the last washington painting [strogo chuvana tajna] by alan sonneman [1980] ocr

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THE LAST WASHINGTON PAINTING(PREMONITIONS OF THE CORPORATE WARS)

54 x 102 in. oil on canvas 1980

The Last Washington Painting by Alan Sonneman was first show at the Washington Project for the Arts on March 4th,1980 to great acclaim. It was been reproduced on the front page of the Washington Post’s Style section three times aswell as the Washington Star and many other publications including the cover of Common Cause Magazine. After 30years it re-emerged when J. W. Mahoney asked to include it in a 35 year survey of the history of the WPA. Having losttrack of it, a search was undertaken which was chronicled in a cover story in the Washington City Paper in July 2010.(www.washingtoncitypaper.com/articles/39439/how-the-last-washington-painting-became-the-lost-washington-painting).

It depicts the infamous image of the atomic bomb test Operation Crossroads at Bikini Atoll in 1946 imposed upon theskyline of the capitol of the empire, Washington, D. C. in the waning days of the Cold War and MAD (mutually assureddestruction).

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Washington City Paper - How "The Washington Painting" Became "The Lost Washington Painting" - July 16, 2010

www.washingtoncitypaper.com/articles/39439/how-the-last-washington-painting-became-the-lost-washington-painting

















http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/articles/39439/how-the-last-washington-painting-became-the-lost-washington-painting

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Washington Project for the Arts - Catalyst Invitation - Oct. 2010

Help Us Celebrate 35 Years of Washington Project for the Arts Buy Your Tickets Today!

CATALYST

Curated by J.W Mahoney, the anniversary exhibition will highlight 35 years of WPA's history. The retrospective will demonstrate the continuing uniqueness, resilience, and catalytic power of WPA, one of the nation's first alternative arts organization.

Americ•n Universit y Museum Katzen Arts Center 4400 Massachusetts Avenue, NW W•shington, DC

Cocktails + Delicio• Ught Fare + Dessert + Surprise Perfom~ances Purchase tickets before Oct ober 1 and purchase two tickets for 12

Click !mal to purchase.

S 1 SO per person

Invite • f riencU Pre"""S•Ie tickets are S2 7 5 for two people ( available ..,til Oct ober 1 )

Sponsor an artist for S75 (good karma!)

S75 WPA artist-members (limit one per member)

Not a member? Click he re to join!

For more inf ormat ion or for sponsorship opportunities: 202.234.7103 xS esmi therman@woadc .org

Donors to WPA' s Major Gifts lniti•tive at the Supporter level and above receive complimentary tickets to the evenU To make a donation. contact Ele-anof Smithcfman at WPA.

catalyst HOftOI'..,. U Z lf',...,:illl c.aulyst E•e n: t s Comlrlliuee WPA aoar4 of o &rectors )Qtj:Sa Mid'UI.fd:

Commrttee Oeenls O"Nea Olroly n Alper. Co-<luir Alldres E. Tremofs. Jt¥Yin Non1s Tt!eooore Ac.am.st e ln AIISCMl &- Sill VIY'II!ft.l'l l! LasSII\il!l. Co-ctllit Ot litfftatl Hate b A . NltOC Su san 4 DIXon &iUel' P~ey L e tg11 Conner 4 Jii!YIIe Smit ll Nn8town Rec:el'kk P. Ognibene. WUJI~ Otrtsteftbetty , .... Jr.IC)' ..JJISit lfls:ky Oanl el f . lknoa M.O. St!etl io triCll!l' ~ssen ~i. UOtU IUJrtbe.rly Qs.ey W£UI M! C. P•ey $andy 4 Jim AtlP~tl'ic:t Jodt Reynolds Af'll!l lltte Polan Stepl!en 0 . He5sler MMy MMgaret A.lbeno Gait .an Robta Rose Estelle Rogl!l's f llse Hottmae• Prumcge Sat\ Q OJam 001'1 Ru ssel l JOO!ft Wtbofl' o w ayfte \..estre Roben Ru Hat!t 6 CWOI StOWft AIM StOI!I! Jtun wwa Jennifer MOtrut Loy JM\es f . Rin er Goldberg Mifc:a Wl tlters Jgc:y Wb l ttl e sey Ne:redi t .lt L .. MargOlis JMI ROt .ltsdtitC: Tom Green. 8tJii Wooby Sop!IJ• McCrodlin Robert Stll elds OtgaH.fi'Sbllorn

















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The Washington Post - Style Section - Page 1 - March 13th, 1980 by Paul Richards

















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The Washington Post - Online Edition - Nov. 2010

The Mets are ready for real business. Are you?

o.odyfo<Reol8uo.,..s XerOX f)'

washlngtonpoat.com > Photo

• THIS STORY: READ+ I WATCH+ I t'J Com menta

















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Washington City Paper - Online Edition - Dec. 30th, 2010 by John Anderson

ARTS DESK •. .••• ..••••••••... •• •••••••••••••••••••••••• •••• ••••••••

Reflections on D.C. Art in 2010 Postedby JohnAnderson on Dec. 30, 2010at 1:23pm

I'm not a fan of top lens.

And because I just began

covering art for the

Washington City Paper In

tile middle of the year- with a fall hiatus-! don't feel qualified to give a list of

"best shows." Bu~ there are several things l"m

ruminating about going into

2011. Alan SOnntman".$ 1980 WOrk The Latt WuSNngi.Of) Pair' ling (Prcmoniti:lns or lhc Coti)OI'tl.~e Wars) was feabuod;, tl'1o Katzen M Center's WPA rctrcspcctivo.

The Washington Project

ofthe Arts Is 35 going on five

The recent WPA 35th anniversary retrospective at American University's

Katzen Arts Center, curated by J .W. Mahoney, was a fine collection of work by area artists, but the end product of the exhibition looked more like another

WPA auction than It did a retrospective. The early experimental spirit of WPAelectronlc music, film screenings, dance troupes, stage performance, fashion

shows, poetry readings- was difficult to recreate, and it was certainly made au the more problematic by lacking document:ation, which WPA does not seem to possess. It remains unclear ff any artist who once eXhibited at the early WPA

has any such ephemera either.

ConsequenUy, that interdisciplinary spirit was lost on the individual who happened to pass through the Katzen eXhibition of mosuy two-dimensional

work. In the last decade, WPA put together fewer events than n did between 1975 and 1978. The comparison Is somewhat unfair, since In the 1970s the

organization had far more space, far more staff, and a big name-Robert

Rauschenberg-on the board. What can be gathered from the "retrospective"

Is that WPA Is an organl2ation still gaining its legs aner its divorce from the Corcoran Gallery three years ago: a reinvented child with all the stature and potentlal of M02art (who wrote his first wonk at the age of five). AS WPA re

matures, hopefully ~ can shake off the institutional scabs of high society and once again become something more funky-SynchroSwim and the WPAtade

(the tater of which I participated in) have been fun steps in that direction.

















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The Gaurdian UK - Nov. 15th, 2010 by Kevin Anderson

2

MediaGuardian

Dispatches

Digital media

Networked news

Th(' r~HSion ba.s~·.utated US locoil and regional newspapers. Erica. S!'n!th, wh-o runs the site Paper Cuts. counted aS.992 M t newspaper jobs in 2008, 14,783 in 2009and 2.761 in 2010. So r.v 166 pilp«$ h.wet c~ lh('il dQQr$.

And while tht'!e hasbe.:on no short· age of countentailing .1ttempts to OOOd :aew loc:aln('Ws busiMSsmodel.s, ther"' ;..we b«n morq f;ailurts t:un su<:<('$$('$. TBO. a W.uhington metroar«~wt-band TVnewsse.rvicelaunci.1ed b)' Robert Albrittoo'sAibrittoo Communkation.s. is tht> IJII?$.1 bid torfinvmt )OQ) news.

The industry is ~ying•Utntioo • in p.u1 bt<:3uSfAibrltton !'l.ls :tlrfady had one nEows startup success, the Politico websit('.md O('WSp3.J>@r. Lau.n.chOO in 2007, it ism.,kil'llftnCX'ICI'y ilnd r~tl)' announced :a ntw pt"tmium sCNict. Unl1ke Politico, th00$h. TBD l.snot a purest.mup: it is rnmted to two TV st.,tkm s, TBD TV .1nd W JLA.

TBO.tom hal t.lktn to heart ~tf l3.rYts1s idvlu to "'Do what you do best and aggregate the rest.· lts editori31 $IJ'.1t~ o~ims to ~t'pt~ C"Xistill$ CQ., • le"'l while ~a: chins for new opi)Qrluni· ties in tr.lditi0n3.1 t)'ll'M ofnl'W$.

"'\V~trled 10 fOC'US<>n thing$ other peoplew~ren·t doing." says SteY~ euttr)', TOO's diactor or conun unity cng.,~~nt. For in$1.ra~. loolpolitfe31 CO'Vef'38efs eu~ntl'.a1, Bunry adds, but .. rather than C<Wel'ing the bol'Se rae~ of the day· to-do~y c.a.mpai,:., Kevin Robill:trd, OtJr (politics) r~portcr, is f.lct·checldns,..

Much has been mad~of!lyperlocal strategies \\itll content delivered at a pos:tcode !('Vel but TBD'smaNgement ~It as a rtgl<>n.'ll s'ltewilh hyper!Oc.'ll et.ements. Bunry h.'ls 190 bloggers who provide hyper\lxal content. and four community hosts who highlight the best posts from the blog n~twork.

T8Dh3s onudvMtagethat most swtups only dream of: an 3d sales team of22 whoh.a,·e contacts \\ithmajor r~J adv~rtisns. Th~ $iludd$ IOI:olti«l infOf1llO)t ion toallofil$ <lOnl~t. {ndudlng n~IWorlc blog posts, so that people can find content r~lated towhefe they \\IOl'k, ~veor play. Ultimately, thisCQI.IId opro th~door to future $.'C'O• f3t~'Cicd ads as thuatedevelops. KevinAndeuon

Journalism

Gem of a story

I don·t k!\()Wffl001e wiU be ::my n:l.ti'Ol"'al newspal"'!r representaU,•es.u Sotheby's when 20 pie<es ol jewe-Ue1y owned by th~ l.)te l>udt<!S$OfWindsor aJeauctiOncd late:" thismoonth, but ifthey.lrt bidding with a view to offering them in .\ readers· competition 1 have some advice: take care.

I s.~ from exptotiC'"Ict-. ln t9t;, I boug:" live of Wallis S.:mpsorls dl3mond. pe.ul and gold lo:we gifts from Edw3!d VUL when they came upatSotheby'"sin Cene\'a in a ule tN t S<IW Elizabeth T.ay· IOfOUibfd Prince Chatles for 3 Prinee of Wales feathers-shaped dfamonddip he was desperate to present to Diana. With wonderful insoucia:a ce, Uz raised the bid<liJl$ to C400.000 while adining by her Deve!ly llllls: pool and rouowtnvlhe au<tion on a satellite link.

I had no such advantage a:s t:1e Daity Mail's featu:re&EditOJ wh('!], de-s:per.ate for somtXhinf fizay,l hild f.lllt'n on a.n item about the s:.ate.md suggested\\~ buyoneoo two pk>ces: to olfertor~ea. The-then tdit01, Sir David English, had~ $U;IV~txt('rior but th(' h«Jrt of" fairgJound b.'l;'ker. Oi;~mo:'lds, he knew, were a girl'S bes:t friend, and under him

Quote of the week 'It didn't cross my mind' J<r; Hllnt, fOfll'lir COil l.JOUgro( BBO. when as~ If shtl rf.)ll~ U\at mangtls rnadtl0f'l l1~wat<h

toCounuyfil£awould r@Stllt in feu women losing their jobs

the-Mail was brandinv itself .u thf' p.aper for wcan('n. Wltt'n thuale w o~s ovtr. Lord RothC1m('Te·s w.allcc w~s £200,000 Wghter.

J bought a pe3!1 nedd~ (!')2,200), 3 ¥Qid pantilt'l' brooch (£)0,000), a.-uby a.nd sapphhe brooch with the initi.,ls W .1nd £ e111wined (£40,000). Sil\'1!1' t1ng:s (£12.000)and ant!-cat3t gold and pe;n~t powder compact (£'1),6oO). Thi.SboQC)• """' smu,ogled ~k tbr~ Heathrow'sgte<on dianne! by a he3.vily persptrtng Rkh3rd Kay. J'I(W{ the p<~per'S diary editor.

The Mail offered readers the opportu!'lity to win "The MOS'I Rocn~tft: Je.,.,.els In The World". 1 waustontshed by the fam-ous and wealt:ly V."'!!len who were crazy to get their ha:adson them. When I showed Fanah favo·mt the compact, she ftolloo her hotel bed In «"SlaS)' and ple.\ded to have it; an Amerlron cosmet· ics heiress got ratty w!IE':I I wouldn't slip her the pant:1er brooch for a fortune p.lid intoo~ Swi&S bank .Kcou:~t in my name. bntA.shel' and MMe J~n modelled the rocl:s and Anne Diamond drooled OVe'! them on breakfast TV.

I doubt therev.-,11 be newsJXI.P@r bid· dtrs for this Lltes• Walh c:ach~ • DVDs hwe iong~ the prefened freebie maiketing tool. I can' t help thinkin.g. thou~. th;~t old Chris de 9urtth <oncerts dcm't h;.we quit~ th(' fl.lmour o r th<! dudless's jC\\'tls. Roderkli: Cikhris t

Television

Carnival procession

Any Hum;o HE~art. Ola.nnel ~·s buni· :~ent.'ld.lptarfonofWUIWn Boyd·s sp1awting nO\'el oft!leroUercoaster life of Logan MountstuarL shares a co:nmon provE':Ian<ewitb JTV's Dov.Titon Abbey. Both ~r• m.ld(' b)' C.UniV<'I F'ilms~d Television. lhees:tabllshed UK prod bee.-. that was bought by NBC Uni\·E'l'Sal two )'ea:s ago. Furtht'l'. both productions dqpmd on $UbSlolntio~l ft.mds it Oil SO Jupplicd, ~sco·l'i:..,n«r. WithOlll th('1J1, these quintessentially British dramas would not bavt> been made.

C;vnival 'sm~dire<tor. C;ueth N~me, N)'S: «<,Ve' ve provided inwO\rd rnv~stmoot 313. U:nefl is rN IIy ne-00«1: accesstomoretinandal mus:de. There has been noAmerica:~iwtioo, we're the ~me team." Sally Woodw~1d Gtntlt, Ca..rniv.\l's 0'('.\IIVt duector, conl'bns th~ sDc·hour 3d.\ptat i0l"'. scrfpc~ b)• So)· d. was: an easyaeati,·esell to C4· but Cmtilla Cocnpbe:ll, th<! dmn.l commi$0 sfoMr th<!l'(", couldn't .. trord H.

Carnfval h.uput upln ext:es.sofa third of the bud p-et. compared. wl6 ;aqllaJttr roc Downton Abbey. As Campbell says: .. We h.wes(!(!11 in re«nt )'~3=~ :md will ClOr\t lnu.e to soo, Indies h:wt.ng to be more entrepreneun'aJ in termsof6nandng. Any Human lleart isn't the llrst and it won'l 00 the l~t. •

While NNtn("'S(.'IOrpo:-.,t(" mtssioa'l ts todlv~rsl.fY into entert3fnment. he has also b.lded. his hunch that .ludteon-ces want period drama. Julian FeliCM•es: says heMd Nc:meh.'ld bc(on Wldnj!:~.bout :1. ('()'Jltempor.:uyfde.t, "but t:lr.a he sa.!d to :ne, 'have you thought of returning to Gos!ord Pa!k teJritory?·~

Any Human He.vt.lib the nv s:etift. s.t.trt:sfn th~ £dw:~.rd1M et4. with ple:lty of dosely observed upper·das.s soclety. Mcxe of a ~ter.uy p:oduction. if•ny· thing it is: mo:e lavi:s:.1.

NI.Wil•'s im;tinctsh.w•paid off so fa.;. Down ton :\bbeyhas already gone Into p1ofi t. with aS-«o:ld serieso:dered, and a third likely. Boyd' s novels have a wide fol)(w.;Jif and C.amiv.U expects A:~y Hu:n~ HNrt will $<10 aaon Euro~. eul the ability to fu:~d new drama carries a slgnifia.nt risk: that UK btoadcastt'l's \\;11 be-tempted to demand more An;ott f1om thdr 5upp!i~r;. to th' point whcneit b«omHa b.ldbusi."''C!'SSd<.\d. Ma.ggle Brown

















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The WornMagazineBlog - Nov. 19th, 2010 - by Joshua Yospyn

(J Twitk:r (} F.1cdlook Q fllckr ~ RSS F«d

Visiting 35 Years of DC Artwork Posted by Joshua YospyA November 19.1010

At the same time Maura Judkis and I worked on the Chocouture s tory. she unearthed Tht IA$l Washington Pltlnfi.ng and wrote about it for the City Paper. Alan Sonneman"s photorealistic doomsday oil was buried ~neath a "pile olstuW in coUector Timothy Egert's house lor many

years. Jt's now hanging amidst an lmpressJve retrospective titled .. Catalyst.'' running through December 19th that celebrates the Washington l,ro;cct for the Art's 35th anniversary. On Saturday at 4pm. curator J.W. Mahoney will di.scuss the WPA exhibition. (Word to the wise~ givt yourseU at least an hour to see the work on aU three Ooors. I was here for 90 minutes but that wasn't enough time to djgest it.)

My favorite Image from the show is inside a book on display caUed Phmogmplty by~tnd ftboul lht Homdtss. One black-and-white photograph Jn particular was taken at the Capitol City lnn by Oanicl Hail in 1989 and depicts a child halfwa)' through a bock flip. Aptly titk.'d "Flip/' it

shows au-shaped body hovering in mid-air, lmpossibly curled and alive, that contrasts sharply against the bleak linear facade of a hotel in the back$round. If you have more information about this photograph. its subjc<:t.. or acatOr1 pi~Cm I~Cave us a comment.

Also1 outside in the sculpture garden you'U ftnd il str~t vt inst.illation leatw-ins work by Blake Martin. MichiM'l Murphy~ Erik Otto and DC's own J<eUy Towles. Wall SmttC'hm. ~ Mstttd, was cre-ated on top of 100 doors Towles received via donation or found dumpster diving. You'll set" •II kinds of virt1.1al closets and CO\binctry, but look closely and you might find the ladil's room. Thi$ is the kind of project

that you assume takes months to build, transport, and assemble, but nope. Kelly told me it began a week before the exhibition.

I've been to the American University ~useum at the Katzen before, but this was my flrst vlsJt via metro. l(s not hard. You don' t have to

drive or (CASI,} take the bus. Take the red line to ic-nlcytown and either hop on a <:4mpus shuttle or (OOUBLE CASP) walk there in 15

minutes.

O IOCOl;1VIU: 0."CC>C\'IG . IIIAt:IO

il4.fi. I

















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American University - Oct. 26th, 2010 - by Maggie Barrett

til RSS @ Email ~ Print q Shar•

AU Museum Celebrates Washington Project for the Arts

ey Maqlt &atreu

Oc:tebtr 26, l010

lktoil/n:Jm Ab'l ~ Tfi"'Lost wodlirston~ (1\-C'IJIOI'idotuc/ t.h"'Corporot•WIXS}, 19t!O. Oil one-. S.x 101 bl. rr,.,.: Wd!MJtortProJ«t ,,.. tii•NUJ

Connect bold, inncwatfve artists

through a variety of vibrant Pf<lifat"M.

Take a nep back and watCh what

happens.

That was the Idea of Alke Denney, a

contemporary art en thustast 1n

Washtngton, D.C., 35 years ago When

she founded th~ W&Shtntton ProjeCt f«

the ArU (WPA)-one d the natiOn's fil's-t

and most enduril.g alternative arts

organizations. lndeeod, since 19?S, 'WPA

has liVed by thts expenrnentatic:tl·

ravourrne ediCt, ro.sterlna the succes.s 01 numer<~Us o.c •• area artists and cat.alyzila tl'le realon's rid'l contemporary arts scene.

NON, to celebrate the V*A's 35th anniversary, the Amelic.an Unl'r'en:lty Museum at

the Katzen Arts Center wtl feature Cotaryst: JS YN n of rM Wcu:Mngton Project

tor rM ArU, as one of the three eXht>IUons Cl)f'nt'\a at tM museum tn eany H~mbtr.

> PROFILE

> CONNECTIONS

American Unfvetslry Museum

Kaaen AtU Ctf'lttr

eottete Of A1U & Sciences

Washinaton Project for

tl'lt AilS

> ARTS

Curated by J .W. Mahoney, a Washington-based artkt, wrtter, and Independent rurator- Dan St~tlhlbtr: Modem

who se~s as Washlntton'$ corresponding editor tor Art tn Amerb, the exh.,IUon iS a AlchemiSt

dYnamiC, narrat~ re<oHectlon Of tM WPA lf'PCY, Sh(JW'(.Mint more than 150 arum as ~tl as exhibitions, proerams, and e~nt.s from Its )5•year hiStory.

The American Untverstty Museum has strong ties to WPA: Jadt R.asmmsen, dk"ector

and cur~tor of the AU Mus-eum, was onu the ~s1Stant dlre<tor d WPA under Denney

and th-e museum has prOVided space tor the VIPA annual art auctiOR duma the past

se,.eral years.

"Together with the q>enlng: of the Hlrshhom Museum and Sculpture Garden, the

> MORE NEWS

tnvenuon of the Wasl'llnaton ProjeCt tor the Arts helped to revuuze ccntemporary art Art Dean, Curator

tn Wa.shlntton, o.c.· Rasmussen said. "it l)(oY1ded S()~Ce, MC.ouraae..tntnt, and an [)IS(u~s Top ArtiSts

audience for cuttna ~ge artb.t.s-from emergina unknowns to, most famously, ROOert

Mapptelhorpe when hk photographic exhibition was cancelled by the Corcoran In

1989 ...

Ra.smus~n shares the WPA phlosophy Of supponna and ShOwea.st'lt cuttrne-tcJie

artists. The ~cican University Museum, under Rasmussen's direction stlce it

opened in 200S, has shONn numerous controversial exhibitions of soclally·and

pottUcally<harifd art by reg:IOnat, national, and tnternation.al art1SU.

(OC(I(y$l; J5 YNN 0( Cht WashlngtM Pf(I}«C {Of tht ArU, opens TueSday, Novt-mMr 9,

at the American University Museum and close-s Sunday1 December 19. Two additional

exhibitions, Cfoudfo OreMontE": EvE"fYdaY Mor-tE"N" and Ed McGowin: NamE' Change (OnE'

ArNst, Twefve PE"rscnos, Thirty Five YE"'ts}, open Tuesday, Ncwel'l'beor 2 and clos.e

sunday, Ot<ember 12.

















An explosive exhibit

t7=1E~; ~o:t.=.::.-::-.:

H.C. Westermann's 'The Block Ship' exemplifies the off beat, controversial theme of the 'Crimes of Compas-

sion' exhibit

Chrysler exhibit explosive -From page DJ

The appearance of the x.Raves brought morethan9senseofenergetlcexuberance totheopen!ngfestiviues.Thegroup"sap-. pearance underlined a major theme- the influenceofNewWaveandpunkrockmu. sic on much contemporary an

To emphasize this Influence. Styron interfacedthesllow'soflbeatcatalogwith lyrics by New Wave musicians

WordsbyCiashmusiciansJoeStrummer and Mick Jones: "Somebody got mur. dered,hisnamecannot be found. A small stainonthepavement.they"llscrubitoff the ground." And Talking Heads' David Byrne:"'lbelievethatwedon"tneedlove"

During the 1970s. Punk and New Wave musicseemedtheonlyrelieffromanirrelevent,overly-50phisticatedanscene. Re spondingtothemuslc"svltalityandblatant social vehemence, anists began creating work with a similar attitude.

Definingthataultudelssomethingelse. TIIestaoceseemsangryandirreve!"l'llton OOI!hand,yetunderneatbltallisacompas. sionate Involvement with real issues

Alltl>eanl5tsln theahowaresupposed soothsayers.outtoexposesocialills.shin· ingaspottightonthe!ourhorsemeno!the ~:C~~~rJi: conquest, slaughter. famine

And the apocalypse comprises at least a sub-theme of "'Crimes of Compassion"

If the show has a central motif in one (If the paintings. Alan Sonneman's ''The LastWash!ngtonPaintmg"'hastobeit.Depictedln Sonneman'svivid photorealistic paintingisaviewlromthefreewayofour nation's capital with the atom bombexplodinginanalmostharmless-hwking mushroom from Its center.

TIIemediahassofilledthepopularima-ginatlonwlthsuch Images of devastation thatSoMeman'spa!ntinghasadistinctly

fam!liar look. To actually view the image in a tangible form is cathartic.

YetSonneman'spaintingalsolooksquite unreal,asdoesMarkGreenwold's"'Bright Promise."asceneofmeaningless5elJual ~~~tyoccurrlnglnagarish,l950ishbed·

ThepoimofGreenW<lld'simageisootto exploitthesensationofdepictedseKUallty, but to question just where the decadence lies.Andthejuxtapositionof"Bright Promise" with "The Last Washington Palnllng"putsthetwocrimesinpersJJeetive; How can you compare massive human annihilation with one act of sexual decadence?

Eachartlstseemstotakeahlghlymoral stance.Whatcouldbeamorevividtableau ~~~i~!~;ce than Leon GOlub's "lnterroga.

Golub's huge. mural-sl~ed unstretched canvasdepictsthel>orrors o!warwitha seering,sickeninglnlimacy.lnthatwork, a hairless.nudoemalefigurehangsupside downlikeasideofbeeftobebeatenby his militaristic keepers.

And shocking in an almost Monty Python senselsaserlesofZOorangecratelabels byBenSakoguchi.Eachpseudo-labelisa sardonictwlstonhorrificiconssuchasthe nudeVIetnamesechildrenracingfromnapalmandthe Rev.JimJonesleadinghis throngtosulclde

Another discernible thread in the show istheuseofcartoon,comicstriporundergroundcomicstylesasform.lnthismanner, arllsts such as Mark Alan Stamaty (whose brilliant "comics" are publ!shed regularly In the VIllage Voice), Ernest Ruckles,A~eeta,PeterSaulandOyvind Fahlstrom could be seen as loosely t>mOOdying a Pop revival- this time with feeling. The subjects now hit harder

Severaloftl>eW<Jrkshaveaspecialinter-est-topicalorotherwise-outsideofthe s,how's context

Greenwold's painting "Sewing Room (forBarbara)"earnednoticeinDecember 197llwhenltwasdisplayedalone,em!rely comprisingaone-manshowatthe PhyUis Kind Gallery in Wf!W York. Four ~ars were spent to complete the work.

And we see, in tbedisconcening!yneat context of a carefully fumishM room, a powerfulactofviolenceasadarklymen. acing man stabs a terrified woman with

• thebladeofanopen..,issors Also.PaulGeorges'"'TheMuggingofthe

Muse"onv!ewiscurrentlythesubjectola precedent-selling libel. suit. !n the work, twofi8ureswea ringmasksattackaMuse embothment of anistic inspiration. The plaintiffs claim Georges directly modeled themasksaftertheirfacesasacharacter slur and last fallwereawarded$30,1)(10 each, a decision the anist is challenging.

Still another work nftop1cal fascinaiion Is Georges' "The Assassinated,"' in which lhetW<lKennedysandManinLutherKmg linkanns,backedbya miliumtcrowd.

~ee:~s~"":;n":s"t"~::~~~~:: lessviolencewithhisslick.warpedscenes inpanoramicday-glo.Saulwillgiveagal· lerytalkattheChrysleronMay7atlO:lll a.m., which Is open the public.

Styrondoesnotventureanexhiblllon statementfortheshow'scatalog,wh•chis on sale in the museum's gift shop

"ldldn'twanttoexplaintheworkatall lnthecatalog.There'soopolntinexplainlnganythlng-when it's all there."'

TheclosestStyroncomestoexposlnghls intentlnprimisastatementmixedinwith several of his own poems sandwiched betweenJohnl.ennonandtheBibleinthe catalog:

"Tile best an threatens. The most seri· ousthreatisreality.lhavenoismstohelp youdigestthisanofthereal world. Now it'suptoyou."

S.tntd")',May1,1'182

The Trbes AtN.Y.C.

Opera

A nuclear cloud looms over the nation's capital in Alan Sonneman's ominously titled work, "The Last Washlnston Painting."

'Metarealities' Revives Fantasies in Art By Benjamin Forgey Wa•lnngtonS1~rAMII;Mtor

In the late 1960sawidespreaddis· content with mainstream modes of modern art began to express itself, among other ways, in idiosyncratic revivalsofsurreallsticimagery.

Washington artists were not immune to this sensibility, although it Is fair to say that they arrived at similar points of attack a bit later and in fewer numbers than their contemporaries in, say, Chicago or northern California or pans of the South. •

"Metarealities," an exhibition of paintings by seven Washington-area artists that opened yesterday at the Washington Project for the Arts (1227 G St. NW), is an attempt to focusuponthelocalrootsofthisnationwide phenomenon

The show was organized by guest curator Nina Felshln, the same person who,sevenyearsago,asacurator for the Corcoran Gallery of An, organized the first museum exhibition to recognize that something in this line was happening locally. Two of the five artists in that exhibition (the memorably whimsical title of which was "The Washington Color

Pencil School") are in this exhibition: Lisa Brotman and William Newman. The other painters represented at the WPA are James Bumgardner (a Richmond artist), Manon Cleary, Margarida Kendall, Joseph Shannon and Alan Sonne man.

The exhibition encompasses a broadrangeofstyles,lntentionsand effects.Apervasivesenseofanxlety; a certain reliance upon dream-like imagery;curious,provocativejuxtapositionsofimaglnaryandrealobjects,andintensiveinvestigationsof divergent time frames are among the characteristics shared by some of the artists as, Indeed, they were stock-In-trade items In the original catalogofSurrealistattitudes.

One of the artists- Shannondoesn't fit comfortably into the schemeoftheexb.lbition,forheisa realist!Xlinterwho,insteadoftransformlng reality, presumes in his large-scale "social" paintings to demonstrate certain disastrous consequences of the hectic contemporary psychology. Shann~m stands inrelotionto themorevislOnaryart in this show rather like Sancho Panza to Don Quixote; that is, he sees windmills and knows them to be windmills..

The true-blue visionaries in the show are Brotman and Kendall. With the examples of Salvador Oali and Rene Magritte clearly in the background, each creates a new worldbytransformingordinaryobjects (Including the human figure) or placing them in ratherextroordl· n11ry new situations.

Brotman's paintings are strange, spe<:trallandscapes,likestagesetsto establish the mood and the rules rules by which we engage in unsettling discourse with the p~incipal figure - a woman who, as to some children's drawings, is sometimes limbless. Brotman's vision has a lot to do with anxious memories and the way they may condition present and future behavior. Kendall creates the enigmatic scenarios in meticulously realized pictures whose ntles ("The Search," "The Hunt") suggest archetypal confrontations.

Sonneman's sense of anxiety is, ostensibly anyway, less oblique than that of the others. His style, combining elegance and deadpan depiction in about equal measure, was influenced no little by a stay of a few years in northern California.

SeeFANTASY,C-3

20 0 PHOTO GALLERY To sc6a photo galltHY of $(tiCCted artwork$ from "Catalyst: 35 Years of Washington Project for the Art$,

8

go togolngourgulde.com.

Alan SounC'man'S ... fbe Last \Vasbington Painting (frt'moniUons ofth<' Corporate WarS)," ltft, ;.tnd ClauUia Demonte's .. Fem:de FeUsb: CotTce Maker"' c-1m be seen a.t Uae K:tlten Arts Cenh•r.

'Catalyst' explores a home for local art ftY MI CHAEL 0 'S ULUVAN

A catalyst, according to the dietion3ry, is something that nulkes something else har•· pen. Based on "'hat you'll see and learn from a new exhibition called "'Catalyst''- a rounchq) or l(l(:al art in honor of the Washington Project fOr the Arts' 35th anniversary- 1\·e ~~another defiuitioo: home.

TI1at mny strike some of you as Odd, considering that the WPA is, in a sense, homeless. Ob, it has office SJKLce. And it does, from time to time, mnna.ge to cadge an entJ)t.ygalleryortwo to put on a show, as it has here by oo..optin.g aJJ tbl'ee floors of the American University Museum and its outdoor scu1pture garden. But the days of putting down roots in a )Joenuanent space, as it once was able to do in downtown Washington, are. for the time being, over.

'11lat'snot the kindofhome we're talking about aJ\yway. ThinkofRobert Frost·smore

o poetic assessment. "'Home," he once wrote, 0 ~is the p1ace where, when you have to go ~ there, they have to take you in." ~ Tile WPA, in other words, is less a p lace t:;,;; than a state of mind. If there's a structure

"' e:! involved, it's built more around moral ~ suppoa'tthan drywall. ,.,. Tilat'sobvious, first and foremost, in the Zo

inclusion of works by such artists as Fred :.0: Folsom, l isa Brouuan, Betsy Packard ami e Wayne [dson Bryan. (Quic-k - how many e; years has it been since you've seen a SOlO • s how, in or around Washin.gt.On, by any of ~ them?) ~catalyst .. is J)tlckcd with solid, _ stron,g work by these and o ther artists o r a z certain age whom time, or at least the ~ contemi>Qrary aJt world, seems to have f: ro~otten.

Washin,on's auuseums have ne\'er been ;;; -· in the business of nurt\1ril\g local art. as the

"' ::: show's Cl.lrntor, J.W Mahoney, oorrectly """ I)Qints out. And ootumercial gaJJeries e.xist ~ to make money. It is the role or nonprofit

alternatives such asWPA to act asacatalyst - and a home - tor a.l't that might othe.l'wise sli)) between those cracks.

Nowadays, of course, you'll find "street" art in lots o r gaUeries. You'll also find commercial gnlleries thnt represeut l>t:rfor· lllAnce nrtists such ns Kathryn Cornelius and video artists such as Brandon .Morse. Both of tlte$e talented youns: I>COI>Ie have work in "Catalyst." And both, at least tO some <les::ret. can thank o rganizations Hke WPA ror creatin~ the aulliem:e for art you can't hang on your wall.

One reason you don' t o ften see work by some of .. Catalyst's" artists is a sad one.

Simon Gouvenleur, Nocbe Cl'ist, Kevin MacDonald and Don Cook are among the WPA artists wllo have died. MacDonald's suite o f four U1\titled drawings of waterknown as his "cancer drawings"-were the last J)ictures made by the late, great drafts· mftl11 who d ied in 2006.

There's an mKie.niable, if faint, sense or loss here. But that's to be e.x1>ecttd anytime you look back at wlmt wns.

1b itS credit, however, "CatalySt" lOOkS ahead with ns clear an eye as t he one it castS over itS shoulder. \Vllile the exhibition che<:J\Iist is heavy with names from the 1970s, '80s and '90s, the art or today's

.. stm• by Alb('l10 Caltan fean1res a spigot tho\t spnys water onto powdertd JllM1.tr. nu~· stnngth ofthe .squirt is determined by the artist's dishutce &om the pil't.'t'.

TllESTORYBEHINDTHE WORK

Alberto Gaitan's contribution to "catalyst~ embOdies one ott he show's central themes: connection. carred ·sun· - aword that evokes not just the notion orcatm but or something lasting- the work is a kind or robOtic sculpture machine. Here's how h. workS.

The object itself resembles an apparatus rordistillingliquid (anoUler meaning oft he word "Stlla-). rna corner of the museum. Gaitan has mounted a drfppingraucetotsort <:Ner a pile or powdered plaster. Sprttzes or water are released onto the plaster, based on 1 he a rtisrs distance from the artwOJk. (For the: fi rst rour we&ks or the show, Gaitan's &~ery movement will be recor'ded via CPS. ThQ farther ~ay he iS frorn the museum, the more water will SJ)r'ay out;when he'sclose. there will be just a tiiCf<l&.) In the end, the r'esulting lomp of plaster will seJVeas both a map and a metaphor for the connections that help all artists thrive.

- Mleh.-..1 O'Sui/IVM

Washillgton is well represented. Look for sta11dout work by t)hotographer J ason Horowitz, COI)Ceptualist Moll~· Springfield, sculptor Ledelle Moe and painter Joe White. ( fbe 70·sometlting White is an e..xce1' tion to the rule nbout older artists; his one·mno show is on view at the Jane Haslem Callery.) Ou one noor you' IJ find a l)aintint: by Erik Titor SandberJt, a tnaster· ru I trad itionalist Of the next gene.ratioo. On nnother, you'll fin<1 a canvas by h iS former I:>Ainting teacher, Margarida Kendall. The StyliStiC connection is ttnmisttlkablc.

While at the museum, don' t tlliSS two th em atically related side shows: "Claudia DeMonte: Everyday Matters" explores the career of one of Washington's early feml· nist artists. who came of age during WPA':s heyday. , .Ed McGowin: Name Change'" looks at the work of her husband, who in the 1970s legally changed h is name 12 times over the course of a single year in order to create 12 uniqtte )Joersona.s:, under which he still makes art. Their legacy - of conceptualist pranksteris m mi:\:ed with so. ber politics - cao be fe lt in "'Catalyst's'" youngest artis ts.

And that's what this smart and loving showcase is all about. It may takea s1>ark to ignite a name, but it also takes a heanh to maintain that flame, for it to not just burn but flourish.

CATALYST: 35 YEARS OF WASHINGTON PROJECT FOR THE ARTS

TI1rough Dec. 19 at the American Unfve rsity Museum at the Kau;enArts Center, 4400 Massachusetts Ave. NW. 202-88& 1300.

wpad~Q®te$. Hours: Open Tuesday-Sunday 11 a.m. to4 p.m.;

atsoopen one hour before performing arts events in the Katzen, and from 6 to 8 p.m.

Admission: Free. Publle pro,;r:~m: On Satvrdayfrom 4 to 6 p.m ..

cufatOt J.W. MMOI,eyv.·in lead a tour of the exhiblti<Xt

the last washington painting [strogo chuvana tajna] by alan sonneman [1980] ocr

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