The Moving Image: Watch This 2.0 May 10, 2012

Watch This! Gallery at American Art

Watch This! New Directions in the Art of the Moving Image, the dynamic exhibition of time-based media has been reinstalled, with new examples of video art that span the last fifty years. It has its own dedicated gallery on the third floor of the museum, and is a welcoming space filled with works that fascinate, stimulate, and resonate. "I'm really excited about Watch This! continuing in these permanent collection galleries. It's an opportunity to explore and to represent the art of the moving image. That's what this is a celebration of," according to John Hanhardt, senior curator of media arts at American Art, who put together the exhibition.

"It continues a conversation between artworks of different periods and different media treating different and related issues, so for the viewer it becomes a process of discovery," adds Hanhardt. And in the case of artist Peter Campus, there's a dialogue between an earlier work, Three Transitions from 1973, and Barn at North Fork, from 2010. What a difference a few decades can make. The earlier work is a single-channel video, while the Barn at North Fork is a high-definition digital video. "Where Three Transitions looks at self portrait and skin and how to represent the body," Hanhardt says, "the new work looks at the surface of architectural structures and how that structure can be rendered abstract. It's painterly, but medium-specific. It changes subtley in time. It's an evocative, lyrical piece. Having both works by Campus in the exhibition is a wonderful way to see how artists continue to challenge themselves and explore."

A few other works in the show look at landscapes, such as Swamp by Robert Smithson (of the famed Spiral Jetty) and Nancy Holt, who move through a landscape in the pine barrens of New Jersey. That's juxtaposed with Ernie Gehr's Surveillance from 2010, a meditation on Madison Square Park in New York City. It's a four-channel work. Gehr reframes a particular spot, surface, and movement, and explores different points of view, including aerial views. "What art does is give us new ways to see the world around us, and that's what Gehr is doing," says Hanhardt, "just the way Peter Campus showed us new ways to see ourselves in Three Transitions."

Other highlights of the exhibition include Bruce Nauman's Slow Angle Walk (Beckett Walk) from 1968, a black and white video where Nauman explores his gestures and movements as a tribute to the famed Irish author; and David Haxton's painterly and poetic Painting Room Lights, from 1983. Haxton constructs illusionary objects out of string, paints them, cuts them, and then they disappear.

"The exhibition is about how we see ourselves in the spaces around us," says Hanhardt, "and how the camera can be directed to reshape our bodies, our perceptions of ourselves, and the natural and built environment we live in."

Over the next few months, Eye Level will take a closer look at selected objects in the exhibition.

Luce Unplugged: Pairing Art with Music May 8, 2012

Shark Week, Second String Band by Jon Brack, and Birdlips by Jill Palumbo

Nowadays there are lots of riffs on the traditional wine pairing--beer pairings, pickle pairings (perhaps this is only me), and the list could go on. The American Art Museum has been serving its own special pairing since November 2010. Called Luce Unplugged, we pair art with music. Each month the museum asks local musicians to perform on a Sunday afternoon after an art-talk on a piece chosen by the performing group. Everything from portrait miniatures to contemporary sculpture has been paired with performances of jazz, folk, and hip-hop music, amongst others.

This month we've teamed up with local music outlet D.C. Setlist to present a special Community Showcase on Friday, May 11. Starting at 6 p.m., you can enjoy three art and music pairings. The bands and artworks are diverse, and we're sure you will be able to find something you enjoy. We decided to feature the art portion of the pairings on Eye Level and asked each band, and our partner DC Setlist, to answer this question: What artwork on view in the Luce Center most resonates with your music and why?

Ryan from Shark Week: "'Le Voyeur' is scribbled above the eye hole of Man Ray's piece by the same name and if you look inside there's nothing to see except inside of the cigar box. Works like this really flipped the idea of art up on its head. I think Man Ray's sculptural works often get overlooked due to his significant works in film and photography, which tend to be "surrealist" when described . . .

"I suppose any musical influence or similarities between Man Ray's Le Voyeur and Shark Week would be strictly conceptual. The idea that there are unconventional ways to make a statement can be seen in a lot of music, including ours. More importantly, like May Ray, I think we aren't afraid to make a mockery of anything."

Sam from Second String Band: "Ben Shahn's After Titian speaks to how artists love to play modern themes against old genres, or modern genres against old themes. That's something I think we've played with in interesting ways as the Second String Band."

Lindsay from Birdlips: "Our music deals with borders and boundaries, traversing the shadow worlds where dreams and reality overlap. In Will Barnet's Positano, the dark shapes have a heaviness to them that is almost oppressive, yet the bright spaces in the canvas seem to hint at the transcendence possible beyond."

Jennifer Vinson from D.C. Setlist: "I was immediately drawn to Henry Leach's Black Hawk, when I saw it. The majesty and grace of horses has always captivated me since I was a little girl. I think horses are universally loved. Traveling anywhere in the world you see horses represented in the art, architecture, storytelling and in this case, even a weather vane."

You can enjoy more art and music pairings on the museum's recently launched Mix Tape. And if this art and music pairing isn't convincing enough, you can create your own at the program's cash bar.

Seats of Power (and an Occasional Settee) May 3, 2012

Overmantel, The President's House, about 1824, watercolor on plaster, by Rufus Porter, Gift of the White House Historical Association, 1992, photo courtesy White House Historical Association

Behind every good sunrise lurks an inevitable sunset. This Sunday, May 6, Something of Splendor: Decorative Arts from the White House closes at American Art's Renwick Gallery after a near seven-month run. You only have a few days left to get up and personal with some rare White House finds, including Rufus Porter's, The President's House, from about 1824. Painted in the year's following the War of 1812 and the British burning of the White House, Porter's work, watercolor on plaster, began its life above a fireplace mantel in a New Hampshire tavern. It depicts the sun rising over the White House in a spirit of good cheer and a positively optimistic outlook. The additional buildings portrayed most likely refer to government buildings that once flanked the president's home. Porter's folk work, an important piece of Americana, was removed from its original location around 1950, and acquired by The White House Historical Association in 1992. In addition to being an artist and muralist, Porter was an inventor and became founder and the first editor of Scientific American magazine.

The exhibition is filled with wonderful objects and stories of the people who inhabited the White House and the objects they assembled, collected, and lived with. It is also a tribute to Jacqueline Kennedy, who fostered the creation of the White House Historical Association in 1961. President Kennedy's words from 1962 are inscribed on the wall near the exhibition's end, a perfect take-away for the viewer: "Anything which dramatizes the great story of the United States—as I think the White House does—is worthy of the closest attention and respect by Americans."

Handi-Hour: Let's Make Duct Tape Wallets and T-Shirt Necklaces May 1, 2012

Combining "happy hour" and "handmade,"our May 10th Handi-hour offers the opportunity to make crafts, taste selected craft beers, and listen to live music in the Grand Salon of our Renwick Gallery of American Craft. Craft-tenders will provide hands-on expertise with our featured crafts for this event: duct tape wallets and T-shirt necklaces.

However, if you want to come prepared for both of these DIY projects, take a look at these how-to videos with the Renwick's Program Coordinator, Katie Crooks:

Handy Hour Crafting: Duct Tape Wallets

Handy Hour Crafting: T-shirt Necklaces

Handy-hour begins at 5:30 p.m. on May 10. The cost is $20 (cash only) and you must be at least 21 years old. Come early. This program can sell out!

Open Now: African American Art April 27, 2012

Installation shots from the African American Art exhibition. (click on montage for larger image).

Our latest exhibition, African American Art: Harlem Renaissance, Civil Rights Era, and Beyond, opens today and runs through September 30, 2012. The show features a selection of paintings, sculpture, prints, and photographs by black artists from the museum's collection.

The works lay out a vision of America from an African American viewpoint and, together, create a great overview of this period. What's particularly exciting is that over half of the artworks are being exhibited here for the first time. I sneaked into the exhibition before the press preview yesterday morning and grabbed a few photographs of the installation, as well as of the tour led by Senior Curator Virginia Mecklenburg.

If you can't come and see the show in person, I hope you'll check out both the installation photographs on Flickr, or the slideshow of artworks.

Our conservators have been working hard over the last few months to prepare many of these pieces for exhibition, and we have been documenting their work on Eye Level. Keep an eye out for upcoming posts about this!