Artomatic Antics
It’s Artomatic time, when artists emerge from their studios to show their work, perform, and party. If this year’s Artomatic is like the others, the critics will inevitably come calling, too.
In 2002, Tyler Green called the still hyphenated Art-O-Matic “an exhausting abomination.” That same year, Washington City Paper’s Glenn Dixon called it “a great agglomeration of rubbish.” Ouch.
And yet, every year, the artists and their allies have fought back, dashing off sharp-tongued letters to the editor and carefully crafted manifestoes celebrating the event.
In 2004, blogger Lenny Campello wrote that he was “sick and tired” of Art-O-Matic being “bashed by some in the lamestream media, the alternative media and even the BLOGosphere.” Judy Jashinsky said Art-O-Matic deserved better than “the City Paper’s back-of the-hand swipe.”
But this year, D.C.’s arts advocates might be taking another tack. Campello, who writes the widely-read Mid Atlantic Art News says he’s heard rumors that there’s more than the usual chicanery afoot over at the old U.S. Patent and Trademark Building in Crystal City.
A reader who did not reveal his or her identity wrote in an e-mail to Campello:
Lenny,
This may be fun for your blog: I heard that some art collectors in DC have conspired to have a bit of fun with art critics and have put together pieces from their collections from 3 famous artists in AOM and the artwork is under a fictitious name and it will be there to see if anyone recognizes who the artists are and to see if the public or the art critics recognize work by famous artists who also are in some museums in DC and Baltimore (NGA, BMA and Hirshorn), the work will be at AOM under a local artists name. Your the AOM champion, so maybe you can find out if is true or talk about it in the blog or whatever.
A reader
Artomatic President Sondra Arkin says she can neither confirm nor deny the rumor. “We have no way of verifying anyone’s identity.” After all, artists sign up online and pay online, she says, “so we have no way of knowing whether anything like this has happened.”
April 18th, 2007 at 12:01 pm
Fellow Post Chat addicts will immediately recognize this “anonymous”, who posted this claim in no fewer than 5 chats last week. It’s an interesting effort at rumor-mongering, to be sure.
April 18th, 2007 at 12:45 pm
Even if false, which I suspect it is, I think that this is a terrific art rumorism effort to plant a false idea/project with a tiny chance of being true, and thus re-color the way that we view AOM’s artwork.
It’s actually kinda fun!
April 22nd, 2007 at 12:10 am
i just came from artomatic and can confirm this rumor to be true… I wonder if the critics will catch their work… its fabullous as is so much of the other art this year!
April 25th, 2007 at 7:14 pm
Artomatic is a great effort to provide opportunity to the arts and the artists. No mater how, this is always good, and the intention is very important. Yes you will see a lot of differences, some that just start believe they have the critic authority but their own work do not reflect it, and yes in many ways is unfair for those who live for Art and not from the Arts.
I read a lot of immature emails, and see the contamination of those who want to show up, but any way is good, Just congratulate all who are involved.
“Vive la vie”