Glasshouse shattered

From Kriston Capps in 2005:

"It's bitchy of me to say— and I don't know the extent to which Lenny Campello of DC Art News contributes or what Cyndi Spain [the DCist Arts Editor] has to say on the subject— but I twitch whenever I see a feature with Lenny's name attached on DCist about work on display at the gallery he operates. I don't doubt the conviction Lenny clearly feels about the art he represents or enjoys, and I don't think that it's unreasonable that he writes about artists he represents on his own blog. But you really can't don the critic's cap when you're a producer in the community."

Back then three years ago I didn't think that Capps was right, but just in case I quit immediately contributing gallery openings information ( which is the only data and info that I ever contributed) to DCist.

But now Washington City Paper art critic and many other outlets' contributor Kriston Capps has become a "producer" himself when he curates the current show at Project 4 in DC.

Will I twitch now or whenever I see a future Project 4 feature in the Washington City Paper or any of the other freelance outlets that Capps writes for?

I don't think so, because inside me I think that those outlets, like DCist was in 2005, and it is now, know how to separate themselves from unethical procedures. And because Project 4 is a terrific gallery in the DC art scene and deserves attention. And I sort of hoped that Capps would have had the same "inside me" feeling about the data that I was contributing to DCist back then... but he didn't and perhaps rightly so, lowered the ethical limbo pole for "art producers" who are also art critics or writers.

Inside me, I know this is not 100% the case, and that the art universe has plenty of room for critics who want to be curators and vice versa. And it is not Project 4's fault or the WCP's, or any of the other places that print Capps' eloquent words, that this unwarranted ethical attention has been brought onto to them by Capps' actions, as it wasn't DCist's faults that the unethical spotlight caused by my gallery openings contributions was focused onto them in 2005 by Capps.

But words count, and we Cubans tend to have long memories, and I recall being pointed out for something that was almost smelling unethical in Capps' words, without the courage to say so, and so I took the high road and quit contributing to DCist.

Right away.

Not writing reviews for DCist -- mind you... I never wrote a review for DCist as some less than accurate bloggers erroneously reported -- but just being associated with DCist at all... just in case Capps' ethical testing strip might have a tiny chance of being right...

But now I think that it is time to throw a stone at that Kristonian ethical glasshouse, and put Kriston to the same limbo test that he put me three years ago when he was not a "producer" as he is now as a curator for a gallery show in the city where several of the freelance outlets that he writes for... ahhh... cover.

"It's bitchy of me to say — and I don't know the extent to which Kriston Capps contributes or what Mark Athitakis [the Washington City Paper Arts Editor] has to say on the subject — but I twitch whenever I see a feature in the City Paper about work on display at the gallery that employed Kriston as a curator. I don't doubt the conviction Kriston clearly feels about the art he curates or enjoys, and I don't think that it's unreasonable that he writes about artists [that] he curates on his own blog. But you really can't don the critic's cap when you're a producer in the community."

I was never, ever a critic for DCist.

Thus, if it was an issue for me to contribute multi-gallery opening data to DCist while being an art "producer," then it definitely is an issue for Capps to contribute to the City Paper or his other art writing outlets that may cover the District, as a writer... while now being a commercial gallery curator, which falls neatly into the set of "producer."

And please do not try to justify it as curators are not producers.

What is the solution?

Sounds like it would make a great topic for discussion at an art panel or over a few beers.... first round on me.

DCAC? AU? AAC?

Smithsonian Official Resigns

The head of the Smithsonian Latino Center resigned in February after an internal investigation found that she violated a variety of rules and ethics policies by abusing her expense account, trying to steer a contract to a friend and soliciting free tickets for fashion shows, concerts and music award ceremonies, according to records released yesterday by the Smithsonian.

Read the story by James V. Grimaldi and Jacqueline Trescott in the WashPost here.

Dia de los Muertos

The German artist Gregor Schneider is planning the ultimate performance piece: showing a person dying as part of an exhibition.

I shit thee not... read about it here.

Artist Talk: Baltimore

Hamid Kachmar will be discussing his inspiration and creative process, at New Door Creative in Baltimore this Sunday from 3-5PM.

Congrats

To DC artist Kathryn Cornelius, who has been included in "Ad Absurdum
Energies of the absurd from modernism till today" running April 18 - July 27, 2008 at the MARTa Herford Museum in Germany. Ad Absurdum is a joint project by MARTa Herford and the Städtische Galerie Nordhorn.

Curated by Jan Hoet, the exhibition includes work by Jost (Jodocus) Amman, Joseph Beuys, Jurgen Bey, Guillaume Bijl, Erwin Blumenfeld, Michaël Borremans, Katharina Bosse, Constantin Brancusi, Sebastian Brant, George Brecht, Marco den Breems, André Breton, Marcel Broodthaers, Veronica Brovall, John Cage, Rui Chafes, Jake and Dinos Chapman, Giorgio de Chirico, Kathryn Cornelius, Philipp Corner, matali crasset, Wim Delvoye, Matthias Drechsler, Felix Droese, Marcel Duchamp, Jimmie Durham, Elmgreen & Dragset, Max Ernst, Nick Ervinck, Robert Filliou, Katharina Fritsch, Dorothee Golz, J. J. Grandville, Kristján Gudmundsson, David Hammons, Al Hansen, Raoul Hausmann, Jürgen Heckmanns, Dick Higgins, Andreas Hofer, Ottmar Hörl, Séverine Hubard, Jan Van Imschoot, Marcel Janco, David Kaller, Tadeusz Kantor, Allan Kaprow, Kristof Kintera, Martin Kippenberger, Milan Knízák, Imi Knoebel, Arthur Koepcke, Surasi Kusolwong, Ulrich Lamsfuß, Le Corbusier, Zoe Leonhard, Via Lewandowsky, Zbigniew Libera, Edward Lipski, René Magritte, Jacques Mahé de la Villeglé, Dirk Martens, Fabio Mauri, Jonathan Meese, Rik Meijers, Otto Muehl, Bruce Nauman, Chris Newman, Honoré d'O, Meret Oppenheim, Eduardo Paolozzi, Anna Lange, Francis Picabia, Pablo Picasso, Sigmar Polke, Emilio Prini, Royden Rabinowitsch, Man Ray, Odilon Redon, Tobias Rehberger, Tejo Remy, Thomas Rentmeister, Jason Rhoades, Georges Ribemont-Dessaignes, Mimmo Rotella, Dieter Roth, Michael Rutkowsky, Michael Sailstorfer, Takako Saito, Fabian Sanchez, Wilhelm Sasnal, Sebastian Schmieding, ManfreDu Schu, Thomas Schütte, Kurt Schwitters, Michael Sellmann, Hannes Van Severen, Floria Sigismondi, Nedko Solakov, Louis Soutter, Klaus Staeck, André Thomkins, Rosemarie Trockel, Susan Turcot, Pieter van der Heyden, Koen Vanmechelen, Ben Vautier, Wolf Vostell, Friederike Warneke, Emmett Williams, and Carmelo Zagari.

Open Studios: DC

Saturday & Sunday, April 26 - 27, from 11AM- 5PM at 52 O Street NW in Washington DC - website here.
Work by:

Stevens Jay Carter
Brooke Clagett
Betsy Damos
Christopher Edmunds
Adam Eig
Thom Flynn
Cianne Fragione
H2O n2 Wine Films
Andrea Haffner
Peter Harper
Mike Harris
Matt Hollis
Luke Idziak
B. Neal Jones
Micheline Klagsbrun
Raye Leith
Greg McLellan
Brandon Moses
Kendall Nordin
Holly & Ashlee Temple
Lisa Marie Thalhammer
Ben Tolman
Gabriel Thy

Artists' Websites: Diane Ramos

Photography by Diane Ramos

I am hearing good things about Diane Ramos' MFA thesis show at the Latin American Youth Center's Art & Media house on 15th St NW in Columbia Heights in DC. This young and talented artist will graduate from GWU next month.

Visit her website here.

Mellema on Lin

Kevin Mellema at the Falls Church News-Press reviews the current Amy Lin show at the Art League in Alexandria, Virginia and notes:

Alexandria resident Amy Lin has been on the radar screen of the D.C. area arts scene for a couple of years now and was last seen in December 2007 at her solo show in Heineman Myers Contemporary Art Gallery in Bethesda...

... Lin was included in Washingtonian Magazine's 2007 list of “40 Under 40 to Watch.” To be sure this is one rising star in our midst.

Still, I've had my reservations. Not so much on the eventual outcome, but rather the timing of it all. In Lin's last show, I saw too much centered and seemingly static work that didn't quite get up and dance for me. Shafts of brilliance are mixed with moments of weakness, as befits the process of artistic growth. At 29, Lin's best work is most assuredly ahead of her.

The current show in the Torpedo Factory's Art League Gallery is comprised of only six works, yet bears witness to a significant amount of artistic growth in a scant four months' time. While there are still occasional moments of weakness visible, the powerful work to come is clearly breaking out of its shell...

... Welcome the new Amy Lin.

Read this really excellent and insightful review here.

Predicted Mini Controversy

The National Endowment for the Arts has announced a design competition, in partnership with the Joint Committee on the Library and the Office of the Architect of the Capitol, for a statue of civil rights pioneer Rosa Parks. Commissioned by the U.S. Congress, the sculpture will be permanently installed in National Statuary Hall in the U.S. Capitol Building. The Chrysler Foundation has provided $100,000 to support the administration of the competition.

Chances are that the selected winner will be a classic sculpture to complement the works already there. But, and this may be a bit of a stretch considering the site and the probable set of jurors, if a jury dares to select something a little different from a classical statue, then expect the usual angst and fight over contemporary art.

This event could be an instant career-maker a-la-Maya-Lin and the Viet Nam War Memorial, but only if the jury sidesteps the tradition of traditional statuary (yes, yes.. I know) and selects - as an example - a life size glass reliquary featuring objects that belonged to this amazing lady, plus a running video of her life couple with motion detectors to kick in a little audio when someone stops in front of it.

Details for the competition here, and if I was an art professor teaching some 3D class somewhere, I may just make this a school assignment and have my students each submit a proposal for this call.

Application Receipt Deadline: May 30, 2008
Notification of Semi-Finalists: August 1, 2008

PMA and regional artists

Here's something that you will never see in a Washington, DC museum: This spring the Philadelphia Museum of Art collaborates with the Center for Emerging Visual Artists -one of this region’s artist organizations - to present "Emerging to Established: Twenty-Five Years of the Center for Emerging Visual Artists."

Organized in conjunction with the CFEVA in celebration of this milestone anniversary, the exhibition includes works on paper by 25 artists, including current and former Fellows from CFEVA’s Career Development Program, as well as members of its Board of Artistic Advisors, who select the Fellows. It will be on view through July 6 in the Director’s Gallery.

While the CFEVA program encourages work in all mediums, this exhibition concentrates solely on those making works on paper: drawings, prints, photographs, and mixed-media.

The Center For Emerging Visual Artists, formerly Creative Artists Network, was founded in 1983 by Felicity R. “Bebe” Benoliel to encourage the career development of emerging visual artists. Since then, the organization has worked steadily harder to provide the support essential to talented individuals building careers in the visual arts.

Artists' Talks: Philadelphia

Bill McRight and Alex Lukas are both members of the artist collective Space 1026, McRight creates strange and fantastical creatures for magazines, sidewalks, walls and skateboards. He has worked with Cannonball Press, Saturday Skateboards, Swindle Magazine and Mishka NYC. Lukas, originally from Cambridge, MA, creates ‘zines under the name Cantab Publishing. His work has been seen in New York, Boston, Philadelphia and Los Angeles as well as in Swindle Magazine, The Village Voice and The New York Times Book Review.

This Saturday, April 19, from 2:00–3:00pm, they will be discussing their work at The Print Center in Philly. Free and open to the public; to register, contact Eli VandenBerg at evandenberg@printcenter.org or 215.735.6090 x1

Artomatic update

The District of Columbia's massive arts extravanganza known as Artomatic already has almost 700 visual artists and nearly 150 performing artists signed up to participate in the coming AOM, and in order to accommodate the large number of 2-D artists that still needed space and for those on the wait list they met with the building owners and got permission to expand.

Artomatic will now be on the 4th - 12th floors of the Capital Plaza I Building. The massive Opening party is Friday, May 9, Noon, the Meet the Artists Night is Friday, May 16th, the Artist Social I is Sunday, May 18th, and Artist Social II is Thursday, June 12th.

AOM Closes on Sunday, June 15, 2008.

Details here.

Huge Arts Friday in Philly tomorrow

This Friday is crazy in Philly... first is the opening weekend for the Heartworks series of multimedia events. On Friday there's an ecletic mix of sights and sounds that will greet you during the HeartWorks Opening Weekend events, taking place over two days at two different venues. Musical performances, video art, mixed media presentations and DJ sets by Gang Gang Dance, Douglas Armour, Cory Archangel, Professor Murder, Chad Brown, Megawords. All the details are here and online auction here.

Then also on Friday is the Center City District gallery night from 5-8:30PM, with the City Paper's after-party with free food and drink specials at Vango (116 S. 18th Street) - must RSVP as space is limited. Visit this website for details.

My picks? Drop by and see Dennis Beach at Schmidt Dean, also the Philadelphia Sketch Club's 145th Annual Exhibition of Small Oil Paintings and Amanda Means at Gallery 339.

Art Businesses Across the Nation

"As of January 2008, the Creative Industries are a formidable industry in the United States — 2.98 million people working for 612,095 arts-centric businesses (2.2 percent and 4.3 percent, respectively, of U.S. employment and businesses)."

From the top 50 most populated US cities, Seattle (first) and San Francisco (second) and Atlanta (third) are way ahead in the Arts businesses per 1,000 residents; Seattle has 6.98 and SF has 6.5 and Atlanta has 5.0 - all other cities are below 5.

By comparison, DC has 4.06, Philadelphia 1.71, NY 3.25, Minneapolis 4.84, Miami 3.35, LA 4.72. The US city with the least interest in doing business with an arts business? That would be Detroit at 1.19 art business per 1,000 residents.

Want to know how many creative industries are located in your community?

Want to know how your community compares to other regions in the country?

Then visit this website.

Trib does Tim Tate

I am not familiar with the Chicago Tribune's art critic Alan Artner, but apparently much like his counterparts in DC and Philly, he rarely does galleries. But last week he did in writing about Narratives at Marx-Saunders Gallery

The easy seductiveness of glass as an artistic medium has in 20 years given rise to a virtual industry in sculpture in which prettiness is all. But what is there beyond technique? One answer comes in the four-artist exhibition at the Marx-Saunders Gallery: Narratives.

Each of the artists — Carmen Lozar, Catharine Newell, Minako Shirakura, Tim Tate — is to some degree a storyteller. So glass is less important in and of itself than in how it conveys the artists' tales, either alone or in combination with other materials. This shifts the works' emphasis from physical appeal to presumably something more inward.

The pieces incorporating video by Shirakura and Tate accomplish this best, still without convincing us that glass was essential to the enterprise. Could their glass components have expressed as much if they had been executed in another medium? Yes. And in Newell's pieces the new material could have been as simple as paper, as chief interest is in her representational drawing. Even so, only Lozar's cartoonlike tableaux disappoint with an equal coyness in execution and idea. If not there yet, Shirakura and Tate are clearly onto something to deepen the discourse. Here narrative is interesting enough to be periodically revisited.

Read the entire column of reviews here.

Artists' Talk: DC

Join co-curators Andrea Pollan and Jayme McLellan for a conversation with the artists featured in Civilian Art Projectss current exhibition, craigslist, on display through April 26. Artists John Dumbacher, Jason Horowitz and Jason Zimmerman will discuss and share their ideas and artistic process with the audience. This April 18, 2008, 7PM at Civilian Art Projects.

RSVP to info@civilianartprojects.com or 202-347-0022. Refreshments provided.

Artists' Websites: Katie Miller

Child Standing on a Dresser. Oil on canvas, 46x70" c.2007 by Katie Miller
I recently juried an art exhibition for VSA Arts in Washington, DC - the show will be at the Kennedy Center... more later on that - and during the jurying process came across the fantastic paintings of Katie Miller. I had never heard of her, but Katie Miller is a young artist in the Greater Washington, DC area and she received her B.F.A from Maryland Institute College of Art in 2007.

Visit her website here.

Opportunity for illustrators

The Chester River Press is looking for an experienced artist to illustrate a fine letterpress limited edition publication of Homer's Iliad and Odyssey. Illustrations, fullpage in theme of black figure Greek vase paintings, should be accurate quality reproductions of the various Homeric forms. Approx. 50 full page illustrations are anticipated. Qualifications: quality artist,strong working knowledge of Iliad, Odyssey, Greek Homeric period painting and drawing. Familiarity with Greek language a definite plus. Project dates: June to Sept. 2008. Not an 'in-residence'position. All welcome. If poss. include resume, work sample, and comp. requirements.

Contact:

Gerard Cataldo
Chester River Pres
Chestertown Old Book Co.
113 South Cross St.
Chestertown MD 21620

Mangravite on Prestegord

Gregory Prestegord at F.A.N. Gallery in Philly is reviewed by Andrew Mangravite:

Gregory Prestegord’s city scenes get right down to business. He doesn’t do the sort of work that you have to stare at and stare at, trying to decipher its message.

Read the whole review here.

Gopnik on Dumbachers

The WashPost's Chief Art Critic Blake Gopnik pops in with a terrific profile of the Dumbacher brothers, whose work first made a debut in 1999 at Artomatic and by 2001 had evolved dramatically was a hit at the Corcoran...

Looking at the brothers, their oneness comes as no surprise. They're only fraternal twins, but you'd swear they were identical. They have precisely the same athletic, 6-foot-something build. They also have the same shoulder-length brown hair. And the same attractive face, just a bit too quirky to be model-handsome.

There are differences. John's a touch slighter, sunnier, more sociable; Joe's a bit more solid and remote. Joe's sunglasses, always dangling from his neck, hang over clothes that are California casual. John's ever-present sunglasses tend to pair with sporty-chic outfits.

Read this really good profile by Gopnik here.

Museums and buying art

...should museum staff be free to advise board members (or other collectors) on what they should be acquiring themselves, and should those board members who are also active collectors be free to acquire works informed, in effect, by the insider knowledge that they are making the same bets or judgments as the museum on whose board they serve?

Read the article by Adrian Ellis for the Art Newspaper here.

Radcliffe Institute Fellowships

Deadline: October 1, 2008

The Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University awards approximately 50 fully funded fellowships each year. Radcliffe Institute fellowships are designed to support scholars, scientists, artists and writers of exceptional promise and demonstrated accomplishment, who wish to pursue work in academic and professional fields and in the creative arts.

Applicants must have received their doctorate or appropriate terminal degree by December 2006 in the area of the proposed project. Radcliffe welcomes proposals from small groups of scholars who have research interests orprojects in common.

Please check this website for more information. The stipend amount is $70,000. Fellows receive office space and access to libraries and other resources of Harvard University. During the fellowship year, which extends from early September 2008 through June 30, 2009, residence in the Boston area is required as is participation in the Institute community.

Fellows are expected to present their work-in-progress and to attend other fellows¹ events. Applications must be postmarked by October 1, 2008. For more information, visit their Web site at www.radcliffe.edu.

Trash People

Earth Day is a week away... and I've been hearing good things about a new art installation that opened last week at the National Geographic Museum: "Trash People by HA Schult."

Starting in 1996, the German artist HA Schult created 1000 life-size figures made entirely of trash with the goal of spreading the word about human consumption and waste. His army of figures have stood at the Pyramids at Giza, in the Red Square in Moscow and on the Great Wall of China.

Though they didn't have room for all 1000, the NGM is displaying 50 of them in their courtyard, and they've stirred quite a reaction from their visitors, several of which have emailed me. With Earth Day a week away, it may be a great time to visit this show.

Supplementing the 50 “trash people” will be a selection of still photographs from the new National Geographic Channel film “Human Footprint," which I have seen and it is terrific.

Go see this show.

Hyattsville Arts Festival

Where: Hyattsville, MD - on Longfellow Street and Route 1 (or take the metro to Hyattsville)

When: Saturday, April 19th from 12-5pm


For more info visit this website.

Colloquium on African American Art

The Howard University Department of Art is going to host the 19th Annual James A. Porter Colloquium on African American Art to be held on April 17 – 19, 2008 on the campus of Howard University.

The James A. Porter Colloquium is the leading forum for scholars, artists, curators, and others in the field of African American Art and Visual Culture. The theme of this year’s Colloquium is “From FESTAC to DOCUMENTA: Crossing Boundaries, Constructing Identities, Expanding Discourse in African American Art and Art of the African Diaspora.”

It honors the pioneering achievements of Richard Long, Professor Emeritus, Emory University and Leslie King-Hammond, Graduate Dean, Maryland Institute College of Art. For registration & more information, visit www.portercolloquium.org.

NYC Art Program Slide Registry

The New York City Department of Cultural Affairs Percent for Art Program Slide Registry is accepting slides from professional artists who wish to be considered for Percent for Art Commissions. No residency requirements.

For more information, contact:

Percent for Art
Department of Cultural Affairs
31 Chambers St., 2nd Fl.
New York, NY 10007

Phone: (212) 513-9300 or check website here.

Slides? It is 2008 NYC... how about a digital image registry?

Open House at the Torpedo Factory

On Friday the 25th of April is the annual Spring Open House at the Torpedo Factory in Old Town Alexandria, Virginia and there's also a book signing in Margaret Huddy's studio of a new art book about her of Sycamore Series.

The book includes 29 full color images of the paintings she's done of the same tree in the past 22 years. It incudes some words from me about this amazing series.

The open house party is on Friday, April 25 from 6-9PM.

Common Waters at Mayer Fine Art

Below is a quick video showing the exhibition "Common Waters: An Ocean Apart" at Norfolk's new Mayer Fine Art.

Works by Sandra Ramos, Aimee Garcia Marrero, Cirenaica Moreira and Marta Maria Perez Bravo.

To Biennial or Not to Biennial

Kyle MacMillan over at the Denver Post asks and raises some really good points over the need for the new Denver Biennial. Kyle writes:

At least 50 major biennials take place internationally, and more are being added to the list all the time, making it easy to wonder: How many biennials are too many? And with each new one, isn't the drawing power of such events becoming increasingly diluted?

Read the whole article here.

Washington's Corcoran Gallery of Art hosts the Corcoran Biennial, which they've hosted for many years. The biennial used to be strictly focused on painting, and as such it had a good niche in the overflowing scene of world biennials - it was just a biennial to sample the state of contemporary painting.

Unfortunately, in my opinion (which is generally not shared by many museum curators or probably other art writers), under the guidance of former Corcoran curator Terry Sultan, the Corcoran Biennial was "modernized" to become just like every other biennial and overly expanded to include everything that passes as fine art these days.

The result? Now the Corcoran Biennial is just another one of the 50+ biennials around the world, desperately lacking focus and usually bringing to DC a lot of art and artists recycled from other biennials plus a severe sprinkling of "newish" work.

In my opinion it would have been better to resist the temptation to expand to become a Jack of all art trades and keep it focused on the state of contemporary painting in all its vampirical refusals to die.

Time for Norfolk to be embarrassed

Norfolk newspaper The Virginian-Pilot sponsors an annual Student Gallery competition hosted at the Chrysler Museum of Art.

The top awards were announced a couple of weeks ago at the Chrysler Museum of Art, where works by the contest’s 62 finalists are on display. Erin Ayres “Unveiled Tokens of Lonely and Deserted Past,” was among two works that earned her the $1,000 first-place award.

Now the controversy part... Teresa Annas, art critic for the same newspaper courageously writes that:

This year’s top winners resulted from a third round of judging. The first two jurors selected nude artworks for first place. Those judges were Aaron De Groft, director of the Muscarelle Museum of Art, College of William and Mary, and Scott Howe, director of education and public programs at the Chrysler Museum.

The Virginian-Pilot, the contest’s main sponsor, declined to honor those choices.

“One was a nude self-portrait of a 17-year-old girl, and we didn’t feel that was appropriate,” said Pam Smith-Rodden, director of marketing, the department that runs Student Gallery. The other piece was a sculpture.

“We’re thinking about the audience, and all the kids and the younger siblings who will see these pieces,” Smith-Rodden said.

Those artworks are still on display at the Chrysler. “We honestly don’t believe those two pieces are appropriate to be held up as the winners of a high school art show, because they do depict the nude,” she said.

Student Gallery has no policy against nude imagery, Smith-Rodden said. “It hasn’t been an issue in the past, but we’re going to revisit it for future shows.”

Three days after the story came out, Norfolk began to respond and Annas reported that "Local art lovers rushed to donate money this week to a high school artist who was chosen as a winner in The Virginian-Pilot Student Gallery but was not given the award because the newspaper’s publisher deemed her work inappropriate. By late Friday, $700 had been collected. The goal was to raise $1,000. "

A day later Annas reported that:

Nancy "Beth" Reid, the teen artist whose nude self-portrait was denied top prize in an art contest, will be given $1,000 in a private ceremony today at Churchland High School in Portsmouth.

Beth, 17, was the first top winner chosen for The Virginian-Pilot Student Gallery, which is open to any high school junior or senior in the region. Her work was rejected for first place by the newspaper's publisher, Bruce Bradley. He deemed the work "inappropriate" for the show because it is a nude image of a minor.

A similar private award will go to Jasmine Childs of Chesapeake. She was the top choice of a second judge, but her sculpture of a nude torso also was rejected by Bradley.

And thus a sour story turns out a little better at the end thanks to the intervention of art lovers who saved the day at the last minute and thanks to the brave reporting by a writer employed by the same newspaper that caused Norfolk to be embarrassed in the eyes of the art world.

Bravo to the people of Norfolk!

Now I know...

This quote clearly reveals that Kingsley Amis' force is the HMFDIC (Head Motherfucker Darth In Charge) of the cabal of most suppliers of art writing:

"If you can't annoy somebody, there's little point in writing."

- Kingsley Amis

VB 2009

The Venice Biennale has named Daniel Birnbaum, the rector of the Staedelschule International Art Academy in Frankfurt, to curate its 2009 show.

"Birnbaum, born in Stockholm in 1963, was responsible for the Moscow biennial as well as exhibitions at the Pompidou Center in Paris and at London's Serpentine Gallery. He is a contributing editor to Artforum magazine in New York and writes critical essays for catalogs." Read the Bloomberg report here.

Common Waters: An Ocean Apart

Common Waters: An Ocean Apart opens tonight with an grand opening reception from 6-9PM at Mayer Fine Art in Norfolk, Virginia. This is a brand new gallery in a beautiful setting in Norfolk's Waterside building.

I curated this show, which features work by four leading Cuban artists: Marta Maria Perez Bravo, Sandra Ramos, Aimee Garcia Marrero and Cirenaica Moreira.

The show was hung last night and it looks beautiful, but it almost didn't happen at the last minute, as tragedy was barely avoided when the gallery owner was rushed to emergency because she badly cut her face with a piece of broken glass. The glass edge was jammed against her face and cut her all the way through to her mouth.

She's a trooper though! After a few hours in emergency, and a ton of stitches later, she came back to the gallery and finished hanging the show.

If you're in Norfolk tonight, come and say hi!

Opportunity for artists

Deadline: May 5, 2008

Wanna sell your landscape? 4Culture is seeking to acquire wall-mounted landscape works that use color(paintings, prints, photographs, drawings, etc.) for the Harborview Medical Center Collection, part of the King County Public Art Collection in Seattle.

The subject matter for this call must be the essence of landscape, whether represented realistically or abstractly. These works will be on display throughout the public spaces of the new Norm Maleng Building, a multi-story facility that houses operating rooms, acute care, rehabilitation, and clinic facilities, along with their associated waiting areas. An overall budget of $80,000 has been designated to purchase artwork. National artists who would like their work considered for purchase must submit images of existing available artwork for the panel's review. The maximum value of individual works should be $3500. A maximum height or width of 36" and a maximum depth of 3" for the artwork is specified. All artworks will be purchased unframed.

For a complete prospectus, visit this website. For more information: email Greg Bell at greg.bell@4culture.org

Save the Date: Gallery Grand Opening in DC

On Friday, May 9th from 5:30-8PM, the Healing Arts Gallery at Smith Farm Center will have its grand opening at 1632 U Street NW in DC. More on the gallery's mission later...

Out of Order Picks

By the time I showed up to the Maryland Art Place to drop my piece for "Out of Order" I was number 299, so by 6:22PM there were already almost three hundred pieces on the walls, and as I mentioned yesterday I jotted down a few exceptional pieces.

So from the first 300 artists in this massive open show, my top pick went to number 136 by Gilden Bransky! A close second, or perhaps sharing top spot is Anthony Terranova's amazing steel jacket (#76).

I also quite liked a cool little nude by #199, Jan Friedlander, and also Palma Allen (#100) multiple nude.

Really good work by number 155, Lauren Simonutti.

A really brilliant work by Hadieh Shafie (#42) which reminded me of the Arabic poems that cover most of the walls of the Alhambra pops in as a good challenger for Best in Show.

Balage's (#92) gorgeous painting of Joan of Arc (I think) is one of the best paintings in MAP, as is Patrick Kluga's painting of tomatoes (sorry but I cannot decipher the number from my notes).

Another really well done oil is Zachary Thornton's oil portrait (#111), although Thornton got a little lazy with the hands.

And Rosetta DeBernardinis (#198) is her usual fresh and powerful work, which is the polar opposite of another favorite, David Wilson's airbrush (I think) at #160.

And how could I not pick Alexa Brooks' evocative piece of the subject of Cuba? It is number 294!

The Silent Auction and Gala is at 8PM, this coming Friday, April 11, 2008. Go buy some artwork!

Beyond the Easel

Beyond the Easel: Preparing to Market and Sell Your Art
Date: Saturday, May 3, 2008
Time: 10am-6pm
Location: Warehouse Arts Complex in Washington, DC

Instructor: Rosetta DeBerardinis, School 33 Resident Studio Artist, Liquitex Artist of the Month: 2007, contributor to Daily Campello Art News, former Art Tour Guide, and abstract painter whose work has been exhibited and sold at commercial galleries and art venues in the Washington metro area, Baltimore and Richmond, VA.

This course is designed for professional artists who approach art as a business.
Defining goals, identifying the market, the studio, developing a body of work, marketing tools, promotion, the Internet, galleries and other venues are some of the topics to be discussed. It will provide the basic organizational and marketing skills required to exhibit and sell artwork.

Limit: 45 Students
Students are required to bring notebook and a writing instrument.
Cost: $50

Questions may be directed to: RosettaGallery@aol.com

Wanna go to an opening in Bethesda?

Joan Danziger opens at Bethesda's Osuna Gallery on Saturday, April 12, 2008, from 5-8 pm with an exhibition of recent sculptures.

Jury Duty

Tomorrow I will be on art jury duty for VSA arts, looking at entries inspired by the performing arts for “Derivative Composition,” an international juried art exhibition that will be on display at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., from May 29 - July 20, 2008.

Two-and three-dimensional art, digital art, installations, video and film, and other media that draw inspiration from music, theater, or dance are to be judged.

More on all of that later...

Deadhead Wading

Earlier tonight, after spending hours on a clogged up I-95 drive from Philly, I arrived in Baltimore, parked for 61 minutes (cost me $13 bucks), then I waded my way through a couple of hundred deadheads hanging around the plaza where the beautiful spaces of the Maryland Art Place is located in Baltimore to drop my piece for "Out of Order," where MAP opens its doors to any artist who wishes to exhibit their work in their gallery. Work must be original and ready to hang. They will accept one piece per artist, with wall dimensions not to exceed 5’x5’. They will be open all night accepting work.

Details here.

I was number 299, so by 6:22PM there were already almost three hundred pieces on the walls, and I jotted down a few exceptional pieces, which I had intended to mention, but which I left in my van, which then some valet in the DC hotel where I am tonight already parked somewhere and thus you will all have to wait until tomorrow to find out who the real good finds in this auction are, and there are some terrific pieces of art being offered.

The Silent Auction and Gala is at 8PM, this coming Friday, April 11, 2008.

Out of Order

MAP’s infamous free-hung benefit exhibition is back! For twenty-four hours, the Maryland Art Place in Baltimore will open its doors to any artist who wishes to exhibit their work in their gallery. Work must be original and ready to hang. They will accept one piece per artist, with wall dimensions not to exceed 5’x5’.

Details here.

It keeps on rolling

The year 2008 Tim Tatetahon just keeps rolling... fresh from the Washington Glass School opening at Charlottesville's Migrations Gallery, Tate now opens a solo show and makes his Santa Fe debut with an exhibition at Jane Sauer Gallery titled "The Vague Haze of the Unconscious" and opening on on April 11 and running through May 6, 2008.

Opening at Migrations Gallery
Next: Philadelphia.

SF Art Institute halts exhibition

Citing threats of violence by animal rights activists, the San Francisco Art Institute said Saturday that it is canceling a controversial exhibition that included video clips of animals being bludgeoned to death, as well as a public forum it had scheduled to address the controversy.

Read the story here.

A Miami mural of Barack Obama generates some buzz

In a weird way - since we all are supposed to want to be governed and taken care of by big government and its inherent burocracy - this makes sense.

Read the Miami Herald story here.

It's all about the galleries

The current issue of Washingtonian magazine publishes something that it should have done ages ago: a superb article on the Greater DC area galleries by the CP's cappo-di-tutti-criticos Cristiano Cappo.

Read the article by Capps here.

Wanna go to an opening in New Jersey?

Greg Minah, who a few years ago made it to quite a few of the Art-O-Matic Top Ten lists that I ran, is having a solo show at Fusion Gallery in Collingswood, NJ about 10 minutes outside Philly.

The show is open now, and the artist reception is being held on April 12th (Second Saturday) from 6 - 10pm and the show runs through May 4, 2008.

Yay!

This just won a Pulitzer Prize and it is a good read - read it here.

Amy Lin at the Art League

Amy Lin's solo show "Interaction" opens this Thursday, April 10 from 6:30-8pm at the Art League Gallery in Alexandria, Virginia.

"Interaction" involves a blending of arts and sciences, but surprisingly, the blend isn't related to Amy's degree in chemical engineering - it relates to her childhood experiences with her Mom, who was a professor at the university doing research in human genetics. Each of the drawings in the show is inspired by a memory from her childhood in the biology labs. Amy is now represented by Heineman Myers Contemporary Art in Bethesda, MD, but some of us recall that she originally got her start at the Art League Gallery.

In the December 2005 Art League Gallery show, Lin was given an award by Anne Collins Goodyear, from the National Portrait Gallery, and it was there that I first saw her work and mentioned it in a review that I wrote for the Crier Media newspapers.

Since then her career and presence have taken out at an astounding pace, with enviable critical coverage in the press and a very hot sales trail.

Lin's drawings at the Art League appear courtesy of Heineman Myers, as "Interaction" was scheduled two years ago before she had signed with Heineman Myers.

"Sacrifice" 45x55 inches, colored pencil c.2008 by Amy Lin
Read DCist's Amy Cavanaugh's interview Lin here.

Buy Amy Lin now.

It's not a good time to be an art critic

It's not a good time to be an art critic. Much of what's written is pale. It is weak and descriptive to no purpose. Or at the other extreme it is pure jargon, laughable if read aloud to the uninitiated. Junk. In fact, if art critics actually believed that anything we said or wrote mattered, we would probably be shooting ourselves in droves.

Read Morgan Meis' really good article here... and if you don't even want to waste a few seconds to click onto the link... read some more:

Even a knowledge of art history antique and contemporary won't help you much. These days art isn't an insiders game so much as a contest in private languages. The artists are often working in their own heads and they don't feel much compulsion to translate.

This puts the critic and the curator in a hilarious position. Stripped of most of our authority, we fall back on tortured syntax and dubious vocabulary in order merely to say, in essence, that it is tough to talk about art these days. Here's a typical sentence from the Biennial catalog: "Charles Long's interest in opposing formal and metaphysical forces informs a complex sculptural lexicon marked by radical stylistic shifts that are difficult to categorize."

The simple translation of this sentence: "Help, I don't really know what Charles Long is doing or why."

Read it here.

Adopt a work of art

The Fine Art Adoption Network (FAAN) is an online network of artists, which uses a gift economy to connect artists and potential collectors.

All of the artworks on view on the site are available for adoption. This means acquiring an artwork without purchasing it, through an arrangement between the artist and collector. Their goal is to help increase and diversify the population of art owners and to offer artists new means for engaging their audience.

Visit them here.