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Arkin and DeLooper at PASS Gallery

May 6, 2008

Sondra Arkin

Betsy Stewart, Sondra Arkin, Ellen Sinel

PASS Gallery, Richard Siegman's long-standing DC non-profit space lives in a two-story building accessible from the alley between R and S Streets a couple of blocks east of Dupont Circle and has a history of showing local artists at an interesting point in the arc of their careers. This time he is showing Willem deLooper, a local institution currently featured in a retrospective at the Katzen Center at American University, along with Sondra Arkin, who has been showing widely in the city for about 5 years. The pairing is inspired.

Disclosure: Sondra is a close friend of mine. But any disinterested observer would have to say that her work in this show holds its own and a whole lot more. Her 7 encaustic paintings, ranging from 48" square down, are luminous, glorious exercises in the conjunction of color, texture and shape. A horizon line has appeared in the largest new work, transforming them into landscapes and adding an additional element of interest. Encaustic can be a dangerous medium for artists (here I speak from experience) because it seduces by its sheer beauty and can submerge one's intent. These pieces confirm that Arkin has clearly mastered the use of the medium for her artistic purposes.

Willem deLooper

DeLooper's canvases also mix large blocks of color and texture. They are reflective without being too quiet and connect him with the Washington color school artists who were his near-contemporaries without yoking him reflexively to that tradition.

PASS Gallery is open Tuesday and Saturdays from 1 - 5 and this show is worth making the effort.

Artists for Obama

May 6, 2008

Artists and Writers for Obama

George Pellecanos

Last night I was delighted to attend a fundraiser by Artists and Writers for Obama at the Halcyon House in Georgetown. We all got dressed up in our best clothes, the hosts invited people who buy art and publish books, as well, and got a great turnout. I'm told that $70,000 was raised. (Judging by the quality of the suits, my guess is that there were some lawyers there, as well, God bless 'em.) Mayor Fenty, looking impossibly young and energetic as usual, and just back from a trip to North Carolina to troll for votes, stoked the crowd and George Pellecanos, the crime writer laureate of DC and co-writer of The Wire, spoke in a truly moving way of what it would mean to this country to have Obama as president. The finger food was nice, the lawn was squishy under our best shoes and the view over the roofs of Georgetown and the Potomac River was spectacular.

Go O Go!

April 25, 2008

52 O St. NW has been an artists' studios building for well over 25 years. In this land of gentrification eviction, that practically qualifies for historic landmark designation. This weekend is 52 O's annual spring open studios and I saw a lot of good art, some very good. Unquestionably seeing the cloud instead of the silver lining, I am reminded again of the heartbreaking truth that there are so many interesting, serious artists around and not nearly enough original art buyers.

Betsy Damos

Several DC stalwarts work at 52 O. Betsy Damos's work covers so much territory in materials and concept that I stand in rank admiration. There are large sculptural pieces in plexi, metal, wood, and a kind of chain mail that she fabricates out of wire. There are small contemplative drawings and the latest work is drawn on canvas and evokes the feeling of deep forest on a bright day.

Stevens Carter

Stevens Carter, who has public work throughout the area, has done some large pieces that stopped me in my tracks. They feature brightly-colored almost anime floating shapes that look like they are being viewed through a microscope. The effect is enhanced because the pieces are in fact three-dimensional, with some of the painting on the front glass (I think).

Michelline Klagsbrun

Another artist who has been at 52 O for some time is Michelle Klagsbrun. Known primarily for her figurative work, she has recently produced some large canvasses that fashion organic shapes into imagined landscapes - a little bit of the Georgia O'Keefe thing going on, but far more complex. Also not to be missed is Andrea Haffner, who embeds flowers, twigs and other naturalia into deeply - colored resin for wall pieces and jewelry. They are gorgeous.

Thom Flynn

There is also something of a new generation at 52 O, many of whom are definitely worth watching, including Ben Tolman with his amazing pen drawings and Thom Flynn, whose large canvases literally burst with highly- colored chunks of torn cardboard covered with layers of a high gloss material. This picture is pretty awful because Thom for some reason trained a spotlight on his pile of art materials, but I thought it was better than nothing.

Encaustics and Depuydt Prints at McLean Project for the Arts

April 25, 2008

Gessner, Nexus 1-XX, detail

Go see this one before it travels away. Dopey title notwithstanding, (" Divas and Iron Chefs of Encaustic" yech) this show demonstrates the range of surface lusciousness and emotive meaning that is achievable with this medium. It has already been well-reviewed , e.g. Michael O'Sullivan's piece in the Weekend section of WAPO today,which also contains a full photograph of what is for my money the most entrancing work, Lorraine Gessner's "Nexus 1-XX".

Margolis, Four Months, detail

Photographs, however, particularly my primitive cell-phone efforts, do not begin to capture the sweet sheen and layered depth of the work. The eight artists are mostly college art faculty from various mid-Atlantic institutions and their interests and styles vary widely, from the slash-and-burn expressionistic daily "calendar" paintings of Deena Feigelson Margolis to the contemplative and oddly delicate light-suffused pieces of Heather Harvey.

Depuydt

Also not to be missed are the large format prints by Donald Depuydt that line the staircase up to the main galleries. Superimposing layers of dense imagery using a variety of intaglio and other processes which I could not entirely decipher however much I tried, Depuydt has achieved mysterious and sometimes frightening effects. I only wish that the MPA had managed to give him better space where the viewer could move back from the pieces to see them in better perspective. I hope that next time they do.

Dog is my co-pilot

Emo Herself

Art Anonymous

April 24, 2008,

Little guy

I spent a pleasant chunk of today with my good friend Sondra Arkin making teeny tiny little pieces of art - 5" x 7"- for the Art Anonymous fundraiser for the Corcoran School of Art. Given my (at best) ambivalent feelings on the subject of the Corcoran (see April 4, below) let me add that I am doing this because my friend Philippa Hughes asked me and I always try to do everything that the fabulous Philippa asks. But I digress.

This is the Corc's description of the event:

Art Anonymous
Sale and Reception Saturday, May 10, 6–11 p.m. in the North Atrium of the Corcoran Museum

The Corcoran Gallery of Art and FRIENDS of the Corcoran are proud to host their first Art Anonymous fundraiser, benefiting the Corcoran College of Art + Design’s BFA Scholarship Fund. Leading contemporary artists will offer for sale unique, postcard-sized works alongside the creations of students, faculty, and staff of the Corcoran College of Art + Design and the Corcoran Gallery of Art. All works are only $100—the catch: you do not know the identity of the artist until after the purchase.

So that officially makes me a Leading Contemporary Artist.

The piece reproduced here is not the piece I donated. I am abiding by the rules and keeping that one a big big secret. The little bitty piece here is another one that I made for me.

Another Odd One

April 22, 2008

Mind/Body

Another odd one I just ran across in the studio move chaos. I was just starting to mess around with wax at the time and this one was done on paper. It seems to be adhering well, so I think I'll try some more on paper. I have been saving some luscious 300-pound (very heavy) handmade paper from a ream I bought many years ago when flush. It has increased in value by a factor far greater than any of my investments, so I have begun viewing it as my old age insurance. Reminds me of that scene from "The Graduate", except the old dude whispers in Dustin Hoffman's ear, "paper, young man." It's all just art supplies!

Christenberry at the Katzen Center

April 17, 2008

The Katzen Center for the Arts at American University is the DC's newest large arts institution. It is something of a hybrid - three stories of gorgeous, expansive exhibition space underwritten by the resources of a university, but without a permanent collection. Judging by the shows so far, the Katzen also lacks the overbearing and unpredictable bureaucratic/government oversight of the capital's more offical venues (think Jesse Helms and the famous Mapplethorpe debacle). Jack Rasmussen, its innovative Director, is taking full advantage of the opportunity to mount exciting shows that often have a political edge, such as the Botero Abu Ghraib paintings featured this winter.

my friend Carol Ridker admiring the work

The three current shows are all more than worthy; Washington's Willem De Looper has a retrospective on the top floor. My favorites are some lush color field paintings from the 1950's and 1960's. The bottom floor contains Personal Landscapes, a show of emerging Israeli artists dealing with the emotional, physical and intellectual landscapes of that fraught environment.

Christenberry's Klan Room Tableau

In the middle is what I think is the special prize: a selection of work by another Washington institution, William Christenberry. Organized by the University of Virginia Art Museum, this exhibition features 50 of Christenberry’s rarely-exhibited drawings and the Klan Room Tableau, which includes over 200 drawings, sculptures and other pieces. According to Christenberry this body of work describes his “visceral reaction to this wholly and abhorrently American phenomenon, which, although officially excised from the public, still exists and arouses intense feelings in all areas of the country.”

Christenberry, a member of the Corcoran Faculty for many years and one of this area's truly nationally-renowned artists, has been shown very often in DC, but the Klan Room has not been included out of what can only be an excess of caution/fear/risk aversion on the part of the museums. So, thanks Jack and thanks to AU's Katzen Center, because it is truly worth experiencing. I apologize for the crummy picture, but the lighting is low in the installation and I had to be a bit furtive to avoid being disciplined by the staff.

Affordable Art Fair in NYC June 12- 15

April 17, 2008

The Nevin Kelly Gallery will have a booth at the Affordable Art Fair in NYC from June 12 - 15. Over 70 galleries from around the country and beyond will be represented. I will be showing some new work, maybe including these and I'm really excited at the opportunity to see all the art.

Where: The Altman Building / Metropolitan Pavilion, 135 West 18th Street, NYC

When: Private Preview Cocktail Party, June 11th, 2008
Open to public, June 12th - 15th, 2008

I'm planning to attend the preview party. It's open to anyone who wants the first look at the work. Tickets can be purchased and further info obtained through This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

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