As the Roman poet Ovid observed 2,000 years ago, “Love Stinks.”
OK, maybe that wasn’t Ovid. But this much is certain: If you’re going to play the game of love, you’d better wear protection. In his new show, Love Is a Losing Game, D.C. artist Billy Colbert offers a series of modified football helmets to guard your head, if not your heart.
Colbert has previously examined the gentrification cycle in Shaw via mixed media collage, made creepy chromogenic prints of dolls, and appropriated the visual cues of advertising, animation and graffiti for his vibrant, mischievous paintings.
The football helmets are something new. Under the microscope here are the paradoxes that arise in any romantic relationship, and the irony that those to whom we reveal the most can also be the ones from whom we are most compelled to withhold things, perhaps in a misguided effort to spare them from sadness or anger. Maybe it would be easier if we all wore helmets, and always told one another the truth.
If you go
Billy Colbert: Love Is a Losing Game
Where: Long View Gallery, 1302 9th St. NW
When: Through April 24
Info: Free; 202-232-4788, longviewgallery.com