Observe:

John Camp, Financial Disaster
Mixed media: Monopoly money, screen,
foam core, cardboard, 2008, 7.5 × 2 feet

Make sure to check out the drink at Urbana Restaurant & Bar (2121 P St NW).

Poignant and perhaps our favorite piece so far. The leaves, though wilted, seem to flutter in the frame, possessed by second life:

William Knipscher, Trace No. 5
C-print, 2008, 38 × 28 inches

We hope you won’t neglect to try Souheil Chaouachi’s liquid interpretation of Trace No. 5. By all accounts, it’s delicious and still available at Teatro Goldoni, the winning bar from last year (1909 K St NW).

Don’t forget to vote for your favorite artini. Here’s your ‘tini art for the day:

Elisabeth Arzt, Tortoise & the Bare
Ceramic, 2008, 10 × 5 feet

…which inspired Erik Holzherr’s delightful beverage by the same name. Consume one at Wisdom (1432 Pennsylvania Avenue SE).

My superiors have informed me that the 2009 Artini Season began two days ago. (I was so busy recovering from the previous iteration that I’d hardly noticed.)

SO IT’S BACK INTO THE THICK OF IT, folks…spring is just around the corner, the drinks are flowing like aspersions from a jilted Press Secretary, and, according to Megan Harmon at the Corcoran, those artsy concoctions are better than ever.

Stay tuned for more buzz.