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.