People who know me well, know that I am an absolute and devoted fan of Camille Paglia. In my prejudiced opion she's one of my contenders for the title of "Most Brilliant Human Being Alive On the Planet."

Passion aside, she has a brilliant essay that should be a must read for anyone interested in the arts and/or education, and especially for anyone who curates, organizes, teaches, or writes about the arts. The article is an expanded version of a lecture delivered at a conference, "Living Literacies: What Does it Mean to Read and Write Now?," at York University, Toronto, Canada.

It is titled The Magic of Images: Word and Picture in a Media Age and here's an insightful paragraph:

"Post-structuralism and postmodernism do not understand magic or mystique, which are intrinsic to art and imagination. It is no coincidence that since postmodernist terminology seeped into the art world in the 1980s, the fine arts have receded as a major cultural force."

Go read it now.

Our art scene is just bursting with activity!

There's a great profile of artist Mark Clark in this weeks Washington City Paper. Can't read it online, as WCP does not archive - so go get the paper while it's out this week. Mark Clark is in the middle of a really interesting project to document his neighbors. Mark is the brother of Michael Clark, who runs MOCA in Georgetown, and who I am told fell a few days ago and broke his shoulder.

Tonite is the Bethesda Art Walk from 6-9 pm featuring 14 downtown Bethesda galleries and studios.

Studio Gallery will jury for new artists on Thurs, April 15, 2004, at 6:30pm. $35 jury fee. For info, call Lana Lyons, Director, at 202-232-8734.

Austrian Photographs (The Estate of Inge Morath. Curators: Kurt Kaindl and Brigitte Blueml) Reading by Honor Moore: "The Photographer and the Poet: A Friendship" is opening Thursday, April 15, 2004 7:30 pm at the Embassy of Austria. At the opening of the exhibit, American poet, Honor Moore, will read poems about Inge Morath and talk about their mutually inspiring friendship. The exhibition will be on display until June 10, 2004, weekdays from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm at the Embassy of Austria, 3524 International Court N.W., Washington, D.C. 20008 (Van Ness Metro Stop). RSVP for opening reception required: (202) 895-6776.

Mark Jenkins has a nice review of Muriel Hasbun in the Weekend Section of today's Post. Hasbun, who teaches at the Corcoran College of Art, has "Memento: Muriel Hasbun Photographs," an exhibition at the Corcoran Gallery of Art. Hasbun, who is from El Salvador, represented her country at the last Venice Biennale. She is represented locally by Conner Contemporary. One of my pet peeves with the Weekend section is their lack of attention to DC art galleries. Their reviews, by a huge percentage, concentrate on museum shows, often repeating a review that the Style section critics have already covered. I really wish that Weekend section editor Joyce Jones was a bit more receptive (or firm) in letting her "On Exhibit" writer also write about DC area art galleries. Either Michael O'Sullivan (who is now reviewing movies) or Mark Jenkins (who is now freelancing the "On Exhibit" column on Weekend) are well-versed and quite knowledgeable about our area's artists and galleries, so c'mon Joyce!

The 2004 Senior Thesis Exhibitions at the Corcoran are on until May 17, 2004. They consist of a series of ten, week-long, rotating exhibitions featuring photography, fine art and graphic design produced by members of the Corcoran graduating class, grouped by major. They are at the Hemicycle Gallery of the Corcoran. I will soon be swinging by to look at the current exhibit and will discuss it back here.

Here's an early look at at book that I am working on on the subject of Cuban baseball. Have a couple of publishers interested, but still shopping.

How readable is art writing?

Thanks to Terry Teachout: Golden Rule Jones has run 17 arts blogs through an on-line tool that tests Web sites or WORD documents for "readability."

According to the creator of the tool in question, "The Fog index has been developed by Robert Gunning. Its value is a school grade. The "ideal" Fog Index level is 7 or 8. A level above 12 indicates the writing sample is too hard for most people to read."

DCARTNEWS received a Fog Index of 12. That means that you'd need at least a high school education to read and understand my writing. Just for fun I ran some other area art critics and writers through it and in order of easier readability (from requiring less education to read to requiring more education according to the Fog Index):

Tyler Green in Modern Art Notes: 9.7

Joe Shannon, Art in America DC critic: 9.9

Jessica Dawson's review today: 11.3

Ferdinand Protzman in the Post: 11.9

Michael O'Sullivan review in the Post: 12.2

Paul Richard in the Post: 12.5

Mark Jenkins in the Post Weekend: 13.6

Blake Gopnik's last review in the Post: 13.7

Sidney Lawrence in Artnet.com: 13.7

Louis Jacobson in the City Paper: 14

Claudia Rousseau in the Gazette: 14.3

Joanna Shaw-Eagle in the Washington Times: 14.5

J.W. Mahoney, Art in America DC critic: 15.2

And at a whoopingly unreadable 19.3:

A Glenn Dixon review in the City Paper: 19.3

The Gazette newspaper (which is owned by the Washington Post) has an article on the subject of the tremendous success of the Bethesda Art Walk.

We're described as showing "bold and sometimes bawdy work." Can't recall the last time I've seen a gallery described as "bawdy."

I do share Elyse Harrison's concerns that one problem with the Bethesda Art Walk is that there are a few too many decorative, chain galleries on the "walk" - the type of galleries that sell decorative art and also do exorbitant framing to tack onto their "gyclees on canvas" reproductions of artists well-worth their owner's desperate resell attempts at Ebay.

The next Artwalk is tomorrow, Friday April 9, from 6-9 PM. See you there.

In the Post, Jessica Dawson takes off her gloves and puts artist Leith Eaton in her place. Eaton claims that her work is a new kind of "ism" and Jessica doesn't buy it - I agree with Dawson. This is a very good review that shows that art criticism can and should have teeth - and when intelligently applied, as in this review, it shows passion and opinion! Leith Eaton is at Foxhall Gallery through April 17, 2004.

Dawson also reviews one of my favorite DC area painters: Sheep Jones at Target Gallery. Jones' work at Target Gallery is a significant, if not huge, departure and new direction for Jones, whose work had previously concentrated in giving the viewer a sort of subterranean look at vegetables and roots. The new work opens a new path for this talented painter as we enter a dark and interesting door in her artistic discourse. I also agree with Dawson in Jessica's recommendation that Sheep lose the verbiage in her paintings.

Sheep Jones, is the Friends of the Torpedo Factory 2003 Artist of the Year. Washington printmaker Lou Stovall selected Jones as recipient of the award.

File this one in the "Stupid Things People Do" category.

Why do these Hellboy movie stills remind me so much of (OMIGOD has he already been forgotten?) Matthew Barney's stuff?

Volunteer Opportunity

The Bethesda Fine Arts Festival is currently looking for volunteers to help assist artists and patrons at this year's inaugural festival.

The event, with over 120 artists from all over the country, is expected to attract thousands of art lovers to downtown Bethesda, and will be held on Saturday May 15 from 10am - 6pm and Sunday May 16 from 10am - 5pm. For more information, contact festival Director, Catriona Fraser at CFraser@Bethesda.org or call 301/718-9651.

Washington Post photography critic Frank Van Riper has a good essay on the rekindling of his own art by his teaching of a photography course.

I've always noted that the best way to get your creative juices flowing is by being around artists, in fact art students are often the most fearless and enthusiastic, and enthusiasm and passsion about the arts is contagious.

Call For Erotic Artists...
Deadline: May 1, 2004

Juried show: Art @ Large, a New York City Erotic/Figurative Art Gallery, has a call for erotic artists. Juror: Grady T. Turner, New York based art critic, curator and author of "NYC Sex: How New York City Transformed Sex in America." All media and orientations in Erotic Art, Nudes, Sexuality - demure to explicit. Best of Show to receive solo exhibition in 2005. Send SASE for Prospectus to:

Art @ Large
630 Ninth Ave #707
New York NY 10036

Or download via web: www.artatlarge.com

When everything becomes art...

Cory Arcangel is a New York-based artist who hacks Nintendo game cartridges and then changes their images and sounds under the name BEIGE. His piece Super Mario Clouds v2k3 (2003) is in the 2004 Whitney Biennial. Arcangel kept a diary for NYFA Current detailing the periods just before and just after the opening of the Whitney Biennial on March 9, 2004. Read it here.

Another new art venue in town...

Celebration of Women: Vision and Movement, curated by Gerald Malitz opens Thursday, April 8, 2004, with a reception from 6:00 - 9:00 pm at the new Pepco Art Center: Edison Place Gallery. This new space has been in operation since November 2002 and this exhibit will help launch it as another great addition the DC arts scene.

For more details, visit the exhibition website here. The show includes 81 pieces by 23 area artists. Included in the show are Susanne Carmack, Gloria Cesal, Victor Ekpuk, Patsy Fleming, Elsa Gebreyesus, Mina Hanig, Ahmed Kachmar, Barbara Kerne, Sofia Kifle, Sharon Killian, Lu Lan, Stephanie Lane, Susan Makara, Ruth Marcus, Andrea P. McCluskey, Leslie Oberdorfer, Muatasim Omer, Anna Otchin, Dot Procter, Anastasia R. Simes, Lida Stifel, Patricia Underwood and Helen Zughaib.

This coming Friday, April 9th is the second Friday of the month and thus the Bethesda Art Walk from 6-9 pm featuring 14 downtown Bethesda galleries and studios: paintings, sculpture, photography, pottery, jewelry and mixed media. Participating galleries showcase artwork created locally, nationally and internationally. Enjoy free refreshments. Art Walk attendees may walk throughout downtown Bethesda’s streets or take the free shuttle that will stop at each individual gallery. For more information, please visit www.bethesda.org or call (301) 215-6660.

We will have a group show of contemporary realism, featuring work by New York painters David FeBland, John Jacobsmeyer and Laurel Wells, plus work by our own area's John Winslow, Chawky Frenn, Heather Neill and others. We'll also have European artist Zigymantas Augustinas, a prizewinner in the 2002 BP Portrait Prize at the National Portrait Gallery in London.

Among the many excuses that the Washington Post has given me in the past for not having more extensive gallery coverage in our area is lack of printspace.

Today, their Chief Art Critic, who seldom writes about DC area art galleries' shows, gives us a review of a lamp show in London.

The 2004 Pulitzer Prize winners - Congratulations to all the winners!

Whitney Biennial Curator Lawrence Rinder will be in DC on Friday, April 23 to participate in a Hirshhorn Museum forum that "explores the artists' role in creating healing images and their power to influence a community. A process that starts with the artists' self-expression - continues with the individual viewers' response - and finally has the potential to inspire healing in a community."

The forum is on Friday, April 23,2004 at 2:00pm at the Hirshhorn (3rd Floor). In addition to Mr. Rinder, the forum also includes sculptor Tim Tate, Director of the Washington Glass School (and whose solo opens May 14 at Fraser Gallery Bethesda), and Curator Ken Trapp, former Curator of the Renwick Gallery.

This forum is part of a conference by the Society for Arts in Healthcare taking place in DC on April 21 - 24, 2004.

Exhibition Proposals Wanted...
Deadline: May 1, 2004

The Hoyt Institute of Fine Arts is reviewing exhibition proposals for 2005-2006. Solo and Collaborative Exhibitions. All Media. Open to US residents 21+ in Mid-Atlantic States including PA, OH, NY, NJ, MD, DE, and Washinton,DC.

$25.00 review fee. 30% Commission. Insurance. Send SASE for a prospectus to:

Bob Karstadt
The Hoyt Institute of Fine Arts
124 E Leasure Av
New Castle PA 16101

Or call 724-652-2882 or visit their website.

Washington, DC sculptor Robert Cole, whose piece "Madre DellaPace" (Mother of Peace) was exhibited at the 2003 Florence Biennale, and won the Lorenzo di Medici Gold Medal there, is having an open studio to allow people to view the 16 foot sculpture and other work. The sculpture will then be moved to Merriweather Post Pavillion, where it will be on exhibit along with several other pieces by Cole.

The Open Studio is April 17 and 18 , 2004 from 12-6 PM. The Cole studio is located at 1714 15th St., (rear) NW. See a map and more details on his website.

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For Photographers...

Deadline: April 15, 2004
The Center for Fine Art Photography is hosting its International Fine Art Photography Exhibition that is open to professional and amateur photographers, for all forms of fine art photography created in black and white or color, using traditional or digital methods or elements of both processes. Total awards over $6,200. The Exhibition is from June 29 through August 21 in Fort Collins, CO. View and download the prospectus at this website and visit the Center's web site here.

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Deadline: April 30, 2004

9th Annual Photographic Competition Exhibition. Title: Visual Proof, Juror: Roy L Flukinger, Senior Curator of Film & Photography, Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center, Univ. of Texas at Austin. Open to all photographers, all photographic processes and all themes.

Entry Fee: $25 (for first three slides), $5 for each thereafter-up to ten slides total. Awards: $1000, $500, $250. Exhibition in Seattle at PCNW July 16 - Aug 29.

Visit their website for submission guidelines and entry form or send a 6 x 9 SASE to:

Photographic Center Northwest
Attn - 9th Annual Contest
900 12th Avenue
Seattle WA 98122

Questions? Contact Gallery Director: Ann Pallesen, email her at gallery@pcnw.org or call her at 206-720-7222x102

The artist that I'd like to highlight today is photographer Colby Caldwell, represented locally by Hemphill Fine Arts.

I first came across Caldwell's work back in the early 90's, when I wrote this review for Visions Magazine for the Arts. Since then, I've reviewed him a few more times, although I've never met Mr. Caldwell in person yet.

Meanwhile, Caldwell has continued to push the frontier of photography, and he can almost no longer be classified as just a "photographer," as he has accomplished an extraordinary variety of methods to deliver visual art that, although connected to photography in some sense, is still novel in both concept and presentation.

In his most recent showings, Caldwell re-discovery of old super 8 movies became the catalyst for photographs derived from those old movies.

And as noted in Washingtonian Magazine's 100 People to Watch:

Colby Caldwell was 15 credits away from a history degree when his buddies started a band. Lacking musical ability, Caldwell took a photograph that became the band's poster and decided he wanted to be a photographer, not a history teacher. Caldwell transferred to the Corcoran art school and had his first show at the Kathleen Ewing gallery. Twenty-three shows later, Caldwell, 34, teaches photography and fine arts at his alma mater.

Colby has already done nearly all that he can do in Washington. He has exhibited in the best galleries in this city, and he has exhibited in many of the non-profit venues, and he has exhibited in his alma mater, and every art critic in town has copiously praised Caldwell's work. It is well deserved as this is one of Washington's top talents.

This is a visual artist that I feel would truly benefit now by having a foot print in New York and Los Angeles and more exposure in those cities - more exposure outside of Washington - would be the next logical step for this talented and intelligent artist.

I am NOT saying by any means that Caldwell should move or leave Washington, as Blake Gopnik once recommended that a young DC artist do, but I am thinking out loud about an artist at the top of his form, whose work should be on the radar range of influential curators and collectors. Colby is one of the talents that "our local" curators should be discussing with their fellow curators in other cities at their curator get-togethers...

You get my point?
PS - Colby Caldwell also really needs to get a stronger footprint on the Internet - After I Googled him all I could come up with was this image. Get some photos out there!

The saying goes that if you "want to make a million dollars in the art market, then start with five."

Later tonight I'll be going to the grand opening of Light Street Gallery in Baltimore, which is being opened by my good friends Steve and Linda Krensky.

The Krenskys have (by far) the largest private art collection that I have ever seen in anyone's home in all my life. In fact, the Krensky house is so full of original artwork by DC area artists and artists from all over the world, so that nearly every inch of their ceilings are also covered in paintings, as they've long ago ran out of wall space!

Light Street Gallery will be a great addition to Baltimore's cultural tapestry and to our region. The gallery is located at 1448 Light Street in Baltimore, and can be reached at 410/254-0047 or on the web at www.lightstreetgallery.com.

The love of art by collectors often leads to them opening art galleries, such as Cheryl Numark and Numark Gallery, and now the Krenskys with Light Street Gallery. This is all good news to our art scene.