artDC Opens Without Much of a Bang
While a couple of us on the DCist staff are still trying to wipe our minds of the image of the live circumcision performance art that happened last night at the Warehouse gallery (seriously, can you use soap on your eyeballs?), we will nevertheless try to explain that across the street at artDC ... wait, what was happening over there?
Oh right, that international art show. When we told you about it last year, some of you were skeptical the concept could ever come to fruition in D.C., but there it is, in Hall E of the Washington Convention Center, and it's a little hard to shake the feeling you're walking into a conference on the latest issues in [that boring part of your job]. And a lot of the art isn't helping. The wide red carpet and high-ceiling booths covered in art (and finding the bars hidden in the corners) makes the place a bit warmer -- especially with the entrance flanked by three D.C. galleries -- but in the end, our big fancy art fair is closer to this: an Artomatic with suits and stilettos. A maze of high art that made one wonder what the qualifications for getting in were.
Which is to say, some of this shit is bad, friends. While people probably shouldn't be mutilating themselves for the sake of art (and by 'probably' we mean 'absolutely'), we'd also like to know why the four by five foot, gold framed, lemon-in-a-bowl still life continues to qualify as unique high art. New York City brought us a lot of yawn-inducing images of Marilyn Monroe, JFK, many of The Beatles, and even Einstein. Or the cringe-worthy abstract glitter paintings brought by a D.C. area gallery this writer had never heard of, and has not been convinced to visit any time soon. Bad but creative art is one thing, but the sheer lack of vision with some of these showings gave the entire exhibit the taste of a mass produced, office art, living room furniture showroom.
But just like Artomatic, there are brilliant gems hiding in the folds. Fantastically, we don't think it's an exaggeration to say that the D.C. galleries brought it. Conner Contemporary had, hands down, the best showing in the hall, including two mind-blowing videos from Brandon Morse and the darkly funny comics of Zach Storms, both of which should keep you staring at the walls for quite some time. When it comes to contemporary art with a unique vision, Morse's technical skill and conceptual grasp of human psychology/cosmology and Storms' ability to keep his art humble while packing a satirical punch in content, these are the bar-makers.
Photo by Sommer Mathis
The large hall filled with over 80 galleries gives you a lot worth seeing, even in sheer quantity. Be sure to say hello to our local folks, which should warm your heart a little just to see so much familiar work in the midst of this international production -- make it all the way to the back corner for a gorgeous glass sculpture by Graham Caldwell (who also has a piece across the street at Warehouse right now) from G Fine Art. Then, if you're short for time, you might want to grab a map (though, if I read the sign right, the little pieces of paper are an outrageous $15), and check out a few of our out-of-town picks.
We found that it was often the three-dimensional art that shined in the hall. The Rebecca Hossack Gallery from London had some of the best of the bunch, with map-lined shadowboxes filled with pinned paper "specimens" of birds and other animals as they traveled over the globe, made by John Dilnot, amusing "overstuffed" animals made with concrete by Ross Bonfanti, and a number of other artists in their large booth worth seeing. Adamar Fine Arts from Miami brought some interesting and slightly amusing big head sculptures (and a couple of boring elephant sculptures).
You'll also want to make your way to NYC's Sundaram Tagore Gallery -- ignore the incessant name-dropping and "DC has no art scene" vibe -- and pay attention to the trio-fecta of paintings in the corner. Hiroshi Senju's volcano bursts, Anil Revri's mesmerizing, large-scale repeated patterns, and Natvar Bhavsar's abstract painting, which would tower over a lot of the Color Field stuff hanging in town right now, are a powerhouse to put together and fascinating on their own. MOdernArte from Italy has a series of artworks by Alfredo Rapett that capture beautiful cursive text in Molly Springfield-wannabe xeroxed paintings that are worth checking out.
Of course, this is only a small taste of artDC, and it will take you awhile to cover all of the ground (we only got to about three-fourths of the exhibition in a couple hours last night). Overall, we were somewhat disappointed that there weren't a lot of showstoppers. Quite a bit of the art is forgettable, and we wonder what went into the selection of galleries -- if they're really a good cross section of the international art scene today. (It almost seems like they were chosen to make the hometown boys and girls shine.) Nevertheless, the fair continues all weekend and lucky for you, today its free all day, so swing by after work and give us your thoughts in the comments.