One of the great joys of writing about art in the Greater Washington area is the discovery once in a while of an exhibition that, unexpectedly in most cases, just takes your breath away with its impact, presence and lingering ability to elicit thoughts and responses long after you’ve left the gallery.
 
In this case, the gallery is Target Gallery, inside the Torpedo Factory, and the exhibition is “In 2Words: Numbers,” a national exhibition juried by Washington firebrand curator Sarah Tanguy.
 
Let me show my cards early: This is the best Target Gallery, show that I’ve ever seen in the twelve years that I have been regularly covering the Greater Washington visual art scene for newspapers and magazines.
 
A bit about the premise for the show: “In 2Words: Numbers” is the first of a pair of national exhibitions that focus on the use of digits, mathematics and formulas in contemporary art. The second exhibition (titled “In2Words: Words”), juried by Krystyna Wasserman, Curator of Book Arts at the National Museum of Women in the Arts opens July 24, 2004.
 
The employment of digits, mathematics and formulas as the driving and unifying theme in the show appealed to me through a couple of sensory inputs – the first as an artist, and the second as a Mathematician. As an undergraduate student at the University of Washington in beautiful Seattle I managed to graduate with a double degree: one in Art and one in Mathematics - odd uh?
 
Anyway, the sixteen artists selected by Tanguy all managed to create artwork that cleverly manage to revolve about this rather unusual theme. In a group show, any group show, there are usually standouts, weak entries and a majority of forgettable artwork in the majority. In mathematical terms, the first two would be the out layers and the rest the median.
 
In this case, I can honest find few out layers – simply because the quality and cleverness and creative thought employed in nearly every entry surpasses most expectations. But let’s discuss some of them.
 
Judith Larsen, a photographer from Cambridge, Massachusetts has three digital photographs on exhibit. In all three instances, Larsen has a female figure that has been decorated with numbers and formulas, like a modern digital Pictish princess. At first one would think that this may be a heavy handed way to crack open the door to “fit” the competition’s theme. And yet, Larsen disarms that negative pre-impression by the marriage of the mathematical tattoos with interesting poses by the model coupled with an unusual digital color palette. The combination of numbers, formulas, poses and colors all add up unexpectedly to deliver quite interesting photographs.
 
Still in the realm of photography, but pushing the envelope a bit more, at least as far as the receiving medium, is Jayson Taylor from Hays, Kansas. Taylor’s “Running Thoughts” combines silk, muslin, and etched aluminum – all coupled with a photo transfer process – to produce a visually interesting work that requires the manual lifting of the silk or muslin to get to the various stages of the actual photograph. Combining a series of numerical finite layers with interaction from the viewer has given Taylor a huge advantage in probably being the most creative of all the interpreters of the theme selected by Tanguy.
 
On the floor of the gallery, there’s an unusual and visually entertaining piece by New Yorker Frank Raczkowski (with a sign letting you know that it is OK to step on it – carefully). Titled “Point Five,” it is made of rubber, steel and level vials all aligned to look like one of those floor mats made up of old tires. He is what art BLOGger Tyler Green would dub a "Wal-Martist." I like this piece partially because of the inner tension that it creates in inviting me to step on it.
 
Step on artwork?
 
Geez… we’re not even supposed to touch it, right? But Raczkowski must be pretty sure of his construction to ask us to step on it (carefully). But Frank, what about all those little level vials, filled with that strange yellowish fluid with the bubble in the middle (what is that stuff?). No thanks – but it works wonderfully in making me look at the work, study it, praise it and avoid stepping on it. Congratulations, you pass.
 
At the risk of being verbose about Mr. Raczkowski, his second entry on display is made up of 148 digital prints of someone’s skin, prickling with short stubble hair. We’re told in the catalog that there are 75,080 counted hairs.
 
OK, now I am interested. First of all, what part of the anatomy has Raczkowski photographed, sometimes it looks strangely sexual, other times it looks like maybe a shaved animal skin (a pig?), and others a made up alien landscape. Eventually the dutiful gallery assistant or gallery director Claire Huschle will tell you that they are photos of Raczkowski’s shaved head.
 
Even after this information is disclosed I am having trouble pinpointing any of the 148 prints, arranged salon style in a corner of the gallery space, to anything resembling a human landscape on anyone’s head. I am even having more trouble comprehending why anyone would want to count all the hairs – but someone did (or is telling us they did) and I sort of like that in a mathematical way.
 
As Tanguy eloquently describes in her juror’s statement, “[in this show] process is paramount… As intimations become revelations, the works transform us from passive recipients to active explorers.”

I believe Raczkowski and I ain't even beginning to think to count the hairs - but I was tempted!

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The show is on display until July 18, 2004. Target Gallery is the national exhibition space of the Torpedo Factory Art Center, displaying artwork in all media from artists across the United States and abroad. Located on the ground floor of the Torpedo Factory Art Center, Target is open to the public Wednesday through Sunday, 12 noon to 5 pm and other times by appointment. Contact the gallery at (703) 838-4565, ext. 4.

Call for Artists...

The League of Reston Artists (LRA) has a Call for Artists for the upcoming Annual Judged Fine Arts Exhibition at the National Center Gallery of the U. S. Geological Survey.

$300 in award monies will be presented at the opening reception by this year’s judge, Libby Stevens. This call for entry is limited to a maximum of two framed works of fine art from each artist. The entry fee is $15 for LRA members and $20 for non-members. The call for entry form can be downloaded from the LRA’s web site at this website. Send completed entry form to the LRA, POB 2513, Reston, VA 20195, or present the completed form at the door during drop-off of the works of art.

Artists who are interested in submitting work for this exhibition are advised that they must deliver or have their work delivered in person to the National Center Gallery of the U. S. Geological Survey in Reston, Virginia, on Friday, July 30, from 10:00 - 11:00 am. Works must be appropriately framed for hanging per the printed framing standards on the call for entry form and suitable for display in a public building.

Tyler Green's interesting online discussion with Village Voice art critic Jerry Saltz, plus Saltz's article in Artnet.com plus Nate Lippet's article in Seattle's The Stanger magazine (thanks AJ) have made me think about our local art critics, local media and the effect of art criticism on our galleries, artists, etc.
 
I am not sure about NYC or LA or Chicago, or even wonderful and beautiful Seattle, but after putting up well over 100 shows between the two galleries since 1996, plus reviewing another couple of hundred or so for magazines and newspapers and radio, and having been at the receiving end of many, many reviews, I have the following observations, purely from the perspective of an independent commercial fine arts gallery. 

(i)  A Washington, DC review has practically zero effect on gallery sales. In almost ten years of selling artwrok in the DC area, I cannot recall a single sale that took place solely because of a review in any of our local media. I can and do recall several major sales that took place because of a review of David FeBland in Art in America magazine, but even that collector (from Princeton, NJ) was attracted to the image in the review and became interested in the artist as a result of it - not the review itself. 

(ii)  A Washington, DC review has very small effect on increasing traffic to the gallery. This is still surprising to me. In fact, I would place the following types of mentions in our local press in order of increasing foot traffic to come and see the show. Most surprising of all is the fact that I have noticed, that a mention on the Post's Weekend section in the first page "Our Picks" column drives more traffic (in fact exponentially higher) than any other media mention anywhere. Also of interest, a little mini-review or mention in the Post's freebie newspaper (the Express) will also bring in more people to the gallery than a proper review in the Post! Anyway here's my listing of possible local media mentions in order of traffic augmentation:

1. Washington Post Weekend Section "Our Picks"
2. Washington Post Express mention
3. Washington City Paper Major Review
4. Washington City Paper City Lights Small Review
5. Washington Post Sunday Source mention
6. Washington Post Style "Galleries" review
7. Washington Times review
8. WETA Around Town "Best Bet"
9. Georgetowner review
10. Gazette review

I've left out radio and TV because they are so rare to obtain. In the few rare times that we've received either radio or TV coverage, it has created huge interest in the exhibitions. Too bad it happens so seldom.
 
(iii) From a purely professional and artistic perspective, a review in the local press can have a huge impact on an artist's development and career. In fact, a review in the Washington Post or the Washington Times - simply because of the fact that they are (in a provincial sense) "national newspapers" can and does deliver a very significant punch to an artist's career and resume. In that sense, a major review in the Post or Times, and to a lesser extent the WCP, can and does become an important marker in an artist's career.
 
I've seen this time and time again. It may take months or years to "see" the effect - but it is there and it is a profound footprint in any artist's (or gallery) ability to establish a presence.
 
Changing the subject a bit...
 
I believe that art criticism should have teeth - why not! In fact, the sharper the better!
 
What I cannot stand is lukewarm criticism: If you like a show, then be passionate about it! If you dislike it, then destroy it! Like this totally brutalizing review  of these two artists a while back, or like Blake Gopnik's total destruction of J. Seward Johnson.

That's the way to write about something that you don't like! Not a half-assed, lukewarm criticism where three quarters of the piece is a bio of the artist, and the other quarter describes the art.

But if art criticism should have teeth; it should also have passion to jump in and really, really like something and tell us why.

I cannot recall the last time that I read a local art critic write something along the lines of "this is a spectacular show" or "this is one of the best fill-in-the-blank that I've ever seen" - you get my point?

It does take cojones to write a negative review of a local artist, someone that you may run into later. And it is true that often the victim takes it personally. Or the host...

A few years ago I wrote this small piece for some local papers (it was also eventually picked up by the Washington Post). Soon afterwards I was getting hate phone calls and emails from Twombly fans and even from the NGA. In fact, after that piece, I have never been invited to another NGA opening since!

More later... super busy with the Georgetown gallery opening tonite - we have a really good show juried by Kristen Hileman, Asst. Curator for Contemporary Art at the Hirshhorn. She selected about 20 artists from over 1,000 entries received from all over the world.
 
Opening is from 6-9 PM and catered by the Sea Catch. The three other Canal Square galleries will also have new shows and will be open from 6-9 PM.
 
See ya there!

Jeffry Cudlin has a really eloquent and intelligent review of the Jim Dine show at the NGA in the current edition of the Washington City Paper.  Go get a copy of the WCP and read it or read it online here.

Here is a really intelligent and elegantly written observation (in my opinion):

"But one begins to sense a failure of nerve, a need to apologize for indulgences. In Owl, Rome (1997), swirls and puddles of shellac mixed with sand saturate the paper and stain it a range of dull ochres. A crumpled rag of the same color is glued to the upper third of the longish sheet of paper. Both this brazen non sequitur and the chaotic vigorousness of Dine’s treatment of the owl’s body feel like a guilty justification for the comparatively precious head sitting predictably atop it."

I dropped by the Torpedo Factory today to see the show at Target Gallery curated by Sarah Tanguy. More on that later, but for now let me tell you that this is the best show that I've seen at Target in the last ten years. It is quite extraordinary the number of really unique works that Tanguy managed to assemble from a juried show perspective.

More on that later, as I will review it for OTC.

Also while at the Factory, I saw some artwork (shown to me by her proud mom) by a 15-year-old girl, completely self-taught, and whose work left me absolutely stunned.

Her name is Jenny Davis, and like I said, she is 15, and she decided to start trying watercolors, and has produced a handful of watercolors (which as any artist knows, is the most technically demanding of any of the painting arts) that simply take your breath away with their technical eloquence for such a young, untrained child. Add to that an immediate sense of composition, and a built in ability to "see" and we have a budding star in the making.

I immediately invited her mom to have Jenny participate in our coming Summer Group Show in Bethesda!

That's how impressed I was by this prowess.

On the way out, I ran into artist Susan Makara and asked her if she's seen Tanya Davis daughter's work. Susan just whistled in admiration and said a wise "I know!"

Jerry Saltz has a must read piece about art critics, dealers and artists at Artnet.com.  And thanks to Arts Journal - Here's another great piece about and by art critics: Assume The Position by Nate Lippens.

Jessica Dawson has several mini reviews in today's Post.

Art Jobs...

Job offers at CUDC

The Cultural Development Corporation (CuDC), a non-profit dedicated to engaging artists and cultural organizations in community development and revitalization efforts.

The following jobs are available: Program Manager, Gallery Associate Gallery Associate: This hourly, entry-level position will coordinate the Gallery at Flashpoint. The ideal candidate will also coordinate the 7th Street Arts District's 3rd Thursday event. 3rd Thursday offers an extended evening of contemporary art exhibitions an artist-guided gallery crawl.

Program Manager: This full-time, management position will have primary responsibility for coordinating services to artists and arts organizations including the incubator program at Flashpoint.

How to apply: To apply, submit a resume with cover letter to:
Cultural Development Corporation Program Manager Search
or
Gallery Associate Search
916 G Street NW, Washington, DC 20001

Email: culturaldevcorp@culturaldc.org

Jeff Blum has a few interesting and enlightening comments about our current photograhy show in Bethesda and discusses James W. Bailey's destruction of his negatives to create the finished photo.

Jesse Cohen has a new DC-centric arts BLOG at Art DC. Welcome to the BLOGsphere! The more we chat, discuss, agree, fight over DC area art issues, the better!

Welcome Jesse!

Just in!



The DC council has approved $40 million for the Gehry addition to the Corcoran.

According to the info, the Council of the District of Columbia voted yesterday to authorize $40 million in tax increment financing (TIF) in the form of a Note to support the additions and renovations the Corcoran.

So Washington's first Origami building will soon be a reality. Now let's begin to hear the complaining and bitching begin.

We have announced the next date for our highly successful "Success as an Artist" Seminar." The next seminar will be hosted at Fraser Gallery Bethesda on Sunday, August 8, 2004 from 12-7 PM.

The seven hour seminar, which has been taken by nearly 2,000 artists and arts professionals from all over the Mid Atlantic is designed to deliver information, data and proven tactics to allow artists to develop and sustain a career in the fine arts. The seminar costs $80 and is limited to around 50 people. For more details please visit this website.

Fraser Gallery Bethesda is located at 7700 Wisconsin Avenue, Suite E, Bethesda, MD 20814, one block north of the Bethesda Metro Stop. You can contact the gallery at 301/718-9651 or via email at info@thefrasergallery.com.

Tomorrow is the 3rd Thursday of the month, so the 7th Street area galleries have their extended hours. Click here for details.

And Friday is the 3rd Friday, so the four Canal Square Galleries in Georgetown will have their new show openings. MOCA, Fraser, Alla Rogers and Parish. Catered by the Sea Catch Restaurant. From 6-9 PM. The Canal Square is at 31st Street NW and M Street in Georgetown.

Last night I took legendary photographer Lida Moser to a concert hosted by the The Folklore Society of Greater Washington.

It featured Bara Grimsdottir and Chris Foster. Foster is a singer of English traditional pub ballads while Grimsdottir is perhaps the world's best known singer of Icelandic saga and folk songs.

Public Art Call for Artists...

Deadline August 6, 2004

The City of San Jose, California has a call for artists for work on several capital improvement projects. They include a new police and fire facilities which include a public art component.

The anticipated public art budgets for two of the training facilities is $200,000 each for two training facilities and $1 million for a police substation. These budgets include design, fabrication, installation, and all costs associated with the public art.

Criteria: Aesthetic merit of past projects; appropriateness of artwork medium and artistic concepts as they relate to the project’s goals and setting; experience, success and interest in creating public artworks in collaboration with architects, design teams, and community members.

Contact: Brooke Jones, Office of Cultural Affairs - Public Art Program, 365 S. Market St., San José, CA 95113.

Grants for DC Area artists...

Deadline September 15, 2004.

The Franz and Virginia Bader Fund Grant invites visual artists (excluding filmmakers, video artists, and performance artists) to apply for grants to enable recipients to develop their talent and concentrate on their art. Artists must be 40 years or older, and must live within 150 miles of Washington, D.C.

Two grants will be awarded in 2004. Grants awarded in 2003 were for $25,000 and $20,000. Applications must be postmarked no later than September 15, 2004. To obtain a current application form, please visit the Fund's website or write to the Fund at 5505 Connecticut Avenue, NW #268, Washington, D.C. 20015. Send email inquiries to grants@baderfund.org

Grants and Awards for Maryland artists...

Deadline July 29, 2004.

Individual Artist Awards: Choreography, Music Composition, Playwriting, Poetry, Visual Arts: Crafts, Photography, Installation, Sculpture.

The Maryland State Arts Council Individual Artist Awards are grants awarded to Maryland artists through an anonymous, competitive process to encourage and sustain their pursuit of artistic excellence. A limited number of awards of $1,000, $3,000, and $6,000 are offered each year.

All work will be judged anonymously by out-of-state jurors whose decisions are based solely on artistic merit, as demonstrated in work completed after July 29, 2001.

Individuals who are Maryland residents, 18 years of age or older, may apply. Students currently enrolled in a degree program, and collaborating artists are not eligible to apply.

Application guidelines and forms are online here or call 410-767-6555 for more information.

(Next year’s categories: Fiction, Media, Solo Dance Performance, Solo Instrumental Performance, Solo Vocal Performance, Visual Arts: Painting, Works on Paper, New and Emerging Genre).

Opportunity for Artists...

Kensington Park Senior Living, is looking for artists to exhibit their artwork for a month. The artist will have a social hour to talk and demonstrate their art/talent and an article about the artist will be published in their monthly newsletter. If you are interested, please contact Kathy Ward, Therapeutic Recreation Director at 301-946-7700 or by e-mail at kward@Kensingtonretirement.com.

Kensington Park Senior Living
3620 Littledale Rd.
Kensington, MD 20895

A really nice profile in Art Times of Cuban-American painter Gabriela Dellosso, represented locally by us.