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WASHINGTON POST
A Room With a Viewpoint: Decatur Blue’s Absurdist Art
By Jessica Dawson
Thursday, January 15, 2004

Still groovy after a year-long hiatus from the Washington scene, the seven-member Decatur Blue collective delivers a solid punch with its latest show, "Resolutionz," at Signal 66. Take a look downstairs and you've entered a theater of the absurd: Brian Balderston's rows of stadium seating are joined in a circle you can't enter, Jose Ruiz proffers a giant mustache from yellow-painted plasterboard, and Champneys Taylor suggests playing handball with clementines. Two of my favorite works, though, are group efforts. One is a perfectly absurd inflatable "safe room" (they call it a "Danger Bubble") that you can't enter. The piece encapsulates the group's disposition toward clean artwork with a knowing edge. The second piece is a lounge, complete with couches, tunes and mood lighting--a tribute to the art of chilling out.