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TO FEB. 27
D.C.’s lack of a single dominant gallery district makes for a lot of walking: 7th Street to 14th Street to Dupont Circle to Georgetown. Now it’s time to spring for the rental car: Colby Caldwell, Jason Gubbiotti, and James Huckenpahler are holding their latest tete-a-tete-a-tete at St. Mary’s College of Maryland, where Caldwell teaches. The sequel to “Signal/Signal,” held three years ago at the Troyer Gallery, “Situation Room” is a more confident, contentious hanging. It finds the three friends and Corcoran grads, already a diverse bunch, spreading out and more boldly staking their claims. A lot has changed since their 2001-2002 solos at Hemphill, Fusebox, and Fusebox, respectively. Caldwell’s re-photographed, digitized, and hand-waxed landscapes flicker with new color, particularly fildhou (14), whose vignetted line of trees is a slow burn of red, orange, and magenta. Huckenpahler’s artificial digital terrains, which posit a link between the algorithms of nature and machines, crystallize flesh into ice. Sub-zero (detail pictured) catches them mid-flow. If I had to make a decision, though, I’d go with Gubbiotti. At a recent panel discussion of the show, he was on the defensive, explaining that being a painter doesn’t make him anti-tech. He needn’t fret; a man with a good saw needs no justification. In the new pieces, it’s as though the canvas threatens to slip or pop from supports that jut from the wall and wrap around corners. It seems that The Duke wouldn’t “play nice,” so he got a wall of his own. The exhibition is on view from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday to Friday, and from noon to 3 p.m. Saturday, to Thursday, Feb. 27, at the Boyden Gallery, St. Mary’s College, 18952 E. Fisher Road, St. Mary’s City, Md. Free. (240) 895-4958. (Glenn Dixon)