By F. Lennox Campello
Spring is here and with it comes the rebirth of the visual arts scene around the DMV – everything from new gallery openings, outdoor art fairs, public art projects and more!
And of course, Artomatic is on through April 28th – eight floors with over 1,000 artists! It’s impossible to visit Artomatic on one visit – I have been there so far two times for several hours each and have only managed to walk through the maze of artists’ rooms on the 5th floor and the open spaces of the 8th floor.
The 5th floor seems to have an unplanned concentration of some of the better-known artists of the DMV, such as Tim Tate, Erwin Timmers, Michael Janis, Alison Sigethy Patricia de Poel Wilberg, (see a glass artist pattern here?), Laurel Lukaszewski, Andrew Wodzianski, Shanthi Chandrasekar, Ric Garcia, Steve Wanna, J. Jordan Bruns and many others.
On the 5th floor I give my first must see recommendation to Melissa Burley, who by far wins the Best Steam Punk art category! She’s in room 5103 and knocking it out of the ballpark with her gorgeous and entrancing sculptures that push both the limit of sculpture and artistic wizardry!
Wanna buy a future blue-chip artist early? There’s a 16-year-old artist in room 5045 named Evelyn Johns whose paintings also caught my eye for the natural painting skills that she’s already exhibiting (pun intended) and, so far she has earned my Best Young Artist award.
Like previous Artomatics, there’s plenty of bad photography and also plenty of spectacular work! Possibly some of the most powerful photographs that I have ever seen is in the “Scars” series being exhibited by (new to me) photographer Rahul Saha in Room 5026. They are not only beautiful photographs of (mostly) beautiful bodies, but also deliver a powerful punch to the solar plexus of the mind’s eye! Be ready to be shocked and learn something about powerful, strong women. Also on this floor, there is gorgeous close up photography by Stuart Diekmeyer in Room 5060. This kind of work is soooo hard to do, and even harder to present in such intelligent manner!
Another genre usually overloaded with artwork is food art and, so far, Anna Katalkina is leading the Yummy Art award. These are delicious paintings by clearly a spectacularly skilled artist! She’s in room 5087.
As by my own assessment, I am the planet’s leading expert on Washington area glass art, it is always exciting to me when I discover a new talent, and on the 5th floor, close by the elevators in that central area where all the artists from the Washington Glass School are located, I discovered the work of a young new glass artist named Griffon Dillon whose work was really refreshing and new.
Social Media Art Award – Michele Banks’ intelligent approach to the monster inside social media – I don’t need to visit the other floors! She’s in room 5108.
Artists love the subject of Frida Kahlo and in just the 5th floor there were lots of Frida Kahlos! Yep! on just this floor there are a LOT of art pieces about the Fridanator, but what really stood out to me was the work by Ric Garcia in room 5033.
The 8th floor has an open floor plan – which makes navigation a lot easier. There are a lot of graffiti artists at Artomatic (as usual), and Luis Rosenfeld stood out to me as one of the better ones whom I’ve seen over the years! The carefully installed and orchestrated space on the 8th floor testifies to that!
I must admit that I’ve only seen driftwood sculpture in Beach town stores, and now I think that Marcos Smyth on the 8th floor has won the “Best Ever Driftwood Sculpture Award” in ARTOMATIC history! They are not only superbly constructed, but also prove that the substrate can be elevated to the fine arts category.
On the M Street side of that floor there is a gorgeous and huge piece by Anthony Maderal! Quite possibly the best Star Trek artwork ever (no idea if this talented artist meant it to be?), but darn if this is not the best BORG cube in artistic history! Sculpture by Antony Maderal is titled “I0I0 – In Our Own Image” – I seriously think that the DC Commission on the Arts & Humanities needs to acquire it for the city’s public art collection! Can you imagine this gorgeous work of art spinning (where it can’t be reached or touched, but seen) at a DC building? And yep! It is meant to be touched and spinned!
The 8th floor also hosts several countries’ “pavilions”… cough… cough… this is quite “new” for AOM, but a really GREAT step forward! Not sure how they achieved this? Maybe working with the local embassies? This is an area ripe for growth in future Artomatics!
The best Pavilion by far was the Mexican Pavilion, which flexed its muscles in that nation’s mythical printmaking scene! Mexican artists in the area were all printmakers, and they were all really good! I especially liked the largest print in the show, a wondrous work titled “El Guardian” (The Guardian) by Daniel Hernandez.
Do not miss Artomatic! Eight floors full of art at 2100 M Street, NW in the District!
About the Author: F. Lennox Campello’s art news, information, gallery openings, commentary, criticism, happenings, opportunities, and everything associated with the global visual arts scene with a special focus on the Greater Washington, DC area has been a premier source for the art community for over 20 years. Since 2003, his blog has been the 11th highest ranked art blog on the planet with over SIX million visitors.