Collectors Select @ Arlington Arts Center

As one of the collectors who is curating a space at the Arlington Arts Center for the upcoming Collectors Select exhibition, I specifically chose the Tiffany Gallery to showcase my ideas about the definition of art and about how art is used to express ideas and even identity. Below is the statement I wrote about my concept for this exhibition.

Please come to the opening reception!

Friday, February 1
6 to 9 PM
@ Arlington Arts Center
3550 Wilson Boulevard

“I found I could say things with colors and shapes that I couldn’t say any other way…things I had no words for.”
Georgia O’Keefe


The Tiffany Gallery’s breathtaking stained glass windows provide a unique and befitting opportunity to illustrate the expressive power of contemporary art. Surprising as it might seem, these early 20th century windows by Louis C. Tiffany, recovered from the Abbey Mausoleum in Arlington National Cemetery, make an ideal backdrop for the bold colors, intricate line details, and witty characters in graffiti created by DC-based artist Tim Conlon and his crew.

By covering the walls of the Tiffany Gallery with New York style graffiti, I hope to provoke questions about how we define and value art. Whether graffiti is mere vandalism or can be considered respectable, enfranchised fine art becomes a poignant question in the context of a public space typically used to exhibit more conventional works—and, occasionally, to provide a setting for wedding receptions and birthday parties.

I raise the question to prompt a conversation and not to impose a viewpoint. However, I am intrigued by the emotional responses that graffiti art can provoke. These responses help define the ways many people view the traditional boundaries of art—limits that must be tested or exceeded to arrive at an expanded idea of what art is.

By taking graffiti out of its standard urban context and placing it in a conventional art venue, I hope to create an unsettling experience for the viewer that underscores the need to acknowledge and value artistic messages in new ways. I invite the viewer to experience a strong emotional interaction with this work—and, through this interaction, to actively clarify her definition of art.

By activating the space in an unexpected way, this installation invites viewers to focus less on the usual objects that we consider art—oil paintings, photographs, and sculptures—and to focus on the underlying ideas and concepts on which artists base their works. The art world is filled with exceeding technical talent, but the artists who capture my attention are the ones who express interesting ideas regardless of the media in which they work.

Art acts as a vital tool for communication, connecting us to our fellow humans now and through time. However, only a small audience can be reached through the traditional spaces of a gallery or a museum. Therefore, graffiti acts as an essential format for transmitting ideas about identity and the artist’s personal philosophy in a more public sphere, to a wider and more diverse audience.

Graffiti that fits this model has been found on ancient Egyptian monuments and was even preserved on walls in Pompeii. Resistance fighters during World War Two spoke out against the Nazi regime by painting their protests on public property. Graffiti is an especially important communication vehicle for those who may feel invisible to announce their presence in the world.