Please join us for the opening of “Censored”, a show sponsored by artDC. “Censored” will be held at the artDC gallery in Hyattsville, MD. The opening will be Saturday, March 13th from 6pm to 9pm. Light refreshments will be served.

“Our theme, “Censored” is in response to the typical thought process that nudity is taboo. Our intention is to poke fun at the long-running practice of moral and societal censorship of art by covering the genitalia in each work with post-it notes. Visitors will be encouraged to take a sneak peek of what’s going on underneath the notes. The artists in this month’s show were specially chosen for their work in fine art nudes and erotica. The artists are Billy Monday, Chris Brady, Jerry Harke, Jesse Cohen, Kollin Bliss, Michael Woodward, Rahul Saha, Raju Singh, and Renee Woodward.”

Facebook invite here.
artdc.org discussion here.

“Art is an addiction.  There’s a compulsive need to create and express your self.  It’s sweet and painful at the same time.  Art is Junk.  People think they can control it, do it just once in a while, but that’s just a lie created by one’s own arrogance.  Art is all consuming.  There’s no such thing as a part time artist.  There are those who make a living, and those who don’t, be we think about it 100% of the time whether it’s our bread winner or not.  When I’m not making art, I’m thinking about what I’m going to create next, and if I’m not doing that, I’m suffering from the lack of inspiration, and completely aware of it at that moment.  It’s an addiction, full of love, pain, and tolerance for the lack of freedom to do what you want as you’re fighting to survive, learn a new technique, or find that next moment of joy that are few and far between.  Art takes arrogance and the need to learn, practice, steal, mimic, progress, and create new ideas.”

-Jesse Cohen

We’re so pleased that there’s a Secret individual out there wishing us  support and great hopes for the future.  It takes a lot of energy to step out and do something.  We’re glad the benefactor did.

See the pics below:

Thanks to Fareeha Khawaja for the snap shots of the gifts!

Reception: February 14^th, 2010 1 to 5pm

HYATTSVILLE, MD– artdc Gallery, Design Studio Art Gallery, and Cheryl Edwards Studio will host this exhibit. An opening reception will be held on Sunday, February 14, 2010 from 1-5pm. The exhibit will run from February 8^th – March 3^rd 2010.

In collaboration with multiple Arts District galleries, we will work to create a movement in celebration of that wonderful time full of love.  You know the day–February 14th!  V-day.  We will be developing a semi-all inclusive show that will be curated in one space, and then split between galleries.   This movement goes beyond space limitations and activates the neighborhood through multiple gallery collaborations.

Saint Valentine’s Day is a holiday celebrated on February 14.  There’s an energy which drives us to fall in love. Philosophers, scientists, and artists study it.  Lust is an intense craving for one’s lover and has been a tremendous force in the creation of art and spirit.  Lust is joyful and painful at the same time.

Dante compared it to the sweeping force of a whirlwind with no hope of escape to cleanse your soul and purge your minds from desire.  Lust controls many of us with muscle truck unstoppable force!  We are exploring lustful creativity with a tremendous, ground-breaking show which crosses individual gallery barriers.  As a group, each gallery director will assist in curating the show. We will then divide the work between our spaces.  Lust will create a movement for the month of February!

The art will range from publicly accessible art PG-13 to much spicier concepts! This is not an erotic art show.  We need to explore this unstoppable whirlwind of fear, need, anxiety, love, and desire.  Lust and love move deeper than sex, it’s power.

The artdc Gallery in the Lustine Center (appropriate name for the show!)

The Design Studio Art Gallery

Andrea Waldron Bates’ photo of the Lustine Center sign in celebration of the show.

Gallery Websites:
www.artdc.com
www.designstudioartgallery.com
www.fineartamerica.com/profiles/cheryl-edwards.html

Addresses of Participating Galleries:
artdc Gallery:   5710 Baltimore Ave, Hyattsville, MD 20781
Design Studio Art Gallery: 5702 Baltimore Avenue, Hyattsville, MD 20781
Cheryl Edwards Studio:   4303 Rhode Island Ave, Studio 215 Brentwood, MD 20722

View the call for artists here.

Evidently it pings a server every 10 minutes to make sure that it’s still for sale.

This goes beyond artificial intelligence, it’s something different.  I’d love to see the auction history for this item with past and future sales.

Here’s a link to the artist’s site.

UPDATE: It sold for US $6,350.00 and $50.00 for shipping on January 28, 2010.

We send our thanks to the benefactor! Check out these shots unpacking the bank and monopoly money. Here’s an image of the box shortly after we opened it under a painting by Jill Hackney.  

We thought the bank looked so good in the gallery that we put in on a pedestal for display!  Let’s hope the public get’s the point and supports us!

Here’s a full shot of the bank on the pedestal. We think it looks great in the space!

Maybe the monopoly money was a little prod at the Washington Post’s Reliable Source accusations of a connection with the collector. (scroll down to read their blurb about “The Collector’s Identity? It’s as Clear as Frosted Glass.”)

Saint Valentine’s Day is a holiday celebrated on February 14.  Lovers express their emotions by sending gifts, cards, and themselves.  There’s an energy which drives us to fall in love, philosophers, scientists, and artists all study it.  Lust is an intense craving for their lover and has been a tremendous force in the development of art and the creative spirit.  Lust is joyful and painful at the same time.  Donte compaired it to being continuously swept around in a whirlwind where they cannot cleanse their soul and will never purge their minds from their desire.  Lust controls many of us with muscle truck unstoppable force!  With that in mind we would like to explore our lustful creativity with a tremendous ground breaking show which crosses the barrier into multiple galleries.  As a group, each gallery director will curate the show as a group, and we will divide the work between our spaces as a whole exhibit!  Lust will create a movement for the month of February in the DC area!

We will be looking for a wide variety of art ranging from publicly accessible art PG-13 and below to much spicier concepts! This is not an errotic art show, and Strictly adult themed images or pornography will not be accepted since we really want to explore this unstoppable whirlwind of fear, need, anxiety and desire.  Lust moves much deeper than sex, it’s power.  We want to see a wide range of work from the science behind love to those gentle images of lovers holding hands to heat and desire to related abstraction.  We reserve the right to curate the show to keep art related to the theme and to deny work that doesn’t meet our requirements.  The Jury members will be Cheryl Edwards, Erica Riggio, and Jesse Cohen.
The art galleries involved are:

The Cheryl Edwards Studio Gallery
Directed by Cheryl Edwards
4103-4105 Rhode Island  Ave
Brentwood, MD 20722

The artdc Gallery in Hyattsville
5710 Baltimore Ave.
Hyattsville, MD 20781
www.artdc.com

Design Studio Art Gallery
Directed by Erica Riggio and Nancy Evans
5702 Baltimore Avenue
Hyattsville, MD 20781-1620
(301) 779-4907
www.designstudioartgallery.com?

Install date: Feb. 6. 2010
Reception date: Feb. 14 2010
Deinstall date: March. 6. 2010

We think this is a tremendously exciting event to show this great deal of work in multiple spaces.

More details and show requirements can be found here:
http://artdc.org/forum/index.php?topic=13128.0

We are introducing a new show inspired by our group curatorial project developed through our home page exhibitions, entitled The People’s Choice. Before our Hyattsville curatorial experience we needed to expand beyond our popup gallery shows. We pushed forward, developing on-line exhibitions.

This process is unique. We have continued with an all inclusive spirit into unique juried shows where the group at-large curated themed exhibitions with only one main requirement curators must not submit their own work!

Artists were invited to tour our on-line gallery with the job of selecting works related to a group-selected theme which were presented in a numbered list. The entire forum was invited to vote from this list developing a group-curated exhibition. With this process in mind we’ve reached a diverse group of art styles. It’s particularly exciting to know that this show is based on the curatorial vision of the group and not an individual or appointed Jury.
Read about the curatorial process here:

http://artdc.org/forum/index.php?topic=8046.msg34157#msg34157

In March of 2004 we developed a contemporary art show entitled artdc.org contemporary art: reawakening here. The artdc Gallery January show is inspired by this exhibition. All of the artists from the on-line show were invited to exhibit works from that show. However, with the excitement, we learned that a great deal of these images were no longer available! DC artists do sell work, and the “People” have good taste. There for we picked similar works to exhibit, thus the “inspired by” tag in the Title.

Find the original March ’04 show here:
http://artdc.org/forum/index.php?topic=8321.0

Artists:
Mary D. Ott
Ed Bises
Jill Hackney
Alexandra Zealand
Mathew Best
Kerri Sheehan
Ellyn Weiss

Details:
Install Date January, 3rd 2010
De-install Date February 6, 2010
Opening January, 17th 2010 4-7pm

Address:
artdc Gallery in Hyattsville
5710 Baltimore Ave.
Hyattsville, MD 20781

Studio Patron’s Annex

With space left on our studio walls, we invited a group of artdc Patrons to exhibit their work continuing our desire to exhibit the work of those who support artdc.org and Fine Art Ventures, LLC’s mission. We intend to develop more Patron’s Annex exhibitions in the future.

Angela Kleis
Davin Tarr
Lauren Pond
Lori Boocks
Jen Bishop
Stephen Boocks
Alexandra Meade
Liliane Blom
Jackie Hoysted
Rhett Rebold
Henrik Sundqvist
Raju SINGH
Jennifer Beinhacker
Jesse Cohen
Barry Schmetter