Leo Villareal “New Work”

@ Connor Contemporary - 1358 Florida Avenue, NE (Staples & Orren Street), Washington, D.C. 20002

Opening Reception - Saturday, May 12, 2012 6-8PM through June 30, 2012

Fifteen Passenger Van(Group Show)

@Montserrat House
2016 9th Street (V and Florida), NW, Washington, D.C., 20001

Opening Reception- Thursday, May 3, 2012 7 - 10PM

[Excerpt from E-mail from Civilian Arts Project]

“Teaming up for the first time, arts professionals Jayme McLellan and José Ruiz present Fifteen Passenger Van, a collaborative art exhibition featuring Professional Practices students from George Washington University’s Fine Arts and Art History department and the Corcoran College of Art + Design’s Fine Art Department. On view at the Montserrat House May 2 to May 3, this show is a rare undertaking and possibly the first of its kind between the schools.

Fifteen Passenger Van provides a platform for these professional practices classmates to throw their hats, palettes, and anything else that would fit in the van, into DC’s contemporary art scene. Following a semester of invigorating lessons on the business of being an artist, these GWU and CCA+D students are moving from the tried and tested waters of their school communities with works in all media onto a voyage that is best experienced collectively - reminding us that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.   “

Featuring: 

Armando Lopez-Bircann
Wesley Cook
Larry Cook
Francesca Downs
Pamela Fernandez
Minami Hofmann
Katie Macyshyn
Christie Malvin
Larissa McGreer
Gabriel Mellan
Fatima Meyers
Bryana Siobhan
Brandon Rukin
Marice Sy  

1675 Wisconsin Avenue, NW (Q St & Resevoir RD), Washington, DC 20007
 

Opening Reception: Friday, April 27, 2012, 6:00-8:00PM Through June 9th, 2012

Jessica van Brakle & Joshua Wade Smith: “Tropical Obstructions”

@Hamiltonian Gallery

1353 U Street NW  Suite 101 (13th & 14th St), Washington, DC 20009
 

Opening Reception: Saturday, April 21, 2012, 7:00-9:00PM Through May 19th, 2012

Billy Colbert: “The Idle Mind Is The Devil’s Workshop”

@Morton Fine Arts

1781 Florida Ave NW (at 18th & U Sts), Washington, DC 20009

Opening Reception: Friday, April 20, 2012, 6:00-8:00PM Through May 16th, 2012

Avery Lawrence: “Moving A Tree and Arranging Suitcases”

@Heiner Contemporary

1675 Wisconsin Avenue, NW, Washington, D.C. 20007

Closing Reception: April 20,  6-8PM through April 21 2012

A closing performance by Avery Lawrence will take place in conjunction with the closing of this show. Inspired by Fred Astaire, Pina Bausch, and New Orleans street performers, Lawrence will perform a dance incorporating characters and artifacts from his film Arranging Suitcases. The performance will begin promptly at 7pm and, weather permitting, take place outdoors.

229 Collective Presents “VULNERABLE” One Night Art Show

Wear. Strut. Occupy.

@ Gallery 31 @ CORCORAN College of Art & Design

500 17th Street, NW, Washington, D.C. 20006

Opening Reception: March 29,  6-8PM through April 15 2012

“In this spring 2012 course students were challenged to visually engage the body and the way in which it is outwardly perceived through costume design and public displays of performance art. The costumes in this exhibition are based on the idea of volume, whether sensory or in relation to size and space, creating a widespread variety of views on the human form as art object. The artists aim to expose D.C. to performance art, costume, and questions regarding the modern perception of the body.”

Rene Medrano was featured in the March 22 edition of SoapBox at the Hillyer Art Space in which the performances draw inspiration from clothing and fashion. Below is a blurb that was on the pamphlet for the performance.

“Rene Medrano: Performing in a busted homespun couture, DC-based Rene Medrano professes a raging fervor as the fabricated character of Suldoga. “SULDOGA,” a fashion performance, balances between genres of high and low art, theater and performance, masculine and feminine. In spite of personal inclination, the performance generates greater ideas about identity, judgement, and social stereotypes. The performance relates a certain solemnity through several layers of theatricality in synergy of references including haute couture assembly, genderfuck drag, and spoken-word poetry. The fashion, a collection of seductive surfaces that attest to the superficiality of gender assignment and societal role-playing, is brought to life through movement and speech. The piece is a narrative nude of existence despite its garishness by becoming an amplified version of nakedness. Common of Medrano’s work “SULDOGA” consists of a thoughtful concept addressing austere subject matter told thorugh the humor and charm of glamorous materiality. “SULDOGA” is a spectacle of declarative fury, complex imagery, and ultimately a testament to the skin we all live in…..”