D.C.-BASED SOCIOLOGIST -by-training Frank Hallam Day's new work turns the familiar into the menacing. Night photographs of primordial landscapes and of Thanksgiving parade floats seem to have nothing in common at first, but the common thread is the fear factor.
» Addison/Ripley Fine Art, 1670 Wisconsin Ave. NW, through Oct. 11; 202-338-5180.
Photo Courtesy of Addison/Ripley Fine Art
This post was originally published Sept. 24.
"HOW DO WE each convince ourselves to act as if we matter, given that there's really good evidence that we don't?" asks photographer Chris Jordan, striking at the heart of activism's biggest challenge. "One over six and a half billion — that's my mathematical significance in the world."
Jordan's also one of a number of big names with artwork in a wide-ranging exhibit of activist art at the Katzen Arts Center. As his contribution to humanity, he makes visual art that shows us our culture's outrageous consumption.
For the Katzen show, "Close Encounters: Facing the Future," he made a photo-mosaic of Barbies, 32,000 in all, that meld into a pair of perky breasts. That large number, by the way, is also the count of breast enlargements performed monthly in the United States.
Continue Reading "Art Raises Its Voice: Katzen Art Center's 'Close Encounters'" »
IT'S ALWAYS exciting when a new Smithsonian exhibit opens. This one happens to coincide with the National Book Festival, which is inconvenient. But a rainy forecast means that when it starts to drizzle, you can flee inside and check out the Museum of Natural History's new Ocean Hall. Turns out that what's under the sea is fascinating — also there's a giant whale hanging over the whole thing, which is pretty awesome. It'll be family- and geek-friendly.
» National Museum of Natural History, 10th Street and Constitution Avenue NW; opens Sat., free; 202-633-1000. (Smithsonian)
Photo by Karen Bleier/AFP/Getty Images
HIS WORK MAY be scrawled on bits of notebook paper, but Michael Scoggins' alarming art is hardly child's play.
In his new show at Project 4 Gallery, "Friday Night Gun Fight," Scoggins mimics your kid's artistic style, using crayons and markers (at least he stays in the lines!), but voices his political opinions on everything from gun control to bullies to girls.
» Project 4 Gallery, 903 U St. NW; through Oct. 25; 202-232-4340. (U St.-Cardozo)
DAZZLING, MESMERIZING, LEO VILLAREAL'S wall-sized light sculptures suck you in. And behind the scenes, the New York-based artist defines geek-chic; he designs every aspect of his pieces, from the color to the circuitry codesigning to the lights themselves.
Villareal has a solo show of new work going up at Conner Contemporary on Saturday, and is assembling a large installation at the National Gallery of Art.
» EXPRESS: What've you got up at Conner?
» VILLAREAL: There are two pieces. One is called "Diamond Matrix," and it's a grid of white LED [lights], which is about 5 by 5 feet. They're these new LEDs that I've worked with some engineers to develop. It's a custom-designed circuit board, and everything's designed by us. We do the hardware, the software.
» EXPRESS: Tell us more about those LEDs.
» VILLAREAL: They're tiny. They're smaller than a grain of rice. They're really small, and very bright, and they're white; it's very high-contrast, since the piece itself is black.
Continue Reading "Lights, Viewers, Action: Leo Villareal's Light Sculptures" »
INK, PENCIL, CONTE CRAYON and gouache combine in the hands of two artists to become a conversation - albeit one conducted in the a language of inkblots and scribbled lines.
"Potential Energy — A Collaboration; Works on Paper by Kate McGraw & Ann Tarantino" is the result of a years-long conversation concerned with the vulnerability and power of the self, and the energy that arises from communication.
» Curator's Office, 1515 14th St. NW, Suite 201; through Oct. 25; 202-387-1008/ ( U St.-Cardozo)
Photo courtesy of Curator's Office
THROUGHOUT HIS CELEBRATED career, Richard Avedon photographed the powerful (Ronald Reagan, George Wallace, Malcolm X) as well as ordinary people caught up in national issues (the Chicago Seven) and those whose relationship to power was tangential (the Generals of the Daughters of the American Revolution) for magazines like the New Yorker and Rolling Stone. Now, the Corcoran presents nearly 250 of Avedon's political photographs, including many never-before-seen works.
» Corcoran Gallery of Art, 500 17th St. NW; through Jan. 25, 202-639-1700
Photo by Karen Bleier for AFP/Getty Images
NEW WORK FROM three acclaimed artists tackle politics and religion in Irvine Contemporary's gutsy mid-October show. Street artist Shepard Fairey presents political paintings and collage, including a subversive rendering of the $1 bill.
Al Farrow's gun-and-human-bone sculptures of religious shrines comment on the militarism in religion, and Paul D. Miller's (also known as DJ Spooky) satirical multimedia project includes postcards and a video on Antarctica's suppressed political history.
» Irvine Contemporary, 1412 14th St. NW; Oct. 18-Nov. 29; 202-332-8767. (McPherson Square)
LIKE AN ENTOMOLOGIST, photographer Jo Whaley pins insect specimens to paper. But Whaley uses her prop-construction background to create swirly backdrops, turning the bugs' space into a tiny theatrical set and creating fanciful still life photographs with elements of magic.
» The National Academies' Keck Center 500 5th St. NW; through Dec. 10; 202-334-2436. (Judiciary Square)
» National Academy of Sciences, 2101 Constitution Ave. NW; Jan.4-March 1; 202-334-2436.
Photo courtesy of The National Academy of Sciences
HANS VAN MEEGEREN didn't grow rich off his own name. The master forger became wealthy because of Johannes Vermeer, the great 17th century Dutch painter.
Van Meegeren painted before and during World War II, ingeniously mixing science — the key ingredient in his paintings was plastic — skill, determination, psychological insight, cunning and vast reservoirs of bile to cheat his way to the top. After he was finally caught, he painted one final "Vermeer" in prison to demonstrate his style. Somewhat ironically, he was eventually was seen as a hero throughout Holland for swindling a galaxy of art snobs and the likes of Nazi swine Hermann Goering, even though van Meegeren had no problem befriending the Germans for his own benefit.
This is a great tale, and lauded author Edward Dolnick's new book, "The Forger's Spell," makes it even better. Subtitled "A True Story of Vermeer, Nazis, and the Greatest Art Hoax of the Twentieth Century," the work is an accessible, engrossing and erudite examination of art, commerce and history.
A recent e-mail from Dolnick discussed a particularly compelling aspect of Van Meegeren's career.
"Han van Meegeren was different from every forger I'd ever heard of," Dolnick wrote. "He made forgeries that didn't look at all like the real thing. ... Vermeer's men and women overflow with life. The people in Van Meegeren's fakes look like zombies, and they have raccoon eyes.
"The second surprise was that the people he fooled were experts, not novices," Dolnick continued. "The more people knew about art, the harder they fell for Van Meegeren's fakes. ... When one modern-day expert looked back at Van Meegeren's career, he called it 'literally incredible' that Van Meegeren got away with it. My goal was to explain that mystery. The trail led to forgers talking shop, magicians spilling their secrets and spymasters explaining the art of the double agent. We see what is in front of our eyes, sometimes. But we also see what we hope to see, or what we expect to see. It's the job of con men and swindlers to manipulate those expectations."
Dolnick will discuss the extraordinary career of Hans van Meegeren at the Corcoran on Sept. 24. Express asked him about Van Meegeren's talents, why scientific tests were never done on his paintings and what advice he could offer an aspiring forger.
Continue Reading "Artful Dodger: Edward Dolnick on 'The Forger's Spell'" »
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