OverExposed

Art$$

noreply@blogger.com (Tracy) — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 03:44:00 +0000

A painting by Monet sold at the London Christie's auction for $80.4 million dollars.

Another big seller on Tuesday was “Dancers at the Bar,” a Degas pastel being sold by an unidentified private collector.

A pastel. Not a painting.

How much? Go on, guess.

The pastel remained in the Havemeyer family for three generations before being sold at Christie’s in New York in 1982 for $1 million. That price, while seemingly high at the time, looked like a bargain compared with the bidding on Tuesday. Five bidders wanted the work, which ended up selling for $26.5 million,

What was all this talk about the recession and art not selling?

The End of Artomatic

noreply@blogger.com (Tracy) — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 16:43:00 +0000

watch out for that armadillo!, originally uploaded by Tracy Lee.

The construction crew shows up today to start tearing down walls and generally assisting in removing everything that we brought in (all the drywall, the plywood, the wiring, the lighting, all electrical boxes, etc). Most of the artists have removed their work. The rooms have been emptied. The tattoo parlour shut down and Paul and Cynthia are back in their regular studio. The signs have been taken down, all the furniture is off to their new homes. The bars are gone, the beer storage closet is empty, and the ice freezer has been hauled away. We're pulling out nails and slapping on spackle.

It has been a year of records for Artomatic. A record number of participating artists (740), more performers than ever (800), the largest building and space we've ever had to work with, and the largest number of visitors = over 52 thousand people walked through those doors to experience Artomatic.

A Wild Ride for sure.

we are your queens and you will worship us

noreply@blogger.com (Tracy) — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 22:52:00 +0000

we are your queens and you will worship us, originally uploaded by meanlouise.

My home away from home. One more week of Artomatic.

I'd really like to figure out how to move this section of wall and door into my house.

Kriza took the photo of myself and Rebecca outside the Artomatic office. We don't always wear the same clothes. Not always. Though people with a tendency to wear black a lot sorta can't help but match.

(it's okay to think I look tired - I am. The 98 degrees and Code Red air isn't helping all that much either.)

He Has Returned

noreply@blogger.com (Tracy) — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 02:54:00 +0000

The Collector is back at Artomatic.

stay tuned

The End is Near

noreply@blogger.com (Tracy) — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 00:45:00 +0000

Two weeks left for Artomatic. It closes on Sunday, June 15.

Two weeks. Two weeks.Two weeks.Two weeks.Two weeks.Two weeks.Two weeks.Two weeks.

You've been - right? A couple of times, of course you have.

Last weekend was the party for the Peeps. And there was bellydancing. And fire outside. And a cardboard car race.

This weekend we've got Frank Warren from PostSecret in the house signing books, Tango on the dance stage, poetry of all types in the SpeakEasy lounge (including Russian), "Craigslist: The Musical" on the downstairs stage, Fire outdoors, and Spooky Movies in the Film room - just for starters.

Saturday begins with workshops galore, The Marketplace in the afternoon (come buy art!), bands all evening and night, Comedians and Open Mic Night in the SpeakEasy, Burlesque in the Cabaret - and the crazy wildness of the night will be on the 5th floor with the hip-hop dancers - The Street Dance All Stars Jam. They were at Artomatic two weekends ago and it was insane - probably 300 people on the floor, it must have been 15 degrees hotter due to the body heat and ~everybody~ was dancing - it was so cool. We had to kick them all out at 2am so we could clean up and go home, I think they would have gone all night long.

Then on Sunday I fall down from exhaustion and try to figure out how many cases of Red Bull I'm going to need to make it through one more week. Because while this weekend's calendar is packed you ain't seen nothin' till you've been to closing weekend. We plan on taking this thing out with a big BANG. Or huge Fire at least.

Artomatic Event Calendar

See what you have been missing - the Flickr Aromatic Photo Group

Oh, and the tattoo has healed quite nicely, thankyouverymuch, and I'm very happy with it. And now have to go back to the gym so I can confidently show it off. (You know, once Artomatic is over. Of course.)

Artomatic (continued)

noreply@blogger.com (Tracy) — Fri, 23 May 2008 14:10:00 +0000

If you haven't come out you really need to. I promise you that you'll have a good time.

Workshops on all sorts of subjects, we've got belly dancers tonight and fire dancers most weekends too. Bands all through the night, comedians performing in the SpeakEasy lounge.

The building is such a great design, and at night I think it looks even better.

Check out the photos people are posting from Artomatic in the Artomatic Flickr Group.

Hell, you can even get an appointment for a tattoo while you are there, or just watch someone get inked. ;)

I think it is a great event, and even if you are a fan of Artomatic and been to past events that you will say that this is the best one yet.

Be sure to come up to the 11th floor - not only where one of the bars is located ($1 Red Bull! Flying Dog beer! cheap!) but that is where my installation is located.

The Denver Post likens Artomatic to "the Woodstock of Art" and they mean that in a good way. Minus the mud, of course.

Artomatic closes on June 15th (Sunday, Father's Day) so you still have time to check it out.

Pancake Mountain and Artomatic

noreply@blogger.com (Tracy) — Sun, 18 May 2008 02:49:00 +0000

The new issue of TIME has a small article about Pancake Mountain. The print version has one of my photos with the article, it's not included with the on-line version. Last month Rolling Stone, this month it's Time - not bad, eh?

Artomatic is rolling along and going well - good attendance, lots of positive energy, and lots of artists all working together for the same goal. Which is pretty much a 5-week party, but what is wrong with that?

There was a special meet-up tonight for bloggers at Artomatic - I didn't attend (took the night off) but thought I could compensate by blogging about Artomatic.

SPEED QUIZ!

noreply@blogger.com (Tracy) — Sat, 10 May 2008 04:21:00 +0000

Here's the result from our interview with Kate last week. Doesn't she look just great? And she was so much fun too.
Yeah Kate!

Pancake Mountain's Rufus Leaking and Kate Pierson of the B-52's

exhausted

noreply@blogger.com (Tracy) — Fri, 09 May 2008 04:23:00 +0000

but also happy. The prep work for Aromatic is just about complete. 99% is done. The finishing touches tomorrow morning before we open, just to put that final shine on things. I feel like I can relax for a couple minutes and actually breathe.

The site looks fantastic. Fan. Tas. Tic.

and I might get a few hours sleep tonight. Perhaps something to eat might be a good idea too.

I'm really satisfied with how my space came out. Maybe that doesn't sound right but "happy" doesn't either. I like it, I feel like I did want I wanted to do and I'm pleased with how it all turned out. That better?

I've been using the stairs too often while on site putting out fires and such so I'm not getting a whole lot of roller skating time in. And with tomorrow being opening night and a gazillion people expect I'm thinking the skates aren't getting any use this weekend.

(ahh, but after we close down for the night... watch out!)

Artomatic 2008

noreply@blogger.com (Tracy) — Wed, 07 May 2008 13:34:00 +0000

The Biggest Artomatic EVAR!!1!!! opens this Friday.

With over 1,000 artists. Really, I counted. In fact, as of yesterday when I last did a tally there were exactly 1,115 participating artists.

There will be music every night. Workshops of all sorts. Activities for kids on the weekends (workshops, kid movies), Fire dancers, Belly Dancers, Comedians, Dance groups, Theater performance...

and Tattoos.

Yup. Not only is there a Poetry Lounge, a Dance stage, a Film room, two large music venues, an Education room, a Visual Arts Resource Center, an Artomatic Store there is also a working Victorian styled tattoo parlour on the 12th floor, courtesy of the fine folks at British Ink.

Something for everyone - and then some.

I'm on the 11th floor - the floor with the bar :) and one of the super cool fancy lounges. Come by and see the show, you won't be dissapointed.

Artomatic opens Friday, May 9th and runs through Sunday, June 15. Closed Mondays and Tuesdays. New York Ave metro stop, M street exit. Paid parking will be available in the garage under the building.

Check out the photos on the Artomatic Flickr Group:http://www.flickr.com/groups/artomatic/

Artomatic is a free event - check out the event calendar at http://www.artomatic.org/event for a complete listing of all the happenings.

Artomatic 2008

noreply@blogger.com (Tracy) — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 03:18:00 +0000

We have hit the 1,000 mark and it keeps going up. 1,000 artists participating in the 2008 Artomatic.

(1,013 to be exact, last time I checked the registration files.)

Artomatic has floors 4-12, and the very large rooms on the main floor (which are going to be the music areas/stages) and something special on every floor: a tattoo parlor on 12, the bar on 11, an education workshop, a huge theater/film room, a poetry lounge, a Visual Artist Resource Center, the Artomatic store, and open lounges on every floor. I made a list one day of all the special section and what floors they were on, and left it there on site. Trust me - something for everyone. (Even workshops for kids on Saturdays!)

And, yes, the Fire Dancers will be back. Our performance calendar is packed this year, we've got bands and happenings every single night we're open.

This building was completely empty when we took it over - we have had to run electricity, lights, build all the rooms, build the partitions for artists to have walls to display on... it has been an incredibly huge undertaking. And I'm very impressed at how quickly so much has been done. I haven't hammered a single nail (I've been in meetings for most of my time. Or maybe it just seems that way.) but the folks in the EM committee have been working their asses off. I think some of them have moved into the building, or maybe it just seems that way because they are always there making sure everything is being built and set up properly.

But now comes the hard/fun part - less than two weeks to get my space ready to show. Let the craziness begin!!

Artomatic opens on Friday, May 9th.

Pancake Mountain in Rolling Stone

noreply@blogger.com (Tracy) — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 21:04:00 +0000

Pancake Mountain in Rolling Stone, originally uploaded by Tracy Lee.

They like us, they really like us.

#4 in their Top 10 of TV and the Web

Photo by me, the byline is along the spine, Tracy Lee

the Cave of Caerbannog - revisited

noreply@blogger.com (Tracy) — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 05:35:00 +0000

What I did during my Spring Break

noreply@blogger.com (Tracy) — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 01:40:00 +0000

glued to my chair in front of the computer for over a week.

but it's done. The Artomatic site went live last night and registration was turned on this afternoon. Web things seem to be rolling along quite smoothly so I can now turn my focus to the numerous meetings I need to either arrange or attend. Wheeeee.

For the next three months Artomatic is my life.

Hopefully I will have time when I'm not working FOR Artomatic to create some new art to hang IN Artomatic.

testing

noreply@blogger.com (Tracy) — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 17:24:00 +0000

is flickr breaking the code?

Friday

noreply@blogger.com (Tracy) — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 20:14:00 +0000

my new favorite camera, originally uploaded by Tracy Lee.

My new favorite camera.

Trying some different things photo-wise which means moving away from the Perfect Million Pixel Digital Image and towards the Crappy Cheap Plastic Camera with Film, and just going to see where that takes me.

And I'm keeping my eye on the Polaroid stock to see if I need to grab up what remains or if Fuji will swoop in and take over production - and make it cheaper. Buy now and pay more or wait and risk not getting any?

The DCist Photo Exposed show opens tonight, I'm going to head into the city early to beat the Christmas rush. That and so I can get into Jaleo for a dinner of tapas shark and calamari. And some sangria to wash it all down.

Glass3 in Georgetown is having an event tonight as well so if you haven't seen that show it closes this weekend and it is worthy of a trip.

So - Amazon has been pushing this new Bauhaus album on me for the past month in my recomendations and I've just been ignoring it because - what, another remake? Another best of?

NO! It's a new album. As in NEW new: all new songs - wtf? I did a quick check - yup, Siouxsie is still out there cranking out the records as well. If the Smiths get back together then the 80s will have come full circle and I will fully expect the apocolpyse to be around the corner.

(Yes, I ordered it.)

The new NIN is interesting, he's been sneaking new stuff in when I wasn't paying attention. When was the last time I went to a concert that didn't involve Pancake Mountain? I can't remember.

Stuff

noreply@blogger.com (Tracy) — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 19:11:00 +0000

orchid, originally uploaded by Tracy Lee.

Flickr has been flaky this week and I've lost the ability to see when all my friends have posted new photos. I miss my daily photo stream!

Daniel Johnston Dance Party last weekend at the Black Cat for Pancake Mountain, tonight we've got a photo shoot for the next DVD cover.

And my weekend is packed with Artomatic meetings.

I did some macro photos yesterday as I'm working on growing orchids. A new crop of flowers all bursting at once. When I let the camera choose the exposure & d.o.f. it prefers to go with a very low depth of field. When I'm shooting macro sometimes I want to up this so more than a tiny little bit of the shot is in focus. The problem with this is with an increased depth-of-field suddenly ~everything~ is in focus... including all the dust on the lens and the sensor. Suddenly I'm spotting negatives again.

Never realized how dirty all my gear was. Ick.

The Days are just packed

noreply@blogger.com (Tracy) — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 22:57:00 +0000

Self Portrait in the Ladies Room with Duncan at the Black Cat, originally uploaded by Tracy Lee.

Daniel Johnston last night at the Black Cat. It was a very interesting evening (still processing photos).

Today I had lunch with John McCain. There was a distinct lack of Secret Service (which is surprising). His wife was on her cell phone most of the time while he kept his baseball cap on throughout the meal. I am taking the wearing of the hat to mean "I am not who you think I am, and I'm off-duty anyway, let me eat my noodles in peace." I couldn't think of anything to say to him other than I HOPES YOU DON'T WIN so I didn't bother him. Now that I'm home and watching the news with Nader hoping back into the race and Clinton firing "I'm more patriotic than you" bullshit comments to Obama (Dear Democrats: Please to be stopping arguing amongst yourselves, you are not the enemy, please focus attention on the Republicans and at least try to appear to have a united front - k? thnx,bye) I'm thinking if i see McCain again I'll go shake the hand of the man who will become President.

Stopped by the Glass3 exhibit today in Georgetown, was very impressed by the show, took some photos. Some really good stuff, some weird stuff, some funny pieces and a couple ?er?? but overall it was a very good representation of the artistic glass movement.

photos here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/tracyleephoto/sets/72157603976524064/

On the way home I went by the gym and re-upped my membership. What the hell. My work-out regime - when left to myself - is non-existent and admitting this to myself means joining the gym and making myself get on some sort of exercise schedule. Left to the "when I have the time" means I never have the time, but paying a monthly fee is motivation enough to get my ass into gear and go use the facility.

Upcoming

noreply@blogger.com (Tracy) — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 00:46:00 +0000

Photo 08
Ellipse Art Center
Opening Reception: Thursday, February 21, 6 - 9 p.m.
4350 N. Fairfax Drive, Arlington, VA

DCist Exposed 2008
Civilian Arts Project
Opening Reception: Friday, March 7, 6:30 - 9:30 pm
406 7th Street NW, 3rd Floor,Washington DC

No

noreply@blogger.com (Tracy) — Sat, 08 Sep 2007 18:48:00 +0000

You are not allowed the luxury of picking and choosing when it is convenient to have contact with your children.

You do not get to decide.

You Are Not Welcome.

You Are Not Wanted.

You Do Not Get To Decide.

You Do Not Get To Decide.

my "Top Ten" for artomatic

noreply@blogger.com (Tracy) — Sun, 29 Apr 2007 05:58:00 +0000

The Artomatic website has a "picks" section where you can make a list of your favorite works. I can do it, you can do it, anybody can do it. And you can read everyone else's - which is cool because you will find things that you might have missed and make note to go back and see those.

However the interface isn't exactly what I'd call ideal - through no fault of its own but because quite a few artists (myself included) haven't uploaded artwork to their catalog entry. (I have a photo of my space so you know it's me but with everything of mine posted here I didn't see the point in doing it all again. I mean, haven't we seen that all enough?)

Big Artist Pet Peeve - what the hell is it with artists and websites? Christ, it's the 21st century, get thee to a web designer and FTP that sucker now! Ouch!

I've come across rooms of art where

no name or business cards anywhere I could find. I liked the art, would like to let the artist know this but I can't contact them.
The artist does leave a business card with an email address.... THAT BOUNCES! Giving me incorrect information is worse than giving me no information.
The url on the business card (if they bother to include it) either doesn't work/404/expired or is "UNDER CONSTRUCTION" with no other information. Tease. Buying a domain name does not entitle you to say you have a website.

I was really thinking I was overdoing it with my multiple promotional items but I'd really rather get a lot from an artist than nothing at all.

Now, without further ado, my Top Ten List.... of 17 artists :)

Michael Janis - Glass
http://www.michaeljanis.com
Space: 6th floor Red 6A01

Alison Sigethy - Glass
Home page: http://www.GoingToGreenland.com
Space: 6th floor Yellow 6A17

Geoff Ault - Photography
http://geoff333.deviantart.com/gallery/
Space: 6th floor Red 6D11

Kim Reyes - Mixed media
http://www.kimreyesart.com
Space: 6th Floor Red 6D03

Sergio OlivosM - MixedMedia
http://SergiOlivosM.com
Space: 6th floor Blue 6A48

Anne Benolken - 3-D Standalone
Space: 8th floor Orange 8D13

Bernard Willis - Photography
Home page: http://www.bernardphoto.com
Space: 6th floor - in a hallway, towards the Ants... keep looking

Jesse Thomas
Home page: http://www.jess3.com
Space: 6th floor Blue 6Y02

Lynn Putney - Painting
Space: 6th floor Red 6A11

Elizabeth Lundberg Morisette - 3-D Standalone
Home page: http://elmorisette.blogspot.com
Space: 6th floor Red 6R01
(macro detail)

Pat Goslee - Painting
Home page: http://www.patgoslee.com
Space: 6th floor Red 6A11

Tim Hayes - Photography
Home page: http://www.hayesimages.com
Space: 6th floor Blue 6Y05

Scott Davis - Photography
Home page: http://www.photographotica.com
Space: 6th floor Blue 6A55

Raju Singh - Photography
Home page: http://www.rajusingh.30art.com
Space: 6th floor Blue 6C31

William Winton - Mixed Media
Space: 6th floor Yellow 6A39

Gabriel Thy - Painting
Home page: http://www.scenewash.org
Space: 6th floor Blue 6A43
(detail)

Laurel Lukaszewski - Installation (ceramic)
Space: 8th floor Green 8B03

Eileen Colton - B&W Photography
Space: 8th floor, Green 8C07

(no photo yet - but she is showing B&W concert photographs
from the 70s. The Clash, Devo, Talking Heads, The Ramones,
Patti Smith - wonderful stuff!)

Lessons Learned

noreply@blogger.com (Tracy) — Sat, 10 Feb 2007 23:59:00 +0000

There are a few lessons that I keep bumping into and feel worthy of making note of as they keep being proved true. Not only something to pass along to the kids but to post for myself as a reminder so that I can stop falling down those same holes. At least at this point in my life (being so old and wise - phbttt) I usually do see the pitfalls coming. If I manage to stumble into them anyway I recognize the situation so much faster, remove myself and move on without the damage I'd gone through in earlier years. My reaction time is much quicker. We do learn from our mistakes.

(Thank god there really is something about this getting older/getting wiser thing. It's not just about gray hair and wrinkles.)

1. Trust Your Instincts. Your brain is trying to tell you something. All your excuses as to why your First Impression was incorrect are just that: excuses. If that guy seems creepy, if that woman seems slightly off-balanced, if something seems odd... run. Turn and run now. Don't even go there. You will dismiss your Early Warning System ("but everybody else likes him, he seems so harmless", "she's a little weird", "he seems a bit too eager to please, I wonder what that is all about", "I wonder why I wasn't introduced to anyone else", "How strange that they made the offer so fast", "That explanation doesn't quite seem to add up...") and forge ahead anyway.

You won't run. You'll stay and dismiss those nagging warning bells. And in the end those warnings will be proven true. But you'd have felt silly if you had walked away from a situation just based on your gut feelings - at least that first time. You'll learn though, and you'll learn fast. Trust Your Guts. Your Guts Are Right.

2. Value Yourself. Life is Too Short to Deal with Other People's Shit. Or - to put it in slightly more kid friendly language: You Deserve to Be Happy and Treated with Respect: the happiness part if your responsibility, no one can make you happy, that is up to you. But you must Stand Up and Demand Respect. Don't take crap from anybody. If your "Friend" is giving you grief, making you unhappy, teasing you - this person is not your friend. Find a new friend. If your job is stressing you out and making you miserable - find a new job. The stress is not worth it. The money is good? What does that matter if you are a miserable fuck? I'd rather be poor and happy than rich and addicted to Xanax. Sometimes you've got to do whatcha gotta do - and that means taking the shitty job and putting up the crap. But not your whole life. Have a plan. Don't be stuck being miserable because you have no other options.

To which I'd like to point out that I'm so incredibly happy with my life right now and where I'm going. I'm not sure where exactly that may be but having recently taking these two lessons to heart I feel so much better now in all aspects and confident that I'm heading in a better direction. It really is amazing how much stress affects everything about you - and how much lighter and happier I feel after having removed that stress.javascript:void(0)
Publish

This post has been brought to you by:

Quitting my job
Buying the Canon 30D that I have lusted over
Running again, and signing up for a 10K
Getting myself organized artistically and putting energy back into being creative

For me it's about knowing what my priorities are and keeping that in focus.

Engrish is Fun

noreply@blogger.com (Tracy) — Thu, 01 Feb 2007 15:01:00 +0000

Pancake Mountain

noreply@blogger.com (Tracy) — Tue, 30 Jan 2007 18:27:00 +0000

DVD #5 is in production, filming this week. I swear we have enough footage for two more DVDs but let's get this one out first.

SPIN magazine ran one of my photos (from the Jenny Lewis dance party) in their Jan 2007 article on Indie Kid Rock, and the Houston Press ran a big photo two weeks ago from the Guster shoot. I knew about SPIN because they contacted me for credit information but the Houston publication was a surprise - I was checking out our updated media kits and there is one of my photos larger than life - with my son prominently displayed dancing away. I like surprises like that.

Dance Parties coming up - after our winter hibernation. February and March could be very busy months. Bring it on - I'm ready for some fun.