The D.C. Docent

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.

Since the advent of “street photography” in the early 20th century, this genre has become a mainstay of modern and contemporary art and culture, and one of its most fascinating. I’ve had the opportunity to visit many a street photography exhibit over the years and it’s a challenge to pull the good ones off successfully. Some personal favorites of mine include: Daido Moriyama at the Met in NY, Richard Gordon at the Corcoran, Open City at the Hirshhorn, and Lewis Baltz at the National Gallery of Art.

I Spy: Photography and the Theater of the Street, 1938–2010 which opened at the National Gallery of Art this past Sunday gets ambitious by exhibiting photography from a long arc spanning over 70 years. I posted a few weeks ago about the importance of understanding photographic equipment/process and how it impacts what is photographed, as well as the resulting image. I would again urge keeping this in mind when viewing this exhibit. Also before going, I would urge you to read the excellent 50-page digital brochure that has been created and is free to download from the website! Thank you NGA for putting this online!

Equally compelling, although not found in DC, are street photographs by Chris Arnade online at Flickr. I don’t remember how I first got exposed to his photography, but I keep going back and absorbing the faces he captures, the untold stories of which we only get a glimpse.

Enjoy both these opportunities to view street photography this summer. I Spy runs from April 22 – August 5, 2012 and Chris Arnade can be found indefinitely online.

Listen to what local museums have musically in store for you:

Katzen center suggests you listen to Bossa Nova: http://m.8tracks.com/dglspl/bossanova-chill

Corcoran suggests you visit them at 4pm today for VERGE ensemble and Masters of Illusion: https://getinvolved.corcoran.org/vergemastersofallusion

And finally: National Gallery of Art wants you to enjoy some violin and piano for JS Bach, Beethoven and Falla tonight at 6pm: http://www.nga.gov/programs/music/index.shtm#mar182012