There have been a lot of rumblings around Alexandria in the last few months as the City Council is looking at the Torpedo Factory and its economic contribution to Alexandria with financial eyes.

In spite of the austere financial environment that we all face these days, I hope that they do not forget the huge cultural contribution that the Factory’s artists deliver to our area’s art scene. Without the Torpedo Factory, Old Town Alexandria would be just another quaint shopping area with good restaurants and a few unique stores sprinkled among the cookie-cutter franchises. The Factory and the other real art galleries in the area (Gallery West, Principle Gallery, etc.) give Old Town its own unique cultural flavor - a distinct flavor and feel.

Having said that, the Torpedo Factory, like any art establishment, needs to constantly evolve and constantly change and adapt and grow; otherwise it grows stale and predictable.

One of the real success stories in the Factory is the Target Gallery (on the first floor), which I consider to be not only Alexandria’s best and most innovative art gallery, but also one of the region’s only places to see, month after month, national and sometimes even international artists.

Under the skilled guidance of gallery director Mary Cook, the gallery has refined its presence, thanks in part to the superb set of jurors that Cook has been able to bring to the gallery, such as Andrea Pollan for the show that I saw: In The Flesh II.

Pollan writes in her juror statement:
“Figurative art has had a resurgence in recent years, no doubt brought on by the barrier-breaking internet and its promise of access to all kinds of social information - including things previously kept private – that emphasize what strange and fascinating creatures we are. Witness the popularity of YouTube.com, where the more extreme the videotaped image or behavior is by social consensus, the more frequently a link goes viral and gets viewed. Our self-absorption knows no bounds. Our bodies are endlessly fascinating.

… The organizing premise of this juried exhibition is figurative work. From over 800 submissions, it was extremely difficult to cull an exhibition of only 27 works. Many very fine works were sacrificed in the final few rounds of jurying. My primary criterion was to select works of artistic quality, sometimes traditional and sometimes not. Clearly the poetic, the mysterious, the contemplative, the whimsical, the political, and sometimes the dark side of humanity characterize many of the works on view. This may be attributed to my juror’s bias that includes a predilection for a good imagined story.”

As soon as one enters the gallery, the first thing that we notice is the very interesting installation by Stephanie Liner titled that Momentos of a Doomed Construct, which in a sense dominates at first sight, in part because of its scope, and in part because of the size and fascinating sculptural ideas delivered by the artist.

It is also clear that Momentos of a Doomed Construct (is it Momentos or Mementos?) would have shown better by itself in a larger space, kudos to Pollan for selecting it and kudos to Target for showcasing it as well as they did.

This show is full of great work, and there are several artists here who should really be seen by our local collectors and by my fellow art dealers. Pollan's experienced eye has delivered a winner and this show is by far one of the best figurative shows that I have seen in years.

The first piece that attracted my attention was Anna Kipervaser's Inunion (3), an oil painting on shaped panel that immediately brought to my mind the similarly shaped panels of Cuban artist Aimee Garcia Marrero, who showed in Georgetown and also in Bethesda several years ago.

In either case, both artists' technical facility translates superbly to the shaping of the panel, which then delivers a piece that somewhat marries painting with sculpture and that does well in either case.

Ann Piper's Censored is just a good painting, period, and Pollan awarded it Best in Show. This is an obviously skilled painter with enviable painting skills and a talented brush, and she flexes those abilities in a rather simple but sexy painting with a hint of playfulness and a load of seriousness attached to it via its title.

Jason John's mastery of the genre of hyper-realism blew me away. This is hyper-realism at its best with a hint of surrealism, or is it?

Has the child's magical flick of the wrist lifted the object in the upper left in a gravity-defying act? Or is the object a helium filled balloon orbiting the painting of its own accord? The answer lies in the way that the man responds to the scene and under John's talented hand, the painting succeeds in grabbing our attention through his.

Other works worthy of attention were Colin Asmus' two pieces in the show, which deliver a marriage of social situations with a touch of internet insanity and excellent painting skills. I also liked Jeffrey Haupt's sexy and a little eerie Miss A, a large oil on panel (56'x35") which is a steal at $1,250.

Strong narrative is the key to the success of Jami Nix's 42nd Street Time Square Station, a piece depicting a bunch of NYC cops with canine assistants inspecting the famous subway station.

Rachel Sitkin's graphite titled Under Question represents drawing well in the show, as does Jeff Markowsky's superb charcoal drawing.

Finally, Valerie Patterson's watercolor Woman is the Other has a touch of the magical madness of Gregory Gillespie's work, and leaves us unsure if we're witnessing a macabre act or a depicting of loss of identity or self-esteem.

This show is a winner; almost every piece could have been a Best in Show on its own, and my choice for Best in Show would go to Jason John.

Upstairs from Target, if you're a photography fan in the Greater DC area, then you know that Multiple Exposures Gallery on the second floor of the Torpedo Factory is one of the best photography galleries in the Mid Atlantic region and they rightfully boast in their website a very cool recommendation by my good friend Kathleen Ewing, who writes:

“Multiple Exposures Gallery is a showcase to view quality fine art photography produced in our community. I have always been impressed with the professionalism, variety, and quality of photographic images exhibited at Multiple Exposures.”

So I'm never surprised when I wander into MEG and discover yet another strong show.

This time the photographs by Colleen Henderson - the set on the red wall of the gallery -floored me! I specify the red wall, because Henderson also has a set of very nice and very different photographs on the black wall. They're OK, but they are completely erased from attention by the mastery and simplicity that she has achieved with the work that faces the viewer as one enters the gallery.

This is as close as painting with a camera as a photographer will ever get. How Henderson has managed to dilute and trap color, and then use her magical photography skills to re-hue them and present us with works that suddenly become a photographic cousin to the legendary colors of the Washington Color School and even would have drawn a gasp from Mark Rothko... is beyond my understanding of the mysteries of the camera at the hand of a master.

And in "Blue Clearing" she traps that scene that all of us have aimed a camera at; that sudden instant when the marine clouds and the beach light and the ocean all become one lazy dreamscape that re-enchants us with our blue planet. We all get crappy pictures that look good to us. Henderson gets a photographic painting that belongs in a Richter exhibition.

In "Cambridge Dawn" we're brought back to Earth a little, as she offers us more hints of real life, besides dazzling us with color and fantasy, as the dark marine forms in the water anchor an otherwise ethereal scene.

If you’re an Alexandrian and haven’t been to the Torpedo Factory in a while, go drop in and say hello to the artists there and tell them that you support them and that you are glad that Alexandria can boast of such a precious art jewel in its cultural tapestry.

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