Lists, lists, lists... anyone who follows Artomatic knows about the "Top 10" lists that are floating around out there. And I have some favorites that I'd like to share. But... it's more than 10. I've grouped them below!
(For reference, look up any of these artists at
Artomatic's Artist Catalog)
Top 10 - Artists I do not know, or did not know prior to this Artomatic. These are not necessarily new artists or new to the scene, but I was not familiar with their work.
1.) Paul Jutton - Floor 3
2.) Corwin Levi - Floor 3
3.) Stephen Beardsell - Floor 5
4.) Marty Ittner - Floor 5
5.) Syl Mathis - Floor 7
6.) Megan Van Wagoner - Floor 8
7.) Jessica Van Brakle - Floor 9
8.) Kira J. Appel - Floor 9
9.) Christian Tribastone - Floor 9
10.) David D'Orio - Floor 9
Top 10 - Artists I knew prior to Artomatic. These are mostly my friends, or people who I am in contact with and am familiar with their work and the progress on their projects throughout the year. Since I have a lot of artist friends, I mostly chose artists who either switched things up a bit significantly from previous Artomatics (or other exhibits), or who have a display that is quite a bit "outside the box" in some way. Plus, I just plain love their work, so I think that even though I come in with this knowledge and bias, it's still worth checking out what they have to show this year.
1.) Andy Cleavenger - Floor 2
2.) Alexandra Zealand - Floor 3
3.) Sean Welker - Floor 7
4.) Jack Whitsitt - Floor 7
5.) Sherill Anne Gross - Floor 7
6.) Marcie Wolf Hubbard - Floor 7
7.) Sean Hennessey - Floor 9
8.) Rania Hassan - Floor 9
9.) Todd Gardner - Floor 9
10.) Kerri Sheehan - Floor 9
And, for the heck of it, the other artists who made my initial list. It was very hard to narrow down to my two lists above, so I figured I'd include the rest here. Depending on my mood, many of them could have made the top 10 as well. Their displays made me pause and take a bit longer than average to check them out, and I think they all deserve a closer look by anyone visiting Artomatic. Sorted by floor, they are:
Floor 2:Phyllis Mayes
Susannah Parnin
Ben Tolman
Emily Green Liddle
JT Kirkland / Matthew Langley (they have adjoining walls, not sure if they planned it but they play well off of each other)
Dale Hunt
Jeannette L. Herrera
Floor 3:Joseph Dailey
Pam Rogers
Caren Quinn
Michael Auger
Susan Chapin
Floor 4:Brie Husted
Richard J. Bailey
Kelly McGovern
Jamea Richmond - Edwards
Rita Elsner
Floor 5:Eeshan Meldar
Matthew Carucci
Phil Vickery
Steve Strawn
Paul Sharratt
Floor 6:Hilary Woznica
Cedric Williams
Susanna Raab
Pat Goslee
Floor 7:Shawn Helton
Johanna Mueller
Mei Mei Chang
M. Gert Barkovic
Malcolm Blaisdell
Emily Sloat Shaw
Floor 8:Jorge Caligiuri
Will Mallon
Erica Ricardelli
Novie Trump
Michael Janis
Tim Tate
Floor 9:Dana Ellyn
Peter Harper
I'm sure I've forgotten a display here or there that I reacted well to, but just either forgot to write down or got distracted. With over 1000 visual artists participating this year, that's bound to happen. There were a lot of displays I really liked, but didn't write down because I had the goal of a top 10 list in mind and wanted to keep it as concise as possible. I'd advise anyone visiting to check everything out for themselves because there is just so much, and art is subjective, and all that fun stuff. But, plan for a good chunk of time - it took me over 5 hours to go through 8 floors of art to compile this list. :-)
To see the show:
55 M Street, SE
Washington, DC 20003
May 29 - July 5, 2009
Fri-Sat: Noon-1 am
Sun, Wed, Thu: Noon-10 pm
Take Metro! Located directly above the Green Line Navy Yard Metro Stop, West Entrance.
