Visiting the Corcoran

Although spring began close to nine days ago, the weather has just begun to warm up in DC.  To celebrate the temperature rising of 50 degrees, I drove down to the Corcoran Gallery of Art in NW DC on Friday afternoon.  I was originally drawn to this particular gallery, as there are many in DC, because the Washington Post Weekend section included a blurb about an exhibit, Pump Me Up: DC Subculture of the 1980s, that would be closing the following weekend.

This exhibition, which continues until Sunday April 7th, showcases the vibrant underground culture the blossomed during an era of drug problems and corruption in the District.  The exhibition displays brilliant concert photos (shown below), archival photographs, clothing, instruments and even video loops.

The Corcoran's Rotunda full of neon concert posters produced by Baltimore-based Globe printing press.

After returning back home, I did a bit more research on the exhibit and found this video from Vimeo.  Click on the link to watch.  I highly recommend it!  Curator, Roger Gastman, discusses how individuals have reacted with such pride and emotion after seeing the showcase, particularly those who lived in and around DC in the 1980s.  It truly makes me wonder what things I will remember and associate with my childhood in DC in a matter of 30 years.  If you have time between now and next Sunday, get up and go!  Entrance is 8 dollars for students and 10 for adults.

After viewing the Pump Me Up exhibit and the rest of the museum, I walked outside and ran into the poster shown below, which I thought was pretty interesting.  I don't know much about it, other than it was on a street corner by the Corcoran and seemed like it could have been on one of the walls of the Pump Me Up exhibit.

Pink man on a street-corner electrical box in Northwest DC

And finally, I had to snap a shot of this dejected-looking lion guarding the entrance of the Corcoran.  I have never seen an expression on an animal (not to mention a sculpture) so intriguing or so human.  I wish I could speak with the artist and know what (s)he was thinking when creating this.  You can actually buy the lion as a bookstand here at the museum store, but I don't think the its expression is captured in quite the same manner.

Dejected-lion guarding the entrance of the Corcoran