Barbara Januszkiewicz's two solos at once!

Not one, but two solo shows opening up at the same time for DMV artist Barbara Januszkiewicz. The Nitty Gritty at the Art Club of Washington will be displaying mostly works on paper appropriately name after her musical muses. 

Each work is titled from a song from the late 60s early 70s, with an “ip” in front of it. Januszkiewicz explained the ip means inspired by. This painter has taken her love for watercolors and has been able to reinvent acrylics in a new way.  Philosophically, Januszkiewicz values risk taking, experimentation, and creative collaboration which lead to  Washington Color Painter Paul Reed encouraging  Januszkiewicz to experiment with staining with acrylics. 

She has mastered this technique that offers the luminosity of watercolors, but with the nitty-gritty texture that only acrylics could offer. Also in this exhibit are some fine examples of her works on unprimed canvas using the same technique. What is astonishing is to witness her able to stain the unprimed canvas in the same manner as she paints on paper. This is not an easy task.  

"Music is my muse," she continues.  "I am inspired by the gritty undertones and rhythm patterns of the Blues and Rock.  I take the basic structure of a song’s chord progressions and play with the idea of a building a cord in the colors that I paint with.  Blending the music and corresponding color notes, I work to create luminous paintings that reflect the emotionalism and improvisational freedom that we find in music genres. I see my work as a frozen moment of the song." 

Across town at Martha Spak Gallery at the Wharf, Januszkiewicz is showing a group she calls Acoustic Fields. The artists explains that these are mostly large works, both on unprimed canvas and metal with resin.  Clearly her fascination for color reminds us of Mark Rothko’s Color Fields with her effortlessly produced zen-like brush strokes across her canvas.  Yet she is giving us something new and perhaps even changing our perception of the future of contemporary abstraction.  "I find it intriguing that there is a vocabulary of words that apply to both music and visual art, like movement, patterns, compliments, harmonies and layering," she says. These paintings from the intense color compositions to subdued shades of reverberations can visually  suggest the sensation of sound.

The Nitty Gritty @ Arts Club of Washington 
2017 I St. NW, Washington, DC 20006
Exhibition Dates: May 4 – May 26, 2018
gallery hours Tuesday - Friday: 10:00am to 5:00pm
Saturday: 10:00am to 2:00pm
Curator: Mattie Schloetzer

Acoustic Fields @
Martha Spak Gallery at the Wharf 
40 District Square, SW, Washington, DC  20024 
Exhibition Dates: April 30-May 29, 2018
Gallery hours are Thursday – Sunday 12-6pm 
Curator Martha Spak