Good news, Colbert Nation. If you caught the April 1 episode of the Colbert Report, you saw Stephen take an “atonement” call from Brent Glass, Director of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History — who originally turned down the offer to display his portrait before the National Potrait Gallery agreed to hang it in the entrance to their bathrooms. The run ended on Tuesday, but before the painting was left homeless, Glass called to say he changed his mind and, calling Colbert a “National Treasure,” agreed to hang the portrait in the Treasures of American History Exhibit for two more weeks. We haven’t gotten down to the Air & Space Museum yet (where the exhibit is being held while NMAH is under construction), so we hope we haven’t fallen for a mean April Fool’s prank, but the public notice that’s still up on the museum’s web site convinces us otherwise. The entire exhibit, including the portrait, closes on April 13, so get down there soon.
>> We are extremely pleased to announce that the Hirshhorn’s After Hours parties are back on the calendar, starting tomorrow, from 8 p.m. to midnight. Music will be provided by DJ Solomon Sanchez, Hooliganship — the “neon-clad archangels of hyper-digitized cell phone music” who also provide an epileptic-seizure-inducing video “preview” of tomorrow’s show at the Hirshhorn’s website — and Lucky Dragon, who create music that seems to involve a lot of touching strangers. Check out painter Amy Sillman’s new show Third Person Singular while you’re there, as well as the ongoing Recent Acquisitions and Black Box exhibits. Advance tickets have sold out, but they still have a number of tickets available at the door, $12.
>> Art Whino, which opened an enormous gallery in Alexandria not even a year ago, is apparently doing so well that they’re opening a second location already in National Harbor, Md., directly south of D.C., just outside the Beltway. The gallery will have a grand opening this Saturday with the artworks of David Foox (pictured), a colorblind painter who uses deep shading techniques to make up for his lack of color diversity (he mostly uses reds and browns). He also claims inspiration from the number “8,” so…yeah. Maybe a certain New York Times reporter will hear her siren song and make an appearance. Also featuring the anime-like figure paintings of Jessica Foox and the music of DJ Lil’e. Party goes 6 p.m. to midnight.
>> Flashpoint opens an exhibit of portrait paintings by Lucy Hogg tomorrow. We like how the gallery puts it: Floating Faces “illuminates fugitive expressions in the portraits that deny the duration of a portrait-painting session and invoke the fiction of the fleeting glance.” Reception 6 to 8 p.m.
