Inauguration Ball


Artomatic, Inc. and Playa del Fuego, Inc. – institutions of the mid-Atlantic arts community – have joined together to create this year’s most distinctive inaugural celebration, The Art of Change (www.artists-ball.org), on Jan. 20, 2009 at 8pm.

With the generous support of corporate sponsor Scion (www.scion.com) and location sponsors The Warehouse Arts Complex (www.warehousetheater.com) and Douglas Development (www.douglasdevelopment.com), this event brings Washington, D.C., a unique opportunity to celebrate the inauguration of Barack Obama as President.

Tickets are available immediately for $50 at www.artists-ball.org.

Occupying three separate venues on the 1000 block of 7th Street, NW in downtown Washington D.C., The Art of Change will feature visual and performing arts, multiple dance floors, fire dancing and live music. DJs from across the mid-Atlantic region will be spinning an eclectic mix of musical styles on two dance floors, and in The Art of Change Galleries, displaying artworks created for this celebration. The Variety Stage will showcase performances all night long, including live music, comedy, belly dancing and spoken word poetry. And outside, attendees will enjoy fire-dance performances while dancing to up-and-coming DJs in the heated White Tent.

George C. Koch, chair of Artomatic, Inc.: “The Art of Change is an example of the collaborative spirit within the creative community and it speaks to the desire of artists to be a full partner in the change that is taking place in our country and our community. The Art of Change brings together the progressive and creative communities to support a new vision for our creative economy.”

For more information visit www.artists-ball.org.

Lynn Dunham

Lynn Dunham's Art Blog is lively, full of information, opinions, news and all kinds of good stuff.

Visit it here.

Art Fair Season starts


The 2009 art fair season starts later this month with the
Los Angeles Art Show, which after 6 years at the Barker Hangar moves to a new spot at the LA Convention Center. This should help with last year's complaints about lack of parking.

Also, in conjunction with the Los Angeles Art Show, the city of Nuestra Senora de Los Angeles has proclaimed January 2009 Los Angeles Arts Month, bringing the local art community together, as well as international acclaim to Los Angeles as the new center of art for the Pacific Rim.

Anchored by the LA Art Show, 'Los Angeles Arts Month' will unite art exhibits and special events throughout the city, resulting in a month long celebration of the arts during January, 2009. For more information go to www.laartsmonth.com.

Let's see how this art fair does and maybe we'll get an early insight to the 2009 art season.

Airborne



Heading home... more later. I'm at the airport checking my email for the first time and I'm already over 1,000 emails behind, and I didn't read email while on vacation, so please be patient.

Also, a couple of weeks ago I got a new Blackberry Storm, and I was warned that it had some serious software issues and that I would need to reload the software at some point in order to update. Apparently it takes around an hour, so I decided to postpone it until I returned home.

Bad idea!

The Storm died on Monday and it went on an endless loop trying to reboot itself. So I haven't received a single phone call since mid Monday or so. As soon as I reload the software and check my voice mails I will return any calls!

I just hope that I didn't lose all my contacts.

Secrets of the auction room

The advantage to auctions is that they have a certain democratic, or rather meritocratic, element: for new collectors, buying at auction is easier than braving the haughty froideur of some top art galleries. At auction, if you have the money you can simply bid for a work, thereby avoiding the machinations of dealers who have waiting lists for some artists and select those to whom they will sell. The auction room is also often seen as the only place where “hard” figures can be obtained, with recorded transactions visible and available to all. But even this apparently transparent process is not all that it appears. Much of what is going on is secret, one way or another.

Read the fascinating article by Georgina Adam here.

At plan b in DC

Florida'ng

Still baking down here; good sun and great Cuban food (later I will tell you one of the best and cheapest Cuban food joints in all of the Greater Miami area, with terrific food, amazing prices and huge portions: the way Cuban food is supposed to be).

Also a mini review (maybe) of the art galleries and stores passing as art galleries along Las Olas Boulevard in Fort Lauderdale.