More follow-up from Luster

More Luster pictures from a friend of Trevor's.

Ellen and Trevor make an awfully cute couple.

The GWU student newspaper The Daily Colonial ran a nice little piece about Luster last week.

Adding 'Luster' to D.C.'s art scene
Posted Thursday, October 18 2007 10:54:48 pm in The Daily Colonial
By Jennifer Tchinnosian

Contemporary art for a cause attracted several hundred people Saturday at an abandoned breaks shop near Dupont Circle. “Luster,” the second event in a series of collaborations between up-and-coming gallery Project 4 and The Pink Line Project, explored the concept of excess while raising money for the Washington art community.

The contrast between excess and dearth was illustrated through golden art pieces displayed in stark contrast to the surrounding ambiance of the venue, an abandoned brake shop. The display, intended to highlight consumerism in America, featured gold-colored sneakers, gold-painted cables, lazer-cut gold drawings, and small display pieces covered in gold leaf.

The latter items, no bigger than three inches, were encased in plastic display boxes and available for sale below a sign that read, “To purchase an object please lift the box, remove the object, and replace with the said amount.” With prices ranging from $1 through $40, many pieces sold fast.

Half of the artists featured were from Washington, the other half from New York, and one - Cedric Delsaux - from Paris, said Gregory A. Kearly, principal of Project 4.

Revenue from the event - a $10 suggested donation at the door and the sale of several art pieces – is intended to support supporting the fledgling community of local artists in the District.

For Philippa P.B. Hughes, founder of The Pink Line Project, events like this are part of ensuring Washington’s art community stays alive and well. She said part of her group’s mission is “is to actually benefit specific emerging artists in D.C.”

“There are great art schools and artists but many feel they can’t stay and need to move to New York,” she said. “I feel that if I can create an art scene here, then people will want to stay.”

Kearley said ‘Luster’ attracted a “pretty diverse crowd. Old, young, people that were exposed to art, collectors and patrons as well as people who haven’t been exposed to contemporary art and now were for the first time."

Cocktails were served behind a bar and a live DJ entertained crowds while Willy Wonka and The Chocolate Factory played silently on a projector behind him. The abandoned brakes shop molded around the guests as they mingled, danced, admired the art, and admired one another.

“The main idea is to make art more inclusive and accessible to people,” said Hughes. "There’s no underground street level [art] scene where anybody can feel like they’re part of art. The idea is to create more inviting settings so more people can feel connected to art. You don’t even have to buy it, but feel it’s a part of your life in some way.”

“It was an enlightening event,” said guest Corey Wells. “I had never witnessed that type of creative, artistic experience in the D.C.-area so it was good to see that culture alive and well. They’re creating amazing things."