The Washington Post - 17.02.2020

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friday, february 21, 2020

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the washington post

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friday, february 21, 2020

Tenbeete Solomon

Artist known a s Trap Bob

Tenbeete Solomon, a

Washington-based artist, illustra-

tor and animator who goes by the

moniker Trap Bob, sees the world

in neon colors. Known for bright,

cheeky images that highlight

strong female figures from enter-

tainment and black culture, the

27-year-old has received commis-

sions from s uch companies as Pab-

st B lue Ribbon, Apple a nd R efinery

29. And she does this all while
    serving as the creative director of
    GIRLAAA, a women-focused event
    collective that has evolved into a
    blossoming creative agency.

I foresee the future of art being

more inclusive and diverse.

Hen House is a woman-centric

art collective. I love the way they

celebrate different artists in the

co mmunity. They don’t make it a

thing where it’s l ike: “This is the best

artist” o r “This is the best show you

need to go t o.” I t’s more like: “This is

a community show, and this is who

we’re going t o be supporting.”

This mentality that it’s a bout all

of us, vs. just one of us, is exciting

for me. I think what’s also really

exciting is the spotlight on D.C.

history, even as we’re moving for-

ward. And I think in that excite-

ment and creativity that’s gone

behind it, it’s not making people

stay in the past. It’s more so help-

ing us figure out what we want for

the future.

Even things like go-go, which

has been really celebrated in the

past year, wasn’t a s celebrated or at

the forefront as it was before. I

think a lot of artists and collectives

bring the themes of go-go into their

work. An example is Chris Pyrate,

who’s an artist that has been put-

ting on events for Pabst Blue Rib-

bon. They had their first festival

here in D.C. [last year] at Dupont

Underground, and he had me

make a go-go backdrop design and

make it an integral part of what I’m

doing. He had Uncalled 4 Band

pe rform and other go-go bands.

I think another trend we’ll see is

more spaces that are opening up

their doors for kids to learn about

creative fields. The Hirshhorn has

ARTLAB for their students and

the kids in the community. They

do different educational things

where they’ll have someone who

was in a go-go band come and

speak o n the history of it, or where

the kids get to create their own a rt.

As much as we’re putting on

parties and festivals and panels, i t

needs to all come back to the

people that we’re trying to pre-

pare and pass the torch onto, to

keep the movement going.

— as told to Stephanie Williams

ing, and they use its space for

artists-in-residence. Besides the

collectives, you can expect to see

more collaboration between art-

ists and activists, who are coming

together to come up with compel-

ling events and campaigns.

Years ago, when I first moved to

D.C., people were still using fax

machines and direct mail cam-

paigns. And while that still can be

effective for certain age groups,

the future is really engaging with

people in new ways. Extinction

Rebellion, [a global activist group

that has a strong D.C. presence,] is

the best example that I can think

of a group that does this well.

Rose Jaffe is an artist who does a

great job with creating thoughtful

campaigns and working with dif-

ferent activists on big events. I

found her on Instagram because

she started this wheat-pasting

campaign called Feminists F---

With the Facts, focused on wage

inequality, a nd it was so smart and

compelling and factual. It wasn’t

since the Guerrilla Girls that I had

seen something so thoughtful

about an issue.

— as told to Stephanie Williams

fun to think about new ways to

activate spaces.

There are several event collec-

tives in the D.C. area that are

building community around glob-

al culture: Meso Creso is one of

my favorite communities; they

are a group that celebrates global

music and culture, and they have

a festival coming up this July

called Nomadico that’s in Gore,

Va. I’m also excited about Cathar-

sis on the Mall (May 1-3), too.

There are a great group of cre-

atives who support the festival,

which is a lot about culture

change and culture shift.

Suns Cinema is not a collective,

but a theater in Mount Pleasant

that’s really digging into a lot of

awesome global films and explor-

ing film history. They also have

great music there.

Also, when you look at trends

and the future of D.C., we’ve got

these weird gaps in commercial

real estate. I feel like Pakke is

taking advantage of these little

gaps to activate spaces that are

underutilized. Hole in the Sky is

an independent living space in

Northeast for artists that’s amaz-

Amy Morse

Pakke Social

Amy Morse, 38, co-founded the

event production company Pakke

Social i n 2018 with a clear vision: t o

highlight emerging D.C. visual art-

ists and musicians while calling

attention to political and social is-

sues. Regardless of how imagina-

tive these events may be — past

Pakke productions have included

climate-change-themed exhibitions

and a dance party to promote

health equity — every one inevita-

bly ties b ack to t he larger mission o f

activism. The h ighly c urated events

have taken place at such cauldrons

of creativity as the Cheshire, a

multipurpose, DIY space in Adams

Morgan where Morse holds the title

of senior events producer, and 52 O

Street Artist Studios.

A trend to note is the future of

the experience economy. In look-

ing closer at the stats, 72 percent

of millennials would rather spend

money on experiences than mate-

rials. Traditionally, this has been

at b ars and restaurants, and that’s

still the case. But I think it’s also

an. Before Bad Saint, there wasn’t

much like [Philippine] food to be

heard of. I remember talking to

To m, and he wanted to do food

that he was proud of, that made

his family proud, and that also

represented and made everyone

in the Philippines proud. I think

that’s the biggest pressure for ev-

eryone: making other people

proud.

It was definitely a schlep to get

to Himitsu. We were really far

north of a lot of dining neighbor-

hoods, so it’s definitely a neigh-

borhood restaurant. But also it

became this thing where we had

guests drive in from Baltimore, or

people that would get off the

plane and come straight to the

restaurant. It’s the same thing as

the Inn at Little Washington. The

food and the service are so good,

everyone’s willing to m ake that

drive.

I think the demographics of the

city are changing. It’s a lot young-

er families between the 30s and

40s. And for them, [choosing a

restaurant] depends on your stage

in life. If you get off work and you

want to do a happy hour, that’s

great. You could stay downtown

and you could probably go t o Cen-

trolina or Nina May and have an

amazing meal. But for those who

have to run home, they get a nice

luxury of, “Oh, man, we have these

awesome neighborhood restau-

rants.” You can go to east Capitol

Hill and come to Emilie’s, or if you

live on H Street you can go to

Thamee, or if you live in [Adams

Morgan], you get to go to Revel-

er’s Hour. You know, every neigh-

borhood is kind of special at this

point.

— as told to Fritz Hahn

Kevin Tien

Emilie’s

Kevin Tien hails from Louisi-

ana, but the 32-year-old chef made

a name for himself in D.C. He’s

been a line cook at Pineapple and

Pearls, and he can make a mean

hot chicken sandwich, as anyone

who’s visited Hot Lola’s in Ball-

ston can attest. Tien’s dazzling

and playful cooking at Petworth’s

Himitsu earned him James Beard

nominations and a 2018 best new

chef nod from Food & Wine, and

Eater named Himitsu one of the

best new restaurants in America

in 2017. But last year, Tien struck

out on his own, opening Emilie’s

at the eastern edge of Capitol Hill.

We did an event called Indie

Chef Week recently, and we had a

lot of chefs at the restaurant from

out of town. One chef was like, “Oh,

I have to eat at Centrolina and visit

Amy Brandwein. We hear her pas-

tas are amazing.” There were Filipi-

no chefs that came from Seattle,

and they’re like, “Oh, we have to go

to Bad Saint.” Other chefs were

like, “Oh, man, we heard that D.C.

has some of the b est Lao food, so we

have to go t o Thip Khao.”

I moved to D.C. nine years ago,

and there definitely weren’t as

many restaurants here. I’d say right

now, more than ever, there are a lot

of restaurants that t ell a story.

D.C.’s on the culinary map now.

It leaves us more open to cri-

tiques, and it’s a lot of pressure.

And especially if you’re like some-

one l ike Chef J oJo [Law-Yone] a nd

Simone Jacobson from Thamee —

there’s not many Burmese restau-

rants, and they want to be able to

represent their food in the correct

way. S ame thing with To m Cunan-

Laura Chase de formigny for the Washington post

“I’d say right now, more than ever, there are a lot of restaurants

that tell a story,” chef Kevin Tien of Emilie’s says of D.C. dining.

From the Cover

marvin Joseph/the Washington post

Tenbeete Solomon, the artist known as Trap Bob, says she sees the future of Washington’s art scene becoming more inclusive and diverse.

andré Chung for the Washington post

Amy Morse highlights emerging visual artists and musicians in D.C. via her event production company,

Pakke Social, and she applauds several collectives and communities around the city for doing the same.

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