December 2010

Fictions of Nature

Bill Moore produces giant bronze sculptures that place insects, fish, and birds in fantasy situations that are not consistent with their natural behavior. His sculptures activate the creative imagination of his audience, asking them to develop their own fictional narratives to accompany his naturalistic fantasies. Moore’s interests, however, are not solely confined to the organic. In Fictions of Nature his nature sculptures are placed alongside his precise industrial pieces. What is finally presented is an intriguing contrast of the natural and industrial, which navigates the liminal space between organism and object, fact and fiction.

Visit Moore’s website at www.mooresculpture.com.

Arman, Revealed Secrets, 1993

Christopher Pelley, Pandora’s Box, 1996

F.L. Wall, Plane, 1978

Dale Loy, Flash L.T.G., 1970

Fernand Leger, Les Constructuers, 1951

Constance Bergfors, Hard Rock Twist, 1989

Jime Dine, New French Tools #3, 1984

December 2010

Tools As Art: A Selection

The complete Hechinger Collection, featuring nearly 400 works of art, was donated to IA&A in 2003 by hardware-industry pioneer John Hechinger, Sr. The collection’s contemporary prints, drawings, paintings, and sculptures represent a variety of 20th-century art which uses tools as art, exploring the line between utility and artistry. A special selection from the Hechinger collection was exhibited at Hillyer Art Space in December. Like the larger collection, this special exhibition celebrates the ubiquity of tools in our lives with art that magically transforms utilitarian objects into fanciful works of beauty, surprise, and wit.

Matias Costa (Spain), Extraños

José Luis Rodríguez Maldonado (Colombia), Untitled

Sergi Camara (Spain), El Muro de Europaj

Paula Burd (Argentina), Elena y Lucia Tropini

Guillermo Hakim (Peru), Rubén Bengolea, Electrician

Marcelo Cattani (Uruguay), Esta soy yo

Elton Nery Núñez Campusano (Paraguay), La Niña

Rodolfo Walsh (El Salvador), Mannequin Piss

Pepe Brix (Portugal), Huacahuasi, cordilheira andina

Sergio Izquierdo (Guatemala), Consequences

November 2010

imMigration

imMigration examines the many facets of migration and immigration from the perspective of migrants and immigrants, their families, and the cultures they have either entered or left behind. The exhibition locates the present state of migration and immigration within a comprehensive global narrative, covering current issues of border violence while memorializing the histories of past migrants and immigrants. imMigration, coordinated by Hillyer Art Space, features photographs submitted by the Association of Ibero-American Cultural Attachés and showcases the work of renowned photographers from nine South and Central American countries, in addition to Spain and Portugal.

Visit Crooks’s website at www.crooksphotography.com.

Chakraphan Rangaratna, detail of My Ship Is Not Pretty, 2009-10

Chakraphan Rangaratna, detail of My Ship Is Not Pretty, 2009-10

Chakraphan Rangaratna, detail of My Ship Is Not Pretty, 2009-10

Chakraphan Rangaratna, detail of My Ship Is Not Pretty, 2009-10

Ding Ren, video still of Reflected Light Series, 2010

Ding Ren, video still of Reflected Light Series, 2010

Soun Hong, Sidescape (Washington, DC. March 2. 2009 I), 2009

Soun Hong, Sidescape (Washington, DC. Feb. 2010-1), 2010

Eric De Leon Zamuco, detail of A Tale of Common Things, 2010

Eric De Leon Zamuco, sketch of A Tale of Common Things, 2010

September-October 2010

Puzzling (a) Space

Puzzling (a) Space is a site-specific exhibition of painting, installation, video and performance by four contemporary Asian artists: Soun Hong (Korean), Chakraphan Rangaratna (Thai), Ding Ren (Chinese American), and Eric De Leon Zamuco (Filipino). This exhibition is co-curated by Jeong-ok Jeon (Korean) and Jammie Chang (Taiwan), and as a collaborative project, it will bring the dynamic cultural perspectives to the District arts community and increase the cultural exchange between Asia and the US. During the two months exhibition period, numerous public programs are scheduled.

August 2010

Ruptured Walls: Flower Paintings

Corwin Levi’s flower paintings transport the viewer into a vortex of nostalgic, youthful wonderment. The fantastical imagery of his work is so visually commanding that the intensity of dreams, ideas, and space are literally punched through the canvas.

Levi equates these gaping surfaces to transitioning phases in life. The openings produce a sense of movement and oscillation from whimsical dreams in childhood to the propitious memories of adulthood. Yet movement is not uni-directional. Each piece evokes within viewers a sense of time’s forward motion and memory’s equally powerful backward descent. Impulsive memories infused with electrifying dream-states engulf each piece as lines twist, sheets fold and crinkle, and pops of color drip down the canvas. Why not live the way one dreams?

Visit Levi’s website at www.radiosebastian.com.