Images from the DIY Conceptual Artist

On March 16th,  my latest art project, the DIY Conceptual Artist, opened at DorisMae. Formerly Harmon Art Lab, the space is dedicated to a curatorial project run by Thomas Drymon... and he hesitates to call it a gallery.

The scope of the project is a game. As pictured above, it has a rule book, some art materials, and it comes in a box. Players can choose whether to execute one of several projects, and the projects are based on works by several archetypes of conceptual and contemporary art of the 20th Century. 

Exhibiting one room over is Rachel England, who is showing the work she made for her senior thesis at the Corcoran, only with a twist. Instead of it being some inert installation, visitors are invited to destroy the work, pulling the crocheted scarves apart - skein-by-skein.

Creation in one room. Destruction in the other. All work is participatory. 

On March 24th, the space was open for an artist talk. Only, we didn't talk. We just directed people through the act of participating with our projects. Pictured above are people diligently working on their pieces. More images on DoisMae's website.

This idea has had an odd life. Initially it was proposed to Transformer near the end of 2010. In a reply to the submission I was told that review of proposals sometimes takes a while. I guess the proposal is still under review. Then in late 2011, the curator from VisArts Rockville approached me about a 2012 exhibit. I introduced the idea, he liked it, the exhibit was scheduled, contracts were getting signed, and then someone higher up the food chain explained they no longer agreed with the curator's vision, released him from his contract, and along with it all of his exhibits (I guess he wasn't showing enough community plein air hobbyists, or something).

As with many of my projects, there are a bundle of ideas converging.

1. After nearly a decade of teaching, I've had a lot of students resist contemporary art, and with it conceptual art. I wondered if there was a way to make the ideas and processes more accessible.
2. Then there is the idea of traditions: old masters had apprentices, and sometimes the pieces of mature apprentices look nearly indistinguishable from the old master. At the very least you can see the relationship. Think early Raphael as compared to Perugino. 500 years ago, the practice of teh student looking similar to the master was more desirable. Now it is derivative. Anyone who drips paint on a canvas clearly echoes Pollock, and that's a bad thing, I guess, unless it's a slipcover for the couch. 
3. Additionally, I think Art should be affordable, everyone should make art (so, I don't really poo-poo the plein air painter), and everyone should have "original" art to display in their homes and offices (i.e. something made by had, not by machine).  Clearly I don't think this should be everyone's living. I think it should be something they know how to do. That they shouldn't be limited to avenues of representation. That they should be open to a broad range of ideas, disciplines, and work. (I fully accept not all art made from my project will be good.) 
4. Of course there are some notions of subverting the function of the gallery space: Of making the gallery space interactive and collaborative: Of changing convention and expectations. Working with Mark Cameron Boyd opened me up to some of these ideas. And I can't ignore how popular the ideas has become to others, for example Reuben Breslars' Sketch (ironically, at Transformer), and Eames Armstrong's Smutty Valentine, artists leading artists in community art-making activities is nothing new. However, I (and I assume they also) don't want this to be limited to just artists. 
5. Finally, I've been wanting to write a book. I've been wanting to make a game. This project is a convergence of those two whims.

The game is selling for $30 ea. Half of all sales will go to the Tulk Family Education and Assistance Fund.

An Inaugural Story

A few months ago, Washington City Paper put out a call for fiction, published in an issue at the beginning of the year. My submission was not accepted for publication (and after a quick re-read, I can see why -- the accepted stories were better). And, it isn't entirely fiction: most of it happened. First the story, then the summary.

-->

"I think we might miss the inauguration," Mark said to Franz, pulling shut the door behind him. Snow fell throughout the evening, and both men were making fresh impressions on the back patio.

Franz smiled. "I suppose we could walk there."

Mark scowled at the thought, and replied, "No." The two were staying in a home near the National Cathedral, and the day before they had walked down Massachusetts Avenue to the Phillips Collection, which worked a blister into the sole of Mark's foot.

Mark lit his pipe. Franz dragged on his cigarette and softly chuckled. As he sucked the flame into his pipe, Mark’s eyes shifted towards Franz. "The look on that guard's face!" Franz reminisced.

Mark smiled. Duncan Philips had acquired several of his paintings since the mid 1950s, and he wanted to go down to see the new room that housed them. Upon seeing how they were hung, he wasn’t happy. So, he decided to rehang them. A guard yelled at him to step away from the work, not to touch the Rothkos. In kind, Mark glared at them: an old man with sore feet. "I painted the goddamned things and I'll rehang them as I see fit." He then forced a smile in the direction of the guard and added, "It would be helpful if you could fetch me a hammer."

The guard didn't budge until a woman arrived, touching the guard on the arm and addressing him by name, “Oh! Hi, Frank. I’ve been looking for someone.” The woman managed a little cooperative gallery nearby, and frequented the Philips Collection often enough to know the staff by name. She was playing host to Mark and Franz for the week. "Can you help this gentleman rehang his work, please?"

The guard looked at the woman in disbelief. "You know these men?" He asked. "Oh! Of course,” she exclaimed. “This is Mark Rothko and Franz Kline," she said, gesturing to the two painters. The guard’s jaw fell slack. "They've been invited to town to attend the inauguration," the woman added. Many people come to see an inauguration. Not as many are actually invited. "I'll see if I can find a hammer for you," the guard responded before slinking away.

*   *   *

In December, Mark and Franz received their invitations. Both men were surprised by the gesture. To their knowledge, they had never heard of a painter attending any of Eisenhower’s inaugurations, let alone Truman’s or Roosevelt’s. They asked around, and after talking with their colleagues, they were equally surprised to learn who hadn’t been invited. De Kooning sulked in Kline’s studio when asked about it. “Why the hell wasn’t I invited?” His accent thickened from drink. “Gee, Bill. I don’t know,” Franz replied, shrugging his shoulders. “What do you say we grab some breakfast?” Why artists had been invited at all was still unanswered.

“I have a friend who is high-up in the Democratic Party. She’s a friend of Jack’s,” their hostess explained over dinner. “She has his ear from time-to-time.” As their hostess recounted, Jack asked the friend, who asked a collector, who suggested the woman hosting the painters. Shortly after the election, she had been invited to the president-elect’s office. “What can I do to help support the arts?” He inquired. The little gallery she managed was moderately successful, and out of sheer chutzpah she had managed to create tremendous connections to New York for her artists, and exhibited national and international artists in Washington. In a later era she might have suggested policies or museums. Instead, she focused on the same kind of exposure she sought to give her artists. “Why not invite some artists to the inauguration?” It was all she suggested. Kennedy agreed, and later asked her for a list of artists to invite.

*   *   *

Eight inches of snow were on the ground. Prospects of making the inauguration were grim. The army had been called in to clear the streets for the inaugural parade. The radio reported that the nation’s elder statesman, Herbert Hoover, was unable to make the flight to Washington because of the weather. And, there was still no word on whether a car would make it up the hill to pick up the two painters.

As they stood out back smoking, they appreciated the construction of the National Cathedral. “It’s incredible to think they’ve been working on that thing for fifty years,” Franz thought aloud. “At the rate they’re going it looks like it won’t get completed in our life time,” Mark replied. "How was the attic last night?" Franz inquired. "Okay. Better than having to stay out in the country," Mark replied. "Did you and Betsy sleep okay in the basement?" Franz nodded.

"I suppose if we don't show we won't be missed. Just faces in the crowd, I imagine," Franz thought aloud.

"Yeah." Mark replied before drawing more smoke into his mouth. "But we'll be seated in the crowd behind the president, Franny. Not the crowd in front of the president."

Franz smiled and looked at Mark. "I hate when you call me Franny." He dropped his extinguished cigarette into the snow.

The two men returned inside from their morning smoke, removing their shoes at the door. “Keep your coats on,” their hostess said. The home was alive with activity as her children played in a nearby room. While the men were outside smoking, their hostess learned that no car was being sent. “My husband will take you downtown in our car.” Franz took off his coat. “I suppose we should change first.”  He tossed the coat over a dining chair and poured himself a cup of coffee before returning to the basement to change. Mark looked at the hostess through heavy-set eyes. Her perky smile receded and she apologized for the inconvenience. A sly grin turned his mouth upward as he removed his coat and placed it over the back of a dining chair. “To think, we’ve been invited to the inauguration of the President of the United States. And we’re going to it in a station wagon.” He shook his head. “Who would believe it?” He turned to the stairs and walked up to the attic in his socked feet.

In 1960, John Kennedy invited a few artists to the inauguration. Two of them were Franz Kline and Mark Rothko. While in town, Rothko rehung his paintings at the Phillips Collection, and according to one first hand account (which conflicts with the Phillips website of "suggesting changes") he did not have permission to do it. (Also a note: Kline was not actually there to witness the rehanging, and Rothko didn't walk down Mass Ave to see the work - that's fiction.)

Because the two men were staying in a home near the National Cathedral, and because it snowed a bunch, they were driven to the inauguration in a station wagon, and dropped off.

Good Art / Bad Art

I'll be part of a panel discussion on Good Art/Bad Art at Hillyer Arts Center on Wednesday. Also on the panel are Bill Dunlap, Artist, Critic for WETA Around Town show, Curator; Harriet Lesser, Curator, Strathmore Center for the Arts and Artist; and Michael O'Sullivan, Visual Arts and Film Critic for the Washington Post.

I've been picking my brain about what to talk about. So many examples:

• Jon McNaughton's paintings of Obama.
• Sam (im)Basile's ludicrous video about an historical figure he surreptitiously named George.
• Maybe something a little less political and public, like the artist who earned Lenny Campello's superlative "The Scariest Pussy Award" at Artomatic this year.
• The Statue of Liberation

Picking on bad art is easy.
So is picking out the good stuff.

What's probably going to happen is a discussion on how we qualify the good from the bad, and then probably discuss - to some length - why either deserves the merit of conversation.

Come on down!
September 19, 2012 7-8:30 p.m.
Hillyer International Art and Artists
9 Hillyer Court
Washington DC 20008
Free and Open to All

My September Shows/Events.

Sept. 7 - The DC Commission for the Arts and Humanities is hosting a ribbon cutting fat 4:00 to celebrate the opening of the gallery in their new space in Canal Park: 200 Eye Street, SE.  Also in the exhibit are Anna U. Davis, Khahn H. Le, Scott G. Brooks, Alexandra Silverthorne, Asmara Marek, Barbara Liotta, Colin Winterbottom, Janis Goodman, Judy Southerland, Mary Early, Michael Iacovone,  Rik Freeman, Siobhan Rigg, and Gediyon Kiflemoving. Works from my Gun Show will be on exhibit, to include several of the text pieces (Quotes from articles about Heller Vs. DC), and my Flash Video DC Homicides, 2006-2010.

Unfortunately I could not be in attendance for the ribbon cutting because this week I've been installing...



Sept. 8 - "City Limits: site95 at Locust Projects" organized by Meaghan Kent
site95 is a non-profit organization founded by Meaghan Kent, and she's been organizing art exhibitions in temporary spaces in NY, DC, and MIA. In June she invited me to exhibit works in the Project Room at Locust Projects in Miami. I'll be exhibiting bits from various recent projects, to include  JOB Creation Project, Hours of Labor (which was featured last in WPA's Options 2011), and Maintenance Required. The main space of Locust Projects is featuring work by Adam Putnam, and his work is pretty rad: he's transformed the room and it reminds me of Bologna, and he's been building columns out of bricks. The show runs through Oct. 17.

Sept. 13 -  Campaign Re/Form, curated by Holly Bass, at Greater Reston Arts Center in Virginia

If you need a JOB, the JOB Creation Project will be on display from Sept 13 - Oct. 27

also exhibiting are, Holly Bass, Kashuo Bennett, Graham Boyle, COLON:Y (chukwuma agubokwu and Wilmer Wilson IV), Dana Ellyn, Blake Fall-Conroy, Delphine Fawundu-Buford, Kate Kretz, Paul D. Miller (aka DJ Spooky), and Renee Stout


Also Sept 13 - reception for Empowered in the Marlboro Gallery at Prince George's Community College, 6:30 - 8:30
In the past year I've been able to curate a few exhibits for my college; Empowered is my third. Simply put, the exhibit intends to empower our student population to engage social/political subject matter and experiment with various approaches and media.  Artists include Selin Oguz Balci, Iwan Bagus, Heather Boaz, David S. D'Orio, Laura Elkins, Tom Greaves, Linda Hesh, Melissa Ichiuji, Siobhan Rigg, roycrosse, Amber Hawk Swanson, and Lina Vargas De La Hoz.






Sept 19 - Panel Discussion at Hillyer International Art, 7:00 PM
Our discussion will be BAD ART/GOOD ART. Panel includes Harriet Lesser, Michael O'Sullivan, and Bill Dunlap.
 

Sept. 25 - Politics as Usual, Rice Gallery at McDaniel College, Westminster, MD.
I'll exhibit new works that explore Hollywood archetypes of our elected officials, and allow students to vote on the 10 chosen candidates (via butterfly punch ballot). Lawn signs will clutter (a small portion of) the campus. Painted quotes of Empty Rhetoric will hang from the walls. Students can proudly display conflicting party arguments on their cars with a series called "Bumper Sticker Politics," and there may be a few more surprises to display.




And, if you happen to be riding the Red Line in DC, and find yourself at the Bethesda Metro, it the pedestrian path under Wisconsin Ave and take a look at the piece selected by the Bethesda Urban Partnership last May as a part of Tunnel Vision. BUP said it might be up there for a year or longer. So, check it out before May 2013.

Lighten Up Congress: Let Frederick Douglass Into Statuary Hall

The content below was written for Washington City Paper's blog on June 7, but never published, mostly because I didn't get to the edits fast enough in time for the post to be relevant. (Illness will do that.) So, here is my sardonic editorial. 

============================

D.C., as we all know, has no voting rights in Congress. Now it seems Congress is also hesitant to allow even another D.C. delegate in the building, even if he's made of bronze. As National Journal reported earlier this week:

A five-year fight to get abolitionist Frederick Douglass inside the Capitol has apparently ended in an impasse, with the life-size statue of the 19th-century hero left standing in a District of Columbia government building about four blocks off the Hill.

As the article mentions, petitions to for the U.S. Capitol complex to display the statue of Frederick Douglass, as well as for Pierre Charles L'Enfant---the architect and civil engineer who designed the city of Washington, D.C.---have been rejected by the Architect of the Capitol's office because current law states:

the President is hereby authorized to invite each and all the States to provide and furnish statues, in marble or bronze, not exceeding two in number for each State, of deceased persons who have been citizens thereof, and illustrious for their historic renown or for distinguished civic or military services such as each State may deem to be worthy of this national commemoration;

Maine Rep. Justin S. Morrill proposed the National Statuary Hall, which became law in 1864. According to the Architect of the Capitol's website, the hall eventually became so crowded with statues that Congress had to pass a resolution in 1933 that allowed for the statues to be relocated to other parts of the Capitol complex; that resolution was made law in 2000.  One motivation for relocating some statues stemmed from structural concerns: The chamber could not support the weight of all the statues.

In the 1800s, it may have made sense to exclude non-states from the hall: In 1864, There were 35 states in the U.S., and there was likely some assumption that the territories in the middle of the country might one day become states. At the time, excluding statuary representation made some sense, since these territories were sparsely populated, their functions were ever-changing (Oklahoma was an Indian territory), and so were their boundaries (for example, the Dakota Territory included North and South Dakota, Wyoming, and parts of Idaho and Montana). There was also room to speculate the unlikely possibility hat some territories could become independent republics, as Texas once was and as California once considered. Time and migration would sort those issues out.

But D.C. is unlikely to become an independent republic, and its boundaries are not likely to change (except through retrocession). Though laws prohibiting a statue representing D.C. likely parallel the laws that prohibit D.C. from having representation in either chamber of the legislative branch, despite having a population larger than the state of Wyoming, in this instance all we are asking for is a statue.
We understand, Congress: D.C. is just a pawn on your little chess board. However, for two hundred years that pawn has had an identity and a culture---one that has had an impact on the greater nation.

We could be asking for a statue of Chuck Brown or Duke Ellington, both of whom have made significant contributions musically. We could be asking for a statue for Gene Davis, Ken Noland, Alma Thomas, or Anne Truitt, all of whom have had some impact on the history of fine art. Heck, given the popularity of the place, we might find justification for a statue of Chili Bowl founder Ben Ali. Instead, we're asking to be represented by a man who escaped slavery and became a prominent abolitionist arguing for equal rights as well as for women's suffrage. Though Morrill argued for "the reception of such statuary as each state shall elect to be deserving," 150 years later can't we see past the language and accept that Morrill argued for a hall of statues representing great Americans? Last time I checked, the citizens of DC were also Americans.

Let D.C. be represented by a statue of Frederick Douglass. You don't even have to give him a provisional vote in committee. In fact, he'll do what you wish Eleanor Holmes Norton would do: Be off in a corner somewhere being quiet.

Painting into Sculpture

I've been fortunate enough to curate a couple of exhibitions for my college's art gallery. In March I started organizing Painting into Sculpture...

an exhibition of painting that embraces the physical space beyond the rectangle. The featured work explores the terrain where painting becomes sculptural through various methodologies: stacking panels, activating negative space, stripping the medium from the support, using objects that function as paint, shaping the canvas, and reducing the brush stroke to an object.

The exhibition runs June 4 – July 19 and features artists Dennis Dake, Don Kimes, J.T. Kirkland, Donald Martiny, Eugene Markowski, Kris Scheifele, and Dan Tulk. By tomorrow, the catalog should be printed!

If you are interested to come out to the college and see it, gallery hours are 9:00 A.M. – 5:00 P.M. Monday – Thursday, and 9:00 A.M. – 3:00 P.M. Friday. We'll have a reception June 28, 6:30 – 8:30 P.M.