The D.C. Docent

The political season really brings out the best in everyone…ahem. Well, love it or hate it, there’s no escaping it. I for one have electoral fatigue big time—which is why I voted early, so I could just be over and done with it!

But there is still plenty of the political to go around, and I’m not just saying that because we’re in D.C. We’ve got a fair few art exhibits around town that get into politics. But before I tell you about them, consider the role of art and politics. Make your brain do some work by reading some of what’s been churning around in the art world seas including an Open Letter to Critics Writing About Political Art and The State of Political Art After a Year of Political Movements. As an obnoxious corollary I will also point you to Creative Time’s Nato Thompson who was interviewed by Artspace re: How to Collect Political Art.

Once you’ve done the homework, check these out:

Art Museum of the Americas - has two exhibits on view: “Snapshots of Democracy” which documents over 50 years of election observing in the Americas and group show “The Ripple Effect: Currents of Socially Engaged Art” which examines the social practice artist as changemaker. Through January 13, 2013.

Civilian Art Projects -has local painter Judy Jashinsky’s “13 Days and 13 Nights, 1962: The Cuban Missile Crisis” with over 40 multi-media works that deconstruct her teenage memories of the event and its lasting impact on her and our own collective history. Through December 1, 2012.

Contemporary Wing - returns to its off-site location at 1250 9th St., NW with “Of the People” a group show of international artists that gives democracy the global treatment and riffs on hope and change, the Arab Spring, populism and Super PACs. Through November 23, 2012.

Curator’s Office -with Jeff Gates’ “The Chamomile Tea Party”, a selection of bipartisan political posters that remixes World War II propaganda posters with contemporary images and texts that reflect the stagnancy of Congress and the rancor of partisan politics. Through November 7, 2012.

Gallery 31 at the Corcoran - has “On the Campaign Trail” focuses “on visual imagery spanning matters such as voter registration and the 2012 U.S. presidential campaign while providing an historical context of various design conventions and mediums used throughout the years.” Through November 4, 2012.

If you haven’t had a chance yet to see the two new exhibits at Civilian Art Projects by local photographer and Corcoran professor Frank DiPerna and New Orleans mixed-media artist Dan Tague, you’ve got another week to do so. Today is the perfect day to read my previous post here about both shows, visit the gallery AND hear Frank DiPerna discuss his work with writer/photographer Mark Power, who also happens to be a former Corcoran professor.

Since “Found Images” opened, the clamor from the DC artist community, about the importance of DiPerna’s work, as well as his influence of scores of photography students, has been impressive. DiPerna has the kind of reputation and respected stature that only comes from doing good work and sharing his talent and experiences with the world around him. He certainly has the credentials to back it up too including having studied with Garry Winogrand and Nathan Lyons, and work in several noteworthy collections including the the Library of Congress, The Smithsonian, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, amongst others.

So, get out of the house, get some brunch, and head on over!

Artist Talk is today, Saturday, October 13 at 4pm, 1019 7th St., NW, Second Floor. Exhibit runs through next Saturday, October, 20.

Sometimes it feels like a smash and grab world where everything is disposable and the detritus just keeps mounting. New Orleans artist Dan Tague and DC local Frank DiPerna tackle these issues in their own unique way in two new shows opening tonight at Civilian Art Projects: Independence in the Age of Decadence and Found Images.

In his second solo show at Civilian, Dan Tague salvages America’s soul. Through his installation work he mines our desires and reappropriates some of our nation’s most recognizable images into pieces that question, and in some cases answer, our social and political realities.

Frank DiPerna, a longtime institution in the DC area and professor to countless scores of Corcoran photography students gives us scenes that are random or carefully composed, it’s hard to know. Either way, his realities are more than just their elements.

While Tague’s work seems more about what’s right in front of us, DiPerna’s appears to be more about what’s missing; a symbiotic calculation that likely drove this pairing, and which promises to make for a some deep thinking either way, if you’ll just give it some time.

Opening reception tonight from 7-9pm at Civilian Art Projects. Both shows run through October 20, 2012.

Hear Artist Colby Caldwell and Poet Bernard Welt discuss “The Changing Nature of Photography.”

Tonight! Sat, May 5, 6pm – 8pm

Several of you have asked “what say ye D.C. Docent, for summer art extravaganzas not to be missed?” Not really, it was only one of you that asked and your vernacular was quite plain. But it did get me thinking, it’s never too early to start surveying the summer landscape. Here are my preliminary picks, but keep in mind that several private galleries have yet to release their late summer line-ups:

• Diebenkorn’s Ocean Park Series at The Corcoran - Scale, abstraction, stillness, muted tones and oceanic themes make for the kind of California Dreaming you only find on dappled, breezy Rock Creek Park picnics.

• Ai Weiwei at The Hirshhorn & Freer Sackler - Gigantism, interconnectivity, political dissidence, stone and wood translate into A Staring at the Sun kind of intensity where questioning authority, jail time and occupying something don’t seem so bad.

• Jasper Johns at The Phillips Collection - Printmaking, bold colors, graphics and pop vibe mean that if you’re wearing Ray Bans, an upturned collar and quoting the Beats or John Hughes, it ain’t gonna be such a Cruel Summer.

• The Art of Video Games at The American Art Museum - Unless you read my previous post on this show, be prepared for stammering, yammering, pixels, plug & plays and enough nerdy amusement to make you jam out like this.

• Joan Miro at The National Gallery of Art & The Kreeger - The geometry of surprise, think minimalist whimsy, but with an underlying lesson of more than basic shapes and primary colors is what you might hear in your Radiohead.

• Cynthia Connolly at Civilian Art Projects - Spare, clean, slightly gritty black and white images evoke the sense of Standing on a Beach.

• Leo Villareal at Conner Contemporary -  Disappear here with diodes, pure color, and prismatic flashes of the future L’Estate.

• Hedieh Javanshir Ilchi at Contemporary Wing - Precision and controlled chaos that manifest in ornamental sinkholes and portals where you might fall into a Suntrance.