Art of the People, by the People and for the People.

I got to see Artomatic yesterday with Teh Geek, chameleon613 and moosegirl1017.  It is a very interesting show, and worth the time to walk through it.  Added coolness came from the fact that several of the artists were there at their displays talking about their art.

What is Artomatic?  You mean you don't know?  Well that's all right...  I didn't really understand it until I got there myself.  Start with an empty, unused office building one block from the Red Line.  Contact approximately 1,000 local artists and allow them to create displays of their own work, and then spread those displays across 9 floors of the building.  There is an awful LOT of art on display, and it is a bit of a challenge to take it all in.  Still, there is a lot of it that is very, very good and it's definitely worth the trip.  My personal favorites included TinyGhosts and Erica Ricardelli, both on the 11th floor.  Both use photography and a wicked sense of humor to great effect.

As an added incentive, the Peep dioramas from the annual Washington Post Peep Contest are on display.  You can actually see them in person!  (Nightmare in Pink is way, way cooler in person than the picture can really relate.)

PRO TIP:  Take the elevator up to the top floor when you start, and take the stairs down floor by floor.  The elevators get bogged down by too many people taking them one floor at a time.

Pretty much the coolest thing in the exhibit, though, was stopping in front of two different exhibits and saying, "Oh!  I went to high school with her!"  Who new my friends from back then were so talented.