WPA is hiring!

From the WPA:

WPA has received support from the DCCAH to develop a new digital archive, which will launch in January 2025, kicking off our 50th Anniversary celebrations. WPA’s digital archive will enable researchers, artists, funders, and the public to learn more about WPA’s rich history of presenting groundbreaking contemporary art in DC.

The Research Fellow will be a critical position in supporting the development of this archive by helping to build systems for digitizing and processing assets into the archive, while simultaneously supporting active research of WPA’s history by artists-in-residence. 

Learn more and apply for this position here.

Artomatic Review: The 6th Floor

Yesterday was my fourth opportunity to spend some hours looking at the work at ARTOMATIC. As I've noted many times over the last two decades, it is impossible to "see" this show in one or two visits. Any and all visits are welcomed (and free), but if you are serious about "seeing" the work of nearly 1,000 artists - then plan to return multiple times!

That's what folks who visit Art Basel week in Miami in December do - they know that they cannot visit all 26 fairs or so, and they also know that they can't even see the hundreds of galleries and thousands of artists in the two or three larger fairs, and thus they plan a week-long visit in many cases.

ARTOMATIC is in many facets, better than any hoity toity art fair on the planet, because an "open" show allows for a certain degree of freedom that no exhibition venue on this planet can match; more on that later.

Read and see my fifth floor review here.

Read and see my fourth floor review here.

Read and see my eighth floor review here.

First impressions: there's a LOT of really good photographers on this floor! A fucking lot of them! I liked Jose Valcarcel's "City Aperture" small photos with triangular compositions, also Khalil D'Jmaal's great out of control and entertaining room at 6106, Redeat Wondemu in room 6001, and Kathleen Weis in 6000. 

Also... whoever the photographer is with the SPECTACULAR photo installations dealing with slavery in room 6016! They are not only clearly a work of love, but also an important statement - this photographer can teach lessons in presentation and design! WOW! On purpose I have no images because I want all of you to go to room 6016 and see them!

Having said that, I have no idea who this photographer is... if it is the same photographer on the opposite wall (most rooms at ARTOMATIC are shared by two artists), then two things:

(a) You need to ID yourself on the left wall

(b) Your gorgeous landscapes photography identify you as a photographer of many skills and a superb eye for presentation!

If (B) is a gent named Damien T. Taylor, then I bow down to you sir!

Update: I am told that it is Taylor!

Michael Enn Sirvet is one of the region's best known artists and his skill in delivering awesome sculptures that flow and interact with the eye and light, etc. are well documented, and thus no surprise that his work in room 6108 is another brilliant delivery of talent and skill!

Room 6105 is another great example of why you can't do ARTOMATIC unless it is the ARTOMATIC model - not gonna bust it here: go see it and it's by catseye2thecosmos.com 

When you get out of the elevators on the 6th floor (yep! they're working again!), there's a wall on the side with a floor map - good luck with that! I started to the left of the map and was immediately greeted by this in wall 653:

Katie Flack Wall at Artomatic 2024 on the 6ht floor

These are gorgeous landscapes, superbly presented and because they're smallish, can get away with the salon style hanging scheme. They're brushy and fresh and showcases an artist with an enviable eye for nature and mastery over the brush. By comparison, I also liked the landscapes of Jim Halloran in room 6037, who is 180 degrees away from Flack on painting styles, but nonetheless delivers impeccable work done more in the classical realistic style. Both are terrific painters of the landscape (in Halloran's case his ten paintings have been inspired by Four Mile Run Park in Alexandria) and highly recommended! 

In room 6052, e.l. briscoe transforms Star Wars imagery into really good paintings and excellent and really deep thoughts - I really liked them! I also liked (room 6051) Shelley Picot's super clean presentation and talented wall sculptures in clay. Also loved the recycled material sculptures in room 6044 by Phil Charlwood.

Charlwood's "natural" work is perhaps another of the great success stories of ARTOMATIC. Here is a clearly talented artist who uses metallic scrap that usually gets discarded to create and recrate artwork and pieces and forms that echo his own ideas and channels what we all absorb as we grow. Go buy one now - this artist will hit the main stream soon.

Soon afterwards I walked into Bud Wilkinson's strong presence at the "end" of that side of the building is the area marked as 647.

Bud Wilkinson's Artists' Portraits at ARTOMATIC 2024

The screens show Wilkinson's portraits of dozens and dozens of DC area artists whom he has photographed over the years! A photographic catalog of Who's Who in the DMV Art Scene - the stickies on the wall are the names of the artists.  It is a wonderful project that generations from now will deserve a museum home in the DMV!

Opposite from the above wall, Brandon Hill showcases other and different artistic muscles in these elegant and intelligent wall sculptures - this is clearly a multi-faceted artist with lots of skills at his disposal.

Brandon Hill at ARTOMATIC 2024

In 6049 artist T. Rudis gets my award for Best Use of Light in a presentation of a work of art, which uses simple nature sculptures married to intelligent lighting to deliver a really cool work of art.

T. Rudis at ARTOMATIC 2024

In room 6047 Sarah Wardell has some really well done and (most of them) tiny landscapes that nonetheless showcase a really skilled painter - and the pricing is one of the best art deals at ARTOMATIC! Buy some of them!

Sarah Wardell landscape at ARTOMATIC 2024

Sarah Wardell wall

In room 6000 I really liked the pencil portraits by Todd Messer.

Todd Messer pencil portraits at ARTOMATIC 2024

I also liked the work by a young (judging from his photo) and subject-daring young artist named Brian H. Zambrano. I liked the way that he explores unusual subjects that most of us are not courageous enough to explore. No doubt that this young artist is one to keep an eye on! He also gets my Best Sardine Art Award! 

In room 6125, Michael Pacheco adds evidence to my thesis that no other exhibition venue or process in the world can do what ARTOMATIC can do. Here, Pacheco, like dozens of other hard-working artists have done at ARTOMATIC this year and over the past two decades, takes his painting skills to the room itself and delivers a painted room that takes us into the jungles of Apocalypto. Do not for a moment think that it is easy to accomplish this! Pacheco has some serious painting skills which make his hard work deliver... more evidence next.

Michael Pacheco transforms room 6125 at ARTOMATIC 2024

Evidence submission: Look at the below details from one of Pacheco's paintings in that room; this is a painter's painter, as my art school professor Jacob Lawrence used to say. He manipulates, seduces and commands the brush in what appears as a frenetic (but is in reality a superbly controlled) process to create the illusion of a Native American figure simply based on hundreds and hundreds of separate and individual strokes!

Detail of painting by Michael Pacheco 

For decades now I have been observing and admiring the evolution of DMV Überartist Pat Goslee, who has some gorgeous paintings in her unique and inimitable style in room 6090. I say inimitable because Goslee has refined her work process in such minute, hard-to-define style that it would take celestian intervention for someone to try to copy her spectacular works!

Over those decades, I have also always found something really sensual, sensitive, and bordering on erotica in her marriage of abstraction with forms and shapes and geometric designs, and stencils and colors...

Ages ago I dubbed that work as "vaginalism" in some review for some magazine or newspaper,  I also called it "vaginalia", and just outside the door from room 6090, is easily the greatest example of this field of art ever produced!

Vaginalia style art by Patricia Goslee

In room 6030 Mike Price wins the Best Wire in Art Award. These are not only intelligently designed, some kinetic, works of art, but also work to fool the eye as paintings!

Side view of Mike Price's wire artwork in room 6030 at ARTOMATIC 2024

The sheer genius in these works, is that in the elegant presentation, Price installs the wire sculptures within a solid painting background, where at first view they meld and blend to fool the eye!

"Werther's" by Mike Price

"Scissors" by Mike Price

Also in that room there are some impressive flower paintings by Peri Turns -- easily, and together with master artist Michal Hunter, the best flower paints so far!

My fave sculpture on the 6th floor? How about this precise and elegant and super cool assemblage of organic things (the wings are tree leaves) titled "Reluctant Predator" by Lee T. Wheeler in room 6002.

"Reluctant Predator" by Lee T. Wheeler in room 6002

Time for another award: The "Most Touchable Ever Award" goes to the cool (pun intended) flowing, moving and touchable sculptures in room 6054 by recycledworksart.com - and next a brainfart! I missed noting the name of the artist in room 6032, who deserves a shout out for his/her coooool paper installation and paper art skills! You rock! This is the ARTOMATIC 2024 Paper Room!

Does this room rock or what?

Every once in a while, a work of art speaks to the viewer as if coming from another dimension. Yesterday that was the case with this gorgeous painting by Adam Chamy in room 6040 and titled "Blood Bath."

BLOOD BATH by Adam Chamy

Vaginalia

For decades now I have been observing and admiring the evolution of DMV Überartist Pat Goslee, who has some gorgeous paintings in her unique and inimitable style in room 6090.

Over those decades, I've always found something really sensual, sensitive, and bordering on erotica in her marriage of Abstraction with forms and shapes and geometric designs, and stencils and colors...

Ages ago I dubbed that work as "vaginalism" in some review for some magazine or newspaper,  I also called it "vaginalia", and just outside the door from room 6090, is easily the greatest example of this field of art ever produced!

Reluctant Predator

I'm on duty at ARTOMATIC today, and as usual,  walking around into every single room and chastising the visitors who "see" the show by walking through the aisles and not going into the rooms!

In room 6002 there's very interesting work by an assemblage artist named Lee T. Wheeler and I particularly loved "Reluctant Predator" and "Terminator as a child."

Reluctant Predator by Lee T. Wheeler in room 6002

First Fridays in Bethesda returns next Friday!

The Bethesda Art Walk Returns

on Friday, April 12!

The iconic First Fridays are back in Bethesda in full force and that's a great thing, as several new art spaces have popped up in the area in the last few years and the First Fridays is a great way to enjoy a nice walk through Bethesda and see and support our local galleries!

First Fridays were started at the push of the Fraser Gallery in 2001, then located at the 7700 Wisconsin Avenue square where eventually several other galleries popped up! The great space once occupied by that legendary gallery is now where Gallery B is located!

Amy Kaslow Gallery is a great place to start the walk - they opened in 2020 and host a 2,400 square foot space at 7920 Norfolk Avenue in Bethesda, just a couple of minutes walk from Gallery B.

Kaslow notes:

We cover a lot of miles exploring creatives and their markets, here and abroad. Washington, DC native Amy Kaslow, who writes and photographs with a lens on at-risk societies, along with her longtime colleague, now Gallery Director Jordan Lee, lead a team to compile research, curate, design and communicate the story of each artist, and every piece on display.

Currently on exhibit through April 14, they have works by Sandra Dooley, in an exhibition titled "Layers." See those works here.

Tonight Amy Kaslow is open until 9PM, so drop by and check Dooley's works - as the gallery recommends: See some gorgeous work, then find good eats at one of the many restaurants nearby. Or stop in after drinks and dinner.

Sandra Dooley  Ojos Bien Abiertos (Eyes Wide Open)  Mixed media on canvas  47 x 47 in

Starting with the April 12 art walk you can meet the artists, view their exhibited works, and enjoy light refreshments. From 6PM - 8PM you'll be able to visit the five participating galleries and studios:

Amy Kaslow Gallery

Gallery B

Studio B

Triangle Art Studios

Waverly Street Gallery

Tephra Arts Festival coming to Reston in May!

Tephra ICA Arts Festival Takes Over Reston Town Center the Weekend of May 18-19,2024!

Now in its 33nd year, the Tephra ICA Arts Festival (formerly titled the Northern Virginia Fine Arts Festival) will take place that weekend at Reston Town Center. Over 200 contemporary artists and artisans will travel from across the country to present original handmade artwork to share with Festival audiences.

It's worth the visit - I shit thee not!  Free parking, lots of food vendors and great art!

Eyes of Max Scherzer

Eyes of Mad Max Scherzer

"Eyes of Mad Max Scherzer" is an original mixed media drawing/watercolor on pH-balanced, acid free watercolor paper.

Ellen Cornett at Artists & Makers Studios in Rockville

Artists & Makers Studios on Parklawn Drive in Rockville will host Ellen Cornett for the month of April. 

The exhibit runs from April 3rd through April 24th at Artists & Makers Studios, with an opening reception on Friday, April 5th, 5 – 8pm. 

Artists & Makers Studios presents Once Upon a Time, Words and Pictures, illustrations from recently published books by artist, Ellen Cornett. 

Cornett re-wrote these familiar stories, illustrating them in colored pencil and carbon pencil; Hush Little Baby, The House That Jack Built, The Fisherman and the Flounder and Stone Soup. In collaboration with Cornett, professional model and muse, Harry Edgel, posed for the human characters in the drawings. With his bottomless costume trunk and a dancer’s expressiveness, Edgel was instrumental in bringing the characters in Cornett’s illustrations to life. 

Enjoy additional exhibits “Earthbound” with Resident Artists – on view in the Gallery Hall, along with nineteen Gallery 209 Member Artists exhibiting their latest work. Shop and support local working artists, makers, and professionals.

“Once Upon a Time, Words and Pictures” with Ellen Cornett

“Earthbound” with Resident Artists

The Artists of Gallery 209

Opening Reception

5:00pm – 8:00pm, Friday, April 5th, 2024

Artists & Makers Studios

11810 Parklawn Drive, Suite 210

Rockville, MD 20852

Wanna add a line to your art CV?

And also do it for a good cause!

Submission Deadline for mailed US Entries: April 8, 2024

Organization: Rochester Contemporary Art Center, Rochester, New York

Fee: FREE

Event Dates: June 1, 2024 - July 21, 2024

Eligibility: International

Categories: Craft/Traditional Arts, Photography, Drawing, Mixed-Media/Multi-Discipline, Painting, Sculpture

Juried: Nope! It's OPEN! All entries exhibited!

Each summer Rochester Contemporary Art Center’s (RoCo) 6x6 exhibition brings together thousands of original artworks, made and donated by celebrities, international & local artists, designers, youth and YOU. Each artist may enter up to four artworks of any medium (2D or 3D). Artworks must be six inches square and signed only on the back, to be exhibited anonymously. Participation is free. All artworks will be exhibited and for sale to the public for $20 each to benefit RoCo. Artists’ names will be revealed to the buyer upon purchase and all artworks remain on display through the end of the exhibition. Limit four artworks per school or school group (no limit for colleges).

Please call or email with any questions: (585) 461-2222 | info@rochestercontemporary.org - The entry form can be downloaded here.

Best new artist find at Artomatic (so far)

My personal best AOM find of all time was when I ran into Tim Tate at the second ever Artomatic in Tenleytown. The Tatenator was under the stairs on the basement, and in the now mythical story of Artomatic, his work from that show ended up in a major museum, resulted in his first solo show ever at the iconic Fraser Gallery in Georgetown and from all the sales he started, along with Erwin Timmers and Mike Janis, the Washington Glass School in the neighborhood where the Nats' stadium is now.

Back to Artomatic 2024... I was on duty on the fourth floor last Saturday,  and after two and a half hours I completed my circuit of that floor, which is a warren of amazing rooms where artists of all kinds have created some spectacular displays of creativity, zeal and hard work.

And then I walked into room 4123.

James Flowers' artwork in room 4123 at Artomatic 2024

In room 4123 I met the recent works on metal of a new-to-me artist named James Flowers.

Before I talk about the artwork, let me point out something else: the superbly professional presentation - each of Flowers' gorgeous paintings are done on meatl - a nightmarish substrate not for the faint of heart, demanding precise technical skill and patience, and Flowers easily navigates the technical pitfalls of painting on the sexy, shiny surface and achieves the desired effect of superior, professional presentation.

Like most of us at Artomatic, he suffers from the salon-hanging virus that affects nearly each room in the Brutalist building at 2100 M Street, NW - we all want to maximize our $150 half room!

Flowers' approach to the subject matter - in this case mostly beautiful and elegant Black women with a flowing sense of power and presence - is quite distinct. His composition is classical in the sense of the triangular delivery of the subject that given them added weight and presence.

It is the way in which he has captured a psychological subtle message from each subject - this is sooooo easy to write in words and sooooo hard to deliver with a brush, and this is precisely with Flowers has done and accounts for much of his visual success.

There are other clues, such as in the paintings above and below; notice how the subject interacts with something out of the plane of the image above, and interacts with the viewer below.

I predict lots of great things in the future of this artist; there are a lot of great artworks in the room right now!

Artomatic review: the 4th floor

It took me about two and a half hours to finish finish my first walk through of the 4th floor at ARTOMATIC, and then I revisited some spaces and left many comments on the artists' books.

First impressions are: 

(1) A lot of artists channeling Joseph Cornell, which is a good thing, as Cornell was a magnificent artist and his work niche has miles and miles of creativity left to explore!

(2) a lot of BLM-themed artwork, some pretty powerful, some less memorable.

(3) I'm shocked by how many people cannot spell Palestine! 

Now for my impressions, but first, the mysterious, talented and prolific poet known as BRASH has been gifting poetry to ARTOMATIC artists for many years now. And now BRASH has been outed by an artist known as Bebe in room 4043! I really hope that this was an agreed outing!

BRASH by Bebe

Wall mosaic by Peijisan at Artomatic 2024

In room 4066, the artist known as Peijisan has cleverly recycled materials to create a wall mosaic that translates really well and would be a great addition to any public art building - the best of both worlds: re-using materials and in doing so creating really good art!

My personal best ARTOMATIC find of all time was when I ran into Tim Tate  at the second ever Artomatic in Tenleytown over two decades ago. Today when I waked the 4th floor (I'm on duty on the 4th floor), in room 4123 I met the recent works on metal of a new-to-me artist named James Flowers. So far he's the Best New Artist find (for me)... I will explain more in DC Art News later.

Detail of a James Flowers painting on metal

In room 4009 I was superbly impressed by the portrait drawings of Mary Acosta. In these works the artist has easily captured - not only through her technical skill, but also through her ability to "read" the subject -- something special about each person!

Mary Acosta in room 4009 at Artomatic 2024

I am usually highly critical of weird or fancy frames - as opposed to the art word standard of plain frames that do not interfere with the work. In this room I stand corrected! Acosta uses a diverse assortment of interesting exotic frames and I'll be darned if it actually works for her!

Mary Acosta portrait

I mentioned that there are a lot of artists on this floor channeling Joseph Cornell - and below is one of my absolute favorites from Tom Noll in room 4038, which is full of wonderful artsy "upcycled" boxes!

 

Tom Noll at Artomatic 2024


Tom Noll room 4038 at Artomatic 2024

On one of the halls marked 478, I was taken by the pole dancing photographs of Larkin Jones - they are superbly presented, and deliver athletic prowess, eroticism and even humor!

Pole dancing photo by Larkin Jones at Artomatic 2024

Below is my award for possibly the scariest sculpture in Artomatic! It is the superb work of Greg Bailou in room 4013!

Greg Bailou in room 4013

I have admired the works of my good bud Osbel Susman-Peña for decades now. He's a superbly trained artist whose works draws from deep sources loaded with ages of personal meanings to him, and yet the brilliance of his works is how each individual viewer finds its own meanings in his wondrous paintings.  His work is in room 4057.

Some other masters who need no introduction are Colin Winterbottom (easily one of the best DMV photographers of the city) in room 4062, the breath-taking work of Ellen Cornett in room 4085. I am soooo jealous of her enviable technical skill in her drawings - but technical skill alone does not great art make -- and Cornett is also brilliant in her surrealist work that delivers a wondrous bestiary and images that are best reserved for wonderful dreams! She's in room 4085.

In room 4073/74 I ran into a powerful installation by the duo of Claudia Vess and Lucy Blankenstein - two DMV artists who need no introduction. Titled "Apres Moi?", the two-room install is an orgy of recycled white foam materials that somehow in one room deliver modern forms and in the other room a marriage of modern forms with classical busts!

Apres Moi

Apres Moi

More "must see" on the 4th floor: Marcie Wolf-Hubbard in room 4050, Betsy Jones miniature dioramas in room 4015, Monica Perdomo's memorable stitched canvasses in room 4104, and easily the selection for one of the most innovative and serene projects of Artomatic history: Lisa Rosenthal-Yoffe's "Nothing but Blue Skies" in room 4014 -- That's how you do a room installation!

Detail of Monica Perdomo's stitching

More masters at Artomatic: Susan Jamison in room 4099, and the collaboration of David Mordini and Barry Schmetter in 4029, with nine tracks of motion activated cicada songs is spectacularly superior on a planetary scale! May the broods of 2024 bring new sounds to your repertoire!

And of course there's another great room with Richard Schellenberg's latest. This artist - along with Tim Tate a few centuries ago - almost single-handedly invented the niche of art that took video away from DVD players and made it into fine art!  There are also some exceptional minimalist drawings, which I gotta admit, were a surprise to me - the man can also draw! He's in room 4088.

Richard Schellenberg video pieces at Artomatic 2024

Over in Facebook I've been getting my ass chewed by artists who think that no one should get constructive criticism on something that needs improvement - one even called me a jackass. They felt that it was "unneeded" and "mean" that I think that whoever this artist is below, he or she gets the second worst Artomatic installation ever. 

This is ALL that there's in the room:

Why? Because the presentation needs a lot of schooling: there is no information at all, no names, no contact information, etc. And the work is double taped to the wall, which to me does not say that the artist is trying to deliver a message via the poor installation, but that he or she just needs some basic mentoring and information on artwork presentation... Note that I'm discussing the presentation - not the artwork itself - but a lot of otherwise gentle folks over at Facebook are fuming at me for daring to express constructive criticism,

I could be wrong, and if so, I will eat my words -- you readers know that I have done so many times in the past.

Wanna talk about it? Whoever is below artist, email me and let's get together and chat about how to present your work... or you can tell me to fuck off -- either way works... Wanna see the very worst Artomatic installation ever? Click here.

When a painting hits the mark

In room 5015 at Artomatic there is work by an artist named Michelle Ramos, who is new to me.

There are sometimes confluences of things that happen in the process of producing art, which, depending on what the "thing" is, can result in a disaster or in a work of art that moves from the mundane to the sublime.

In 5015 there is such a work.

In that room we find a work where the artist has accepted one of the most difficult challenges in painting: delivering a work of art using colors that reside on opposite ends of the color wheel.

The usual result of that for most of us is a muddy ending,  where the chemical properties of the paint defeat the best artistic intentions. 

And yet, in this work Ramos has not only seduced the combating primary colors into coming into a gorgeous agreement of sorts, but also delivered what can best be described as a triumph of persistence over logic and an enviable and beautiful work of art that defied all painting logic and ends as a brilliant triumph of the brush!

And it is in the middle area transition point where the magic occurs that allow the two colors, always at war with each other, to marry in artistic triumph.

Well done!

26th Bethesda Row Arts Festival

Get ready for the 26th Bethesda Row Arts Festival, happening on September 7-8, 2024! 

They are thrilled to announce that artist applications are now open. Situated in the vibrant heart of Bethesda, Maryland, the festival spans five bustling blocks and has been hailed as one of the top 30 Fine Art Shows in the country by the "Art Fair Sourcebook.

Expect to engage with 25,000 discerning attendees from the affluent and educated communities of the Washington, DC Metro Area, including Bethesda, Chevy Chase, and Upper Northwest. The sphere of influence of the festival extends to a three-mile radius, known for its high average household income of $196,910.

They employ a comprehensive marketing plan that encompasses a wide range of platforms, from a robust social media campaign to traditional print and radio ads. With the support of their PR firm, local chamber of commerce, and urban district, they continually strive to involve the community and reach new potential attendees. Notably, their visibility has been amplified by appearances on NBC, FOX, WTOP (news radio), and WAMU (public radio).

These are the 2024 jurors - click here.

Apply here.

Affordable Art Fair New York City - the last day!

 Sundays are always tough because the lurking end of the fair means the re-packing of all the art, loading the van and the long drive home!

By 6:45PM I was packed and escape from New York had begun! Five long days of hard work behind, lots of artwork stayed behind, but one always wishes for more!

Affordable Art fair NYC Spring 2024 - Day Four

Saturdays are historically the best. There are flood warnings all over the area, but that seemed to drive more people to the fair and we saw large numbers and multiple good sales! Two of Yurdin's large abstracts stayed with a young collector couple!

We also had a visit by DMV ubercollectors Steve and Linda Krensky!

Steve and Linda Krensky chatting with Cory Oberndorfer

I sold several major drawings as well as the never-ending flow of Bisque drawings sales.

The Last Copy of the Constitution 

Sleep is the Cousin of Death

And great crowds!