Henry Rollins Pumped Up At Corcoran Party; New Exhibit Launch Showcases D.C. '80s Subculture

NORTHWEST -- Broken glass and graffiti liberally lined the walls of the Corcoran Gallery of Art over the weekend. But rather than a brazen act of vandalism, such destructive manifestations served as the foundation for the museum's newest exhibition, which explores the District's explosive underground during the 1980s.

Titled Pump Me Up, the exhibit (which opened to the general public on Saturday) examines the raucous energy that emerged from the city's rebellious subculture during that time period, as exemplified by the Go-Go and punk music scenes, graffiti art, news stories, and other historical artifacts.

In advance of the display's public debut over the weekend, Washington City Paper and the Corcoran Contemporaries (supporters of the museum's contemporary art programming) hosted a pre-opening party on Friday night, which quickly sold-out.

Joining exhibit curator Roger Gastman at the launch celebration was iconic '80s punk rocker (now turned author, actor, and activist) Henry Rollins, in addition to many other leaders from that era's tumultuous scene.

Rollins was officially billed as the evening's DJ, but wisely chose to prepare a playlist in advance, which he streamed from his iPod, so that he could mingle with fans (there were many) throughout the party.

The central premise behind Pump Me Up is to explore the visual subculture (e.g., graffiti, graphic art, archival photographs, flyers, video loops) that emerged from America's capital city during the '80s, amidst the District's notorious problems with drugs and corruption.

Both a related 320-page book, with a foreword by Sarah Newman, curator of contemporary art at the Corcoran, and a 90-minute documentary narrated by Rollins are being released in tandem with the exhibition.

Gastman, a D.C. native and graffiti writer himself, will follow-up on Friday's pre-opening party with a special "Curator's Talk" on Wednesday, February 27th, to discuss the exhibit.

“I’m glad to share my collection and D.C.’s story with the Corcoran,” said Gastman. “When this work was being made, those creating it would have never have dreamed that it would be given a sense of permanence in a museum. This was a time of a thriving DIY ethos, where the canvas was the street and the sidewalk was a stage.”

Punk. Party. Permanence.