Curator’s Office

Don’t get me wrong, I love contemporary galleries. Despite being a little unnerved by the white cubes — the stuffiness and the inevitable silence from the staff when you walk in with blue jeans and a t-​shirt — I just love looking at the art.
But Curator’s Office is too unnerving. I mean, imagine being locked into a close gravitational pull around the front desk, that uncomfortable space to be avoided at all costs. Then imagine four walls erected around you, a claustrophobic trap if there was one. Now, imagine the person at the front desk is the owner and curator.
Holy. Hell.
Awkward half-​conversation abounds in this space. No doubt, it’s a cute little concept. Turn an office into an exhibition space! But it’s just too much for my fragile nerves.
Woe is me.
That said, the art is good. I brave the uncomfortable atmosphere enough to have come back several times. Just be prepared for very awkward self-​awareness.

In DC, when we think of scandal we tend to think it occured in politics. Or, if you are like me and watch Entertainment Tonight or the E Channel on the elliptical, you think scandal = Hollywood. But a scandal in the art community? Yep. And it happened at the Curator’s office last year.
There is an award called the Trawick Painting Prize (hrm.sounds like «train wreck»). Last year, Andrea Pollan, the Curator’s director & founder was on the panel of Trawick. And, an artist who Pollan represents won the prize. As it turned out Pollan did not vote in the selection of the finalists or the winner of the award. However, DC arties still talk and gossip about the incident.
Scandal aside this is a great gallery, It is very small, but what it lacks in space it makes up for in the quality of the contemporary artists shown here.
Right now, there is a great show going on by an artist named Jason Hughes called «To Beat the Devil.» The highlight of the exhibition is a piece composed of army men figurines which in turn are made of up different materials.