To understand Maggie Michael’s paintings, start from the bottom.
Washington, D.C
Review | Maggie Michael may be D.C.’s most vital, volatile painter
In “Understory,” a show of Michael’s recent works on view near Union Market, motion is always key. Tall vertical paintings such as “Boulder Monument (Orange)” (2020/2022) and “Moon Fall (Mt. Hood, Mt. Sopris, Clay)” (2024) evoke the volcanic action of an idea rising to the surface and spilling over. The latest works by Michael — perhaps the most vital and visible D.C. painter since Sam Gilliam — unfold as a series of volatile discoveries.
Michael’s lyrical painting is a reminder of the power of pure abstraction as a lens for finding the world, as it is and as it could be. That Michael’s first major solo show since 2016 arrives at an all-time nadir for abstract-expressionist painting only makes the show more riveting.
Ten years ago, things were different. An overheated market was fixated on highly abstract post-minimalist painting, inviting a craze by collectors for “zombie formalism.” But abstraction is no longer top of mind for curators and dealers. Instead, museums and galleries across the country are deeply engaged with figurative painting, tackling urgent issues about identity and representation. Some critics say the rebound has gone too far, subbing a fad for abstraction with a fever for “zombie figuration.”
Michael’s style recalls mid-century ideals about the value of painting. Objects make frequent appearances on her canvases. A small grid-like device shows up in “Pink for Kiefer, Homage to Midgard” (2023-2024) and other works, a way of mentioning the hard-edge geometric tradition in abstract painting while also toying with the notion of the surface. The snakeskin that Michael pins to “Night Studio” (2024) is a casual quotation of Robert Rauschenberg, whose sculptural combines stretched the notion of painting with taxidermy and tires. She has an arsenal of abstract-expressionist strategies at her disposal, but as a stylist, she makes them all her own.
Michael produced 15 of the paintings in “Understory” while working as an artist-in-residence at the Joan Mitchell Center in New Orleans. During her residency, Michael says, she tried to produce a diptych or triptych in tribute to Mitchell, the New York School artist who relished large-format paintings, but it didn’t happen. That’s not so surprising. Michael is a tighter painter, and her style is much more densely plotted. For “Understory,” which occupies a space that once served as a Lululemon store, Michael uses the former fitting rooms to showcase a rotation of more than a dozen small paintings, some as little as 10 inches square — small in scale but not in scope.
With its epic sweep, “Chagall’s Horse Lands in Utah” (2021-2022) could easily take up an entire wall. In the painting, the loosest figure of a horse charges under an ocher orb that might signify a setting sun. Michael frames this circle with a stencil from player-piano print roll, another one of the artist’s signature marks. This painting summons the vast reaches of a twilight dreamscape, but the actual production is quite condensed. Michael delivers novellas that read like myth.
“Chagall’s Horse Lands in Utah” could be a fitting title for Michael’s entire project. Her approach to drafting abstract sagas draws on a rich and distinctly American painterly tradition. One of her own paintings tests the rule: “American Seance for CoBrA (Malachite)” (2022) stands apart from the others, with a muddled, primitive, almost Crayola-like brushstroke. Both the title and style nod to CoBrA — a collective of postwar European painters from Copenhagen (Co), Brussels (Br) and Amsterdam (A) — and specifically within this group Karel Appel, the founder from Amsterdam. Nestled within this very non-American and un-Michael-like piece is a section of painting that resembles malachite, a mineral whose radial copper banding is prized by Navajo and Hopi tribes in the Southwest.
These vivid undercurrents bubble up in one painting after another, although the sheer size of “Understory” means that viewers might miss such moments. The show, assembled by Michael herself, features nearly 50 paintings staged on multiple levels. At 3,000 square feet, the space is vast enough that it doesn’t feel cramped or forced; in fact, only an especially prolific artist could hope to fill it. But “Understory” risks being overwhelming. Two or three subsets of paintings in this show could easily stand on their own.
The most difficult painting on view might also be the most figurative. The composition of “Olympia’s Odalesque” (2017/2018) speaks directly to Édouard Manet’s “Olympia” (1863), the reclining nude Venus whose hand rests on her thigh like a tarantula. In Michael’s composition, a hard-edge rectangle intersected by a chevron conveys the thrust of a chaise longue within a frame. But the figure-ish shape inside that frame is cramped, its head missing, with only a nipple-like protrusion to suggest any feminine identity — a bleak reading of the original.
It may take another biennial or two for expressionist paintings to come back into vogue. Abstraction has lost its place, perhaps, but none of its power. Swoops of texture and gesture in a painting such as “Antelope Falls, Nude Descending” (2024) can unlock a primal feeling, as poetry or music manifests goose bumps or heart palpitations. Michael’s paintings dwell in that rush of blood, that sense of sensation.
If you go
Maggie Michael: Understory
1256 Fourth St. NE. unionmarketdc.com.
WASHINGTON, D.C. (WSAW) – It’s a day for gathering and remembering victims of internet crimes.
The parents of Bradyn Bohn, the D.C. Everest teen who was a victim of sextortion, are in Washington, D.C. for the event.
A sign with Bradyn’s picture, his name, ‘forever 15′– along with too many more– sit outside the capitol.
It’s the inaugural ‘Social Media Victims Remembrance Day.’ A number of lawmakers were on hand. Bradyn’s mom, Brittney Bird, says Congress needs to choose families over big tech.
“My first thought is it’s absolutely heartbreaking,” she said. ”None of us should be here. These groups have been doing this for coming up on four years now. And there hasn’t been a change. If four years ago there would have been a change, my son would be here. Countless children would still be here. It’s heartbreaking, but at the same time there’s strength in numbers. So there’s that strength. And it gives us hope, you know, that things will change and that we’ve got each other.”
Bradyn died by suicide in March 2025 after a sextortion scheme. The efforts of his parents helped lead to the creation of Bradyn’s Law, signed into law last December. It established sextortion as a new crime, and imposes severe penalties on perpetrators.
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Washington, D.C
First Nebraska civics bee champion crowned, will head to Washington, D.C. for national competition
The state competition, which was put on by the Nebraska Chamber of Commerce & Industry, had three rounds. The first two rounds included 20 multiple choice questions about various historical documents, court cases and civics concepts.
In the final round, the top five students gave short pitches about the essays they submitted on improving a problem in their community. Bernal wrote about the Tyson Plant closure after she visited Lexington in December.
“Things were really starting to be like, ‘Oh my gosh, the Tyson plant is actually closing,’” Bernal said. “Around two weeks later, during the first day back from winter break, my social studies teacher said we’re going to be writing an essay about a problem we see in our community. I thought, ‘Wow, this is something really positive I could use my voice for.’”
In her essay, Bernal said she wanted to bring awareness to the closure and host job fairs for those impacted. Other topics included student mental health, impacts of flooding and the childcare crisis.
Tara Lea, executive vice president of partnerships and programs for the Nebraska Chamber of Commerce & Industry, said more than 500 students submitted essays across Nebraska, making the state fifth in the nation for participation and first per capita.
“We had no idea what to expect when we signed up to do this,” Lea said. “We were just excited all 50 states were doing it. We were proud to be one of them, but Nebraska showed up.”
Washington, D.C
Now streaming: ’51st State’ documentary on a young activist’s fight for DC statehood – WTOP News
One of D.C.’s most personal statehood activism stories can now be seen by a larger audience, two years after its premiere.
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WETA+ adds ’51st State’ documentary as DC voters choose new leadership
One of D.C.’s most personal statehood activism stories can now be seen by a larger audience, two years after its premiere.
WETA has added the documentary “51st State” to its District Docs collection, now streaming on WETA+. The station has also posted the documentary on its YouTube channel.
Voters in last week’s D.C. Democratic primary selected nominees for mayor and delegate who have vowed to keep up the fight for the District’s autonomy, so it’s a fitting time to revisit the film, which follows a young Washingtonian whose life has been shaped by the fight for representation.
D.C. statehood movement is personal for Jamal Holtz. It started long before he became the face of a movement or the subject of a documentary. It began at home.
“When my mom talked about having lack of access to health insurance and the impacts on me and going to school, that was all rooted in our lack of being a state,” Holtz said. “The fact that we didn’t have a vote on the matter of the Affordable Care Act was to show people that, like, people in D.C. actually experience real issues and real problems.”
“51st State” director Hannah Rosenzweig first met Holtz at a 2021 event in Brooklyn organized by 51 for 51 and New Yorkers for D.C. Statehood. The group pushes for D.C. to become a state with 51 votes in the Senate instead of the 60‑vote filibuster threshold.
Rosenzweig said one part of the movement immediately caught her attention.
“I just love the framing of young native Washingtonians,” Rosenzweig said. “Really looking at them as part of a voting rights and civil rights movement.”
She said Holtz stood out from the beginning, saying she knew “he was going places.”
“He’s a leader,” Rosenzweig said. “He’s charismatic — people listen when he talks.”
Filming began in June 2021, when Holtz was 23.
Holtz, who is now 28, said: “You had me when I had braces, to me with facial hair and no braces.”
Serving the community isn’t new to Holtz. He was a member of the Marion Barry Youth Leadership Institute, the city’s long‑running program that trains D.C. teenagers in leadership and public service.
The documentary, which premiered June 16, 2024, at the DC/DOX Film Festival, follows the push for statehood through the House’s passage of H.R. 51, the advocacy campaign in the Senate and the everyday life of a fourth‑generation Washingtonian.
“It talks about D.C. statehood through a different lens,” Holtz said. “What does lack of statehood look like in people’s day‑to‑day lives?”
Rosenzweig said she wanted viewers to see the real Washington — the neighborhoods and the families who rarely appear in national conversations about the city.
“There’s a culture of D.C. that most people don’t know about,” she said. “I love that. In fact, I wanted to move there.”
Holtz spoke to WTOP outside the Wilson Building by the Marion Barry statue, and was asked where he saw himself in 20 years.
“I’ll be standing on the grounds of the 51st state,” Holtz said. “Helping to govern our state and helping live up to the American dream and democracy that the people of D.C. want.”
When the question turned to which office sounded more fun, governor or senator, Holtz smiled and said, “The title will figure it out.”
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