art

Art Replaces Ads in Rosslyn and Pentagon City Stations

By ARLnow.com

A provocative series of photographs are on display at six Washington-area Metro stations, including Rosslyn and Pentagon City.

The photographs, displayed in frames usually reserved for advertisements, show the faces of nine American soldiers photographed between tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The Soldier Billboard Project, as the series is called, is a collaboration between New York photographer Suzanne Opton and curator Susan Reynolds. The billboards ask viewers to Tweet their reactions.

The photograph at the Rosslyn Metro, above, went on display Thursday. It will remain there until April 4th.

G-40 Artists Arrested Before Show

By ARLnow.com

Two artists invited to showcase their work at the G-40: The Summit exhibition in Crystal City were arrested last month after allegedly defacing the roof of the building where the show is now being held.

Maura Judkis of the Washington City Paper reports that two street artists known as Scotch and Jik spent four days in the Arlington County lockup. Police said they caused more than $1,000 in damage to the Plaza Five building at 223 S. 23rd Street.

More from the Washington City Paper.

Street Art Comes to Crystal City

By ARLnow.com

The sheer scale of Crystal City’s G-40: The Summit is large enough to impress at least one jet-setting local artist, who praised the exhibition while saying that he otherwise considers Crystal City to be an “upper class ghetto.”

Set in four vacant floors of an office building at 223 23rd Street, G-40 will feature more than 2,000 pieces of art from 400 artists. Each floor showcases artists from different cultural hubs: DC, New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles. Several artists who were on hand at Monday night’s VIP and press reception said it’s the largest single-theme exhibit in the DC area in recent memory.

Much of the art, curated by Shane Pomajambo of Art Whino, is considered to be “New Brow” (formerly known as “Low Brow”), a raw, grungy, edgy genre strongly influenced by punk music, street culture and comic books. Don’t bring the kids, unless you want them to see some pretty graphic stuff.

G-40 officially opens to the public Wednesday at 5:00 p.m., with food and wine pairings by a group of local executive chefs, live painting, and music by DJ Sonny Cheeba. Attendance is free, but the food is extra.

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Del. Englin Reacts to Proposed State Arts Cut

By ARLnow.com

Del. David Englin (D), who represents part of Arlington in the Virginia House of Delegates, released a statement today about the proposed elimination of the Virginia Commission for the Arts. Englin called the Republican-backed measure a “shortsighted, high-risk scheme.”

Del. Englin’s full statement, after the jump.

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