Arts
Mickalene Thomas in Philadelphia
14th and U Street Gallery Walk
• May 3, 2012
Just a few blocks from the Dupont Circle and McPherson Square Metro stations, the art galleries around 14th Street, between U Street and Logan Circle, hold some of the strongest collections of contemporary artwork in the city. Original, effusive, tasteful and energetic, the community of galleries in this area hosts work by new and emerging local artists as well as nationally and internationally renowned artisans. It binds communities and creates ambitious dialogues not only between the viewers and the works but among the artists. The common thread throughout the galleries, on top of its contemporary bent, is the impressive quality of the work. From the photographs of Annie Leibovitz to interactive sculptures with their own idiosyncratic attitudes, the works on view at these galleries should not be missed. And they’re all within a 15-minute walking radius. The weather is about to turn warmer, and there’s no better way to celebrate a nice Friday evening like a walk down the 14th Street galleries. Here’s what’s coming up.
Hamiltonian Gallery
Hamiltonian will feature the work of gallery artists Jenny Mullins and Sarah Knobel, March 17 – April 14, with an opening reception on Saturday, March 17, from 7 to 9 p.m. The drawings and paintings of Jenny Mullins, who recently completed a Fulbright Nehru grant in India researching spiritual tourism and traditional Buddhist Thangka painting techniques, explore the Western adherence to Eastern spirituality, while exploring notions of commercial mythology and consumer culture. They are “a world of low-budget mysticism . . . consumable, disposable and filled with the empty calories we crave.” The works are — perhaps ironically — gorgeous, engaging and meticulously rendered. The video art of Knobel explores individuality when forced through the sieve of cultural assumptions. The photos and videos in this exhibit are tied together by the use of origami, wherein Knobel focuses on its connections to ritual and spirituality.
www.HamiltonianGallery.com
Gallery Plan B
Five artists, all working with metal or metallic mediums in painting, etching, photography and sculpture, are featured in Gallery Plan B’s latest exhibition, “Precious Metals,” on view now through April 8. Andrew Wapinski layers gold and silver leaf with acrylic, graphite, pigments and resin resulting in substantial panels with visual and physical depth. Using photos of local scenes, Shelley Carr etches copper, then cuts and composes the copper pieces within a composition. Filmmaker Donna Cameron shifts focus of her film to the subject matter of photographs applied to aluminum surfaces. Mike McClung burns through layers of vellum into heavy paper underneath and treats the burned edges with metal leafs and layers them into whimsical patterns. Well known local artist Robert Cole will round out the group with a few of his whimsical, stylized steel sculptures. In addition, on the weekend of March 24-25, Tina Bark will be showcasing her jewelry designs from 1 to 4 p.m. each day.
www.GalleryPlanB.com
Project 4 Gallery
Rhode Island-based artist Paul Myoda’s latest works will be on view in the exhibition “Glittering Machines” at Project 4, from March 24 – April 28. A Yale MFA graduate, who has been awarded grants from the NEA, the Warhol Foundation and Howard Foundation, Myoda has been developing this series of interactive sculptures for several years now, out of his studio near Brown University, where he works as an assistant professor in sculpture and new media. “Glittering Machines,” writes Myoda, “are modular, kinetic, interactive, and illuminating sculptures. Each sculpture behaves in different ways depending upon the proximity and behavior of the viewer. Taking cues from various bioluminescent animals and insects, these behaviors range from attraction to repulsion, camouflage to revelation, predictability to spontaneity.”
www.Project4Gallery.com
Hemphill Fine Arts
“Gun Shy,” an exhibition by photographer Colby Caldwell, will open March 24 at Hemphill, with a public reception from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. on Saturday, March 24. Caldwell’s photographs of depleted shotgun shells, abandoned buck blinds, found birds, feathers and abstractions derived from a corrupted film frame highlight his preoccupation with the relationship between photography and memory. “A photography embeds time, freezes it and carries it forward,” says Caldwell. His works, inspired concomitantly by the changing landscape of his rural Maryland home and by a corrupted frame of Super 8mm film of landscapes shot while traveling, conjure feelings of nostalgia and loss, serving as “epitaphs for the now antiquated film age that Caldwell himself mourns.” These beautifully alluring depictions of things discarded and left behind are captivating.
www.HemphillFineArts.com
Adamson Gallery
Master printer David Adamson, who lives and works locally out of his Adamson Gallery, was the man who made the archival pigment prints for photographer Annie Leibovitz’s landmark exhibition, “Pilgrimage,” now on view at the Smithsonian American Art Museum (for our coverage of that exhibition, visit www.Georgetowner.com and visit our Arts & Society page). If you would like to spend time with Leibovitz’s photographs outside of the crowded museum atmosphere and in a more intimate setting, Adamson is currently exhibiting a selection of her photographs in his gallery through March 24. This is a unique opportunity to get some “alone time” with one of the most lauded living artists working today.
www.AdamsonGallery.Jimdo.com [gallery ids="100521,119226,119185,119219,119212,119196,119205" nav="thumbs"]
Theater Shorts: Shakespeare, Sinatra, O’Neill and Twist
• April 19, 2012
Two Shrews, a mock Shakespeare trial, Sinatra and a tango or two, O’Neill still running strong and Arias with a Twist. That’s a few of the things on stage or on tap in Washington’s performing arts scene.
Here’s a look:
SINATRA AND THARP — Tony Award winner and American choreographer and legend Twyla Tharp feels a move coming on as she marries dance to the music of Frank Sinatra, arguably one of the country’s greatest interpreters of the American Songbook in “Come Fly Away.”
The production, now at the Kennedy Center’s Eisenhower Theater through April 29, marries the vocals of Sinatra, with a live on-stage big band and 24 of the world’s finest dancers.
“Come Fly Away” hit Broadway on the heels of Tharp’s successful theater homage to the music of Billy Joel in “Movin’ Out.” In “Come Fly With Me,” four couples fall in and out of love during the course of one night at a nightclub saturated with Sinatra’s love songs, ballads and rueful takes on loving and losing. The show’s score combines familiar hits, such as “My Way” and “That’s Life,” with newly discovered vocal performances from the Sinatra archives.
THE SHREW, TWICE TAMED, LOUDLY AND IN SILENCE — There’s still a chance to see Synetic Theater’s singular and silent take on “Taming of the Shrew,” part of its Shakespeare without words effort through April 22 at the Lansburgh Theater. But if you want some words to go with the battling Petruchio and Kate, there’s a more traditional, if no less visceral, version coming to the Folger’s Elizabethan Theater on May 6, directed by Aaron Posner.
TWIST AND O’NEILL FESTIVALS NOT OVER YET — There’s still a chance to catch the unique, one-of-a-kind sensibilities of puppet master Basil Twist in two locations. His magnificent showcasing of the ancient art of Japanese puppetry, “Dogugaeshi,” remains at the Studio Theatre through April 22. “Arias with a Twist,” his hip and wild, abundantly inventive collaboration with Joey Arias, described as a “trippy, madcap, musical fantasia of ecstatic and eye-popping enchantments,” remains at the Woolly Mammoth Theatre through May 4.
Meanwhile, two key parts of Arena Stage’s Eugene O’Neill Festival remain on stage and provide an opportunity to see the master American playwright’s most ambitious plays. That would be “Long Day’s Journey Into Night,” O’Neill’s through-the-sharp-looking-glass autobiographical play about the Tyrone family at Arena’s Kreeger Theater, directed by Robin Phillips through May 6. At the Shakespeare Theater, Michael Kahn provides his take on O’Neill’s challenging “Strange Interlude” through April 29.
A MOCK TRIAL: CLAUDIO V. HERO — In “Ado, I Do, Adieu: Claudio V. Hero,” the high court of Messina will gather at the Shakespeare Theatre Company’s Sidney Harman Hall April 30 with a dinner, followed by a trial, as it should be.
Hearing the case: quite an all-star bench cast, with Supreme Court justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg (presiding), Samuel Alito and Elena Kagan along with other judges: Merrick Garland, Douglas Ginsburg, Brett Kavanaugh and David Tatel.
The case—another in a series of mock trials on Shakespearean issues and themes which began in 1994—centers around the young lovers of “Much Ado About Nothing, Claudio and Hero, in which Hero is seeking divorce from her husband Claudio, he being no hero after disavowing his bethrothed based solely on rumors and false charges.
PLAYING POKER WITH THE DEVIL, IRISH-STYLE — “The Seafarer,” Conor McPherson’s rich, language-driven comedy-drama gets the Scena Theatre and Robert McNamara treatment at the H Street Playhouse through May 20 at 1365 H St., NE.
The play is a gathering of verbose Irish have-nots, full of the blarney and battling for the soul of one of their own in a drawn-out, drunken poker game, which is fueled by Sasheen, a potent form of Irish whiskey that might even addle Satan.
A BIG MEAL — For foodies and theater folk, “The Bit Meal” by Dan LeFranc is a family saga that follows five generations from the vantage point of a single restaurant table.
LeFranc wrote the Studio Theatre 2nd Stage Hit, “Sixty Miles to Silver Lake,” which was performed in 2010. So, it’s fitting that “The Big Meal,” directed by Johanna Gruenhut, will be a part of the 2nd Stage season at the Studio Theater this year, running April 25 through May 20.
National Gallery of Art Makes Digital Images of Collection Available through Launch of NGA Images
• April 5, 2012
The National Gallery of Art has announced the launch today of NGA Images, a new online resource that revolutionizes the way the public may interact with its world-class collection. This repository of digital images documenting the National Gallery of Art collection allows users to search, browse, share, and download images believed to be in the public domain, underscoring the Gallery’s mission and national role in making its collection images and information available to scholars, educators, and the general public.
With the launch of NGA Images, the National Gallery of Art implements an open access policy for digital images of works of art that the Gallery believes to be in the public domain (those not subject to copyright protection). Designed by Gallery experts to facilitate learning, enrichment and exploration, NGA Images features more than 20,000 open access, high quality digital images, available free of charge for download and use. The resource is easily accessible through the Gallery’s website, and a reproduction guide and a help section provide advice for both novices and experts.
Users may search by keyword in the Quick Search box on the home page of NGA Images, or they may browse the regularly updated “featured” image collections prepared by Gallery staff on topics such as 19th-century French Art or frequently requested works.
The Gallery’s open access policy is a natural extension of its mission to preserve, collect, exhibit and foster the understanding of works of art at the highest possible museum and scholarly standards. In applying the policy in a global digital environment, the Gallery also expands and enhances its educational and scholarly outreach. The Gallery believes that increased access to high-quality images of its works of art fuels knowledge, scholarship and innovation, inspiring uses that continually transform the way we see and understand the world of art.
Click here to access NGA Images.
Gallery Walk
• April 4, 2012
Canal Square and Beyond
Nestled in a brick courtyard at M and 31st Streets, walking into Canal Square on the evening of a “First Friday” feels like stumbling into the best social club you never knew existed. The four galleries clustered in the space are teeming with admirers, friends, patrons and chance roamers, peering about the galleries or lounging in the benches just outside, smiling and chatting. And what’s more—they’re chatting about art! The galleries are also local institutions—Parish Gallery, Moca DC and Alla Rogers Gallery have all recently celebrated their twenty-year anniversaries. Just north of Canal Square, The Old Print Gallery and the Ralls Collection have also made their mark on the city’s artistic community (the Ralls Collection even used to reside in Canal Square). Among the most longstanding and respected galleries in the city, this cluster of art venues embodies what’s best about Georgetown: history, community, style and beauty, with an eye for the contemporary.
Parish Gallery
Internationally recognized African painter, Bethel Aniaku, will be at Parish Gallery through April 17, in an exhibit titled “Instinct of Desire.” The cultural explored in these paintings include a blend of historical, literal, and artistic elements, which aim to reunite the viewer with their own culture and origins. Aniaku, by comparison, honors the trade of his own carpenter ancestors by using wood as the base for his paintings. His compositions play with color, light, space and mixed media, relying on instinct more than any direct intention, as if the painting was not being made but found as an artifact that has always existed.
Opening April 20, Parish Gallery will open its next exhibit, showcasing the artworks of husband and wife Christine and Richmond Jones, in a show titled “Two Views/One Vision.” Starting out as an illustrator and designer, Christine’s oil paint and pastel works represent the textures and colors, people and places in which she finds inspiration. Richmond, who also began his career as a graphic designer, found a new creative direction as a “transparent watercolor painter.” Since then, both artists have been exhibited in numerous juried exhibitions around the country and received many awards for their individual and collective work.
The Ralls Collection
The Ralls Collection is in the midst of a powerful group exhibition of gallery artists, which runs through June 15. It is difficult to encapsulate the significance of The Ralls Collection to Washington’s artistic community, much in the same way it is hard to grasp the broad archive of substantial artwork that has passed through the gallery since its opening over 20 years ago. The work present in the gallery’s current exhibit showcases a remarkable collection of beautiful contemporary artwork with a clear vision and impeccable taste. Many of the artists Ralls chose for the exhibition have been with the gallery since it’s beginning, and some are welcome additions. David Richardson, a personal favorite of this author whose show at Ralls last year garnered tremendous national attention (including a feature in the New York Times), uses planes of bold colors and textures, recalling landscape both foreign and familiar, contained yet effusive.
Moca DC
Moca DC stands up for the little guy, in more ways than one. A nonprofit, part of the gallery’s mission is to be “Open to all artists all the time,” offering opportunities to artists at every stage of their careers. Moca gives more exhibits to emerging, first-time and beginning artists than almost any in the city. The gallery is also devoted to the tradition of figurative art, including three annual exhibits dedicated to the nude human form (this July, keep an eye out for the exhibit, “A Celebration of the Figure”). This April, the gallery will mark its twenty-year anniversary by expanding its scope to include three juried exhibits of figurative works a year, the first of which will focus on the interpretation of the figure within contemporary art practice. Moca’s 20th Anniversary Show, which will hold an opening reception on April 6, is also on display.
The Old Print Gallery
“Blossom DC,” the latest exhibit at The Old Print Gallery, is inspired by the 100 year anniversary of the gift of the cherry blossoms from Japan to Washington. The exhibit celebrates the beauty and youthful energy of spring’s blossoms, featuring a large number of prints by local D.C. artists coupled with a selection of works by contemporary New York City artists and several early 20th century printmakers. Established in 1971, The Old Print Gallery has long been known for its wide selection of antique prints and maps, and has expanded recently into the world of contemporary printmaking. The gallery also hosts printmaking workshops and demonstrations, establishing itself as a source of inspiration and information for print artists, enthusiasts and new admirers alike.
Alla Rogers Gallery
The Alla Rogers Gallery, founded in 1990, focuses on the accessible contemporary art from Eastern Europe and the countries of the former Soviet Union. The Gallery has curated hundreds of exhibitions and led artist exchanges between American and Eastern European artists. Currently on display is the artwork of Alla Rogers herself, who recently exhibited 42 of her own paintings in Kiev at the National Fine Art Museum of Ukraine. Her works on canvas plays out like the geography of memories, folding and falling into one another. These are not works you want to miss. [gallery ids="100714,120510,120468,120502,120496,120477,120490,120484" nav="thumbs"]
Dutch Golden Age Celebrated at National Gallery With ‘Civic Pride’ Portraits
• March 15, 2012
“Civic Pride: Dutch Group Portraits from Amsterdam” is now on view at the National Gallery of Art. The special installation involves two large-scale group portraits, rarely seen outside the Netherlands.
Two of Amsterdam’s most important portraitists from the mid-17th century, Govert Flinck (1615–1660) and Bartholomeus van der Helst (1613–1670), captured the confidence of the men who governed the Kloveniersdoelen, the building where one of Amsterdam’s three militia companies held its meetings. The painting were created during the years the Dutch controlled New Amsterdam, which was to become New York City.
“These group portraits offer a remarkable visual record of the inner workings of the Dutch Republic at the height of its presence on the global stage in the 17th century,” said Earl A. Powell III, director, National Gallery of Art. “It was through the efforts of the citizens depicted, and the civic organizations they represented, that the young republic achieved its economic, political and artistic golden age. We are not only grateful to the Rijksmuseum and Amsterdam Museum for lending these masterpieces to the Gallery for a period of five years, but also to the city of Amsterdam, which owns the works, for agreeing to this generous loan.”
Also, at the March 9 reception for the exhibit was Renee Jones-Bos, Ambassador of the Netherlands to the United States. Arthur Wheelock, Jr., is the curator for Northern Baroque paintings at the National Gallery of Art. One of the paintings depicts an ancestor of the exhibit’s research assistant Henriette de Bruyn Kops.
The two works, both titled “Governors of the Kloveniersdoelen,” were painted 13 years apart. Flinck (in 1642) and Van der Helst (in 1655) created comparable yet distinct interpretations of the shared sense of duty and personal interactions of two different generations of governors. The attire and demeanor of the governors varies from painting to painting, reflecting the different decades in which the men were portrayed. The two canvases are on long-term loan from the Rijksmuseum and the Amsterdam Museum, respectively. A new type of portraiture appeared in the northern Netherlands in the 17th century: large group portraits depicting the leadership of professional and civic organizations. Guild administrators, government officials, board members of charitable institutions and officers of militia companies commissioned distinguished artists to create these large-scale group portraits, destined for the walls of the organizations’ headquarters. The portraits often depict the sitters in the midst of a meeting or a meal, emphasizing the members’ shared responsibilities, personal interactions and civic-mindedness.
Flinck and Van der Helst were two of the most renowned portraitists of their time. Flinck had trained under Rembrandt, and like his famous teacher, specialized in both history paintings and fashionable portraiture. Van der Helst was famous for the elegant realism of his portraits and was a favorite artist of the Amsterdam militia companies. His version of “Governors of the Kloveniersdoelen” (1655) has just undergone a complete restoration for the occasion of the exhibition. The results are dramatic, as the painting now has a brilliance of color that was obscured by old varnish for many years. Although hundreds of group portraits were painted during the 17th century, they are rarely seen outside the Netherlands; many still remain with the organizations that originally commissioned them.
The exhibit runs through March 11, 2017.
[gallery ids="100533,119968" nav="thumbs"]
NGA’s French Galleries Re-open Jan. 28 to Renewed Radiance and Delight
• February 8, 2012
After two years of renovation, the National Gallery of Art will reopen its galleries devoted to impressionism and post-impressionism to the public on Saturday, Jan. 28. Housed in the west building of the gallery, the installation displays some of the greatest paintings by Manet, Monet, Renoir, Cézanne, Van Gogh and Gauguin on view anywhere.
On Jan. 25, the National Gallery held a preview of the reinstalled 19th-century French art along with a reception for special guests, friends and benefactors, who smiled anew at the familiar faces of Manet, Van Gogh, Gauguin and others.
“The gallery’s French impressionist and post-impressionist holdings, comprising nearly 400 paintings, are among the most prized in the collection, and rightly so,” said Earl A. Powell III, director, National Gallery of Art. “While the appearance of these revered rooms has changed very little — preserving the conditions of light, the room proportions, and wall colors that make the gallery one of the great places to view art in the world — the paintings themselves will be shown in a newly innovative arrangement.”
Here’s how the gallery sums up the new installation: It is “organized into thematic, monographic, and art historical groupings. The ‘new’ Paris of the Second Empire and the Third Republic are highlighted through cityscapes by Manet, Renoir and Pissaro. Showcasing sun-dappled landscapes and scenes of suburban leisure, a gallery of “high impressionism” masterpieces of the 1870s is prominently located off the East Sculpture Hall, including such beloved works as Monet’s The Artist’s Garden at Vétheuil (1880) and Renoir’s Girl with a Hoop (1885). A gallery is devoted to the sophisticated color experiments of late Monet, while Cézanne’s genius in landscape, still-life, and figure painting is explored in another. Paintings exemplifying the bold innovations of Van Gogh and Gauguin are displayed along with Degas’ later, experimental works in one gallery, followed by a room of canvases by artists such as Delacroix, Renoir, and Matisse celebrating exoticism and the sensual use of color and paint handling. The final gallery is dedicated to the Parisian avant-garde circa 1900: Toulouse-Lautrec, Modigliani, Rousseau, and early Picasso.”
National Gallery Celebrates Reopening of Its French Galleries With Public Programs
The National Gallery of Art will celebrate the reopening of its galleries devoted to 19th-century French impressionist and post-impressionist painting with an array of public programs throughout the opening weekend of Jan. 28 to 29 — and later. Located on the main floor of the west building, the galleries will reopen to the public on Jan. 28, following a two-year renovation.
All programs are free of charge in the east building auditorium unless otherwise noted. Seating is available on a first-come, first-served basis.
For more information, visit www.NGA.gov.
[gallery ids="100474,116429,116449,116417,116456,116408,116466,116400,116472,116441" nav="thumbs"]Kay Jackson at Addison/Ripley
•
Kay Jackson is a local artist whose paintings have garnered national and international acclaim, including a commission by President Clinton for the official White House holiday card in 1997. Working in an inspired sunroom-studio on the third floor of her Dupont Circle home, she has long focused her work on addressing environmental concerns, such as endangered species, pollution and the loss of animal habitat. Her current exhibition at Addison/Ripley Fine art, running through March 3, continues her decades-long pursuit and calls upon the near extinct artistic tradition of gilding to help communicate her vision.
Jackson has long employed gold leaf techniques in her work and for the exhibition has created gilded icons of endangered species, drawing parallels to the endangered crafts she employs in the work’s creation.
Jackson learned the art of gilding through her husband, William B. Adair, a master gilder, frame historian and owner and founder of Gold Leaf Studios in Dupont Circle. Adair is among a small handful of international authorities on frame fabrication, conservation and the nearly extinct art of gilding: applying fine gold leaf to the surfaces of paintings, wood, frames or anything else you could possibly conceive. He has employed his expertise extensively with every major museum in the city and consults with gallerists, architectural firms and private collectors throughout the world.
The oldest and most common form is a process called water gilding, Jackson explains. After first applying layers of gesso to linen or wood — for a painting or a frame — the gilder then applies a layer of clay and glue, called bole, to help the small thin sheets of gold leaf adhere. The applied gold is then burnished and can be lightly manipulated. For a textured, dynamic surface, such as embossed vines wrapped about a picture frame, warm gesso can be carefully ladled upon the surface to create the patterns before laying the gold leaf, a process called pastiglia.
Examples of gold leaf abound in museums and buildings around the District, perhaps most prominent displayed in the National Gallery of Art’s permanent collection of 13th and 14th century Italian paintings, which is all but overrun by brilliant gold leaf altarpieces.
But rarely is gold leaf seen employed in contemporary settings, and in these gilded icons of endangered species now on display, Jackson has drawn a remarkable and fitting parallel to the ancient, endangered craft of gilding.
A technically brilliant artist in every sense, Jackson has made more than just paintings in these gold leaf works. They are intricate, cryptic, glowing panels and boxes that Jackson has constructed entirely, encasing the endangered animals — from crayfish and salmon to the spotted owl — in armatures of gold and surrounded by symbols that span multiple time periods and iconologies.
Jackson custom designs the frames for each work, inspired by 14th century panel paintings. She herself observes that her boxes are like 16th century cabinets of curiosities, those assembled by wealthy European collectors to celebrate and catalogue their knowledge of the world. Yet despite these callings upon the past, the works look completely contemporary. Her pieces depict both the fragility and resiliency of our ecosystems and species, and they connect the vulnerability of our planet with the delicacy of our artistic culture. This is also echoed in the act of creating the work itself. “Creating art is an act of faith,” Jackson says. “With each passing year it takes an increasing commitment to continue what most people think is a spontaneous and blissful activity.”
More of Jackson’s series of gilded endangered icons will be on display at the Muscarelle Museum of Art, the museum for the College of William & Mary, in Williamsburg, Va., accompanying a historic frame exhibition by husband Adair on the history of frames from the Byzantine to modern period.
For information on Kay Jackson’s Addison/Ripley exhibit, visit AddisonRipleyFineArt.com. For information on her Muscarell Museum of Art exhibit, visit Web.wm.edu/Muscarelle. [gallery ids="100470,115891" nav="thumbs"]
Gallery Wrap
• February 7, 2012
That galleries are still standing in Washington, and in relative abundance, is a remarkable thing. They have become symbols of economic stability: arts venues are the first to be impacted by financial troubles in a struggling economy and among the slowest to recover. Over the last few years, the number of art galleries in Dupont Circle has dropped by nearly half. But though this city’s art scene has taken some recent blows, the community is still alive and strong and that the work is as powerful as it ever was.
Susan Calloway Fine Arts (1643 Wisconsin Ave., NW) is currently hosting an exhibition of landscape painter and local favorite Ed Cooper through June 11. Cooper, who carries an easel as a constant companion, has become a regular around the Washington area and Georgetown art community, with a number of exhibitions in Georgetown galleries under his belt. He has been known to paint around here rather frequently, and one past show even focused on scenes from around the neighborhood and the canal.
His current exhibition reveals an old-fashioned master craftsman in top form. The paintings, which from the titles seem to have been produced largely throughout this region, from the Potomac to the Shenandoah to the Chesapeake, have a natural and cumulative resonance that speaks to Cooper’s love of the landscape genre. The scenes of barns and wheat fields, misted rivers and autumn sunsets, rolling hills and billowing clouds, are vague but precise, everywhere and nowhere at the same time. They are sensitive and specific to the moment, much like impressionism, but together they reveal something much larger, more encompassing, like a collection of American short stories.
And Cooper is such a good painter that his nostalgic, Hopper-esque style, which might otherwise be cheeky or kitsch, just works. This is a man who was born to put paint down on canvas, and as an audience this is impossible to ignore. Like listening to Miles Davis play the trumpet, there is an inevitable beauty in these works that comes from the soul of a pure artist. In a time of endless conceptualization, banter and speed, it’s refreshing to see an artist with a simple mission: to paint something beautiful, and to paint it really well. (CallowayArt.com)
Opening Friday, May 20, the Parish Gallery in Canal Square (1054 31st St., NW) is hosting an exhibition of works by members of the visual arts faculty of the Duke Ellington School of the Arts, titled “Elements and Principles.” There is a reception from 6:00 – 8:00 p.m. on Friday, May 20th, and the show will run through June 14. The featured artists/teachers are Melchus Davis, Mike Easton, Bill Harris, Rod Little and Jacqueline Maggi.
Among the artists, Davis, who teaches painting and drawing, has a wide and diverse style. From landscapes and cityscapes to figurative compositions, all in a variety of media, Davis’ work has an untamed beauty about it, with heavy influences drawn from impressionism and expressionism. The work is fragmentary and expertly composed, with figures and spaces blossoming from a joyous abstraction.
As a whole, the exhibition is an enlightening and inspiring experience, and a very worthy project. For a school that nurtures so many creative and artistic students, it is important that the teachers get their due. (ParishGallery.com)
A series of drawings by artist Carlotta Hester are currently on display at Govinda Gallery (1227 34th St., NW) through June 11. During the summer of 2010 Hester attended the world’s largest traditional Irish music festival in County Cavan, Ireland, “Fleadh Cheoil na hÈireann.” She observed and documented this age-old event with countless drawings, and the gallery alights with flowing images of musicians, singers and dancers, created in the presence and spirit of musical gatherings, theaters, dance classes, pub sessions and outdoor concerts. The life and movement within the drawings capture rare and intimate moments between artists that shouldn’t be missed. (GovindaGallery.com)
“Contain, Maintain, Sustain” just opened at the Artisphere in Rosslyn, right across the Key Bridge, through July 17. This joint exhibition explores sustainability’s influence on contemporary art, with participation from Washington Project for the Arts and Washington Sculptors Group. A group of 24 international and local artists were selected to present work that activates and complicates the local and global dynamic that has historically framed ideas about reuse and conservation of environmental resources. This innovative and original show is not to be missed. (Artisphere.com)
Inside Art Basel
• January 18, 2012
By Adrian Loving
Miami, Fla. – recently, scores of Washington, D.C., curators, collectors, dealers, artists and art enthusiasts descended on the Sunshine State for the 10th Annual Art Basel Miami Beach Fair. This international event draws a broad audience of hundreds of thousands and presents a significant sample of creatively brilliant painting, sculpture, photography, video and installation art, with works presented by affluent-to-upstart galleries and museums. Independent artists and street muralists are invited to make the city their canvas in the Wynwood area.
Basel’s larger tented satellite fairs include: Pulse, Scope, Art Miami, Red Dot and Design Miami. Works may also be found in alternative spaces across the beaches, hotels, pop-up galleries, bars and building facades throughout the Miami-metro area. It is physically impossible to see everything in the four days, including live performances, gallery talks, art openings and the onslaught of after-parties that rage until five-o’clock in the morning.
A few of the works I found to be most notable are listed here.
Design Miami (DesignMiami.com), a satellite fair of the Art Basel umbrella featured a broad collection of design-focused functional works such as tables, cabinets, lighting, jewelry and chairs. A favorite of mine was the work of London-based artist Tom Price. His collection of meticulously fabricated chairs appears to smash the conventional boundaries of furniture design. Each were made of deconstructed materials, melted plastic, ropes, rubber, fabric and other found objects. Works by Price included Pink SE Meltdown Chair, Cable Tie Chair and Blue Rope Chair, which were among a collection of 10 on display at Washington, D.C.-based Industry Gallery’s booth at Design Miami. Visit the gallery locally at 1358 Florida Ave., N.E., Suite 200. IndustryGalleryDC.com.
A favorite among collectors looking to acquire edgy, conceptual art is Scope Art Fair (Scope-Art.com), which continues its popularity as a “must-do” during the already overwhelming week of sightseeing.
Major artists such as Jean-Michel Basquiat, Keith Haring and Andy Warhol often have a presence here. On display at the Kiwi Arts Group Booth was the exhibit entitled “Before They Were Famous: Behind the Lens of William John Kennedy,” a collection of lost rare silver gelatin prints made in 1964, but recently printed from discovered negatives in 2010.
Artist Robert Indiana is shown holding his original 1966 LOVE painting, and pop art icon Warhol is shown hard at work at his Silver Factory. Most alluring to me was the photograph “Warhol Holding Marilyn Acetate I” (The Factory, New York City, 40 x 30 inches), which gives the viewer a unique glimpse of the master hard at work. For more Warhol, visit the retrospective exhibition, “Warhol: Headlines,” on display until Jan. 2, 2012, in the National Gallery of Art’s east building. NGA.gov/Exhibitions/WarholInfo.shtm.
The Miami Beach Cinematheque (MbCinema.com) entered the art foray as an unlikely player by presenting an impromptu feature-length performance film entitled “Gray: Live At The New Museum.”
Approximately 80 minutes in length, this film documents and shows the historic performance of the legendary art-noise band Gray, started by Jean-Michel Basquiat and Michael Holman in 1979. This current partnership of Holman and band mate Nicholas Taylor finds the duo creating avante garde sounds, blips and jazz riffs amidst projected art and video of their New York 1980s art scene contemporaries, such as Glenn O’Brien, Suzanne Mallouk and Basquiat. In attendance of this private screening were Don and Mera Rubell of the Rubell Family Collection Museum and several downtown New York scenesters. More of the inspiring visual work of Jean-Michel Basquiat, courtesy of the Rubells, can be found in the exhibition “30 Americans” at the Corcoran Gallery of Art until Feb. 12, 2012. Corcoran.org/30americans. [gallery ids="100434,114328,114319,114267,114310,114301,114293,114277,114285" nav="thumbs"]
Georgetown Gallery Wrap
• January 4, 2012
Georgetown’s gallery scene is a lot like the neighborhood itself: contemporary but historic, friendly and intelligent, beautiful and resonant. And with the holidays just around the bend, no gift is more powerful or more personal than a work of art.
Paintings and sculptures carry us through time. They stay with us through the years, encouraging us to think and to feel, offering perspective and adding color to our lives. You should buy a work of art because you love it. To find a connection with a painting is a remarkable and unique experience. But art also has the potential to work as an investment; it is one of the only commodities that historically go up in value.
This season our local galleries are filled with a wide and brilliant variety of artwork to suit any palette. From new local talent, to renowned glasswork and historic maps, it’s well worth a Saturday afternoon to see what’s out there.
The Old Print Gallery
Walking into the Old Print Gallery on 31st Street feels like reaching a cross-section of history. To the right of the shop are amassed thousands of original historic prints, from early 19th century Audubon bird prints and botanical studies, to Civil War battle scenes and equestrian illustrations from bygone eras.
Their collection of historic maps is a candy shop for history buffs and enthusiasts of all things Americana. You can find Virginia’s county lines from the beginning of the 18th century, explore the Chesapeake Bay circa 1747, or try your hand deciphering nautical and celestial maps.
The left side of the gallery is devoted to showcasing contemporary printmakers, often highlighting local and regional talent. Currently on display is the work of local printmaker Jake Muirhead. A stunning draftsman, Muirhead employs his mastery of line and value in the sharp angularity of printmaking, using aquatint techniques to edit and layer his works through multiple printings upon the same image. These textured, atmospheric depictions of trees, parcels, figures and unique artifacts are captivating and elusive, like sensory memories, leaving the audience contemplating a strong and immediate intimacy with the works. 1220 31st St., N.W. For more information, visit OldPrintGallery.com.
Susan Calloway Fine Arts
Susan Calloway has a discerning eye; the work on view at her Wisconsin Avenue gallery is always rich and ethereal. The collection is always a must-see on any local gallery walk. Currently on display is the exhibition “Half Light,” the work of landscape artist Brad Aldridge. His renditions of American and European terrain rival the inquisitive wonder of early American landscape paintings, as if Aldridge is discovering the land for the first time in his paintings.
“Overgrown streams, winding roads … the hovering cloud, a solitary tree … all have double meanings for me,” says Aldridge. “I’ve used these symbols to tell the viewer how I feel about the world.” His rolling hills and forests are serene escapes, which nourish the viewer on a spiritual, as well as sensory, level. He applies this same sense of wonder to urban scenes, revealing the calming effect of a crisp sunrise in even the most frenetic environments. 1643 Wisconsin Ave., N.W. CallowayArt.com.
Heiner Contemporary
Heiner Contemporary has mounted a laudable exhibition of three young contemporary artists, “In Line / Out of Line,” all bound loosely but powerfully by a common thread: the structure of pattern against the tenuous fallibility of the human touch.
Chip Allen, a New York-based painter, has what can only be described as an effusive hand. Throughout his works, there is a back-and-forth between violence and delicacy, as if the artist lay harm to his canvas only to go back in and tend the wounds with his paintbrush. Repeated motifs come in and out, interrupted at every turn. Like setting rules only to break them, the work rebels against itself, and the effect is resplendent.
Kate Sable’s paintings resemble the structure of honeycombs, with hexagonal and pentagonal shapes fitting neatly into each other on the canvas. They speak of life and harmony, much like the ever-expanding patterns of Islamic architectural calligraphy. Yet there is an unusual sidestep in the works — a bleed of paint that breaks the shape or a color’s slight change in hue. The intimacy and warmth of the work lets you in to see its flaws, which are entirely and wonderfully human.
The work of Camilo Sanín is compulsive and calming in the same breath. Strips of color move across the canvas, sometimes broken, sometimes continuous, sometimes loose, sometimes rigid. These clean, thin plains of pastels and neon look like internal patterns or brain waves, the static of a creative mind. The graphic nature of the work brings viewers in with its aesthetic acuity, only to be mesmerized by the wavelike constancy of the compositions. 1675 Wisconsin Ave., N.W. HeinerContemporary.com.
Parish Gallery
Painter Luba Sterlikova is on view at the Parish Gallery. Russian-born Sterlikova’s works bridge influences from both Russia and America, as colors from the motherland work their way into a Western sense of structure and composition.
There is a romance and sexual charge within the work, which reference patterns found in biology and astrology, and it even hints vaguely at symbols from ancient cultures, from Egypt to Islam. Detailed brushstrokes combine with the explosive character of the images to create a resonating and deeply felt contrast and energy — such as an immigrant must feel when acclimating to a new country. 1054 31st St., N.W. ParishGallery.com
Maurine Littleton
Maurine Littleton Gallery is known throughout the country for its collection of glassworks and ceramics. Established in 1984, the gallery exhibits and represents among the world’s leading contemporary artists in glass, metal, and clay, including Dale Chihuly, Harvey K. Littleton and Albert Paley.
Now is your last chance to see the current collection as it is before the gallery changes out its works in January for the new year. And there is much worth seeing.
Michael Janis’s two-dimensional glassworks are small worlds within themselves. Like poems, you might find a bird atop a branch, or the face of a woman looking down into nothing as a red polka-dot wall climbs up behind her. Janis uses a technique of layering glass sheets on top of one another, with different images on each sheet fused together to create the composition. This lends the work a certain freshness and compositional spontaneity that must be experienced.
Therma Statom is another standout artist in the current collection, whose plate glass still lifes and miniature glass houses are odes to the quirk and fragility of our daily lives. No stranger to large-scale projects, these are Statom’s more intimate works, giving her greater range to experiment and play with her materials, to whimsical and endearing results.
Along with the gallery’s collection of other decorative and functional glass art, it’s always worth stopping into the Maurine Littleton Gallery for a look around. 1667 Wisconsin Ave., N.W. LittletonGallery.com. [gallery ids="100430,114236" nav="thumbs"]
