Wednesday, February 15, 2006
New photo auction record set
A rare print taken by US photography pioneer Edward Steichen has set a new world record for the highest price ever paid for a photograph at auction.
The photograph (titled Pond-Moonlight ) was taken in New York in 1904 and was auctioned by Sotheby's for $2.9m, more than doubling the previous record.
It was put up for sale by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which has another copy in its collection.
Assimilation/Dissolution
There will be an artists' talk (Jeffry Cudlin, Christopher Hoeting and Jefferson
Pinder) and reception for Assimilation/Dissolution this Thursday, February 16th. from 6:00pm to 8:00pm at Flashpoint.
Tuesday, February 14, 2006
Gimp
If you see me limping around, it is not from having worn my knee out from giving someone that once promised and well-deserved ass kicking.
This story is nothing compared to Tentacles but...
Today as I was getting dressed, I was barefooted, and as I have hardwood floors, managed to pick up a huge sliver in my left foot.
Luckily, I was standing next to my bed, and so I collapsed on top of it while holding my foot aloft, as one of the key things to do in the event of a sliver attack, is to isolate the attacked limb, lest we break the sliver and have to resort to emergency needle surgery.
So I managed to preserve the sliver intact on the bottom of my foot.
Next, what is needed is good light, and good vision, in order to extract the attacking sliver.
So, holding my foot aloft, I hopped over to the bathroom, and turned the lights on.
I then lifted my left leg, in order to do the acrobatic act of remaining balanced while exposing the sole of my left foot.
I however, failed to account for the bathroom door handle, and smashed my kneecap on the handle as I lifted the leg up, while attmepting to balance on the other foot.
Now I am really hopping on one leg and screaming bloody murder, as my knee complains bitterly at the unwarranted smash-up.
Eventually I manage to settle down, and to my relief the splinter is still whole and sticking out of my foot. Luckily, in a paradoxical way, it is a massive splinter, which is bad for the pain that it is delivering to my foot, but good for the fact that I can just grab it with my fingers and not spend several hours looking for the tweezers.
And so I grab it out, and I think that I performed a clean extraction.
Pheeew!
However, this is a massive rain-forest sized chunk of wood, and some blood begins to seep out. Since I do not know what sort of postmodern germs are now ferociously attempting entry into my blood stream, I decided to put some first aid cream on the wound.
Half an hour later and I still haven't found the cream, so I decide to use that bottle of iodine that has somehow managed to stay with me since it came with my first aid kit in Navy bootcamp eons ago.
Do they even make iodine anymore?
So I open the small bottle of iodine, and this bottle is so old, that the little plastic tip that dips into the iodine just falls off as I open it, landing squarely on top of my pants, after caressing my suit jacket on its downward spiral.
So now I have an iodine track on my jacket and on my pants; and a ruined suit, as iodine (as far as I know) does not come off.
I eventually put some of this prehistoric stuff on my wound, and as everyone knows, iodine stings like a M@#$%^&*^er.
I pretend it is the pain from all those germs being killed by whatever uberchemical makes up iodine (isn't iodine an element by itself?).
I think that I got all the wood out, but now my foot still hurts like crazy.
A day in the life of a gallerist.
Opening at the Katzen Tonight!
Body Languages: Mary Coble and Robert Flynt at the Katzen Center of the American University Museum.
Opens tonight, February 14th from 6-9pm. The exhibition runs through March 12, 2006.
See ya there!
Manon Cleary
To: All Washington, DC Museum Curators
Subj: Manon Cleary
Question: Now that one of you gave Sam Gilliam his well-overdue and richly deserved retrospective at the Corcoran, when is one of you going to step up and give Manon Cleary a museum show in her own hometown?
Does she have to die first?
Sincerely,
Me
P.S. From 2004.
Stripes
Osuna Gallery in Bethesda opens a new exhibition this coming Saturday, February 18, 2006, 2-6:30pm showcasing the opening of major works by Washington Color School artists Gene Davis, Tom Downing and Howard Mehring. The show runs through April 1, 2006.
Grants anyone?
The College Art Association assists artists financially in completion of MFA and Ph.D. programs. Grants of up to $5,000 are awarded to individual artists. Deadline is ongoing. For information, contact:
The College Art Association
Fellowship Program
275 7th Ave.
New York, NY 10001
Phone: (212) 691-1051
Website: www.collegeart.org
Bethesda Artists Markets
The Bethesda Arts & Entertainment District is currently accepting applications for the June 10 and July 8, 2006 Bethesda Artist Markets.
Bethesda Artist Markets are one-day events featuring 30 local and regional artists in the Bethesda Place Plaza. Applications can be downloaded from their website.
To request a hardcopy, please send a self-addressed stamped envelope to:
Bethesda Artist Market
c/o Bethesda Arts & Entertainment District
7700 Old Georgetown Road
Bethesda, MD 20814
The Bethesda Artist Market will be held from 10am – 5pm in the Bethesda Place Plaza located at 7700 Wisconsin Avenue in downtown Bethesda. The Bethesda Artist Market is produced by the Bethesda Arts & Entertainment District and is free to the public.
Artists must be 18 years of age or older. All fine art and fine craft are accepted including, but not limited to: painting, drawing, photography, sculpture, fiber art, digital, mixed media, clay, wearable fiber, furniture, glass, jewelry, leather, metal, paper, ceramics and wood are accepted. Reproductions are accepted. All booth space are 10’x10’ and all artists must provide their own white 10’X10’ tent. No staking is allowed and artists must bring their own weights.
Each artist must submit five slides of their work and one slide of their booth, application, a non-refundable entry fee of $10 and a separate check of $50 for the booth fee. Please call 301/215-6660, Ext. 17 with any questions.
Wanna go to an opening tonight?
The Physicality of Ballet is the MFA Thesis Exhibition by Pamela Nabholz, on exhibition from February 14 - 26, 2006, and the artist's reception is today, February 14, from 4 - 7pm at the Dimock Gallery, Lower Lisner Auditorium, George Washington University.
The WPA\C Experimental Media Series
Deadline: March 1, 2006
The WPA/C is calling all video, performance, and sound artists for their Experiemental Media Series - No membership in the WPA/C is required to enter.
Works from this open call will be selected by Kathryn Cornelius & Djakarta, and will be viewed on May 24th from 7:00 - 9:00 pm. This is the final night of a three-night WPA\C experimental media series held in the Corcoran Gallery of Art's Armand Hammer Auditorium.
Download calls here.
The WPA\C Experimental Media Series:
7:00 - 9:00 pm at the Corcoran Gallery of Art's Auditorium
Night One - March 30th - Curated by Kathryn Cornelius
Night Two - April 26th - Curated by Djakarta
Night Three - May 24th - Juried submissions from Open Call by Kathryn
Cornelius & Djakarta
Richard on Muhammad's Pics
The WaPo's former (and now semi-retired) Chief Art Critic discusses a little art history of images of the Islamic prophet that exist in our area and in many Islamic nations.
Read the WaPo article here.
Monday, February 13, 2006
Opportunity for People with Nokia Phones
Deadline: February 28, 2006
Nokia is sponsoring an online photography competition of photos taken with their phones.
All submissions are displayed on the competition website, which also includes attempts by the professionals to "shoot new" using Nokia's N90 camera phone.
This competition is free to enter.
Download complete details and submit your image today though this website.
WPA/C Auction a huge success
The threat of snow didn't stop buyers and collectors (although it stopped me, and I am sorry to say that I chickened out at the last minute and didn't go) and I am told that that WPA/C auction had an amazing turnout and the highest number of sales of artwork in auction history.
The pieces that didn't get any bids and are still available are listed on their website and will be sold at their starting bidding price.
There is available work by Jim Goldberg, Paula Crawford, Emily Hall, Carlton Newton, Richard Roth, Amy Gartrell, Tom Texas Holmes, Fritz Welch, Laurel Farrin, Jason Gubbiotti, James Hilleary, Madeleine Keesing, David Kohan, Carroll Sockwell, Nancy Blum, Myron Helfgott, Paul Ryan, Diego Sanchez, R.M. Fischer, George Herms, Marcus Lutyens, Trevor Amery, Michael Fitts, Marie Ringwald, Anne Slaughter, and Betsy Stewart.
Secrets on the air
That spectacular success story known as Frank Warren will be on the Kojo Nmandi show today on WAMU 88.5 to discuss his amazing PostSecret project.
Tomorrow, there will be a special one day only PostSecret event at the American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore. Warren will have a couple hundred postcards on display, most, never before seen, He will also be talking about the project and signing books. The are also going to try to get the new PostSecret DVD playing.
Update: Listen to Warren on the air here.
Sunday, February 12, 2006
Chawky Frenn Opening
The professor opened his third solo exhibition with us to packed crowds this last Friday who came to see Frenn's latest. Below is the main gallery wall just before the opening:
Frenn is not an easy artist to sell because his work is so visceral in nature, and without an ounce of irony. In fact, in the three solo exhibitions that he has had with us, every single painting that has sold, has been acquired by either collectors from Europe or from New York. We've yet to find the Washington, DC collector with the courage to hang work so loaded with political or social commentary.
And Frenn, and his difficult work, is a perfect example of the many different parts that go into running an independent fine arts gallery with a focus and cultural dialogue that is serious and committed to developing both presence and substance.
He certainly packs the gallery with visitors, and it is obvious that his students adore him as a teacher, and the critical press has been all over him in the last few years, but it takes a special collector to hang work that is presented by a master painter who revels in delivering difficult subjects and harsh topic after harsh topic.
The New York Times once wrote that "Chawky Frenn is a painter who has nailed down the figurative mode, and this accomplishment gives him the license to convey anything he wants, including the grand theme: the elusive meaning of human existence."
The Washington Post wrote that his work "is most effective, however, not when it's taking rather obvious swipes at American imperialism... but when it's making subtler hints about xenophobia, homophobia, racism, sexism and other tools of oppression."
The show runs through March 8, 2006.
Snowbound
For a long time it looked like it wasn't going to stick, but it kept falling and falling and last night it looked like this:
And this morning is pretty deep out there; this is the view from my second floor window and looking out towards the front of the house:
And now a couple of things for sure:
- Althought the Soviet Socialist Republic of Montgomery County is the highest taxed county in the United States of America, and property taxes went up 69% last year, and Kommissar Duncan's appetite for more taxes continues to be legendary, my street will probably never be cleaned. I can only recall one time that it was actually cleaned, and then it was by the third or fourth day.
- One reason for that may be because at some point today, one of my neighbors will attempt to leave the cul-de-sac where we all live, and get his or her car stuck in the slight uphill, forever blocking any exodus for the rest of us, or any entry to any snow-cleaning truck that may actually get lost and wander into our street to clean it. This has happened every single year that I have lived here. I haven't been outside yet, but I bet that there's a stalled, stuck car out there already.
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