Arty experiences report

I was re-energized by an arty weekend that reminded me of how art can inspire and transform lives and even humanity.

Saturday afternoon, I dropped in on a tour of Cypher, Robin Rose's exhibit at the Katzen. Robin himself led the tour and gave us some pretty awesome insight into each piece, which was great because I love knowing what artists think even more than I love looking at art. If you knew Robin's work and if you had seen this show without hearing him speak about it, I think you might have found the exhibit confusing. The show consisted of mostly sculptures and installations and included only two of his signature encaustic works. Each piece told a story or taught a lesson. One work, though, really got me thinking: a work about the Straight Edge punk movement in DC in the 80s. Robin reminded us that this movement became known worldwide and had a huge impact on music and culture and society, and he predicted that DC could do this again. I agree! DC can be a powerful cultural influence once more and I really believe the stars are aligning for this to happen.


After that, I went over to Anacostia to visit the home of artist Bryant Adams. My awesome friend Adrian called me a few weeks ago to tell me about this artist who had bought a home in Anacostia late last year and had been turning it into an art installation ever since. I was intrigued, but it still sounded a little nutty. Nonetheless, as a favor, I went over there and boy was I glad I did. Adrian never leads me astray. Bryant is an untrained artist who has an amazing eye for seeing how a found object can be turned into something meaningful and beautiful. Like the robots above that used to be part of an old boiler system that he found in the basement after he moved in. In addition to these outdoor sculptures, every object in his home is a work of art. This man lives the life of the creative mind.

On Sunday afternoon, I stopped by the Louise Bourgeois exhibit at the Hirshhorn with a friend. We were kvetching about all the usual life stuff and every time we stopped to read a placard about an artwork, it would somehow magically be relevant to whatever it was we were just talking about. Much of Bourgeois' work is about exorcising the past and boy did that resonate.