Weekly Art Lens by Beth Shook

Tacita Dean, “Fernsehturm,” 2001. Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, Holenia Purchase Fund, in memory of Joseph H. Hirshhorn, 2003. On view this Thursday at the Hirshhorn.

Mementos: Painted and Photographic Miniatures, 1750-1920
I’ll admit I may be on a miniatures kick after catching the quirky new diorama exhibition at the Museum of Arts and Design in New York. The latest installation at the National Portrait Gallery offers its own small-scale visions of another world, if perhaps in a more conventional way. Mementos delves into the museum’s collection to illustrate the history of portrait miniatures, from John Singleton Copley’s pendants depicting the Hancocks to an Abraham Lincoln campaign pin from 1860.
Where: National Portrait Gallery (Metro: Gallery Place-Chinatown and Metro Center)
When: Now until Aug. 20.
How Much: Free

Conversation: The North – Mexican Art on the Edge
The contemporary Latin American art boom may be most visible in auction houses and galleries in New York, L.A. and Miami, but it’s causing tremors in D.C. as well. Just check the exhibition schedules for the Art Museum of the Americas and the World Bank for proof. Recent Mexican art is particularly well represented — the AMA is slated to open a show of contemporary Mexican photography in two weeks, and American University is now showing new works from the country. In conjunction with that show, Registro 02, tonight curator Taiyana Pimentel and artists Rubén Gutiérrez and Julio Castro will shed light on current artistic trends in north Mexico. Refreshments will be served.
Where: American University Museum at the Katzen Arts Center (Metro: Tenleytown-AU or Metrobus: N2/3/4/6/8)
When: June 21 from 6 to 8:30 p.m.
How Much: Free

Continues after the jump.

Fragments in Time and Space
As a theme, “the diverse ways in which time and space have been conceptualized, employed, and manipulated” seems laughably broad (what work of art doesn’t address questions of time and space?). But I’m going to trust the Hirshhorn on this one. Opening Thursday, Fragments features work by artists ranging from Thomas Eakins to Ed Ruscha to On Kawara. With such a motley assortment, the result is bound to be interesting.
Where: Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden (Metro: L’Enfant Plaza or Smithsonian)
When: June 23 to Aug. 28. Philip Brookman, chief curator at the Corcoran Gallery, will discuss Thomas Eakins’s photographs in the exhibition on June 24 at 12:30 p.m.
How Much: Free

Charles Sandison: Rage, love, hope, and despair
Language art is that vague category under the “conceptual” umbrella that brings to mind the text-laden works of Joseph Kosuth, Ed Ruscha and Barbara Kruger. More recently, artists working in that strain have tended towards integrating words with digital technology. Scottish artist Charles Sandison’s new installation at the Corcoran, Rage, love, hope, and despair, does just that, flooding a darkened gallery with color-coded signifiers of human emotions. The work promises to serve as a kind of textual Rorschach, inspiring new interpretations with each viewer.
Where: The Corcoran Gallery (Metro: Farragut West)
When: June 25 to Aug. 14
How Much: $10 for adults; $8 for seniors and students

Short list: Artificial Afrika at the National Museum of African Art; Workingman Collective: Prospects and Provisions at Hemphill Fine Arts; Creative Process at Long View Gallery; Fellows Converge: Broadly Thinking at Hamiltonian Gallery.