Courtesy artdc GalleryPop quiz: what is January 12, 2011?
If you answered, “The deadline for submitting entries to the 2011 DCist Exposed Photography Show,” you totally passed. The big news was announced yesterday. So mark your calendars, start sorting through photos and, if you don’t think you have anything good, get out there and shoot a few more. There’s plenty of time left! While you’re at it, secure your early copy of our Exposed 5th Anniversary magazine by supporting our Kickstarter effort. There’s so much going on this weekend, take your camera along so you don’t miss anything good. You know, like a bad Santa or a fun art opening.
>> The artdc Gallery opens a new show, In The Present, this Saturday with a two-artist show of artwork by Jenny Walton and Alexandra Zealand. Walton’s large-scale monotypes (one-of-a-kind prints) started with the manipulation of ink on polypropylene sheeting, which was then printed in an etching pressed directly onto the paper, creating the final piece. The process introduced elements of chance into a normally rigid process, forcing her to work quickly to change the compositional elements and experiment with ideas along the way. The delicate lines and soft smears of Walton’s prints offset the loops, shadows, and passing images within Zealand’s reclaimed 16mm film reels of mostly children’s movies which have been formed into loopy patterns and hung, creating a multi-dimensional installation with softly cast shadow. While film of this size has become practically obsolete and their stories only memories, Zealand is able to repurpose them to reflect the passage of time and explore our relationship with the objects we discard. Though quite different in their materials, each artist’s work relates to the natural world in its present state, through abstracted anatomy caught in the act of degeneration or through repetitive looping reminiscent of cellular structures.
>> It’s a Battle of the Openings between Arlington Arts Center and Artisphere on Saturday night, but that doesn’t mean you’ll have to pick one or the other. Just catch the ART Bus which will run between AAC and Artisphere starting at 8 p.m. and features an installation of work by artist Tim Kerr. Party Crashers straddles the line between comic art and contemporary gallery culture with Jeffrey Cudlin’s selection of fine and comic artists creating abstract, avante-garde work without words or recognizable imagery and Cynthia Connolly’s group of fine artists who mimic the appearance of comic art — all of which exemplify the values of contemporary fine art. Arlington Arts Center reception starts at 6 p.m., Artisphere at 8 p.m., and both end at 11 p.m.
>> Join Arlington Arts Center and Screwtop Wine Bar and Cheese Shop for a Holiday Happy Hour tonight from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $20 in advance, $25 at the door, and include a raffle ticket for AAC membership, tickets to an upcoming AAC happy hour and a bottle of wine from Screwtop. Bring along a non-perishable food item to help their food drive for Arlington Food Assistance Center.
