Who's the panda?

A mysterious and silent panda walked around the 14th Street art openings last week presumably as part of the 15 For Philip show at Curator's Office. There was much heated debate over who wore the panda suit that night, but the panda has kept pretty mum on his/her identity. However, lucky sleuth that I am, I happened to be enjoying the company of a certain excellent DC artist the other night and plied him/her with sparkling wine until he/she revealed that he/she was indeed the creative mind behind this inventive homage to Philip Barlow. I agree with Jeffry Cudlin's assessment of the show:

Me, I thoroughly enjoyed the show, even if it occasionally had the vibe of a college humor mag—alternating between cool and dorky, funny and dumb, and relentlessly inside-y overall.

The panda gave all us dorky local art folks something light to talk about for the week. What piques me though was that the panda said many people simply stared blankly at him/her without cracking a smile. And very few people greeted or approached the panda despite his/her obvious huggability factor. How can anyone look at a panda and not smile? Do these people really take art so seriously that they must question the relevance of a panda's presence at an art opening? It's simple fun, but more importantly, it pokes fun. Ha!

Don't worry panda, your secret is safe with me!


I need to start carrying my camera around so I am not forced to take dark, grainy pictures with my cell phone.