VISUAL ARTS

Step into a place where paint meets fabric and Danielle Festa's subjects emerge to tinker with your perceptions and expose the power we give clothing. Take comfort in her traditional realistic oil painting techniques but expect twists of cloth replacing canvas or cascading beyond its framed limitations. Festa draws both from subjects that are strangers to her and those who are very close. This juxtaposition allows her to be both another judgmental outsider in some cases and in others, someone who knows that the subject is not always the definition of their projection. Based on real moments in the lives of her subjects, she calls attention to the importance we put on clothing. Onlookers get to experience the independent choices, the religious mandates and the social constructs of what we wear.

This collection of Festa's recent works includes her latest conquest; mannequins. They represent the epitome of dress dictation. So commonplace in our society, they are dressed to entice onlookers with the offer the social acceptance that comes along with conformity.

www.daniellefesta.com/art
www.washingtonst.org

OPENING RECEPTION: Saturday December 8, 2012, 7–10 pm 

WSAC OPEN STUDIOS: Saturday December 1, 2012, 12-5 pm

ON VIEW: December 1–22, Saturdays 12-4pm and by appointment 

CONTACT: gallery321@washingtonst.org