Washington sees much too little of West Coast art, but now paintings, sculptures, ceramics and mixed media works from the di Rosa Preserve in Napa, Calif., one of the best collections of San Francisco Bay area art, comes to the Kreeger Museum. The exhibition, opening tomorrow and titled The True Artist Is an Amazing Luminous Fountain, comes from the collection of maverick collector Rene di Rosa, now 85. He believes in supporting local artists and began in the 1960s by collecting the art of San Francisco’s Beat-influenced painters and sculptors, among them Wally Hendrick, Jay De Feo, Joan Brown and Bruce Conner. Mr. di Rosa also supported the ceramic art movement centered at the University of California at Davis with the ironic ceramic sculptures of Robert Arneson and huge ceramic figures of Viola Frey. Not to be missed in viewing this show of 44 works are artists from the “Funk Art” movement, such as William Wiley and Roy DeForest. At the Kreeger Museum, 2401 Foxhall Road NW. Guided tours 10:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays. Reservations required. Tickets $8, members free. Call 202/338-3552 for reservations.
— Joanna Shaw-Eagle
Filmfest DC, the 18th annual edition of the Washington International Film Festival, begins a full evening of screenings at the Avalon Theatre today. The most intriguing selection would appear to be 2003’s Bright Young Things, an adaptation of the Evelyn Waugh novel “Vile Bodies,” a satire of London society wastrels of the late 1920s.
The festival expands this weekend to several participating theaters and institutions. Highlights include the concert film Bluegrass Journey, based at the annual Grey Fox Bluegrass Festival in rural New York, and Dance Cuba: Dreams of Flight, a chronicle of the Washington Ballet’s performing in Havana during a dance festival in 2000. Both movies will be shown at the AFI Silver Theatre.
About 100 titles will be shown during the course of Filmfest, which continues through May 2. Most tickets are $9, through tickets.com or by calling 703/218-6500. Find the festival catalog at www.filmfestdc.org, or call 202/628-FILM.
— Gary Arnold
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