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Wanna go to a Tyson's Corner, Virginia opening tod...
2007-07-21 15:57:00
Wanna go to a Tyson's Corner , Virginia opening today?Details here.
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Bailey on What Makes Good Art? One can always cou...
2007-07-21 15:49:00
Bailey on What Makes Good Art?One can always count on the Reverend to add some spice to any argument. Herewith Bailey's opinion on What Makes Good Art?I really have to agree with Kevin Mitchell?s comments regarding art critics and their biased definitions of "great art."A self-proclaimed art critic attempting to spin a definition of "great art" strikes me as being remarkably similar to a self-proclaimed Supreme Court Justice cop pulling a citizen over and attempting to define that citizen's Miranda Rights. This is the point I was attempting to make with this post.Just as a rogue cop thinks he has the right to render on-site Supreme Court rulings defining the limitations of a citizen's Miranda Rights, so too do art critics think they have the right to spin a biased definition of great art. What's long been amusing to me is that art critics inevitably invoke the name of Clement Greenberg to "prove" their one-sided definitions by pulling something out of context that Greenberg once...
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Congratulations! To Gean Moreno, who creates mult...
2007-07-20 12:58:00
Congratulations!To Gean Moreno , who creates multi-textural, suspended images, and who is the 2007 winner of the $15,000 Cintas Foundation Emilio Sanchez Award in Visual Arts for artists of Cuban lineage residing outside of Cuba.
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Artist Looking for Cigarrettes DC area artist Jac...
2007-07-20 12:55:00
Artist Look ing for CigarrettesDC area artist Jackie Hoysted has recently started a new blog to document her visual arts project "The Psychology of Smoking & Quitting."Jackie writes: "I have smoked cigarettes for over 20 years and am a cigarette and nicotine addict. On July 9th I quit smoking for what I hope is the last time and plan to document the process, my feelings, etc., through posts to the blog and the creation of related art work over the course of thirteen months. Two paintings that I created for this project, using cigarette butts and ash entitled Destruction I and II can be seen as DCAC Wall Mountables Exhibition until Sept. 6th.I am also asking other smokers to participate in the project by asking them to send me their Last Cigarette so that I can include it in my artwork.The blog is jackiehoysted.com/ashestoashes/.
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DC area Studio Space Available Studio 4903, a wor...
2007-07-20 12:50:00
DC area Studio Space AvailableStudio 4903, a working artist space focusing on contemporary art jewelry, has space available for an artist, graphic designer, or other creative type. Each person has a space, but there are no walls dividing the room. The 1500 sq ft. studio is open, filled with light, hardwood floors, and 7 windows. Rent is $420 and includes all utilities, insurance, alarm, trash, wireless internet, and 24-hour access. We are located at 4903 Wisconsin Ave., 2nd floor, between Tenley and Friendship Hts. metros. The Studio hosts regular arts-related events to create community and gain exposure. A good candidate would be serious about his art, want to grow and expand her business, and be eager to participate in events (past ones have been: live music, poetry reading, artist slide show & lecture, dance party, art shows and sales).If interested, please contact Gayle at gaylefriedman@aol.com.
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Mitchell on What Makes Good Art? Reader Kevin Mit...
2007-07-20 12:43:00
Mitchell on What Makes Good Art?Reader Kevin Mitchell opines on the question and debate of "What Makes Good Art?"We're all going to be a little wrong and a little right on our definitions of art especially since we're trying to arrive at a singular definition that art should be held accountable to.Just when I had fashioned what I regarded as a prized response to art nitwitism a newsflash saved me some time. I could literally sit here forever refuting the changing idea of art but I'd be fighting with words a visual argument. The true testament to a work's greatness is that no amount of words can assail it... unless its premise is vocabulary, such as modern art. Both Cudlin and Boyd could be refuted in instances but in the end as this thing of exploring new frontiers goes, why? As an artist, I didn't grow up interested in Greenberg or his principles and upon being force fed them and regurgitated in every other academic argument because justification has to refute, I still don't ...
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Wall Mountables at DCAC Around DC, anytime that y...
2007-07-19 12:59:00
Wall Mount ables at DCACAround DC, anytime that you have an open show (meaning a show without a juror or curator), the local critics tend to immediately savage it. This seems to be a predictable critical analysis somewhat unique to the capital area's visual arts and artists as viewed by most of DC area critics.Once a year, the District of Columbia Arts Center (DCAC), through a show called "Wall Mountables," allows any and all artists to hang anything they want, so long as it fits within a two square foot space. It's usually one of my favorite shows and a terrific opportunity for artists to exhibit and sell their work.DCAC will be accepting and allowing artists to hang their work today July 19th 3-8pm, and tomorrow July 20th 3-6pm. Spaces are available on a first-come basis. Details here.The opening reception is Friday, July 20th 7-9pm. This is a great opportunity to obtain original artwork at very affordable prices. The show runs through Friday, Sept. 7, 2007.
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The Beat Goes On This is what makes creating, edi...
2007-07-19 12:44:00
The Beat Goes OnThis is what makes creating, editing and publishing a good art blog interesting. Intelligent voices discussing and treating a very difficult question: "What makes good art?"Recap: On the air, at the Kojo Nmandi show, WCP art critic Jeffry Cudlin offered a live, on-the-air opinion of what makes good art. A reader then emailed me and asked if I could get Jeffry to put his words into text and Cudlin expanded a bit on his off the cuff opinion here. Then Mark Cameron Boyd responded with a view of his own, and now Jeffry in turn responds to the points raised by Mark, who teaches art theory at the Corcoran. 1) "The growing specialization of the arts is due chiefly not to the prevalence of the division of labor, but to our increasing faith in and taste for the immediate, the concrete, the irreducible. To met this taste... the various modernist artists try to confine themselves to that which is most positive and immediate in themselves, which consists in the unique attribute...
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Cudlin on Miner Not to make this blog a Cudlinfes...
2007-07-19 00:26:00
Cudlin on Miner Not to make this blog a Cudlinfest, but Washington City Paper art critic Jeffry Cudlin has a really good look at A.B. Miner's solo show at H & F Fine Arts.Read it here.By the way, as a devoted fan of the sensuality of the line, which I consider one of the most powerful assets that a good painter can use, or the key between a good drawing and a so-so drawing, I disagree with Jeffry's negative view on the line as used by Miner. It is precisely the palpable sensuality of Miner's ever changing, shifting, dancing line in her paintings and drawings that take them from flat surfaces to a mental place where sex and art live together in moist confidence.Miner's show at H&F Fine Arts runs through August 4, 2007. Miner has been one of my "buy now" artists for a long time. I get paid to to this sort of recommendation, so take the tip and go spend some Samolians on this really talented painter.
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Tolbert on What Makes Good Art? Bethesda Painting...
2007-07-19 00:03:00
Tolbert on What Makes Good Art?Bethesda Paint ing Awards semi-finalist Susan Tolbert opines on the issues raised by Jeffry Cudlin's on-the-air, and off-the-cuff answer to the question "What Makes Good Art?"Tolbert writes:When Robert Hughes was asked this question by Charlie Rose last year, he had a very short response: Passion and Organization. Hopper's work fits this criteria nicely. Art stands the test of time, and Hopper is still standing despite the fact that he wasn't a very good painter. And I always liked Tom Wolf's (the first one) "Slave to fashion, whore to time."Susan Tolbert

Genetics Considering that when I was a very young...
2007-07-18 18:56:00
GeneticsCons idering that when I was a very young sailor in the Navy I almost drowned twice (ahhh... maybe alcohol had some small part in the near-drownings), I'm not the world's greatest aquatic Campello. Not by far... the genes certainly skipped me and all went to this Campello:Note the windmill farms on the background? Those are the same types that Sen. Kennedy (who once stated "I strongly support renewable energy, including wind energy, as a means of reducing our dependence on foreign oil and protecting the environment") has been fighting to stop being constructed in Nantucket Sound because it would interfere with the view from the Kennedy compound in Cape Cod.I think they look kinda cool.
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Teaser When the next exhibition schedule of the N...
2007-07-18 12:54:00
TeaserWhen the next exhibition schedule of the National Gallery of Art is announced, there will be a pleasant surprise in it.Meanwhile, opening on September 16 at the NGA is the first comprehensive survey of Edward Hopper to be seen in the US outside of New York in more than 25 years. Currently at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, the exhibition consists of about 60 oil paintings, 25 watercolors, and 14 prints.
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What makes good art? Another view... My good frie...
2007-07-18 12:04:00
What makes good art? Another view...My good friend, and highly talented artist and Corcoran faculty member Mark Cameron Boyd responds to Jeffry Cudlin's off-the-cuff and elegant definition of what makes good art. Mark writes:I listened with fairly rapt attention to your WAMU radio broadcast on Kojo?s show last Thursday. As I recall, my good friend Jeffry Cudlin?s improvised ?definition? for ?what makes good art? was delivered astutely and with the clarity of vision that undoubtedly comes from writing and thinking about art ?professionally? as an art critic. However, his recollected print version (that you published) differs significantly from what he said ?off-the-cuff? and "on air." His ?recalled? version notably featured Clement Greenberg as a touchstone which would have pricked up my ears if Jeffry had actually mentioned Greenberg?s name ?on air.? Nevertheless, in the printed version Jeffry?s implication is that Greenberg?s theoretical views chiefly concerned ?specialization...
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Plan Ahead for Friday: Hirshhorn After Hours Hir...
2007-07-17 18:09:00
Plan Ahead for Frida y : Hirshhorn After Hour s Hirshhorn After Hours is an annual series of late-night events for locals interested in contemporary art, culture and music. Programming is presented throughout the museum and outside on the plaza. Exhibitions include: Takeshi Murata's short hallucinogenic films in the Black Box space for new media in the lower level; a last chance to see the lobby exhibition "Directions?Virgil Marti and Pae White" closing on July 29, and photography by Wolfgang Tillmans on the second floor.Tickets are $10 in advance, $12 at the door. Cash bar and dancing outdoors on the Hirshhorn's plaza. Detailed ticketing information at this website. WHAT: Hirshhorn After Hours featuring musical performance by Great Noise Ensemble in collaboration with the opening night of the Capitol Fringe Festival.WHEN: Friday, July 20, from 8 p.m. to midnightWHERE: Smithsonian's Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden at the National Mall (Independence Avenue at Seventh Street S.W...
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Haga Click
2007-07-17 18:04:00
Haga Click

Essential differences The Baltimore Sun's art cri...
2007-07-16 18:26:00
Essential differencesThe Baltimore Sun's art critic is photographer Glenn McNatt, and he does a nice job in writing this piece on the Sondheim Prize and its latest prizewinner, Baltimore painter Tony Shore, who also came down last year to Bethesda to win the 2006 Bethesda Painting Awards.In this Washington Post article, Michael O'Sullivan pointed out some key differences between Baltimore's Sondheim Prize and the DC region's Trawick Prize, focusing mainly on the exhibition venues for these two important prizes - the Sondheim is exhibited at the Baltimore Museum of Art, the Trawick at the Creative Partners Gallery in Bethesda. O'Sullivan was correct in calling out this difference, but as the Sun's article points out, there are several other key differences.For one, the Sondheim Prize is deeply interwoven and part of not only the city of Baltimore itself, but also of a major city wide art event: Artscape. The Trawick, which preceded the Sondheim by a few years, is run by the Bet...
More About: Differences , Difference , Ferenc , Baltimore Sun

Elvis as a Nun Below is one of my charcoal and co...
2007-07-15 12:15:00
Elvis as a NunBelo w is one of my charcoal and conte drawings from a few years ago. It's a rather large drawing, about 40 inches by 30 inches. It is titled "Elvis and Buster Keaton, disguised as nuns, attend a Dan Flavin exhibition." It was sold many years ago."Elvis Presley and Buster Keaton, disguised as nuns, attend a Dan Flavin exhibition"Char coal and Conte on Paper by F. Lennox Campello
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Tony Shore wins Sondheim Prize Baltimore painter ...
2007-07-14 18:25:00
Tony Shore wins Sondheim PrizeBaltimore painter Tony Shore, a graduate of the Baltimore School for the Arts and the Maryland Institute College of Art, and the 2006 winner of the Bethesda Paint ing Awards, has won the $25,000 2007 Janet & Walter Sondheim Prize.Shore is currently on the faculty of the Foundations Department at the Maryland Institute College of Art and is the founding Director of Access Art, a youth art center in Baltimore's Morrell Park neighborhood. He is represented in Baltimore by the C. Grimaldis Gallery and (as far as I know) unrepresented in the DC area region.Shore was somewhat of a surprise winner of the 2006 Bethesda Painting Awards. He paints large works on black velvet, which have been described as straddling "the fence between high-class and lowbrow."You can see the exhibition of works by the winner and all other finalists here.Congratulations to Tony Shore!
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What a great definition, she said During our radi...
2007-07-14 17:43:00
What a great definition, she saidDuring our radio talk last Thursday, someone called in and wanted a definition of what makes good art. On the fly, Washington City Paper critic Jeffry Cudlin came up with a terrific answer, and when Kojo asked Gazette newspapers critic Dr. Claudia Rousseau for her definition, she exclaimed (referencing Jeffry's) "what a great definition, I love it!"Someone later on emailed us asking for the definition, and Jeffry graciously enough regurgitated it as best he recalled. I have posted it below... this is not a manifesto or otherwise anything but a terrific off-the-cuff answer:1) How apt is the choice of medium?For Clement Greenberg, art was all about specialization. He wanted work in any given medium to refer to its own method of construction and the characteristics of its component materials: Painting was about free-flowing or staining pigment in a resolutely flat pictorial space; sculpture was about volume and movement through three-dimensional space...
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GlassWeekend ?07 Since 1985, GlassWeekend, a bien...
2007-07-13 18:52:00
GlassWeekend ?07Since 1985, GlassWeekend, a biennial event, has brought together to New Jersey the world?s leading glass artists, collectors, galleries, and museum curators for a three-day weekend of exhibitions, lectures, hands-on glassmaking, artists, demonstrations and social events. GlassWeekend events are held at Wheaton Arts and Cultural Center, home of the Creative Glass Center of America and the Museum of American Glass. WheatonArts is located in Millville, New Jersey, 45 minutes from both Philadelphia and Atlantic City, and less than three hours from New York and Washington, D.C.I'll be checking it out this weekend.
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Come On Irene Eileen Yesterday at the Kojo Nmandi...
2007-07-13 18:46:00
Come On Irene Eileen Yesterday at the Kojo Nmandi show, someone named Irene called in with a question or comment, but by the time Kojo got to her phone call, she had hung up (we had tons of calls by the way, most of which Kojo could not get to because of time). There was a second or two of dead radio silence, and then (trying to be funny) I sang into the mike: "Come On Irene," a-la-Dexys Midnight Runners style from their famous song.For all you music geeks emailing me, yes, yes, I know it's Eileen and not Irene. I was trying to be funny!Come On Eileen by the Dexys Midnight Runners.(Come on Eileen!)(Come on Eileen!)Poor old Johnny RaySounded sad upon the radioHe moved a million hearts in monoOur mothers cried and sang along and who'd blame them?Now you're grown, so grown, now I must say more than everGo toora loora toora loo rye aye And we can sing just like our fathers ....Come on Eileen! Well, I swear (what he means)At this moment, you mean everythingWith you in that dress, my th...
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Bethesda Art Walk Today, Friday, July the 13th, i...
2007-07-13 18:39:00
Bethesda Art Walk Today , Friday , July the 13th, is the second Friday of the month and thus it's the Bethesda Art Walk with 13 participating art venues and with free guided tours.From 6-9PM - go see some artwork!
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Wanna go to nude body painting and drawing party i...
2007-07-13 18:18:00
Wanna go to nude body painting and drawing party in DC this Sunday?July marks the 4th annual A Celebration of the Figure exhibition at MOCA DC and the 5th anniversary of the Figure Models Guild.In addition to the regular figure drawing sessions at MOCA, there will be bodies painted several times during the show.And there will be a body painting event on on Sunday, July 15 at 1PM led by DC's body painting goddess Adrianne Mills.Bring your camera because an open photo session follows each painting.Call them for details and times at 202.342.6230 or 202.361.3810. The event is free and open to the public.
More About: Party , Body , Drawing , Painting , Paint

Wanna go sketching on the Mall tomorrow? "Quick S...
2007-07-13 12:57:00
Wanna go sketching on the Mall tomorrow?"Quick Sketching People and Places on the Mall" is a four-session drawing instruction series presented by the Smithsonian Associates where students work with the media and subjects of their choice under the supervision of an experienced artist who is himself an avid sketcher. Dates are Sat., July 14?Aug. 4, 10 a.m., so hurry!Details here.
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Call for Art The Third Annual Metamorphosis Art S...
2007-07-13 12:36:00
Call for ArtThe Third Annual Metamorphosis Art Show has a call for artists.Details here.
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Baltimore Studio Spaces The Baltimore Sun tells u...
2007-07-13 12:16:00
Baltimore Studio Spaces The Baltimore Sun tells us thatArtists seeking studio space in Baltimore will have a new option to consider this fall when the Bromo Seltzer Arts Tower opens for its first tenants.Renovation work is nearing completion on a $1.25 million conversion of the landmark tower at 15 S. Eutaw St. from municipal offices to studios for painters, sculptors, photographers, graphic designers, writers and other artists. The first two floors will have a cafe and gallery space.Read the article here. More information about the studios and the application process is available from the Office of Promotion & the Arts at 410-752-8632.
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Trawick and Sondheim Tomorrow the Washington Post...
2007-07-13 03:13:00
Trawick and SondheimTomorrow the Washington Post 's Michael O'Sullivan will have this excellent piece on the Sondheim Prize in Baltimore. And O'Sullivan makes a couple of key observations about the two major art prizes in the Mid Atlantic region:The Trawick Prize better watch out. There's an upstart contemporary art award in town, and it stands to give the Bethesda-born competition -- which has been handing out $14,000 in prize money to artists from Maryland, Virginia and Washington since 2003 -- a run for its money.Okay, so maybe the Baltimore-based Janet and Walter Sondheim Prize isn't exactly "in town." Now in its second year, the art contest, named for the late Baltimore public servant and civic leader and his late wife, is open to visual artists working in the Baltimore region. (This year that includes two D.C. artists.) Examples of work by the 2007 finalists are on view at the Baltimore Museum of Art. The winner of the Sondheim Prize's $25,000 purse, which unlike the Traw...
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Audio files of the radio discussions Unfortunatel...
2007-07-13 01:20:00
Audio files of the radio discussionsUnfortunately the online segment starts about 15 minutes into the show, but you can listen to the rest of today's highly animated Kojo Nmandi show with Jeffry Cudlin, Dr. Claudia Rousseau and myself here.It starts with us arguing about the Bethesda Painting Awards.I think that this was the best show so far and I also think that Jeffry, Claudia and I make up a great radio argumentative team! Now all we need is a sponsor to talk to WAMU about sponsoring an "Art Talk" show once a month or so.
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Call me Around one o'clock today I'll be on the ...
2007-07-12 12:41:00
Call meAround one o'clock today I'll be on the Kojo Nmandi Show discussing the Greater Washington area visual arts and artists and art stories as I usually do once or twice a year. Tune in to WAMU 88.5 FM around one. I'll be there together with my good friends Jeffry Cudlin from the Washington City Paper and Dr. Claudia Rousseau from the Gazette newspapers. You can call us during the show at (800) 433-8850 or you can email us questions to kojo@wamu.org.
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Pool woes When I was a kid in Brooklyn, our neigh...
2007-07-12 01:10:00
Pool woesWhen I was a kid in Brooklyn , our neighbors on Sackman Street (Paula and Augie) had one of those above ground pools. Because our backyard and theirs was only separated by a chain link fence, it was easy for me to climb it and use their pool at will, which was OK with Augie, but not OK with Paula, which was a weird thing, because she was always feeding me alongside her kids, as she was a stay-at-home-mom, while my Mom had a job as a seamstress at one of the nearby factories that used to exist in Brooklyn where people like my Mom would work and get paid by what was then called "piece work."But Augie was the one always working and doing stuff all year round to keep the pool working for those really hot NY summers, although he really hated me dive-bombing into the pool from the second floor fire escape ladder... you had to be good, and sort of belly-flop the water entry (the pool was only around five feet deep), otherwise you'd break your legs or seriously pop your knee caps. ...
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