Rebecca Davenport, Pink Hat, 2009, oil on canvas, 30” x 20”>> The Art Bank is a growing collection of artworks owned by the D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities. Works within the collection are purchased from D.C. artists and placed in District Government buildings throughout the city. The program helps bring life to office hallways and exposes D.C. artists to wider audiences. Because the collection is spread throughout the city, DCCAH has recently made available a selection of the Art Bank for download to use as wallpaper for your desktop or mobile device.
>> The American University Museum at the Katzen Arts Center will open its 2012 season on Saturday with four new exhibitions. See Anil Revri: Faith and Liberation through Abstraction, an exhibition of introspective works by artist Anil Revri, a native of New Delhi, India. In Gabarrón’s Roots see vibrantly colored sculptures and painted tondos by Spanish artist Cristóbal Gabarrón. Raoul Middleman: City Limits explores the people and cityscapes making up the fringes of Baltimore, Maryland. Regaining Our Faculties: Zoë Charlton, Tim Doud, Deborah Kahn, and Luis Manuel Cravo Silva, American University Department of Art faculty members who recently returned from sabbatical show through their new paintings, digital prints, and videos how taking some time away from work can result in personal artistic breakthroughs. Opening reception for all exhibits will be from 6 to 9 p.m.
>> On Friday, Carroll Square Gallery opens Washington Realism. This show highlights works of representational paintings by local and regional artists who paint “what the eye can see.” While some may say this style isn’t as exciting as say, impressionism, being able to replicate the everyday is a talent. Opening reception 6 to 8 p.m.
>> Following a two-year renovation, the 19th-Century French Galleries devoted to impressionism and post-impressionism, including world-renowned masterpieces by Manet, Monet, Renoir, Cézanne, Van Gogh, and Gauguin, return to public view at The National Gallery of Art. Opening Saturday.
>> ApocolypToon will take a peek into what 2012 holds with political cartoons. See works by Kal of The Economist, Tom Toles of The Washington Post, Jeff Danziger (Los Angeles Times, Huffington Post), Daryl Cagle of MSNBC, Matt Wuerker of Politico, Damien Glez (La Monde, Courrier International, La Gazette) and Dan Piraro of Bizzaro. Opening party Thursday at 6 p.m. at Artisphere. Tickets: $25.
>> Thinking Inside The Box exhibits work by Kay Jackson at Addison/Ripley Fine Art. These works demonstrate the artist’s technical mastery and conceptual reach in her delicately wrought, elaborate, small-scale boxes and richly layered canvases. Opening reception is Friday from 6 to 8 p.m.
>> On Saturday at 2:30 p.m., the National Gallery of Art presents two lesser known films by Elia Kazan: Man on a Tightrope and Wild River. Man on a Tightrope follows the travails of a small traveling circus in communist-era Czechoslovakia, including attempts by its manager Cernik (Fredrich March) and his wife (Gloria Grahame) to take the troupe across the border to Germany. Wild River was motivated by personal history, and the film’s tone is interestingly reflective and subtly questions the New Deal’s notions of progress. Then on Sunday at 5:00 p.m., in celebration of the reopening of the 19th-century French galleries, the NGA presents a new restoration of Jean Renoir’s French CanCan, about the origins of the Moulin Rouge.
>> On Tuesday, Georgetown University Spagnuolo Gallery presents Where the Seafloor Melts: Ocean Mud, Ceramic Change & the Connected Mind. The exhibit features ceramic artist Joan Lederman who uses art and science to experiment with pattern, color, and beauty to create individual ceramic pieces. Panel discussion begins at 4 p.m. with opening reception to follow from 5:30 to 7 p.m.
Art Notes
- Capitol Hill Arts Workshop‘s 40th Anniversary celebration continues with 40 Free Events. Check the calendar for dates, times and to register as space is limited.
- Retold is an invitational exhibit featuring nine Mid-Atlantic artists who were asked to consider the words of T.S. Eliot found in The Art of Assemblage/MOMA 1961 by William C. Seitz. Opening reception Saturday from 6:30 to 9 p.m. at artdc.
- Tuesday, Washington Project for the Arts hosts a professional development workshop, Artist Residencies and Retreats: Making it Work for You at Katzen Arts Center at American University. 6:30 to 8 p.m. Free. Please RSVP to lgeorges [@] wpadc.org
- Supplicate opens at Art Whino on Saturday from 8 to 11 p.m. at National Harbor.
