ELLYN WEISS


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Christenberry at the Katzen Center

April 17, 2008

The Katzen Center for the Arts at American University is the DC's newest large arts institution. It is something of a hybrid - three stories of gorgeous, expansive exhibition space underwritten by the resources of a university, but without a permanent collection. Judging by the shows so far, the Katzen also lacks the overbearing and unpredictable bureaucratic/government oversight of the capital's more offical venues (think Jesse Helms and the famous Mapplethorpe debacle). Jack Rasmussen, its innovative Director, is taking full advantage of the opportunity to mount exciting shows that often have a political edge, such as the Botero Abu Ghraib paintings featured this winter.

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my friend Carol Ridker admiring the work
 The three current shows are all more than worthy; Washington's Willem De Looper has a retrospective on the top floor. My favorites are some lush color field paintings from the 1950's and 1960's. The bottom floor contains Personal Landscapes, a show of emerging Israeli artists dealing with the emotional, physical and intellectual landscapes of that fraught environment.

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Christenberry's Klan Room Tableau
In the middle is what I think is the special prize: a selection of work by another Washington institution, William Christenberry. Organized by the University of Virginia Art Museum, this exhibition features 50 of Christenberry’s rarely-exhibited drawings and the Klan Room Tableau, which includes over 200 drawings, sculptures and other pieces. According to Christenberry this body of work describes his “visceral reaction to this wholly and abhorrently American phenomenon, which, although officially excised from the public, still exists and arouses intense feelings in all areas of the country.”

Christenberry, a member of the Corcoran Faculty for many years and one of this area's truly nationally-renowned artists, has been shown very often in DC, but the Klan Room has not been included out of what can only be an excess of caution/fear/risk aversion on the part of the museums. So, thanks Jack and thanks to AU's Katzen Center, because it is truly worth experiencing. I apologize for the crummy picture, but the lighting is low in the installation and I had to be a bit furtive to avoid being disciplined by the staff.

 
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© 2012 ELLYN WEISS