FEATURED IN METRO WEEKLY
"Cuban Chronicle,"
now at the Amy Kaslow Gallery in Bethesda, explores migration, memory, and emotion through vivid art
By Randy Shulman | April 27, 2025
Buen Tiempo, Dairan Fernández de la Fuente – Courtesy Amy Kaslow Gallery
Cuban artist Dairan Fernández de la Fuente creates bold, vibrant oils and wood blocks that capture both the calm and the stress of everyday life. His subjects are often in pursuit of leisure activities, whether that be lounging seaside, swimming, or merely relishing a plate of food.
But these are deceptive, as they present a Cuba of a bygone era, back when the island was a prime vacation destination before the dark, repressive shroud of Communism overtook its society.
“Much of my work deals with the theme of immigration, departures and displacement,” says de la Fuente in his artist’s statement for Cuban Chronicle, an exhibition of 30 works at the Amy Kaslow Gallery. “Some of my most recurrent imagery refers to separation, distance, nostalgia, anguish, and loss.”
Some of the pieces on display at the Bethesda gallery convey that mood, but many of them belie it. A man diving in Soñadas Vacaciones (Dream Vacations), or two figures, one nude, serenely lounging in a bed of grass, a farmhouse off in the distance in the Descanso (Rest), for instance.
In one of the most gripping works, a boxer on the verge of defeat is motivated to persist by a cheering crowd in “Animo!!!!!” In another, a man eats a very long strand of pasta in the whimsically named Pasiencia (Patience).
De la Fuente’s works tell stories within stories, opening up a portal of a different time in his home country. The works are beautiful, soothing, thrilling, captivating, and often so incredibly dynamic, that they veritably spring to life before your eyes.
Dairan Fernández De La Fuente: Cuban Chronicle remains on display through May 18 at the Amy Kaslow Gallery, 7920 Norfolk Ave, in Bethesda, Md.
"Joseph holston: black lives"
at amy kaslow gallery
By John Riley | November 7, 2024
Reminiscing, screenprint, 24 x 32 in
"JOSPEH HOLSTON: BLACK LIVES, A Retrospective," now at the Amy Kaslow Gallery in Bethesda, offers up a selection of works by the locally born and raised artist, including screenprints, etchings, and oils on canvas.
Holston, whose works are on display at the Smithsonian, Phillips, and Baltimore Museum of Art, uses rich color combinations and tone on tone pigment, crafting impressionistic figures that explore and celebrate the Black life and culture in America. The captivating pieces in this exhibit, drawn from the artist's personal collection, range from playful ("Reminiscing") to reflective ("Park Bench") to vibrant ("Perfect Mood").
DOCUMENTING LANDSCAPES:
UKRAINE'S VANISHING TERRAIN
By Doug Rule | April 30, 2023
Roughly a year prior to Russia’s invasion of his home country in February of 2022, Jaroslav Leonets set out with what became an increasingly urgent mission: to travel around Ukraine to sketch a number of the country’s iconic vistas as well as other stunning and bucolic aspects of its varied topography.
Museums and galleries:
Spring arts preview 2023
By Doug Rule | April 2, 2023
Currently in the process of moving from its small D.C. space in The Shops in Spring Valley, the physical gallery won’t reopen with new exhibitions until sometime after April 1. Yet previews of the art and artists featured in the gallery’s earlier exhibitions can be viewed online:
- Dreamings: Aboriginal Art from Australia’s Central Desert — The last exhibition in its D.C. space featured works by Gabriella Possum Nungurrayi, Nellie Marks Nakamarra, and Khatija Possum Nampijinpa
- Washington Landscapes — A showcase of three artists — Bernard Dellario, Brandon Mcdonald, and Andrea Limauro — who capture the capital city’s majestic landscape from strikingly different perspectives
- Native Hands: Folk Art Is Fine Art — The gallery’s first international survey of folk art featured more than two dozen artists and art practices, including one-of-a-kind lacquered wooden boxes meticulously carved and painted by hand by a Mexican family of artists; striking and impeccably designed yet functional baskets, used as beer strainers, made by women in the Omba Arts collective of Northern Namibia; and stunning hand-colored wood-block prints from an artist in Cuba telling stories, in a vivid Art Deco palette, of real and imagined Cuban exits and arrivals.
DREAMINGS:
ABORIGINAL ART FROM AUSTRALIA
By Doug Rule | February 1, 2023
A number of contemporary Aboriginal artists from Australia’s vast Central Desert region honor their ancestors as well as their historical ties to land Down Under through the creation of what are called “Dreamings.”
FALL ARTS PREVIEW:
MUSEUMS AND GALLERIES
By Doug Rule | October 3, 2022
Like other arts venues and culture organizations, museums and galleries have mostly all reopened by now, and have also mostly returned to some sense of normal, although it’s always a good idea to check operating hours and admission pricing and policies before embarking on any cultural outing.
Spotlight:
‘Bark’ at the Amy Kaslow Gallery
Works by Kaslow offering close-ups of "the tree's most intricate and protective armor."
By Doug Rule | February 26, 2021
Rainbow Eucalyptus Florida 3 — Amy Kaslow
Washington native Amy Kaslow recently set out on a new venture, one that departs from the K/NOW publisher’s work as a journalist/photographer who became known for a series of “Life After War” pieces depicting victims, perpetrators, eyewitnesses, and survivors of wars in El Salvador and Nigeria.
Last year, Kaslow opened an eponymous art gallery focused on celebrating the natural world in content, form, and medium. Located in the Spring Valley Shopping Center behind Crate & Barrel, the Amy Kaslow Gallery is billed as a “light-filled place…where concrete floors give way to soaring ceilings across wide-open industrial space.”
Through March 14, the focus is on more than a dozen large-scale photographic works by Kaslow under the title “Bark.” The exhibit offers close-up botanical views of “the tree’s most intricate and protective armor.”
As Kaslow puts it, in an official description of the exhibition, “Human nature is full of flaws. Mother Nature’s more than an essential elixir, she’s our example. Take tree bark, which mesmerizes with detail; it grows, protects, and adapts.”
“Bark’s” diversity is captured in images of brilliant-hued Royal Palms, creamy colored Argentinian Sycamores, floral Maryland Beech Trees, and “shocking” painted Rainbow Eucalyptus.
Later this year, the gallery will feature an installation of stainless steel depictions of the human form by Noah James Saunders, a display of the richly hued rugs created by indigenous women in the highlands of Guatemala, and a sleek organic wood wall and floor pieces from Virginia sculptor Renee Balfour.
The Amy Kaslow Gallery is at 4300 Fordham Rd. NW. Walk-ins welcome, one party at a time, masks and social distancing required. Visit www.amykaslowgallery.com.