|
January 17, 2009
There is perhaps little that unites these two shows except for the fortuity that they opened on successive nights in DC and as I think about, they could be argued as bracketing the current art scene.
 Georgia Milld Jessup  one of the original eight in the Vogel collection
 And there’s much more to the story: One day in the early 60’s, the young artist and teacher arranged to rent a home in DC from Leonard Vogel. When she met him to conclude the agreement, they began to talk. (Having spent just ten minutes in discussion with the engaging Ms. Jessup, I can imagine this conversation.) When he learned that she was an artist, he asked to see her work. She packed 8 paintings onto the roof of her car and drove it over to him, whereupon Mr. Vogel said he would buy them all and that she would not be a renter because they would constitute her down payment on the purchase of the house.
 a new piece - the view from Jessup's deck
 Paul Ruppert and Phil Barlow at Civilian  Ms Civiian, Jayme Maclellan
 the sick boy scout  George Jenne is a Brooklyn artist who supports himself by making props and models for tv and movies. He is showing in DC for the first time at Civilian. “Don’t Look Now” is billed as an installation, a “multi-media environment reminiscent of a movie set.” I don’t know if I buy the installation as a coherent whole, (e.g. the graphite drawings are pretty great-looking but what’s their connection with the skewed movie posters and the props?) but there are a couple of terrific objects definitely worth the visit. My favorite is a deeply disturbing boy scout with a furry monster head, scuffed-up bloody knees and other obscurely allusive parts.
|
