ways in which we negotiate and push these boundaries every day. Herman has shown nationally in both group and solo exhibitions at locations such as the Hillyer Art Space, Arlington Art Center, Visarts, the Washington Project for the Arts, the Corcoran, The Smithsonian Institution, and The Kennedy Center. Herman’s work has been written about and featured in Hyperallergic, New American Paintings, The Washington Post, NPR, and East City Arts. Herman is an alumna of the Maryland Institute College of Art (MFA, 2020) and the Sparkplug artist collective sponsored by the DC Arts Center.

Read the essay by my good friend Kristen Hileman here.  

How to sign artwork

 One of the most curious things that I have puzzled about in the many decades of making art, presenting art, selling art and dealing with both artists and art collectors (as well as art dealers), is how often artists anguish over a signature.

There are gazillions of ways to screw up a work of art with a signature - the most common one is where a work of art is marred by a giant signature in glow-in-the-dark silver color marker or some hideous color like that.

Even a tiny and elegant signature can distract from a work of art if placed in the wrong area of the work. Imagine an elegant abstract, such as a Mondrian, with a signature in the middle of one of the color geometric shapes.

And, the real truth is that if you care at all about art as a commodity, then I will tell you that most collectors, especially the savvy ones, will always ask about the signature, if one is not apparent at first inspection. You can give them all the certificates of authenticity on the planet, but they want that siggie somewhere.

"A Picasso with a signature may be worth twice as much as one without a signature," said Mark Rosen, former head of the print department at Sotheby's, which sells approximately thousands of prints per year with prices ranging from a few hundred dollars to over $100,000. "Chagall did a series of prints called 'Daphne and Chloe' and those that are signed are worth 10 times as much as those that are unsigned. Otherwise, they are the same prints."

By now you're itching to yell at me: "Lenster! What is this? Damn if you and damn if you don't?" 

Nope - it's just damn if you don't; just do it in the proper place(s).

Some easy to remember DO NOT Rules when signing artwork

• Never sign with a gigantic signature; a normal signature (or even smaller than normal) will do fine.
• Never sign anywhere on the surface where it interferes with the composition.
• Never sign with that glows, shimmers, is metallic or will fade.
• No need to put the little "c" inside the circle "copyright" sign by your signature. You already own the copyright no matter what!
• If you sign on the back (verso in Sothebyse), make sure that it doesn't bleed through!
• Don't sign using inks that will fade in time, or worse, separate, such as "Sharpies" do after a few years, when they acquire a yellow border around the faded black ink.

You want to know where to sign, right?

Cough, cough...

By the way... I'm meandering all about signatures on two dimensional work; you sculptors are all on your own, as long as you don't pull a Michelangelo on the Pieta stunt.

Where to sign two-dimensional work

1. On the back (make sure that it doesn't go through and can be seen from the front); in fact, the more info that you can put on the back to help art historians of the future, the better.

2. On the lower margin of the piece (usually the right margin, but that's up to you).

3. Photographs can either be signed (and numbered in a small edition, cough, cough) on the verso (there's a million "special" photo-signing pens for all you photo geeks; they "write" on photo paper and dry in nanoseconds and don't smear, etc.) Or you can sign them if you leave a white border all around the printed photo. Even signing the mat in the lower margin in pencil was in vogue in the last century and is OK.

If you don't believe me about the power of a signature, then just go online and research the difference in price between a signed Picasso (most of them) and the two dozen or so fully validated, authenticated and documented unsigned Picassos (the ones that he gave to one of his ex-wifes that he hated).

That will learn y'all a lesson about signatures and art, Jethro...

Art Fair Types

As we approach (we hope) the end of The Covidian Age, and art fairs (hopefully) make a come back, and as we prepare to do art fairs in NYC, Miami, Houston, London, and maybe Seattle, I thought that this would be a good time to republish this post from 2004:

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One of the more eye-opening things in attending an art fair is seeing the dynamics that go onto the decision to buy a piece of art. Put together a few thousand people, paying an entry fee to enter the fair, an assortment of dealers, and a huge diverse variety of offerings and it's an education in people watching.

The married couple: 

"Do you like it?" 

"Yeah, I like it- it's just what we've been looking for." 

"Where would we put it?" 

"We have a couple of spots that it'd fit."

"Do you really like it." 

"Yeah, how about you?" 

"Yeah, I kinda of like it." 

"Should we get it?" 

"If you want it." 

(five minutes later) "Let's think about it." 

"OK" 

[To me] "Do you have a business card?" 

The couple (not married): 

Her: "Do you like it?" 

Him: "Sssoright" 

Her: "Where would we put it?" 

Him: "Dunno." 

Her: "Do you really like it." 

Him: "So'OK.. Yeah, how about you?" 

Her: "Yeah, I kinda, sorta, really like it." 

Him: "Dunno though" 

Her: "What? You don't like it?" 

Him: "If you want it." 

(five minutes later) Him: "Let's think about it." 

Her or Him: "OK" [To me] "Do you have a business card?" 

The Single Woman (SW) with a Woman Friend: 

SW: "WOW! Now, I really like this!" 

Friend: "Yeah... it's nice" 

SW: "It's exactly what I've been looking for!" 

Friend: "I have a friend who does work just like this..." 

SW: "I am really drawn to it!" 

Friend: "Are you really sure you like it?" 

SW: "Uh - yeah!... why? Don't you like it?" 

Friend: "Yeah... it's OK" 

SW: "I think it's really good... I think it's the first piece in this whole show that I really like." 

Friend: "There's a few more booths we haven't seen." 

SW: "I think I'm going to buy this." 

Friend: "Are you sure?" 

SW: "Uh - yeah!... It's a good price too.... why? Don't you like it?" 

(five minutes later) SW: "Do you have a business card?" 

The Single Woman (SW) with a Man Friend: 

SW: "WOW! Now, I really like this!" 

Friend: "Yeah... Cool" 

SW: "It's exactly what I've been looking for!" 

Friend: "I think it's a lithograph" [it's actually a charcoal] 

SW: "I am really drawn to it!" 

Friend: "Are you really sure you like it?" 

SW: "Uh - yeah!... why? Don't you like it?" 

Friend: "I have something like it... I got it cheaper though..." 

SW: "I think it's really good... I think it's the first piece in this whole show that I really like." 

Friend: "You like lithographs?" 

SW: "I think I'm going to buy this." 

Friend: "Are you sure?" 

SW: "Uh - yeah!... It's a good price too.... why? Don't you like it?" 

(five minutes later) SW: "Do you have a business card?" 

The Single Focus Dream Buyer: [Walks straight up to one piece, never looks at the rest of the work in your booth] "I'll take this" 

[Me] "Thank you... it's a very striking charcoal drawing - will be that be a check or charge?"

 "Charge" 

[Me] "I can send you more information on this artist..." 

"That will be great - I love this work - it's exactly what I'm interested in!"

[Me] "I have a few more pieces here, would you like to see them?" "

No, thanks..."  (He/She buys it and walks away)

The "I'm glad you're here guy (IGYHG)": 

IGYHG: "Hey! I've been looking for you!" 

[Me]: "Hi, how are you?" 

IGYHG: "... been walking this whole fair looking for you!" 

[Me]: "Yeah... lots of dealers this year... glad you found us!" 

IGYHG: "Howsa been goin'?" 

[Me]: "Yes... quite good actually..." 

IGYHG: "Well, let me look at what you've got!" 

[three minutes later] IGYHG: "Well... I'm glad you're here... see ya next year!"

The "I Shudda Bought It Last Year Guy (Shudda)": 

Shudda: "Hey! You're here again!" 

[Me]: "Hi, how are you? Yeah... It's our 7th year here..." 

Shudda: "... been walking this whole fair looking for you!" 

[Me]: "Yeah... lots of dealers this year... glad you found us!" 

Shudda: "Howsa been goin'?" 

[Me]: "Yes... quite good actually..." 

Shudda: "Well, let me look at what you've got!" 

[three minutes later] Shudda: "Where's that really good watercolor of the fill-in-the-blank?" 

[Me]: "Uh... I sold it last year - but I have a few more pieces by that artist." 

Shudda: "Ah! - I really wanted that one! Do you have another one?" 

[Me]: "Well, no... it was an original watercolor, and I sold it; but I have ---" 

Shudda: "I really wanted that piece; and it was a good price too..." 

[Me]: "Maybe you'd like some of his new work..." 

Shudda: "I shudda bought it last year" [Walks away] 

Shudda: "You gonna be here next year?" 

The "Where's That Piece Guy (WTP)": 

WTP: "Hey! You're here again!" 

[Me]: "Hi, how are you? Yeah... It's our 7th year here..." 

WTP: "... been walking this whole fair specifically looking for you!" 

[Me]: "Yeah... lots of dealers this year... glad you found us!" 

WTP: "Howsa been goin'?" 

[Me]: "Yes... quite good actually..." 

WTP: "OK... last year I saw this piece... it was a fill-in-the-bank and I should have bought it then! " 

[Me]: "Yeah... that is a nice piece." 

WTP: "I've been thinking about it for a whole year" [Looks around the booth and doesn't see it]

WTP: "Do you still have it?" 

[From here there are two paths...] 

Path One - [Me]: "Uh... I sold it last year - but I have a few more pieces by that artist." 

WTP: "Ah! - I really wanted that one! Do you have another one?" 

[Me]: "Well, no... it was an original watercolor, and I sold it; but I have ---" 

WTP: "I really wanted that piece; and it was a good price too..." 

[Me]: "Maybe you'd like some of his new work..." 

WTP: "I shudda bought it last year" 

[Walks away] WTP: "You gonna be here next year?" 

Path Two [Me]: "Let me get it for you... I have it in the back!" 

WTP: "Great" [I bring it out and give to WTP] 

WTP: "Yeah this is it! It's great!" 

[Me]: "This artist has done really well this last year and ---" 

WTP: [Handing it back] "Excellent! I'm glad you still have it... until what time are you going to be here?" [Walks away...]

Skies over Gig Harbor, Washington

Things that you find in storage: "Skies over Gig Harbor, Washington", these are several 1980 watercolor assignments from the University of Washington School of Art that I did while a student on a field day trip to Gig Harbor.

#gigharbor #gigharborwa #gigharborrealestate #gigharborliving #universityofwashington

Why most of the DMV's museum curators... are not DMV curators

 This quote from this article in Washingtonian is as true today as it was when first published...

“Curators from the Hirshhorn or National Gallery would rather take a cab to Dulles Airport to look at emerging artists in Berlin than they would take a cab to Adams Morgan to look at emerging artists here,” says Lennox Campello, an artist and former gallery owner. “They don’t do a good job of tending their own back garden.”

Anatomy of another commission

More later on what this new commission for a nice Illinois couple will end up as - but here are the draft sketches... the last one borrows heavily from a Romantic period piece that I once saw in a museum (can't recall the artist).