Arts Journal Expansion

Arts Journal is one of my daily must-reads, and often the source of stories, comments and links here in DC Art News.

And now it's undergoing a site face lift and major expansion right before our eyes.

Visit them often.

Arts Agenda

DCist's Arts Agenda is up.

Read it here.

DCist has been looking for months for someone to write about the visual arts and augment the weekly arts agenda.

So far they're doing an outstanding job of covering music, theatre, sports, restaurants and politics, but they are still lacking a voice to write some art reviews.

It's not easy uh?

Interested writers and would-be art critics should contact DCist at dcist-core@googlegroups.com

Busy Week

There are loads of openings and visual art events happening this week. Check later and I'll be posting them.

Congratulations

To our own Tim Tate, whose "Positive Reliquaries" series of three glass sculptures has been acquired by The Mint Museum of Art in Charlotte, North Carolina.

"Positive Reliquaries" consists of a set of three hand blown domes with spun glass nests and dotted eggs inside. The eggs in the nests are dotted to mimic the dots on dice, and signify the gamble of Tate's daily challenge with being HIV positive; the nests themselves are a recurring theme in his work representing rebirth and hope. The crown of each dome is topped with a red cast glass "positive" (+) symbol.

Etched onto the surface of each reliquary is the story in three parts of Tate's discovery of his HIV status 20 years ago and how he emerged from that reborn into a new identity. These words create a cage which surrounds the entire piece... forever freezing them in that history. It was the first and only time that the artist has ever recorded the events leading to his discovery of being HIV positive in 1984. It ends with the line "This is the only record."

This is one of Tate's most personal and painful pieces. It speaks not of sorrow, but rejoices in rebirth. Most of Tate's works deals with healing in this manner: employing difficult moments in his life and using them to springboard into the future.

"Positive Reliquaries" is one of his finest examples of his content driven glass as Tate continues to drag glass away from the vessel and into the narrative context. Tate's current solo show at our Fraser Gallery Bethesda ends this coming Wednesday.

Opportunity for Unrepresented Artists

Deadline: On-going

The Center For Emerging Visual Artists is currently accepting applications to join their Regional Community Arts Program (RCAP) Artist Registry.

Artists in the registry will be eligible to participate in The Center's Community Exhibition Program, which includes exhibitions in public spaces such as hospitals, schools, parks, and more.

Requirements: Must be interested in exhibiting in public spaces; Must live within 90 miles of Philadelphia; Cannot have a contractual relationship with a commercial gallery; Works submitted must be available and ready to hang/install.

Please send up to 20 slides or digital images, a slide list (name, title, dimensions, medium, and price), and a resume to:

Genevieve Coutroubis
The Center For Emerging Visual Artists
Community Exhibitions
237 South 18th Street # 3A
Philadelphia, PA 19103
Phone: 215.546.7775 x11
E-mail: genevieve@cfeva.org

New Mexico Artist and Writer Residencies

Deadline: January 6, 2006.

The Santa Fe Art Institute is inviting artists and writers in all disciplines to apply for their residency program. Application forms are available on the web at www.sfai.org.

Successful applicants will be eligible to spend from one to three months at a preeminent contemporary residency program in the Southwest. Application fee: $25.00.

For details email swilson@sfai.org.

Wanna date an artist?

ArtDC breaking new ground in the online dating service.

Potential artsy dates here.

Secret's Out

Nothing like amazing success to make one's critics eat crow.

Who's got the second highest linked (and thus 2nd highest ranked by Technorati) BLOG in the entire world wide web?

None other than our own Frank Warren!

And the hardcover book by Frank Warren based on the phenomenal PostSecret project started by Frank at the last Art-O-Matic was just released and it's already the 16th bestselling book on Amazon.

The PostSecret Book, "PostSecret: Extraordinary Confessions from Ordinary Lives," is now available from Amazon.

Order the book here.

And next December 15, 2005 through January 8, 2006, the WPA\C presents Post Secrets.

Opening Reception: Thursday, December 15, 2005 from 6-10pm
Fundraiser: Wednesday, December 14 from 6-10pm for Kristin Brooks Hope Center ($10 suggested donation)
Location: Former Georgetown Staples Store, 3307 M Street, NW, Washington, DC 20007
Exhibition Hours: Wed, Thurs, Fri 6-10pm, Sat & Sun 2-10pm

Borf goes to High School

See it here.

Congratulations

To talented DC area artist Renee Stout (represented by Hemphill Fine Arts), whose monotype "See the Truth" (2002) a work that suggests a hand-drawn sign, has been gifted to the Hirshhorn by well-known DC area art collector Frederick P. Ognibene, who also donated Patrick Wilson's "1 P.M." (2003), a vertical triptych of subtle shades of grey and cream.

The Hirshhorn recently has received fifteen new acquisitions/donations and many of these works are currently on view in the museum as part of "Gyroscope," a program of dynamic, frequently changing presentations of the Hirshhorn's permanent collection.

Stout joins an extremely rare club: DC area artists in the permanent collection of one of DC's premier museums.

Porn Nostalgia

In response to my posting about Video and Art and what happened to porn theatres, a DC Art News reader (who also happens to be a terrific photographer) emails me the following nostalgia:

Your post made me nostalgic for the old porn joints. Benny's Home of the Porno Stars was one of my favorites.

It was one of the "classier" looking porn theaters. As a high school student, I walked by frequently on the way to my mother's job. I never went in but the uniformed doorman always yelled invitations to engage in obscene acts. I always had a creative string of obscenities to yell back at him. I think he really enjoyed that. I know I did.

My high school internship was at the DC Police Dept. As the lowly, stipendless intern, I stood in long lines to fetch lunch for the guys in my office in exchange for free lunch. If I was picking up a particularly big order, one of the guys would meet me on the way back to help carry bags or pick up drinks.

One of the carry outs I frequented was next to a place with $.25 XXX peep shows. From time to time, exiting patrons would follow me down the pedestrian walk way between 7th & 9th Streets and jerk off.

It brought me great pleasure to have a uniformed officer suddenly appear and scare the bajeebas out of the jerk-offs. Since they were office guys, they really weren't going to do anything to the jerk-offs but it was fun to scare them.

Alas, video, the internet and gentrification have changed all that. Even the bath houses and most strip clubs have evaporated. Now everyone gets home made sin instead of store bought sin. It's a shame I tell ya!

Mori at Arlington

I've been hearing good stuff about Mori: An Internet-based Earthwork by Randall Packer, Ken Goldberg, Gregory Kuhn, Wojciech Matusik at the Arlington Arts Center and Jessica Dawson wrote a good piece on the show here.

"Mori" is an Internet-based installation that uses the earth's movement as a living part of the process. In this installation, minute movements of the Hayward Fault in California are detected by a seismograph, converted to digital signals, and transmitted via the Internet to the installation in Arlington.

The Exhibition runs through January 7, 2006 and there's a lecture titled "Network Art" by Randall Packer, this coming Thursday, December 8, at 7:00 pm.

More on stats

Truth Laid Bear reveals the silly stuff that some try to hide: stats!

It's pretty humbling too.

For example, based on number of average daily visits, DC Art News is currently ranked 657th in the world, just slightly ahead of the Baseball Crank and just behind Let it Bleed.

There are a couple of other visual art blogs on that page (which lists 501-1000 in the world).

One (a "national audience" Blog) is surprisingly just barely ahead of DC Art News but within striking distance.

And we're all easily whupped (virtually) by Pussy Talk, which comes in at number 531 with 1077 visits a day.

As far as I can figure it out, the highest ranked visual arts-related Blog in the world is Photographica ranking in at #494 with 1204 visits per day. If I am reading (and recognizing Blogs) these stats right, that would make DC Art News the 3rd highest ranked visual arts Blog in the Blogsphere!

And all that we post about (generally) is little ole DC stuff... and yet readers pop in from all over the world... is there a lesson for the Lame Stream Media there?

Here are the top 100 Blogs in the Blogsphere. I tried to figure out which were the top ranked DC-based Blogs and nearly became depressed in the process... either leftwingnuts or rightwingnuts or... nuts. There's probably someone good here that I am not recognizing as a DC area Blogger; if so, someone please let me know and my apologies in advance.

And if your Blog is not listed, then add it here.

These things really spin me off... If I said that NPR is going to cover an art show about an artist who is doing a whole exhibition about Mexican "Lucha Libre" (wrestling), where the artist takes his influences from an obsession with Mexican wrestlers and their masks. What would you think? Well... if you were slightly plugged in to the DC area art scene, you'd hopefully think Andrew Wodzianski and his recent Georgetown solo of Mexican wrestlers? Right? You'd be wrong, because NPR did not do a story of Wodzianski's elevation of Mexican wrestling to the realm of the fine arts in a gallery less than half an hour cab ride from the NPR studios, but instead sent a whole crew to the other side of the country to do a story about a photographer who takes shots of Mexican Lucha Libre and then has the exhibition in a bookstore! 

 And in case you're wondering, yes - we do blanket NPR with press releases about our shows. I am almost resigned to the fact that most of our area's museum curators all but ignore their own backyard; but Noah Adams - you're breaking my heart!

Talking about Mexico and Mexicans... it baffles me that the egg heads in the Democrat Party cannot foresee what every contemporary Latino/Hispanic knows in his or her heart: One day, not too far in the future, as the Hispanic population in the US continues to grow,  and because we are so diverse in thought, culture and perspectives, that one day, a decade or two from now, when Latino numbers make Latinos the largest ethnic minority in the US... the DNC will be shocked to "discover" that Latinos will not be obedient voters for the Democrat ticket only, and Latino/a politicians will run and win under the Republican party, and large percentages of the Latino vote will go to the right.

This will come as a shock to both the DNC and to their so called experts with a vowel in their last name but little otherwise of real knowledge of the immense diversity of the nations and peoples south of the US.  "They" are making and will continue to make the mistake of viewing Hispanics/Latinos as a monolithic "group", rather than the racially diverse, culturally tied by language and "some" customs, but NOT a single-think group of people.  As the millions continue to pour in from the southern border, expect the first warning shots to the DNC come from Hispanics/Latinos (mostly of Mexican ancestry) come from South Texas.

10 to 15 years from now... faster if the DNC continues to drift left.

Case in point: I know of not one single Cuban or Cuban-American "Lucha Libre" wrestler in the history of that sport... Although I did like the "El Santo" photo-comics when I was a teen in New York! They were awesome!

In Baltimore...

I'm going to swing by Baltimore tonight after I get off work at the gallery, and drop by the opening reception for Robert Stuart Cohen at the Light Street Gallery.

Afterwards, if I have time, I'm going to try to make it to the 14K Cabaret to see Little Orphan Fannie, which I hear is really funny.

Opportunity for Artists

Deadline: December 19, 2005

The Chesapeake Gallery at Harford Community College in Bel Air, MD invites you to submit drawing-related works, which use unexpected materials, are on unexpected surfaces, and/or have unexpected content for When you least expect, which is a juried drawing exhibition open to all artists, with preference given to artists working in the Mid-Atlantic states.

Please send no more than five slides and/or digital images and an SASE to:
Heidi Neff
Joppa Hall
Harford Community College
401 Thomas Run Road
Bel Air, MD 21015

Or email digital images or web addresses to hneff@harford.edu.

Notification letters/emails will be sent out January 10. Accepted work must be delivered by February 15, 2005. The exhibit runs from February 20 through March 16, with an opening reception on February 21 from 6:30-8:00 PM. The Chesapeake Gallery does not pay for any shipping.

Flashpoint Request for Proposals

The Cultural Development Corporation (CuDC) is requesting proposals for exhibitions in the Gallery at Flashpoint’s September 2006 – August 2007 season.

This request is open to artists, curators, arts organizations, galleries and/or anyone choosing to present contemporary work in any medium. All proposals must be received no later than 6 pm on Wednesday, January 11, 2006.

For more info contact:

Rebecca Lowery, Gallery Manager
Cultural Development Corporation
916 G Street, NW | Washington, DC 20001
202.315.1310 (fax)202.315.1303

Email: rebecca@culturaldc.org.

Also see some interesting views on this subject being currently discussed at Thinking About Art here.

Opportunity for Disabled Artists

Deadline for receipt of international entries: March 24, 2006.

"Transformation" call for art. VSA arts invites artists to reflect on the many ways art transforms our lives, focusing on the influence of education and disability. Open to artists (ages 22 and over) who are committed to their artistic progress and who have a physical, cognitive, or mental disability.

A distinguished jury will review two slides of earlier work and three slides of current work within the span of 5 years. Recent work entered must be at the onset of disability. An entry-specific artist statement should be included with slides.

No entry fee; round trip shipping expenses covered; selected artwork does not have to be framed. For eligible media and entry forms in English, Spanish, French and ASCII visit www.vsarts.org/transformation. Braille and large print available upon request.

Exhibit will debut in Washington, DC during June of 2006.

Contact: Stephanie Moore, director of visual arts, VSA arts at stephaniem@vsarts.org or 202-628-2800.

cIndy

cIndy Blog is a podcast dedicated to independent and contemporary arts. In the podcast, Christopher A. Shields interviews artists and curators.

So far he has interviewed several people including Dale Chihuly, as well as the curator of the current Andrea Zitell show; in addition he will be soon interviewing the Deputy Director of PS1.

Visit cIndy Blog often.

Hoya Article

The fair LiJia Gong interviews me for the Georgetown Hoya.

Read the interview here.