Art on Capitol Hill

Do you know the difference between Art Nouveau and Art Deco? Pop and Op? Outsider and Art Brut? Can you explain Neo-Plasticism? It doesn’t matter. There are hundreds of “styles.” The 20th Century was one grand race to explore, label and trumpet every imaginable way of doing art. Now it is a big tent indeed—and confusing. To get a handle on it, I group all the styles into seven types of art. Mostly it is just a matter of what the artist intends. Think of them as the Magnificent Seven—they are all wonderful. (Yes, there is overlap, but maybe this will help.)

Decorative: The purpose of decorative art is to be visually pleasing. It features floral patterns, still-lifes and scenes of antiquity. There are no moral or emotional challenges and the artist is almost anonymous.

Expected: Here, things look like they are supposed to look. You can include portraits, landscapes and such. Most public art is comfortable here. Realism, Photo-Realism and Illustrative are the usual styles, but there are many ways to paint the expected. Technique and optical illusion are primary. Unexpected: Ordinary things are altered, often with the juxtaposition of objects, places and ideas. Or you may find unexpected color, form or shapes. Surrealism, Pop, Cubist and Dada are just a few styles that fit in here. The artist is a guide to another meaning of reality.

Imaginative: Some art wants to sail deep into your imagination and find a home. This art doesn’t answer as many questions as it asks. It draws you in, and you have a lot to do with giving it meaning. Abstract Expressionism and Futurism might be the best examples, but many artists like to make you think.

Emotional: This is the stuff that really touches you. It not only makes you think, but makes you feel. It can be very pleasant, but it also can be jarring—a wakeup—or a scream. The artist as an individual really jumps out of the canvas, paper, marble, or whatever the form or material. Include Expressionism, Art Brut, Romanticism and a few others. Most religious art fits in this category. Conceptual: The message is the medium. It is for or against something—usually a social issue. “Installations” are concept pieces, but most “Contemporary” art dances on the head of a message. Great Art: The work is captured by the great joy of bringing together all the elements of a painting (sculpture, photograph or other art form). Whether the piece is abstract or representational, it is really about color, form, composition, line, paint quality and a dozen other ingredients. The old masters played in this special corner of the Big Tent and most artists would like an invitation.

Jack Hannula is a painter of fleeting moments—those little pieces of awareness that fit together in our everyday existence. They are the patterns of our expectations. You glimpse a child frozen in the moment he passes a doorway, or people at a cafe who are locked in a syllable of conversation. You know what will happen next and are comfortable that you know.

Jack loves to play with patterns of light and dark that are carefully translated into architectural forms. No surprise there—Jack is a landscape architect and environmental planner who has spent his whole professional life drawing, rendering and teaching architectural presentations. But his work goes far beyond architecture; he translates the complexity of the city. It is a personal interpretation of a complex world, one that both explains and mystifies, not a literal, photographic reproduction. But most of all, he wants to give you a painting that lives as a work of art.

Jack has undergraduate and graduate (Harvard) degrees in art and landscape architecture, and he spent two years in the Peace Corps as a village planner. He has taught at major universities and spent most of a decade as a private consultant. Painting became a major part of his life ten years ago and it is becoming the passion of his future.

Some paintings may originate in Italy, or New York, but most capture time and space on Capitol Hill. You won’t find famous people doing famous things—just familiar people doing familiar things in familiar places, one split second at a time.

Jack’s work can be seen at Gallery 325, at 325 7th Street, SE.

This is the 45th year of the House Tour. It is a very different year. At a time of lingering outside threats and tense security at the Capitol, it is not enough to want things to be the way they were. We need to recommit ourselves to the inner structure of a community. Capitol Hill is a small town and houses, even beautiful houses, do not by themselves make small towns. There has to be an underlying humanity, a common identification and a living culture: music, theater, poetry, literature and the visual arts.

The Saturday “candle light” tour, on May 11, is from 5 to 8 PM. It is at the same time as the monthly “Second Saturday.” This is when Hill art galleries, The Capitol Hill Art League and other art and music oriented businesses will have receptions that are open to all. In addition, for those with tour tickets, there will be a party at the Old Naval Hospital at Pennsylvania and Ninth SE. It will be full of the art of local artists. (It will also be open on Sunday from 12-5.) Both options are a great opportunity to see and buy some of the best art in the metropolitan area, and, arguably, in America today.

The Restoration Society deserves a lot of credit, especially T.C. Benson, Michelle Carroll, Dan Dailey and other volunteers who have worked with the arts component.

Celebrate The Hill as a living place—not just a place to live. Put art in your home and into your life.

For comments, Jim Magner can be contacted at magner414@aol.com and his paintings can be seen on magner414.com and in Gallery 325.