Cynthia Young defends the "grubs" in a passionate letter in this week's Washington City Paper.

And Jeffry Cudlin writes another really good review (why isn't Cudlin writing more often in the WCP?).

This time he reviews "Inventions: Recent Paintings by Caio Fonseca" at the Corcoran and damned near convinced me that Fonseca was not just another hack painting the kind of safe, unintelligible art that cannot remotely offend anyone and that one routinely sees in hotels, airports and furniture stores. Not really art but "wall decor."

Thusday is the day the Style section of the Post reviews galleries and today Glenn Dixon reviews Kenny Hunter: Works in Colour at Conner Contemporary Art.

There's also a theatre review and a music review in today's Style.

The Washington Post finally picks up the story of Philip Barlow's woes with the WAP/C first reported here over two weeks ago.

The Arts Beat column adds little to the story that hasn't been discussed to death already by DC Artnews, J.T. Kirkland, Tyler Green, MetroBlogging and others.

Other than this great quote from the new OPTIONS 2005 curator:

"I've been forgiving of artists who've painted dreadful cows in my part of the country," adds Lumpkin, "so I can be forgiving of artists who've painted dreadful pandas in your part of the country." "

I've been out all day, and arrived home, picked up the email (I am by now used to getting one letter a week from either/or United or American Airlines pleading with me to sign up for their credit card), cooked dinner, got ready to watch the World Series, and then... read my email.

I was a bit taken back by the huge number of emails that I've received from artists commenting on the new WPA/C OPTIONS curator. But I think that we need to let the waters settle and see how things develop.

Last weekend the Washington Times gave our current Bethesda show (David FeBland), their "Hot Pick" of the week.

Transformer tells me that they will have Ken Grimes, Laura Craig McNellis, Judith Scott, and Melvin "Milky" Way in a show titled Cryptic Communications: Work by Four Self Taught Artists. Show opens November 6 and runs through December 4, 2004.

In Alexandria, Pa Dian Accents presents Women of Color, Style and Expression, a collection of more than 40 works by five contemporary artists from the D.C. area, from Saturday, November 13 through Sunday, November 21. The featured artists in this show found their visions in a variety of ways. Edith Graciela Sanabria’s art began as a response to a difficult childhood with an authoritarian father. Donna Boozer was inspired by the birth of her daughter. Chela Sanbria, Edith’s daughter, found healing from a crippling illness through painting vibrant colors and Jennifer Jin Seaver began her artistic career as a child in Korea.

New York realist Mikel Glass is at Old Town Alexandria's Century Gallery. The exhibition is on view until December 1, 2004. I saw Glass’ show at Century a couple of years ago and Glass is a spectacularly talented painter whose works have been called "a battle between Rembrandt and Freud."

And in Georgetown...

"Ebb and Flow," recent paintings and drawings by Washingtonian Janis Goodman, (who teaches at the Corcoran) explores the universal theme of constancy.

Goodman's new series is devoted to water and its insistent repetition, even as the rest of the world is in flux. Her intelligent renderings of water capture the artist's intense devotion to observation and meditation.

"Ebb and Flow" will be on view at District Fine Arts from November 5 through December 11, 2004.

New OPTIONS 2005 Curator Named

The Washington Project for the Arts\Corcoran Association (WPA\C) has announced that Ms. Libby Lumpkin has been named as the WPA\C OPTIONS exhibition curator to replace fired curator Philip Barlow.

Libby Lumpkin is an internationally noted art historian, critic, and curator who serves as Director of the Museum Studies Program at California State University and Assistant Professor of Art History, Long Beach. She was the founding curator of Steve Wynn's Bellagio Gallery of Fine Art in Las Vegas (man... Tyler Green will have fun with that bit of resume news), and has served as Visiting Professor of Art Theory at Yale University, Visiting Lecturer on Visual and Environmental Studies at Harvard University, Visiting Professor of Theory and Aesthetics at the University of California Santa Barbara, and Visiting Lecturer at Umeå University in Umeå, Sweden.

She also served as Assistant Professor of Art History and Curator of the Donna Beam Fine Art Gallery at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Lumpkin is the author of Deep Design: Nine Little Art Histories, as well as Ingrid Calame and Jean-Michel Basquiat: War Paint. She edited and produced the catalogs for the Bellagio Collection, and has authored numerous critical essays on contemporary art and design. Dr. Lumpkin was a contributing editor of Art Issues magazine of Los Angeles, and is a regular contributor to Artforum of New York.

She is founding director of a design institute for the Institute of Modern Letters at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas to open in January 2005. After spending two years in Long Beach, she returned to Las Vegas with her spouse, art critic and curator, Dave Hickey.

Ms. Lumpkin has stated that

"The emerging artist scene in the Washington, D.C. area is unexplored territory for me. I look forward to discovering what's out there. I'm hoping that artists of all types who do not yet have gallery representation will respond to the call for submission for consideration so that we can set up appointments to view works. I'm sure most of the artists will be young, but I'd love to hear from artists of all ages, anyone who is presently working outside the gallery system. I'm as interested in the private, eccentric artist as in those whose works are engaged in prevailing cultural discourse. I'd like to end up with an exhibition that presents a lively mixture of types."

Does this mean that Ms. Lumpkin is automatically excluding any and all artists who have gallery representation? Someone better tell the Corcoran Board of Trustees right away before she buys her plane tickets to come visit our area.

The WPA\C will soon announce submission guidelines for artists who wish to submit materials as preliminary research for the benefit of the curator. Because this is not a juried exhibition, there is no fee to submit materials and artists do not have to be a member of the WPA\C to be considered. These guidelines will be posted on the WPA/C website on Nov 1, 2004. Ms. Lumpkin will perform on-site studio visits while working on the exhibition in Washington, DC.

It is a smart move by the WPA/C to hire an outside curator to replace Barlow, but I wonder how much this is costing them; I suspect that curators such as Lumpkin do not come cheaply.

I wish Ms. Lumpkin the best of luck with a most difficult show. It won't be easy, but I am sure that she will do a good job; we will be watching.

Tonight I will be at one of my favorite charity art auctions for a great organization and a great cause.

It is at the Carnegie Institution of Washington (16th & P Streets, NW), the Walker Whitman Clinic will be having their annual Art for Life Auction, in my opinion one of the best art auctions in the city. Viewing from 6:00 pm and the auction starts at 7:30 pm.

See you there!

Driving Force was a national competition to recognize and showcase young artists with disabilities, ages 16 -25, who are living in the United States.

The exhibition is currently on view at the S. Dillon Ripley Center, Smithsonian Institution through November 29, 2004. It will then tour for one year throughout the U.S.

The grand prize winner, Sunny Taylor, is a self taught hand and foot artist (only 22 years old) who is a spectacular painter.