Galleries

Trucker Convoy Pulls Into the House of Sweden

Annica Karlsson Rixon's "Truckers and Others."(The House of Sweden)

A trio of Swedes shifts the gears of American car culture. Annica Karlsson Rixon presents 272 snapshots of truck cabs and the drivers inside them. Shot on a California interstate while driving alongside the rigs, the pictures bring the Germanic penchant for documentation stateside. Lisa Selin's photographs capture Raggare, a Swedish subculture engaged in fantasies of American greaser culture; jolting evidence of place, like a car air freshener called Wunderbaum, punctures the pompadours. A conceptually compelling, if stark-looking, video documents artist Mikael Lundberg's 506 consecutive days spent wearing a GPS device.

"On the Road" at the House of Sweden, 901 30th St. NW, Wednesday-Friday noon-7 p.m., Saturday-Sunday noon-4 p.m., 202-467-2621, to March 23. http://www.swedenabroad.se/pages/general____56419.asp

Dates That Will Live In Infamy

"It's Not You, It's Me." That time-worn fib is the title of Bridget Sue Lambert's one-room exhibition at Hillyer. Boy-meets-girl fantasies of domestic bliss, along with attendant disappointments of relationship realities, hang over these photos and videos. Though her videos are mostly write-offs and her close-up photos of dollhouse rooms have been done before, Lambert's titles -- "Stop Worrying if He Is the One" and "Keep Your Schedule Pretty Full" -- add humor to her project. Her best images show plastic figurines interacting (as much as immobile dolls can) in romantic settings, suggesting the universal choreography of courtship.

Bridget Sue Lambert at Hillyer Art Space, 9 Hillyer Ct. NW, Tuesday-Friday 10 a.m.-5 p.m., 202-338-0680, to Feb. 16. http://www.artsandartists.org/

Out of the Background

"Marguerite," part of Lou Stovall's show at Washington Printmakers.(Washington Printmakers Gallery)

If the District art community had a best supporting artist award, master printmaker Lou Stovall would win, hands down. The man at the helm of a bustling printmaking studio that has served the brightest and most acclaimed -- Sam Gilliam and Josef Albers among them -- will certainly be remembered for playing a vital role in his community. As for his own works, they never quite reach star quality. A suite of his recent screen prints and monoprints is on display at Washington Printmakers; many of them dredge up memories of Jackson Pollock's contained chaos in splashes and drips. Stovall marshals strong colors with ease; his group is lively, if predictable.

Lou Stovall at Washington Printmakers, 1732 Connecticut Ave. NW, Tuesday-Thursday noon-6 p.m., Friday noon-9 p.m., Saturday-Sunday noon-5 p.m., 202-332-7757, to Jan. 28. http://www.washingtonprintmakers.com/.

At Plan B, a Curious Collision of Primitivism and Pop

Beverly Ryan's "Stumble": Evoking the charm, but not the darkness, of Paul Klee.(Courtesy of the Artist)

Neo-primitive painter Beverly Ryan is paired with neo-pop artist Ran Borgersen, and the result is nothing less than jarring. Ryan once worked in textile design, and her paintings have palpable surfaces. The canvases are quaint, with the twee charm of Paul Klee but minus the Swiss artist's dark underbelly. Borgersen's slick neo-pop kitsch descends directly from Andy Warhol, a half-century too late. From afar, triptychs of the Statue of Liberty and African daisies give graphic punch. Up close, Borgersen's over-reliance on hackneyed digital manipulation disappoints.

Beverly Ryan and Ran Borgersen at Plan B, 1530 14th St. NW, Wednesday-Saturday noon-7 p.m., Sunday 1-5 p.m., 202-234-2711, to Feb. 18. http://www.galleryplanb.com/exhibits.html#ryan.

Art Impulses Run Amok In Frat-Style Enterprise

Creativity as free-for-all: The installation by Gregory McLellan and Tim Pittman at Project 4 is intended to "document their insanity."(Project 4)

Though we look to Project 4 for young up-and-comers, this month we remind the gallery to keep its pups leashed. D.C.-based artists Gregory McLellan and Tim Pittman present a frat house for the art crowd that would, a gallery press release promised, "explore their reality and document their insanity." From the look of the pair's intentionally haphazard installation, insanity equals homophobia, name-calling, generic abstract painting, cross-stitch, self-indulgent videos, Britney Spears lyrics and a whole lot of random snapshots strewn across the gallery floor. The artists' gravest delusion: that any of this is interesting.

Gregory McLellan and Tim Pittman at Project 4, 903 U St. NW, Wednesday-Friday 2-6 p.m., Saturday noon-6 p.m., 202-232-4340, to Jan. 27. http://www.project4gallery.com/tintft_press_release.html.

Civilian at G: All's Fair in Art, Too

An untitled work by Jason Zimmerman featured in Civilian Art Projects' second outing.(Civilian Art Projects)

Jayme McLellan's Civilian Art Projects, a commercial gallery of no fixed address, represents a handful of promising young artists. This month, the gallery has its second outing, touching down in a borrowed space in the project room at G Fine Art. Call it Galleries Without Borders. Yet the show, a grab bag of nine works by as many artists, looks too superficially at the gallery's stable. McLellan has always been one to watch, but her latest effort prompts a worry: Has the global art market's embrace of art fair culture -- and its penchant for hanging salable objects divorced of context -- caught on locally?

Civilian Art Projects at G Fine Art, 1515 14th St. NW, Tuesday-Saturday 11 a.m.-6 p.m., 202-462-1601, to Feb. 10. http://www.washingtonpost.com/ or http://www.gfineartdc.com/.