Thursday, August 21, 2003; Page C05
Galleries
Sweet Sixteen: Summer at Signal 66
By Jessica Dawson

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For years, the Signal 66 summer group show has been the one to see. Although it's pared down, a feisty spirit prevails. These 16 artists -- some veterans from past shows, a few names new to me -- are an eclectic bunch. Thom Flynn invites the street into the gallery in a piece collecting posters and fliers nicked from the corner of Ninth and U streets. These he layered, one frayed sheet atop the next, as if on the side of an abandoned building. (The rusty staples are here, too.) Adam Bradley modulated melodrama with a dash of humor: A towering dressmaker's form clothed in a smart blue shift is flanked by fabric and wire wings suggesting the ascension of the Butterick Pattern Virgin. D.C. art circuit veteran Mary Early arranged beeswax-coated concrete triangles in a huddle evoking oversized seed pods. Her forms are disconcerting, but their sticky-sweet scent begs us to linger.

926 N St. NW, Friday 5-8:30 p.m., Saturday noon-5 p.m., 202-842-3436, to Sept. 2.

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