Friday, February 24, 2012

Coincidence or one great artist borrowing from another?

I know that I am a pedantic Virgo.

But I also know that seldom there are coincidences when things look a little "too close."

Below is the new video (and megahit) by American uberstar (of Cuban ancestry) Gloria Estefan... check out what happens around 20-23 seconds into the video...


Now see below the artwork of Cuban artist Aimee Garcia Marrero... well-known to Cuban art collectors (and she should be, as she's one of the really talented, young multiple-threat artists); and the Estefans are Cuban art collectors... but judge for yourself:

Aimee Garcia Marrero

Aimee Garcia Marrero
Probably a coincidence from one brilliant mind... and yet, I have a rule about coincidences...

Thursday, February 23, 2012

New Worst Ever

I have this hobby of trying to read as many books as possible (all genres) dealing with Cuba. And I've just finished reading Stephen Hunter's Havana, a fictional account set in Havana in 1953.

This is possibly the worst ever book with a Cuban setting that I've ever read; Especially surprising coming from such a decent fiction writer.

I was also surprised to find that Newt Gingrich reviewed this book in Amazon about eight years ago. Newt writes:

Stephen Hunter has a great knack for country attitudes, good shooting, complex stories and politics.

In "Havana" Hunter captures a moment in time when Castro is just emerging (the Yankees having failed to offer him a $500 signing bonus) and Batista is back in power with the help of the American mob.

Just as in "Hot Springs" where Hunter resurrected the great pre-Las Vegas center of gambling and prostitution (matched in that era only by Youngstown), here he reminds us that Havana in the early 1950s was a city of power seekers, tourist pleasures and American and Cuban mobster domination and corruption.

He weaves together a brilliant Soviet agent, Earl Swagger (hated by the Soviet system for his individuality and protagonist of almost half Hunter's novels), the CIA, the American mob, Fidel Castro and the Cuban secret police into a wonderfully complex and constantly intriguing story.

His characterizations of a young Castro are worth the entire book: "Speshnev looked hard at him and, try as he could, only saw a familiar type, thrown up by revolutions and wars the world over. An opportunist with a lazy streak, and also a violent one... No vision beyond the self, but a willingness to use the vernacular of the struggle for his own private careerism." (p. 101)

"He does carry on don't he? He reminds me of a movie star. They get famous too young and they never recover. They always think they're important." Earl Swagger on young Fidel (p 319)

Whether for fun or learning or both, this is a worthwhile novel.
What Hunter blows in this shoot-em-up story is the background setting of the city itself, plus he takes spectacular license with Cuban history to bend the story to depict a somewhat idiotic young Castro.

Young Castro was a killer and a student mobster in the violent daily activities of Havana University and the city in general, but no one can ever or should ever accuse this murdering dictator of ever being dumb. Castro has the feral intelligence of power-seekers, and he's always had it, especially in the violent days preceding his failed attack on the Moncada Barracks.

Strangely enough, in this key part of the beginning of the Cuban Revolution is where Hunter really torques my pedantic side. In the real course of events, Castro (who is very nearsighted and requires thick glasses for distant vision), was driving one of the leading two cars carrying the rebels attacking the Moncada Army Barracks in Santiago de Cuba.

In the book, Hunter depicts Castro having to rush and drive his car onto the sidewalk to run down three unexpected soldiers - he kills two of them, grabs their machine guns and in a heroic display fights against hundreds of soldiers as the hapless rebels, pinned outside the barracks are mowed down by soldier fire. Eventually, the heroic guerrilla is pulled away from the melee by a Soviet agent in a most unlikely escape.

In reality, what happened was that the rebels had essentially the element of surprise, and were driving into the Moncada compound; however, the brilliant and fearless leader's vanity got the best of him, and he removed his thick, black glasses in order to appear more manly. Not being able to see squat, he quickly drove his car off the street and onto the sidewalk, effectively attracting the attention of the guards, who then sounded the alarm and proceeded to wipe out the attackers.

Fidel, and his brother Raul quickly hi-tailed it out of there - they were about the only attackers who got away - and many witnesses claim that the Castro brothers got the hell out of Dodge as soon as the bullets started flying, leaving their fellow rebels to die on the streets or to be captured and tortured later on by Batista's murderous henchmen.

Perhaps this could be an entertaining read for someone not familiar with the sense of what Havana truly was in the 1950s; a complex, international city where dozens of languages were heard on the streets, with a huge Chinatown and a significant European immigrant population, all that in addition to the casinos and the mobsters and the whorehouses and the brutal police depicted as a single dimension in this book.

But to a pedantic Virgo, it is an offense to the senses; sorry Newt.

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Artomatic is back!

The spectacular art show that otherwise progressive art critics love to hate (and thus reveal their real neocon roots to control, judge and jury everything), and the rest of the art world loves, is back for 2012! All the details you need are here.

Dates: May 18 - June 24

Location:
Transwestern Presidential Tower
Entrance at 2511 S. Clark St.
Crystal City, VA

Tentative Schedule:
Wednesday: 5pm - 10pm
Thursday: 5pm - 10pm
Friday: 12pm - 1am
Saturday: 12pm - 1am
Sunday: 12pm - 10pm

Opportunity for DMV artists

Adams Morgan’s Pop Up Shop is a temporary retail art shop for April and May. They hosted one last year with over 50 artists. Volunteers are also welcome to help man, sell and set up the shop!

Interested artists and volunteers should contact:

Janet Lugo-Tafur, Executive Director
Adams Morgan Main Street Group
1754 Columbia Road NW, Suite 200
Washington, DC 20010
Tel. 202.232.1960 Fax.202.232.1978

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

SELECT Tickets


SELECT Gala Party Tickets on Sale Today!

A limited number of SELECT party tickets are now on sale!

Tickets are $150 and include silent and live auction bidding, open bar, dessert, and coffee starting at 8:30pm.

Purchase party tickets today on this website here or contact Christopher Cunetto at ccunetto@wpadc.org or 202-234-7103 x5 for more information.

Albert Sangiamo

Next Monday February 27, a number of former MICA students, which includes Jeff Koons and Philadelphia's Frank Hyder, will be assembled at MICA in Baltimore to celebrate the retirement of Albert Sangiamo, who was their first mentor.

The list of artists attending is very impressive; Sangiamo was chair of drawing at MICA for more than 40 years. He was a student of Joseph Albers and was hired to help make the Institute a first class art school.

Jeff Koons will be making a presentation at noon, followed by a luncheon.

Fresh Flowers and Furry Friends

I would have picked somewhat of a better title for the show, but watercolors by Barbara Bell, collages by Merry Lymn, digital work based on photographs of flowers by the very talented Bert GF Shankman, fused glass portraits of dogs by Shirley Hendel and ceramics featuring cats by Leigh Partington all make up the next show at Potomac's Gallery Har Shalom (located at Congregation Har Shalom, 11510 Falls Road, Potomac, MD) and because we're neighbors, I really want to make sure that this gallery gets some attention! And here's an opening that starts at 11AM! Washington City Paper, Gazette, Potomac News... now you can find out if your art writers ever get up before noon!

Opening Reception: Sunday, March 4, 2012, 11am - 1 pm
Exhibit dates: Friday, March 2 - Monday, April 30, 2012
Call for hours and directions: 301-299-7087

Barbara F. Bell uses her own photographs as a major resource for her watercolor paintings. She focuses in this exhibit on regeneration and renewal in the natural world, her palette reflecting the early light and gentle colors of May along the riverbanks, and in the forests and fields of England and America. Barbara began her formal training in art while on academic leave from university teaching. She worked in studio arts at Montgomery College (Rockville) in the 1980s. Retirement from teaching in Montgomery County Public Schools twenty years later afforded her the time to resume her artwork. See www.bellslessons.com for more information.

Merry Lymn began taking formal collage classes in October 2008. In 2009, she was juried into her first art show, and since then she has been juried into several others. She divides her work into five subject areas--landscape, still life, people, Judaica, and wildcard. For this show, the pieces are exclusively flowers for which she created special Jewish flowers including a Shin Flower, a Vase with Shin Flowers, a Shofar Flower, and a Lily from the Song of Songs. See www.artlymn.com for more images.

Bert GF Shankman presents his Flemish Series of flowers in this show. He first saw this technique of painting when he minored in Art History for his AB at Case Western Reserve University. He practiced this style, called Chiaroscuro, when he studied at the Corcoran College of Art and Design. These pictures use light and dark to model the shapes and forms of the flowers and vases. They are done digitally starting out with photographs of flowers which he grows in his garden. Though decidedly different, they give a feeling of 16th century Flemish art. Visit www.cameraflora.com for more details.

Shirley Hendel was an award-winning decorative painter for many years. Several years ago she was introduced to fused glass and became fascinated with the possibilities for expression that glass materials and techniques offer. She now works exclusively in that medium while trying to maintain the perspective that decorative painting provides. She specializes in pet portraits, especially dogs, but also other creatures both real and whimsical. Her fused glass portraits (you could almost call them caricatures) are not based on actual dogs and cats as much as they are reminiscent of the lovable mutts and house cats that we grew up with or may still be in our lives. Just like these mixed-breed pets, these portraits come in assorted shapes and colors; no two exactly the same.

Leigh Partington has been doing ceramic art for over 30 years. Her work has evolved to include a combination of whimsical wheel-thrown and hand-built pieces that emphasize her love of and appreciation for animals, birds and nature in general. As a feline fancier – cats have always been a part of her life, she portrays them as functional pieces and decorative objects. She combines different clays for a marbled effect in some of her pieces. All pieces are bisque-fired. Then she adds detailed illustrations painted on with Speedball underglazes and dips the pieces in a transparent glaze. She uses a combination of overglazes sponged on the exterior for mottled color effects. The pieces, including ceramic pitchers, garlic keepers, egg separators, ocarinas, and platters, are then oxidation fired in an electric kiln.

Monday, February 20, 2012

Allen Quotes

In my house I'm the boss; my wife is just the decision maker.
-- Woody Allen

Danger Artists, Danger!

Artists are often colorful personalities. This one, though, comes across as cool, precise and metallic – and is anything but extravagant. No wonder – after all, it’s an industrial robot, one that will convert the Fraunhofer stand at CeBIT into an art studio. Its artistic genius only emerges if someone takes a seat on the model’s stool positioned in front of the robot: first, its camera records an image of its model; then it whips out its pencil and traces a portrait of the individual on its easel. After around ten minutes have passed, it grabs the work and proudly presents it to its public. This robot installation was developed by artists in the robotlab group, at the Center for Art and Media ZKM in Karlsruhe, Germany, some of whom are now employed at the Fraunhofer Institute for Optronics, System Technologies and Image Exploitation IOSB in Karlsruhe.
(Via) Details here.

Sunday, February 19, 2012

Art for Humanity Auction

I am honored to be one of the invited artists to participate in the first ever Art for Humanity Auction & Cocktail Reception 2012, which is the first annual fundraiser to support the work of Habitat for Humanity in Washington, D.C. It will take place on Thursday, March 29, 2012.

DC Habitat will be honoring Peggy Cooper Caftritz for "the significant role she has played in advancing the arts and education in Washington, D.C."

Produced in collaboration with artnet Auctions, the Art for Humanity Auction features a collection of work by prominent contemporary artists from the local, national and international communities, including yours truly.

The event will take place at Woolly Mammoth Theatre, a "spectacularly modern space designed by award-winning architect Mark McInturff and Theatre Projects Consultants. Located in the heart of Washington’s Penn Quarter, at the corner of 7th and D Streets, NW, the theatre is easily accessible to parking garages."

Music by The Washington Jazz Arts Institute Ensemble.

Details here.

Saturday, February 18, 2012

Up in the mountains

We're up in the Poconos for the long weekend; sounds like many of you have heard from "Brandon", the art scammer busted in the previous post.

And nice snow here... the kind that makes everything white except the roads!

Out the back door in the Poconos 2012

Friday, February 17, 2012

Art Scam Alarm

Received the below a few minutes ago:

Date: Fri, 17 Feb 2012 08:47:39 -0800
Subject: Greetings/I Am willing To Purchasing artworks
From: bjjm01@gmail.com
To:

Hello,

I saw your artwork on http://www.theartsmap.com.I need you to send me the list of the artworks you have for sell ,wow!! beauty to behold, will add a spark to my new apartment and am willing to purchase your artwork. My son and I will be moving into our new apartment next month.

I want you to please get back to me with the present condition,your location and your last price offer.Kindly let me know how much you can let go and send me pics.will take care pickup after payment. get back to me vis.. brandon5079@yahoo.com asap.

Cheers,
Brandon
And my immediate response to Brandon:
Dear Brandon,

I am delighted that you are interested in my artwork. I have apartments and studios in various cities around the world
- Wellington, NZ
- Sidney, AU
- London, England
- Madrid, Spain
- Paris, France
- Buenos Aires, Argentina

and my favorite studio, Bonfuck, Egypt

Before I send you any data, I am very, very picky as to who owns my artwork, so I need to know the following from you:

- What school did you attend?
- Are married or single?
- Are your parents divorced?
- DO you believe that man is the only cause of global warming?

Please let me know and soon you will have some great artwork on your new walls!!!

Congrats!

The Lenster
The email addresses that I pulled out of the scan email were: bjjm01@gmail.com, brandon5079@yahoo.com and bowenkate@ymail.com - some of those may be hijacked emails, as "Brandon" gave brandon5079@yahoo.com as the one he wanted an answer sent to.

Be careful out there...

Tonight: Rosemary Feit Covey & Laurel Hausler at Morton

"Rosemary Feit Covey and Laurel Hausler have been paired in this two woman exhibition to highlight their respective artistic processes and approach to subject matter. Rosemary Feit Covey whittles away the surface of her wood block with extreme precision, utilizing a time-staking and unforgiving engraving process until her detailed image appears. Laurel Hausler works in a subtractive process by covering her canvas with multiple layers of paint, wax, charcoal or found objects and then removes the layers to reveal the subject. Both women are fearless in their psychological approach to subject matter – raw and depth oriented, they explore subsurface in the realm of the unconscious, not afraid of the obscure."

"Excavate" at Morton Fine Art
An Exhibition of New Work by Rosemary Feit Covey & Laurel Hausler
February 17-March 14, 2012
Opening Reception: Friday, February 17, 6:00-8:00 pm

Morton Fine Art
1781 Florida Ave NW (at 18th & U Sts)
Washington, DC 20009
202.628.2787
mortonfineart@gmail.com

A Palette of Paper - the Collages of Megan Coyle

The Center for the Arts, Caton Merchant Family Gallery in Manassas, Virginia will feature Megan Coyle’s collage art in a solo exhibition called “A Palette of Paper.” The art center consists of a theater, an art gallery, and classrooms that are located inside a historic Candy Factory building in Old Town Manassas. Coyle’s show will display portraits of people, animals, as well as landscape and cityscape collages.

“A Palette of Paper” will showcase a group of collages that look like they were made from acrylic or oil paint, when they were actually made from magazine strips. Each creation is the product of Megan Coyle’s intricate efforts in cutting and layering paper. It is only when you step up close to one of these collage “paintings” that you can pick up on all the fragments of photographs, textures, and patterns that have been pulled from magazine pages. This is the very reason why Coyle calls her technique “painting with paper” – the process of manipulating magazine clippings in such a way that they strongly resemble the brushstrokes in a painting.

The exhibit will open on February 8th, 2012 and run until March 22nd. Coyle will have an artist talk on February 18th at 1:00p.m. If February 18th is a snow day, the artist talk will be held on February 25th.

Megan Coyle is a practicing collage artist and designer living in Northern Virginia. She graduated in 2008 from Elon University with a degree in painting and creative writing. Her work has been featured in international publications like the Washington Post, Papirmasse, and Somerset Studio. She has exhibited nationally in venues that include the Smithsonian Ripley Center, Art League Gallery, Fisher Gallery, and Krempp Gallery.
"A Palette of Paper - the Collages of Megan Coyle"
February 8th - March 22nd, 2012
Artist Talk: February 18th (snow day: February 25th)

Thursday, February 16, 2012

Today: Book Signing at BlackRock

100 Artists of Washington, DCThere will be a book signing for my 100 Artists of Washington, DC book today, February 16 from 6:30 - 8:30PM at the gorgeous BlackRock Center for the Arts in Germantown, Maryland.

Bring your own book (buy it at Amazon here) or get a copy from me at the Center (it will be cheaper at Amazon).

Many of the artists in the book will be there, so this is also a good opportunity to get your copy signed by them as well.

I will also be giving a talk about how this book came to be, and the selection process (an update) for the next two volumes.

BlackRock Center for the Arts
12901 Town Commons Drive
Germantown, MD 20874

301.528.2260 (administrative offices)
301.528.2266 (fax)
info@blackrockcenter.org (e-mail)

See ya there!

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Call for Artists: Bethesda Painting Awards

Deadline: Submissions must be received by Friday, February 24, 2012

The Bethesda Arts & Entertainment District is currently accepting applications for the seventh annual Bethesda Painting Awards. Up to nine finalists will be selected to display their work in an exhibition during the month of June at Gallery B in downtown Bethesda, and the top four winners will receive $14,000 in prize monies.

Best in Show will be awarded $10,000; Second Place will be honored with $2,000 and Third Place will receive $1,000. Additionally, a “Young Artist” whose birthday is after February 24, 1982 may be awarded $1,000. Artists must be 18 years of age or older and residents of Maryland, Virginia or Washington, D.C.

All original 2-D paintings including oil, acrylic, watercolor, gouache, encaustic and mixed media will be accepted. The maximum dimensions should not exceed 60 inches in width or 84 inches in height. No reproductions. Artwork must have been completed within the last two years and must be available for the duration of the exhibit.

Each artist must submit either 5 slides, application and a non-refundable fee of $25. Digital entries will be accepted on CD in JPG, GIF or PNG format.

For a complete application, please visit www.bethesda.org, send a self-addressed stamped envelope to:

Bethesda Painting Awards
c/o Bethesda Arts & Entertainment District
7700 Old Georgetown Road
Bethesda, MD 20814

Or call 301-215-6660 x117.

Tomorrow: Book Signing at BlackRock

100 Artists of Washington, DCThere will be a book signing for my 100 Artists of Washington, DC book on February 16 from 6:30 - 8:30PM at the gorgeous BlackRock Center for the Arts in Germantown, Maryland.

Bring your own book (buy it at Amazon here) or get a copy from me at the Center (it will be cheaper at Amazon).

Many of the artists in the book will be there, so this is also a good opportunity to get your copy signed by them as well.

I will also be giving a talk about how this book came to be, and the selection process (an update) for the next two volumes.

BlackRock Center for the Arts
12901 Town Commons Drive
Germantown, MD 20874

301.528.2260 (administrative offices)
301.528.2266 (fax)
info@blackrockcenter.org (e-mail)

See ya there!

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

February 14

OK, so it may be Valentine's Day today, but for us history buffs, in real history, in 1778 the United States flag is formally recognized for the very first time, in this case at sea by a foreign naval vessel, when French Admiral Toussaint-Guillaume Picquet de la Motte renders a nine gun salute to USS Ranger, commanded by the legendary John Paul Jones.

That's the spectacular painting by Edward Moran depicting the moment.

Monday, February 13, 2012

Ichiuji on Tom Green


Details here.

Artists' Websites: Russ McIntosh

There are hardworking artists and then there's Russ McIntosh. If I told you that in the last year alone this talented digital artist has been included in over 20 exhibitions around the nation, you'd be as awed as I was when I discovered this fact.
Galadali by Russ McIntosh


Galadali by Russ McIntosh

Check out his amazing work here.