all words: Chris Svetlik
all photos: Chris Svetlik and Emily Fuhrman
Last Saturday the Conner Contemporary opened their Academy 09 exhibition, which displays works from outstanding MFA and BFA graduates of art schools/programs in the area (American, Catholic, Corcoran, Georgetown, GW, Maryland Institute College of Art, Savannah College of Art and Design, and U Maryland). This was a refreshing art show - all local artists, all young talent. My knowledge of the trends in the art world today could be summed up in about 30 seconds, so it was good to see what 'the kids' are up to.
The gallery is located in Trinidad, which just one year ago was under martial law-style lockdown. Looks like the tides of gentrification have begun to flow in. Interestingly, just down the street from the Conner was an establishment named simply "Black Supermarket".
Oh DC.
The gallery itself was a pretty cool space, including a nice outdoor patio. Exhibits spanned all kinds of media - video, photography, painting, sculpture, fluorescent lighting, even cocktail umbrella art. The latter was probably the coolest thing there. The artist was seated in a chair with a bunch of folded-up mini umbrellas at his feet. He would pick one up, take the little pink rubber band off, unfold the paper umbrella portion, and toss it into the giant pile of little umbrellas next to him. He was usually doing this idly, while explaining his philosophy and grand vision to interested onlookers, as the umbrella-pile was a big attention getter. Man, people loved those umbrellas.
Apparently a competition was also underway - halfway through the evening the owners of the gallery announced the two winners. Runner-up: Andrew Schlock, a sculptor with some puffed-up metal pillow-looking pieces on display. And the winner... Danny Baskin, the umbrellas guy - no surprise there. They now go onto some national competition in Miami. In addition to the competition, the exhibition also appeared to serve as a marketplace floor for several local galleries and collectors. Many of the works on display had apparently already been purchased by galleries from DC and the region, including the Hirshorn.
All in all, I'd say this annual exhibition is a great institution for the DC art scene, connecting recent grads and new players in the art world to fans and galleries.
and here are some snaps from emily:
God loves a cheerful giver.
yes! cover more gallery openings. I missed this and was glad to at least see the photos... (though more photos of the art would be nice)
For lack of a less douchey and cliche-sounding compliment, Chris, your photos positively explode with color and depth. Way to be, and keep it coming.