25 posts tagged “art”
Oh, and an annoyance. In the form of Verizon. Because, yet again, we had no internets for four days. Not just the regular hour or two hour drops in service (for which I can not get Verizon to compensate us, or fix), but four straight days, no service. At all. *sigh*
Okay, so when I complained about the bunnies who live in the neighbor's trees and eat all of my herbs, one of the solutions I'd imagined for it was not that I should walk out onto the back deck to inspect the herbivore damage to my herbs at 5:30 in the am just in time to see a pair of feral dogs rip bunny apart. They chased him round and round neighbor's house, he slammed himself into the chain link fence in an effort to escape three times, and was caught by the larger of the feral dogs, who looks to be half lab half pit bull and wears a collar. Poor, poor bunny. I yelled at the dogs and threw things at them, but they paid me no mind at all. Soon, they'd hauled bunny off, and a few minutes later I heard what sounded like the two dogs fighting each other (one would imagine over who got to eat bunny) on the other side of neighbor's house. Not a good start to the day. Actually, I'm still pretty traumatized... poor, poor bunny. P pointed out that if we were in Arizona, it would have been a coyote, that it's the natural way of things. But if it were a coyote I think I'd feel less bad about it, because it would be the natural way of things. But feral dogs (and P's spotted the same dogs running wild around the 'hood numerous times, and they were out there yesterday morning chasing squirrels that got away for having climbing abilities) aren't the natural way-- they are the result of human irresponsibility. When I called animal control about them and mentioned the collar on one of them she asked if I'd looked at the collar to see who owned them... uhm... let me think about this.... did I approach a pit bull I don't know other than as the beast I saw savage a rabbit ten feet from my back door to see what his collar says? That would be a no.
And, that said, over the last two days something still ate what remained of my cilantro. All of it.
Shortly after the sad passing of bunny I headed north to Arlington, first for breakfast pho with friends Mean Louise, Fish Innards, and Tracy Lee. There should just be more breakfast pho.
Breakfast Pho was followed by some hanging out and then I went to a event shoot for a client. An outdoor event. On a day when it was 100 degrees. Oh well. Event went well, and the main thing was a concert by Everclear. They put on a good show, heat be damned.
And ended with singer Art Alexakis riding around on the Arlington County promo guy's segway:
And if you're in Richmond, come down to the glavekocen gallery for the show that's up now, including a couple of pieces by yours truly :)
Busy? Yes, ridiculously busy. So busy I haven't been blogging or, you know, anything really very fun. Although I've been able to do a liiiiiitle gardening. Only to watch my efforts wash away. Again. For the fourth time. Fifth, this morning, when I jumped out of bed at 4 am to try to save my plants for the latest deluge. SIGH. The few bits that sprouted in the herb garden after the big wash have sprouted and.... nothing. They're the same little sprouts they were when the sprouted two weeks ago. In the meantime, it's been pretty much non-stop fighting with my new computer... it was supposed to make things faster, and the processor is definitely faster, but it has vista on it and vista plays with NOTHING.... so many many many hours have been dedicated to trying to find work arounds that will make the computer more than a place to set down my coffee.
In the middle of that I went and hung my stuff at Artomatic!. It opens tonight, so come on down! I'll be there next Friday, May 16th, for Artists' Night.
So, the 411 on AOM 2008 is:
Opening night is Friday, May 9 and the show closes on Sunday, June 15, 2008
Capitol Plaza I
1200 First Street, NE
Washington, DC
Wednesday | 5 pm – 10 pm | |
Thursday | 5 pm – 10 pm | |
Friday | noon – 2 am | |
Saturday | noon – 2 am | |
Sunday | noon – 10 pm | |
| Closed on Mondays and Tuesdays | ||
My space is on the 12th Floor, SE Quadrant, Space C7. I will be there on Friday, May 16th from 7:30 on for Artists' Night. So come say hey, take a look at the pieces I have up, and come for the view:
That's right peoples, it's that time of year: Artomatic! It's on like a pot of neck bones (as P always says). It's going to be in D.C. this year, near the New York Ave. metro stop on the red line. Registration to open any day now, and new website to be launched at the same addy: www.artomatic.org. So go sign up for the newsletter & you'll get a notice in your inbox telling you when to sign up.
Phil (Mr. Dr. Birdcage) is having his first solo show this month at Irvine Contemporary, and of course, you should make sure to get there to see it! The opening is Saturday, January 12th from 6 to 8 pm. The show runs from the 12th through February 16th, and the gallery is located at 1412 14th Street, NW in D.C. (just south of P Street).
There was an article about the show in Thursday's (January 10) Washington Post Style section (on page C13 in the hard copy). You can read it here. Unfortunately, the web version doesn't include an image, though the paper version printed the image of the soldier on the Irvine Contemporary website.
Hope to see you there!
There is an opening tonight over at DCAC of Manon Cleary's lovely cloud paintings. So you should head out there! You'll get to see some great art by a maven of the Washington art world, and get to see some awesome folk down there as well. Not to mention that my dear friend Lea Bigelow, who is whip smart, has a fabulous eye, and both sharp and enjoyable insight, has curated the show. Make sure you read her essay!
So get down there! Goes from 7 to 9 pm, 2438 18th Street, NW, second floor, up in Adams Morgan.
I'd been planning to write something about the wetplate jamboree.... but what could possibly describe it? So I'll just put up some pictures....
We stayed down in Watkins Glen, and I took P for a quick walk up the gorge there, which is really beautiful. We zipped over to Ithaca as we headed out (going East to Massachusetts to visit another wet plate artist and my family, ever so briefly), had lunch at one of the Korean places, and then walked a bit around the campus. It was really weird being back on my old stomping grounds, and really really weird to be back on the campus. I took P around the Arts & Sciences quad (which is where I spent most of my time), and then took him into the library to show him my erstwhile carrel-- the locked one that was the original birdcage (I used to send out emails to friends from my laptop while locked in there with my dissertation, the subject line reading: missives from the birdcage). He said it made him imagine me in an orange jumpsuit locked in there. I spent a year and a half locked in that thing, usually for something like twelve or more hours a day, six, and sometimes seven days a week. Grad school can be so ridiculous, no? Though I do deeply miss the freedom to read many hours a day without judgment. If I read that many hours a day now (books, as opposed to reports or files), I'd be considered a slackass. But in grad school I was diligent. *sigh*
Anyhoo, after squiring my dear P around the library (here are the stacks where I whiled away years, here is the carrel I had the first three years I was here-- the one with the great view), not seeing a soul I knew, I told him the story of the pumpkin appearing on the clock tower (which he spent a lot of time pondering the logistics of), and then took him through the grad housing complex where I worked in exchange for housing (an excellent deal, except when someone called you at three in the morning to say that the dryer had eaten their quarter. Uh, this phone is for emergencies. But this is and emergency-- my clothes aren't going to be dry! That is an actual conversation that I had, at three in the morning). And then we headed off, alighting briefly in New England before heading south.
Of course, the Finger Lakes are lovely for about two and a half months of the year, and we visited in the middle of that period, so it was beautiful, with perfect weather, delightful views, and all that good stuff. When I'm up there in the summer it makes me miss it a bit, and a felt a little pang of jealousy for the couple at the jamboree who are from California and bought a summer cabin on the other side of the lake that they are fixing up themselves. But, you know, it doesn't take long before I remember the Finger Lake winter and the three foot snow storms and that it is five + hours from everything.... But in the summertime you'd be hard pressed to find a lovelier spot.
We had a chock full weekend involving art, performance, travel, and lots and lots of flarn.
Thursday we went to the opening performance of 33 Variations at Arena Stage. It was very enjoyable, alternatively moving and funny, and good performances all around. We both liked it a lot, particularly the set design and lighting design. There's an interesting article about it in the WaPo.
Friday was taken up with much wedding necessities, various flarn tasks, and then driving north. I wanted to take P on a surprise trip, and didn't want him to know where until we got there, but he figured it out when we were about 50 miles away. Of course, when booking out hotel for the evening on Travelocity, they failed to mention that the Days Inn, ahem, "near the zoo," was in fact in a rather dicey place. Pulling off the highway P said "isn't this the part of Philly where all the murders are always happening?" We rolled up to the Days Inn Ghetto at about nine at night, having passed a number of neighborhood characters along the way. What did I know? I mean, when the Fabulous Miss A lived in Philly and my parents were just across the bridge I always visited her in Center City or when into CC with my mom or whatever. I didn't spend a whole lotta time elsewhere (except for, you know, the airport).
So. We pull into the parking lot where a bottle blond woman who is clearly on the clock is leaning into an SUV while her bare booty is flashing everyone. Uh-huh. I go into the lobby to check in and wait in line behind a loud, dirty woman who smells very bad and is calling everyone either "honey," "sugar," or "baby." Behind the bullet-proof glass is a South Asian man in his forties who is angry. He won't look at anyone unless you demand that he talk to you, and even then maybe not. He seems to be thinking, "Damn all of you, I have a degree in engineering and came to America to make my fortune as an engineer and here I am dealing with the dregs of society in a hotel. I should have stayed in Lahore." He pointedly ignored me as I waited, and also pointedly ignored the man banging on his window saying, "where can I get a orange juice, man? I needs an orange juice. Where can I get a orange juice?" Smelly lady finally moved on, though stopped to tell the orange juice man, in a booming voice, "YOU CAN GET ORANGE JUICE AT THE STORE, HONEY. JUST WALK OUT HERE PAST THE IHOP AND YOU CAN GET A JUICE AT THE STORE, BABY."
The other man behind the glass was older, sporting little round glasses, it was a bit like having Ben Kingsley playing Ghandi getting your hotel key. He also seemed a bit like he may have been on a hunger strike because he was moving very very slowly. When I got back out to the parking lot the woman was still hanging her bare booty out of the SUV. We parked and went inside, contemplating whether or not the Jeep would be there in the morning.
The halls smelled of stale smoke (surprise), and the room smelled of deep seated damp. Surprisingly, we had a quiet enough sleep, mostly because the A/C ran at about 10,000 decibels. It was like having an airplane taking off continually in the bedroom. We got up early and headed into the city, thankful to find the Jeep there and in one piece.
Coffee, breakfast, I took Phil to the Mutter Museum, which was the reason why I'd decided to take him to Philly in the first place. I think I've had it on my mind recently, as I've been thinking a lot about Wunderkammers, and the Mutter is probably as close to a Wunderkammer that you can get at this point.But also because I knew that it was something that he'd be interested in (and he was).
While in Philly we saw signs up for the Franklin Institute of Science saying that they had a King Tut exhibit. Whoo! Since both of us had had a major impression on us made at a young age by King Tut mania in the sevenites, but had never had a chance to go see the actual exhibit, we were all over it. It was an interesting exhibit.... but it was also highly disappointing. If you click on the link you will see that all of their advertising has what appears to be the famous mask (it's actually a much much smaller piece that was obviously chosen for the advertising due to its resemblance to the most famous pieces from the tomb). But, while the exhibit was chock full of neat stuff that was in his tomb (canopic jars, chairs, helper statues), neither the sarcophogus nor the mask were anywhere to be found. The stuff got progressively more interesting and ornate as we went through, and we rounded that final corner thinking, well, here, at last will be the mask! And then found ourselves in the gift shop. It was a very pricey show, and falsely advertised. Not a bad show, but I think we both would have enjoyed it more if we'd known that we weren't going to see the most famous pieces-- and since they choise a piece that invokes it to be shown on all the posters and ads the implication is certainly that we should expect to see them.
We also would have enjoyed it a lot more if there were fewer people. Good gravy. Lots of people lost in their audio tours, blocking the view forever while they listen to the droning voice on the tape, stumbling like zombies through the exhibit. And lots of people with kids who were too young to really make it through an exhibit that long, one man getting angry at his seven year old for not being interested in or fascinated by the same things he was interested in and fascinated by. "Well you'd know that if you'd been paying attention, but you weren't!" Dude, he's seven. This is the sixth room of stuff. His attention isn't mature enough for that. Give the kid a break.
Also packed into the weekend were a photo trip to Arlington National Cemetery (lots and lots of people there) and a trip to the National Gallery to see the photography show on modernity in Central Europe. The show was very interesting, with some really lovely photographs, and an interesting view on the development of photography in Hungary, Czech, Slovenia, Russia, etc. It's definitely worth a trip down there to take a look-- and is closing soon, so hop to it.
We went to the gallery with friends of ours and we all went to a new-ish Mexican place on 7th afterwards where we had a whole lotta margarits (which were very good, and made me very sleepy). Standing on the corner by the Archives metro stop afterwards, about to head in opposite directions, we chatted for a while, until a very happy man came up to the group and announced, "Someone said that there's gonna be ducks coming out of the cake!" He smiled and moved on. And with that, we headed home.
Yesterday I went to the National Museum for Women in the Arts to see the Italian Women Artists from Renaissance to Baroque exhibit, which closes tomorrow. It was the first time I'd ever been to the museum and, unfortunately, I didn't have much time and had skip the permanent collection in lieu of seeing the show. I did fit a quick walk through of the Frida Kahlo: Public Image, Private Life. A Selection of Photographs and Letters upstairs.
I must to admit that the main reason I wanted to see the show was that it included, on loan from Italy, Artemesia Gentileschi's famous rendering of the story of Judith and Holofernes.
The subject was popular during the Renaissance, and there are a pretty significant number of paintings, along with a number of sculptures, depicting the story. (The list of artists include Caravaggio and Donatello). Most depict either the actual beheading, or show Judith holding the decapitated head. Gentileschi's is one of the most impressive examples, and is a painting I've wanted to see for years, but haven't had the chance, so I was all about getting down there for it before it heads back to Italy.
It was certainly impressive, and well worth seeing in person. It's particularly interesting to see the subject handled by a woman. The two things that strike me are the focus on Judith, and her look of grim determination. It's interesting to look at the image in comparison to Caravaggio's rendering of the same subject:
She looks kind of....unsure, as though she feels this is really kind of icky. The maid looks as though she might be blind or drugged-- is she watching what is going on? It also looks like there just isn't enough physical effort going into the job in Caravaggio's hands. Gentileschi's Judith is working at it, and she looks determined. The maid is in the action, which is just what you would expect-- wouldn't it take two women putting in some effort to subdue the general? To my eyes, Gentileschi is depicting two believably real women in the process of a grim task while Caravaggio's scene seems staged, theatrical, mythological. (I'm a fan of Caravaggio, but for me his Judith doesn't hold a candle-- or a saber-- to Gentileschi's).
Gentileschi is a popular figure for feminist readings, in large part due to her personal history. (She was raped by her painting tutor, Agostino Tassi, and had to go through the humiliations of a trial against him, including a gynecological exam in the courtroom. She eventually won her case and he went to jail for a year). In fact, it's hard not to look at a painting of a woman beheading a man by a woman who was raped and humiliated without reading her rage in it, whether it's there or not. Regardless of what reading one gives, Gentileschi was a master at her craft: the Judith is amazing to see, and each time I came to another of her pieces in the show I was stopped in my tracks by the depth and quality before I even saw who had painted them.
There were a couple of other painters in the show with whom I wasn't familiar, but whose work I very much enjoyed, in particular Fede Galizia, Lavinia Fontan, and Sofonisba Anguissola. I loved the liveliness of Anguissola's The Chess Game, as well as her self-portraits, showing a woman looking directly, unflinchingly at the viewer. Fontana's portraits were wonderful (including her self portraits). I was particularly struck by the Portrait of a Noblewoman, with its amazing attention to detail in the woman's garment-- but also in the singuarlity of her face.(She, too, had a Judith and Holofernes included in the show). I was also very much struck by Galizia's Portrait of Paolo Morigia-- those wonderful spectacles in his left hand. (And also by her version of Judith and Holofernes).
Much as I enjoyed the show there were things that I was a less than delighted about. The museum is dedicated to women in the arts, yet many of the cases were five feet high. Uhm, ladies? Many of your fellow ladies (like, say, me) are (ahem) vertically challenged. Meaning that I couldn't even get my nose above some of the cases holding manuscripts. I looked around the gallery and the vast majority of patrons were women (most of them over the age of 70 and under five feet tall). I felt grumbly about it-- hello? This is your constituency! Some catering, please!
The other issue was lighting. Lighting paintings is tough. Many were behind glass (nice and reflective), and those that weren't were heavily varnished (nice and reflective). But egads, I found that the best place to see everything in the show was with my face practically pressed against the wall next to the painting so I could sneak in behind the glare. I couldn't see a single painting in the show looking dead on unless I was at least 25 feet back, which wasn't always possible (it isn't that big of a museum), and meant that it was very difficult to enjoy the paintings close up in a way that was different from looking at the images in a book.
As a sidebar I was a little surprised by the entryway to the museum. That ground floor looks a bit like it was decorated by Alexis Carrington. No, seriously. Someone with a love of pastel and Louis XVI furniture. I don't know... all that pastel. Instead of stately (which is what I assume was going on here), it felt precious and... girly.
I did enjoy the Frida Khalo exhibit. It was photographs of her and of her bathroom, which was sealed at her death in 1954 and reopened 50 years later. She was such a striking woman, the images were interesting to see, as were her letters. That show is up through the summer.
But hi ho silver ride
hi ho silver ride
Takes another ride to get me home
Get off the air
I'm on the stereo stereo
My baby baby baby baby baby
Gave me malaria hysteria
I've had this Pavement song stuck in my head since I picked up film yesterday morning. This isn't as random as it seems. I promise. The film I picked up is the first roll from a stereo camera I got a couple of months ago. The results weren't exactly what I thought they were going to be.
This one kind of looks like it's in stereo, I guess, though I've seen images made with stereo cameras before and they look more like double exposures... one slightly off center the other. Rather than two images of the same thing next to each other.
Actually, this stereo shot isn't the norm.... there's a whole lot of weird strings of stuff on the roll.
Okay. How did this happen? There are two images of the same thing-- a graveyard on a hill-- and then two images in the middle-- of different locations. ???? Or this one:
On the left and right are basically the same shot of a pig sculpture on U Street in DC. The Rob grafitti is a couple blocks away. But that other bit in the middle with the ladies? That's Honfest. In Baltimore. Which is not in DC. The pigs and Rob were shot five days after I went to Honfest. This is scanned directly from the negative. How could this happen??
Or rather, Anonymous III. I have a piece in Anonymous III, a show/auction to benefit the WPA/C and Flashpoint. The idea is that there are a hundred or so pieces in the room, all of the same size (24" x 24"), with no labeling. They are created by ten established artists who each select an additional nine emerging artists, and all are shown together. The pieces auction for the same price, and you don't know (at least not for sure) who's work is whose until after it's purchased. Which means, of course, that I can't say which piece is in there... but guessing which piece was made by whom is half the fun, yes?
I like the idea a lot-- I mean, it seems as though people will end up buying what they like because they like it, since it's without attribution. And I'm really happy to have been asked by Ian Jehle to participate. Just going through the process has been interesting. I used to paint as well as photograph, and when I painted 2' x 2' would have been a smallish piece for me. But for a photograph, that feels bloody massive. I've never seen any of my photographs printed that large. It was really cool to see one of them so large-- as a print, and then ready for display. I like the image that was selected, and was really chuffed to have it chosen, as it was one of those images that I thought was quirky and only I would really like it. (A picture only a mother could love? Apparently not.) And the show looks really interesting-- I was there the other day to drop off the image, and there are some wonderful pieces up for grabs.
So, if you're in the DC metro area you should come see it while everything is up (and maybe get yourself a great work of art!). The show opens tonight and runs through July 23rd at the Flashpoint gallery. Opening is tonight, so if you're around, you should pop by for an evening of speculated attribution!
OPENING PREVIEW RECEPTION: THURSDAY, JUNE 7, 6-8pm
Sorry, no works will be sold at the preview.
FIRST DAY TO PURCHASE: FRIDAY, JUNE 8, 6-8pm
First come, first served.
GALLERY AT FLASHPOINT
916 G STREET NW
WASHINGTON, DC 20001
Hours: Tuesday - Saturday, 12-6pm
202.315.1310 / www.flashpointdc.org
