ArtGrams: Around the Phillips

Posted on August 21, 2015 by Experiment Station

This shot of the exterior of the original Phillips building, emphasizing the red facade, is brought to you by Instagrammer @miquelcar

There are plenty of mesmerizing works on view at the Phillips, but for this month’s ArtGrams, we’re highlighting photos from visitors who looked beyond the canvas.

Via Instagrammer @wolfofkstreet: “Tête-à-tête chairs in this incredible Georgian Revival house turned gallery. Just one of the many reasons this is one of my favorite places in the city.”

A rare shot of the window details as seen from 21st Street, NW by Instagrammer @smitn

Via Instagrammer @babesicle: “Stylish Mondrian wall and chair up in the museum coffee shop! Perfect place to chill out after being on our feet all day.”

Via Instagrammer @laura_ewan: “New art installation outside Phillips. Miss walking by this every day.”

We can never get enough of the Music Room. Here’s a great image captured by Instagrammer @Sstephaniediaz.

Drawing, Painting, or Something In Between

Posted on August 20, 2015 by Experiment Station

Of her work in response to Vincent van Gogh’s The Road Menders, Intersections @ 5 artist Linn Meyers says “The fact that he was really a painter, and that he really used the paint in a visceral way, effected the way that my drawing progressed; it actually started to become more of a painting than a drawing.”

Art at the Mercy of the Elements

Posted on August 19, 2015 by Experiment Station

(left) Lee Boroson, Fixed Haze, 2014. Photo: Lee Stalsworth (middle) Vesna Pavlović, Installation view of Untitled (Annex, Giacometti exhibition, 1963), 2014. Photo: Mica Scalin (right) Jill O’Bryan, one billion breaths in a lifetime, 2015. Photo courtesy The Phillips Collection, Washington, DC

While it might not be immediately apparent, I see a similarity in the works by contemporary artists Lee Boroson, Vesna Pavlović, and Jill O’Bryan currently (or recently, in the case of Pavlović) on view at the Phillips. Through very different materials, all three are subject in some way to elements beyond the artist’s control. Boroson’s Fixed Haze (at left above, and on view in Intersections@5) dangles from the ceiling and might spin rapidly or not at all based on wind; Pavlović’s Untitled (Annex, Giacometti exhibition, 1963), a giant curtain which I wrote briefly about while it was on view in 2014, might show a distinct image or appear nearly transparent depending on sunlight; and as O’Bryan says of her work one billion breaths in a lifetime, this piece is best experienced when “activated” by observing the reflection as you move by it. Seeing these works at different points during the day or month has the potential to be a wholly unique experience each time.

Amy Wike, Marketing Manager