Greetings from Northern Havana

Hello from the land of exiles, still buzzing over Art Basel. Three of our represented artists, Sandra Ramos and Tania Brugera and Marta Maria Perez Bravo did exceptionally well during Art Basel.

Today I received a wonderful tour of the public art collection of the Federal Reserve Bank - Miami Branch. A beautiful building with a predictable collection of forgetable abstract paintings (lest we insult anyone with a representational painting that someone might actually understand visually).

It is astounding to me the buzz and interest and support that this area gives to the visual arts. I am jealous (and fired up).

Anyway... Another painter mocking Bush is getting publicity over idiots censoring his painting. Read the story here.

On the flight here, I began to read Louis Perez voluminous On Becoming Cuban (what an appropriate book to read before heading to Miami, uh?).

I discovered quite an interesting fact.

The father of the modern Irish republic was Eamon de Valera, who was born in New York in 1882. His father, Juan de Valera, although technically a Spaniard, was really a Cuban, born in Cuba (which was part of Spain back then), the son of a Cuban sugar planter and escaped to New York during the Independence Wars with Spain. There he earned his living as a piano teacher. He met and married Irish immigrant Catherine Coll. Juan died shortly after the birth of their son Eduardo. After Juan's death, his wife sent Eduardo to Ireland, where her family changed his name to the Gaelic version of Eduardo: Eamon.

Whodda thunk it?

I'm heading down to Miami this morning. I'll be posting later tonight. Y'all come back now, hear?

Do not however, forget that this coming Friday is the third Friday of the month, and thus the five Canal Square Galleries (Alla Rogers, Parish, Fraser, MOCA and Anne C. Fisher) in Georgetown's Canal Square will be having their opening nights and extended hours. From 6-9 PM.

We will be having an exhibition of my recent charcoal drawings. About 20 new figurative charcoal nudes.

Warning: More self promotion coming.

I've had the December show since 1997, not just one of the bennies of co-owning the gallery, but also because of the curious fact that December (at least in Georgetown) is a very dead month for art in general, and my past shows have sold well and even generated some press.

My 1997 show consisted of portraits of porn stars. Several of the women attended the opening, as well as a few thousand men! The Washington Post's review called that show "irritating."

The 1998 show was based on my interest in Celtic history and legend. The Potomac News wrote that I was a "throwback... but in tune with the times." It was also reviewed by The Bowie Blade.

The 2000 show was "Literary Drawings," and consisted of drawings inspired by some of my favorite books and literary characters. It was reviewed by The Georgetowner

The 2002 show was "27 Years of Frida Kahlo" and it consisted of my work about Kahlo since I first came across her work in 1977. It was reviewed by The Washington City Paper and was a "Hot Pick" in the Washington Times.

Last year's show was Pictish Nation and it was reviewed by The Washington Times and The Georgetowner.

Pictured above is "La Llorona" (The Crying - or Weeping - Woman), one of the new drawings in the exhibition. Learn more about the legend of "La Llorona" here. It is based on a photograph by the great Danny Conant.

Openings are from 6-9 PM. See ya there!

Studio Visits!

Blake Gopnik, the Chief Art Critic of the Washington Post is now making studio visits and writing a terrific and highly readable plug of the artist and his art. This is great news!

Read his first studio visit here. This character Jonathan Grossmalerman sounds like a Peter Sellers who can also paint.

By the way, Blake went to Brooklyn for his studio visit.

I am sure that LA is next, but I am also sure that will soon be making studio visits to DC artists as well. After all, it's easier to catch a cab to a DC area artist studio than the train to New York and then the cab to Brooklyn. Unless Blake subways to Brooklyn.

When I was a kid growing up in Brooklyn, my house was within a couple of blocks of the Atlantic Avenue stop of the LL subway line and by the time I was 12 or 13 I was a master of the New York subway system.

Betcha he took a cab.

Anti-OPTIONS 2005

As J.T. noted over at Thinking About Art, photographer J.W. Bailey, in response to the whole recent controversy of the WPA/C's OPTIONS 2005 show, has created his entry for the new OPTIONS curator Libby Lumpkin in the form of an Anti-OPTIONS 2005 website detailing his extensive and deep correspondence and research and battle (still ongoing) caused by the firing of Philip Barlow as the original curator.

This is either brilliant or demented. I am not yet sure which, but it is certainly interesting and certainly shows what can be fused when you mix talent, passion and a human pit bull like Bailey.

See Bailey's site here.

Fridaphiles of the World: Unite!

I am curating an online exhibition for Art.com on the subject of an "Homage to Frida Kahlo."

There is no entry fee and Art.com is funding the following prizes:

1st Prize: Airfare, hotel and expenses for 3-day/3-night trip for two to the Frida Kahlo Museum in Mexico City, Mexico. (Total package valued up to $2,500)

2nd Prize: $1,000

3rd Prize: $150 towards a Print on Demand order through Art.com Original Art & Photography

Work is uploaded online and there is no entry fee. The work must in some way relate to Frida Kahlo and her life, work, etc. No reproductions of Frida's own paintings will be considered, unless they introduce a new idea or vision or concept to the Kahlo phenomenom. To enter, click here.

Connie Imboden to Jury Annual Bethesda Photography Prize

The 2005 juror for our annual photography competition has been selected and it is acclaimed photographer Connie Imboden. You can read about the juror here. Her work is represented in the permanent collections of The Museum of Modern Art in New York, The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, The National Museum for Women in the Arts, The National Museum of American Art, Washington D.C., Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris, France, and many other public and private collections in Europe and the Americas.

This is our annual juried opportunity for photographers. The deadline for entries is February 3, 2005. In addition to cash prizes, the Best in Show winner will be offered a solo show in 2006. Other award winners will also be included in some of our future group shows.

To look at the prospectus for the competition, click here.

Washington City Paper reviews Aimee Garcia Show in Georgetown

Louis Jacobson reviews our current exhibition of Cuban artist Aimee Garcia Marrero in our Georgetown Gallery.

This is a very young Cuban artist and perhaps one of the most intelligent and talented painters pushing the ancient medium forward. Her show runs until December 15, 2004.