On a lovely Saturday evening in June, I attended an opening at the Hamiltonian Gallery at 1353 U Street in one of Washington DC’s contemporary art districts. As the gallery quickly filled up with folks, chatting, visiting, viewing, I felt lucky that I had had a chance, by arriving early, to view some of the works unimpeded by the large and noisy crowd that followed.
The show is called “new. (now).” and it introduces the Hamiltonian Gallery’s five new Fellows, recipients of its fellowship program designed to promote new and innovative visual artists not yet represented by a gallery. This year’s five Fellows are young artists, recent graduates, all of whose work is distinctly different. One artist’s work caught my attention, and pulled me in, and held me: that artist’s name is Katherine Mann, and her Filigree, an 80-inch by 30-foot work on paper using acrylic, watercolor, and sumi ink, from 2009, was a joy to behold.
I’m not an art critic, and do not have the knowledge or the vocabulary with which to take apart and analyze works critically, but as an art lover, this is what I felt when viewing Katherine’s large work: There is something organic, something playful, something fantastic, something real about it. The sensuous lines conjure up detailed landscapes and messy maps, interconnections and intersections. The undulating shapes take surprising twists and turns. The images seem to be alive with feeling, and thought, and purpose, and the work literally took my breath away. Best of all, permeating every square inch of the immense work is color: gorgeous, vibrant, breathtaking, energetic color!
Read about the Hamiltonian Gallery at: http://hamiltonianartists.org
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