Tuesday, July 20, 2021

The Phillips Collection and the DMV

As most artists in the DMV know by now, the Phillips Collection’s call for area artists to submit artwork for Inside Outside, Upside Down, a juried invitational show (currently on view through September 12), where the museum invited artists of the Greater Washington area to submit recent artwork that “addresses the unprecedented events of the past year” was and is the talk of the visual arts community for the last few weeks.

The call was part of the museum’s 100th anniversary celebration, and according to the Phillips' news release continues “founder Duncan Phillips‘s commitment to present, acquire, and promote the work of local artists.”

About 1,300 works of art ranging from paintings, to sculptures, videos, drawings, etc. were submitted for review, and about seventy works were chosen by the jurors, Elsa Smithgall (Senior Curator, The Phillips Collection), Renée Stout (DC artist and guest curator of the exhibition), Phil Hutinet (publisher of the local news art source East City Art), and Abigail McEwan (Associate Professor of Latin American Art at the University of Maryland). 

Phillips Collection’s Inside Outside, Upside Down


I am proud and honored to have been one of the chosen artists – Muchas thank yous to the jurors!

Several of the DMV area blue chip artists were selected, including megablue chip artists like Tim Tate, Michael Janis, Kate Kretz, Judith Peck, and others – all with immense artistic pedigree, huge exhibition histories and a proven and deep international presence.

A lot of new artists – at least new to me – were also chosen, which is always a great sign of a well-curated exhibition; kudos to the jurors for the internal mental amplitude to select work based on visual impression rather than recognizing a name or presence.

What caught my eye - other than the many great works in the show, was this:

“After an extraordinarily difficult year that has shaken the world, we feel it is important to join with our entire region to celebrate human resiliency, and especially the strength of artists and the arts,” said Vradenburg Director and CEO Dorothy Kosinski. “Duncan Phillips hosted this type of exhibition annually from 1935 to 1950, and we are proud to continue this tradition to support our talented community.”

Shall I repeat that?

“Duncan Phillips hosted this type of exhibition annually from 1935 to 1950, and we are proud to continue this tradition to support our talented community.”

Wait... whaaaat? 

Why did the Phillips stop? OK - I don't care --- what I do care about and what I hope the Phillips will do, is to re-start that initiative so that  Inside Outside, Upside Down, is not a 2021 anomaly, but the first of annual local area shows like Duncan Phillips organized for 15 years!

The ball is on your court Phillips!

The showcased artists below - and see the digital catalog of the show here.

Cathy Abramson

Simone Agoussoye

Maremi Andreozzi

Carol Antezana

Desmond Beach

Julia Bloom

Michael Booker

Kimberly Brammer

Nikki Brugnoli

Florencio Campello a.k.a. Lenny

Carlos Carmonamedina

Sandra Chen Weinstein

Peter Cizmadia

Wesley Clark

Dominick Cocozza

Robin Croft

Sora DeVore

Sarah Dolan

Mike Dowley

Nekisha Durrett

Tae Edell

Bria Edwards

Kate Fleming

Chawky Frenn

Amelia Hankin

Michael Hantman

Leslie Holt

Michael Janis

Jane Kell

Jean Jinho Kim

Katherine Knight

Ara Koh

Kokayi 

Gary Kret

Kate Kretz

Catherine Levinson

Kirsty Little

Kim Llerena

Aaron Maier-Carretero

Timothy Makepeace

David Mordini

Barbara Muth

Werllayne Nunes  

Zsudayka Nzinga

Jennifer O’Connell

John Pan

Judith Peck

Shedrick Pelt

Kristina Penhoet

Marta Pérez García

Lydia Peters

Junko Pinkowski

Dominick Rabrun

Mojdeh Rezaeipour

Marie Ringwald

Janathel Shaw

Joseph Shetler

Nicolas F. Shi

Tim Tate

Julio Valdez

Jessica Valoris

Ian White

Richard L. Williams Jr. 

Colin Winterbottom