Category Archives: Art

Another July Fourth came and went last week largely without that big American moment a person is supposed to feel on the occasion of the birthday of his country. It didn’t happen at the fireworks, or in the blistering heat or the holiday marathons. It did happen later in the week, though, when I visited [...]

As the nation salutes the flag in its annual salute to the nation, with official ceremonies a few Metro stops away on the National Mall, the deconstructed flags of Jasper Johns are up for reconsideration at the Phillips Collection. Johns’ textured variations on the national symbols – and things as recognizable as target bullseyes – allowed [...]

The biggest movie in Washington is showing nightly on the continuous, circular wall of the distinctive Hirshhorn Museum, the Doug Aitken installation “SONG 1” that opened Thursday night. There on the three stories unfolds images of people in cars, alone on loading docks, working in kitchens or in factories or standing in parking lots, each [...]

Had my mind blown by the American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore last week. It’s a kind of haven for folk art, inspirational works of whimsy and monumental obsessional works by those who may be indeed touched. It’s all housed in a splendid set of buildings decorated with the broken glass and mirror of folk [...]

The Corcoran Gallery of Art is several blocks from the Air & Space Museum. But visiting artists Claire Healy and Sean Cordeiro had space in mind when they were asked to create their first U.S. installation there. Thinking of space, and space travel, they created a gallery full of planets representing the Top 10 top [...]

Only a couple of weeks are left in the Warhol stand in Washington. In addition to “Warhol: Headlines” show at the National Gallery, closing Jan. 2, there is an epic presentation of  the epic “Warhol: Shadows” at the Hirshhorn, that I just got to this week. The man who made pop from mass produced images [...]