Kohl Gallery at Washington College begins 2017 with the group exhibition What’s Next?. Opening on the heels of the presidential inauguration, this show presents works that engage—either directly or obliquely—with issues that were in high circulation during the recent election cycle. Featuring Larry Cook, Ben Marcin, Carolina Mayorga, Christie Neptune, and Rachel Schmidt, the exhibition will run from January 26 to March 10. The participating artists will take part in a panel discussion on Jan. 26 in Litrenta Lecture Hall at 4:30 p.m., followed by an opening reception from 5:30 to 7:30 in Kohl Gallery.
What’s Next? seeks to highlight the ability of artists to articulate and respond meaningfully to some of our historical moment’s most pressing problems. Through photography, video, installation, and performance, the works on display grapple with politically salient issues and topics including climate change, the economy, identity, immigration, and race. Collectively, the selected works prompt us to think critically about the urgent and multifaceted question, “what’s next?”Larry Cook received his MFA from George Washington University in 2013. A 2016 Sondheim finalist and former Hamiltonian Fellow (2013-2015), he has been included in various group shows including It Takes A Nation at the Katzen Arts Center (Washington, D.C., 2016); To Be Black in White America at GalerieMyrtis (Baltimore 2016) and Artist Citizen at Hemphill Fine Art (2013). Cook has also had solo presentations at Hamiltonian Gallery (2015), (e)merge art fair (2014), Stamp Gallery (2014) and Pleasant Plains Workshop (2013). In 2014, he had a large-scale public artwork on view as part of Ceremonies of Dark Men, part of the 5 X 5 Project Public Art, curated by A.M. Weaver and organized by the DC Commission on the Arts. A native of Landover, Maryland, Larry has taught photography at The George Washington University and American University, and is currently a visual art teacher at Northwestern High School in Hyattsville. He is represented by GalerieMyrtis in Baltimore.
Ben Marcin was born in Augsburg, Germany. Many of his photographic essays explore the idea of home and the passing of time.“Last House Standing” and “The Camps” have received wide press both nationally and abroad (The Paris Review, iGnant, La Repubblica, Slate, Wired magazine). More recently, he has been exploring the myriad structures of the urban core in series like Towers, Street and Deconstructions. His photographs have been shown at a number of national galleries and venues including the Baltimore Museum of Art; the Delaware Art Museum; The Griffin Museum of Photography in Winchester, Massachusetts; The Center For Fine Art Photography in Ft. Collins, Colorado; The Photographic Resource Center in Boston; and the Houston Center for Photography. “Last House Standing (And Other Stories)” was featured in a 2014 solo exhibit at the C. Grimaldis Gallery in Baltimore. His work is also in several important collections including the Baltimore Museum of Art.
Carolina Mayorga, a Colombian-born and naturalized American citizen, has exhibited her work nationally and internationally for the last 15 years. Her work is part of national and international collections and has been reviewed in publications in South America, Europe and the US. Mayorga’s artwork addresses issues of social and political content. Comments on migration, war, and identity translate into video, performance, site-specific installations, and two-dimensional media in the form of photography and drawing. The artist lives and works in Washington, D.C.
Christie Neptune is a graduate of Fordham University and has been featured in publications including Les Femmes Folles, HYSTERIA: What Was Taken, Psychology Today, JUX- TAPOZ , AFROPUNK, The Washington Post and VICE. Recent shows include a solo exhibition at the Hamiltonian Gallery, Washington, D.C (2016); and Five Myles Gallery, Brooklyn, New York (2015). She has been included in group exhibitions at the Queens Museum of Art (2016); A.I.R. Gallery, Brooklyn (2016); Yeelen Gallery, Miami, Florida (2015); The Hamiltonian Gallery, Washington, D.C. (2015); UnionDocs, Brooklyn, (2015); the Momentum Technology Film Fest at Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey (2014); and 440 Gallery, Brooklyn (2011).
Rachel Schmidt explores how the rapidly increasing rate of urban growth has forced the hand of evolution, generating urban versions of animals and plants and modifying whole ecosystems. Rachel is currently an independent museum professional and works with local D.C. arts organizations, non-profits, and museums. From 2011-16, she was an artist in residence at the Arlington Arts Center, and from 2012-16 she was an exhibition specialist and exhibition coordinator at the Smithsonian Hirshhorn Museum. Rachel earned a Masters in Fine Arts from the Mount Royal School of Art at the Maryland Institute College of Art in 2007.
Kohl Gallery is located on the first floor of the Gibson Center for the Arts at Washington College. It is open Monday through Wednesday, 1 to 6 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. For more information, please email: [email protected].
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