Maureen Andary of The Sweater Set
@ Fort Reno
Q:What's your song for summer?
A:"Our song about summer love. The lyrics are 'Oh, you're just for fun, don't you know. I only want you for summer months.'"
THIS WEEK: Folks will call it the "Dark Continent" no more if the National Museum of African Art has anything to say about it. The exhibition "Artful Animals" looks to correct misunderstandings and educate museum-goers about Africa and contemporary African life. Although the exhibit's aim may be serious, expect entertaining displays of animal sculptures and figures, particularly fun for children.
» National Museum of African Art, 950 Independence Ave. SW; through Feb. 21, free; 202-633-4600, africa.si.edu. (Smithsonian)
Photo courtesy National Museum of African Art
NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC EXPLORERS-in-Residence Dereck and Beverly Joubert have spent nearly three decades researching and documenting the lives of lions and leopards in Africa, and their colorful photographs and videos are on display at the National Geographic Museum in "Lions and Leopards: The Work of Dereck & Beverly Joubert." The couple were in D.C. recently, and chatted about their work and passion for conservation in Africa.
» EXPRESS: What drew you to working in Botswana?
» BEVERLY: We're from South Africa, and 28 years ago we left and went to Botswana for an adventure. We fell in love with the wilderness of Botswana and decided that was where we wanted to live and work.
» DERECK: I think we both had the desire to leave the city and go out and do something extraordinary. We had a passion not only for each other, but for life, for nature, to do things outdoors.
» EXPRESS: What about working with wildlife and the environment is so fulfilling?
» DERECK: We use our work as conversation, as a way to talk to people about the things we care deeply about. Right now, we're giving the majority of stress to big cats, and the books, films, everything we do at the moment is about getting the message out that big cats are endangered.
» BEVERLY: Our workplace changes, so we never get bored like in an office. We move from one area to the next, and each area is different — one is a desert, one a semi-desert, one a delta. So we are constantly stimulated by landscape changes, and the animals interact in a different way in each area. And the more we have climactic change, the more we are going to see the animals forced into situations that perhaps no one has seen before.
Continue Reading "Where the Wild Things Are: Dereck and Beverly Joubert" »
THERE'S NO EASY way to categorize street art. Or exhibit it, for that matter. But despite the vagueness of the term, it can be defined in part by its intention: It allows artists to use the city and its streets as their canvas.
Washington is loaded with its own examples, such as the Shepard Fairey mural with his famed Obama image on 14th Street NW. Now, there's another street-art destination, located in an alley off P Street NW, behind Irvine Contemporary.
The outdoor installation is part of "Street/Studio," which includes street-art biggies such as Fairey, with his Soviet Socialist Realist-style graphics, and Swoon, with her lyrical, silhouetted portraits. But what sets this show apart is that it offers both sides of the street art practice.
Continue Reading "Irvine Paints the Town: 'Street/Studio'" »
MUSEUMS ARE a summer staple, even for non-tourists, if only because you can hang out for hours and know that someone else is paying for the air conditioning. So when we heard about a new outdoor component to one of D.C.'s newer showplaces, the International Spy Museum, we were skeptical.
Spy In the City, which opened in mid-June, is the first of a planned series of outdoor "missions" at the Spy Museum. Here's how it works: you pick up a GPS device with a screen, some headphones and various important-looking buttons — let very young children share with an adult. You go outside the museum and the device tells you where to go and what to look for in order to solve the mystery.
The 90-minute adventure is well-constructed — certainly easier for natives than for tourists who will walk the wrong way looking for Ford's Theatre, but not so easy that you won't have fun. Surprisingly, running around Penn Quarter with little electronic devices attracts a lot of attention, including that of a friendly FBI policeman who opined "I bet I'd be good at that!" One warning: though generally you collect clues from your surroundings, there is one semi-obscure piece of trivia you just have to know. But if you guess wrong enough times, the device gives you hints that enable you to finish the game.
Continue Reading "Try to Act Your Espionage: Spy In the City" »
SATURDAY: Kids can indulge their movie-inspired fantasies this summer as Smithsonian Associates hosts "Night at the Museum" Smithsonian Sleepovers. Get to know the National Museum of Natural History by moonlight and take in an IMAX screening. The series begins this Saturday with 12 hours of educational fun that includes a tour, evening activity, snack and light breakfast — but probably not Owen Wilson.
» National Museum of Natural History", 1000 Constitution Ave. NW; Sat., June 27, 8 p.m.-Sun., 8:30 a.m., 8 years old and up, $125; 202-633-3030. (Smithsonian)
Photo by Linda Davidson/The Washington Post
Bargain Redemption
An edgy stop-motion animated feature that explores the meaning of life is not kiddie fare, unless your toddler has been asking what it's all for. "$9.99" takes audiences on a wild ride with a 28-year-old slacker who finds an ad that promises a booklet that will explain his reason for being. The cost? $9.99. The angel that comes with it? Priceless.
» E Street Cinema, 555 11th St. NW: opens Fri., June 26, 202-452-7672, (Metro Center)
Hold the Martini
The International Spy Museum screens the film debut of the popular kids' book series "Stormbreaker" as part of its KidSpy program on Thursday. The film follows Alex Ryder from prep-school lad to super-spy when his uncle disappears. The $7 ticket price includes a debriefing from a former spy.
» International Spy Museum, 800 F St. NW; Thu., June 25, 1-3 p.m., $7; 202-393-7798. (Gallery Place-Chinatown)
Continue Reading "Indies & Arties: Meaning of Life Comes at a Price" »
"PAINT MADE FLESH," the Phillips Collection's new show, looks at post-World War II figure paintings from Europe and the U.S. to suggest that paint is the best medium for conveying the cultural significance of flesh. Among works by Francis Bacon and Lucian Freud are paintings by John Currin, an American painter known for his provocative works depicting the human body. Currin will be at the Phillips on Thursday to discuss his work.
» EXPRESS: "Paint Made Flesh" suggests that paint's material properties make the medium well-suited to conveying metaphors for human vulnerability. How accurate do you think that is for your own work?
» CURRIN: I suppose that there's an obvious metaphor between the surface of oil paint and flesh. It's vulnerable the same way that flesh is, and it was probably invented in order to render flesh. I certainly subscribe to that, and the most exciting and difficult part of painting is rendering flesh. It's not a specific color, so it's a mystery how to get it right.
» EXPRESS: The majority of your work is of the female figure. Why is that?
» CURRIN: The simple answer is that I enjoy looking at women more than I enjoy looking at men, but the more pretentious answer is that I find it easier to think of metaphors and allegories when I'm using women in paintings.
Continue Reading "'Paint Made Flesh': Figurative Painter John Currin" »
THIS MUCH IS true about William Eggleston, often referred to as the father of color photography: He works quickly, never stages a photograph and takes only one shot.
Eggleston learned early on that when something caught his eye, he didn't need rolls of film to capture his mark. "[Starting out], I would take many frames essentially of the same subject, see, and I would have to decide which one was the best," Eggleston told Express while in D.C. for his current retrospective "William Eggleston: Democratic Camera, Photographs and Video, 1961-2008," at the Corcoran. "I figured, why not just take one? I'm going to eventually choose, and I could never make up my mind."
He mentions "Greenwood, Mississippi," a 1973 image of a red ceiling, split with white wiring in a striking harmony of rich color. He snapped the shot — perhaps his most famous — while visiting the colorful house of an eccentric friend. "I looked up and, my God, saw this bare light bulb and these wires and the whole room being red," says Eggleston. "I took one picture and that was that, and we just continued talking."
BOB MARLEY'S MESSAGE was a timeless one of revolution and social change that sprang from his life experiences.
Most fans receive his message through his music and brief glimpses of his life through articles, stories and lyrics. Photographer David Burnett opens another chapter of the reggae master's life with his new book of never-before-seen photographs, "Soul Rebel," some of which are also on display at Govinda Art Gallery's National Harbor location.
Burnett barely knew who Marley was when he traveled to Jamaica for Time magazine in 1976. While there, he photographed legends Peter Tosh and Lee "Scratch" Perry — those pictures are also on display — and Marley himself. Burnett ended up shooting Marley's 1977 "Exodus" tour of Europe for Rolling Stone.
Continue Reading "Reggae's Vital Heart: David Burnett's Bob Marley Photographs" »
MICHAEL HARRIS AND Brandon Moses are nothing if not ambitious.
The pair founded the band The Laughing Man last year (they have since added bassist Luke Stewart), and opened the DC Mini Gallery, a hybrid showroom/venue/practice space/retail store, this month.
The Laughing Man combines so many influences as to be nearly unclassifiable, even by the band's own members. In trying to describe their sound Harris and Moses cited such disparate influences as vintage Motown, No Wave, gospel, ragtime and blues. Not content to leave it at that, each added an additional favorite genre, Moses claiming that "the secret ingredient is metal." Harris cited yacht rock as a recent favorite.
Incorporating Meshuggah and Hall and Oates into a single body of work sounds like a considerable challenge, but Harris and Moses seem to take it in stride. Considering the extremely eclectic sounds The Laughing Man draws from, Harris' assertion that the band's live shows "take you on an emotional rollercoaster" seems not just plausible but inevitable.
Continue Reading "Anything Goes: D.C. Mini Gallery & The Laughing Man" »
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