They've Made a Mockery Of the Color School

And then there's the real-life work that came out of the 1970s, which Ian and Jan mirror with authenticity. Stuff like "Absence" really did happen -- Fluxus artists staged all sorts of events where they never showed up. And Yves Klein really did douse women in paint and roll them around on canvas. At DCAC, we see a naked Mitchell slathered in acrylic and lolling. We see Cudlin and Mitchell engaged in interpretive dance before large-scale projections of Morris Louis paintings.

"Conceptual art is a very lampoonable art movement," the University of Maryland's Shannon says, off-camera. "Looked at from a skeptical point of view, it's about nothing."

Washington had its own performance scene, though it was little documented or discussed, so Ian and Jan's faux history isn't so far off base.

"We're re-creating something that happened," Cudlin says.

For some, the exhibition may tread on exposed nerves. There really never has been a moment like the Color School moment, as far as Washington mattering as an art center -- and there may never be again, what with the decentralized way the art world works right now. Yet there remains a group of Washington artists and dealers -- you know who you are! -- who continue to call up the ghosts of a 50-year-old movement.

In some ways, Cudlin and Mitchell's work suggests a way out. Their show speaks generally about how art history is written, but also goes straight to our local myopia. Shannon singles out the idea behind "Absence" as "tremendously productive" (this where they convened an audience but never showed up), citing its legacy of inspiring generations of Washington artists to never make any work.

Ouch.

Ian and Jan: The Washington Body School at District of Columbia Arts Center, 2438 18th St. NW, Wednesday-Sunday, 2-7 p.m., to June 3. 202-462-7883, http://www.dcartscenter.org.