Art-lovers can give thanks for a bounty of new viewing venues around town.
Near Dupont Circle, the beat of urban life fills the Meat Market, transformed from old grocery to sleek gallery by Fabian Bernal. Camillo Morales’ reflective, layered photo images suggest chance encounters between mannequins and pedestrians. Guillermo Santos’ snapshots of urban dwellers deliver a more personal experience. Winsome, foreshortened perspectives distill quirky personalities in a visual short-story anthology that turns strangers into acquaintances
Save 16 minutes for Charlotte Andrew’s video installation. Monochrome footage that cuts between modern-day Mayans assembling for Mexican Independence day, the ruins of the Yucatan’s lost Mayan civilization and New York cityscapes — which the artist captured after watching nighttime garbage collection in the metropolis — is projected against a stackof white, hand-sized concrete and plaster blocks and through a suspended curtain of shapes cut from plastic bottles. The jangly brightness suggests sunny obliviousness to the degradation wrought by humans on their environment. While mesmerized by the aesthetics and kinetics of this piece, its message creeps up on you.
On Dec. 1, Meat Market will open a new show featuring edgy takes on street dogs by Colombian painter Marcela Rodriguez.
Saturday night, Randall Scott opens his new 14th Street arts corridor gallery with “No Fancy Titles.” The contemporary expo includes Catalina Estrada’s fanciful Far East-accented cartoonscapes, Julia Fullerton-Batten’s “Teenage Stories,” Kelly Tunstall’s fashion-fantasy sketches and Hiroyuki Hamada’s supernatural sculpture.
In Southeast, embassy cultural liaison Myrtis Bedolla recently christened Galerie Myrtis with a diverse collection of African and African-American works. Seek out local Calvin Coleman’s figurative works swirling with color, melody and spiritual renewal.
At D.C.’s newly extended art buffet, it’s easy to stuff your senses this season.
Randall Scott Gallery
1326 14th St. NW
» Info: 202-332-0806; www.randallscottgallery.com
» Opening reception: 6 to 8 p.m. Saturday
Meat Market Gallery
1636 17th St. NW
» Info: 202-328-6328; www.meatmarketgallery.com
» Artist reception: 6 to 9 p.m. on Dec. 1
Galerie Myrtis
500 9th St. SE
» Info: 202-548-7575; www.galeriemyrtis.com
