We had a blast Friday night celebrating the unveiling of a new indoor mural by street artist Gaia at Pinea, the new(ish) restaurant that replaced J&G Steakhouse at the luxury hotel W Washington D.C. To go along Chef Barry Koslow's southern Mediterranean menu, the mural was inspired by a sculpture of Cesar Augustus and also features birds, a leitmotiv in Gaia's work. I personally love the mural and thinks it not only livens up Pinea's dining room but also really works with what I expect a restaurant at a W Hotel to look like. Wondering where you may have seen Gaia's works before? The 27 years old Baltimore-based street ...
Art
Francophonie Festival, 2015 Edition
The largest celebration of French culture and language in the world—the Francophonie Cultural Festival—is returning to the US capital March 5 to April 1, 2015. Organized by the D.C. Francophonie Committee in association with l'Alliance Française and Smithsonian Associates, the festival engages over 40 embassies for a month of cultural events ranging from lectures to concerts and movie screenings, culminating as usual with la Grande Fête de la Francophonie, a huge foodie bash at la Maison Française at the French Embassy. What I've loved about the partnership with Smithsonian Associates this year is how active Smithsonian at 8 (the 21+ after-hours event planning art of the Smithsonian) has ...
Postcard from France: Cour Bérard in Paris
Cour Bérard is a small street in the 4eme arrondissement in Paris. It's the home of the Moretti & Moretti, an art galerie which focuses on street art, digital art and installations. I headed to the galerie to check out its Konny Stedin exhibit. If you've been to Paris recently, I'm sure you spotted some of the German street artist's work. Her signature black and white portraits, with the red paint tears, can be seen throughout Paris, like this one below which I snapped a few years ago outside of Beaubourg But the best street art wasn't inside the gallery. It was actually outside, in the street, which was lined with graffiti black cats. Cour Bérard is a small street, but it's ...
Postcard from France: Visiting the Louvre-Lens
Lens, a small town in northern France, boasts a football stadium with a capacity larger than its population, but doesn't have a movie theater. A former mining strong hold, its main touristic and cultural attractions used to be world war I cemeteries and Europe's tallest slag heaps (known by their formal French name of base et terrils jumeaux du 11/19.) That all changed in 2012. That year, one of the world's most famous museums, the Louvre, opened an outpost in Lens, attracting some 900,000 visitors its first year of operation. While that's barely anything compared to the 8 million visitors that go through the Parisian museum each year, that's still very impressive. Lens is easily ...
Out of Many One Facescape on the National Mall
On October 9, 1888, the Washington Monument officially opened to the general public. It's the tallest building in Washington, D.C. and the tallest stone structure in the world, though it lost the tallest building in the world title a long time ago (initially to a certain wrought-iron Parisian tower...and many more buildings since.) My husband and I have lived in DC for more than 10 years and yet we had never been up to the top of the Washington Monument. So when we heard that the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery and the National Park Service had commissioned a six-acre portrait between the World War Two Memorial and the Lincoln Memorial that's best seen from 555 feet above ground and ...
Art All Night Returns September 27, Expands Across the District
I've given up on D.C.'s Art For All ever being a cultural event of the scale and caliber of Paris' Nuit Blanche, but that doesn't mean that I'm not looking forward to it. The main event, Art All Night/Nuit Blanche DC, now in its fourth edition, will take place Saturday, September 27 and go beyond the Shaw neighbourhood to all four quadrants of the city. Art All Night uses art to cast a new light on the city and one of the things I love the most about the DC version is that it allows me to explore both established art spaces and discover more underutilized venues. This year is no exception. Here are some of the highlights: Activated! Art4All Launch Party ~ If you haven't walked through ...
Angelika Pop-UP at Union Market
The Angelika Film Center in New York City’s SoHo neighborhood is a cultural institution for arthouse cinema. Its affiliate at the Mosaic District in Fairfax is FABULOUS! It's an elegant, state of the art, 8 screens theater where you can nibble on tadoori popcorn and reserve your seat in advance. If it weren't so far in Fairfax, I'd go there all the time! Luckily, soon enough, there will be an Angelika movie theater near Union Market, right here in downtown, DC. Until then (then being 2015), Union Market is giving us a little preview of what it will be like with an Angelika pop-up. The pop-up opens this weekend with screening of Queen Margot, a French period drama featuring Daniel Auteuil ...
Seeing Art Through Google Glasses
Judging by the crowds who showed up at the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery this Presidents' Day weekend, Washingtonians were very exited at the idea of mixing art and wearable technology. I know I was. I must confess, when I first read about David Datuna's "Portrait of America" piece I didn't entirely grasp the concept. I just thought, ooh, cool, google glasses and art! Let's check it out. My husband and I I showed up at 11:15 on Sunday without even knowing that the Portrait Gallery only opened at 11:30. We entered on the G street Street side, slowly made our way to the line via a leisurely walk through the "Retratos: 2000 Years of Latin American Portraits" exhibit only to find out ...
Virginia is for (art & French films) lovers
Virginia is for lovers and this month, the Commonwealth wants DC area residents to Like! to LOVE Virginia. Throughout April, people who "like" the Virginia is for Lovers Facebook page will have access to daily travel deals and super savings through the VADeals4DC tab. To spread the love, they've also installed a giant LOVE art installation at the DuPont Circle Memorial Fountain. The letters will be displayed through April 8 and everyone is encouraged to take a picture of them or with them and upload them to the facebook page. As part of the promotion, Virginia will also be giving out some Like! to LOVE Virginia t-shirts on April 1st (the location will be announced on Facebook at 3PM ...
Postcard from France: Metz-merized by Pompidou-Metz!
Like many Parisians, I suffer from a bit of a superiority complex. Growing up in the most beautiful city in the world, I sometime forget that there is more to France than its capital. What we Parisians typically lump together as "la Province" (ie. everywhere outside of Paris) is actually comprised of 21 independent regions, each with its own history, traditions, gastronomy and tourist attractions. Lorraine, in the North East of France, is one of these regions. Until recently it was mainly ignored by pretty much everyone but die-hard quiche lovers. Today, however, even the snobbiest Parisians are planning weekend or day trips to the capital city of Lorraine: Metz And yes, that includes ...
