Ten years of Jessica Dawson

The WaPo's Galleries' critic, Jessica Dawson, has an almost nostalgic article in the Post today as it is her 10th anniversary writing for the paper.

Jessica and I have had a very interesting professional relationship over the years. I first met her when she was a young writer for the City Paper and used to swing by the original Fraser Gallery in Canal Square in Georgetown. Back then there were seven galleries in the square, and the 3rd Friday openings were packed with people. Most of those galleries closed over the years, Fraser relocated to Bethesda, Parish expanded into the Fraser space, MOCA went through the loss of Clark & Hogan and it is still there, as is Alla Rogers and her almost new neighbor Cross MacKenzie.

At one point we were even writing for the same editor, as for a shining short period of time the WaPo had several writers, including Jessica and yours truly, writing online gallery reviews for the brand spanking new washingtonpost.com site. Imagine that! Online art reviews to expand the WaPo's print section's art reviews. Ahhhh... the good ole days.

When she first started writing for the print version of the paper, as she notes, her "prose smacked harsh" and many of us gallerists were left with our mouth open in some of her reviews. One former Dupont Circle area gallerist kicked her out of her gallery and prohibited her from ever returning - they've since made up.

As she notes in today's article, over the years she "wised up and recognized that there are kinder ways of saying "shape up" than likening art to "a dental hygienist scaling your tartar with a metal pick." Ouch! I don't remember that one.

Also over the years I have been an avid follower of her writing, and protested when it was reduced in appearances (she used to write every Thursday). I recall an angry email received from Eugene Robinson, who then used to anchor the Style Section. I had complained to him that Dawson's column had been missing for two weeks. He responded with a terse: "She's gotta go on vacation sometime!" I wrote back in an even terser note saying: "It would be nice if you told us that she'll be back in two weeks, as you do for all other columns!"

Through this blog I've trashed, praised, criticized, admired, hated, defended, attacked and also liked Jessica's writing at different times and on an individual review basis. I've been left astounded, educated, surprised and pleased by what she has written over the years, but I've always read it. "Jessica goes yard!" announced one of my banners; "Jessica off the mark... again" reads another

Ten years is like a 100 years in gallery-years, and the legacy of Washington art galleries to Washington art and artists has been documented in print by Dawson at the Post, and I for one, still look forward to her columns and how they make me react.

Jessica, I look forward to 10 more years of me delivering one-voiced arguing, or yelling at your writing, or admiring your points, or agreeing with your views, or disagreeing with your conclusions, etc., but always reading your words.

Un abrazo sincero.

Opportunity for Photographers

Deadline: December 17, 2010

Call for entries for the Fifth Annual Photography Exhibition at the Capitol Hill Arts Workshop. Entries must be received by December 17, 2010. The Capitol Hill Arts Workshop is seeking submissions of any and all photographic processes, black and white or color, traditional or alternative, material or digital, time-based, performance based, any work exploring the act of photography. The exhibition will open on January 8, 2011 from 5:00-7:00 p.m. and will run through February 4, 2011. Cash awards will be announced at the opening.

The juror for the exhibition is Bruce McKaig, local artist and art educator. Bruce McKaig chairs the Photography Department at CHAW and teaches at Georgetown University and the Smithsonian Associates. He has exhibited nationally and internationally for over thirty years and every once in a while reviews a DMV show in this blog. For more information about his work, please visit his website here.

HOW: Submit the following:
➢ Three to five jpegs on a CD
➢ Image inventory list specifying title, size, medium, date and price (or insurance value)
➢ Contact info including a mailing address, phone number and email
➢ An entry fee of $25.00 for up to five images, payable to CHAW

WHERE: Please hand deliver or mail these materials to:

CHAW
545 7th Street SE
Washington DC 20003

Jury Duty

At the BlackRock Center for the Arts to select the exhibits for the gallery for September 2011 through August 2012.

More later...

Wanna go to an opening this Friday?

Curated by Zoma Wallace and featuring work by Jamea Richmond Edwards, Kristen Hayes, Amber Robles-Gordon, and Danielle Scruggs, FOCUS GROUP: Four Walls, Four Five Women opens at the DC Arts Center (2438 18th Street, NW, Washington, DC 20009) this Friday with an opening reception from 7-9PM.

Presented by the Black Artists of DC (BADC), this exhibition "seeks to spark a visual discussion between artworks created by black women and a verbal dialogue between those that view and purchase artwork. The topic of discussion is material. What are artists using? What materials do they feel drawn to? How does black femininity affect or reflect itself in the chosen materials, if at all? How does femininity affect the delivery and/or reception of the message?

The voice of each woman in this exhibition is heard primarily in material form. Embracing both visual and verbal discussion, FOCUS GROUP: Four Walls, Four Five Women hopes to determine how effectively unique material languages are deciphered/valued/appreciated/ or acquired by a universal audience and market."

Through January 9, 2011.

Small Works at the Art League

Selected by Emily Conover, who is an adjunct professor of art at the University of Maryland, where she teaches drawing and painting, the Art League's Small Works show, and much like the Target Gallery's 5x5 show reviewed here, proves that if the talent is there, size doesn't really matter in art.

Conover awarded the Eleanor Boudreau Jordan Award to Untitled I a very cool silver gelatin print by Andrew Zimmermann. The Second Place Award went to a superb oil titled Playing with Dandelion by Kim Stenberg. She also passed Honorable Mentions to the entries by Diane Blackwell, Kathy Clowery, Marcia Dale Dullum, Avis Fleming, Janice Sayles, Jean Schwartz and Xiaolei Zhang and from the 530 works of art entered, she accepted 158 for the show.

With prices as low as $35 for an original work of art (check out the images, titles and prices here), this is a terrific show to visit and come away with either an unique art present or a small addition to one's own art collection.

In this show I was once again floored by the technical ability of Wendy Donahoe, whose entry titled Haley is a breath-taking small graphite portrait that jumps out of its tiny environment because of the artistic prowess of Donahoe.

The woman doesn't just draw well, she draws spectacularly well and then she manages to go beyond being simply a talented hand and also manages to cross the line into the realm of solid composition and that psychological "it" that is so hard to capture in a portrait.

Keep your eye on Donahoe and somebody better go buy this drawing now.

The tiny monumentality of Xiaolei Zhang's Single Pear, a gorgeous little oil painting that you can pick up framed for $80, underscores the fact that most good painters know: a tiny, small oil can be just as difficult and challenging to deliver well as a large painting. In fact you can even make the case that it is even harder because of the scale.

Zhang's pear succeeds because Zhang knows how to paint and now the challenge becomes delivering with skill on a small scale. It is a success in this case.

The image here is terrible (it should have been scanned rather than photographed), but I also liked T. Pham's Beach Season Begins, a brilliant little pastel that crams a lot of visual information into one very small piece. Even up close hanging on the wall, it has the feel of a large work, not an easy trick to accomplish in such a small scale.

I also liked U. Dehejia's gorgeous employment of wet on wet watercolors to submit an impressive flash of color in this tiny landscape.

And I have no idea how H. Rodkin's diminutive photograph Mist Of The Potomac manages to come across like a giant Thomas Cole painting, but it does.

The show goes through December 6, 2010.

Chicken Wars

I am surprised to report that Giant's rotisserie chicken is much better tasting than Whole Foods.

Little Junes in the Fall

Anderson Lennox Campello, c. November 2010. NFS

Aaron Gallery to re-open

DC's Aaron Gallery, which for years and years operated on Connecticut Avenue, a couple of blocks north of Dupont Circle, has announced the Grand Opening of their new location, and they're inviting art lovers to join them as they celebrate with a reception to be held November 18, 2010 (6 pm to 8 pm).

You gotta R.S.V.P. to info@aarongallerydc.com or 202.234.3311 by November 17th in order to get on the list and be let in at the door.

AARON GALLERY
2101 L Street NW, 10th Floor
Washington, DC 20037
www.aarongallerydc.com

The Lasting Power of Rockwell

The crowds at the Norman Rockwell show at the Smithsonian American Art Museum have prompted the museum to extend its hours during the upcoming holidays.

Since "Telling Stories: Norman Rockwell From the Collections of George Lucas and Steven Spielberg" opened in July, attendance at the museum has soared 30 percent.

Read that story here.


Norman Rockwell. The Problem We All Live With. 1963.
Read Ruby Bridges' (the little girl in the above historical masterpiece) modern valiant efforts here.

And read why traditional art critics stuck on "old thinking" and who haven't hit the reboot button when it comes to Rockwell, are wrong. Read that here.

Opportunity for Artists

Deadline: November 15, 2010

Art in Hand™ is an arts publisher looking to bring their City Project Decks of cards to the city of Washington, DC. They are seeking 54 artists who are currently living and working in the Washington, DC area to participate in their next City Project Deck. Read more below:

The Washington, DC Project will be a deck of fully functional playing cards where each individual card in the deck (plus 2 jokers) is rendered in the typical style of the contributing artist. The project will create widespread exposure for participating artists while producing a unique, entertaining, functional and green product for the city of Washington, DC.

We are seeking artists of 2-dimensional art in any style or medium and from as many different neighborhoods and districts within Washington, DC area as possible.

Accepted artists will be assigned one card from the deck and asked to produce an original piece of work that clearly represents their designated card, that represents some aspect (be it overt or subtle) of Washington, DC and that is created in their own unique style.

There will be no fee for participation but accepted artists will be asked to sign a letter of commitment, a confidentiality agreement and a ‘right to reproduce’ agreement as well as submit a high res TIFF of the image in exchange for a one-time royalty payment in product. Artists are free to keep their original image.

Interested artists should submit an email before November 15th, 2010 to info@artinhandcards.com, include a short bio and a link to a website where their work can be easily viewed or 2-3 sample image files representative of their work. Please include the title: Washington, DC Project Artist in the subject line of your email.

If you are accepted to the project, we will contact you after November 22nd, 2010 and send you an information package that should answer all your questions.

For more information or to view other City Projects, please visit their website at www.artinhandcards.com.

Wanna go to an open studio(s) tomorrow?

Tiny masterpieces in Alexandria

We all stopped by the Torpedo Factory last weekend, mostly wanting to check out the Ofrenda: Art for the Dead exhibition. This was an exhibition of local artists' shrines, altars, paintings, photography, music, dancing, magic and spoken word based on the Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) Mexican tradition.

In the process we also discovered some tiny masterpieces in the current exhibitions at the Art League Gallery and the always interesting Target Gallery.

At Target, and through Nov. 21st is "5 x 5 Exposed," which is an exhibition of small photographic works (in a tiny 5 x 5 inches format) by 46 artists from around the country, Iceland and Australia. The show was juried by the amazing Kathleen Ewing, considered by most of us to be one of the most influential persons on the planet when it comes to photography. She writes that:

"At a time when in some circles of the photography art world bigger is better, it is fascinating to view the remarkable range of photographs which have been produced to fit the relatively small dimension of 5 x 5 inches. The photographers in this exhibition have accepted the challenge of a limited format within which they have succeeded in expressing their personal vision. Not only did they print small; they let their imagination create small images.

I found an unanticipated diversity of subject matter in the photographs submitted for this exhibition. It was a refreshing experience to view images where size is irrelevant and content is paramount. By the very nature of their intimate scale, the visitors to this exhibition will need to get up close and personal to fully experience the creativity of these artists and the magic of the photographic process."

I agree, and it was refreshing to see the anti-thesis of Teutonic-sized photography, most of which follows the Dali maxim of "if you can't paint well, then paint big." You can view the selected photographs here.

I particularly liked Missouri's Ann Dinwiddie Madden piece titled Fishing, one of those Seinfeldian photographs about nothing that seem to capture a lot in the image.

That is until we get drawn closer and closer into the tiny image and discover the man to the right and the reason for the title.

I also liked all of California's Therese Brown's tea toned cyanotypes on fabric and the pinhole C-print as well as Florida's Joseph Mougle's purposefully and vastly overexposed series.

Even in this tiny format and in spite of the urban subject, Mougel's entries almost show like modern icons. The exaggerated contrast delivers an unexpected elevation of the subject from the mundane to some sort of unexpected sublimation of almost saint-like status.

The major surprise to me was to find five very elegant architectural photos by the DMV's own Deb Jansen, a fiber artist who now shows remarkable facility with the camera as well.

Overall, this is quite a satisfying show and well worth the trip to Old Town Alexandria. If you are a fan of the early Sally Mann, you will also like Iceland's Agnieszka Sosnowska's very strong entries. If you liked Joyce Tenneson's most recent work with dead flowers you will love North Carolina's Joel Leeb's intelligent exploration of this subject.

Ohio's Savitri Maya Sedlacek's work falls in the fan of Chan Chao's portrait work category, as Sedlacek offers a strong and powerful selection of portraits of India's Kolkota School children.

And since I've let the Washington Post's erudite chief art critic Blake Gopnik influence my words in the above couple of paragraphs, I think that Gopnik would approve of California's Sky Bergman's series on Japanese subways. They offer an intimate view of the denizens of the subway, capture their boredom, or attempts to pass the time, but always in a manner that seems to make the act of taking their photo illicit somehow. Only the lady to the right of the dude checking for reception in his cell phone seems to have caught Sky in the act.

My absolute favorite in the show? Virginia's Hugh Jones Vie de Boheme, a gorgeous nude which is illustrated by words projected onto the body. If you know my own work, then you know why I would love that tiny, sexy image with writing on the body. The unachievable and fantasized critic objectivity flies out the window with this photo; well done Hugh!

Next: Tiny successes at the Art League Gallery.

Kostabi Documentary

His career collapsed after the art market went bust in 1990; in 1993 his publicist and close friend, Andrew Behrman, was convicted of conspiracy to defraud after selling fake paintings bearing Mr. Kostabi’s signature. That incident raises an intriguing question: What is the difference between an original and a forgery, if the original wasn’t executed by the artist whose name was signed to the canvas but by a crew of factory workers? Mr. Kostabi had already placed ads selling “original forgeries by the world’s greatest con artist.”

Read the NYT's review of the new documentary on Mark Kostabi here.

Getting ready for Miami

In the last day and a half I finished, matted and framed four large drawings for the Miami art fairs this coming December. The big ones go to Mayer Fine Art. Last year I sold about six or seven of these in Miami through MFA.

Then I gotta check on the status and maybe do some new ones of the tiny drawings that I love to do (one to three inches in size) and that seem to sell so well at the art fairs, and send a whole bunch of them to Projects Gallery.

Both these hardworking galleries will be in Miami for the art fairs. If you want some free passes to some of the fairs, drop me an email.

I noticed that the number of DMV galleries doing the Miami art fairs have decreased substantially this year, while the number of DMV non-profits are realizing what commercial galleries have known for years: you got to do the art fairs if you want to move artwork, be noticed by curators and museums and do a lot of hard work on behalf of artists.

Heard on Univision

While watching the red carpet pre-show to the Latin Grammys, the guy who is the master of ceremonies (I think his name is Eugenio Derbez... this guy) confesses to interviewer Raul from El Gordo y La Flaca that one of his jokes about the Arizona law had been censured from the show.

El Gordo insisted on hearing the joke; he stated that this was the preview to the show, and thus it would be OK.

MC dude says: "You know, that new Arizona law against illegal aliens has sent most of them packing away from the state."

El Gordo looks at him.

"So they all went back to where they came from... L.A."

El Gordo says, "hurry, the show is about to start!"

Thank you!


To all US veterans, both those who have served and those who are serving in all corners of the planet while we're home with our families. A well-deserved thank you to all the soldiers, sailors, airmen/women, Marines and Coasties.

Below is Petty Officer Third Class Lenny Campello back in 1975!


And then Lieutenant Commander Lenny Campello back in 1992!

Gopnik on FotoWeek awards

The WaPo's chief art critic, Blake Gopnik, succumbs once again to the art critic's maxim: "it's gotta be 'new' to be good":

Overall, the FotoWeek awards are a terrible disappointment. You've seen almost all their pictures many times before, in almost any publication you could name. The shot by Ansett, a commercial photographer from England, is one of the few that demands, and repays, closer looking.

Read his take on an excellent Richard Ansett photo which is part of the FotoWeek DC International Awards, now on view at the Corcoran Gallery of Art.

I understand and to a point agree with Blake when he tells us that we have "seen almost all their pictures many times before, in almost any publication you could name." I figure that by now I've been looking at artwork seriously for around 30-35 years. In that time both Blake and I have seen our share of gorgeous landscapes, multi-colored leaves in a stream, that same stream shot so that the water is frozen in one instant of time, or caught over many minutes of time; breath-taking sunsets and sunrises; close-ups ad nauseam of architectural details (perhaps ad infinitum actually) and parts of the body; the body itself in a million interpretations, etc.

But, unlike Blake, I never seem to grow tired of a really good take on the human nude, or an exceptional take on the landscape, or an intelligent view of something tried many times over (such as this brilliant photo by Marissa Long).

And while we agree on some really exceptional takes, such as Richard Ansett's photo or the even better photo by Jenny Yang, we also disagree violently on what I call "Seinfeldism" or essentially, photography about nothing, such as this yawning snap by Raul Flores. It's a snap of nothing that means nothing, records nothing and whose main contribution to modern photography is nothingness.

But then again, I sort of "read" Gopnik as more of a Seinfeldian (at least when it comes to photography), and it is fun to see when we do come together on art and when he (and/or the art he likes) leaves me yawning.

But I do like and applaud his exploration of FotoWeek DC. Go Blake!

Carlin Quotes

"The future will soon be a thing of the past."

- George Carlin

Residencies at Arlington Arts Center

AAC is pleased to announce the availability of seven studios in its Resident Artist Program,

Part of AAC's mission is to provide subsidized studio space for emerging artists in the DC metropolitan area; two-year leases may be renewed, but cannot exceed 6 years. The terms for eight Resident Artists have come to an end. We regret having to say goodbye to them, but we are excited to welcome new artists to the AAC community.

Anne Goodyear will head the review panel.

After applications are submitted-the deadline is December 3-they are reviewed by a distinguished panel of arts professionals. Ms. Goodyear is Curator of Prints and Drawings at the National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC. Notification will be by December 13.

To apply: Vist AAC's website and Studios page where you can learn more about the program and download the Description and Application forms.

Opportunities for Artists

Deadlines: December 13, 2010

Two exhibitions - Space and Fame at the Paul Robeson Galleries - Rutgers University, New Jersey.

SPACE: With the recent announcement that National Aeronautics and Space Administration (or NASA - best known as the agency that put the first man on the moon), is about to end its moon program for the foreseeable future it seems timely to curate an exhibition about the issues relating to space exploration. We are seeking proposals for work relating to the topic of ‘space’, and this may include: Perceptions of future life based in space, Space agencies, i.e. NASA, Russian space agency, the race for space, NASA by products, Objects in space - moon, sun, stars, planets, asteroid, meteor, galaxy, Ways of viewing space from earth- telescopes, satellites, The life of an astronaut, The possibility of other life forms in space, aliens, Popular culture and science fiction – Television (Star Trek, Battlestar Galactica), film (Star wars) and literature, Design for space – the spaceship, lifestyles within space craft. Exhibition will be on display September- December 2011.

FAME: Fame is defined as an impression, report or opinion about someone or something which is widely known. It may be of a positive of negative nature, and impact on the standing of that individual within a society. The United States has been described as a fame hungry culture, which has been fuelled in recent years by the plethora of communication devices, social networking internet sites which facilitate the dispersal of information in real time, and a slew of reality programming on both television and the internet. This exhibition will focus on the work of artists who address ideas about fame and infamy, celebrity culture, current idols, imitation of celebrities, any and all attempts to secure at least 15 minutes in the spotlight. Exhibition will be on display January – March 2012.

These exhibitions will be accompanied by substantial exhibition catalogues. Please do not contact them for a status report on your application; all artists will be notified in due course as to the outcome of their proposal. All proposals must be posted to:

Exhibitions Department
Paul Robeson Galleries
Rutgers University
350 Dr Martin Luther King Junior Boulevard
Newark, New Jersey, 07102

A proposal should consist of the following: An artist statement illustrating your concept and how it relates to this exhibition. A CD with images (still or moving) of related artworks and an accompanying list of details about the works (title, date, medium, dimensions, and possibly a narrative). A recent resume. Your complete contact details – name, address, email address, telephone.

Details here.