FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

MOCA DC/A&M Galleries
1054 31st St., NW, Canal Square in Georgetown, Washington, DC 20007
Public hours: Daily, 1-6 PM Wednesday-Saturday
Web site: mocadc.org

The Scenewash Project: Conjugations
Featuring Work By Two Local Artists -

Gabriel Thy
E-mail: Send Mail
Web site: The Scenewash Project

Andrew Corrigan
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Web site: AndyCorrigan.com

Friday September 2 - September 30, 2005
Opening Reception: Friday September 2, 6-9 PM
Open House: Friday September 16, 6-9 PM

Two local artists, Andrew Corrigan, with a B.A. in Painting and Printmaking from Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond (1997) , and Gabriel Thy, a self-taught emerging artist in his first show, will open at MOCA DC/A&M Galleries on Friday, September 2.

Both artists tend to eschew labels, but after much grappling for identity, each should be considered heirs to the neo-expressionistic post-modernist approach. Mr. Corrigan's line and color executions are formalized, usually figurative, and yet, quite often still raw, only gently assertive, depending on subtle hints, what's missing, and abstracted tints to render the emotional charge of both his canvas work and his highly skilled drawings. His own crafted stylings are easily contrasted with the brute visualizations and thick, often globbed strokes and social commentary offered by earnest newcomer, Gabriel Thy.

It is obvious that CONJUGATIONS for him is the work of someone intent on discovering himself in the world of paint, of art, and perhaps even of politics. Gabriel comments on his role as curator of this show:

Appropriating historical forms - those of content and style - and reworking them to meet the demands of contemporary consciousness, the contemporary artist who wishes to appeal to the full body politik, must construct a living vocabulary in rendering the political statements of his vision. We are living in a dangerous, rapidly accelerating, greedy, image-saturated sub-atomic culture. There is no time left to paint paintings, write poems, or sing hymns to false idols. All of modern civilization cries out for redeeming action, even as the weary soul sighs, and prays for rest. Humanity has simultaneously witnessed too much, and remarkably nothing at all. This contradiction describes the artistic inertia of our heavy times. Within this context of shifting realities, the Scenewash Project attempts to engage the battleground where art and politics beat each other up and few are they who seem the wiser.