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Bmoreart’s Picks: Baltimore’s Best Art Openings and Events January 23 – 26

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Sarah Oppenheimer at the Baltimore Museum of Art [...]

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Sharon Louden “Living and Sustaining a Crea [...]

If you missed Holland Cotter’s fiery NY Times op-ed arts piece, “Lost in the Gallery-Industrial Complex: Holland Cotter Looks at Money in Art,” here’s an opportunity to read it. I suggest you read the whole thing. Sure, there’s the expected complaints about big money ruining artistic integrity and producing lemming-mentality art collecting, but, unlike most rants, Cotter includes suggestions for improvement and investment in the arts, specifically in ART BLOGAZINES! Take a look at this juicy tidbit:

“There’s no question that we need — art needs — an influx of new commentators who don’t mistake attitude for ideas, who move easily between cultures and geographies. Regular gigs in mainstream print journalism have all but dried up, but the Internet offers ambitious options in a growing number of blogazines including Art F City (edited by Paddy Johnson) and Hyperallergic (edited by Hrag Vartanian), which combine criticism, reporting, political activism and gossip on an almost-24-hour news cycle.

And although both are based in New York, they include national coverage and in a feisty mix of voices, a welcome alternative to the one-personality blog of yore. That mix would probably be even more varied, and transcultural, if a few forward-thinking, art-minded investors would infuse some serious capital into such enterprises so they could pay writers a living wage and make online freelance writing a viable way of life.”

Journalism, especially quality arts journalism, doesn’t occur without training, hours, editing, and investment! Definitely consider this (and Bmoreart’s tax exempt status to receive contributions!) as you peruse our carefully edited choices for art events and openings to attend this weekend.

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Living & Sustaining a Creative Life Panel with Sharon Louden @ The Hirshhorn Museum
Thursday, January 23 at 7 pm

Curator’s Office is pleased to sponsor and co-organize a panel discussion moderated by artist Sharon Louden at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in the Ring Auditorium. Internationally recognized artist Jenny Marketou, Washington-DC based artists Patrick McDonough and Jeff Spaulding, and the artist and editor Sharon Louden discuss the issues behind “Living and Sustaining a Creative Life: Essays by 40 Working Artists,” a new book examining how artist juggle their creative lives with the everyday needs of making a living.

A Q&A session and book signing follow the conversation. This special event is sponsored and co-organized by Curator’s Office and American University’s Studio Art Program. Space is limited and will be available on a first come, first served basis. Hirshhorn members at the Inner Circle ($500) level and above may reserve two seats per public program at the Museum. To check on the status of your membership or to RSVP, please email [email protected] or call 202.633.2836.

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Hoi Polloi at Kaplan Gallery, VisArts

January 22 – February 23, 2014

Curated by Brian Garner

Opening Reception: Friday, January 24 from 7-9 pm

Curator’s Talk: Sunday February 9 at 2 pm

Artists: John Bohl, James Bouché, David Brown, Ruth Channing, Chris Day, Bill Fick, Luis Flores, Alan Grabelsky, Rachel Henriques, Juan Logan, Raoul Middleman, Hermonie Only, Pole L., Liliana Porter, Jonathan Thomas, and Eva Wylie

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Ordinary Woman at Howard County Center for the Arts
Reception Friday, January 24, 2014 from 6-8 pm

Evelyn Everywoman, a vintage manikin, isn’t famous or notorious. She is at first glance old and ordinary. However, clothed in garments fabricated from the materials and messages chosen by collaborating artists, she will reflect women’s lived lives. Her “dress form” anonymity will be complemented by the artists’ self-portraits.

The gallery will become closet-like with the art garments hanging from the ceiling. The clothing Evelyn wears will be changed periodically, and she will be placed in front of different portraits. As one looks across the gallery from any direction, faces and garments will visually realign. The changing face, body, and identity shaped by culture, society, economics and the hand of the artist, will reveal that there is no such thing as an “ordinary woman.” The narratives of women have just begun.

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CSA: Forty Years of Community Sourced Art, Open Studios, and More at the Arlington Art Center
Saturday, January 25, 6-9pm

Join Arlington Arts Center in celebration of our 40th anniversary and the opening of our our newest exhibitions, CSA: FORTY YEARS OF COMMUNITY-SOURCED ART; HERE AND NOW; and ARLINGTON ARTS CENTER: BUILDING HISTORY. Plus, catch up with AAC’s twelve resident artists and see what they’ve been up to with our open studios!

CSA: FORTY YEARS OF COMMUNITY-SOURCED ART: To kick off a year-long 40th anniversary celebration, Laura Roulet selected ten artists to celebrate 40 years of AAC’s role as incubator of regional talent, both artistic and curatorial. Featuring artists whose careers were launched at AAC, either through the residency program or exhibitions, CSA highlights veterans Ken Ashton, Martha Jackson Jarvis, Soledad Salamé, Erik Thor Sandberg, and Foon Sham, alongside the more recent arrivals Tariq Tucker, J.J. McCracken, Nikki Painter, Alex Podesta, and Dane Winkler.

The exhibition also includes site-specific outdoor public art works designed to expose the inner workings of AAC while highlighting past and future talent supported by the arts center.

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Christopher Rodriguez “Sublime Cultivation” at Current
January 25 – February 23, 2014
Curated by Carl Gunhouse

Opening Reception Saturday, Jan. 25th, 7-10PM
Gallery Hours, 12-4PM Sat. & Sun.

Christopher Rodriguez was born and raised in New Orleans only to end up in Brooklyn, NY. This trajectory, which led to a very particular relationship with nature, starting in an urban setting where history was tragically shaped by its proximity to nature and ending up in a city surrounded by an all but forgotten and neglected nature fringe. In both Brooklyn and New Orleans, nature exists as something that is just out of town, on the edges, waiting to remind residents of its presence. New Orleans is constantly trying to hold back its dangers, while Brooklyn has successfully subdued nature, it has to work hard to keep it alive and viable. This struggle between nature and man’s relationship to it sets the tone for Rodriguez’s current book Sublime Cultivation and the work in To Live And Die In The World.

Rodriguez’s pictures detail his struggle to find order in the natural world, to find his place in it and through the pictures to allow viewers to find their own place in the natural order. The people in the landscapes do their best not to get lost in the surrounding splendor as they try to make sense of the world around them. People in Rodriguez’s work are often dwarfed by nature, trying to capture and rein it into a two-dimensional image. They are stand-ins for Rodriguez’s own attempt to process not just nature, but life in general.

The world in Rodriguez’s pictures contains sublime wonderlands as well as little bits of odd and amazing things. The world is not only seen as the physical representation of the spiritual, as it would be by 18th century landscape painters, but as a set for a never-ending sketch comedy performance, for the amusement of a distant and unknowing audience. Human attempts to add nature to the work seem in a constant state of hubris, continuously failing to improve on the surroundings and despite the best of intentions, creating disposable objects that fall apart, catch on fire and eventually just look dated and tacky.

Despite the obvious tension in our relationship to nature in Rodriguez’s photographs, his work is attractive, eliciting a certain degree of envy in the viewer. As much as the pictures speak to the photographer’s relationship to the world and nature the work also creates a relationship between the viewer and the photographer. One in which we are forced from a distance to look on at the copious amounts of diverse and visually stunning settings the photographer has put himself in. Leaving in the viewer a strong desire to enter the world, search out greater adventures, stay on people’s couches, talk to strangers and get lost. And find a relationship to the world, where we too can try and locate our place in nature, even if it is just having our picture taken in front of a pile of rocks.

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Nip Slips at Current
Curated by Evan Roche and Colin Alexander
Opening Reception Saturday, Jan 25, 2014, 7-10 pm

Artists::::
Connor Creagan
Margaret Daviet
Alan Resnick
Allie Linn
Flannery Silva
Kim Westfall

Open weekends from Jan 25-Feb 23, 2014

“The celebrity nip slip is depicted in culture as an elusive gold mine. It is the product of the planned spectacle as well as the unforeseeable accident. As a theatrical event it is characterized by a self-deprecation on the part of the performer and an uncomfortable self-awareness for the audience. It is also characterized by an overall exaggeration of its significance.

This exhibition, presenting the works of six artists from Baltimore, New York and Chicago, considers how the dynamics of the theatricality of “the nip slip” are present in the making of images. What happens when good and bad performance become indistinguishable, when humility and vanity are presented as synonymous, or when the line between drama and melodrama is unclear?”

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ICE: Walker Seydell

Saturday, January 25 at 8 pm

A100 Copycat (BODEGA GALLERY)
Description: WALKER SEYDELL DOES CHAMPAGNE

CHAMPAGNE AS ART
ART AS CHAMPAGNE

Image
Installation
Dash of performance
Sad boiz in the corner

No
Giraffes

Keep it kewt yall

1501 Guilford Ave.
A100 Baltimore MD 21202

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510 Readings
Saturday, January 25 at 5 pm
Minas Gallery and Boutique

Many happy returns for 2014! We’re beginning the new year with some of Baltimore’s favorite sons (and daughters): Rafael Alvarez, Clarinda Harris, David Belz, and Eric D. Goodman.

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Chris Anthony: Venice at Randall Scott Projects in Washington, DC
January 25th-February 22nd
Opening Reception Saturday, January 25th 6pm-8pm

Chris Anthony’s Venice Series continues his exploration into the photograph as open ended narrative. As in his earlier work, specifically the Victims and Avengers series, Anthony crafts a scene, similar to a stage production, where the viewer is given the actor and a selection of props. Relationships are made within the scene and a “play” develops in which the viewer becomes the playwright. Chris Anthony was born in Sweden and now lives and works in Los Angeles. He is a filmmaker and photographer. His current book, Seas Without a Shore was released in 2013.

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Glitter Thighs – Aqueerius- at Metro Gallery
Saturday, January 25, 2014
9 pm – 2 am
Ticket URLGet Tickets (www.themetrogallery.net)
January Dance party!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Speak Up at Gallery CA
Sunday, January 26 from 6-9 pm

Please Join The Feminist Art Project – Baltimore for our first event, “Speak Up” at Gallery CA! Speak Up is an evening of spoken word and funny, heartfelt ruminations featuring “The Slam Up Tour”. Doors Open at 6:00 pm, Open Mic at 6:15 and Slam Up goes on at 7:30 pm. This event is FREE!

Speak Up will also include work by Baltimore artists; performance pieces by Katie Duffy and Ada Pinkston, and video pieces by Tiffany Black and Allana Clarke.

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