Wayson R. Jones, Closing Reception - April 7 & Then/Again: A Gallery Exhibition 30 Years Later

In the Galleries Wayson R. Jones, Lush: Reinvention Closing Reception: Artist and Curator Talk April 7, 5pm   Closing Reception & Artist Talk: Sunday, April 7, 5pm Artist Wayson R. Jones will be joined in conversation with DCAC's 2018 Curatorial Apprentice Andy Johnson! Lush: Reinvention presents a small new body of richly textured and brilliantly colored paintings. A departure from Jones’ extensive grayscale work, the introduction of vivid color is a new dialect in his personal visual language. Themes of weight, presence, and beauty emerge through abstraction. Andy Johnson is a DC-based art historian, curator, and arts writer. He is Director of Gallery 102 at the Corcoran School of the Arts & Design; contributing editor at DIRT; and serves on the Curatorial & Sales team for Art on the Vine, hosted by the Agora Culture. Wayson R. Jones is a painter, musician, and spoken-word artist. He received a degree in music from University of Maryland and later went on to perform with renowned poet Essex Hemphill, as part of Washington DC’s burgeoning Black gay and lesbian arts scene of the 1980s and ‘90s. The two performed across the country, and appeared in works by groundbreaking filmmaker Isaac Julien (Looking for Langston) and videographer Marlon Riggs (Tongues Untied, Black Is/Black Ain’t). Wayson’s visual art is informed by these experiences and by an exuberant approach to materiality and process. He has had solo shows at BlackRock Center for the Arts, Arts/Harmony Hall, and the Northern Virginia Community College. His work has been purchased by the DCCAH, the Maryland/National Capitol Park and Planning Commission, MGM National Harbor, and is in private collections in the DC area and nationally. dcac’s nano gallery is located within the main gallery and is dedicated to presenting miniature and smaller works in an exhibition setting.  Image: Wayson R. Jones, Meadows, 2018, (detail) Extra-course pumice gel, acrylic, Flashe on wood panel, 6”x6”x1.5”                       -------------------- Then/Again: A Gallery Exhibition 30 Years Later March 29, 2019 – April 28, 2019 Artist/Curator Talk & Closing Reception: Sunday, April 28, 5pm Artists: David Emerick, Lida Husik, Jenny Jenkins, Sherwin Mark, Darrow Montgomery, Fredrick Nunley, Michael Platt, Beverly Ress, and Greg Staley  Curators: Philip Barlow & Pat Goslee Continuing the celebration of DCAC’s thirtieth anniversary, Then/Again remembers the “marathon opening” of DCAC on June 16, 1989. The Corcoran had cancelled the Mapplethorpe exhibition a week before, and there was a hope that this new venue would redress the grievances of a frustrated community of artists and provide a setting to show the diversity of artists working in the District. The idea struck a nerve and crowds waited in lines outside to experience the promise of the new organization. Then/Again includes contemporary work from nine of the sixteen artists from that first show, and recognizes how far both the artists and DCAC have come over the past thirty years. Image: Greg Staley, Legend, 2016, 41”x 30”