>> Your major opening this weekend is brought to you by the Smithsonian American Art Museum. The nearly 120 piece Saul Steinberg retrospective, Illuminations, features the artist’s witty and deeply observant take on world events throughout his 60 year history with The New Yorker, as well as the many other sculpture, painting, and various artworks that get a little meta in their parsing of creative methods. DCist is going to check out the show this weekend, but we have no doubt it will be filled to the brim with dead-on jabs at our sometimes narrow national perspective and, you know, amusing cat cartoons. Go take advantage of your tax dollars and see the show starting Friday; SAAM is open daily (including Easter) from 11:30 a.m. to 7 p.m.
>> The Corcoran brings a brave new world to you with tonight’s “Eyes on Modernism” lecture. Every month the gallery will take you on a virtual tour through the exhibit featuring a new topic or object, so stop by at 7 p.m. to hear them discuss Modernist artists’ ever straining reach for Utopia this fine evening. Included with admission fee.
>> If 1984-talk isn’t your cup of tea, head over to The Phillips Collection for tonight’s Artful Evening. During the extended hours, til 8:30 p.m. you can check out Moving Pictures: American Art and Early Film and learn more during a lecture that will discuss how the artists’ captured movement in these paintings and sequential drawings. Lectures start at 6 and 7 p.m. and are included in the admission fee (check out their web site for a 2-for-1 coupon). Then mark your calendar for next Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. to hear abstract installation artist Ann Hamilton talk about her multimedia work. $20.
>> So much to do tonight! If you like your art from the Southern Hemisphere, check out the new exhibit at Douz and Mille by Chilean artist Tomás Rivas. The installation artist, in Left to My Own Devices, shows off his intricate faux facades tonight from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the opening reception. Maybe they’ll have some Carménère wine, mmm.
>> Whet your photographic appetite at G Fine Art this weekend at the new exhibit Exposures. Barbara Probst’s intensely methodical images will challenge your views on photography as the inherently honest art. Fresh from her stint in a recent MoMA exhibition, Probst’s new show is a must-see. Catch the opening reception this Saturday, 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.
>> By the way, there are less than two weeks until Artomatic 2007, but in the meantime you can find some previews in their new Flickr group. Many of our DCist photo contributors are participating in the event, so we encourage you to go check them (and everyone else) out!
