Artful Privacy

Posted on April 12, 2012 by Experiment Station

You may remember Linn Meyers’s exquisitely detailed Intersections project for the Phillips in 2010, which responded to the brushwork and colors of Vincent van Gogh’s The Road Menders.

Meyers again employs thin, tremulous lines in her creation for the glass-walled conference rooms that line the main-floor lobby of Arlington’s Courthouse Plaza. The installation serves as both an artistic and economic solution to the distracting “fishbowl effect” of meeting rooms. The work, Untitled, marks Meyers’s first permanent public art installation and was officially unveiled and dedicated Tuesday morning.

The video above shows a visual montage of the creation, design, fabrication, and installation of the work.

A special edition print related to her Intersections project, screened on handmade paper and signed and numbered by Linn Meyers, is available in the Phillips’s museum shop.

Tools of the Trade: Printer Edition

Posted on March 27, 2012 by Brooke Rosenblatt

A photograph of tools in master printer Scip Barnhart's studio taken by Brooke Rosenblatt during a visit.

Just a snippet of the tools in Scip's studio. Photo: Brooke Rosenblatt

Master printer Scip Barnhart will give an interactive demonstration of basic printmaking methods in conjunction with the upcoming exhibition, Jasper Johns: Variations on a Theme. Recently, a group of educators and curators visited his studio at Georgetown University to get a sense of the techniques and the magic of the printmaking process!

Photograph of master printer Scip Barnhart demonstrating the etching process taken by Brooke Rosenblatt.

Scip demonstrates the etching process. Photo Brooke Rosenblatt

Photograph of Phillips educators and curators working together to create a lithograph taken by Brooke Rosenblatt.

Educators and curators collaborate on a lithograph. Photo: Brooke Rosenblatt

Photo of master printer Scip Barnhart showing the final drypoint print produced by the team of Phillips educators and curators. Photo taken by Brooke Rosenblatt.

Scip reveals our collaborative drypoint. Photo: Brooke Rosenblatt

Johns and Gormley Meet on Paper

Posted on February 24, 2012 by Experiment Station

(left) Jasper Johns, Flags II, 1970. Lithograph with stamp, 33 1/2 x 25 in. John and Maxine Belger Family Foundation. Art © Jasper Johns and ULAE / Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY. (right) Antony Gormley, Mansion, 1982. Black pigment, oil, charcoal on paper, 33.07 x 23.62 in. Courtesy of Sean Kelly Gallery, New York. © Antony Gormley

What do artists Jasper Johns and Antony Gormley have in common? Not nationality – Johns was born in Georgia, grew up in South Carolina, and moved to New York City as fast as he could; Gormley was born in London and educated first at Cambridge then in travels throughout India and Sri Lanka. Not artistic style – Johns is associated with iconic symbols like the American flag, targets, and numbers; Gormley brings to mind life-sized bronze sculptures of the human body invading public space on street corners, rooftops, and seashores. Not professional circle – Johns formed tight bonds in the New York artistic community beginning in the ’50s with composer John Cage, choreographer Merce Cunningham, and artist Robert Rauschenberg; Gormley has yet to be grouped with a particular circle or movement, though he does come from a large family and is reportedly close to his siblings.

This summer, these two very different artists will find their work cohabiting at 21st and Q Streets. Each show is the artist’s first at the Phillips, highlights work on paper, and is on view June 2 through September 9, 2012. They will fill separate areas of the museum, but the Phillips is small enough that visitors will likely experience the exhibitions one after the other. Jasper Johns: Variations on a Theme follows the artist’s printmaking over more than five decades, from experiments in lithography and intaglio to silkscreen and lead relief. Antony Gormley: Drawing Space introduces the artist’s drawings, which he often makes at night using odd materials like burnt chicory, prickly pear cactus juice, earth, and blood. In the Phillips spirit of conversation across time and place, it will be curious to discover what Johns and Gormley can teach us about each other, simply through their differences.