It would be impossible to review Artomatic’s ten floors of art in its entirety. The show is scatterbrained, and intentionally. First come, first serve is no jury; Artomatic treats all artists and crafters the same, and puts them all smack next to each other. In an art setting where it can be difficult to determine if a participant is old or young, joking or serious, novice, student, or seasoned, some work stood out to the DCist staff. Below are some of our favorites; leave yours in the comments.

Rebound Designs, Caitlin Phillips, 12th floor SE
Caitlin Phillips' "Rebound Designs" is one of the show's most whimsical exhibits. Phillips has fashioned purses made out of old encyclopedias and books (pictured right), and featured them in a classroom-style set-up, hanging from a chalkboard. The display is kitchy and fun, but feels awfully commercial – especially as you can find Phillips' same accessories for sale most weekends at the Eastern Market flea market (I've had my eyes on one of the Nancy Drew ones for awhile now).

Murder of Crows, Gennara Moore, 12th floor SE
Gennara Moore's "Murder of Crows" paints black silhouettes of the looming birds on a bold red background. The work instills a chilling uneasiness; though it's not always exactly clear what is going on in each of the paintings. I dug the creepy vibe and the sense of drama on the canvas.
-Missy Frederick

Skin Color Project, Solomon Wondimu, 7th floor SW
Using color swatches collected from hundreds of people's forearms, Wondimu creates digital prints from his database of these color swatches. While the digital prints aren't all that great, the concept of reconciliation between what the eye versus the mind sees is quite good.

Amanda Engels, 4th floor SW
Engels’ large portrait oil paintings (pictured left) are very striking. They stand out from the crowd not only for their subject matter, but for Engels ability to capture light, color and expression.

24 on 14th, Graeme King, 6th floor SW
King spent 24 hours on 14th street one weekend, asking random strangers if he could take their picture. The result is a wall of small portraits of everyday people. The photographs range from ho hum to brilliant. A written narrative of the events of the day as well as video footage of the installation of the photographs accompanies the installation.

John Pack, 6th floor SE
Hamburgers and ice cream cone concoctions are what John Pack presents. The twist here is that the ice cream cones and hamburgers are a combination of seashells and ceramic fragments. The result is an odd juxtaposition presented in glass display cases, just like in a diner.
-Kelly Rand

Pilar Jimenez, 4th floor SW
Jimenez’s surreal and soft abstract paintings pair earthy beauty with a sense of the artist’s inner child. In her 39 x 27.5 inch Oniric Language, Jimenez’s smudged background of browns and oranges highlight a thin childlike rendering of a four-legged creature perched atop a group of more mature abstract and bulbous shapes, bringing to mind both marshmallows over a campfire and a body on a spit.

Minda Merinsky, 4th floor SE
She calls them chachkas—the kitsch items of yesteryear found in your grandmother’s attic or local thrift store—and she turns them into lamps. Not entirely original, but fun and functional all the same. Merinsky displays lamps born out of a Brownie movie camera, apple shaped bird cage, Maxwell House coffee canister, Osterizer classic blender, and other found items.

Art Enables, 4th floor NE
Like last year, this group of disabled artists continues to bring a fresh perspective to Artomatic. With six painted birdhouses, four collaborative canvases, and eleven framed paintings, the work is at times childlike, but occasionally exhibits more sophisticated techniques and themes.

Damien Gill, 7th floor NW
The geometric urban landscape photographs of Damien Gill—of last year’s hydrant images—are calming amidst Artomatic’s cluttered chaos. The ten photographs in 10 Signs (Time and Capitalism) depict the same Merchant’s Tire and Auto faded parking sign placed throughout the lot. White bricks and piping stand behind the signs, adding horizontal and vertical design elements. Disconnected (pictured right) captures a brick wall with disjointed PVC piping hanging vertically from the top of the frame. Man’s nature scenes may not sound unusual, but the photographs reveal the beauty in an orderliness often overlooked.

Matt Sesow, 8th floor NW
If you’re familiar with the D.C. art scene, you probably already know Matt Sesow’s harsh, silly and sadistic paintings. Sesow’s wall at Artomatic does not disappoint. Painted black with white markered drawings filling every unoccupied inch, his space features original work big and small, including the smallest for only $20, as well as three from his newest series in which he collaborated with Charles Bukowski’s muse and poet girlfriend Linda King.
-Lynne Venart

All images courtesy of the artists.

Artomatic runs through June 15 and is located at 1200 First St NE at the New York Avenue metro stop. Artomatic is open Wednesday and Thursday from 5 to 10 p.m., Friday and Saturday from noon to 2 a.m., and Sunday from noon to 10 p.m.