Spotlight on Wellesley College

In case you have missed it... there is an art controversy in Wellesley College over this statue of a sleepwalking man in his underwear by artist Tony Matelli.

A realistic-looking statue of a man sleepwalking in his underwear near the center of Wellesley College has created a stir among the women on campus, especially as more than 100 students at the all-women’s college signed a petition asking administrators to remove it.

 And now, Sarah Mahmood, Editor-at-Large, Wellesley College has written this piece for the HuffPost that calls for the removal of the piece.

She writes:

We don't want the statue moved because we're prim and proper prudes, but because we'd rather avoid looking at a creepy, potentially triggering sculpture on our way to class. Would you want that sculpture in your backyard for the next five months?

I'm already lost... "triggering sculpture?" what does that mean? The answer comes a few paragraphs later, which is not only a fail for structuring the article, but also surprising, considering the source is an editor.

Apparently there's a petition to remove the work of art, and we learn from the petition that:

"This highly lifelike sculpture has, within just a few hours of its outdoor installation, become a source of apprehension, fear, and triggering thoughts regarding sexual assault for many members of our campus community. While it may appear humorous, or thought-provoking to some, it has already become a source of undue stress for many Wellesley College students, the majority of whom live, study, and work in this space."

 That answers my "trigger" question, but it does not answer the stupifying (and well-documented in this blog) and never-ending string of art censorship issues that continue to astound me.

At least Sarah Mahmood (in years to come) can claim the excuse of youth in her over-reaction on the wrong side of this issue, but the lesson here for her, and for all of those whose opinion aligns with her, is simple: "Art censorship is NEVER the answer."

My kudos to the Director of the Davis Museum and the President of Wellesley College for sticking to their principles and declaring that they have no intention of removing the statue until July 20, the duration of Matelli's exhibit.

Putin's gonna be pissed!

All I'm saying is that someone was heading to Siberia a few minutes after this happened...

Cough, cough...

Novie Trump Installation at Art Wynwood

The DMV's own Novie Trump will have a 20 foot wall installation at Art Wynwood next week; the image to the right is a detail of the ceramic work, titled "The Way Home."

We will also feature several new pieces by Trump in booth C-9.

Anyway... the van is packed with artwork and tomorrow Audrey Wilson heads out to the Art Wynwood fair where we will have work by Audrey, Dulce Pinzon, Simon Monk, Tim Tate, Sean Hennessey, Michael Enn Sirvet, Elissa Farrow Savos, Novie Trump and me... 

Not sure how it all fit in the van... But most of it did!

Art Wynwood next week!

This is the first time that we've done this fair in Miami, and we're really looking forward to another successful Miami fair.

We have a large booth (C-9) and we're showcasing mostly DMV artists: Audrey Wilson, Tim Tate, Sean Hennessey (all associated with the Washington Glass School), plus the amazing Novie Trump and Elissa Farrow-Savos, who kicked butt and took names at the last (e)merge art fair. Also for the first time we're showing several spectacular new pieces by the DMV's Michael Enn Sirvet. And we're as usual bringing our top international artists: The UK's Simon Monk and Mexico's Dulce Pinzon!

Sirvet is a contemporary sculptor, designer and structural engineer who creates two and three-dimensional works using metals, hardwoods, plastics and other materials. Michael’s vision makes use of industrial and hand processes to restructure and fuse the organic chaos of nature with the crafted precision of man-made construction. 

Fair Hours for 2014

Thursday, February 13     
VIP Preview: Access for Art Wynwood VIP Cardholders & Press

GENERAL ADMISSION: 6:00pm-10:00pm

Friday, February 14     11am - 7pm
Saturday, February 15     11am - 7pm
Sunday, February 16     11am - 7pm
Monday, February 17     11am - 6pm

Main Office: +1.305.432.2855 or info@art-wynwood.com

Location:

The Art Wynwood Pavilion
Midtown Miami | Wynwood
3101 NE 1st Avenue
Miami, FL 33137

Next week in Miami

"Red Bastion I"

2013

Powder-coated Aluminum

32" x 31" x 9"

By the DMV's Michael Enn Sirvet will be in booth C-9 next week at Art Wynwood in Miami.

Drop me a note if you'd like some passes to the fair...

Art Wynwood 2014 will feature 70 international galleries presenting emerging, cutting edge, contemporary and modern works and will have its own distinct identity and design. A unique feature is the highlight of street art, murals, pop surrealism and other genres from the contemporary underground movement. Art Wynwood is perfectly positioned to further the growing worldwide recognition of this movement by providing the enthusiast and seasoned art world traveler alike a distinctive opportunity to explore, learn and collect one of the most significant art movements of our time.

Art Wynwood 2014 will coincide with the 26th edition of the prestigious Yacht & Brokerage Show in Miami Beach (based less than five miles from the Art Miami Pavilion), which transforms Collins Avenue into a multimillion-dollar presentation of yachts and super-yachts. The Boat Show is known to attract qualified buyers from all over the U.S. and around the globe, including France, Brazil, China, Colombia, Russia, Argentina, Mexico, Italy and Sweden.

The 2013 edition of Art Wynwood attracted more than 26,500 visitors during its five-day run, with 6,100 collectors and art enthusiasts attending the Opening Night VIP Private Preview. The fair showcases a diverse range of fresh and edgy works by established, mid-career and emerging international contemporary and urban street artists from around the globe.

Art Wynwood shines a spotlight on Midtown Miami and the Wynwood Arts District as an international cultural destination flourishing yearlong. The fair will continue to distinguish the Wynwood Arts District as Miami’s epicenter where art, fashion, design and the culinary arts intersect.

Another old piece found

I must be getting to the age (mid 40s... cough, cough...) when people start emailing me asking "Is this piece yours?" - I'm now averaging about one a month... a few from the UK (where I lived from 1989-1992), but most from the US.

The vast majority of them are from the mid 90s, when I was an art-producing machine (I did 32 art shows in 1995!) or from my art school days, as I used to sell all my art school assignments at the Pike Place Market in Seattle, Washington.... I sold thousands of works there between 1977-1981.

Here's an old friend from my senior year at the University of Washington Art School... this is a pen and ink wash from 1981... images courtesy of the current owner, who bought it at an auction in Hawaii.

Munchies

Apparently the recent Super Bowl set new records for the munchies... 

Watchers went through around 11 million pounds of chips, 4 million pounds of pretzels, 2.4 million pounds of nuts, 3.8 million pounds of  pop corn and 8.2 million pounds of tortilla chips... 

The fact that both Washington and Colorado are both pot head states had nothing to do with that... Cough, cough...

How Pres. Obama pissed me off

OK dear readers... work with me here... if you are a left wing nut, then, substitute Bush or Reagan or Nixon or some other Republican President instead of President Obama in the following sequence of events. If you are a right wing nut, then... ah... Hmmm...

Anyway, most of you are not going to believe this, because you've allowed the media to paint a picture of a politician, who is after.... ah... a politician - and politicians have speech writers, and people who advice them about what to say... but... 

In President Obama’s speech about jobs that he delivered last Thursday at a General Electric manufacturing plant in Wisconsin, he said:

“A lot of young people no longer see the trades and skilled manufacturing as a viable career, but I promise you folks can make a lot more potentially with skilled manufacturing or the trades than they might with an art history degree. Now, there’s nothing wrong with an art history degree; I love art history, so I don’t want to get a bunch of e-mails from everybody."
         - President Barack Obama, 1/30/14

Guess what sir, you will get an email from me and also a letter... in fact it is already sent and it says:

Dear President Obama,

You recently delivered a speech about jobs at the General Electric manufacturing plant in Waukesha, Wisconsin on January 30, 2014, in which you said:

“A lot of young people no longer see the trades and skilled manufacturing as a viable career, but I promise you folks can make a lot more potentially with skilled manufacturing or the trades than they might with an art history degree. Now, there’s nothing wrong with an art history degree; I love art history, so I don’t want to get a bunch of e-mails from everybody.”

Personally, I think that you appreciate the arts and the humanities, although your art acquisition program for the White House is a little lacking. But, in fact, you are the first president in history to begin issuing official White House proclamations observing the month of October as National Arts & Humanities Month. You have also urged the nation to celebrate the arts and humanities in our cities, schools, and homes because you claim to understand the role that they serve in our nation’s history, cultural identity, educational development, and individual creativity.

However, some of what I thought we knew about you and the arts, specifically the role that it plays in the economy, now seems in doubt (based on that speech) and I would like to take this opportunity to inform you about the important role the arts and humanities serve in our nation’s economy as well.

Did you know that according to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis and the National Endowment for the Arts, the nonprofit and commercial arts combined produce a remarkable $504 billion in goods and services annually in the United States, representing 3.2 percent of the nation’s economy?

Did any of your advisors tell you that before that disturbing statement in Wisconsin?

Did you know that according to Americans for the Arts, nonprofit arts and culture organizations alone generate $135.2 billion of economic activity every year and support 4.13 million full-time equivalent jobs—including art historians?

4.13 million Mr. President... that's a lot of jobs in this anemic economy.

Did you know that creativity is one of the most important factors in producing innovation, and that according to the Conference Board, 72 percent of employers say creativity is of primary concern when they’re hiring, yet 85 percent of these employers can’t find the creative applicants they seek?

President Obama, the arts equal jobs, too. I urge you to meet with arts policy experts to incorporate the arts and culture into your economic strategies and policies to move America forward.

Call me.

Very Respectfully,

Lenny Campello

The Arts Action Fund has prepared an open letter to the President that brings to his attention the fact that the arts equal jobs too. We all need your help to send a clear and powerful message to the President. I used their open letter to re-craft it into mine.... but it takes a few seconds to send President Obama a rudder check on his attitude on this subject.

Please add your name to this letter, as well as encourage your friends to do the same.

Response from Bethesda Magazine

A while back I wrote a letter to Bethesda Magazine complaining about their lack of visual arts coverage for their readers. You can read that here.

And here is their response:

Mr. Campello,

Thanks for your thoughtful email.

I wanted to let you know that I agree with much of what you wrote--and that you will be seeing more coverage of the arts in Bethesda Magazine starting with the September/October issue. (You will also see some coverage in our upcoming March/April issue.)

I also agree with you about the Best of Bethesda, and we will have at least one arts category in next year's issue.

Thank you again for taking the time to write.

Steve Hull
Editor-in-Chief and Publisher
Bethesda Magazine
7768 Woodmont Ave., #204
Bethesda, MD 20814
301-718-7787, ext. 201
www.BethesdaMagazine.com

Campello Seahawks Salsa

That's a big ass sized bowl of my world famous (cough, cough) mango cilantro salsa... Marinating for a day so that it is ready to celebrate the Seahawks' victory tomorrow...

If it looks kinda orange is because of either all the mango juice in it or the fact that it predicts the ass whooping that the Seahawks are about to unleash on the Broncos tomorrow... they will make salsa out of them!

1 Large can of tomato sauce - the BIG can
1 can of mango juice (Goya is best)
1 entire bunch of cilantro, all chopped up
1/3 can of corn
1 chopped (small pieces) cucumber
1 chopped (tiny pieces) sweet onion
a lot of chopped garlic
About ten pieces of chopped frozen mango 
10 shakes of paprika
A few shakes of crushed red pepper
Juice from one lemon or one lime or both
Add a lot of hot sauce to your taste - Cubans don't eat spicy foods, so my version is pretty tame... sometimes I add chopped olives stuffed with pimentos, but that's an acquired taste... you can also add chopped up pineapple and/or peaches if you like a fruitier version.

Sometimes I add some beer to it... sometimes a little wine vinegar.

Go Hawks!

At Capitol Arts Network

Capitol Arts Network, the Washington area’s fastest-growing organization for professional and emerging artists, announced that its February show will feature invited artist Pam Rogers, whose work focuses on the relationship between people and nature.

The organization’s monthly exhibition, titled “Tokens and Sentiments” to coincide with the Valentines season,  also will include offerings by artists from across the National Capital region in a show billed as “a unique, real-world take on love and romance that is not necessarily the greeting-card version of the story,” said Capitol Arts Network Executive Director Judith HeartSong. “This month, the artists have been encouraged to think outside the box with florals, designs, poetry and more to offer their real-life version of a Valentine in this modern age.”

Best of DC

WCP has a "Best Art Blog" category this year... I need Kriston to email me that software that he used to cheat the Internets into voting him "Best Looking DC Art Critic" or whatever it was a few years ago...

Cough, cough....

Vote here!

Time for the 2014 Trawick Prize!

The application process for the 2014 Trawick Prize: BethesdaContemporary Art Awards is now open. This competition, produced by the Bethesda Arts & Entertainment District, awards one of the largest cash prizes given to a visual artist, with a top prize of $10,000. The competition’s founder, the amazing Carol Trawick (we all wish we had another dozen folks like her around the DMV), is committed to annually honoring visual artists with this award. The deadline to apply is April 7.

The awards are as follows:

Best in Show - $10,000
Second Place - $2,000
Third Place - $1,000
Young Artists* - $1,000
*Young Artist whose birthday is after April 7, 1984 may be awarded this prize.

Artists who are 18 years of age or older and permanent, full-time residents of Maryland, Virginia or Washington, D.C., are eligible to submit an application. For additional eligibility requirements and to access the application please visit their website.

The jury will select up to 10 finalists who will be invited to display their work in a group exhibition at Gallery B in downtown Bethesda in September 2014. 

The three judge panel includes: Tom Ashcraft, visual artist, founding member of Workingman Collective and Associate Professor and the head of Sculpture in the School of Art at George Mason University, Laure Drogoul, interdisciplinary artist, Director of The 14Karat Cabaret and Co-organizer and Curator of the Transmodern Festivaland Jeremy Drummond, media artist and Assistant Professor of Art in the Department of Art and Art History at the University of Richmond.

Sussanna Thornton

Studio B space

The Bethesda Urban Partnership and Bethesda Arts & Entertainment District have opened Studio B located at 7475 Wisconsin Avenue in downtown Bethesda.  Studio B has one studio space remaining.  The studio cost is $405 per month (inclusive of all utilities) and is 250 sq. feet in size.  Artists who reside in Maryland, Washington, D.C. or Virginia are eligible to apply.  Studios can be shared by two artists and studio is move-in ready.

Interested in seeing the artist work space?  Please email artist@bethesda.org to set up an appointment.

Deadline to apply is Feb. 21, 2014.  Click here to apply.

Studio Features

•     24-hour access
•     Wireless internet
•     Additional common wall space and storefront for artistic display
•     Marketing by Bethesda Urban Partnership including web page dedicated to Studio B artists, postcard, social media outreach and more to promote Studio B artists and sales of their artwork.  

 Questions?  Please send an email to artist@bethesda.org.

Scam Artist

Beware of this email address: 4iph55@gmail.com

I tried several ways to report this to Google, but unable to figure out a simple, frigging way to say to them: someone is running a scam out of this email.

See this...

This just went on sale...

Google fun

This is what you get when you search Google Images for "Washington DC artists."

Cough, cough...

Art Miami acquires its own New York art fair

"The ownership group of Art Miami today confirmed that it has acquired the Downtown Fair for an undisclosed price. The previous fair organizer will not have any involvement or interest in the new fair."

That last bit about the previous fair organizer, etc. was a key signal to let art-fair-going galleries know that this fair will start getting serious and heading in the right direction starting right now.

The inaugural Downtown Fair will take place May 8-11th during Frieze Week in New York.  The Fair will be held at the historic 69th Regiment Armory, a 30,000 square foot venue at Lexington Avenue and 25th Street, in the heart of the Flatiron District. Approximately 50 international high caliber contemporary art dealers from around the world will exhibit. The Fair will open with an invitation only VIP Private Preview on May 8th to benefit a charity to be announced in the coming weeks.

Art Miami Partner and Director Nick Korniloff will direct the first edition along with a seasoned Marketing, Exhibitor Services and Operation staff that will manage The Downtown Fair.

"The Art Miami ownership team recognized the overwhelming requests from its collectors and exhibitors for us to produce another quality show in New York during Frieze Week and the Spring Auction previews," said Nick Korniloff, Fair Director and Partner of The Downtown Fair. "We are an extremely experienced and connected organization that knows what it takes to launch and manage an art fair."

Having just done Context Art Miami and now getting ready to do Art Wynwood (both run by Nick and his crew), I can testify that these guys know what they are doing when it comes to pulling all the stops to make an art fair click and move forward.
 
Since acquiring Art Miami in 2009, the Art Miami ownership group has "launched four new fairs, acquired one and always had a vision for New York." This crew also produces Art Miami, CONTEXT, Aqua, Art Wynwood, Art Southampton and Art Silicon Valley / San Francisco Fairs.

"We will deliver a well-vetted show that features a quality roster of artists that are represented by important international galleries. The advisory committee of dealers will insure that galleries are making every effort to show quality works that are fresh to the market," said Korniloff.

STITCH at GRACE

I've been hearing great things about this show...