There’s this unwritten rule for contemporary art history students: don’t do a thesis on a living artist, ’cause they’ll contradict you faster than you can say feces-spattered-canvas.

So it’s with great caution and wide ambiguity that the Corcoran’s Contemporary (re)defined attempts to organize contemporary work in a large two-part exhibition. This is a buckshot at art related by chronology, with packeted galleries casing recent trends in art like material based abstraction, graffiti, and text or sign based art.

Prepare for a free-form browse through the Corcoran’s permanent collection. The anteroom begins with names you know like Damien Hirst and Bruce Naumann, and successive rooms stretch to locals like James Huckenpahler and D.C. graf pioneer Cool “Disco” Dan. It’s the contemporary show that tries to be everyone’s friend in a city recently polarized by a modern master. It’s a tall order.