A person who appears to be ambling aimlessly, but is secretly in search of adventure.

2.27.2009

Attention ladies: Cory Oberndorfer is a cheap date


The Going Out Gurus have some great ideas for dating during hard economic times, including checking out Cory's art opening at Flashpoint last month.
Take someone out to a Friday or Saturday night gallery opening. Not only do you get to check out art for free, but there are usually free snacks and drinks on hand. Cory Oberndorfer's last exhibition opening at Flashpoint included fun prints of roller derby girls, free wine and PBR, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and ring pops. That may not sound like the classiest date in the world, but it certainly wins points for originality.

2.26.2009

Conceal Project is awesome!

Conceal Project 091, Watercolor, ink, and gouache on Stonehnege paper, 7.5" x 5.5", 2008.

You have got to check out Dawn Black's show called Conceal Project at Curator's Office. Not only are these incredible works beautiful and technically brilliant, they are super affordable - a great way to start an art collection or add to an existing collection. I bought the two pictured here! There are others that are much more colorful if you're looking for something like that. Go by Curators and check them all out or take a look online here. Show was reviewed in Washington Post here.

Conceal Project examines the practice of masquerade, especially its role in relation to identity. The artworks not only explore the artist's own mania regarding disguised and surrogate identity, but of society's at large by depicting scenes of carefully selected concealed figures drawn in gouache and ink on paper. These figures are all "real" people (none being from imagination) who have been culled from the Internet and various periodicals. Of particular interest to the artist is a disguise's ability to make the wearer powerful through clandestine anonymity and, paradoxically its ability to allow the concealed person to be his or her authentic self. Oscar Wilde once remarked, "Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth."
Conceal Project 099, Watercolor, ink, and gouache on Stonehnege paper, 7.5" x 5.5", 2008.

Super Art Fight

Bring it!

What Is SuperArtFight?

SuperArtFight is the next generation of live art entertainment. Two artists, with a canvas, creating a new piece of art in front of a live audience, building a unique image before their eyes.

How Does SuperArtFight Work?

There are two varieties of Art Fight…the Standard Bout, and the Main Event Bout, and each has a twist.

For the Standard Bout, competitors are given 30 minutes to go crazy on the canvas, using a pre-determined theme given to them at showtime.

SuperArtFight Main Event Battles work in a six round, hour-long system. Starting with a unique theme, new elements are added every 10 minutes, based on fan suggestions, gathered both on this website and at the live event. Anything can happen with these suggestions, from the simple (’Draw a kitten!’) to the extreme (’Draw Robocop riding a Banana Split!’).

All and all, that’s 1 hour of combat, with 10 completely unexpected topics thrown into the mix. Only the most elite can compete at this level…let alone achieve victory.

Who Chooses A Winner?

That’d be the audience in attendance. Choose wisely, as winning competitors will be seen in future bouts, and if your favorite competitor chalks up losses, they could lose their chance at artistic glory entirely.

More info here.

MTV video of Albus Cavus



Pose 2 and Chor Boogie visited Dubai in October 2008. One of the projects they produced was this video for MTV Arabia. See more about their visit to Dubai here.

2.25.2009

Ellipse reopens


The Ellipse Art Center has reopened!

CROSSING GLANCES | REGARDS CROISÉS
Arlington & Reims : Sister Cities

On exhibit til Saturday, March 28, 2009
@ 4350 Fairfax Drive
Ballston Metro stop

Photographers: John Babineau of Arlington, Virginia and Cécile Bethléem of Reims, France

2.24.2009

Anything pink rocks!



Thanks for sharing this Kevin!

New WPA director


The WPA announced their new director yesterday, Lisa Gold. From what I can tell, she seems incredibly qualified! I'm really glad they found someone who can carry on the mission effectively. Congrats!

Arty stuff this week...

Summer Camp at Transformer Gallery
Play Bored Games!

Wednesday, February 25
3 - 8pm

@ Transformer Gallery
1404 P Street NW


Project Create
15th Anniversary Celebration & Art Auction

Thursday, February 26
6:30 - 8:30pm

@ Reyes + Davis
923 F Street NW
Suite 302


WPA Auction Preview Night

Thursday, February 26
6:30 - 9pm
RSVP: aatkinson@wpadc.org

@ Katzen Art Museum
Abramson Family Recital Hall
4400 Massachusetts Avenue NW

Thom Haller
Stuff
February 27 - May

Show opens:
Friday, February 27
noon - 7pm

@ Miss Pixie's Furnishings and Whatnot
1626 14th Street NW


Look: Show and Tell
Art Sale

Friday, February 27
7 - 10pm
$ 5 suggested donation to SMYAL

@ 2424 18th Street NW Suite R2

Graham Caldwell | Light Field View
February 28 - March 28
Opening Reception:
Saturday, February 28
6:30 - 8:30pm
@ G Fine Art
1515 14th Street, NW


Contemporary Mexican Architecture & Imagined Constructions, Contemporary Mexican Artists

Open house:
Saturday, February 28
10am - 4pm

@ Mexican Cultural Institute
2829 16th Street NW


MFA Open Studios @ George Washington University

Saturday, February 28
1 - 4pm

@ George Washington University, Smith Hall of Art
22nd & Eye Street NW


Ablimit Abla, "Old Friends", Gouache on Paper, 30 x 33 in

Local Color - Art from Western China
February 26 - March 25

Opening reception:
Saturday, February 28
5 - 7pm

@ Shigeko Bork Mu Project
1521 Wisconsin Ave NW


Cows in Hayfield Diptych, 2005, acrylic on canvas, 36 x 48 inches

John Borden Evans
Paintings & Works on Paper
February 28 - April 11

Opening reception:
Saturday, February 28
5 - 7pm

@ Addison Ripley Fine Art
1670 Wisconsin Ave NW


Melissa Ichiuji, Lesser Madonna, no. 1, 2009. Nylon, fabric, mixed materials

Melissa Ichiuiji
Lesser Madonnas
February 28 - March 28

Opening reception:
Saturday, February 28
6 - 8pm

@ Irvine Contemporary
1412 14th Street NW


Sensory Overload: A Video Art Party and Live Mix Performance

Saturday, February 28
7:30pm
$ 10 suggestion donation

@ Dissident Display
416 H Street NE


Terence Nicholson
Human Factor Fractured

Saturday, February 28
7 - 11pm

@ 7014 Westmoreland Avenue Suite A
North Takoma Park, MD

2.23.2009

Project Create 15th Anniversary Celebration & Art Auction

Project Create 15th Anniversary Celebration & Art Auction
Thursday, February 26
6:30 - 8:30 pm
@ Reyes & Davis Gallery
923 F Street, NW Suite 302
$30 in advance.
$35 at the door.

Emerge Exposed: Panel Discussion


Emerge Exposed: Panel Discussion
Photography For the Emerging Collector

Tuesday, March 3
7 - 9 pm
@ Flashpoint
916 G Street, NW
$10 suggested donation

RSVP here!



Panelists:
Philippa P.B. Hughes, Moderator and founder of The Pink Line Project
Theo Adamstein, Founder FotoweekDC and president Chrome Imaging
Jason Horowitz, Photographer
Veronica Jackson, Collector and principal Jackson Design Group
Paul Roth, Senior Curator of Photography and Media Arts, Corcoran Gallery of Art

2.22.2009

Creative genius



The pressure of being a genius is killing off all our artists.
Elizabeth Gilbert muses on the impossible things we expect from artists and geniuses -- and shares the radical idea that, instead of the rare person "being" a genius, all of us "have" a genius.

Adams Morgan piece

Crowds finally subside at Exposed

Photo by Brian Knight.

So you didn't stand in line with over 1200 people to attend the opening of the DCist Exposed show at Flashpoint (916 G Street, NW) on Friday night? Holy Toledo! What a crowd and what a great show. You can still check it out through this weekend.

Campbell's soup

I had some delicious Campbell's tomato soup at Transformer on Friday night prepared by Lisa Marie Thalhammer and Kathryn Cornelius. We also sang fun camp songs! More pictures from Swedish Scene.

2.21.2009

Anna U Davis show tonight


Anna U. Davis | "Bullseye" from Brandon Bloch on Vimeo.

2.20.2009

Try some Campbell's soup on a cold night

Kathryn Cornelius & Lisa Marie Thalhammer present:

Soup Kitchen

Located at: Transformer
1404 P Street NW
Washington DC

February, Friday 20th, 2009
5 - 8PM

Baby, it's COLD OUTSIDE! This Friday DC-based artists Kathryn Cornelius and Lisa Marie Thalhammer heat things up with SOUP KITCHEN, serving a FREE meal of soup and bread to ALL. Join the artists as they fill bowls, slice bread, and entertain guests with an event that addresses the relationship of art and community service with the common concerns of our current economic situation, in the format of a communal experience.

This meal is:
FREE & ALL ARE WELCOME!
Please join us!

*All remaining food items will be donated to S.O.M.E. (So Others Might Eat), a local non-profit outreach program located next to the O St. artists live/work space.

DCist Exposed tonight!

Photo by Max Cook

The Washington Post Style section says you should go to the DCist Exposed opening tonight at Flashpoint, and I agree!
Exhibit "DCist Exposed"

The all-things-Washington blog DCist has long published an image each day spotlighting sights from the city, but three years ago the staff decided to put photography on display in an even more tangible way. They launched "DCist Exposed": a two-week, juried exhibit showing the photography of emerging artists like those published on the blog. The exhibit's timing proved to be dead-on; everywhere you go these days, amateur photogs are toting hulking cameras in hopes of documenting their lives. Today, Exposed returns with nearly 50 images plucked from more than 800 entries; expect more Washington scenes, more novel perspectives. (If you're wondering about how "real" the DCist images are, managing editor and Exposed judge Heather Goss told us photographers are discouraged from heavily manipulating the photos but organizers accept that lots of photos these days are tweaked for such qualities as contrast.) Free. Reception today, 5-9 p.m. The show continues Tuesdays-Saturdays noon-6 p.m. through March 7. Gallery at Flashpoint, 916 G St. NW. 202-315-1310 or visit http://www.flashpointdc.org.

If you like the photograph above, which will be shown in Exposed, then you should vote for the photographer Max Cook in the Washingtonian's color photo contest here.


2.19.2009

Latest from DECOY

Recognize the lovely subject of DECOY's latest piece?

DECOY also links to a good article that explains how graffiti art has developed here.

2.17.2009

Creative Economy


The Deputy Mayor for Economic Development is executing a Creative Economy study to produce a roadmap for future investment in the local arts community. The DC Advocates for the Arts have organized a panel discussion on the Creative Economy featuring Steve Moore, CEO for the Washington DC Economic Partnership, and Sakina Khan, a Senior Economic Planner for the DC Office of Planning. Steve and Sakina are two leaders in the ongoing DC Creative Economy study.

Monday February 23
6 to 7:30pm
@ Washington DC Economic Partnership
1495 F Street, NW (at the corner of 15th and F Street NW

This event is part of an overall effort to increase discussion amongst the creative community, working to build consensus on what local artists need. On March 31st the DC Advocates for the Arts will host its 8th annual Advocacy Day, meeting with city council members and staff, presenting what we think is necessary to keep local arts active and thriving.

Please join us Monday February 23rd to learn more about the District's Creative Economy initiative, and to share your thoughts. If you are unable to be attend, but would like to be a part of advocating for local arts, please email us at: dcadvocatesforthearts@gmail.com

Jumping in Art Museums gets more press


Roll Call wrote a nice piece today about Jumping in Art Museums, one of my favorite blogs around. I get some props too. Thanks Allison!
Reimus traced the snowballing movement to a link on the blog of local arts maven Philippa Hughes, a friend of a mutual friend, about a year ago.
Here's the entire article:

Jump for the Joy of Art
February 17, 2009
By Tricia Miller
Roll Call Staff

Painter Allison Reimus was living a charmed life. The artist had
snagged a job with what she describes as the "nation's only traveling
art museum" called Artrain USA, which is dedicated to contemporary
American art.

Then one day in tiny Skykomish, Wash., Reimus realized just how good
she had it and she actually jumped for joy. That first jump has led to
even happier things: She created a blog about that joy and with it
launched a growing movement dedicated to celebrating great art by
jumping for joy.

"We love art so much that we literally have to jump for it," said
Reimus, 26, who is now finishing her master's degree in studio art at
American University.

Reimus posts photos of people jumping in front of works of art that
they love at jumpinginartmuseums.blogspot.com. She said the blog is
all about sharing photos and stories that make people happy.

"It's important to have fun, even in the sometimes-stuffy art world,"
Reimus said. "I just hope that the blog continues to serve as a
virtual meeting place for art lovers around the world to express their
joy for the visual arts."

As the blog has been linked on better-known art blogs, it has
attracted attention from a variety of media outlets, which in turn
inspire more submissions. The word didn't always spread so quickly,
though.

"Actually, at the very beginning of the blog, I would try to get my
friends to jump for me just so I would have something to post," Reimus
said. Now she updates two or three times a week.

Reimus traced the snowballing movement to a link on the blog of local
arts maven Philippa Hughes, a friend of a mutual friend, about a year
ago. More art blogs and newspapers commented on the practice, and
their readers began to send her photos. For example, after Reimus
spoke to newspapers in Germany and Brazil, she received more
submissions from people there.

Now submissions are more and more from "complete strangers," Reimus
said. They jump in front of the work of established artists and
students in world-renowned museums and community centers, alike.

A recent submission showed a German woman jumping for a piece in the
town of Oestrich-Winkel, Germany. Another showed friends jumping at a
student show at Western Michigan University.

Some jump for architecture, as in the case of a couple of submissions
in front of the Eiffel Tower and one from Machu Picchu, Peru. A
particularly funny entry shows a man at Duke University jumping for an
oversized sculpture of a grumpy man's face at an angle that makes it
look as if the sculpture is atop his own shoulders.

A few of those jumpers, once strangers, became friends. One asked
Reimus whether he could start a Facebook group about art jumping. And
a woman in New York planned the "first official group jump" at the
Pipilotti Rist exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art in December.

"Her photos are always good, and of course, her enthusiasm is even
better," Reimus said.

For the most part, Reimus and other art jumpers haven't met with
resistance at museums. One security guard at a museum in Chicago asked
them to stop taking photos, she remembered, but she said most guards
aren't sure whether jumping and taking photos are allowed.

"I've been questioned or asked, 'What are you doing?'" she said. "The
funny thing is, the security guards might look at you funny, they
might laugh, but last time I was at the MoMA, they actually joined
in."

Unfortunately, at this point, the blog has only inspired relationships
(and not lucrative work) for Reimus. As she gets closer to graduation
— her thesis show at American opens April 23 — she has made informal
plans to "pay some bills and continue making paintings."

"It's great that people know about the blog," she said. "It's just I
haven't figured out how to translate working on the blog into making
money."

For now, her blog serves as an open door welcoming visitors into art
museums, and that's enough for Reimus.

"What's great is when I hear people say they went to the art museum
just so they could jump and actually spent time there and enjoyed
themselves," she said. "I'm happy that jumping got them in the door."

Arty stuff this week...

Space, Unlimited
February 20 - April 12

Opening reception:
Friday, February 20
6pm

@ Art Museum of the Americas
201 18th Street NW


TELEMETRIK/ ALIGNING MINDS / SOUND VAPOR

Monday, February 16
9:00pm

@ Galaxy Hut
2711 Wilson Blvd
Arlington, VA


Frank Hallam Day

Frank Hallam Day
Berlin Mitte: Lost Images
January - March

Opening reception:
Tuesday, February 17
5:30 - 7pm

@ 505 9th Street, NW Lobby

Sondra Arkin
Artist Speaker Series
Hooking Up: Fleeting Encounters in the DC Art World

Thursday, February 19
7:00pm
RSVP to jackie@hamiltoniangallery.com

@ Hamiltonian Gallery
1353 U Street, NW
Suite 101


Gallery 31
Corcoran College of Art + Design
Fine Art Photography Senior Thesis I

Reception: Thursday, February 19
5–8 pm

@ Corcoran College of Art + Design
Gallery 31
North Atrium


DCist Exposed
February 20 – March 7

Opening reception:
Friday, February 20
5-9pm

@ Gallery at Flashpoint
916 G Street NW


HOME
Hillyer Open Mic Event
Featuring Tasha Jones

Friday, February 20
7 - 9pm
$5 non-member

@ Hillyer Art Space
9 Hillyer Court NW

Design S

Opening reception:
Friday, February 20
7pm

@ Embassy of Sweden
2900 K Street NW


Anna U. Davis

Anna U. Davis
Bull's Eye
February 21 - March 21

Opening reception:
Saturday, February 21
6-9 PM

@Long View Gallery
1302 9th St NW


Urban Art Exhibition

Friday, February 20
7pm - midnight

@ Hippodrome Theater
12 North Eutaw Street
Baltimore, MD


ArtDC.org Art Auction

Saturday, February 21
5 - 8pm

@ Wohlfarth Galleries
3418 9th Street


Dawn Black, Conceal Project 013, watercolor, ink, and gouache on paper, 2008

Dawn Black
Conceal Project
February 21 - March 21

Opening reception:
Saturday, February 21
6:30 - 8 pm

@ Curator's Office
1515 14th Street NW
suite 201


Linn Meyers & Richard Chartier
Gallery Talk

Saturday, February 21
2pm

@ University of Maryland (College Park) Art Gallery
Art-Sociology Building, Campus Drive


It's Always Sunny Somewhere See the installation “Manifest Destiny” by sculptor Alison Hiltner Artist Shannon Moore will demonstrate how to make your own personal “Tagz”necklace Saturday, February 21 10pm - 3am @ Heineman Myers Contemporary Art 4800 Hampden Lane, Bethesda


John Malloy

John Malloy
One Out Of A Hundred
February 21 - March 12

Opening reception:
Saturday, February 21
6pm – Midnight

@ Art Whino
173 Waterfront St.
National Harbor, MD


RESHUET (joy): Paintings by Marina Reiter,
Doris Colbert Kennedy and Ron Riley


Saturday, February 21
4 - 6pm

@ The Foundry Gallery
1314 18th Street NW


Panda Head Mag
Late Winter Issue 3 Launch Party

Saturday, February 21
9:30pm - 2am

@ Comet
5037 Connecticut Avenue NW


Betsy Damos in her studio

Betsy Damos
Open Studio & Art Sale

Saturday, February 21 and Sunday, February 22
11am - 5pm

@ O Street Studios
52 O Street NW, Studio 201