From ArtSee. Email contact[AT]artseedc.com and follow ArtSee @ArtSeeinDC on Twitter.
Steven Cushner. (Courtesy Hemphill Fine Arts)
On Monday, April 8, Yo-Yo Ma delivered the 26th Annual Nancy Hanks Lecture on Arts and Public Policy.
Joining a long tradition of individuals who are passionate about and influential in the intersection between public policy and the arts, such as actors Alec Baldwin and Robert Redford, playwright Wendy Wasserstein, and poet Maya Angelou, Ma gave a persuasive argument for arts as the principle core to education, healing and better collaboration in society in his lecture titled, “Art for Life’s Sake: A Roadmap from One Citizen Musician.”
ArtSee and Hillyer Art Space continue the conversation with Art AdvocaSee TONIGHT, Wednesday, April 17 from 6 pm to 8 pm at Dupont Circle’s Hillyer Art Space.
Represented by Hemphilll Fine Arts, painter Steven Cushner, is inspired by the human instinct to identify patterns in daily life. Panda Head Magzine founder, Morgan Hungerford West, recently completed the 7th issue of her online magazine, which became a collaborative effort between nearly 70 photographers, illustrators, chefs, stylists and local shops.
The Fridge DC Assistant Gallery Director, Emma Fisher, successfully produced the five-week arts festival, Fresh Produce last fall, when she worked with more than 60 artists and five art collectives including Impossible Theater Company and Bourgeon Writes.
Cushner, West, and Fisher will be on a panel to discuss advocacy through their unique niches within the art world–as an artist, online magazine founder, and gallery director. Joining the panelists will be DC-based artists Matthew Malone, Leah Appel, Jerry Truong, James Campbell and Brian Petro.
Art AdvocaSee is TONIGHT, Wednesday, April 17, 6:00- 8:00 PM at Hillyer Art Space, 9 Hillyer Court NW.
Bringing the Art in DC to You – Roxanne Goldberg
Get an RSS Feed for all Borderstan stories or subscribe to Borderstan’s daily email newsletter.
From ArtSee. Email contact[AT]artseedc.com and follow ArtSee@ArtSeeinDC on Twitter.
Peter Karp, “Running.” (Courtesy Studio Gallery)
First Friday is the DC arts patron’s steady date. Always accountable, eternally pleasing and ceaselessly entertaining, the informal evening of gallery hopping and exhibition viewing offers a delightful break at the end of the humdrum workweek.
ArtSee recommends beginning February’s First Friday at Hillyer Art Space, where Denmark-based artist John Reuss will be showing provocative works on paper, described as “existential surrealism” and “psychological realism,” and Maryland Institute College of Arts (MICA) graduate Marcia Wolfson Ray will be displaying sculptural works constructed from natural forms and materials, each inspired by the material’s intensely personal beauty and physical properties.
Studio Gallery will be showing for the first time, Peter Karp’s Solo Show: Shadows. The artist who cites Kurt Schwitters and other Dada masters, as well as Man Ray, and Joseph Cornell as his greatest influences, will be juxtaposing photographic images with found objects, cutouts and geometric shapes, in order to expose the ambiguity of what we perceive as real, objective, and true.
And don’t forget that one of DC’s most respected artists, Steven Cushner, has brought back a series of shaped paintings that he executed in the early 90s, to Hemphill Fine Art. Steven Cushner: The Shaped Paintings, 1991- 1993 challenges viewers to consider the irregularly constructed canvases and structural forms as inspired by such pioneering minimalist artists as Frank Stella, and Washington Color Field Movement painters like Thomas Downing.
Get an RSS Feed for all Borderstan stories or subscribe to Borderstan’s daily email newsletter.
From ArtSee. Email contact[AT]artseedc.com and follow ArtSee@ArtSeeinDC on Twitter.
Hemphill will open Steven Cushner’s show this weekend. (Courtesy of Elizabeth Grazioli)
Steven Cushner: The Shaped Paintings is a must see to kick off the New Year, and it opens this Saturday, January 13, with a public reception from 6 to 8 pm, Hemphill Fine Arts, 1515 14th Street.
Cushner, one of the most successful artists in the District, displays a series of work that has not been seen or shown in 20 years. What makes this show so unique is how Cushner completely redefines the boundaries of a canvas.
In nine of the works on display, Cushner’s goal is to explore patterns, repetition, size and symmetry of an image, mostly confining him to the same color palette. He finds, through his explorations, that these works could not be translated on a regular canvas.
Cushner says that he doesn’t “want paintings to be anything they’re not,” so he gave his work new life with unconventional canvas sizes and shapes. No two canvases are the same and they highlight the striking images that Cushner creates.
Each work in the show has a true sense of balance and symmetry, even with the drips and splatters of paint that Cushners says are completely natural due to his thin application of paint. His process of sketch to canvas is deliberate and once the thought is on paper it is clear that he does not deviate from that image. In addition to the works, Hemphill shows some of Cushner’s original sketches that are a really powerful addition.
The show will be up through March 9 to kick-off Hemphill’s 20th anniversary. It is a perfect celebration of new ideas with historic value and a wonderful collaboration between the artist and his long time gallery representation. For more information on the show visit hemphillfinearts.com.
Get an RSS Feed for all Borderstan stories or subscribe to Borderstan’s daily email newsletter.
