Longview Gallery host some graphic poetry at this months Art Salon
By Alannah Wells
Guests enjoying the art work at the Longview Gallery. Photograph by Alannah Wells
‘Artist’. ‘Enthusiast’. ‘Government’. Any evening that encourages branding with quirky name tag stickers on entry is a winner in my books. Wearing my ‘enthusiast’ badge with pride I was ready to jump ears and eyes first, straight into the sixth Art Salon- ‘Poetry in Motion’.
Art Whino, Darryl “DMC” McDaniels and W.H.A.L.E.R.’s Creation join together to try and make life less tricky for foster children.
Text and Video by Alannah Wells
Darryl "D.M.C." McDaniels and Art Whino Gallery Founder Shane Pomajambo Photograph by Alannah Wells
Life can be a little “trickier” for foster kids and Art Whino and W.H.A.L.E.R.’s Creation aimed to highlight this at their recent fundraising event, ‘Old Skoolin’ for the Children’. Continuing its trend in joining forces with local charities, Art Whino has been leveraging the best in visual and musical artists to emphasize the power of art to affect change. In this case, the issue was giving foster children a hand up – something W.H.A.L.E.R Honorary chair, Darryl “DMC” McDaniels, who performed at the event, knows a lot about.
Local artists get a Mexican make-over at the 6th Transformer Gallery Auction and Benefit
By Alannah Wells
Guests perusing the artworks for sale. Photograph by Alannah Wells
Dust off your SLR and get ready to see some amazing photography at FotoWeek DC ’09.
By Alannah Wells
Guests enjoying the 'PoshBooth' at FotoWeek DC.Photograph with thanks to Mike Chepurin
FotoWeek DC kicked off its annual weeklong celebrations recently, taking over the city in an unsurprisingly ‘fotographic’ style. Spilling into every arty nook and cranny, it appears that few stones have been unturned this year with an impressive line up that included many of Washington’s top galleries, institutions, art houses and even public schools.
All with an eye for the unusual: introducing a cadre of influential metro area visual artists.
Maggie Michael and husband Dan Steinhilber (Photograph by Joseph Allen)
Maggie Michael (whose work has been described as “sculptural painting”), and her husband Dan Steinhilber (who they say creates “painterly sculpture”) are the current glamdarlings of the Washington art scene. Michael is a recipient of the Joan Mitchell Foundation Painters and Sculptors Grant and an Artist Fellowship from the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities. She was a resident artist in the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden’s Artist at Work program in 2006-07. During 2008, Michael was awarded an Artist Research Fellowship at the Smithsonian and received the Trawick Prize from the Bethesda Contemporary Art Awards. Both artists have shown at G Fine Art. Steinhilber’s show there, received excellent reviews.
Abstract artist Sam Gilliam names his favorite spots in D.C. Listen up, he knows what he’s talking about.
Artist Sam Gilliam at his studio.
No matter what direction in which you go, Washington does not stop in terms of its natural settings. The tree cover extends all the way to Pennsylvania, and there are seagulls nesting in Rock Creek Park who have flown in from the Chesapeake Bay. Everything becomes like what you see in art. You just have to know how to look at it. Here are a few of my favorite places:
Contemporary art, hula hoops, a dancing pig and brass band, oh, it’s just another Hirshhorn After Hours. Is it the best art event in D.C.?
By Alannah Wells
Courtyard fountain at Hirshhorn After Hours. Photograph by Alannah Wells
“This is great! It totally doesn’t feel like D.C.!,” seemed to be the reoccurring sentiment as I meandered through the oh-so-young-and-hip crowd at the Hirshhorn after Hours. But this is Washington and what this event routinely proves – besides the fact that it’s okay to have a DJ and light show in an art museum – is that the Washington arts scene is thrusting itself forth, straight into the iCals of the hip, young and fresh faced.
Hickok Cole is known for its architecture, but its annual Art Night is helping build the local arts community.
By Michael Clements
Art lover and artists mix in the offices of Hickok Cole. (Photo by Hoachlander Davis Photography)
Each year, awarding winning architectural firm Hickok Cole Architects opens its doors to allow local artists and art patrons to turn its office into one of the area’s best contemporary galleries (for one night at least). This year saw over 50 local artists showcasing their work. Judging by the amount of pink “sold” dots around, the quality of the art was high. “It’s probably one of their biggest fundraisers of the year for the Washington Project for the Arts,” (WPA) said enthusiastic Hickok Cole Architects senior marketing manager Jennifer Oh over the loud buzz of cocktail conversation. The night generated more than $60,000 in artwork sales, with post event sales expected to reach $90,000.
Washington Sculptors Group joins with the Art Museum of the Americas to get us ‘engaging bilaterally’
By Alannah Wells
Tony Capellan. Mar Caribe (Carribean Sea) 1996.
Twenty-Five years worth of carving, sticking, building and generally creating are being celebrated with the opening of the 25 anniversary exhibition by the Washington Sculptors Group (WSG) in collaboration with the Art Museum of the Americas (AMA). ‘Bilateral Engagement’ aims to demonstrate the workings of the WSG from the past few decades combining this with a selection of works chosen from the permanent collection at the AMA.
The Phillips Collections latest ‘Intersection’ exhibition series goes down a storm with the works of contemporary artist Jennifer Wen Ma
Artist Jennifer Wen Ma. Photograph by James Brantley
Old meets new at The Phillips Collection this Fall as they present their new exhibition series ‘Intersections’, exploring the relationship between traditional and contemporary art practices. The gallery opened the series in style showing the works of contemporary Chinese artist Jennifer Wen Ma with her two part piece ‘Brain Storm’. Ma builds on the traditional technique of the Chinese ink wash landscape merging it with contemporary video techniques. The mesmeric video shows a stormy journey taken by man and horse across an ephemeral stirring landscape of swirling sand, water and ink.
Transformer’s Victoria Reis on the art of collecting.
Victoria Reis and Carlotta Hester
Transformer, a Washington based non-profit visual arts organization, launched Collector’s View in the spring of 2008 to pursue a better understanding of the artwork people collect, the relationships collectors have with artists, and why people live with certain works of art. This decidedly different series provides an opportunity to intimately view some of Washington’s best privately-owned contemporary art collections, engaging these visionary art supporters in dialogue with artists, critics, and other patrons of the arts. The 2008 Collector’s View hosts included: Heather & Tony Podesta, Shigeko & Tim Bork, Jan & Peter Hapstak, and Christine Varney & Tom Graham. This year’s series’ hosts included: Barbara & Aaron Levine, Farinaz & Dadi Akhavan, Lorie Peters Lauthier, and Paul Yandura & Donald Hitchcock.
Red Bull lets artists loose to create aluminum masterpieces from their iconic beverage container – welcome to “Pop-top” art
By Alannah Wells
'Yes I Can Can with Red Bull' Monica M Eddleman (Artist)
Our mother’s wise words have gone in one ear and out the other with Red Bull hosting the ‘Art of Can’, an event encouraging us all to twist, bend and remodel our empty cans in hope of creating the next soda-inspired masterpiece. The main lobby of Washington D.C.’s spacious Union Station was transformed into a Red Bull shrine, showing a spectacular array of artworks, all with one fizzy common denominator – inspiration from the familiar red and blue can. Ranging from the use of just one solitary can to some pieces built from over 4,000, the number of restless artists is anyone’s guess. Some of the works being shown include a photographic piece of an impressive 270-foot Red Bull inspired crop circle, an eight-foot octopus with some unsurprisingly tinny suckers and a ‘Moulin Rouge’ style dress.
Snapping at the heels of the recently opened Sargent and the Sea, the Corcoran Gallery of Art have wasted no time in presenting their newest show Edward Burtynsky: Oil, a perfect round up to their fall exhibition season. Opening on October 3rd, Washington Life attended the exclusive private preview showcasing the contemporary photographic works of Canadian born artists Edward Burtynsky. The succinct exhibition title delivers much more than it says on the tin. Showcasing 56 large-scale color photographs, each one tells a different tale of the ‘lifecycle’ of this energy source and the significant role it has played in our ever changing industrial landscape. The literal size and detail of the pieces reflect the scale and importance of this finite resource.
Oxford Tyre Pile #9ab, Westley, California, USA, 199. E Burtynsky
Art Whino and the International Lifeline Fund team together to host an all encompassing art show, concert and fundraiser at DC’s Portals Theater.
By Alannah Wells
It isn’t often that you can spend an evening submersed in art from over 100 artists, listen to an immense live DJ set, enjoy a few drinks and still wake up in the morning with a warm sense of wellbeing. However when Art Whino and The International Lifeline Fund teamed up for an exciting event this weekend at the Portals Theater in DC, I was the first to jump on the wellbeing bandwagon.
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G Fine Art presents the works of Jefferson Pinder and José Ruiz in “El Museo del Ghetto”
By Alannah Wells
Opening Night Reception. Jefferson Pinder, Capsule - 2009. Wood from Obama's inauguration platform. salvaged tin.
Wrestling masks teamed with Picassos, a frisky sombrero with a mind of its own, and the remanence of a crumpled aid drop parachute wasn’t exactly what I was expecting when I shook out my umbrella and stepped into G Fine Art’s temporary E Street location on a soggy September evening. However this is just a taster of what was to come at the opening night reception of the “El Museo del Ghetto” exhibition featuring the works of Jefferson Pinder and José Ruiz. Gallery Director Annie Gawlak commented to me that the new space worked wonderfully for this exhibition since it enabled each artist to present video pieces in separate areas. I agree.
Conner Contemporary gathers area’s top abstract artists
By Alannah Wells
Opening night reception of 'Conversations in Lyrical Abstraction: 1958 to 2009' at Conner Contemporary Art
If you are into abstract art, the opening of Connor Contemporary Art’s (1358 Florida Avenue NE) “Conservations in Lyrical Abstraction: 1958 to 2009” exhibit was the perfect place to be. The exhibition was as a billed – a crossing of the boundaries of ‘race, gender, geography and chronology.’
By Karin Tanabe
Artist Shepard Fairey. Photo by Kyle Samperton
Let the inaugural games begin. It’s the afternoon of Saturday the 17th and I’ve just trotted to four different inaugural celebrations in 18 hours—all held blocks apart celebrating the same iconic event, yet every one unique in their atmosphere.
The first fête I clicked my heels Friday evening was the launch of Manifest Hope DC, held in the vast space that used to house Artefacto furniture on M Street. In conjunction with Moveon.org, Irvine Contemporary Gallery, artist Shepard Fairey, SEIU, and our magazine Washington Life, more than one hundred artists displayed work that in one innovative way or another paid homage to our 44th president.
My first thoughts when I walked out to brace for the onslaught of the 14 degree weather and my eyes turning to iceballs were, 1) why don’t we have more events like this in Washington? It would be amazing if this cavernous space remained a space for the arts and the community. And 2) I sincerely hope that very soon to be President Obama ought to be able to see this show.
Fendi Casa, The Design Center
Photos by Tony Powell
Lindsey and Jay Scott
THE EVENT: Habatat Galleries owners Lindsey and Jay Scott brought some of their most beautiful works (paintings and glass) to Fendi Casa’s showroom at the Design Center where interior designer Dominique Alexander was the guest speaker and Famoso café provided the hors d’oeuvres and Couture Cupcakes the desserts. Tunes by Euro Lounge got everyone in the mood for Ibiza or Mykonos throughout the night, including Fendi Casa’s Ani Schroeder.
Nontraditional art spaces lend themselves to thought-provoking installations
By Beth Farnstrom
On the third level of "Here and Now," Lisa Kellner's organic, amorphous forms clung delicately to the rafters and walls
If 14th Street was the new “gallery corridor” in 2007, the former Church of the Rapture (1840 14th St NW) has to be its main entrance. For starters, the Cultural Development Corporation’s FlashForward benefit (which we were privileged to sponsor) was held in this new it-space, where mere months before the PW Meat Market - a celebration of all things arty, gritty, and nouveau – had also been held. Transformed from bare warehouse walls to subdued glamour with live band and Absolut cocktails, the event was elegant and highly successful, with a laundry list of local luminaries in attendance (one example: Pamela Sorensen, who blogged about it in glowing terms), artists (Maggie Michael, Dana Ellyn, Matt Sesow, Regie Cabic of Sol & Soul), and over $100,000 raised for CUDC’s mission to fund local arts efforts. The spontaneous gestalt of District arts seems to be coalescing - organizers like In Series performing arts guru Carla Hübner and Corcoran COO Sam Sweet are mixing with patrons, painters, and purveyors of the arts.
Coloring our world, artists turn increasingly to shades of green
By Beth Farnstrom
"Sun, Moon, Star" features "OMPHALOS," a stoneware sculpture which burns incense to project a wavering image of the full moon onto a painting of stars suspended from the ceiling.
Living close to the earth didn’t always signify being hip, modern, and eco-friendly. Bugs live close to the earth. In earlier times, serfs wearing rough-sewn smocks colored with bilious vegetable dye lived barely a notch above it, on straw pallets. Today, eco is chic. There are vegan suede stilettos for sale; Salma Hayek and Cameron Diaz zip around the Hills in sexy little hybrid roadsters. These, however, are the habits of a telegenic few, and can’t really be expected to completely pervade the shopping habits of WalMart moms and Home Depot dads. Or even artists, to bring this column back to the point. What’s the state, then, of eco-art?
Pigment was once as precious (and as symbolic) as gold. Specific tinctures of lapis added value to papal commissions; painting could be a literal “show” of status. Making artwork, then, with twigs and cow urine, wouldn’t signify “environmentally conscious” or “close to the earth, spiritually” as much as “crazy peasant.” In our century, Italian art critic Germano Celant introduced the term “Arte Povera,” or “poor art,” to describe the work of artists like Domenico de Clario and Alighiero e Boetti, who used sticks, rocks, slate, rope, iron, and other “common” materials. The draw in 1960s Genoa and Rome was more likely political – common art for the common man – but it certainly paved the way for artists who use natural materials today.
The red vinyl of New York City is blue serge in Washington; regimes in artistic expression change more subtly and quietly here
By Beth Farnstorm
Holly Bass in "Diary of a Baby Diva"
It’s a new year. Out with the old, sure; but let’s not throw out the baby with the bathwater in 2008 (Wasn’that a performance art piece at Decatur Blue back in 2001?). In art, that’s nearly impossible; that particular “baby’s” bath of self-referential murk and brine doubles as its life-giving amniotic fluid. In plain English, an artist’s influences and personal experience are so densely layered that separating original idea from borrowed is like sifting the Aegean Stables for one particular horse’s handiwork. Be that as it may, we’d like to talk about the new class. It’s been argued by sage citizens of this transient town that gallery life in Washington has entered a boom period these past few years, and one imagines that credit must be divvyed up between the Class of 2008 and their intrepid fore-artists. Here’s hoping this postmodern pep rally pays adequate tribute to the big Friday night game as we venture stoically (pom-poms raised) onto Washington’s artistic playing field. WL spoke to a select group of emerging - and established - talent about creating art in the District.
WL Photos WLTV
