Photographer Danny Conant has an interesting comment and good point in regards to my posting of the first of ten steps to build the DC art "buzz" into a roar:

"Read with interest your university idea. I think would be a great step but I can see difficult to pull off with each place jealously guarding its little kingdom. What about a toe in the water first year if maybe 3 universities could agree to try something like this with local artists and if successful the next year others would want to join in."

The fun-to-read end of year's "top ten lists" are out from our local newspapers' art critics. This is always a difficult exercise for any writer.

First, please realize that an art critic must first start by visiting a dozen or more shows each month, culled from the hundreds of invitations to new shows that he/she receives. Why? because in order to make a good visual arts critic, the visual senses must be offered a lot of choice so that blinders and tunnel-vision can be defeated.

Thus to make an honest list, a reputable art critic in our area would personally have to see 120-200 gallery and museum shows a year, and then pick ten at the end of the year as his/her opinion of what he/she liked the best in that year. It's also fun to see where the different critics agree, and where they disagree, as art opinions are one of the most personal and subjective issues in writing. But even though some of them work for some of the top members of what I call the Fake News Industrial Complex (look up Eisenhower for the inspiration), these are all interesting reads:

Louis Jacobson, who reviews photography and other art shows (both museums and galleries) for the WCP (as well as some other national art magazines), has his Top Ten Photography Shows listed here.

The WCP's Glenn Dixon, who reviews mostly museum shows and a handful of gallery shows a year, as well as movies, music and books, and so on and so on, has his very interesting Top Ten List here.

And Michael O'Sullivan, who reviews both museums and galleries for the Washington Post each Friday in the Weekend section, has his Top Ten List here, with a little mix of out-of-town shows.

My top ten list of Washington shows (sans ours of course):

1. "Gerhard Richter: Forty Years of Painting" at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden. A huge wake-up slap in the face to asleep-at-the-wheel critics and curators who keep trying to believe that painting is dead.

2. "Picasso: The Cubist Portraits of Fernande Olivier," at the National Gallery of Art. Artists will paint and draw whatever or whoever is around them. A spectacular view of one of "his" women by the greatest artist of modern times.

3. "Tobacco: Architectural Photographs by Maxwell MacKenzie," at the American Institute of Architects. MacKenzie's landscape photography is to the genre what Richter is to painting (disclaimer: Max also shows with us, no objectivity here).

4. "Census 03" at the Corcoran. This show had some holes, but it's important for the Corcoran to keep an eye on the local art scene. But for that to happen well, their curators must get out of their offices and visit studios and show up at some galleries to see some shows on a regular basis. How about a "Census 04" ?

5. "The 47th Corcoran Biennial" at the Corcoran. Jonathan Binstock's first Biennial was much maligned in the press, but I think that it accomplished a couple of important things: (a) it brought some well-known artists to Washington for the first time (and ahead of other museums), and (b) it included some local talent in it.

6. "Cuba Now!" at the Sumner School Museum and Archives. Although Washington, DC's own half-Cuban photographer Nestor Hernandez stole this show with his brilliant Cuban street photography, this show was nonetheless one of the best among a deluge of Cuba-related shows in our area in 2003.

7. "Yuriko Yamaguchi" at Numark Gallery. The minimalism of Yamaguchi's beautiful organic sculptures reflect what the true power of this abused term truly can be.

8. "Joseph Mills: Inner City," at the Corcoran Gallery of Art. The obsessive photographic vision of a Washington, DC street photographer with an uncanny ability to deliver the unusual from the most common of subjects.

9. Mark Bennett at Conner Contemporary. According to the Visual Artists Rights Act of 1996, this stuff is not even supposed to be art, but they are wrong, and I found it unexplicably attractive and intelligent.

10. James McNeill Whistler at the Freer Gallery of Art. Presented for the first time ever as Whistler intended the art to be seen. A beautiful little show seen in a new (old) light.

Merry Xmas!
As promised, the first one of ten steps (in no particular order or ranking) to kindle the District/Maryland/Virginia (DMV) art "buzz" into a roar:
Number 10
The Universities
There are several important, major universities in and around the DMV area. In most cases each is working, as most universities do, their own, individual visual arts exhibition program, which is normally mix of exhibitions by their students, faculty and invited artists.
Almost without exception there is very little coordination between the different venues, which in some cases boast some of the nicest exhibition spaces in town. This is not unusual, as I imagine that in most cities this is also the same case, as the focus of the university gallery is in fact the university.
And here is where we can make a major change, and use the extraordinary resources afforded to our area by these venues, and their academic standing, to help Washington expand its worldwide visual art standing.
What we need to happen is for one of the local university art school chairs, or college deans, or even university gallery directors, to take the initiative to start coordinating a joint effort to create one annual combined, joint exhibition that synchronizes a focused exhibition that is spread throughout the Greater Washington area.
Imagine a national survey of art, with a good title and perhaps even a good, donated chunk of money as a prize. Say we call it “The Capital Art Prize” (OK, OK we’ll have to work on the title) and because good ideas sometimes attract funding, maybe we can convince a major local company like Lockheed Martin or AOL or Booze Allen and Hamilton, or (be still my beating heart), The Washington Post, to help fund it on an annual basis.
This synchronized event can be modeled somewhat on what the Whitney does, but better. The Whitney Biennial’s Achilles heel is its over-reliance on hired curators. Unless an artist lives and works in NYC, LA or SF or is already in the local radar of one of the curators for that particular year, chances are slim to none that the artist will come to the attention of those Biennial curators. Hence great art and potentially great artists may be ignored.
In addition to the use of invited curators, also imagine that this event puts forth a national call for artists, independent and museum curators, schools, art organizations and galleries to submit works for consideration. Send us your slides, CD ROMS and photographs (and a self addressed, stamped envelope for their return).
Anyone can submit and in a fair selection process, since art is truly in the eyes (and agenda) of the beholder, anyone can be selected to exhibit. A truly American concept for a national American art survey that will leave the Whitney and other continental Biennials in the dust.
And because the exhibition venues are spread around the capital area region, in galleries at Georgetown, George Mason, George Washington, American, Catholic, Howard, University of Maryland, Montgomery Community College, Northern Virginia Community College, and the many others I am sure to be forgetting momentarily, we could put up one of the largest, most diverse, and influential American art surveys in the nation.
This will take a lot of work to set up initially, as one key university person needs to take the lead and emerge from the pack of largely unknown, anonymous group of academics currently running our area’s university art programs. On the other hand, this could be an exhibition that can and will put names and faces on the international art world map, much like the Whitney Biennial sometimes elevates its curators a notch above the rest
Some universities will resist, as the easiest thing to do is to do things as they have always been done, and not really create “new” work. But given that a strong leader among our academic community emerges and takes the lead for this idea, then even if we start with a set of four or five venues, in a joint, coordinated effort, others will follow.
This will not be an easy job to do, and as it grows, so will the burocracy around it. But starting it up will be the hardest part, and as momentum grows, things will become easier. Whoever, if anyone, takes this idea and runs with it, will face many huge obstacles and many negative people. He or she will need to convince other university/college gallery directors to participate. They in turn, will have to convince their superiors, who will, in turn have to approve (and perhaps help kick-start the funding) the joint project.
This leader will also have to coordinate the approach to get a local giant to fund this effort, but I suspect that once he has aligned a few colleges and universities, this may become easier (it’s never easy) as the “buzz” and need for the event develops.
This is all a lot of work, and initially, until a burocracy is established around the annual event, many, many volunteers will be needed. I hope that some of these can be drawn from the school’s student body, alumni who are artists, and other local artists, much like Art-O-Matic draws from the collective muscle of our area’s significant artist population.
Our area universities and colleges already have significant media resources at their disposal, to help spread the word. They run school newspapers, radio stations, etc. and also provide a constant flow of new blood to our major mainstream media.
The goal (or perhaps “the dream”) would be a national level survey of art, which may look, review and/or jury the work of maybe 50,000 artists around the nation, and select perhaps 100 each year, showcase their work around a dozen academic galleries, and award a $100,000 cash award as the Capital Art Prize, plus various other awards (Emerging Artist, Young Artist, etc.). Art of a nature and scale that will attract visitors to the university galleries, attention to our area, piss some people off, excite others, create interest, discussion and buzz around Washington and our art scene.
There’s nothing more empowering than an idea whose time has come.

Tomorrow I will post the first of my ten step plan to help make the Washington art "buzz" into a roar. Suggestions and ideas are still being welcomed.

Opportunity for Photographers:

Deadline Jan. 12, 2004 - "Regional Juried Photography Exhibition" - Open to all residents of MD, DC, DE, PA, VA, & WV. All photographic work accepted, including digital and alternative processes. $25/4 slides, $5/each additional slide. Washington Gallery of Photography. Show February 13-March 7, 2004. Acceptance notification by January 15, 2004. All photographs judged from slides. Cash prizes and exhibition opportunities for first, second and third place winners. For entry form, see www.wsp-photo.com, or send SASE to Washington Gallery of Photography, 4850 Rugby Avenue, Bethesda, MD 20814. Tel: 301.654.1998. E-mail: wspinfo@aol.com

and also...

William F. Stapp, who served as the National Portrait Gallery's first curator of photographs (1976-1991) and is now an independent curator and consultant will jury the 2004 Bethesda International Photography Competition. Most recently he curated the traveling exhibition "Portrait of the Art World: A Century of ARTnews Photographs."

The Bethesda International Photography Competition is our worldwide annual call for photographers. Nearly $1500 is cash prizes are awarded as well as a solo exhibition in our Georgetown gallery for the Best of Show winner. The exhibition will take place in our Bethesda Gallery from March 12 through April 7, 2004.

The 2003 juror was Philip Brookman, Curator of Photography and Media Arts at the Corcoran Gallery of Art. The 2003 Best of Show winner was Bay Area photographer Hugh Shurley, who will have a solo exhibit in our Georgetown space in 2004.

According to the Guardian, who is a member in good standing of what I call the "Fake News Industrial Complex", the exhibition of Victorian art from the collection of Andrew Lloyd-Webber at the Royal Academy has been one of the most successful in the past decade, and yet it has been "disemboweled" by the critics. One wrote: "Really useless. Why can't the man keep his private collection of saccharine Victorian art private?"

I used to think that Victorian art was saccharine until I read this incredible, eye-opening book by Bram Dijkstra. It is titled Idols of Perversity: Fantasies of Feminine Evil in Fin-De-Siecle Culture and it offers a provocative analysis of the unprecedented eruption of misogyny at the turn of the 20th century in the works of the key artists of the age, including most Victorians. Never again will one see most Victorian paintings as "saccharine" once you read this book.

Not much time today - between Xmas shopping, plus a newspaper deadline for a column, plus two magazine deadlines that have passed (but editors keep coming back with "add-ons") I have been super-busy.

Don't miss Blake Gopnik's interesting and touching article on the subject of Christmas.

I know that we tend to put Blake under the microscope for everything that he writes, and this is a warm and fuzzy piece - and yet I find these lines in the article quite interesting:

"My Christmas-crazy family refuses to play carols written after 1900; our favorites predate the Enlightenment."

And on Friday, Michael O'Sullivan had an excellent review of Ledelle Moe's room-size "Thrust" sculpture in the Gallery at Flashpoint at 916 G St. NW. That show goes through January 3, 2004.

The Guardian has its second Best of British BLOGs annual award. The winners are listed here.

Rob Gardiner at nyclondon.com won for best use of photography. The best written award went to a London call girl.

The current issue of the Washington City Paper has a piece on page 48 by Dave Jamieson titled "Photo Opportunity" that raises (at least in my mind) some uncomfortable issues about copyright and art and more importantly, the lack of clarity in the law as to what constitutes copyright infringement in the visual arts.

The piece discusses "a controversial painting method" employed by artist Barbara Beatty, currently on exhibit at Foundry Gallery in the Dupont Circle area. Beatty paints from photographs, which is neither controversial or new.

But according to the article, Beatty "pores over the Washington Post and the Washington Times each morning" essentially searching for photos that she then uses as the basis to create paintings. I don't know enough about the law to figure out if this would be or could be interpreted as walking on copyright's thin ice, as the variables are too many, but it does bring up the point that artists should always be aware of what copyright means in the visual arts.

There is also a great article on the subject in the current December issue of Art Calendar Magazine. This monthly publication is a great resource for visual artists, as it focuses on the business of the arts, rather than art itself.

Anyway, on page 29 there's a great article by Attorney Elizabeth Russell on the subject of Art Law.

According to Ms. Russell, the Visual Artists Rights Act of 1990 (or USC 106A) is an amendment to the US Copyright Act designed to protect artists' "moral rights," which are the artists' personal (as opposed to economic) interests in a visual work of art.

But the most interesting issue addressed by VARA (at least to me) is that since 1990 the law has defined what constitutes a "work of visual art." And the following are legally defined as not being "visual art": "poster, map, globe, chart, technical drawing, diagram, model, applied art, motion picture or other audiovisual work, book, magazine, newspaper, periodical, data base, electronic information service, electronic publication or similar publication."

And equally eye-opening is the fact that the law defines (17 USC 101) a "work of visual art" as follows:

(1) A painting, drawing, print or sculpture, existing in a single copy, in a limited edition of 200 copies or fewer that are signed and consecutively numbered by the author, or, in the case of a sculpture, in multiple cast, carved, or fabricated sculptures of 200 or fewer that are consecutively numbered by the author and bear the signature or other identifying mark of the author; or

(2) A still photographic image produced for exhibition purposes only, existing in a single copy that is signed by the author, or in a limited edition of 200 copies or fewer that are signed and consecutively numbered by the author.
A work of art does not include --
(A) (i) any poster, map, globe, chart, technical drawing, diagram, model, applied art, motion picture or other audiovisual work, book, magazine, newspaper, periodical, data base, electronic information service, electronic publication or similar publication;

(ii) any merchandising item or advertising, promotional, descriptive, covering, or packaging material or container;

(iii) any portion or part of any item described in clause (i) or (ii);

(B) any work made for hire; or

(C) any work not subject to copyright protection under this title.

Is this eye-opening or what?

For the last several years I have been attending the Annual Mayor's Arts Awards, which this year will be hosted at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

Now in its 19th year, this is one of the best nights of the year for any art enthusiast in our area, and yet I am always shocked to find that amongst the many hundreds of people who attend the awards, I see precious few recognizable faces from what one would equate with our area's "art scene."

It's almost as if there are two, separate (and unequal) art scenes around here. And it's a shame, because this Art awards night is a lot of fun and full of an incredible artistic energy that is rarely seen (or read about) elsewhere.

The awards night show (which is free and open to the public) is always showcased by a spectacular performance show, which usually includes music of all kinds (opera, pop, blues, salsa, etc.) by different groups, dance (from classical to tap, etc.), poetry (traditional to slam) and a variety of other entertainment acts offered in between the awards.

The event is alwasy fun and always well-catered (so the "grubs" are always there), and I guess about 800-1200 people generally attend it.

Awards are presented in the following categories:

Excellence in an Artistic Discipline - To an individual artist or an organization that has demonstrated a substantial history of extraordinary achievement in an artistic discipline.

Outstanding Emerging Artist - To a promising individual artist or group of artists that have demonstrated artistic excellence and achieved distinction in an artistic discipline.

Excellence in Service to the Arts - To an individual or a private, public, or government organization that has demonstrated a substantial history of exemplary leadership, financial support, or other services vital to the development of the arts in the District of Columbia.

Outstanding Contribution to Arts Education - To an individual or organization that has demonstrated outstanding efforts to evoke interest and understanding of the arts.

Innovation in the Arts - To an individual or organization that has demonstrated ingenious use of skills or resources to produce art, art programs, or services.

See past winners here.

On behalf of The Honorable Mayor Anthony A. Williams and the DC Commission on the Arts & Humanities, I'd like to invite all of you to the 19th Mayor's Arts Awards at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts "The Concert Hall" located at 2700 F Street, NW Washington, DC. The awards will be on Monday, January 5, 2004 (ceremony begins at 6:00 pm). First come, first seated and come early, as the place usually gets packed.

To get there, take Metro to Foggy Bottom and a free shuttle bus is available every 15 minutes between Foggy Bottom Metro and the Kennedy Center.

Joanna Shaw-Eagle, the Washington Times' Chief Art critic has an interesting review of what sounds like an even more interesting show at Fondo del Sol on R Street.

The show, organized by Marc Zuver, who directs Fondo del Sol, seeks to establish a ancestral connection between the Basque people of Spain and France with the Georgian people of the Black Sea and the eventual distilling to art influences in Latin America.

As Shaw-Eagle notes: "Whether visitors can follow Mr. Zuver's complex, and sometimes, puzzling, connecting of ancient Iberian influences on New World art is questionable, but most of the art is definitely first-rate and challenging."

My good friend Marc Zuver runs Fondo del Sol, one of the very first museums of its kind in the United States, with very little funding and help, and with extraordinary hard work and dedication on his part. He is one of the most animated, talkative gallery directors on the planet, and if you go visit him, be ready to spend a dozen hours discussing Iberia and Georgia and genetics and art.

Robert Lalasz, who is the Senior Arts Writer at the Washington City Paper debuts a new column in the current issue of the WCP. It's called "Show and Tell" and according to the column's banner, it will be a monthly column on "Money, Politics, Issues, Controversy. Just another week in the D.C. arts scene."

This is a great addition to the WCP's arts coverage and we'll keep an eye on it to discuss it, as unfortunately the WCP doesn't archive stories online, therefore I can't link to it, so go get a copy and read it.

Lead story in this week's column: Why the convention center public art isn't public. And Lalasz does a great job in bringing forth the incredible fact that Washington's largest "public" art collection is essentially not open to the public.

Also in this week's Washington City Paper, Louis Jacobson writes about Lydia Ann Douglas' exhibition of Cuban photographs at Teaism. Jacobson's shrewd insight into the DC art scene is revealed when he writes that some of the photos echo the work of Washington area photographer Nestor Hernandez, who has been photographing Cuba (while re-discovering his Cuban father's family) since the 1970's.

Nestor Hernandez's massive documentation of his Cuban family and Cuba not only predates the flood of photographers who have invaded Cuba drawn by its exotic forbidden lure, but certainly deserves to be reviewed and considered for a good museum showing, especially now that Cuban art is so hot around the world and interest in all things Cuban has risen due to the clamp-down on travel to the island prison.

Let me be the first one to suggest that Philip Brookman or Paul Roth at the Corcoran should consider scheduling Nestor for a show.

Eric Fischl will be in DC next March at the Hirshhorn and will discuss his work and the current direction of figurative art. Mark your calendars now: Thursday, March 11, at 7 p.m at the Hirshhorn Museum's Ring Auditorium.

Here is a pen and ink sketch that I did in 1985 at a disco in NYC - my best friend Frank (from High School) was a NYC cop and he moonlighted doing security at this disco that was always full of artsy people, actors, actresses and wanna-be's... super hard to get into, but I got in with Frank.

These two really pushed figurative art didn't they!

Great opportunity for visual artists:

The Glenview Mansion Art Gallery in Rockville, MD has a call for artists to select their 2005 Exhibition season. The deadline is January 9, 2004. Open to all artists living and working in Maryland, Washington, DC and Virginia.

There is no entry fee. A juried panel will select artists and create nine exhibits to be placed into the 2005 calendar. If more than 125 entries are received, the City reserves the right to implement a two-tiered panel review to ensure an appropriate review of all applications. Jan 30 – All artists notified of selection. The City of Rockville will receive a 20% commission on all sales. For more info call 240-314-8682.

For Artists:

The Artists' Health Insurance Resource Center is designed to meet the critical need for health insurance information in the arts community. Well worth a visit.

Art on Location is a unique new arts program that showcases contemporary fine art from talented local artists in upscale and popular consumer venues throughout the Greater Washington D.C. metropolitan region. Info at 202/986.0549 or events@artonlocation.com.

And for photographers...

Deadline Jan. 12, 2004. "Regional Juried Photography Exhibition". Open to all residents of MD, DC, DE, PA, VA, & WV. All photographic work accepted, including digital and alternative processes. $25 for 4 slides, $5 for each additional slide.

Washington Gallery of Photography. Show February 13 - March 7, 2004. Acceptance notification by January 15, 2004. All photographs judged from slides. Cash prizes and exhibition opportunities for first, second and third place winners. For entry form, see www.wsp-photo.com, or send SASE to Washington Gallery of Photography, 4850 Rugby Avenue, Bethesda, MD 20814. Tel: 301/654.1998. E-mail: wspinfo@aol.com


See all of youse tomorrow in Georgetown for the Third Friday Canal Square Gallery Openings.

The Bethesda Arts and Entertainment District is accepting applications for the 2004 Bethesda Fine Arts Festival, an outdoor Fine Art and Fine Craft festival that will take place in the Woodmont Triangle area of Bethesda, Maryland. The festival will take place, rain or shine, on Saturday, May 15 and Sunday, May 16, 2004.

150 booth spaces are available, $275 for a 10' x 10' booth, $25 application fee. All original fine art and fine crafts are eligible, no mass produced or commercially manufactured products are allowed. $2,500 in prize money.

Deadline for applications is March 1, 2004. To download an application form, visit www.bethesda.org or send a SASE to Bethesda Urban Partnership, Bethesda Fine Arts Festival, 7700 Old Georgetown Road, Bethesda, MD 20814. For more information contact festival Director, Catriona Fraser, at (301) 718-9651.

Tomorrow is the monthly Third Thursday extended hours at the 7th Street area downtown galleries.

And the next day, on Friday, will be opening night for the four Canal Square Galleries in Georgetown. It's also the opening of my show, which once again this year marries my interest in history with art. I am doing drawings focused on the unique imagery of the Pictish people of pre-Celtic Scotland. I have been writing a book on the history and art of this Dark Age nation and hope to finally get it finished in a year or so. See some of the drawings here and learn more about the Picts here.

The Ellipse Arts Center in Arlington is looking for a gallery manager. Salary: $40,254.24 - $65,062.40. This is an administrative position in the Arlington County, Virginia Cultural Affairs Division managing this visual arts exhibition center. This position is responsible for developing yearly exhibition and educational outreach programs for Arlington County.

Minimum Requirements: Bachelors degree in Fine Arts, Art History or Arts Admin from an accredited institution, plus 2 yrs of experience in arts admin which include visual arts exhibition programming & implementation. See complete ad at here, or call (703) 228-3500 for HR Dept. Deadline is December 31, 2003.

Creative Capital accepts proposals for grants in visual arts and film/video. Creative Capital has implemented a new application process: to apply for a grant, artists must first submit an Inquiry Form, which will be available February 16, 2004 here. The deadline for completed Inquiry Forms is March 15, 2004; those invited to apply will be notified in June 2004.

Salvador Dali once said: "If you can't paint well, then paint big," and now in YBA Land, The Guardian has a very good story about the impact of size on our (their?) perception of art.

I call it "acreage art."