Another Noguchi Review

And now it is two differing from the one.

Read Michael O'Sullivan's excellent take on Isamu Noguchi at the Hirshhorn, published yesterday in the WaPo.

O'Sullivan correctly points out Noguchi's innovative track record and writes:

"Solar's inclusion is notable for two reasons. Yes, it's a fine piece, characterized by the kind of dynamic stillness found in Noguchi's best, most Zen-flavored work, but it also serves Fletcher's thesis that Noguchi was probably more innovative than people generally give him credit for. Is there the influence of Constantin Brancusi (for whom Noguchi briefly worked as a studio assistant while in Paris) in some of Noguchi's earliest pieces? Certainly, and the biomorphic iconography of the surrealists makes more than one appearance in Noguchi's later art as well.

But art isn't a horse race, or at least it shouldn't be. What Noguchi did well he did very well. Whether works represent his fascination with the pure refinement of form, as in the gestural simplicity of 1970's "The Bow," or express the gut-punch racial politics of 1934's "Death (Lynched Figure)," or whether they lie somewhere in between, as in the phallic squishes and fleshy plops of his work of the 1940s, Noguchi's most powerful sculptures beg for extended viewing.

Yep! Art isn't a horse race, and it doesn't have to be "new" to be good.

Case slammed shut!

Seminar Postponed

Because of the threat of snow tomorrow, the Success as an Artist seminar scheduled for tomorrow has been postponed until next Sunday, February 27, 2005, starting promptly at noon.

Carib Nation

Next Monday, Feb. 28 at 6PM, do not miss the Carib Nation program on WHUT Howard University Television. It will feature a profile of DC area photographer Nestor Hernandez.

Tic Toc

Home from the Georgetown opening of Mary Lang.

Opening was a little slow, mostly due to the cold and the hint of the S-word in the air (snow), but there was some good company, JT from Thinking About Art was making the gallery rounds, there was a nice artist's talk by Lang, and photography was purchased!

At closing time I quite forgot all about my usual Friday need to rush home and watch Battlestar Galactica (yes, yes geeky, I know...) and I damned near forgot about Galactica (it starts in five minutes)... but I made it... sigh.

Next Tuesday I head out to California again, and thus I wanted to let all of you know before that of the fact that Prof. Sarah Stecher has curated Drawing National II at Montgomery College and selected 41 artists, and the opening reception for the show is Monday, February 21, 6-8PM.

See ya there Monday!

Third Friday Openings

Today is the third Friday of the month and thus the Canal Square Galleries (31st Street NW and M Street in Georgetown) will have their monthly openings.

We will have the photography of New England photographer Mary Lang in her Washington, DC solo debut.

Our gallery neighbors in Canal Square in Georgetown (MOCA, Anne C. Fisher, Parish and Alla Rogers) all will have new shows or extended hours.

Come join us for a glass of Washington's best Sangria to welcome Lang to Washington.

See ya there!

Television

Tonight my interview with Valerie Fletcher, Curator of the Isamu Noguchi Exhibition at the Hirshhorn aired on three different local TV stations, maybe some of you saw it.

I missed it because on Thursdays I have martial arts classes from 8-9:30PM and the show runs on MHz TV at 8:30 in my area.

The Thursday Reviews

In the WaPo, Jessica Dawson has her set of third Thursday mini reviews here. This will be all that we get in the Style section for two weeks.... Sigh.

In the WCP... Jeffry where are you?

A new critic (new to me) named Hetty Lipscomb, writes about "Rembrandt’s Late Religious Portraits" at the National Gallery of Art.

In the Georgetowner, John Blee reviews Nathan Richardson, Joan Cox, and Marcia Dullum at Results Gallery (at Results Gym, 315 G Street SE, 202/669.4226) while Gary Tischler does Andre Kertesz at the National Gallery of Art.