A Wild Kind of Place: DC Art in the 60's

"We took art away from small-scale easel painting - we were wide open for possibilities," says Tom Green, Washington artist and Corcoran School of Art teacher describing the DC art scene in the late 60's. A 1968 Corcoran Gallery exhibit featuring the works of three DC artists - Rockne Krebs, Sam Gilliam, Ed McGowin, who created art of plexiglas, laser beams, spray-painted fabric and mirror installations. The Corcoran, under the direction of Walter Hopps and Roy Slade, "was a wild kind of place," Green adds. "Paintings were no longer  flat. Art was every medium."

Green, who has a current exhibit of paintings, watercolors and drawings on view at AU's Katzen Museum to March 14, was one of a legendary group of DC artists that followed the famed Color School abstract painters of an earlier generation. "Our art was more innovative - more personal - more inspired by the hard-edge sculptural work of Frank Stella," Green says. "But we were influenced by the sense of scale and big paintings of the Color School."

A Washingtonian since the age of two, Tom Green grew up in suburban Maryland and graduated Universisty of Maryland with a MA in '69. His art career combined teaching at the Çorcoran School for 40 years with prestigious exhibits at the Whitney Museum and Guggenheim in New York plus solo and group shows in Washington galleries.

His work has been described as highly symbolic and strongly influenced by sculpture. Glyph-like characters, stacked stones, shapes on top of shapes  create original and imaginative art.

Green's Katzen exhibit titled "Accident and Intent" should be titled "Chance and Intent", the artist explains.  "I start with a lot of gestural painting and then bring my imagination to direct the action." To see how Green creates his work, his black sketch books are on exhibit for the first time. "This is where my work comes from," says the artist.

A Gallery Talk with Tom Green will take place on Saturday, February 13 at 4 PM at the Katzen Arts Center, located at 4400 Massachusetts Avenue, NW.  Tom Green's exhibit "Accident and Intent" can be seen at the Katzen Arts Center until March 14, 2010.