Sunday, January 03, 2016
Saturday, January 02, 2016
Vintage Campello at auction
Since several of you (mostly fellow Americans who were lucky enough to have spent part of our life in Scotland) have asked me about these Scottish watercolors...
This one is on Ebay right now at a great price...
These vintage pieces have been appraised for as much as $5000 (much larger pieces)... someone in Las Vegas is offering this one starting for under $200!
This one is on Ebay right now at a great price...
These vintage pieces have been appraised for as much as $5000 (much larger pieces)... someone in Las Vegas is offering this one starting for under $200!
Best of Bethesda Magazine (redux)
I'm in broken record mode...
About two years ago, after going through the January 2014 issue (Best of Bethesda issue) of Bethesda Magazine, I started this trail:
1. Read this first.
2.Then I wrote this open letter to the magazine.
3. And then Bethesda Magazine's editor responded to my letter; read the response here.
To summarize, for decades now, I've been complaining about this beautiful magazine's lack of interest and coverage in their focus area's visual arts.
If the magazine gave the visual arts 5% of the attention that it gives to restaurants, theatres, books, and even cinema, perhaps the area's always struggling, but once promising visual art scene, wouldn't have collapsed as it did a few years ago with the closure of nearly all of Bethesda's independently owned fine art galleries.
I know, I know... probably from their internal research, the mag's staff believes that their readers probably could care less about their visual art scene... the magazine is giving its readers (and advertisers) what they want to read, blah, blah, blah.
The January 2016 Best of Bethesda issue magazine itself is beautiful, always offering a deep insight into the social, culinary, educational, political (there's a major piece in the current issue pretty much painting (no pun intended) a glowing portrait of Congressman Van Hollen, who is currently campaigning for a move up the Congressional food chain, and is running for Senator), etc. take of Bethesda, Maryland. From the article I learned that he's apparently never held a private industry job (other than part time summer jobs in college) in his life and has apparently always worked for politicians in government until he also became a career politician.
There are two tiny, peripheral mentions of the visual arts in this issue (none of them as part of the Best of), but they are glancing at best - but better than nothing, as it has been in the past.
That's an improvement over last year!
In his response to my open letter about the magazine's track record of largely ignoring the area's visual arts, the magazine's editor wrote that we would be "seeing more coverage of the arts in Bethesda Magazine..." and that he also agreed with me "about the Best of Bethesda, and we will have at least one arts category in next year's issue."
Cough, cough... There has been some slight improvement, but I think that the magazine has a long way to go.
At the risk of repeating myself:
Here's a small slice of what the magazines' editors generally ignore, and because of their apathy towards the visual arts, what the magazine's readers are essentially missing:
- The Bethesda Fine Arts Festival is one of the highest ranked outdoor arts festivals in the nation and it is the highest ranked outdoor fine art show in all of Maryland. There are other significant outdoor art festivals in Bethesda Row and in Rockville. There was this coverage in 2015... as a listed event, not as a focus piece.
- The Bethesda Contemporary Art Awards (also known as The Trawick Prize in honor of Ms. Carol Trawick, a Bethesda supporter of the arts who sponsors the prize) is a visual art prize produced by the Bethesda Arts & Entertainment District that honors artists from Maryland, Washington, D.C. and Virginia. The annual juried competition awards $14,000 in prize monies to selected artists and features the work of the finalists in a group exhibition. It has been going on for over a decade and it produces an exhibition that is usually one of the highlights of the Greater DC area visual art calendar. The prize winners didn't even get a mention in 2015.
- The Bethesda Painting Awards is downtown Bethesda's annual juried art competition that exclusively honors painters from Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C. $14,000 in prize monies are awarded to the top four painters annually. It also produces an exhibition that is again one of the highlights of the Greater DC area visual art calendar. The prize winners didn't even get a mention in 2015.
I wish that the magazine could go back in time and cover the once struggling Bethesda art gallery scene, but in the last few years most Bethesda art galleries have closed their doors due to lack of sales or local interest. Closed are the physical spaces for Fraser Gallery, once the DC area's largest commercial art gallery. Gone are Orchard Gallery, Neptune Gallery, Discovery Gallery, Zenith Gallery, Heineman-Myers Contemporary, and several other galleries. Nonetheless, Waverly Gallery, Strathmore, VisArts, Gallery B, and others continue to offer monthly visual art shows that are routinely ignored by the magazine... other than for their calendar.
I understand that running a glossy magazine like this one depends on a tenuous relationship between its advertisers' ability to pay for full page ads, and thus try to reach the area's readers with disposable income.
And I also know that art galleries generally do not have the financial ability to advertise in a glossy such as this beautiful magazine is, and thus a chicken and the egg syndrome exists from that angle.
Unless the magazine has an "insider" who can see this, and thus champion the fact that exposing the visual arts to its readers should be an expected condiment to the magazine's final soup recipe, the problem/issue will never be solved, and as far as readers (and would be advertisers) can infer, the visual arts does not exist in the area.
Also repeating myself: What can Bethesda Magazine do to help to kindle awareness (and thus develop support) for the Bethesda visual art scene and Bethesda artists?
- Two or three visual art stories and/or reviews a year... stories or reviews, not social scene pieces.
- Two or three small highlights a year on Bethesda artists (like you do routinely for authors, and doctors, and chefs, etc.) - like this one, but with an art (rather than just social) approach.
- In each issue, highlight one piece of art that is being displayed somewhere in Bethesda; like the outdoor mural mentioned in the current issue, but do not just focus on public art: spread the wealth and highlight a piece hanging in one of the area's few remaining art spaces. It is curious that this particular mural received not one, not two, but three mentions in the magazine throughout the past year! In fact, from looking at this search, one easy way for an artist to get into the magazine is by creating a mural!
- And for the love of art, please create art a category dealing with the visual arts in your Best of Bethesda issues!
About two years ago, after going through the January 2014 issue (Best of Bethesda issue) of Bethesda Magazine, I started this trail:
1. Read this first.
2.Then I wrote this open letter to the magazine.
3. And then Bethesda Magazine's editor responded to my letter; read the response here.
To summarize, for decades now, I've been complaining about this beautiful magazine's lack of interest and coverage in their focus area's visual arts.
If the magazine gave the visual arts 5% of the attention that it gives to restaurants, theatres, books, and even cinema, perhaps the area's always struggling, but once promising visual art scene, wouldn't have collapsed as it did a few years ago with the closure of nearly all of Bethesda's independently owned fine art galleries.
I know, I know... probably from their internal research, the mag's staff believes that their readers probably could care less about their visual art scene... the magazine is giving its readers (and advertisers) what they want to read, blah, blah, blah.
The January 2016 Best of Bethesda issue magazine itself is beautiful, always offering a deep insight into the social, culinary, educational, political (there's a major piece in the current issue pretty much painting (no pun intended) a glowing portrait of Congressman Van Hollen, who is currently campaigning for a move up the Congressional food chain, and is running for Senator), etc. take of Bethesda, Maryland. From the article I learned that he's apparently never held a private industry job (other than part time summer jobs in college) in his life and has apparently always worked for politicians in government until he also became a career politician.
There are two tiny, peripheral mentions of the visual arts in this issue (none of them as part of the Best of), but they are glancing at best - but better than nothing, as it has been in the past.
That's an improvement over last year!
In his response to my open letter about the magazine's track record of largely ignoring the area's visual arts, the magazine's editor wrote that we would be "seeing more coverage of the arts in Bethesda Magazine..." and that he also agreed with me "about the Best of Bethesda, and we will have at least one arts category in next year's issue."
Cough, cough... There has been some slight improvement, but I think that the magazine has a long way to go.
At the risk of repeating myself:
Here's a small slice of what the magazines' editors generally ignore, and because of their apathy towards the visual arts, what the magazine's readers are essentially missing:
- The Bethesda Fine Arts Festival is one of the highest ranked outdoor arts festivals in the nation and it is the highest ranked outdoor fine art show in all of Maryland. There are other significant outdoor art festivals in Bethesda Row and in Rockville. There was this coverage in 2015... as a listed event, not as a focus piece.
- The Bethesda Contemporary Art Awards (also known as The Trawick Prize in honor of Ms. Carol Trawick, a Bethesda supporter of the arts who sponsors the prize) is a visual art prize produced by the Bethesda Arts & Entertainment District that honors artists from Maryland, Washington, D.C. and Virginia. The annual juried competition awards $14,000 in prize monies to selected artists and features the work of the finalists in a group exhibition. It has been going on for over a decade and it produces an exhibition that is usually one of the highlights of the Greater DC area visual art calendar. The prize winners didn't even get a mention in 2015.
- The Bethesda Painting Awards is downtown Bethesda's annual juried art competition that exclusively honors painters from Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C. $14,000 in prize monies are awarded to the top four painters annually. It also produces an exhibition that is again one of the highlights of the Greater DC area visual art calendar. The prize winners didn't even get a mention in 2015.
I wish that the magazine could go back in time and cover the once struggling Bethesda art gallery scene, but in the last few years most Bethesda art galleries have closed their doors due to lack of sales or local interest. Closed are the physical spaces for Fraser Gallery, once the DC area's largest commercial art gallery. Gone are Orchard Gallery, Neptune Gallery, Discovery Gallery, Zenith Gallery, Heineman-Myers Contemporary, and several other galleries. Nonetheless, Waverly Gallery, Strathmore, VisArts, Gallery B, and others continue to offer monthly visual art shows that are routinely ignored by the magazine... other than for their calendar.
I understand that running a glossy magazine like this one depends on a tenuous relationship between its advertisers' ability to pay for full page ads, and thus try to reach the area's readers with disposable income.
And I also know that art galleries generally do not have the financial ability to advertise in a glossy such as this beautiful magazine is, and thus a chicken and the egg syndrome exists from that angle.
Unless the magazine has an "insider" who can see this, and thus champion the fact that exposing the visual arts to its readers should be an expected condiment to the magazine's final soup recipe, the problem/issue will never be solved, and as far as readers (and would be advertisers) can infer, the visual arts does not exist in the area.
Also repeating myself: What can Bethesda Magazine do to help to kindle awareness (and thus develop support) for the Bethesda visual art scene and Bethesda artists?
- Two or three visual art stories and/or reviews a year... stories or reviews, not social scene pieces.
- Two or three small highlights a year on Bethesda artists (like you do routinely for authors, and doctors, and chefs, etc.) - like this one, but with an art (rather than just social) approach.
- In each issue, highlight one piece of art that is being displayed somewhere in Bethesda; like the outdoor mural mentioned in the current issue, but do not just focus on public art: spread the wealth and highlight a piece hanging in one of the area's few remaining art spaces. It is curious that this particular mural received not one, not two, but three mentions in the magazine throughout the past year! In fact, from looking at this search, one easy way for an artist to get into the magazine is by creating a mural!
- And for the love of art, please create art a category dealing with the visual arts in your Best of Bethesda issues!
Friday, January 01, 2016
Happy 2016!
Here's a wish for a Happy New Year's wish to all planetary life, but especially to all my fellow veterans and all Americans on active duty; and to all of the men and women in our Armed Forces all over the planet, and who are away from their families and their nation on New Year's Day, with a special cyber hug to all my U.S. Navy brothers and sisters at sea - we've got your back!
Thursday, December 31, 2015
Opportunity for Artists
Deadline for submissions is Tuesday, February 16, 2016.
This March CHAL
hosts its annual DC-metro area Open Call juried art exhibit based on the theme
Appetite for Art. They are challenging all metro artists to interpret your
art and food. 2-D and 3-D work will be accepted.
This year's jurors are Deidre Ehlen MC Williams, Public Art Project Manager and Stephen Cheung, owner of Fusion Grill and Lavagna. They will select 30 pieces of artwork and select five for cash prizes. All artists, 18 years of age or older residing in the Washington, DC metropolitan area are eligible to enter.
Deadline for submissions is Tuesday, February 16, 2016.
All awards will be presented at the opening reception and jurors’ talk on Saturday, March 5, 2016, 5–7 PM, with the jurors presenting their remarks at 6 PM.
This year's jurors are Deidre Ehlen MC Williams, Public Art Project Manager and Stephen Cheung, owner of Fusion Grill and Lavagna. They will select 30 pieces of artwork and select five for cash prizes. All artists, 18 years of age or older residing in the Washington, DC metropolitan area are eligible to enter.
Deadline for submissions is Tuesday, February 16, 2016.
All awards will be presented at the opening reception and jurors’ talk on Saturday, March 5, 2016, 5–7 PM, with the jurors presenting their remarks at 6 PM.
Please click HERE to see the full prospectus
for this Open Call.
The exhibit runs March 5 through April 15.
Wake effect from SOFA Chicago
Pop Quiz!!!
What's the wake effect?
Answer here.
And the wake effect from SOFA Chicago, almost two months ago, is that (after being seen in that fair) this 2013 drawing has found a home and is now heading to a collector in Cincinnati, Ohio!
What's the wake effect?
Answer here.
And the wake effect from SOFA Chicago, almost two months ago, is that (after being seen in that fair) this 2013 drawing has found a home and is now heading to a collector in Cincinnati, Ohio!
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| Supergirl Flying Naked 2013 F. Lennox Campello Charcoal on Paper, 14 x 8.25 inches |
Wednesday, December 30, 2015
Art Exhibits at Brookside Gardens: Linda DeCamp
As we've done over the years, visited Brookside Gardens on Monday night to see their amazing Garden of Lights display - and even though it was rainy and drizzly and cold, the place was packed! If you haven't been, it is one of the great outdoor marvels of the DMV and it only happens once a year!
While at the visitor center, I checked out the artwork on exhibit there... Brookside Gardens supports and promotes all the arts with show opportunities and by working with individual artists, groups of artists, and public sector agencies including the Montgomery County Arts Council and the Public Arts Trust.
Brookside Gardens Art Exhibit Calendar is fully booked through 2017. Applications for 2018 will be accepted beginning Jan. 1, 2016 Questions? Contact ArtatBrookside@aol.com
Art Exhibit Application and Exhibition Guidelines
Anyway, while checking out the work, several paintings by artist Linda DeCamp stood out to me because of their freshness and painterly handling of the texture of the oil paints. If anyone knows the artist, please have her drop me a line, as I may have a client for one of her works (I know someone who collects beach paintings).
While at the visitor center, I checked out the artwork on exhibit there... Brookside Gardens supports and promotes all the arts with show opportunities and by working with individual artists, groups of artists, and public sector agencies including the Montgomery County Arts Council and the Public Arts Trust.
Brookside Gardens Art Exhibit Calendar is fully booked through 2017. Applications for 2018 will be accepted beginning Jan. 1, 2016 Questions? Contact ArtatBrookside@aol.com
Art Exhibit Application and Exhibition Guidelines
Anyway, while checking out the work, several paintings by artist Linda DeCamp stood out to me because of their freshness and painterly handling of the texture of the oil paints. If anyone knows the artist, please have her drop me a line, as I may have a client for one of her works (I know someone who collects beach paintings).
Tuesday, December 29, 2015
Curator's Office reopens in new space
Andrea Pollan's Curator's Office is back!
Curator's Office is excited to announce the gallery venue, Curator's Office @ Edgewood Studios, at 703 Edgewood Street NE, Washington, DC. To launch this venue officially, Curator's Office is presenting an exhibition of noted artist Jeff Spaulding's sculptural work entitled Vintage. This warehouse building has a rich artist studio history in the city and has been the working space of some of the finest artists in the greater Washington, DC area including Siemon Allen, Kristina Bilonick, Kendall Buster, Patrick Craig, Tara Donovan, Ian Jehle, Patrice Kehoe, Patrick McDonough, Ledelle Moe, Jefferson Pinder, W.C. Richardson, and Yuriko Yamaguchi among numerous others. Jeff Spaulding, one of the original artists in this building, has had his studio here for almost 30 years.
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| Jeff Spaulding Partial Installation View: Walker, Gate, & Riker asphalt on wood, charcoal, variable dimensions. |
The gallery space is in the studio building located above Mess Hall. A gray metal door with signage is the entrance to the studio building as you drive down Edgewood Street. It is located on your right. There is street parking on weekends. The closest Metro station is Rhode Island Ave - Brentwood Station on the Red Line. This artist studio building can be cold in January. Please dress warmly.
Monday, December 28, 2015
On the same paper pad!
Don't you find it interesting how all these artists all worked these drawings on the same type of paper? Cough, cough... The "finds" one "finds" on Ebay!
See them all here.
See them all here.
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| Kahlo... |
 |
| Dali... |
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| Pollock... |
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| Botero... |
Sunday, December 27, 2015
New Alma Selimovic
DeviD is Alma Selimovic's latest piece and it is inspired by Michelangelo's David as you might notice.
Alma has a plan to make a series of androgynous sculptures that are inspired by famous paintings and or sculptures.
DeviD is 27" tall and will stand on a thick slab of glass. It will be in New York next year at one of the fairs during Armory week... unless one of you wants to add it to your collection now!
Alma has a plan to make a series of androgynous sculptures that are inspired by famous paintings and or sculptures.
DeviD is 27" tall and will stand on a thick slab of glass. It will be in New York next year at one of the fairs during Armory week... unless one of you wants to add it to your collection now!
 |
| DeviD by Alma Selimovic |
 |
| DeviD by Alma Selimovic |
Saturday, December 26, 2015
Friday, December 25, 2015
A Christmas Eve story
Those of you who know me... know that I am not a what would be described as an overly religious person; that's not a disclaimer, but a fact.
I went to a Catholic elementary school (Our Lady of Loretto in Brooklyn), but my family was also not religious at all.
For 2015, we wanted to get Anderson an outdoor basketball hoop. As there are dozens of them around our neighborhood, we asked our neighbors if anyone wanted to pass one on, and one of our generous neighbors did.
"We actually inherited the hoop from another neighbor," they said, "And our kids have moved on."
As the hoop was going to be a Christmas present from Santa, and in order to sneak it into our yard at the last possible minute, last night, around 8PM, I trekked to their house, about a quarter of a mile away, preparing to drag the hoop over to our house.
I vastly under estimated the weight of the hoop (pole, base and backboard), which has small wheels at the front of its base to allow for relocation movement, but clearly not designed to be dragged by one man for that long of a distance.
About five minutes into the ordeal, and already soaked in sweat and breathing heavily, as I passed one of the light poles on the street heading to our street, I was startled by my own shadow.
My shadow, stooped over and carrying the heavy basketball hoop, with the backboard on my shoulders and the pole dragging behind me, startled me because it looked exactly like a man carrying a cross.
"I wonder what any neighbor who sees this from their house would think," I thought. In the dark of the night, with just some peripheral light from the light poles, it would be easy to confuse me with some zealous penitent carrying a cross.
I struggled on, my shoulders really aching now, and my sweat pouring from my brow, and my baseball cap being crushed into my eyes by the backboard, so that I had to stop and take my glasses off, and re-adjust the red Nats cap..
As I stopped and lost the momentum, and I was on a slight uphill, it became really hard to get the hoop going again.
"What I need now is a Simon to help me," I thought. The "Simon" being Simon of Cyrene, of course... the man who according to the Bible helped The Christ to carry the cross.
Almost immediately a tall, gangly, dark-haired young man stepped out of the shadows, his hair full of tight black curls.
"Sir," he said, "Can I help you carry that?"
"Thank you!" I almost shouted as he put his shoulder to the backboard and together we trudged along; the task a lot easier now.
"I really appreciate it," I told him as we carried the hoop side by side. "This is for my son," I explained. "Do you live around here?"
He told me that he was a visitor, and was visiting his girlfriend, who lived in our neighborhood.
We carried the hoop to our cul-de-sac, placed it in the right spot, and shook hands.
"Thank you a million times," I said to him. "My name is Lenny, Merry Christmas."
"My name is Simon," he responded as he walked away into the shadows..."Merry Christmas."
I walked back into my house, soaked in sweat and breathing heavily, and then, and only then, it dawned on me.
I went to a Catholic elementary school (Our Lady of Loretto in Brooklyn), but my family was also not religious at all.
For 2015, we wanted to get Anderson an outdoor basketball hoop. As there are dozens of them around our neighborhood, we asked our neighbors if anyone wanted to pass one on, and one of our generous neighbors did.
"We actually inherited the hoop from another neighbor," they said, "And our kids have moved on."
As the hoop was going to be a Christmas present from Santa, and in order to sneak it into our yard at the last possible minute, last night, around 8PM, I trekked to their house, about a quarter of a mile away, preparing to drag the hoop over to our house.
I vastly under estimated the weight of the hoop (pole, base and backboard), which has small wheels at the front of its base to allow for relocation movement, but clearly not designed to be dragged by one man for that long of a distance.
About five minutes into the ordeal, and already soaked in sweat and breathing heavily, as I passed one of the light poles on the street heading to our street, I was startled by my own shadow.
My shadow, stooped over and carrying the heavy basketball hoop, with the backboard on my shoulders and the pole dragging behind me, startled me because it looked exactly like a man carrying a cross.
"I wonder what any neighbor who sees this from their house would think," I thought. In the dark of the night, with just some peripheral light from the light poles, it would be easy to confuse me with some zealous penitent carrying a cross.
I struggled on, my shoulders really aching now, and my sweat pouring from my brow, and my baseball cap being crushed into my eyes by the backboard, so that I had to stop and take my glasses off, and re-adjust the red Nats cap..
As I stopped and lost the momentum, and I was on a slight uphill, it became really hard to get the hoop going again.
"What I need now is a Simon to help me," I thought. The "Simon" being Simon of Cyrene, of course... the man who according to the Bible helped The Christ to carry the cross.
Almost immediately a tall, gangly, dark-haired young man stepped out of the shadows, his hair full of tight black curls.
"Sir," he said, "Can I help you carry that?"
"Thank you!" I almost shouted as he put his shoulder to the backboard and together we trudged along; the task a lot easier now.
"I really appreciate it," I told him as we carried the hoop side by side. "This is for my son," I explained. "Do you live around here?"
He told me that he was a visitor, and was visiting his girlfriend, who lived in our neighborhood.
We carried the hoop to our cul-de-sac, placed it in the right spot, and shook hands.
"Thank you a million times," I said to him. "My name is Lenny, Merry Christmas."
"My name is Simon," he responded as he walked away into the shadows..."Merry Christmas."
I walked back into my house, soaked in sweat and breathing heavily, and then, and only then, it dawned on me.
Merry Christmas!
Merry Christmas All of Youse!
The Giving Season, by David FeBland, Oil on Canvas, 2007
Wednesday, December 23, 2015
Ann Telnaes: Asshole of the Week
It has been a while since DC ART NEWS has selected an Asshole of the Week, many asshole-less weeks in fact! Not for lack of assholes, but for lack of such an egregious act (like these orifices) that catches my eye or ears.
Editorial cartoonist (and a terrific artist) Ann Telnaes easily earns the orifice award this week, for depicting one of the current Presidential candidate's grade-school daughters as "dancing monkeys for their appearance in a presidential campaign ad."
On the other hand, the Telnaes' visual assholity once again underscores my point of the immense power of the visual arts. This is what happens when a spectacularly talented artist, as Telnaes is (evidence here) fucks it up (as all of us do once in a while).
Cartoon here.
Editorial cartoonist (and a terrific artist) Ann Telnaes easily earns the orifice award this week, for depicting one of the current Presidential candidate's grade-school daughters as "dancing monkeys for their appearance in a presidential campaign ad."
The animated cartoon featured a Santa Claus-costumed Cruz winding a music box as two leashed monkeys danced in elf costumes. The monkeys represent Cruz's daugthers Caroline, 7, and Catherine, 4.On Tuesday evening, a note from WaPo editor Fred Hiatt appeared on the WaPo's website reading:
"It’s generally been the policy of our editorial section to leave children out of it. I failed to look at this cartoon before it was published. I understand why Ann thought an exception to the policy was warranted in this case, but I do not agree."And the WaPo's Callum Borchers nails it when he notes that this Telnaes' blunder is a gift to the fiery Texan; read that here.
On the other hand, the Telnaes' visual assholity once again underscores my point of the immense power of the visual arts. This is what happens when a spectacularly talented artist, as Telnaes is (evidence here) fucks it up (as all of us do once in a while).
Cartoon here.
Tuesday, December 22, 2015
Give an art set for Xmas
AC Moore has really good art sets starting at $9.99 - no better way to get a young mind interested in art!
And here's a $10 coupon.
Give art at Xmas - or an art-creation kickstart!
And here's a $10 coupon.
Give art at Xmas - or an art-creation kickstart!
Monday, December 21, 2015
The curious case of Anatol Zukerman and Charles Krause Reporting LLC v. United States Postal Service
From my good friend DC gallerist Charles Krause comes the below guest piece (reproduced with his permission from his newsletter), detailing the curious case of artist Anatol Zukerman and a customized US stamp.
Personally, I find it very curious that the Zukerman stamp was denied for being "political", while clearly other political stamps (such as stamps for Cruz, Bush, Sanders, etc.) noted below are OK... and this does raise a curious question about this particular Zukerman stamp.
I do have an answer to Charles' question: "Are zazzle and the Postal Service in bed with the Republicans?."
I don't think so.
My answer is based in the fact that there's a gazillion Democratic junk on that site as well, including a lot of both "pro" and "against" Clinton crap.... and even one very funny anti Cuban-American candidate Ted Cruz button (image to the right, cough, cough)... and a truckload (almost 1,400 pages of items!) of both pro/against, but plenty of nasty, sometimes funny, anti-Trump stuff.
And based on that empirical evidence, and loads of other imagery from the site, it is clear to me that zazzle.com is not in bed with the Republicans, but it is an equal opportunity bedmate to both parties and the nuts who make up both parties' extremes.
I see absolutely no zazzle lean to the right or the left: Dems and Repubs are equally applauded and/or pissed on... there's no case here for any political lean.
Where Zukerman and Krause do have case, is why zazzle.com declined to print the stamp.
It may be a "visual" issue (and thus another reaffirmation of the power of the representational visual arts). Both the Cruz, and the Sanders, and the Bush stamps discussed in Charles' newsletter (and seen below less Bernie's) are just mostly words on a stamp, while Zukerman's stamp is a powerful visual reference (in addition to words).
Should this make a difference in the "too political" classification? I don't think so, and this is where the suit may have some legs. And thus it is curious that zazzle.com did what they did. It is also wrong and I hope that the courts rule for Zukerman and Krause.
Read the piece below:
Personally, I find it very curious that the Zukerman stamp was denied for being "political", while clearly other political stamps (such as stamps for Cruz, Bush, Sanders, etc.) noted below are OK... and this does raise a curious question about this particular Zukerman stamp.
I don't think so.
My answer is based in the fact that there's a gazillion Democratic junk on that site as well, including a lot of both "pro" and "against" Clinton crap.... and even one very funny anti Cuban-American candidate Ted Cruz button (image to the right, cough, cough)... and a truckload (almost 1,400 pages of items!) of both pro/against, but plenty of nasty, sometimes funny, anti-Trump stuff.
And based on that empirical evidence, and loads of other imagery from the site, it is clear to me that zazzle.com is not in bed with the Republicans, but it is an equal opportunity bedmate to both parties and the nuts who make up both parties' extremes.
I see absolutely no zazzle lean to the right or the left: Dems and Repubs are equally applauded and/or pissed on... there's no case here for any political lean.
Where Zukerman and Krause do have case, is why zazzle.com declined to print the stamp.
It may be a "visual" issue (and thus another reaffirmation of the power of the representational visual arts). Both the Cruz, and the Sanders, and the Bush stamps discussed in Charles' newsletter (and seen below less Bernie's) are just mostly words on a stamp, while Zukerman's stamp is a powerful visual reference (in addition to words).
Should this make a difference in the "too political" classification? I don't think so, and this is where the suit may have some legs. And thus it is curious that zazzle.com did what they did. It is also wrong and I hope that the courts rule for Zukerman and Krause.
Read the piece below:
Last week, a team of lawyers from the highly regarded Washington law firm of Kellogg, Huber, Hansen, Todd, Evans and Figel, working pro bono, filed suit in the US District Court for the District of Columbia on behalf of Anatol Zukerman, an artist whose oil pastel drawings are often deadlier than the guns he abhors, and my gallery, which has represented Anatol and his work since 2013.The complaint for declaratory and injunctive relief asks the Court to find"the Defendant USPS has, both directly and through its agent, unlawfully engaged in both content and viewpoint discrimination in violation of the First and Fifth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution." The case has been filed as Civil Action No. 15-2131, Anatol Zukerman and Charles Krause Reporting LLC v. United States Postal Service.As many of you reading this know, I've long believed that Art can be a catalyst for social and political change. Like many others, I've also been convinced for some time that the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision, permitting corporations, unions and individuals to donate unlimited sums of money to political campaigns, would sooner or later undermine faith in our elected officials and compromise our democratic system.And that, it seems to me, is what's already begun to happen: corporations and the super-rich are investing in start-up candidates for Congress and the Presidency, the way Silicon Valley invests in start-up tech companies. It doesn't matter if they drop $10 or $20 million on a couple of start-ups who fail to deliver (Jeb Bush, for example, or Martin O'Malley) because all the donor class needs is one of their candidates to make it to the White House and they've hit the jackpot. The pay-off is huge for all of them.For the rest of us? Not so much, or not at all, which is why the Republican base is in rebellion, why Bernie Sanders is doing so much better than expected and why the Supreme Court's ruling in the Koch Brothers' Citizens United case is so dangerous.Everyone knows that investors, whether Republican or Democrat, expect a return on their investment. And what more and more Americans are beginning to realize is that as long as our elected officials are dependent on the 1 percent to pay for their campaigns, the 99 per cent will get screwed, one way or another.Just like income inequality, middle class voters especially sense there's a growing disconnect between their needs and their elected officials' willingness to help them. It doesn't seem to matter which party they vote for. Many of them don't know what to do about it or who's to blame.
That's why Citizens United will be a major focus of The 1 Percent Exhibit: Visualizing IncomeInequality in America, my next exhibit, opening in February. And why, last April, I encouraged Anatol Zukerman to have his Citizens United drawing, which had been exhibited in my gallery in 2013, printed as a postage stamp.Having worked one summer as a researcher-writer for Chief Justice Warren Burger and having studied Constitutional Law with one of the great teachers of all time, Professor Henry Abraham at the University of Pennsylvania, I want to believe that, if enough evidence accumulates and enough pressure builds, the Court itself will one day recognize its mistake and reconsider Citizens United, as it has on rare occasions with other decisions before.But I recognize that day, if it ever comes, is a long
way off. Meanwhile, we've got to do what we can now to keep our politicians honest (or, at least somewhat honest) and the One Percenters in check. I never thought the 40 stamps Anatol ordered would be more than a band aid, a clever way to interest more collectors in his wonderfully provocative drawings and call attention to an issue we both felt strongly about.
ARE ZAZZLE AND THE POSTAL SERVICEOn the other hand, it never occurred to either one of us that zazzle.com, one of three companies the Postal Service partners with to print "custom" postage stamps, would reject the order on the grounds that our Citizens United stamp was "too political."After all, zazzle.com had plastered the Cruz for President 2016 stamps it had printed all over its website last April. Since then, it has printed Bush-Texas 2016 and even a Sanders 2016 stamp. How is it possible that those stamps were acceptable if ours was not?
IN BED WITH THE REPUBLICANS?
Zazzle.com's summary rejection of our stamp --coupled with the Cruz for President stamps, T- shirts, pins and nasty anti-Clinton bumper stickers we saw on the zazzle.com website the day Anatol's design was submitted, accepted and then rejected a couple of hours later---immediately raised questions in my mind about zazzle's political neutrality.
While it does print caps and bumper stickers and pins for Democratic Party candidates, Zazzle's website leaves the distinct impression that it's a Republican party vendor, not a US Government vendor free of partisan politics, as one might expect.Since our suit was filed, zazzle.com has removed all traces of its Cruz for President and Texas-Bush stamps from its website. But it still has plenty of nasty anti-Hillary bumper stickers...Which raises a number of questions:
Critique led by visual artist Cory Oberndorfer
Thursday, January 14, 7-9:30pm
Greater Reston Arts Center invites interested artists to bring 1-2 recent artworks to the gallery for a group discussion and critique. Each critique will be run by a guest artist or curator and the GRACE Education Director. GRACE will provide light refreshments and beverages. All participants must be willing to discuss their artwork and the artwork of others. Space is very limited. Ages 18 and up. Registration #402645.
Register by contacting the gallery at (703) 471-9242 or info@restonarts.org
Friday, December 18, 2015
Art Scam Alert!
Beware of this:
From: Adam Vinter (am.casey@comcast.net)
Greetings,
I will like to make a purchase to my store in Finland. I will be making payment by means of my credit card. I will like to know if there is any special discount. Lastly regarding shipment, my picker will come for the pickup after payment. Kindly get back to me at adamgreatlife1@aol.com
I hope to hear from you soon
Warmest Regards.
Adam Vinter
Thursday, December 17, 2015
Artist Talk: Hannah Spector
Saturday, December 19, 3pm at Transformer
Join Transformer this Saturday for an artist talk with
Hannah Spector as she discusses her new body of work in We Lost Our Teeth For A Second Time.
Transformer's 13th Annual DC Artist Solo Exhibition presents
the work of Hannah Spector in her first solo exhibition.
Featuring a new body of collage and mixed-media installation that examines shape and color in relation to myth, We Lost Our Teeth For A Second Time plays upon a lyrical interpretation of man's mythical understanding of consciousness through symbols and shadows. Through an investigation of seemingly irrelevant shape and form, Spector aims to choreograph color and shape, exploring the dichotomy of form and sensation.
Wednesday, December 16, 2015
Percent-for-Art Programs
If you've taken my "Bootcamp for Artists" 8-hour seminar, then you know that I've been preaching this for almost two decades now... but just in case you didn't believe me...
These ordinances, called percent-for-art programs, are seeking to use public spaces to bring art into the consciousness of a wider public by requiring a fee, usually some percentage of the project cost, on large scale development projects in order to fund and install public art. That percentage usually ranges from 0.5% to 2%, with most programs (ironically) adopting 1% allocation. As such, percent-for-art programs have been popping up all over the country, although the details may vary from area to area. For example, the City of Los Angeles’ 1% for arts program, has developers pay an amount equal to 1% of the construction value of a large-scale project to fund public art at the construction site.Check Nicolita Martinez article here.
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