I love cafes. And sometimes, I like what’s hanging on the walls enough to tell friends about them. Art can be sometimes elitist (”I don’t want my work hanging where people are eating, drinking coffee and talking!” an artist told me once), and sometimes it’s justified; some work should really be experienced fully, not in side-way glances. But, I like the casualness of coffee shop art, the openness that seems to invite comments and conversations. When the art “fits” the space well, it transforms its atmosphere, too–that’s when I get really excited about this breed of galleries.
There happens to be two shows really close by to DK office that I enjoyed recently. One is at Fuel on Capitol Hill (19th and Mercer). The Artist, Jonathan Wakuda Fischer has taken the famous woodcut prints from the Edo period Japan and juxtaposed them to contemporary hip-hop culture, using stencils. The clash of the clichés from the two sides of Pacific Ocean (crashing waves and five-roofed towers on one side, boombox-on-shoulders, skateboards and sneakers from the other) result in not-wholly-new, yet very intriguing wallscape, thanks to, I think, the DIY aesthetic of the stencils.
The other one, staged at Cafe Ladro (Capitol Hill location on the 15th), is by our friend Mark VonRosentiel (about whom I can’t hype enough). I have seen his paintings in many settings, but this one, with all the crazy warm colored walls (which I never was a fan of, until now) totally hug his pieces and make the whole space all nice.
Go see them both if you live in the area. Both shows should run through May. I’d love to hear what you think of them too!
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