Image of window displays by Zoma Wallace, courtesy DCCAHWith a small bit of fanfare, the Walter E. Washington Convention Center and the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities unveiled a public art project at the Convention Center this week. This “pop-up” gallery transforms empty retail, window and display space at the Convention Center into works of art.
Windows into DC highlights 14 area artists, three of whom are based in the Shaw neighborhood, where the project is located. The artists were given a canvas of glass to produce a variety of work, which was inspired by the neighborhood and the District.
The windows and display cases are located around the outside of the Convention Center along 7th Street, through the underpass toward 9th Street, along 9th, and along N Street. The work is a temporary extension of the 120 piece permanent collection found on the inside of the Convention Center.
Half of the artists transformed a large window and glass door area in which they used a reverse painting technique, applying paint from the inside of the window. Many used black outlines to start and then layered color on top to finish the composition. Jason Clark’s (aka JAS) work shows thick outlines of figures in a field of green, taking down iron fences. Cory Oberndorfer’s selection is of a graphic monochromatic composition of the cathedral-like ceilings of a Metro station, in neutral yellows.
