The new 1223 Potomac Gallery in Georgetown will open Wednesday with “All Is Won,” a solo show by the DC artist Corey Ramon Gibson. Gibson works in oil on large canvases that he typically affixes to a wall by way of staple gun before painting, and the themes of this show include imperialism, Black liberation, and the nature of things we think we know.
“It’s pretty much a story about the origins of things and how the truth can be stretched and how the truth also isn’t probably told,” Gibson, who grew up in Petworth and attended Hardy Middle School nearby, tells Washingtonian. For example, Abu Bakr II, which depicts a one-way journey across the Atlantic that some believe a Malian leader took years before Columbus left Spain. Or Africa Vs. World Imperialism, which refashions an old political cartoon to show Africa landing a heavy blow on an oppressor while an American urges them on: “America just wants to see bloodshed, man,” Gibson explains.
The gallery is pop-up project of the DC musician and activist Justin “Yaddiya” Johnson, who arranged to use the space with the building’s owner. It will exist through the fall and possibly later, and Johnson, who added “restaurateur” to his résumé earlier this year, promises more events like a culinary competition and chef’s tables with leading area chefs wielding the tongs. “When I got access to the space,” he says, Gibson was “the first person I thought about.”
Gibson’s painting School-to-Prison Pipeline demonstrates why: A large canvas dominated by “Ronald Reagan Elementary” and a school bus with people in orange jumpsuits, it features a cameo from characters from The Wire, like fictional Baltimore middle-schooler Namond Brice. “I think it’s cool to give the viewer something that they can emotionally connect with,” he says. “Like, who doesn’t love The Wire?” Gibson says. At the painting’s base, a tray of cafeteria food that Gibson notes is indistinguishable from the fare served in prison underscores the theme.
Gibson, who divides his time between DC and Los Angeles, is represented by the buzzy New York gallery CLLCTV, where he had his first solo show last summer. This is his first show in his hometown, and he’s off to Houston next. “This show is me coming back home and for the first time letting my people see what I do,” he says. And the title? “It’s to get people thinking about strength in numbers.”
“All Is Won” is on view at the 1223 Potomac Gallery, 1223 Potomac Street, Northwest, by appointment: Message Yaddiya or Corey Ramon Gibson on Instagram to request a tour. It will open to the public during the Art All Night event later this month.
Andrew Beaujon joined Washingtonian in late 2014. He was previously with the Poynter Institute, TBD.com, and Washington City Paper. He lives in Del Ray.
