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Tag Archives: Washington DC

Recap: POW! WOW! DC 2017

The Washington D.C. edition of POW! WOW! recently returned in 2017 with another 15 artists creating murals in the NoMa district. Local artists CHELOVE, JD Deardourff, Jordann Wine, Julia Chon, Key Han, Martin Swift, Mas Paz, and Matt Corrado joined artists traveling from afar – Kaplan Bunce (Hawaii), Madsteez (California), STASH (Brooklyn) – seen above, TRAV (California), It’s a Living (Mexico), Muro (Spain), and Qbic (Russia) in painting walls in the neighborhood at a number of locations such as the Metropolitan Branch Trail and the new AVA apartment building at 55 M Street NE. Take a look at more photos below…

Showing: Snarkitecture / Daniel Arsham – “The Beach” @ National Building Museum

For those who have a chance to visit Washington DC through September 7th, make sure you stop by the National Building Museum to check out an immersive installation from Snarkitecture. Cofounders Alex Mustonen and Daniel Arsham have imagined up a beach with an ocean of 750,000 recyclable plastic balls. The monochromatic and minimalistic installation certainly mirrors the aesthetic seen in many of their previous projects and is certainly something visitors of all ages will enjoy. Photo credit: Noah Kalina (via Designboom). Discuss Daniel Arsham here.

Streets: Reka (Washington, D.C.)

Reka recently spent two weeks in Washington, D.C. creating murals for  Art Whino Gallery’s new project. Thhe first one he created was this striking piece seen above at L’enfant Plaza, showing two female figures with something that appears like masks over their faces. Constructed with his signature style of abstract shapes that assemble together in recognizable forms, it is another example of the Australian artist’s skills when it comes to creating crisp sharp line work and combining complementing colors. Along with this piece, the Berlin-based artist collaborated with Polish […]

Showing: Alex Prager – “Face in the Crowd” @ Corcoran Gallery of Art

If you will be in Washington DC in the upcoming several months, make sure you stop by the Corcoran Gallery of Art to take a look at Alex Prager’s new exhibition – Face in the Crowd. For her first solo museum show in the United States, the Los Angeles-based photographer and filmmaker has presented an ambitious new series of works that deal with the idea of crowds and their effects on individuals as well utilizing this new direction to confront her own fear of crowds. On display […]

Streets: Jasper Wong x Kelly Towles (Washington DC)

Last week, Washington DC added another mural to their public space through the efforts of Jasper Wong and Kelly Towles. Painted on the side of an abandoned CIA building for the Art Yards event, the six-story high piece features a surreal image of a dinosaur and bandit playing cat’s cradle, a child’s string-based game. The resulting wall from Wong, who is well versed in the art of public murals as the founder of POW WOW, and Towles, a local artist who curated this DC event […]

Videos: Cai Guo-Qiang – “Black Christmas Tree” @ The Smithsonian

Just in time for Christmas, Cai Guo-Qiang has brought his pyrotechnics skills back to America (see Los Angeles earlier this year). Commissioned by the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery at the Smithsonian in Washington DC, the renowned Chinese contemporary artist executed three separate explosions in a performance entitled Black Christmas Tree described as acupuncture treatment for arts in the city. Surprisingly, the tree is still alive post-detonation and will be re-planted elsewhere. Enjoy the video below… Via Designboom. Discuss Cai Guo-Qiang here.

Streets: JR – “I Am a Man” Mural / Unframed Project (Washington, D.C.)

French photographer and street activist JR, who was just featured in a video for the new MOCAtv channel, was also recently in Washington, D.C. working on a mural for his Unframed Project where he takes archived images and uses them in a different context. For this particular piece, he brings to light a photo from Ernest Withers taken during the 1968 Memphis sanitation workers strike and pasted it up on the corner of 14th Street and T streets in Washington where the riots exploded right after Martin Luther […]

Streets: Olek (Washington DC)

While in town for the 40 Under 40: Craft Futures showing at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Olek decided to gift the city with one of her signature yarn statue takeovers (here & here). This time she yarn-bombed the 12-foot tall Albert Einstein statue on the grounds of the National Academy of Sciences in Washington DC. Check out more in-progress shots of her and her assistants at work below as well as the finished photo. Via My Modern Met. Discuss Olek here.

Jen Stark for “40 Under 40: Craft Futures” @ Smithsonian

Expert paper sculpture artisan Jen Stark recently had one of her pieces acquired by the Smithsonian American Art Museum for their permanent collection. The psychedelic multicolored piece which looks like it is dripping down the wall is entitled Power of Being and is part of the 40 Under 40: Craft Futures exhibition currently underway at the Renwick Gallery part of the institution which also includes a piece from Olek (mentioned earlier). Check out a slideshow of the rest of the work here as well as a video below where Stark talks about […]

Installation: Tomokazu Matsuyama – “Thousand Regards” @ American University Museum

For those of you in the Washington DC area, you’re in for a special treat. Tomokazu Matsuyama (interviewed) will be opening up a solo Thousand Regards this week at the Katzen Arts Center of the American University Museum. Co-sponsored by the Japan Embassy and the Japan Foundation, this impressive exhibition is part retrospective and part new imagery. Known for having a fresh style that blends Eastern & Western aesthetics, the Brooklyn-based artist of Japanese decent has been working feverishly at the nation’s capital to install the show. […]