ADA Gallery

Bruce Wilhelm

John Gaustad

sandra luckett

dereick melander

Usually I wait to post about an actual gallery space till I've been there myself....but I just can't help myself with this one, I just got really excited about the artists they show...almost none of which I've heard of, but most of which I'm pretty dang impressed by.

ADA is an artist run gallery that "showcases the best in emerging art, since 2003". The owner of which co-founded a sister gallery that recently opened in Chelsea (Mulherin Pollard Projects). Also, they do take unsolicited submissions. Look on the "info" section of their website for specific instructions.

ADA gallery can be found on 228 West Broad Street in Richmond, Va. (Or here, on their website). They also participate in the NEXT artfair in Chicago, and SCOPE nyc.

Huffington Post's Haiku Reviews

Thomas Nozkowski:Recent Work,

Courtesy of the Pace Gallery, NYC

So here's the first post I ever stole off a facebook link.

The Huffington Post is starting a new feature where every week they are inviting critics to do capsule reviews of performances and exhibitions in the short form of actual traditional Haiku, sonnets, short abstract prose. I'm not going to repost their awesome content, but go read it on their site. The inaugural week was a total delight.

A mixed pot of Call of Entries

Like a great chef does with a fine bouillabaisse I too have created a mixture of the better calls for entries harvested from ripe inbox. Staying with the culinary theme, the following are a trio of opportunities, an amuse bouche for the hungry artist.



PDN Go Indie is a photo competition that leans more toward the commercial side but still it's good and cheap way to get your stuff out there. Deadline is December 1 2010



The Print Center has the 85th International Competition: Printmaking edition. Sounds like entries should have some print element involved, other than that, the sky's the limit. Deadline December 15 2010

Magenta Foundations: Flash Forward is a photographic week long extravaganza and highly prestigious competition. Albeit ageist for their 34 year old cut-off date. That means all you porcelain skinned fresh faces, you're in and all you wrinkled decrepit has-been 35 year old's need not apply. This is my last year to stay forever young so I'm all in. Deadline December 31 2010

Good luck!
-Brandon

Virginia Yount

Virginia Yount's work is infused with a sense of the relationship between the natural environment and the structures and "things" created by human beings. Her work rides the line between representational image and abstraction, the way the subjects in the work ride the line between organic and plastic. There is a serenity to her work, a kind of quiet consideration of the subject rather than a raving protest.

Virginia's solo show at Women and Their Work Gallery in Austin, TX will be on display through November 12.

Belle and Sebastian-Write about Love

I remember one time back at the turn of the century... I was given a copy of If Your Feeling Sinister by a friend, I was fresh out of college and heavy into Nick Drake. I was blown away by B & S, it was like finding a musical soul mate for a time of transition in my life. Of course, I was brooding, introspective and so was this music plus as a closet pop lover it perfectly blended pop melodies and catchy tunes with super smart lyrical topics. I still remember having dinner with a friend whom we shared usually more Minor Threat-esque tastes declaring upon hearing my new musical exploration that he too went through a fay musical phase. It was like telling him I was bi or something....

Fast forward 10 years and like 4 or 5 albums and a few year hiatus, Belle and Sebastian are back. Just when I thought they were gone for good, Write about Love is released with renewed sense of perfection. The thing about B and S is that I think we walk the same generational road, expecting the same things from our music at these critical junctions and periods of growth. This album finds a more mellow, lasting, "I've arrived" nouveau adult contemporary vibe. Kind of like my James Taylor only edgy, cool and cynical. Like knowing now what I didn't know then. Heavy on thirty something laissez faire mid-careerness and much lighter on twenty something angst and drama. I feel connected.

Sorry Amy for being off-topic, just felt the need :) -Brandon

British Bad Boy Damien Hirst and Butterfly Wings

Well, he never seems to stop with the taking apart of the animals and selling them for lots and lots and lots of money, eh? The above is an image of a large butterfly wing painting that just fetched a crazy £2.2m at auction.

I don't know what to think of all this. The environmentalist in me is outraged, while the art world realist (and gallerist skeptic) in me is sarcastically grinning at another sale that glorifies the art business. At least someone's getting paid. A lot. And they sure are pretty...

I suppose I would like to know how he acquires these butterfly wings. Or I should say how his assistants do... I remain conflicted.

Maria Calderon

Maria Calderon's paintings are complex narratives, built with the familiar elements that populate her world (local businesses, yoga positions, the faces of casual friends), references to her family's Peruvian+American heritage, as well as symbolic characters that she has created and given meaning to over time. The results are works that are a window to a rich, layered, world of personal experience and memory .

In her current exhibition, "Kansa Citta Pueblita"on display at Urban Culture Project's "Project Space", Maria explores a variety of mediums for her narratives, including sculpture and large scale burlap/wall paintings as well as smaller paintings on paper. The viewer is enveloped in Calderon's stories...both wrapped in wide burlap landscapes, and wrapt in tiny precious details that reward the curious.