Dupont Circle Gallery Roundup

Updated: I've added the text portion of the reviews.

Below are the galleries I visited in Dupont Circle on Saturday. I'll give you the images now to consider on your own and then hopefully tomorrow I'll provide my mini-reviews.

Renee Stout @ Washington Printmakers Gallery

Renee Stout's prints were part of a larger exhibition at WPG but for me they were the clear standouts. I was immediately drawn to there suductive, earthy tones and interesting subject matter. A couple of months ago I spoke negatively about Stout's installation at Hemphill. For me, the installations come across as too gimmicky and forced. I don't get the same feeling from the assemblages as I do from the prints. The prints feel personal and communicative. The installations felt boisterous and staged. This set of prints though were quite nice and elegantly executed, even if rough around the edges.

This was my favorite Stout print in the show. When I first walked into the small gallery I was drawn straight to this piece. For a moment there were no other pieces of art in the room. There's something strangely old and new about the print and that fascinated me. These prints helped me understand a bit better what Stout's work is about and I'm glad I got the opportunity to see these.

Dean Kessman @ Conner Contemporary

Copyright - Conner Contemporary

Yes! Without question my favorite show this month. Talk about taking a simple concept and executing it brilliantly with fabulous results. Kessman took ubiquitous plastic bags for various stores, wadded them up, backlit them (apparently) and photographed them at a high resolution. Each print is exquisitely executed and the bag images seem to pop off the page. The first thing I did was to look at each piece from the side to see if the artist had somehow glued the bag down, so real was the trompe l'oeil effect. Not surprisingly I saw two other viewers do the same thing while I was there.

Copyright - Conner Contemporary

The installation of the digital prints worked wonders for giving power to the work. On whitewashed walls with a white floor, the bags seemed to float. The rich hues and crisp lines resonated throughout the space. Though subtle, the installation gave the work an added sense of awe and they were better for it. Priced at $2,000 each though, in an admittedly very small edition size, the work might be a bit expensive. But maybe I'm saying that because I can't drop 2 grand at the drop of a hat.

Copyright - Conner Contemporary

I loved how easy you could tell from which store some bags came but for others it was nearly impossible. Here is clearly a bag from Wal-Mart. I think the concept behind the work is simple and clear and make for a wonderful series of work. That is, making something beautiful from corporate inspired excess waste. Plastic bags have a brief lifespan but Kessman as extended it and given the bag new significance. Although he has dramtically altered our perception of the bag and logos, these works work to bring attention to both things. Never before have I put so much thought in the appearance of corporate logos and messaging on plastic bags!

Bede Murphy & Jason Zimmerman @ Irvine Contemporary

Bede Murphy

I stumbled upon an artist talk by both Murphy and Zimmerman while on my crawl. Admittedly, the few Murphy pieces I'd seen in person and online did absolutely nothing for me. However, this show forced me to reconsider my opinion. I really enjoyed the personal nature of each piece and the manner in which they are composed. His color choices and use of iconographic images made for a cohesive body of work. The use of text allows each piece to be individual and even more personal should the viewer wish to go there. I didn't find Murphy's talk to be very useful - he really never said anything - but it allowed me more time to consider the work. Murphy's work is far from radical but there's enough to it to encourage me to expect bigger and better things from the artist. He's certainly on a good track and I'm glad I saw the show.

Bede Murphy

The artist discussed the piece at right at his talk and it was interesting to chew on. Murphy admitted that when he was executing the piece he meant for the text to read "Cry Gay Boy Cry," but instead he accidentally put Boy above Gay. He decided to roll with the "mistake" and that decision is a great one. I'm glad he admitted it to us because he could have very easily made up some conceptual reason for why it read the way it did. Instead, he let us in on his secret and it speaks to the creative process and allowing the chips to fall where they may. This pair of paintings were my favorite in the show.

Jason Zimmerman - image pulled from Irvine Contemporary Web site

Ah, Jason Zimmerman. I hated Zimmerman's recent video of spliced Cops footage and artist books shown at Transformer Gallery. I was hoping to find something in his photography to change my mind about his work but alas I did not. His photographs of things that have signs of human touch came across to me as dime-a-dozen in contemporary photography. I couldn't find anything poetic in these higher-quality-than-normal snapshots and I was left wondering what today hasn't had human touch alter it. Perhaps some remote corners of a rainforest somewhere? I don't know. It's clear that Zimmerman is experiencing a fair amount of success and attention right now and while I don't understand why, I certainly encourage him to continue. I'll keep looking hoping one day it clicks.

Gene Davis, Jae Ko & Kathleen Kucka @ Marsha Mateyka

Gene Davis and Jae Ko

Any time I can see a Gene Davis painting it's a good day. After all, everyone loves stripes and I'm no exception. There's not much more that can be said about his work but I will say that I found this particular installation of the painting to be interesting. In the old rowhouses of Dupont Circle, galleries have awkward spaces with which to work. The tightness of the Davis installation gave me a new sensation to the work. The stripes weren't allowed to breathe. They were contained and therefore had a more urgent feel to them.

Jae Ko has a piece in the hallway seen on the right. Below is a better image of a bigger Ko work.

Jae Ko

I really enjoy Ko's wall sculptures. Formed out of rolled and dyed paper, these sculpture yearn to be touched. I can appreciate the sensation some people describe around my work but unlike some, I resisted the urge to reach out and touch it. This is very organic work that provokes the "gee whiz" reaction but it is beautiful and elegant. Although I've seen quite a bit of her work and it rarely varies much, I always get a kick out of it.

Kathleen Kucka

Kucka's work first grabbed my attention in the Pierogi flat files in New York. I loved the visual depth of her work. Although purely abstract, her work can induce you into lingering a while to study each piece. This painting, and the others in the show, are departures from what I've seen previously from Kucka. Before she made use of layers circles in shades of cream, black and blue. The introduction of straight lines and the color red was a shock to my eye but once adjusted the works sucked me in. There are small details I could complain about but I don't want those to take away from the enjoyment I had with the pieces. I look forward to seeing where Kucka takes this new direction

Comments

[Tracy]

Kessmann - they are scans, not photos - not that it matters but since you questioned how they were made. He was my prof last year at GW and was beginning this project while I was taking classes there.

[J.T. Kirkland]

Hey Tracy,

Thanks for the clarification. Now that you say that it makes perfect sense. I can see them as scans.

Although, I would argue that scans are photographs, but that's another discussion altogether.

[Tracy]

You wouldn't get an argument from me re: scans being photos or not - does it matter the machine that captures the image? I don't think so. :)

[Teague]

Scans aren't really photographs any more closely than a video frame is really a photograph. The fact that scans are an extremely exact lighting and lack any of the perspective a lens totally shifts the values inherent in the capture of the image... paintings and photographs of paintings are showing nominally the same image in a two dimensional format, but no one would argue that the photograph is the same as the painting, would they?

[J.T. Kirkland]

Teague,

I don't think your painting and photograph analogy flies. I wouldn't say that the photograph IS the painting but I see no reason why a photograph can't be a painting, especially digital photos where a machine is applying a pigment to a surface.

As for a scan being a photograph, I'll stick with my position. It's the capturing of light. I also think that a change in the color of wood caused by the sun is a photograph. Then again, I say my wood work is painting and not sculpture, so what do I know?

Fun to think about regardless.

[ric carter]

Scans as photos? I distinguish between photo technologies. Photography involves film (or plate) and chemicals. Electrography is an analog process to put electrons on tape, like old VHS & Beta. Digigraphy puts photons to memory, as with modern digicams and scanners. Each class of sensor has its own range of textures and feelings. What goes in front of the sensor adds another layer of texture: lens, pinhole, light. If you capture a flat image, does it matter that you used Daguerre or Talbot gear, a Graflex or Brownie, analog or digital videocam, some digicam or scanner?

[J.T. Kirkland]

Ric,

I think your distinctions are apt. But until "digigraphy" enters our common vocabulary, I'll stick to calling it all photography.

Thanks for the insight!

[Sesso]

Great site.