Robin Bell (born 1979) [1] is an American multimedia visual artist currently living and working in Washington, DC.
Although trained as a printmaker, [2] Bell is better known for his fine art video work as a projectionist, which over the years has been exhibited/projected at a wide and diverse set of venues, such as The Hollywood Bowl, [3] Artomatic, [4] [5] the Kennedy Center, [6] the Phillips Collection [7] and others. [2] [8] [9]
Bell began gaining national [10] [11] [1] [12] [13] [14] and international [15] [16] [17] attention upon President Trump's election, [18] when he focused his projection work to deliver highly negative [19] [20] political messages in various "unauthorized" venues such as the Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C. [21] [22] Referencing that particular projection in 2017, The Los Angeles Times noted that it "began to go viral on social media almost as it was happening." [21]
According to The Washington City Paper, these political projections "unlocked" [23] the path to his first solo show at former Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, and as noted by the Associated Press: "His work has turned into an unexpected business opportunity. Activist groups have paid his crew to travel as far away as Finland to project images on prominent buildings." [12] In 2019, The New York Times art critic Jillian Steinhauer noted that Bell's projections veer "closer to propaganda than art." [24]
The Willard InterContinental Washington, commonly known as the Willard Hotel, is a historic luxury Beaux-Arts hotel located at 1401 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Downtown Washington, D.C. It is currently a member of Historic Hotels of America, the official program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Among its facilities are numerous luxurious guest rooms, several restaurants, the famed Round Robin Bar, the Peacock Alley series of luxury shops, and voluminous function rooms. Owned jointly by Carr Companies and InterContinental Hotels & Resorts, it is two blocks east of the White House, and two blocks west of the Metro Center station of the Washington Metro.
Death to America is an anti-American political slogan widely used in North Korea, Iran, Afghanistan, Lebanon, Yemen, Iraq, Pakistan and Russia. Originally used by North Korea since the Korean War, Ruhollah Khomeini, the first Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran, popularized the term. He opposed the chant for radio and television, but not for protests and other occasions.
Artomatic is a multi-week, multimedia arts event held in the Washington, D.C. area. It was founded by Washington, D.C artist and arts activist George Koch. The non-juried, open event has provided a forum for artists of all types and abilities. There are also arts education and professional development workshops and discussions. Events were held from 1999 up to 2017 at intervals from one to three years, depending upon the availability of a site. Unable to have in-person events due to the COVID-19 pandemic, an online event was held in 2020. The organization has remained active in the local arts community.
The Old Post Office, listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the Old Post Office and Clock Tower, is located at 1100 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W. in Washington, D.C. It is a contributing property to the Pennsylvania Avenue National Historic Site. The building's 315-foot (96-meter) high clock tower houses the "Bells of Congress," and its observation level offers panoramic views of the city and its surroundings. An historic federal office building, it now serves as an hotel.
Lafayette Square is a seven-acre public park located within President's Park in Washington, D.C., directly north of the White House on H Street, bounded by Jackson Place on the west, Madison Place on the east and Pennsylvania Avenue on the south. It is named for the Marquis de Lafayette, a French aristocrat and hero of the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783) and includes several statues of revolutionary heroes from Europe, including Lafayette, and at its center a famous statue of early 19th century U.S. president and general Andrew Jackson on horseback with both of the horse's front hooves raised.
Edward S. Johnston is an American multimedia artist and designer creating works involving interactive media, animation, and 3D printing. Johnston has exhibited and screened his work widely in the international Lumen Prize Exhibition, World Maker Faire New York 2012, Los Angeles Center for Digital Art, the Philoctetes Center, New York, NY ; the Tank Space for Performing and Visual Arts, New York, NY ; Video Art Festival Miden 2009, Kalamata, Greece; the Best of Artomatic 2009 at the Fraser Gallery, Bethesda, MD; PLAY Gallery on Michigan Television; the Emmanuel Gallery, Denver, Colorado ; and the Cothenius Gallery, Berlin, Germany. His work has been included and reviewed in magazine articles, online newspapers, catalogues for exhibitions, and other publications.
The Illuminator Art Collective was conceived of during the Occupy Wall Street movement in New York City in 2011. Given an initial monetary grant from Ben Cohen of Ben & Jerry's, the group purchased and retrofit a Ford cargo van to hold and maneuver a 12,000-lumen projector. The collective typically uses the van to aid existing political movements and has worked with large political organizations such as Greenpeace but typically assists grassroots movements in and around New York City. Their work has been covered by the U.S. East Coast and the British media.
The following is a timeline of the protests against Donald Trump, the former president of the United States of America, businessman, and television personality.
There were several protests organized by the LGBT community against the policies of United States President Donald Trump and his administration.
BLIGHT. Records is an independent record label based in Washington, DC.
The Washington Glass School was founded in 2001 by Washington, DC area artists Tim Tate and Erwin Timmers.
Michael Janis is an American artist currently residing in Washington, DC where he is one of the directors of the Washington Glass School. He is known for his work on glass using the exceptionally difficult sgraffito technique on glass.
Michele Banks is an American artist whose work explores themes inspired by science and medicine, including images such as viruses, bacteria, and plant and animal cells. Her paintings and collages explore neuroscience, microbiology, climate change and more. She lives and works in the Greater Washington, D.C. capital region.
Anne Cherubim is a Canadian artist residing in the U.S., who is an abstract contemporary landscape painter. Cherubim was born in Canada and later started a family in Gaithersburg, Maryland. She is a Resident Artist at Artists & Makers Studios in Rockville, Maryland, and a member of the Gaithersburg Artist Collective.
Nate Lewis is an American artist.
Olalekan Jeyifous, commonly known as Lek, is a Nigerian-born visual artist based in Brooklyn, New York. He is currently a visiting lecturer at Cornell University, where he also received his Bachelor of Architecture in 2000. Trained as an architect, his career primarily focuses on public and commercial art. His work has been newly commissioned for the Reconstructions: Architecture and Blackness in America exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York along with Amanda Williams, Walter Hood, and Mario Gooden. The exhibition explores the relationship between architecture and the spaces of African American and African diaspora communities and ways in which histories can be made visible and equity can be built.
Justine Ludwig is a director, curator, and writer. She is the Executive Director of Creative Time, an arts non-profit based in New York.
Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States, experienced a series of violent attacks and riots following the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Some of the events involved violence, looting, and destruction.
The Trump Statue Initiative is a protest art project headed by director Bryan Buckley with support from Bradley Tusk. Noting "Trump is obsessed with statues", Buckley and his team have created pop-up living statues criticizing former President Donald Trump and actions taken during his presidency.