Touchstone

If you want to see 60 DC area artists all in one space (while you wait for the next Artomatic), then check out Touchstone Gallery's current show Double Vision, which is on now through Feb. 3, 2008.

Work by Mary Ott, Paul So, Cynthia Young, Alice Whealan, Jeanne Garant, Christine Cardellino, Janet Wheeler, Helen Corning, Marcia Coppel, Miriam Keeler, Mari DeMaris, Marie Straw, Melissa Widerkehr, Charles St. Charles, Walter Smalling, T. R. Logan, Kyoko Cox, Steve Alderton, Brian Martucci, Michael Lang, Emery Lewis, Chris Hutchinson, Marshe Hutchinson, Janathal Shaw, Malia Salam-Steeple, Antonia Macedo, Peter Karp, Dina Volkova, Helena Chenomazova, Maya Mackrandilal, Bill Bennett, Harriet Rosenbaum, Dina Rotklein, Harvey J. Kupferberg, Ulrich Stein, Rima Schulkind, Alice Bindeman, Aina Nergaard-Nammack, Lee Wayne Mills, Rosemary A. Luckett, Brigitte Pierrette Davis, Tory Cowles, and Kathy Beynette.

Sonya A. Lawyer at GRACE

About three years ago I came across the work of DC area photographer Sonya A. Lawyer and included her in a massive exhibition titled “Seven” that I curated for the Washington Project for the Arts/Corcoran. Then I lost contact with Lawyer's artwork.

And then last week I was invited to speak on contemporary art at the Greater Reston Arts Center in Reston, Virginia and came across the new work by Lawyer, which was on exhibition in GRACE’s beautiful new gallery spaces.

To say that I was simply impressed with the new directions in her work would be the first great understatement of 2008.

I was taken, absorbed, seduced, educated, revitalized and convinced that this talented photographer had accomplished a very intelligent marriage of her photographic skills, her gender and her culture, all succinctly wrapped up and presented for comment and absorption in this exhibition.

On view was a 21st century marriage of Mondrian design, African-American history, vintage photography, online appropriation, race relations, enviable presentation and well-honed artistic skills, and also a lesson on power and vision.

Oh yeah... and also an imaginative American photographer perhaps liberating the work of those earlier photographers on whose shoulders she stands, and also the subjects of their work.

Joanne Bauer, GRACE’s hard working curator told me that Lawyer had began collecting vintage photo albums of imagery of people of color from a variety of sources such as online auctions and antique stores.

Later Lawyer told me that after a couple of months of watching the online auctions, she realized that some participants would buy an album and then split apart the images in the album and re-sell them individually to make a larger profit.

She also told me that “the women, men, and children are for the most part nameless and only now known by their auction ID number and their seller’s quirky sign-on. The thought of families torn apart, albeit figuratively, and then sold to the highest bidder is very disturbing and repeats a very troubling part of history. Although I recognize my own complicity by participating in the auctions of my ‘ancestors,’ I do feel that I am rescuing the albums (people) I can, from further disturbance.”

Enter the power of art, as a healing process perhaps, for the artist and even for the nameless faces in Lawyer’s growing collection.

But this is not an easy step to take. She then struggled and says that as she looked over the albums for the past couple of years, she was never quite sure how to, and if she should, incorporate them into her own artistic practice.

At the GRACE show we now know that she did. And she succeeds triumphantly, and a key to the success is her presentation.

Lawyer has incorporated the vintage images into a very modern, Mondrianesque quilt-like presentation on fabric that manages to bridge modern ideas with the historical perspective of the Gee’s Bend quilters to deliver something new and refreshing and geometrical in contemporary photography.

She says that “In a quest to work with new materials, and because I never felt as I if was finding the right colors in fabric stores, I began hand-dying cotton fabric. The texture and the process finally felt right.”

The individuals chosen by Lawyer say something about her and about her focus. There are no victims in these images of a people who perhaps were being victimized by history when these photos were being taken almost a century ago. Instead, in the works on display are beautiful, empowered, and proud people, and one hard-looking individual that has known little fear of others in his hard life.

MR 096 (Cerulean Blue) from "Finding Authenticity (does anyone remember?)"
24" x 18", 2007, photo transfer on fabric by Sonya A. Lawyer

And curiously, as Lawyer says, except for the tell-tale signs of clothing and hairstyle, some of the photographs may have been taken “eight days ago instead of 80 years ago.”

Beautiful, empowered, and proud... not the kind of images that Hollywood and popular culture generally uses as historical references for people of color from decades in the past; not caricatures and stereotypes, but human and authentic. Lawyer notes that “their eyes twinkle with insight and intelligence as they gaze at the camera, dressed in their best, with hair perfectly coiffed.”

When one looks at old portrait photographs discarded to the bins of antique shops or the digital world of online auctions, we all seem to come up with the same questions about these long-forgotten and abandoned people. And Lawyer asks “What were their names? How long did they live? Where did they work? Were they religious? Who were their friends and lovers? And who were their enemies? Who disappointed them and discarded them like trash? And who did they truly trust and believe in?”

Unfortunately, we will never know the answers to those and many similar questions. But I submit that in rescuing them from the bins of discarded history, and incorporating them into the substrate of a new art process, and consciously marrying them into a historical presentation brought forth into a contemporary dialogue, Lawyer has not only rescued, but also liberated these images and given them the potentially infinite lifespan that great artwork delivers.

The exhibition at GRACE goes through February 16, 2008 and it is the kind of exhibition with the impact deserving of a trip to Reston, by both the public and Washington Post, Washington Times and Washington City Paper critics alike.

GRACE, under the leadership of John Alciati and Joanne Bauer has made a noticeable turn-around in the last couple of years after a handful of years of being slightly out of focus and even in confusion, and kudos to the current board, curator and President/CEO is well deserved.

Go to Reston and see this show.

Charles Albert Huckins' Favorite Artwork

This submission of a favorite artwork comes from Charles Albert Huckins, an active photographer in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area who has maintained the Stonelight Images web site for the continuous exhibition of his photography since 1999. He writes:

Although I, along with your other readers, have many favorite works of art, time and circumstances require me to narrow my submission down to two anonymous works few people have ever seen before.

Masquerade - © 2005 Charles Albert Huckins


Three Graces - ©2003 Charles Albert Huckins
Though virtually unknown, both of these works are priceless, in my opinion.

“Masquerade” is a painting on cinder block, replete with symbolism and, for me, is as enigmatic as the Mona Lisa. “Three Graces” is an ink drawing on enameled steel plate and has a dignity and simplicity of line that make it spell-binding. Although both are figurative works, they have all the energy and spontaneity of the abstract Gee’s Bend quilts, now so rightfully esteemed as icons of American folk art.

Both works were created by unknown former inmates of the Youth Correctional Facility of the District of Columbia Department of Corrections site in Lorton, Virginia. The entire prison facility was decommissioned in 2000 and has been owned and converted to other uses by Fairfax County since August, 2002.

What makes these remarkable works of art so unique at this time is the possibility of their being unavailable for future generations to appreciate firsthand.

In the process of transition from a prison complex to a multifaceted community resource, a number of intriguing artifacts within the prison’s walls have necessarily been destroyed. However, these two works of art, and several others scattered around the prison site, are still intact and salvageable.

Fairfax County is currently seeking input regarding the artistic value of these and other works before a final decision is made about whether or not to save them. Perhaps some of your credentialed readers might care to weigh in on the artistic merits of these works?

If any of your readers would like to express their opinions about the art-worthiness of these works in writing, I, as a volunteer assisting Fairfax County in the documentation of prison resources, will be happy to forward all such comments to the appropriate County authorities. I may be reached at cah@stone-light.com.

I will publicly testify that in my opinion these works not only merit being salvaged, but in doing so represent a triumph of art over adversity, in a sense.

Perhaps the Youth Correctional Facility of the District of Columbia Department of Corrections can simply isolate and protect these works, but leave them exactly where they are, maybe adding some wall text next to them so that future generations can be inspired and learn from the artwork of those who created it in far from enjoyable circumstances.

Elizabeth Whiteley's Favorite Artwork

Elizabeth Whiteley is a DC area artist whose work is already in the permanent collection of several museums. And she responds to my call for readers' favorite artwork. She writes:

It was wonderful, this past weekend, to get a start on the new creative year with my visit to the Hirshhorn Sculpture Garden to stand under the Kenneth Snelson "Needle Tower" and look up to the sky. With its cable and aluminum tube construction--held together with only a fragile tension -- it's reminder to me of the fragile relationships I have to other people and the remarkably strong structure that comes about as a result of our connections. It also sets the tone for a creative new year -- visual mysteries within mysteries to be discovered, uncovered, and made into objects and images.

Kenneth Snelson "Needle Tower"

Polish Artists

Stop by and experience "An Ideal Mix-Up," an exhibition of works by Polish and local DC area artists at the Nevin Kelly Gallery in DC next Saturday, January 26, 4 pm for a lecture by gallerist Nevin J. Kelly on the Polish artists featured in the gallery followed by refreshments.

Essentially this show is a group exhibition that includes works by the contemporary Polish artists that helped launch the gallery in May 2003 and the many local artists who have joined the gallery along the way.

The exhibition will feature works by DC area artists Sondra Arkin, Joan Belmar, Ellyn Weiss, Mary Chiaramonte and Laurel Hauler and by Polish artists Edward Dwurnik, Darek Pala, Krzysztof Kokoryn, Pawel Król, Lukasz Huculak and Michal Zaborowski.

The show will be on view in the gallery from now until February 24, 2008.

Wanna go to a Virginia opening tomorrow?

The University of Mary Washington Galleries in Frederiscksburg, Virginia presents Mid-Atlantic New Painting 2008 with an Opening Reception on January 24, 2008 5 - 7pm.

There will be also a presentation of awards and remarks by the juror, John B. Ravenal, Curator of modern and Contemporary Art, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. The exhibition runs through March 2, 2008.

Wanna go to an Arts Panel in DC tonight?

DC's Transformer Gallery kicks off the new year with Art School, Confidential: Rethinking Art Education, the 7th installment of their dynamic Framework Panel Series.

Art School, Confidential: Rethinking Art Education, which is free and open to the public, brings together "an esteemed group of area artists and professors in a dialogue about the influence of art schools in the lives of artists and on the direction of contemporary art-making within the larger arts landscape."

The panelists are:

- Billy Colbert (Adjunct Faculty, American University)

- Maggie Michael

- Brandon Morse (Associate Professor of Digital Media & Director of Graduate Studies in the Department of Art, University of Maryland, College Park, MD)

- Renee Stout

- Rex Weil (Professor of Art Theory, University of Maryland, College Park, MD)

And it is moderated by Dean Kessman (Assistant Professor of Photography, George Washington University), the panel discussion will be followed by a thirty minute question and answer segment with the audience.

Another Frida Show

In addition to the two Frida Kahlo type exhibitions coming to Philly that I mentioned yesterday, I was just told about this exhibition, so now make that three!

The Delaware Art Museum will present Frida Kahlo: Through the Lens of Nickolas Muray, an exhibition of nearly 50 photographs of Frida Kahlo, on view in the Brock J. Vinton Galleries February 2, 2008 - March 30, 2008. The show is courtesy of the collection of the Nickolas Muray Archives, and is part of a national tour over a two-and-a-half year period. The tour was developed and managed by Smith Kramer Fine Art Services, an exhibition tour development company in Kansas City, Missouri.

Cloverfield

Rob: [into shaky camera] My name is Robert Hawkins. Approximately seven hours ago some *thing* attacked the city. If you found this, if you're watching this then you probably know more about it than I do.

Saw Cloverfield last night and in spite of the online hype, and in spite that I usually love this kind of movies, and in spite of the cool trailers about the new Star Trek movie coming Xmas 2008, and maybe because of the fact that I shelled out $6.50 for a large popcorn which seemed to be the size of what a small popcorn used to be in the 90s (AMC, what's up with that?), I really didn't think much of the movie.

Why?

Cloverfield is a highly derivative mix of the Blair's Witch Project camera style married to the Godzilla movies with a sprinkling of "Gadzuki meets Alien" (tunnels included).

The Godzilla and Alien influence is just too much to overcome. Not just the rambling monster destroying a city, but then the monster's offspring is up and about biting people and then the people seem to then explode and perhaps host the new offspring as it goes forth and multiplies?

The decent special effects in the film of New York being torn apart by a seldom seen monster (until almost the end) with those psych effects derived a little from M. Night Shyamalan's "Signs," unfortunately then yield a silly looking monster a little too closely related to Kermit the Frog and those weird looking spidery-looking camel crickets that seem to infect every basement in the Greater DC region.

And the logic also fails at times... the main characters seem to have little trouble killing off the nasty crawly creatures that Godzilla the Cloverfield monster drops off to bite and multiply... but when a couple of supersonic USAF jets drop off two MOABs (the world's largest and most powerful conventional bombs) onto the monster, they just cover it in a convenient cloud of dust before it comes up unharmed.

If its offspring can be killed with a bat, how come Mom survives two MOABs without even missing a step or an inch of green skin?

And the last issue that bothered me is the Hud (the actor who is the cameraman in the movie) character spends most of the time yelling: "Rob! Rob! Where are you going?"

Nowhere.

This Saturday in DC

On Saturday January 26, from 4-6PM, Irvine Contemporary in DC will have the first Washington, DC projection screening of Paul D. Miller's acclaimed video, New York is Now, selected for the 2007 Venice Biennale.

Paul D. Miller (DJ Spooky), Film still from New York is Now, 2007, C-print

Frida Kahlo's coming to Philly

A while back I commented on the coup scored by the Philadelphia Museum of Art in getting on the Frida Kahlo bandwagon, and noted my amazement that no DC area museum was included in the tour - and yes, I know that Philly is only two hours from DC.

As most of you know, I am and have been a Fridaphile since I first came across Kahlo's work when I was 18 or 19 years old... read this essay about that particular obsession.

"Las Siete Fridas (The Seven Fridas)"
Pen and Ink Wash, F. Lennox Campello
Univ. of Washington Art School assignment circa 1980-1981
Collection of Seeds for Peace.
And thus my warranted excitement about the coming Kahlo exhibition at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Organized in celebration of the 100th anniversary of the her birth, this will be the first major Kahlo exhibition in the United States in nearly fifteen years. It includes over 40 of the artist's most important self-portraits, still lifes, and portraits from the beginning of her career in 1926 until her early death in 1954. The exhibition also features a selection of nearly 100 photographs of Kahlo and her husband Diego Rivera, by such well-known photographers of the period, such as Manuel Alvarez Bravo, Lola Alvarez Bravo, Gisele Freund, Tina Modotti, and Nickolas Muray. It opens February 20, and runs through May 18, 2008.

Also in the Kahlo spirit, Philadelphia's Projects Gallery will have an exhibition titled Frida and Me, Common Threads, which is of course inspired and aligned to the centennial exhibition of Frida Kahlo at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

In this show, four contemporary Latina/Hispanic artists, Doris Nogueira-Rogers, Michelle Angela Ortiz, Marilyn Rodriguez-Behrle, and Marta Sanchez present works that "reflect on the intertwining relationships between various identities and cultures of Latin American female artists."

I'm really looking forward to visiting both of these shows and will report on them later.



Frida and Me, Common Threads will be open from February 1- 23, 2008. The Opening Reception will take place on First Friday, February 1st, 2008 5-8 pm with a special reading from Las Gallas Artist Collective.

Blog Heat

Seattle's blogging art critic Regina Hackett is taking some undeserved blog heat after publicly asking a couple of blogging peers "if they wouldn't mind getting to the point faster."

Artists usually learn really quickly to develop a thick skin and must learn to graciously accept malicious criticism, constructive criticism and negative criticism.

Bloggers learn really quickly to dish out all three versions of the criticism; they/we certainly also need to develop thick skins in order to accept (as in Hackett's online criticism of two fellow bloggers) constructive criticism.

And constructive criticism is definitely not an "attack" as has already been written about Hackett.

In 1997 the Washington Post's art critic Ferdinand Protzman wrote a small review about a solo show that I had in Georgetown and wrote:

Fraser Gallery is showing charcoal drawings of nudes by F. Lennox Campello. The subjects are mostly women Campello found on X-rated Web sites. He then arranged to meet and draw them. The drawings are very dark and the artist's abundant use of shadow effects can be heavy-handed and irritating. But in a few of the works he manages to find a delicate balance between the black charcoal and cream-colored paper resulting in a grainy, film-noir effect, making his subjects, traffickers in mass-consumption prurience, seem tough but vulnerable, like a flowering plant in a sexual wasteland.

I was delighted that the review-poor WaPo had chosen to review my show (and unfortunately since then the Post has further reduced gallery reviews from weekly to twice a month) and sent Ferd a thank you note, and as most of you know, proudly wear the fact that my drawings can be irritating!

Another Nude Bush Update

Another update and a call for you to remember when the below painting by Kayti Didriksen caused all that uproar at Artomatic and became the Internet's most downloaded image?

It became the most popular contemporary political art of all time.

Kayti tells me that her world famous painting has been chosen to be illustrated in an American college textbook: Art Appreciation by Debra J. Dewitte, Ralph M. Larmann & M. Kathryn Shields.

Color Invitations Photos

Jeffry Cudlin has some good installation photos of Color Invitations here.

VSA arts’ Call for Entries: Derivative Composition

VSA arts is seeking visual artists with disabilities ages 18 and up whose work is inspired by the performing arts for “Derivative Composition,” an international juried art exhibition that will be on display at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., from May 29-July 20, 2008. Two-and three-dimensional art, digital art, installations, video and film, and other media that draw inspiration from music, theater, or dance are eligible. Submissions must have been completed in the last five years and after the onset of disability.

Applications will be accepted through March 21, 2008. For more information, please visit www.vsarts.org/derivativecomposition or call (202) 628-2800.

Via Simbolica

Via Simbolica is an exhibition curated by the very talented DC area curator Sarah Tanguy, and features works by Liset Castillo, Justine Reyes and Jose Ruiz.

Reception & Panel Discussion: Thursday, January 24, 4:30-6pm. The show goes through February 15, 2008.

St. Mary's College of Maryland
Boyden Gallery / Montgomery Hall
St. Mary's City, MD 20686
Tel: 240.895.4246

Color Invitations Video Walkthrough

WPA Artist Directory 2008-2009

The WPA Artist Directory is not only the definitive listing of established and emerging contemporary artists throughout the Washington region, but one of the best advertising deals on the planet for both galleries and individual artists.

It is seen by more than 2,000 galleries, curators, and interested art patrons. Registering has never been easier. Artists can reserve a space through the WPA website and mail in slides or CDs later, or upload their image files instantly.

Sign up here.

Last night

And we actually had a standing room only crowd last night at the Greater Reston Arts Center for my talk on Contemporary Art.

Cool uh?

I also managed to check out the current exhibit at GRACE, which has a very powerful two person show of works by Anna Fine Foer and Sonya A. Lawyer and also a really good painting exhibition by Ann Williams at the Market Street venue. More on both later, but Lawyer's works are especially powerful.

Art with a Twist Talk is Tonight

Nu, so it stopped snowing... and the roads are clean (I just drove from DC to Reston)... and from 7:30-9pm I will be doing a special presentation at the Greater Reston Arts Center in Reston, Virginia as part of their continuing education programs.

Space is limited and reservations are requested. Call 730.471.9242. Details here.

I will be doing a quick and fun walk through art history, all leading to contemporary art, where I will be discussing the work of some well known art superstars and also some Greater DC area artists.

Martinis are also involved. See ya there!