Painting the Town: Wayson R. Jones, Leon Berkowitz, and Trevor Young Demonstrate the Depth of Local Art
From abstraction to realism, and in two and three dimensions, these two gallery exhibits spotlight some of D.C.’s most impressive painters.
by Louis Jacobson for Washington City Paper
April 15, 2025
Not only is Washington blessed with spring weather right now, but also a pair of galleries displaying the work by some of the city’s most notable painters: Wayson R. Jones and the late Leon Berkowitz at HEMPHILL Artworks, and Trevor Young at Addison/Ripley.
Jones’ works are inventive both in their colors and their method. For the series of works on display at HEMPHILL, Jones lays down pumice gel, mostly of the “extra coarse” variety, then uses repurposed tools to shape the drying gel into patterns that tiptoe between organic and orderly. After letting those sit for a few weeks, he uses Flashe, a vinyl-based paint, to turn his surfaces into bold, candy-colored works that wrap around the frame and up into three dimensions. The result is often the texture of volcanic rock.
Blue Grit (and Red, and Orange, and...)
Color and landscape, whether actual or imagined, in the work of Leon Berkowitz, Wayson R. Jones, and many more
Mark Jenkins
April 22, 2025
WHILE LEON BERKOWITZ AND WAYSON R. JONES CAN EACH BE DESCRIBED as color field painters, their ideas of a field are rather different. Berkowitz (1911-1987) made airy paintings whose surfaces are utterly flat, yet seem to glow from some submerged light source. Jones has long made earthy pictures whose facades are chunky and heavily worked; his early work was monochromatic, but it now appears to overflow, sometimes literally, with color.
The Latest Roundups
Multiple potential pairings at Hemphill Artworks, downbeat "Vibes" at Otis St. Arts Project, and brash colors at Falls Church Arts Gallery
Mark Jenkins | December 10, 2024
The math is a bit more complicated in "Two X" than the Hemphill Artworks group show's title suggests. The selection presents 14 artists (six of them deceased) paired as seven duos. Several of the contributors, however, are represented by multiple works. Also, some of the pieces -- all made between 1960 and 2024 -- speak articulately to ones to which they're not officially linked.
Wayson R. Jones's "Kinshasa," for example, is an abstract 3D painting, rendered in two tones of blue, that's offered in dialogue with an untitled Leon Berkowitz picture whose soft, flat hues flow from blue to red to yellow. But the craggy relief forms in Jones's painting suggest the wave and criss-cross patterns in two white-on-white Robin Rose sculptural pictures. And Rose's icy palette harmonizes with the minimalism of a Ruri Yi painting that neatly arrays 12 lozenges in close shades of white and off-white.
Art and the City | HillRag
By Phil Hutinet
December 11, 2024
HEMPHILL presents “TWO X”, a group exhibition exploring the interconnectedness of art across generations. Running through December 21, this show invites viewers to reflect on how the dialogue between works by artists from different times can illuminate the shared essence of artistic expression.
Instead of adhering to conventional categorizations like period or style, “TWO X” focuses on pairings that highlight the personal and communal resonance of art, asking visitors to consider the broader narrative of creativity that connects us through time and across cultures. The exhibition aims to foster an appreciation for art’s enduring role in human experience, regardless of its context or origins.
Wayson R. Jones Artist Popup Talk
June 1 | 6 PM
A Conversation with Wayson R. Jones & Client Raiser at HEMPHILL Artworks.
Join us in the gallery for a discussion with artist Wayson R. Jones about the evolution of his art practice and a viewing of select paintings in the Viewing Room.