art

Sebastian Martorana’s marble Impressions (2009) are on view this week at Irvine Contemporary. Image courtesy Irvine Contemporary. Copyright Sebastian Martorana.

Pattern: Three Generations of Shape and Color
This is your last week to catch a small but vibrant exhibition of three generations of color-field painting at the Carroll Square Gallery. The show positions a 1967 work by Thomas Downing, of the ubiquitous Washington Color School, in the midst of divergent works by two contemporary painters: celebrated local artist Tom Green and Baltimore-based emerging artist Linling Lu. These two begin with the flat color and symmetry of their hard-edge predecessors, but go on to weave in decorative elements — Green through evocative, minimalist glyphs and Lu in one highly geometric portrait.
Where: Carroll Square Gallery (Metro: Metro Center or Gallery Place-Chinatown)
When: Until Aug. 26.
How Much: Free

“Artist Tribute 2” Grand Finale Block Party
This Thursday Irvine Contemporary wraps up the final exhibition at their Logan Circle space with a bang. Works on view include Shepard Fairey’s Flag series, a homage to Jasper Johns, and Sebastian Martorana’s clever marble monuments to fleeting everyday moments (above). Music will be provided by local DJs Yoko K and Will Eastman. While Director Martin Irvine has yet to announce a new permanent space for his gallery, two fall exhibitions are already planned for the Montserrat House at 9th and U St. NW.
Where: Irvine Contemporary (Metro: Dupont Circle)
When: Aug. 25 at 6 p.m.
How Much: Free

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Roger Brown, Natural Bridge, 1971, oil, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the S.W. and B.M. Koffler Foundation.

As I toured the new exhibition of Chicago art at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, our own city’s modern art legacy was what first came to mind. That legacy tends to revolve around the Washington Color School of the 1960s. Whether you love them or hate them, the color field painters that populate local museums succeeded in engaging with the postwar behemoth of Abstract Expressionism. They didn’t so much pioneer a Washington movement as they did push the boundaries of one born in New York. What is most satisfying about Made in Chicago: The Koffler Collection is the extent to which its artists flout such linearity.

The exhibition is inconspicuous, taking up three small galleries at the south end of the museum’s second floor. Its namesakes are Samuel and Blanche Koffler, Chicago collectors whose foundation donated a portion of their contemporary holdings to the Smithsonian in 1979, back when SAAM was known as the National Collection of Fine Arts. While the majority of the 26 works are paintings from 1960 to 1980, they are wildly different — both from one another and from the kind of abstraction being churned out elsewhere in the United States at the time.

This is in part thanks to Chicago artists’ affinity for experimental art brut that simultaneously draws on art history and snubs it. Half a century ago, such artists formed informal groups with awesomely ’60s-tinged names like “The Hairy Who” and “The Non-Plussed Some” and championed various brands of representational art that were unrestrained by the heavy theory of painterly abstraction. Several of the artists on view shared an interest in popular culture and graphic arts. Others were influenced by the abundance of Surrealist works in Chicago collections.

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I find a distinction between art like this and simply spray painting your name (gang related or not).

Theodore Halkin, Homage to Archimboldo, 1970, oil, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the S.W. and B.M. Koffler Foundation. On view this weekend at the SAAM.

Portraiture Now: Asian American Portraits of Encounter
Featuring works by seven artists from Asia or of Asian descent, this will be the first Smithsonian exhibition to focus on contemporary Asian American portraiture. According to the NPG press release, the art on view aims to both counter existing stereotypes about the Asian American experience and offer a more nuanced exploration of transnational identity. Portraits of Encounter was co-organized by the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Program.
Where: National Portrait Gallery (Metro: Gallery Place-Chinatown or Metro Center)
When: Aug. 12 to Oct. 14.
How Much: Free

Paint, Canvas, Walls, People
A minimalist exhibition of work by Thomas Canavan and Arijit Das closes this weekend at the Lamont Bishop Gallery. While both artists hang their art on the gallery walls, they are more interested in conceptual experiments than the final product. With his blank canvases accompanied by text, Canavan asks viewers to meditate on their own expectations for a painting. Das takes a more personal and expressive approach by painting abstract compositions that appear both meticulous and unplanned. The two artists team up in Sorry, Sol, an amusing take on the wall drawings of Sol LeWitt.
Where: Lamont Bishop Gallery (Metro: Mt. Vernon Square or Shaw-Howard Univ.)
When: Until Aug. 13. Closing reception on Aug. 13 from 8 to 11 p.m. including live painting by Das and other artists.
How Much: Free

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Artist Will Ryman’s assistants install his rose blossom sculptures on the Phillips Collection lawn. Photo by Beth Shook.

Will Ryman’s Roses: 58th Street
Five of Will Ryman’s monumental rose blossoms have been plucked from their home on Park Avenue in New York and relocated to the Phillips Collection. Installed at the corner of 21st and Q Streets NW, the roses’ pink petals and neon stems clash pleasantly with the red brick of the Duncan Phillips House. The sculptures will be on view on the lawn through the end of the year in celebration of the museum’s 90th anniversary.
Where: The Phillips Collection lawn (Metro: Dupont Circle)
When: Until Jan. 5, 2012.
How Much: Free

5th Annual East of the River
This year, the annual juried exhibition of art from Wards 7 and 8 will include work by six local artists: Marlon Norman, Jon Malis, Jonathan Edwards, Deborah Terry, Danielle Scruggs and Lark Catoe-Emerson. The judges, including Federal Reserve Board Fine Arts Program Director Stephen Bennett Phillips, will choose a Best in Show to be announced at the opening reception on Friday.
Where: Honfleur Gallery (Metro: Anacostia)
When: Aug. 5 to Sept. 16. Opening reception on Aug. 5 at 7 p.m.
How Much: Free

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Michael D. Crossett, District AM Delivery, mixed media on canvas, 30″ x 40″. Image courtesy Gallery Plan B.

Local Color
The new exhibition at Gallery Plan B, which opens tonight, offers refreshing visions of Washington’s more quotidian scenery. Several contemporary artists tackle the city’s rowhouses, monuments and news boxes in their own distinctive mediums, from digital photography to printmaking to photorealistic oil painting. While some of the results fall flat, others, like Stephen Stichter’s handmade woodblock prints, serve as loving tributes to local moments and spaces we may take for granted.
Where: Gallery Plan B (Metro: Dupont Circle or U Street-Cardozo)
When: July 28 to Aug. 28. Opening reception with the artists on July 28 from 6 to 8 p.m.
How Much: Free

Asia After Dark: 1001 Nights
Experience the convergence of ancient Islamic arts with the contemporary Arab world this evening at the Freer. Works from the ongoing exhibition Arts of the Islamic World will be on view. You can also enjoy performances, specialty cocktails and Arab cuisine to the tune of Egyptian DJ Turbo Tabla. (If you’re seeking a more reflective encounter with Quranic calligraphy and Middle Eastern ceramics, I suggest you visit during regular hours.) This event is ages 21+.
Where: Freer Gallery of Art (Metro: Smithsonian or L’Enfant Plaza)
When: July 28 from 6:30 to 10:30 p.m.
How Much: $22 in advance and $25 at the door (cash only) for non-members; $18 in advance and $20 at the door for Silk Road Society members. A ticket includes one free drink.

Annie Albagli, Greetings From Paradise
Silver Spring-based artist Annie Albagli brings her enchanting screen prints to Pleasant Plains in this exploration of “personal paradise.” Albagli’s works, particularly those from her Pyramid series, are expressive, multilayered pseudo-landscapes, populated by ambiguous organic forms and geometry. The exhibition will include a site-specific window installation and will prompt visitors to share their own conception of paradise.
Where: Pleasant Plains Workshop (Metro: Columbia Heights or Metrobus: 70/71)
When: July 29 to Aug. 27. Opening reception on July 29 from 6 to 9 p.m.
How Much: Free

you make me nostalgic for a place I’ve never known and Trace
Organized by artist Janell Olah and local curator/Phillips Collection educator Amanda Jirón-Murphy, you make me nostalgic is one of two new exhibitions at Flashpoint that aim to fully exploit and reorient the gallery space. Olah’s installation diverts the gallery’s electricity, air flow and ducts to bring to life her glowing, tree-like vinyl constructions. Interspersed with her work and populating not only the gallery, but also its hallways and offices, will be artist Nicole Herbert’s multimedia conceptual play on the overlooked features of an interior, like cables, outlets and windows.
Where: Flashpoint (Metro: Gallery Place-Chinatown or Metro Center)
When: July 30 to Aug. 27. Opening reception on July 30 from 6 to 8 p.m.
How Much: Free