Since 2003... the 11th highest ranked art blog on the planet! And with over SIX million visitors, F. Lennox Campello's art news, information, gallery openings, commentary, criticism, happenings, opportunities, and everything associated with the global visual arts scene with a special focus on the Greater Washington, DC area.
Last night we attended the opening for "Moving Beyond Craft: Artists of the Washington Glass School," at the one-year-old Patricia Touchet Gallery in Baltimore.
Tim Tate and Rosetta DeBerardinis
The gallery itself is a very nice two level space on a corner building in the Fells Point neighborhood of Baltimore, so it has a very good location; always an important factor in a gallery's presence. The gallerist, the fair Patricia Touchet, was also very nice and I enjoyed finally meeting her.
The show itself looked really good, several sales took place, and it certainly looks like the Washington Glass School faculty made a really good debut in Baltimore.
I was most impressed by the new work of Alison Sigethy who had a gorgeous balanced piece that looked immensely fragile and yet needed to be touched to get it dancing back and forth. Also impressed by the new work of Cheryl Derricotte, whose work is certainly looking like it's joining the whole new "green art" movement.
We will open "Compelled by Content II", which is an exhibition of contemporary narrative glass curated by Catriona Fraser. This is the second iteration of an annual group exhibition of emerging and established contemporary fine arts glass sculptors from around the nation who use glass as their main medium to convey narrative ideas in a genre generally only associated with bowls and vessels.
The 2005 exhibition established a new footprint and direction for glass, and began the task of pushing it away from pretty, decorative art and towards narrative work with context and meaning. It generated a substantial amount of discussion, both pro and con, which at the last count included over 80 pages of comments on various art websites as well as several reviews in the printed media.
This exhibition brings the focus of the art to a place where it is no longer just about glass, but about artists who use glass in their process to tell stories, discuss events, narrate biographies and make social statements.
The exhibition includes work by Jeanne Brennan, Robin Cass, Mel George, Michael Janis, Carmen Lozar, Syl Mathis, Liz and Lindsey Mears, Michael Rogers, Alison Sigethy and Tim Tate.
An opening reception for the artists, free and open to the public, will be held on Friday, April 14, from 6pm - 9pm as part of the Bethesda Art Walk.
An artists' talk, sponsored by the James Renwick Alliance will take place at the gallery on Saturday, May 20, 2006 at 2PM. The talk is free and open to the public and will also offer an opportunity to learn more about the Renwick Alliance.
In the below piece, titled "Lost" by Carmen Lozar, a damsel in some distress, gently vomits from a pier.
And go to the Art League's opening for their International Landscape Show. That opening is today, Sunday from 2-4PM. Juror Timothy App will also announce the award winners for that show.
"Human Containers" at the Target Gallery will be having an opening reception and talk by the juror Twylene Moyer (managing editor of Sculpture magazine) today from 4-6 PM. Tim Tate, Alison Sigethy and Mark Jenkins are among the local artists who will have works on display there. All together there are 20 artists from the US and Canada in the exhibition.
Both galleries are on the ground floor of the Torpedo Factory in Old Town Alexandria.
See ya there!
Friday, August 05, 2005
Sunday openings
"Human Containers" at Target Gallery in Alexandria is having an opening reception and talk by the juror Twylene Moyer (managing editor of Sculpture magazine) this Sunday from 4-6 PM. Tim Tate, Alison Sigethy and Mark Jenkins are among the local artists who will have works on display there. All together there are 20 artists from the US and Canada in the exhibition.
Before you get there, you can also walk across the hall and visit the Art League's opening for their International Landscape Show. That opening is Sunday from 2-4PM.
Both galleries are on the ground floor of the Torpedo Factory in Old Town Alexandria.
Thursday, May 12, 2005
Compelled by Content
Following two sold out solo shows (one in Georgetown and one in Bethesda), we asked Tim Tate to curate a group show for us.
We discussed having a show that would fit in with our galleries' focus and goals, and thus the show would have to avoid the highly decorative vision most often associated with fine art glass: the vessel.
Because Tate's own work is driven by his experiences, such as being HIV positive, his mother's death, etc., he has been able (and very successfully I might add) to cross an interesting juncture in the world of fine art: away from the decorative vessel and well within the context-driven camps of fine art.
And thus tomorrow evening we will open Compelled by Content, an exhibition curated by Tate and featuring 13 artists who use glass as the vehicle to express ideas, narratives, issues and thoughts, rather than to decorate. They are: Diane Cabe, Brent Coles, Michael Janis, Allegra Marquart, Syl Mathis, Elizabeth Mears, Turi McKinley, Marc Petrovic, Ross Richmond, Alison Sigethy, Tim Tate, Erwin Timmers and Lea Topping.
The premise behind this exhibition has already caused some stir (and every single one of Tate's pieces have already sold - all of them to a very influential local art collector - before the exhibition even opened).
This is the original classified announcement listing about the exhibition and subsequent comments: Original Posting, which then jumped to main board listing for 9 pages: Main Board Comments, then spawned a parody of the main board listing for two pages: Parody Listing, and the current listing on the topic:Current Listing.
It is surprising and good to see such debate in the artists who feed the genre; it has already, in a sense, proven the focus and theme of this show. In the preface for a book just published on this exhibition I wrote:
"Alfred Stieglitz has often been credited with dragging photography into the realm of the fine arts, and I think that now the time is ripe for courageous contemporary artists to once and for all bring glass out of the realm of craft and into the rarified world of fine art.
And like the many other genres of art that we automatically accept as "fine art," without questions of craft or segregation to "glass only galleries," content is one of the ideal concepts that empower art beyond technical skill and visual beauty. It is through content that today's artists working this demanding media are dragging glass into the realm of the fine arts.
About time."
The opening reception to meet all the artists is tomorrow, Friday the 13th, from 6-9PM as part of the Bethesda Art Walk. We're also working to have this exhibition travel to a Baltimore, MD venue and to a Miami, Florida venue.
See ya there!
Saturday, January 15, 2005
AOM Top Artists Opening
Yesterday the WaPo gave the three-gallery Top 10 AOM Artists exhibitions their Hot Pick of the Week and last night we had part two of the three-opening night sequence.
I've discussed this before, but there's an interesting phenomenom that I've noticed vis-a-vis press coverage of gallery shows: It is clear to me that we seem to get a lot more people show up to the gallery based on a small Hot Pick mention than a full review.
And last night was huge!
We actually ran out of Sangria within the first hour (ten gallons of the stuff was consumed in an hour!) and had to make an emergency liquor store run, which in the Soviet Socialist Republic of Montgomery County, is not a trivial thing to find at 7PM on a Friday night. Anyway, we ended up running through 20 gallons of the stuff by the time we ended the opening night festivities.
Our Bethesda show featured some of the work previously exhibited by the invited artists, as well as new work such as a couple of terrific new plastic men sculptures by Mark Jenkins (as well as four new pubic hair tapestries), several new sculptures by Alison Sigethy, new glass sculptures by Michael Janis and Tim Tate, and a new installation by Ira Tattelman.
So we've re-shuffled our 2005 schedule a little bit and invited the following artists, and those who accept will be included in a dual gallery show at Fraser Gallery Georgetown and Fraser Gallery Bethesda concurrently during January 2005.
Separately from this exhibition, I am working with a few other commercial galleries that have stepped forward and volunteered their spaces, including the Anne C. Fisher Gallery, the new galleryconnect and Gallery Neptune to try to work out concurrent exhibitions of the "final" Artomatic Top Ten List, which will be compiled mathematically from all the lists that I have been getting from curators, critics and art dealers.
These other galleries have expressed interest in hosting a gallery show for the Artomatic artists listed in various Top Ten Lists here and as a result of my observations to the effect of the interesting coalescing of names from the various lists.
Any other commercial galleries, non-profits or art venues interested in this future AOM follow-up event, email me.
Saturday, November 20, 2004
Claudia Rousseau's Artomatic Top Picks List
Dr. Claudia Rousseau is the art critic for the Gazette newspapers and while she lived in Latin America she was also one of the most recognized and respected Latin American newspaper art critics.
Dr. Rousseau visited Art-O-Matic and has the following list of her top picks:
Catriona Fraser, Director and the hardworking co-owner of our two Fraser Galleries walked Art-O-Matic a few days ago and the below list reflects her top ten picks:
The real reason that most art critics hate Artomatic is that they get visual overload very quickly. After all, how does a writer cover an arts extravaganza of the size of Artomatic once the eyes and mind become numb after the 200th artist, or the 400th or the 600th?
Artomatic has returned to the Greater Washington, DC region. It opened in May and runs through mid June.
By freeling accepting anywhere from 600 - 1,000 painters, sculptors, printmakers, actors, musicians and bartenders and then finding an empty building and filling it with artwork, stages, theatres, parties, lectures and controversy, the AOM model has managed to incite the dislike of most art critics and the love and passion of thousands of artists and art lovers.
They also create the Greater Washington DC’s uber arts event of the year – it happens irregularly every couple of years or so. About 40,000 people will visit the event.
As an art critic, I once started a review of a past AOM by complaining how much my feet hurt after my 5th or 6th visit to the show, in what at the time was a futile attempt to gather as much visual information as possible in order to write a fair review of the artwork and artists.
No one can do that.
Over the years that I have visited past Artomatics (and I have seen them all) I have discovered that it is impossible to see everything and to be fair about anyone; the sheer size and evolving nature of the show itself makes sure of the impossibility of this task. In fact, I think that I may have missed a whole floor so far.
We know that art critics tend to savage Artomatic; they demand a curatorial hand; they want order; they want “bad” art out and only “high art” in; and year after year, they all miss the point!
AOM is not just about the artwork, it is about the artistic energy that it radiates, it is about community, it is about a free for all, it is about controversy, it is above all, about art of all ranges and tastes and quality.
The current AOM is at a gorgeous location at the Capitol Plaza I building at 1200 First Street, NE in DC. There are seven, maybe eight, floors of artwork all the way up to the 11th floor, in many mini galleries with spectacular views of the city. The main impression at this year's AOM: space.
Plenty of space yields a really decent opportunity to display your work well, and one interesting maturity factor in this AOM is how well many artists are displaying their work. On the other side, all the space also yields a significant number of really bad "installations" with all sorts of furniture and stuff.
Each AOM has produced amazing artistic discoveries for art lovers, art collectors and dealers. People like Tim Tate, Frank Warren, Kathryn Cornelius, the Dumbacher Brothers, etc., all showed at AOM; some still do.
And so part of the fun is “discovering” who will be the 2008 AOM emerging art star. In that spirit I will ignore all the well-known names who are exhibiting this year at AOM and try to find artists whose work is new or little known to me. In this review I will create a sort of short list based on two trips; on my third trip I will finalize my initial picks for emerging art stardom.
On the 4th floor I quite liked the work of Amanda Engels, who is showing a series of portraits that work well in capturing a sense of time and presence about the subject. I also liked Genna Gurvich’s painterly and almost surreal work, especially her innovative and intelligent take on the often visited Campbell’s soup can. My key artist on that floor is Cristina Montejo, whose quirky and sexy drawings stand to draw attention from collectors. Keep an eye on Montejo, and buy some of this artwork now.
On the 5th floor I liked the severe abstract paintings of Matthew Langley and on the 6th floor Holly Burns’ pen and ink drawings on napkins are a treasure trove for beginning art collectors. They are fresh and young but also superbly done and I bet that we’ll hear about this artist again and again; she seems perfect for Curator's Office in DC.
I also like Michelle Chin’s over simplified bug cut-outs and Nancy Donnelly’s glass dresses. The latter are elegant, simple pieces that should attract a gallerist or two to them.
Shannon McCarty’s inventive set of burned iron marks reveal the surprising achievement of minimalism when employed smartly. Also minimalist are the hi tech (looking) works by Paul So. Also visit Keith Thomas on that floor.
The 7th floor is a treasure trove of good artists amongst the masses. Nana Bagdavadze is somewhat channeling Amy Lin to the third dimension as she takes the small circle to an illusion of three-D. Teague Clare’s small but very cool pieces are also quite good as are Juan del Alamo photographic test strips. Both these artists also know how important presentation is and have done well in maximizing their space while giving it a clean look. Also visit Damien Gill’s elegant digital works.
I know Rania Hassan’s works, but in this AOM she re-invents herself in a very elegant installation that goes from 2D to 3D right before our eyes. It is sophisticated and elegant, and a clear indication of the level of maturity that AOM has achieved over the years.
Dale Hunt’s monster art is also fresh and reflects a clear AOM trend for young, hip, simple art that is deceptively complex beneath the first visual impression. There is a lot of this "young art" in AOM this year, as well as a lot of tattoo art. Also visit Brad Taylor and see what an artist can do with those tabs in beer and soda cans.
The 8th floor brings us Michael Auger’s day glow mini paintings – like Dale Hunt, this artist fits into that young, smart art that is both attractive, simple and yet appealing to the visual senses; at $35 for an original, they’re also a helluva good deal.
The DC area is a Mecca for world class glass and its leader in bringing glass to a higher place and away from the craft world. David D’Orio’s works join that new emerging movement and are very good. I also liked the fresh skill in Todd Gardner’s portraits. This floor also brings you Matt Sesow and Alison Sigethy.
The 9th opens with the very cool mini photos by Erin Antognoli, really good work by Jeanette Herrera and Barbara Johnson-Grener.
Also Kim Reyes’ ceramic wall figures caught my eyes as a good find for sculpture lovers. On this floor you’ll also find Andrew Wodzianski and Kirk Waldroff (OK, OK… so I know them).
The 10th floor has the key find for AOM. And it is not a single artist but a highly sophisticated multi-artist exhibition titled “Coincide.” This is the AOM find of the year.
If you are a harsh critic of AOM’s free for all art approach, and don’t want to look at the work of 800 artists, just drive up to AOM, go to the 10th floor and look at the work of the 17 artists in “Coincide.”
Using Star Trek technology, we can teleport this entire massive contemporary ceramic art installation to any gallery or museum in the world and no one would blink an eye. It is a triumph of severe presentation and talented artists, and it is also a giant leap forward in the maturation process of AOM itself.
These are skilled, innovative, ordained ceramic artists, whose work is as far from “amateur” – the usual adjective applied wholesale to AOM – as Warp 9 is far from 55 MPH.
Big names like Laurel Lukaszewski, who shows locally at Project 4 Gallery (one of the best, fresh new galleries in DC) and nationally at other various venues are complemented by (new to me) artists like Leila Holtsman (whose piece I hereby select as the best single work of art in AOM and should be immediately picked up by Habatat Gallery), Novie Trump, Ani Kasten, Kate Hardy (gorgeously displayed) and others in this spectacular group.
Leila Holtsman at AOM
Also on that floor I quite liked the brilliantly yellow installation work by Bryan Rojsuontikul, who joins the tradition of artists working with common materials (in this case yellow and silver Duck tape) to deliver breathtaking minimalist works of art. Also check out Alexandra Zealand.
On the 11th floor visit Krissy Downing and Gregory Ferrand and marvel at Veronica Szalus floor sculpture of painted ball objects. Also on this floor be prepared to be quite taken by Tracy Lee’s familial installation of family memorabilia (and I just broke my rule again, since I know Lee’s work well, but this installation doesn’t fit with her previous set of photographs). Since I broke that rule, also on this floor, super sexy abstract work by Pat Goslee and representational by Candace Keegan.
If you want a quick video walkthrough AOM, check out the video below. The music has been married to this video on purpose from the perspective of AOM dealing with art critics. The art that pops up when Lennon first sings "they're going to crucify me" is bordering on being one of the art world's oddest coincidences, since I didn't time the music to video to pre-arrange for that art to pop up at that time... it is worth viewing the video just for that!
AOM is free and open to the public and runs through June 15. All the info that you need is online at www.artomatic.org.
And thus tomorrow evening we will open 
It is surprising and good to see such debate in the artists who feed the genre; it has already, in a sense, proven the focus and theme of this show. In the preface for a book just published on this exhibition I wrote:
Yesterday the 
