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Belmar and Binstock at H&F

December 9, 2008

H&F Fine Arts, Mt. Ranier

Joan and Ms.Sondra at the opening

Sounds like a personal injury law firm, but Belmar and Binstock are Joan Belmar and Alan Binstock, the two latest artists to show at H&F Fine Arts in our beloved, always-on-the-verge-of-gentrifying Mt. Ranier. The opening Friday night was a lively one, particularly gratifying considering that we actually got our first dusting of snow that evening, an event which generally sends DC into a frothing tizzy.

Miss Molly Ruppert imbibing

Cheryl and Joan's back

I think I breach no confidences when I reveal that H&F are Cheryl Fountain and Karen Handy, who opened their huge gorgeous art space about a year ago on Rhode Island Avenue a couple of blocks from the DC line just 50 feet or so south of that little bitty Mt. Ranier traffic circle (and a couple of blocks from my studio complex which will be open this Saturday from 1- 5 as part of the Gateway Arts District Open Studios Holiday Sale. More about that later.) But I digress.

I love this piece of Joan's

It works together so well

Joan Belmar is a friend of mine and an artist whose work I have admired and watched evolve over the past five years. It continues to get deeper and more layered, both metaphorically and actually. At H&F, he exhibits dimensional wall pieces that seem to trap movement under glass – to stop time. For some pieces, you would swear that the ribbons of fluid mylar and acetate, mimicking transparent veils, are still moving. Glimpses can be captured, through the veils, of underlayers of line and form, suggesting the memory of things past.

Binstock and his work

Alan Binstock’s glass work also captures movement under glass. He has embedded forms suggestive of sea life of the threatening variety in layered cubes of green glass. Alan is a NASA scientist who started life as a fine artist and has never stopped creating sculptures in glass, steel and stone that combine technical virtuosity with a quality of enchantment.
Kudos to Karen and Cheryl for bringing the two artists together. The common qualities of their work, the way they play off the contradictions of stasis and movement, transparency and opacity, make it a mutually enhancing combination.

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