May 20: "While Paris Burns" by Darren Smith at The Alliance Francaise

An exhibition of handmade photo mosaics by DC Artist Darren Smith

Washington DC’s own Darren Smith will be showcasing his intricate photo-mosaics at The Alliance Française

de Washington, with an opening reception at 6:30pm on May 20, 2011. Inspired by the annual “Nuit

Blanche” (White Night) celebrations Darren Smith attended in Paris; he created a fresh body of work

capturing the mystery and drama of that evening. Known and loved as the City of Light, Paris burns its

brightest one October night each year. La Nuit Blanche is an all-night-long arts festival that turns the city’s

renowned outdoor spaces into venues for visual arts, dance, theater and music. Huge installations near the

Louvre are set ablaze and burn through the night.

The art exhibit “While Paris Burns” celebrates the passion of the city and the fiery heart of La Nuit Blanche.

The handmade photo mosaics by Darren Smith take fire as the central element, showing the creative

potential of a destructive force.

Each mosaic is made from many small pieces cut from his photographs and glued together on illustration

board. Melding the art of photography while using this almost sculptural approach, Smith creates his own

surreal vision of his original image. The result is kaleidoscopic– a heart burns, a phoenix takes flight, a dragon

exhales, and Parisian icons such as the Metro and Eiffel Tower are deconstructed and reassembled in new

ways.

The Alliance Française de Washington has a rotating schedule of temporary visual arts exhibitions touching

on Francophone culture, at their embassy row location on Wyoming Avenue. With more than 3,200

members, l'Alliance Française de Washington, DC, is a non-profit, non governmental cultural and educational

association. Committed to pedagogical and cultural excellency, l'Alliance Française offers a wide variety of

French courses, social activities and cultural events, including lectures, concerts, films, exhibits, guided visits

to museums, "wine and cheese" parties and discussion groups. RSVP Required to: 202-234-7911 ext. 16 or

ext. 31. The Alliance is located at 2142 Wyoming Ave. NW DC 20008.

Honfleur Gallery is a contemporary art space located in the Historic Anacostia. Opened in 2007, it maintains a

rigorous schedule of exhibitions and programming that focuses on cutting edge contemporary exhibitions by

living artists from the USA and abroad. www.honfleurgallery.com. Honfleur is a project of ARCH

Development Corporation, whose mission is to act as a catalyst for cultural revitalization, primarily in the

historic Anacostia neighborhood by creating a home for arts & artists, cultural organizations, and compatible

businesses as a means to fulfill its objectives of community-based economic development and sustainable

For further inquiries, please contact Amy Cavanaugh Royce at 202.580.5972 or acavanaugh@archdc.org