Metro Gallery
1700 North Charles Street, Baltimore, MD 21201
BALTIMORE- “Playthings”, a group exhibit of art influenced by the act of play, will be shown at the Metro Gallery during the month of May. The exhibition will include works by some of the most exciting young local artists: Dina Kelberman, Milana Braslavsky, Noel Freibert, Alex Worthington, Ryan Cecil Smith, Natalie Jenison, Nik Pence, Michael Gerkovich, Meghan Clay, and Giuliana Pinto. Showcasing a variety of media, the works included in “Playthings” iterate the importance of play within current art, and the centrality of toys within this discussion.
“Playthings” embraces acts of play: through the thematic and visual influence of playthings, through the welcoming of physical interaction. The works included in this exhibition embody the both the spirit and the function of toys. They imitate mundane necessities of life or they provide relief through alternative fantasy, and often these two binaries collide. Through the language of toys, “Playthings” presents a wonderland of invention, whimsy, and playfulness.
An opening reception will be held at the Metro Gallery on Thursday, May 8th from 7 to 11PM.
Click HERE for a review of the show on the Ten Tigers blog.
Sarah Williams
Metro Gallery // Owner
[email protected]
www.themetrogallery.net
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Jimmy Rouse: People, Things & Places
Opening Party w/ Mambo Combo
Fri May 9 Reception 6-8pm, dance party 8pm
The first major exhibition in ten years by painter Jimmy Rouse is a testament to the enduring power of representational painting to describe the world, and its potential to address contemporary themes. People, Things & Places demonstrates the artist’s range and development over time, for whom the act of painting is always about learning, exploring the medium, and understanding both his inner and outer worlds. Self portraits capture his often mischievous, occasionally cranky stare, and still-lifes, portraits of bohemian friends and landscapes of old Fells Point are suffused with the soft, clear light of Sisley or Seurat. Rouse’s real power, however, is reserved for his larger figurative paintings, where he and longtime muse Ava Oelke often reenact compositions from baroque masters or the artist’s imagination to eerie effect. One time owner of Louie’s Bookstore Café, longtime presence at Martick’s Restaurant Francais, a leader of the Charles Street Development Corp during its heyday as a gallery district, and the son of visionary developer James W. Rouse, Rouse has been a jovial force-to-be-reckoned-with on the city’s cultural scene for over three decades.
Two public programs capture a sense of Rouse’s place in Charm City’s social and gustatory history. Food + Art: Stories from Louie’s and Martick’s revisits two legendary Baltimore establishments, where food and artists have commingled for over forty years. A gathering of folks who were there (and who wasn’t?) share stories and invite you to bring your own. The exhibition opens with a party featuring Jimmy’s fave dance band Mambo Combo, retro and original songs by Ava Oelke, and catering by On the Hill that does justice to Rouse’s other role as a pioneer of Baltimore dining. On view May 3-31.
