Artomatic Bethesda 2007

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Sesow at Artomatic, 2007

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Sesow at Artomatic 2007
Selected by jury at Creative Partner's Gallery
January 2007
Bethesda, MD

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photos by Mike Olliver: (pictures from January 20 "Artist's Talk")

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January 9, 2006 through February 3, 2007

Artomatic at Creative Partners
and New Work by Gallery Members

Creative Partners Gallery is one of the host galleries for Artomatic and will be featuring the work of six performing
and visual artists participating in Artomatic:

James Bailey, photography
Josh Joroko, mixed media

“raig Kraft, neon sculpture
Michele de la Menardiere,paint
Elizabeth Morisette, mixed media sculpture
Matt Sesow, painting

c.org for further information on artists and show details.

Artomatic has linked up with ARTDC.org to create a “virtual Artomatic” web presence from which each of the
participating galleries and performance venues will be able to identify and select artists for events beginning in
January 2007.

Contact: AA\

Gallery Hours: Tuesday - Saturday 12PM - 6PM
Reception Friday, January 12, 6-9PM

Performing Arts Events on Saturdays, about 2 pm:

« Saturday January 13: MudPie, “freejazz” trio

« Saturday January 20: Artist talks: Matt Sesow and Elizabeth Morisette will
each discuss their work.

« Saturday January 27: Wes Tucker will perform his music

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Northern Virginia Art Beat

Artomatic, the biannual DC area art free-for-all, PETE

was scheduled to appear late last year. Unable

to find a suitable venue, Artomatic 2006 didn't

happen. In its place, all artists on the

www.Artomatic.org email list were invited to

post images on www.artdc.org, from which

four galleries in the Bethesda arts district

would pick artists to show in a “Best of

‘Artomatic” event. This sort of thing happens all

over town after Artomatic runs its course, and

reason enough to participate in the event

Washington Post art critic Blake Gopnik

likened to a convention of amateur dentistry, in his infamous 2004 review. In
a town traditionally known for dead safe art, anything that offensive can't be
all bad. Attendance soared after Gopnik’s hack job. That was 2004, what will
we find in 20077

The standout at Fraser Gallery is Doug Sanford’s six black and white photos
of emails (printed out on paper) purportedly from a jilted girffriend. Sanford
has adroitly zeroed in on key passages by limiting the focal plane down to a
single line of text, assumedly through the use of a 4x5 camera. They're artful
photos shot with dappled light. It would be difficult to improve on Sanford's
work. These are fabulous. You take one look at these images and you cant
help but laugh at the overwrought, single minded blind rage of the author
Schadenfreude as the Germans say.

If Sanford's ex-girlfriend were in striking range this would be a scissors
wielding nightmare. Shirts, pants, sports and stereo equipment would all be
defenestrated post haste. His visage would be chopped out of dozens of
photos. However the implied distance between the two parties in this case
allows us to relax about it, and have a good chuckle at her expense. The
best, and dare one say most poignant, is the photo titled “I. Hate. You.” She
of course expounds on Doug's many faults in the other images, but this one
seems to sum it all up. Stay. Away. Doug.

I'm tempted to say that of all the Artomatic offerings this would be the one |
could live with. But over time the joke may wear thin, and the significant
negative energy about it would surely wear through eventually. Then again, if
you'te prone to over the top displays like this, it might be a good reminder to
have around to help you even out those emotional peaks and valleys. Either
way it's great work, and a lot of fun. Thanks for sharing Doug.

Creative Partners Gallery provided a comer of it's gallery to Artomatic artists.
Notably we see Matt Sesow and Denver, Colorado based Joroko. Joroko's
anti-war assemblages on canvas would give you the most artistic bang for
your buck. Hopefully not literally, as several do have bullets attached
Burned holes in the canvases seem to be pathways for spent projectiles of
some sort. The assorted objects attached arent all identifiable, but we know
that man's great capacity in doing ill will to his fellow man will find diabolically
creative and horrible uses for them. It's serious work, and well done. The
problem here is political art of this sort comes with an expiration date. The
moment the US pulls out of Iraq, this stuff is so much soured milk. Ironically
the pro-war propaganda that wars inevitably generate never seems to go out
of style, it simply takes on a somewhat campy patina over time.

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Artomatic is essentially a vehicle to get exposure for new, and hopeful
worthy, talent that otherwise would have a difficult time getting seen. Matt
Sesow is starting to remind me of the kids who go Trick or Treating for a few
too many years. But | can't fault Matt too much, he's out there hustling

'

nerging, Sesow recently estimated his sold works at rough!
joning this factoid can check out his web site
mn, I'd dare say they may all be on view right there. It's the
mind bogaling artist website I've ever seen. The guy is certainly prolific
had a wonderful cow painting posted on artdc.org, but that sold long
fore the Artomatic picks were made. Like r tists working in a mature
yle, some of his works feel formulaic, but when he's good, his brutal
work is spot on. | have one, doesn't everybody?
With a couple of exceptions, the artists at Washington School of
Photography seemed to need more time in the incubator before emerging.
This was Gopnik's main problem with Artomatic to begin with. It goes with
the territory. Raymond Rozycki, a graphic artist with the FBI in the daytime,
is hardly young but rarely shows his work, so it's new to most people. One of
many excellent artists who attend the Tuesday night open figure drawing
sessions at McLean Community Center, Ray does strong punchy figure
drawings with compressed charcoal. It's good to see his work on the wall
Additionally, Joseph Virgillo has a series of eight black and white photos. A
couple of which mimic the absurdly bold sexuality of Helmut Newton's work.
My favorite titled “Lipstick,” is more along the lines of Erwin Blumenfeld’s
work for Vogue in the 1950s. Here we have a slightly shaky cam image of a
beautiful brunette about to apply her lipstick. It has such a genuinely natural
look about it, it seems almost voyeuristic
Neptune Gallery seems to have done the best job of selecting young, vibrant
nt on the cusp of something bigger. Cherie Lester has 22 small paper
collages on canvas. These assemblages have a definite 50's feel to them,
often using tiny line drawings that look like they were cut from the flaps of
dress pattem packaging. Over and over again we're presented with almo
shaped ellipses, many bifurcated with a single vertical line. Clearly she
wants to tell us something about women, exactly what her message is
though is going past me. The 50s were an odd time for women. After the
testosterone laden 40s, the 50s was about as estrogen infused a decade as
you can get. It's the only time Detroit painted cars variations of pink on
regular basis. Family life was the order of the day. The downside was that
women who had been called to do man's work during the war, were now
expected to resume the woman's role. It took a while for that pot to boil over,
but we all know how that story tumed out, so it's an odd period to reference
in such a way as Cherie does. In any event the collages look cool, but I think
they might benefit from a wash of vamish, or acrylic medium to finish them
off. They feel more like works in progress in this raw unprotected state
of show may in fact be the tiny tableau buildings of Baltimore
Based artist Mars Tokyo (a.k.a. Sally Mericle). Here we see surrealistic
tableaus of alienation and disorientation, among other things. One of my
favorites is Teatro Della Stia Di Gallina’. This one features, by scale, a giant
chicken coup with roosting hens on raised platforms, with droppings
spattering the floor beneath them. Amidst this filth is a tiny stocky woman
we imagine as the cleaning woman. Walking out, bags in hand, she's had
enough of this scene. Mars Tokyo works some sort of magical visual voodoo
that gives these tableaus a seemingly impossible depth of field. They seem
very real for plastic objects so obscenely small. It's great work. She also has
photos of the sculptures which, to my eye, don't quite capture the magic of
the original sculptures. Check out her website teenytheaters.com

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azette.Net

laryland Community Newspapers Online “2==

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‘Minimatic’: Artomatic comes to Bethesda

Wednesday, Jan. 24, 2007

Claudia Rousseau

Artomatic, the enormous art free-for-all that has been a Washington, D.C., phenomenon
since 1999, simply failed to happen last fall. The grand venue needed for an exhibit that
might have included as many as 800 visual artists and more than 200 performance artists of
various kinds never materialized. In an effort to save the day, organizers decided to create
a*Minimatic” — that is, an online Artomatic with miniature images posted by artists
working in various media. Far fewer artists participated in the Aridc.org posting than in
Artomatic 2004, the last actual event that took place in the vast spaces of the former
Children’s Museum downtown. Overall, the quality seemed lower, too.

galleries had already committed to exhibit their “*Artomatic

before the failed show last November. Pushed forward by Catriona Fraser,
these exhibits are now on view in her own Fraser Gallery, Gallery Neptune, Creative
Partners Gallery and the Washington Gallery of Photography, with artists selected from the
online site, and with associated performances scheduled at these galleries and other
Bethesda venues. Although it isn't the Artomatic we have all come to love, it is certainly a
lesson in what happens when gallerists are asked to choose from such a huge menu, The
best tend to rise to the top, like cream in unhomogenized milk, to the point that duplicate
picks had to be sorted out, and names familiar from previous exhibits turned up again,
although some with new work. On the other hand, all the work is not great; some
bloopers are on view — just enough, perh
Artomatic circus.

Scrupulously avoiding artists she has represented, Fraser's selections form the most
interesting group, with high-quality work that comfortably blends together into an almost
thematic presentation, Works here gene tionships, identity
and memory.

Tiik Pollet’s exquisitely and technically perfect large black-and-white gelatin silver prints
rendered women (from her series “*Girls will be Boys”) stand out among all the
phic efforts in the exhibit. These deeply felt, indelible images are somehow raw,

exposing a vulnerability the artist finds a way to convey with both sympathy and

objectivity. This sensibility is especially poignant in Door,” a photo that beckons
iewer into a largely unknown world. Things aren’t what they seem.

g Sanford’s sepia-toned series of large-scale photographs of selected e-mail texts is,
similar. At first sight, you think of old texts. On closer observation, their sad and angry
content (the aftermath of a failed relationship) leaps out, changing the character of
memory into something simultaneously aggressive and painful.

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Sesow at Artomatic, 2007

Mary Beth Ramsey, who was everybody’s pick in 2004 for her hyper-realistic pastel
drawings of fruit, appears with an exciting new body of work, also dealing with memory
and time. Bos-like collages with old photos, title pages, drawings and objects collected
from the detritus found in an old family cabin are handied with the same meticulous sense
of detail that made her pastels so impressive.

Also compelling, in a similar vein, are Kim Bentley’s small collaged works and Rion
Hoffmann’s sculpture with layered Polaroid transfers on little glass panels, lit from behind
in found-wood boxes.

Of the three artists at Gallery Neptune, the hottest pick is Mars Tokyo, an odd pseudonym
for a sensitive artist whose work has little to do with outer space or Japan. Instead, they
have much to do with the tradition of toy theaters, tiny Worlds made of Italian marble
papers and playing cards, full of fascination and Surreal commentary, Exhibited in a
wonderfully baroque painted wood case, the theaters have [talian names that conjure
memories of a lost world of romance, A few color photos of the interiors, blown-uip many
times, accompany the “teeny theaters.” The best of these is the image from **Teatro de
Louise,” that is, silent film star Louise Brooks.

James W. Baileys **Condo Noir” at Creative Partners is part of a photo essay
{accompanied by a precisely written text) on race and cla )

development. The artist's “rough edge photography” process, which involves burning a
other destructive procedures that alter the appearance of the photos, brings in elements of
time, decay and loss. His is certainly this show"s most interesting work.

Matt Sesow’s ‘“art brut” paintings are unusually strident, their rawness new level
of discomfort by allusions to soldiers and terror — possibly to the tragedy in Darfut
Similarly, the narrative sense in Ed Bisese's “A Problem Solved” at Neptune matkes it the
most compelling work I've seen by this artist in some time.

Craig Kraft’s neon tubing is probably more insp on the architectural scale of his public
work in Silver Sp id Josh Joroko’s politically inspired assembl:
visually intense than the artist would seem to intend.

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washingtonpost.com

3S QUT GL

D.C. Entertainment Dispatches | A

Collages, Sculptures and Pictures of ‘Marilyn’

Lovers of the visual arts will be busy this weekend. Galleries in
Bethesda and Logan Circle open their doors for coordinated receptions
on Friday and Saturday nights showing off a ton of local talent. Want to
check them out? Read on for interactive maps of the areas and tidbits
about some of the artwork on display

Artomatic may not have risen again completely, but small gallery shows
in Bethesda this month bring back much of the free-for-all spirit
ral galleries alon k from 6-9 p.m. on Friday

ht show off works by artists who were selected from an open pool
organized by Artomatic. Matt Sesow's work — which our colleague
Lavanya Ramanathan called "Basquiat-esque" not too long ago -- will
be on view at Creative Partners Gallery along with the work of five
other artists

Tm also looking forward to the exhibit at Ga featuring the
work of Ed Biese, Mars Tokyo and Cherie Lester. Biese's almost
cartoonish figures are compelling in their grotesqueness. His work,
alongside visionary artist Tokyo and photographer and collage artist
Lester should be a very diverse show. (And if you have time to come
back to Bethesda on Saturday afternoon, the 4traits performance at
Neptune is worth checking out.)

This interactive map can help you get around all the participatin;
Artomatic galleries. The Bethesda Urban Partnership's map can help
those looking for a more comprehensive night of gallery-hopping

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