Portal Press Presents The Launching Party Friday May 19th
By Kirsten Andersen
Remix Vintage Fashion Shop model gets ready for Portal Press
Washington’s Literary/Art/Fashion/Music event of the Spring is May 19th at the Warehouse Gallery. Celebrating the launch of Portal Press, Washington’s alternative publishing company, and the Different Directions exhibit of rising DC artists, the evening will feature models displaying the vintage fashions of The Remix Vintage Fashion Shop and music by The Nanjemoy Creek Boys, The Picture is Dead, Parlor Scouts, and John and Michael Gibbons of Bardo Pond.
Everything merges: the event coincides with the opening of the American Book Expo at the DC Convention Center across from the Warehouse Gallery, as thousands of authors and book industry professionals from around the world converge on 7th Street for the biggest literary event in America. Attending the launch party will be authors Darick Allan and Bill Smith to sign copies of the first two Portal Press titles The Shepherd Boy and Tanaki On the Shore. Portal Press will also present artist Emily Tellez to autograph posters of her apocalyptic The Widening Gyre.
The three floors of the Warehouse Gallery will be open for the most exciting art exhibit of the year as Different Directions offers a deliberate overload of brilliant images and sculpture in a salon style installation featuring work by Michael Semyan, Pam Zulli, Michael Smallwood, Ben Gage, Dan Shay, Bruce Gugliuzza, Alejandro Lopez and several other area artists. Ranging from photography to figurative and expressionistic work capturing the discordant moods and sensibilities that define Washington, Different Directions is a floor-to-ceiling display of imaginations on trial with each other.
Six models wandering through the galleries will provide the most playful distractions of the evening. Wearing the vintage fashions of The Remix, they will amuse and delight the audience with each change of clothing and attitude as they show off the best of the past—and simply show off.
Behind everything else will be the rhythms of the bands. Music will kick off on stage at 7:00 pm, with The Nanjemoy Creek Boys, the improvisational jazz/rock band from southern Maryland, followed by The Picture is Dead, the DC synth, violin and vocal group with a growing fan base for their dry, witty lyrics. The third act is the Parlor Scouts, who fuse a Brecht-Weill sensibility with the sound of early 80’s underground rock. All three groups are opening for John and Michael Gibbons, members of Bardo Pond, the extraordinary Philly band that has recorded twice with legendary producer John Peel. They will be performing their most recent music with video collages as Alesehir .
6:00 pm
Live bands start at 7:00
Everything is original. Everything is thrilling.
Everything is for sale.
The Warehouse Gallery
Washington’s Downtown Art Complex
1017-21 7th Street NW
Washington, DC 20001
Need more info? E-mail:editor@theportalpress.com
