Comments on: Artomatic! Don’t You Love/Hate It?

By: ape-o-matic

ape-o-matic — Thu, 22 May 2008 01:35:03 +0000

Yeah, well. I have to agree with the author of the article. For the amount of money those folks get from grants and other donations (think 6 digits) and the amount they screwed this year up (either through power problems, mis-communicating to artists, signing up too many “artists” (and yeah, I quote that for good reason). Artomatic is woefully, always, dis-organized.

Fair enough, it’s unjuried (it really should be) and as a result you get the good and the bad…The good? A bunch of good or soon to be better artists getting exposure for the first time. Or some artists that are already quite good but take it with a grain of salt (”yeah, that dc event”). The bad? The bad can be absolutely horrific completely decimating any good art in any near proximity. There is substantial amateur “art” at Artomatic and with a combination of literally zero curating of the space, ad-hoc installs and a complete lack of consistency or flow Artomatic falls flatter than an six month bottle of open Coke.

Artomatic folks may need to take some lessons from the Art Whino collective. Not as “grass roots” but significantly more interesting and well put together.

By: james

james — Mon, 19 May 2008 16:32:38 +0000

I loved the artistic carnival like take over of a sterile DC office tower. Something that sadly dosen’t occur more often in this town.

By: david

david — Sat, 17 May 2008 13:35:18 +0000

sounds like an excuse not to support local artists. It’s sooo much easier to judge “the scene” by going to Artomatic and wandering around confused for a few minutes and giving up. I wasn’t going to participate this year because of a busy schedule until my wife, Marcie Wolf-Hubbard signed me up for it anyway. I’m glad she did. It got me into my shop to create a new piece when it would have been easy to go make some real money. Artomatic has many talent levels but the heart of all the participants is undeniable and many of the stories are compelling if you take the time to look.

By: artgirl

artgirl — Fri, 16 May 2008 16:15:37 +0000

If the elevators are slow, take the stairs. It’s the best way to get between the floors, I found last weekend.

By: tammy V

tammy V — Wed, 14 May 2008 23:33:36 +0000

On the West side of the 6th floor there are two vents you can stand under if you’re hot. You won’t be, shortly. There are lounges on many (if not every) floor. SW 10th is lush. SW 9th less lush but you can go to sleep there (a friend took a nap while I was doing my shift). Art, being in the eye of the beholder, is everywhere. And I’ll bet 10 people won’t agree on what’s good and what’s bad. And that’s good.

By: Kemit

Kemit — Wed, 14 May 2008 14:43:23 +0000

Thought there was both good and bad art, same as any gallery, contemporary art museum or City Paper articles in any given week. If it weren’t for the Metro, I wouldn’t read City Paper at all. No better or worse than Basquiat, Elizabeth Murray, Schnabel, Warhol or host of 80’s NY artists and beyond. Problem with modern art is everything is modern art. CP’s review was written like something out of a high school paper, complete with cool kid disdain. Did you run out of staff to interview or did you go as one big clique? Did the building not carry your publication? Again, your paper and ArtOMatic is about on equal footing.

By: Smitty

Smitty — Wed, 14 May 2008 13:08:55 +0000

Yeah, you definitely have to check it out a couple floors at a time. Let’s be honest, you couldn’t take 8 floors of the National Gallery or Met without getting tired of art and burned out. Regarding the quality, some people see bad art and stare at it and bitch, other people see bad art and keep walking until they find good art to stare at and smile.

By: Nikki

Nikki — Tue, 13 May 2008 21:07:14 +0000

I couldn’t do more than 3 floors myself when I went to visit this weekend. The elevators were so slow, the lines for refreshments were super long, it was hard to find a place to sit down, and the sheer volume of art to look at was a little overwhelming. Since Artomatic is being hosted in a building thats in mid-consturction, there is no working AC which made things a bit uncomfortable as well. If you really want to see it all, you’ll have to make a few trips.

By: Mr. T in DC

Mr. T in DC — Tue, 13 May 2008 20:19:18 +0000

Thanks, Mike and Ruth, no problem - I’m happy to allow use of my photos anytime, and enjoy reading the City Desk blog. Flickr rules do require a link, but I was mostly kidding about looking for a “little love”.
Best,
Mr. T

By: Mike DeBonis

Mike DeBonis — Tue, 13 May 2008 19:48:25 +0000

Mr. T,

You’re right. When we pull stuff from Flickr under a CC license, we should always give credit. There’s been a little (OK, more than a little) confusion on that issue over here. It’s been fixed now.

By: Ruth Samuelson

Ruth Samuelson — Tue, 13 May 2008 19:17:05 +0000

I pulled it from the “Creative Commons” of Flickr. But, thank you both.

By: Mrs. T in DC

Mrs. T in DC — Tue, 13 May 2008 18:34:02 +0000

I was looking for G.I. Joe action figures (it was a sculpture of various action figures/dolls painted blue/green).

By: Mr. T in DC

Mr. T in DC — Tue, 13 May 2008 18:31:04 +0000

Hey, how about a little love on the photo? That’s my wife, by the way - she was a tad skeptical about it, too.