The December issue of Art News magazine will have a city focus on Washington, DC.

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The House-Senate 2004 Interior Appropriations conference committee has agreed to increase the budget of the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) -- raising the budget for the nation's leading annual funder of the arts to $122.5 million.

Current grant deadlines have passed, but artists can apply for the next cycle of grants here.

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The inaugural issue of artUS, a new national art magazine is currently in distribution.

According to an email from Paul Foss, the magazine's publisher, (who also publishes artext magazine) "artUS offers the unique opportunity to obtain the most current and exhaustive information regarding the U.S. exhibition scene, including commercial galleries, museums, and nonprofit spaces and events. No other arts publication in the U.S. today regularly offers such an extensive range of reviews and listings in the context of groundbreaking critical debate from some of the country's most influential writers, artists, and art critics."

I've asked them who will be covering DC area galleries. See my listing of DC area art critics here.

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The Washington Printmakers Gallery, founded in 1985 and located at 1732 Connecticut Avenue, NW, Washington, DC, is in the process of reviewing portfolios for membership.

Founded in 1985, the gallery includes 35 member artists working in all printmaking media, including etching, lithography, collagraph, screenprint, woodcut, linocut, monotype, monoprint and mixed media. Dues are $85 a month, with an initial non-refundable fee of $250. Artists hang a framed piece each month, have 12 works in the bins and 17 in flatfiles at all times.

Each artist has the opportunity of a solo show every 2-1/2 to 3 years. Portfolios are reviewed every other month and should include one framed print, 6 unmatted unframed works, a resume and artist statement (optional). Call Director Jen Watson at 202.332.7757 for more information.

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Over 25,000 photographers, including 36 Pulitzer Prize winners, submitted digital images for this project.

On Fridays, the Post publishes the Weekend section, and today Michael O'Sullivan looks at Colby Caldwell's photography exhibition currently at Georgetown's Hemphill Fine Arts gallery.

Since I first saw his work several years ago, I have followed Caldwell's development as a photographer who is not only interested in just photography, but also in being an innovator of the genre - both a "technical" and "creative" innovator.

In my opinion this combination of skills is what makes Caldwell's work important and fun to follow. Don't get me wrong, it's not just: What is he going to do next? How is he going to surprise us? - that would be gimmick rather than skill and talent - but it is the pleasurable event of seeing what can almost be described as banal images, elevated to a level of beauty and interest beyond their initial creation.

Note to the future curators of the next Whitney Biennial: Colby Caldwell.

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One of the things that I want to do with this BLOG is to encourage people who want to say something about our area's visual arts, our artists and everything else associated with that and the visual arts in general, to email me and I'll put it here (editing rights reserved) whenever possible.

And photographer and video artist Darin Boville (and also one of the nine finalists on this year's Trawick Prize) breaks the ice with some very interesting comments and thoughts fueled by the current issue of Art in America magazine. Darin's point is about substance in the current state of writing in these magazines. He notes that:

"[In the current issue] you can find an article on the work of [Mark] Lombardi which I might suggest was an Alan Sokal-style hoax if I wasn't convinced that it is impossible to pull off a Sokal-style hoax in the art world.

Art world writing is already so obviously void of substance that a hoax would be pointless.

In this case, we learn in a pull quote from the article that "With their large scale and epic cast of characters, Lombardi's drawings can call to mind the grand, turbulent history paintings of the 19th century."

Jaw dropping stupidity of a quote.

Even the editors where embarrassed by that one -- in the text itself that line does not appear but has been instead changed to "With their marriage of branching patterns and mechanical flowcharts, Lombardi's drawings call to mind a host of visual forms, including maps, mandalas, and genealogical charts."

Have artists figured out yet why no one outside the art world takes them seriously?

And then there are the grade school errors. The article says that Bush made "100% profit" on the sale of his stock which is another way of saying that he doubled his money. That certainly is the wrong number!

Then there is the art writer WAY out of her depth. While discussing the Bush work she seem oblivious of the fact that Bush was the CEO of Spectrum 7 when Harken bought it and when Bahrain granted the little company offshore drilling rights (during Daddy's presidency). It only takes five minutes on the Internet.

And then the faults in art scholarship. Here we have an artist who is interested in political and business scandals and who maps them out in semi-scientific charts linking the previously unseen participants together.

This artist came of age in the early 1970's and graduated with an MFA in 1974. It seems to me that Hans Haacke's pieces detailing the connections in the real estate market in NYC should have at least been mentioned, if not cited as the dominant art precedent and direct influence.

On and on and on.

Alas... "

Comments on Darin's thoughts welcomed.

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A few days ago I complained that WETA's Around Town did not devote enough time to the visual arts in its skimpy 30 minutes.

And today I received a very nice email from Valerie Bampoe, WETA's Audience Services Coordinator, to let me know that she had brought up my concerns to the producers of AT.

She also welcomed additional concerns be sent directly to her at vbampoe@weta.com or call her at (703) 998-2615.

Perfect opportunity for those who agree with me to write or call WETA and tell them that "Around Town" should give the visual arts equal time with theatre and music and movies, and give Bill Dunlap a few more on-air minutes to talk about our visual artists and galleries and museums and have the panel spend less times on national movies that a dozen other TV shows are already discussing.

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Touchstone Gallery, a very good artist co-op on 7th Street, will be jurying for new members on Nov. 19. Interested artists looking for gallery membership should call the Gallery for information at 202/347-2787.

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Robert Hughes, truly one of the world's great art critics/historians, will be at the Lisner Auditorium on November 18 discussing his new book on Goya. Lecture starts at 6:30 and there will be a book signing at the end of the program.

I haven't read the book yet (but will) and wonder how it deals (if at all) with the issue of Goya's Black Paintings and the controversy over their authenticity brought about by Juan Jose Junquera, a professor of art history at Complutense University in Madrid.

Ionarts continues the "Gopnik and the Corcoran" discussion with some very good points.

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Thusdays is galleries' day at the Post and today Jessica Dawson reviews "Civic Endurance" at Conner Contemporary Art - this is the same great show that was reviewed on Oct. 24 by Michael O'Sullivan and by Blake Gopnik on October 19. Leigh Conner emails me to let me know that this superb show has been extended until November 29, 2003. You can see the images online here. Today the show was also reviewed by Glenn Dixon in the Express and by Lou Jacobson in the Washington City Paper.

Jessica also reviews a group show of Italian artists at the new Capricorno Gallery. Both galleries are in the Dupont Circle area, which will have extended hours tomorrow from 6-8 PM.

Capricorno appears to be Washington's first international gallery, with branches in Capri, London and now DC. Welcome!

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PBS' American Experience is currently researching the background to do a segment on Cuban dictator Fidel Castro, and I think that they may use this piece that I wrote a few years ago.

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Email from a Canadian reader claims that if we really want to see some fireworks between Gopnik and the Corcoran, then the Corcoran should bring a solo of Marcel Dzama to DC.

I have received about a dozen emails on this "Blake vs. Corcoran" subject so far, which to me shows that there is a lot of interest and two clear "camps" on this issue.

Regardless of how one feels about the writings of a critic, (any critic, not just Gopnik), the bottom line is that the critic has a right to express his or her opinion on their area of expertise. And the readers have a right to disagree with it - even if the reader is the Director of a Museum.

Gopnik is an intelligent and eloquent writer, and he also clearly has galvanized ideas and notions as to what constitutes good contemporary art. And he clearly also has people who agree with him, and many who disagree - that disagreement is good for art!

What do I think? My opinion is also very subjective, and colored by my own art prejudices, opinions and background. For the record: On J. Seward Johnson's "art" Gopnik and I generally agree. And yet as Ionarts points out and lists, there are some writers who actually liked this show. And if you want, you too can write your own review of the show in the Post's Website.

Blake Gopnik delivered his "Long Live Realism - Realism is Dead" lecture at the Corcoran (of all places) when he first arrived here from Canada. It was there that he first tipped his hand about his personal beliefs of what he considers "good art."

And my reaction to his lecture was that genres like painting, sculpture and photography are just not in his vocabulary for what is "good art." He has shown this many times since in his reviews.

I also understood that in Blake's view of the world, painting is dead, and sculpture is dead, and photography (except "manipulated photography") is also dead.

When someone in the audience asked him what should contemporary artists do, I recall that his response was "video and manipulated photography." A well-known curator who was sitting next to me in the Corcoran's Frances & Armand Hammer Auditorium noted sarcastically that "Blake doesn't like pictures."

And when forced by another audience member to pick a contemporary painter that he liked, he put up some slides of Lisa Yuskavage and we were all wondering if he was pulling our leg, especially since he had been (unfairly in my opinion) using slides of Science Fiction illustrator Boris Vallejo as a sample of all that is wrong with contemporary realism.

So knowing that, when I read Blake Gopnik, I do so with an understanding of how what he believes is "good art" colors everything that he writes -- just as what I believe is "good art" colors everything that I say and do about art, and what I believed 20 years ago is in some cases radically different from what I think now.

And that's OK, and in an ideal world, the Post would have a second critical voice to offer us another opinion (see my Oct 25 posting).

Did Blake go over the line in writing that the Corcoran "has tumbled all the way from nobody to laughingstock"? Probably.

And yet, in an odd way I think that it is healthy for a critic to take direct shots at a major museum, causing all this discussion and disagreements and dialogue as a result. Blake's attack on the Corcoran pales in comparison to what the New York press heaves at museums like the Whitney, and what the British press vomits upon practically every visual art museum in the UK.

And meanwhile, Seward's weird exhibition has doubled the Corcoran's attendance numbers. And Gopnik's review, which has been echoed worldwide, was the catalyst for much of this success.

David Levy should send Blake a thank you note and schedule Marcel Dzama the next time attendance begins to dip.

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Next Friday is the first Friday of the month, and thus the usual gallery openings and extended hours by the Dupont Circle Galleries from 6-8 PM.

A Friday later, the second Friday of the month, is gallery openings and extended hours by the Bethesda Galleries from 6-10 PM. A free shuttle bus is part of the Artwalk.

A week later, but on Thursday, the third Thursday of every month, the Seventh Street Galleries have openings and extended hours from 6-8 PM.

And a day later, on the third Friday of every month, the Canal Square Galleries in Georgetown host their new show openings from 6-9 PM, catered by the Sea Catch Restaurant.

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The "feud" between the Post's Blake Gopnik and the Corcoran goes national as ArtsJournal picks up the Washingtonian story discussed here yesterday.

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Is there a personal "feud" between the Washington Post's chief art critic Blake Gopnik and the Corcoran?

Washingtonian magazine usually has very limited visual arts coverage, and it has always been a mystery to me why they do such a good job of reviewing books, music, restaurants and theatre and yet (with some rare exceptions) ignore our museums and galleries and artists.

However, the current November issue has a very interesting article by Henry Jaffe, who writes a column titled Post Watch.

This month's column is titled Too Much Poison in Art Critic’s Pen? and it's all about the "feud" between the Washington Post's chief art critic Blake Gopnik and the Corcoran.

Washingtonian doesn't archive their articles, so go buy the magazine or read it online, as it will be gone next month.

Jaffe writes that “A lot of people are concerned about the state of art criticism at the Post,” says one museum official, echoing the view of others. None would speak on the record. “He [Gopnik] seems to be very personal. It’s always about his perspective rather than a broader, critical look at the subject.”

And Corcoran director Davy Levy is quoted as calling "Gopnik’s review “unethical” and says the critic often displays “immodest immaturity” in his reviews."

Jaffee also writes that "Levy and the Corcoran were especially steamed that Gopnik ended his review with a dig at the museum, whose “reputation has slipped badly over the last few years.”

Says Levy: “A couple of people Blake talks to don’t appreciate what we do.”

Says Gopnik: “I could get 20 quotes off the record and five on from people who agree with me.” The Corcoran has exhibited “a pattern of terrible shows.”

I am curious as to what people think about this issue. Please email me with your thoughts on this subject.

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I know it's silly, but it bugs me that this TV movie critic has a news segment titled Arch on the Arts, when it should really be called "Arch on the Movies" or perhaps "Arch on the Performing Arts."

Arch Campbell, whom I've met a couple of times, is a very nice guy and a terrific movie reviewer. But he certainly does not cover the "arts."

Wouldn't it be nice if one of our local TV stations news programs dedicated just thirty seconds a week on a gallery opening, or a museum show?

And don't even get me started on WETA's Around Town, which is by far the best (and really the only) DC-centric cultural TV show around. But AT also has a very strong focus on movies and theatre, and of all the critics on AT's Panel, the visual art critic (Bill Dunlap) certainly gets the least amount of air time.

Maybe the addition of Janis Goodman means that Around Town will attempt to expand its visual arts coverage.

In response to my Oct 31 entry complaining about the lack of visual arts coverage by WAMU's Metro Connection, I've received a very nice email from David Furst, who is the show's host, who promises that he'll "try to make sure our coverage of the arts is as wide ranging as possible in the future."

David also passes that Arts Editor Peter Fay is on the show this week and Fay will be talking about two visual arts events going on right now. Peter will be discussing The Himalayas at the Arthur M Sackler Gallery and Jim Sanborn's "Critical Assembly" at the Corcoran.

My thanks to David for his quick response and we'll be listening.

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Scottish artist Douglas Gordon, winner of the 1996 Turner Prize, and prizewinner at the 1997 Venice Biennale comes to Washington when his first American retrospective makes a stop at the Smithsonian's Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden beginning Feb. 12, 2004 and continuing through May 9, 2004.

The Hirshhorn is the final venue for this internationally-touring exhibition organized by LA's Museum of Contemporary Art.

Here's a review of the LA show which gives us a preview of what's coming.