Obama: What Shows Up in Ebay

The below proof litho done by me in 2007 and sold in 2009 in Philadelphia's historic Obamarama Art Show just showed up on Ebay for sale!

See it and buy it here.

Under $500 is Live!

Bid here

Bethesda Fine Arts Festival Applications Open

The online application is now open for the 2024 Bethesda Fine Arts Festival. This annual festival features 120 of the nation's finest artists, in categories including, but not limited to, ceramics, fiber, glass, painting, photography and sculpture. 

The juried festival provides artists with amenities including 24 hour security of the festival site, booth sitters, breakfast & lunch for participating artists, and more. 

The deadline to apply is Friday, December 22, 2023, and selected artists will be notified in late January 2024.

The Bethesda Fine Arts Festival will be held on May 11 & May 12, 2024 in Woodmont Triangle and will feature our selected artists, live music and local restaurants.

Details and application here.

Glenstoning

Together with the famfam I visited Glenstone last Friday -- first time that I have been there since the grand opening a few years ago.

I was particularly interested in seeing Iconoclasts: Selections from Glenstone’s Collection, which as they note:

On long-term view, a selection of works drawn from the museum’s collection will is on view in the Gallery. The exhibition features more than 50 artists who have made some of the most radical contributions to art in the 20th century. Foundational collection artists—such as Willem de Kooning, Alexander Calder, Ruth Asawa, and Martin Puryear, among many others—are on view alongside new acquisitions, including Hilma af Klint’s Tree of Knowledge, 1913-1915.

While Marcel Duchamp's iconic "Fountain" is essentially the battle standard of any artist claiming to be an iconoclast (a person who attacks settled beliefs or institutions), some of the other works in this most excellent collection are not really iconoclastish in my learned opinion.

And a more sanguine person would add that later in life Dechamp de-iconoclastized himself and his art by succumbing to the k'chiing temptation of art and making reproduction after reproduction of the original "Fountain", which no one has any idea where it ended up at, but I suspect that it is still serving its original purpose in some bathroom in France.

But I digress.

The DMV's own Anne Truitt is also a member in good standing of the iconoclast gang and her piece in this show exemplifies why:

Others, such as Ellsworth Kelly - ah! not so much, especially his "Carmen Herrera did this waaaay before paintings."

But in essence, this show is spectacular and well worth the visit to the astonishingly beautiful Glenstone, a marvel of design and nature, in which I am always wondering how they prevent the deer from munching on Jeff Koons' "Split Rocker."

The curious case of the ten million dollar painting that sold for $40K

He Thought His Chuck Close Painting Was Worth $10 Million. Not Quite - ran the NYT headline about a long-lost Chuck Close painting and the nice dog-walking guy who had been gifted the painting.

Have you ever had this fantasy? You befriend a curmudgeonly stranger and one day, out of the blue, the old grouch bequeaths you a gift to change your life.

For most of us, that fantasy is priceless. But for Mark Herman, a former dog walker now living on Social Security, an auction house in Dallas told him exactly how much that fantasy was worth.

Read the story here.

November is National Adoption Month

National Adoption Month acknowledges and celebrates adoptive and foster families that help create safe and supportive homes and families for children. 

In November of 2020, my wife Libby and I made the decision to expand our family through adoption. Now, three years later, we celebrate 15 months with our daughter Penny and we couldn't be happier. The adoption process quickly changed any assumptions we previously had and provided us with much insight as to the many personal, emotional, and legal obstacles involved. Our story is just one of a million ways that a family can be created.

- Cory Oberndorfer

Artwork and Donations 

 

For the remainder of the month of November, 33% of sales of Cory's work will be donated in your name to The Barker Adoption Foundation, an adoption nonprofit. Barker has been serving our area for the past 78 years, placing more than 8,000 children into the welcoming arms of adoptive parents and providing counseling and related support services to more than 30,000 women and families who are considering placing a child up for adoption. Their compassionate services and inclusivity align with the values important to the Oberndorfer Family. 

Shop

Visit Cory's online shop to see available works or request new commissions. Larger paintings and commissions are also available by request. You may also contact him directly at cory@coryoberndorfer.com.

The curious case of the Washington Post censoring cartoonist Michael Ramirez

Another great example of the Washington Post doing the talk, but not walking the walk.

"I Was Canceled for a Cartoon About Hamas' Human Shields. I Stand by My Cartoon—and Its Critics" says cartoonist Michael Ramirez, whose recent cartoon about mass murdering terrorist Ghazi Hamad was recently censored by the Washington Post.

Cartoon by Ramirez that was pulled from the Washington Post
© Michael Ramirez/Las Vegas Review-Journal for the Washington Post

Ramirez eloquently notes:

This cartoon was designed with specificity. Its focus is on a specific individual and the statements he made on behalf of a specific organization he represents—their claims of victimhood, and the plight of innocent Palestinians used as pawns in their political and military strategy.

That person is Ghazi Hamad. The caricature of the central figure looks like Ghazi Hamad.

The organization is Hamas. The main figure in the cartoon is labeled Hamas.

Hamad's words and the innocents bound to him as human shields and their forced martyrdom reflect the official position of Hamas.

Hamas is a terrorist organization that blames Israel for the attack on civilians, but ignores its own complicity in their suffering. It was Hamas that first launched the attack on Israel, continues to use civilian infrastructure as cover, and restricts the evacuation of Gaza civilians from areas which Israel has given advanced warning of strikes.

Gaza civilians are victims. Hamas is not.

It's ironic that those who criticize the cartoon for overgeneralizing and stereotyping cannot seem to distinguish between a known terrorist group and Palestinians. And it's a tragedy that their only way of coping with the truth depicted in my cartoon is to erase it from view.

Shame on the Washington Post decision makers, who once again prove that their backbone has a clear weak point when it comes to standing up to the woke mafia.

Read about it here.