Heartworks

In April 2008, Philadelphia will be the destination for a lot of cool contemporary art when the works of photographer/sculptor Jack Pierson, painter/sculptor Andrea Zittel, photographers Ryan McGinley and Zoe Strauss, mixed-media artist Alex Da Corte, installation design artist Virgil Marti, painter/musician Devendra Banhart, self-contained video artist Tim Tate and loads more other visual and performing artists from the United States and London are featured in “HeartWorks,” a week-long event benefiting the Mazzoni Center, a Philadelphia health agency serving the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender community, specializing in HIV treatment and care.

Curator Christopher Veit (who is from my new hometown of Media, PA) credits the Mazzoni Center with saving his life and is taking the words of his mentor Pierson – “you only get back what you put out in life” – to heart in creating “HeartWorks.” He has decided to give the place and people who helped him get well a benefit of works and performances donated by his friends. All proceeds will support the Center. Lifestyle Magazine is a major sponsor for “HeartWorks.”

“HeartWorks” kicks off on Friday, April 18 with two-evenings of experimental multi-media and music, featuring innovative video art by Alex Bag, photography by Patterson Beckwith in collaboration with filmmaker Joshua Callaghan, musician Douglas Armour and rapper Tara De Long.

Then an exhibition of approximately 100 works of art will be on view beginning Tuesday, April 22, culminating in fundraiser/silent auction, featuring a performance by the saxophone ensemble, PRISM Quartet, on Saturday, April 26. “HeartWorks” will be held at the ICE BOX Project Space, 1400 N. American Street. Tickets for April 18 and 19 are $20; those for the April 26 fundraiser/silent auction range from $35 - $125. Patron packages, including limited prints by either Alex Da Corte or Jack Pierson, tickets to all “HeartWorks” events, and a patron event with the two artists on February 21, are $500 and $1,000. For information, visit www.inliquid.com/heartworks or call 215-563-0663.

Other artists contributing to “HeartWorks” include painters Elyce Abrams, Dave Bond, Anthony Campuzano, Jeff Elrod, Daniel Gonzalez, Robert Gutierrez, Ian Hokin, Pearl C Hsiung, Jackadandy, Michael Lazarus, Isaac Lin, Jay Schuette, Jeni Spota, Thaddeus Strode, Hiroshi Sunairi and Henry Taylor; sculptors Paul LEE and Jason Meadows; photographers Karl Hahn and Mary Pinto; mixed-media artists Shari Elf, Mark X Farina, Adam Helms, Thom Merrick, Sandeep Mukherjee, Michele O' Marah, Randy Polumbo and John Williams; fashion designers Paul Bernstock, Michael Costiff, Bettina Hubby and Thelma Speirs; jewelry designers Annie Costello Brown and Mikal Winn; video artists and filmmakers Zaina Alwan, who also creates murals, Tom Borgese, Paul Slocum, Jack Sloss and Kim Stringfellow; performance artists David M. Jones, Ann Magnuson, Kelly Marie Martin and Khembra Pfhaler; musician Chad Brown; and Ellie Greenwood, Gia Grosso, Tim Jackson, Daniel McDonald, Ji Shin and Lisa Sitko. Artist biographies are available in an accompanying document.

Mazzoni Center focuses on the healthcare needs of Philadelphia’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities, and specializes in the treatment and care of HIV / AIDS. For more information regarding Mazzoni Center, go to www.mazzonicenter.org.

VSA arts’ Call for Entries

Deadline: March 21, 2008

VSA arts is seeking visual artists with disabilities whose work is inspired by the performing arts for “Derivative Composition,” an international juried art exhibition that will be on display at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., from May 29-July 20, 2008. Two-and three-dimensional art, digital art, installations, video and film, and other media that draw inspiration from music, theater or dance are eligible. Submissions must have been completed in the last five years and after the onset of disability. Applications will be accepted through March 21, 2008. For more information, please visit this website or call (202) 628-2800.

MPA Artfest

Deadline: May 1, 2008

The McLean Project for the Arts in McLean, VA is accepting entries from local and regional artists and fine craftsmen for MPA artfest, a one day juried fine arts and crafts festival. The second annual MPA artfest will be held in McLean Central Park on Sunday, October 5. Last year's one day festival drew 3,500 music and arts lovers.

Entry forms are available at McLean Project for the Arts and online at www.mpaart.org. McLean Project for the Arts is located at 1234 Ingleside Avenue in McLean. Hours are Tuesday - Friday 10 am - 4 pm; Saturday 1-5 pm. For more information call 703-790-1953 or email artfest@mpaart.org

The Funnel

Just came across this really, really good Funnel Pages; all about the arts in Philadelphia. A one place online stop for openings, shows, reviews, etc. in Philly.

Visit them often here.

Artists' Websites

Hadieh Shafie is a student at School 33 in Baltimore and Hadieh is having an open studio on Saturday, April 12, 2008, Noon to 6PM.


Visit Hadieh's website here.

Lida Moser opens this Friday

Opening on March 14, 2007 and through April 5, 2007, the Fraser Gallery in Bethesda will be hosting their second solo exhibition of legendary American photographer Lida Moser, who now lives in retirement in nearby Rockville, Maryland.

This almost 90-year-old photographer is not only one of the most respected American photographers of the 20th century, but also a pioneer in the field of photojournalism. Her photography has been in the middle of a revival and rediscovery of vintage photojournalism, and has sold as high as $4,000 at Christie's auctions and continues to be collected by both museums and private collectors worldwide. In a career spanning over 60 years, Moser has produced a body of works consisting of thousands of photographs and photographic assemblages that defy categorization and genre or label assignment.

Additionally, Canadian television recently finished filming a documentary about her life; the second in the last few years, and Moser’s work is now in the collection of many museums worldwide.

She was once called the "grandmother of American street photography" by an art critic, which prompted a quick rebuttal by Moser, who called the writer's editor and told him that she wasn't the "fucking grandmother of anything or anyone, and would he [the writer] ever describe Ansel Adams or any other male photographer as the 'grandfather' of any style."

Tough New Yorker.

I once sold one of her rare figure studies to a big famous photography collector from the West Coast (who collects mostly nude photography). There were four or five prints of the image, taken and printed around 1961, but one had all the markings and touch-up evidence of the actual photo that had been used by the magazine, and thus I sent him that one.

He called me to complain that although he loved Moser's work, that he wasn't too happy with the retouching, and could I ask Lida for one of the untouched photos.

Now, you gotta understand that these images were taken and touched-up by hand for publication in a newspaper or magazine (since they were nudies, the latter probably). They were not touched up for a gallery or an art show - they were "battlefield" prints of a working photographer.

I called Lida and explained the situation over the phone. "Sweetie," she said to me in her strong New York accent, "you call that guy right back and tell him that you talked to Lida Moser and that Lida Moser told you to tell him: Fuck You!"

I didn't do that, but just sent him an untouched vintage print.

Tough New Yorker.

Lida was a well-known figure in the New York art scene of the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, and a portrait of Lida Moser by American painter Alice Neel hangs in the permanent collection of the Metropolitan Museum in New York City. Neel painted a total of four Moser portraits over her lifetime, and one of them was included in the National Museum of Women in the Arts' "Alice Neel's Women" exhibition.

"Charles Mingus in his Apartment in New York City", c. 1965.

Among her body of works there are also loads of photographs of well-known artists and musicians that either hung around Lida's apartment in NYC or who were part of her circle of friends.



Lida Moser's photographic career started as a student and studio assistant in 1947 in Berenice Abbott's studio in New York City, where she became an active member of the New York Photo League. She then worked for Vogue, Harper's Bazaar, Look and many other magazines throughout the next few decades, and traveled extensively throughout the United States, Canada and Europe.

In 1950 Vogue, and (and subsequently Look magazine) assigned Lida Moser to carry out an illustrated report on Canada, from one ocean to another. When she arrived at the Windsor station in Montreal, in June of that same year, she met by chance, Paul Gouin, then a Cultural Advisor to Duplessis government. This chance meeting led Moser to change her all-Canada assignment for one centered around Quebec.

Armed with her camera and guided by the research done by the Abbot Felix-Antoine Savard, the folklorist Luc Lacourcière and accompanied by Paul Gouin, Lida Moser then discovers and photographs a traditional Quebec, which was still little touched by modern civilization and the coming urbanization of the region.

Decades later, a major exhibition of those photographs at the McCord Museum of Canadian History became the museum’s most popular exhibit ever.

She has also authored and been part of many books and publications on and about photography. She also wrote a series of "Camera View" articles on photography for The New York Times between 1974-81.

Her work has been exhibited in many museums worldwide and is in the permanent collection of the National Portrait Gallery, London, the National Archives, Ottawa, the National Galleries of Scotland, National Portrait Gallery, Washington, DC, the Library of Congress, Les Archives Nationales du Quebec, Corcoran Gallery, Phillips Collection and many others.

Moser was an active member of the Photo League and the New York School.

The Photo League was the seminal birth of American documentary photography. It was a group that was at times at school, an association and even a social club. Disbanded in 1951, the League promoted photojournalism with an aesthetic consciousness that reaches street photography to this day.


"New York City, Office Building Lobby" c. 1965

An opening reception for Ms. Moser will be held on Friday, March 14, 2007 from 6-9PM as part of the Bethesda Art Walk. The reception is free and open to the public.

If you are a photographer, do not miss this opportunity to meet one of the women who set the path for all of you. If you just love the arts, Moser is also a walking encyclopedia of anecdotes and stories about the New York art world of the 50s, 60s and 70s.

Read the WaPo review of her last exhibition here.

WPA Auction Online Bidding

The WPA Art Auction is online for the rest of this week, and four online bidders have so far ended up winning their lots before the Gala, so it’s definitely worth a shot for collectors who might be unsure about their chances of winning, especially with the auction gala now having passed.

Check it out here.