I’ve been selected to be crititqued by Karyn Miller of Flash Point Gallery DC. The event is hosted by The Studio Visit, which is an awesome web journal focusing on visual artists and their process. (http://thestudiovisit.com/)
If you would like to come see me on August 14th, this Saturday, at 10am, please contact kbilonick@wpadc.org. It’s at: 2023 Massachusetts Ave NW DC.
Sorry the late notice. It’s been a busy month!
Just recieved some pictures from the last show in St. Charles, MO. 
Great space, but too far to drive!
Hey, I thought this was cool. My studio has made Wikipedia! If that isn’t a reason to stop by, I don’t know what is!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chautauqua_Tower
Just wanted to show off some pictures of the studio. Work looks great on freshly painted (most of it) walls. That and the stone walls.
Next month, the 2nd and 3rd floors of the Chautauqua Tower are reverting back to my solo space. Noy Davis, who has been a wonderful studio mate, has decided not to renew the lease for the 2011 year.
While it will be sad not to have her work on the walls of the tower, it will be nice to have the wall space and not worry about disturbing her work while I’m teaching a class in the studio.
Hopefully, I will have some visitors to see the new work soon! Here’s a sneak peak….
Come take a look at some of the new work being produced in the studio.
The paintings exist in a more real space. They are paintings of actual places that I have visited and even places that I have painted in my youth, but I am revisiting as a more experienced artist, in a more mature style.
I feel pretty good about them and would love some feedback.
What is the cost of doing what you love to do?
I don’t believe that there is a job around that doesn’t come with a down side. There might even be multiple downsides to the “perfect job”. For artists, at least “emerging artists”, it’s the constant rejections delivered when applying to shows and competitions. I remember being told in art school that for every ten applications that you send out, you will receive nine rejections. Course there is more to it. They say, “It’s not you, it’s us. We’re trying to make a coherent show and your artwork just doesn’t fit. It’s not that your work is bad work.” So they say, but it’s still Chinese water torture. One rejection ok, but it builds up after nine or so. Not to mention that they take your entry fee of thirty dollars in the process of telling your art isn’t what they are looking for. Two hundred and seventy dollars before you get a yes.
Well I’m 5 five rejections into the year. I guess I have four more to go before I get that one yes.
Last weekend I dropped off eight pieces to a four person show in St. Charles, MO. It’s a great space, and I am hoping for a good show. I drove 800 miles to get there to drop it off, 800 miles to come home. Then next July, I have to make the trip again. Yet, I’m happy to dive 3,200 miles to show the work.
No one’s job is perfect. I can’t imagine being stuck in a cubical, drinking 9 cups of coffee a day to stay awake. Usually, I get up at eight, I lounge around the house. I go to studio, and if I am not feeling up to painting, I am not going to get fired for reading an art magazine. Bliss.
Say what you will about the DC art seen. Despite the fact that no one really buys art in DC, there is a lot of talent this month in the Maryland, DC galleries. While I doubt that DC is going to be the next Miami anytime soon, April has some real gems.
I first visited Katherine Mann’s opening at Hamiltonian Gallery on U St.
http://www.hamiltoniangallery.com/. Her work largely reminds me of Andrea Sultzer where the work bounces from non identifiable objects to more concrete ones. They even share a similar scale in their work, although, Mann is working with color and Sultzer is primarily black and white. Mann uses mixed media to create her large scale abstracts, often time overlapping meticulous cutouts creating a dichotomy between the haphazard inks and the exact-o knife precession in the cutouts.
And a few days ago, I visited Gallery Neptune,
http://www.galleryneptune.com/, to see the work of John Aquilino. If you can imagine a revival of such 1920’s artists like Charles Demuth and Charles Sheeler, (Precisionism movement), you would have a good grasp of his work. Very clean cut, stream lined and exact renderings of roof tops and very geometric buildings. Aquilino does not abide to the same surface rules of the Precisionists; he often times (except when using gouache) uses thicker brush work that contains many colors that merge together like a Pointillist painting without the millions of dots.
I know April is almost over, but if you get a chance make a couple of trips to our galleries. The museum art will always be there.
