As the Roman poet Ovid observed 2,000 years ago, “Love Stinks.”

OK, maybe that wasn’t Ovid. But this much is certain: If you’re going to play the game of love, you’d better wear protection. In his new show, Love Is a Losing Game, D.C. artist Billy Colbert offers a series of modified football helmets to guard your head, if not your heart.

Colbert has previously examined the gentrification cycle in Shaw via mixed media collage, made creepy chromogenic prints of dolls, and appropriated the visual cues of advertising, animation and graffiti for his vibrant, mischievous paintings.