"Burning Man" the Art of Turning Fine Art into Fun Art.

“Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary...” I decided to visit the Burning Man Exhibit at the Renwick Gallery in Washington, DC. The minute I parked my car on a DC street, I was met by a humongous statue of a crow which immediately brought inferences to the late American poet Edgar Allan Poe and his most famous of all poems “The Raven” - Hence, the above introductory quote. Two steps forward and then another huge statue of a crow almost communicating to the viewer that the exhibit one is about to see is less an ordinary. On a further look, I see that the crows' artist Jack Champion had titled his collection of bronze crows “Murder”. One wonders with such a title could this have been related to the mysterious and the macabre tales of the late dark poet! Yet, info. on the artist says that artist's grandmother had a pet crow, and he casually feeds crows outside his house in Oakland.

Onward to the glorious Renwick Gallery which has been very clever in taking on shows of huge installation and scale bringing in exhibits from near and far to the DC scene. The latest exhibits have been strong on the whimsical approach through their three dimensional art derived from all sorts of mediums such metal, glass, wood, paper and even pots and pans. Yet, most importantly light and how it interacts and reflects within the subject matters and on the surfaces surrounding it – light is most definitively one the winner mediums in this show.
Entering the Burning Man exhibit, I totally felt like “Alice in Wonderland” lost in size in the magical mushrooms world of rose and blue colored mushrooms interacting to the touch expanding and blooming. The “Wow, Oh and Ah” from the audience can be heard in this room with jaws dropping looking up at the huge mechanical mushrooms in their colorful electronic movement. Yet, unlike Alice the viewer does not go down into a spiral of a rabbit hole. Au contraire, we are escalated and transcended into a higher realm while our heads and eyes keep looking up at the beauty and whimsy we are about to see. Shrumen Lumen is the artist of the magical mushrooms.
In a sense, I feel that the Burning man exhibit and even the annual Burning man Festival in Black Rock Desert in Nevada are equivalent to the adult version of Disney World. Although at the Renwick Gallery in DC the exhibit clearly not only engages the playful adult but the youngsters as well. The exhibit takes the viewer to places one has never been to before where only “The Burning Man” show can take you to. A place like no other mixed with yesteryear vintage memorabilia images and a throwback to the silent and moving early cinema days colliding with the thrilling “Mad Max” world mixed with plentiful of science fiction references and back to “Metropolis” while mélanging it all up in that endless feel good, free love, communal happiness hippie ear sentiments.
Much of the works such as “Paper Arch” by Michael Garlington and Natalia Bertotti have a strong architectural foundation. “Paper Arch” reminds me of the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, France in the way it was built. The difference obviously here are the materials used. “Paper Arch” is an arch made out of paper and photos. The black and white photos adorning and collageing the arch remind me of vintage photos from avant-garde world French cinema during the early 1900's. The late French silent film director and illusionist Georges Méliès of “A Trip to the Moon / Le Voyage dans La Lune - 1902” would have definitely been amused by the technical and narrative aspect of the arch that he could have easily used the paper arch in one of his films.

Some of the most beautiful rooms in this exhibit are on the second floor. The two galleries that spoke most to me are the ones I feel had a strong influence form Arabic and Moroccan art through their take on art, architecture, design, pattern, construction and execution of the pieces overall.
The huge lantern shaped cubist forms are made by the duo artists Yelena Filipchuck and Serge Beaulieu where they wanted to bring to their collaborative installation “HYBYCOZO” a sci-fi approach that is particularly influenced by Douglas Adam's classic sci-fil novel “The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy” from which most of their work derives. Although many of the burning man pieces do have a huge element of sci-fi references to them, I personally did not see the coloration of science fiction in “HYBYCOZO”. What I saw was a clear similarity to the exotic Arabesque design of Moroccan lanterns. By entering this gallery one feels like you have stepped into the world of Scheherazade and the “One Thousand and One Nights” Middle Eastern folk tales. The only thing missing are the lounge style cushions to lay on and look up to admire the reflection that the light through the lanterns create on every surface visible within the room: on the ceiling, on the ground on your self on the person next to you... One does not need to wonder why this room in particular is very popular with selfie photo takers and professional photographers alike.

A clear influence as well from the Middle Eastern Arabesque design and culture is “The Temple” which is entirely made out of wood although from a distance it bares a huge resemblance to The Alhambra palace in Granada, Andalusia, Spain build by the Moors who had ruled Spain during that time in the late 1300's. “The Temple” is a definite splendor of architecture, design and décor. The only thing missing are the fountains ornate with lions' sculpture. The Temple gallery definitely takes my imagination to the Sultan days and their reign. David Best and the Temple crew are the designers and artist behind this marvelous structure.
Of course each artist in the exhibit wants to bring to us the viewer the issues they feel strongly about: some whimsical, some magical, some playful and many of serious and honorable nature such as the metal statue of artist Marco Cochrane. To be frank Cochrane is the star artist of the exhibit and the festival alike through presenting us with his sculptural beauty of Eve – a Venus of some sort of our days. The divine female statue made out of steel with her hands up in the air in a dancing movement as if celebrating her womanhood. A most definite celebratory of piece celebrating the female in all her glory. Cochrane said that he wanted to portray the “feminine energy and power that results when women feel free and safe”. Thus, I feel with such a strong message his noble feelings about this art piece do transcend beyond the desert scene and communicate effectively to all the viewers that lay eyes on this beautiful statue.
Bravo to the Renwick on capturing in this exhibit the atmosphere of the Burning man Festival along with taking us beyond that to our own usage of our imagination by encountering such whimsical pieces.
First Floor open through Sept. 16, 2018.
Second Floor open through Jan. 21, 2019.
Outdoor sculpture are scattered throughout the city and on view through Dec. 2018.
The Renwick Gallery is located at: 1661 Pennsylvania Ave NW, Washington, DC 20006

For more about artist, art educator and art critic Vian Borchert visit: www.vianborchert.com