Brightest Young Things

all photos: Mike Danko
all words: Svetlana

Before we kick into actual exhibit previewing, here is some behind the scenes low down on the whole "art writing/previewing "scene"" in DC:
Much like any other "scene" (dirty word) the exact same people go to everything.
They sit around, catch up, eat breakfast provided by the galleries and have known each other for the last 20 years when they first started writing about art in DC.
Granted, much like any other "scene", it is somewhat intimidating to the outside eye: I mean, how do you break in? These people probably eat holiday dinners together, for all I know.
So-I just sit by myself, with my photographer (and I am always the only one with a photographer), and my danishes and eavesdrop, making note of the press tone before there is even press.
And at 9:30 am this past Wednesday in The Phillips Collection Cafe THEY WERE ALL GIDDY.
It has been a good month, and it was only the 6th of October-Burtinsky opened at the Corcoran, and now this.
It is like a photography fan's wet dream.

The Phillips show is, also, probably one of the most interesting shows you'll see this year because, aside from being visually beautiful to look at, it also has a very clear, academically minded narrative (kudos to Wendy A. Grossman for doing such a terrific curatorial job with it and to International Arts and Artists for bringing this to the Phillips).
It explores the integration of African art and artefacts into the western culture and the Modernist movement: photography, fashion etc.
It is fascinating to see the artefacts next to the photos they were used in, next to the magazines they were originally published in, next to the related other work by the movement's contributors (which include, Man Ray aside, Walker Evans and Cecil Beaton, Alfred Stieglitz and others). You peel one layer off, and there is the next one, and you realize that taking anything at just face value is not going to get you anywhere.
It also makes you realize what a tremendeous undertaking this show was: the collecting of the photographs, the locating of the sculptures (the exhibit includes pieces from the National Museum of Denmark which were never shown in the US, for example) and tying it all together into a cohesive show. So many moving parts, so many stories to tell.

Go see this, you'll love it.

Man Ray, African Art and the Modernist Lens opens tomorrow, October 10, 2009 and leaves on a tour January 10, 2010.
All details can be found here
and keep your eyes peeled for a special event BYT is throwing in conjuction with the exhibit