With a careful gaze, Hemphill describes his approach to selling art as indefinable, and in the process gives way to a certain wisdom that has colored his success. Located at 1515 14th St. NW, Hemphill and his staff have represented dozens of contemporary artists. The gallery has become a source of expertise in the DC contemporary art world, something that only a fourteen-year history working in the District might create.This spring Hemphill Fine Arts has joined a citywide Colorfield Remix project, to celebrate an abstract style that took art to a new height in the 1960s. Known as “color field,” the movement involves stripes, bold washes, and dynamic fields of solid colors. The late Leon Berkowitz’s acrylic paintings are the central exhibit and capture the imagination in a fleeting instant. Berkowitz’s work is a product of the earliest demonstration of color field and reflects the Modernist ideas of color purity. His collection, The Cathedral Series, has been unveiled after nearly four decades of storage.

Another collection on display is the work of Corcoran graduate Jason Gubbiotti. Wrong Way To Paradise is a 21st century exploration of color field. Gubbiotti uses his brilliant and placid creativity to create a mix of positively challenging and thoughtful works.

“The spontaneity and energy drew me to it (abstract expressionism),” Gubbiotti said in e-mail from Switzerland. “My paintings are planned…with room for sudden inspiration.”

Guibbiotti adjusted from his normal routine and created a three-dimensional floor piece. Perfectly measured, The Fear of Dogs reaches from the gallery’s corner towards the center of the small room. The strong color and solid stature almost crawls to be noticed.

“The work in Wrong Way to Paradise does not represent current political struggles, instead each act as visual metaphors. Perhaps they present, rather than represent…” he said.

“They need to deal with the outside, which means they can not be introverted. They must participate in life.”

Throughout the collection, I noticed something. Gubbiotti’s understanding of complexity, with the use of negative and positive space makes for a beautiful site of simplicity.

The final exhibit is Portia Munson’s Pink Project: Contained. Imagine the site of hundreds of objects, each variations of pink layered atop one another. Held within three walls and a glass window, Munson’s installation piece displays evidence of a consumer society saturated with disposable plastics. Do the tiny toys, hygienic products or pleasure products offer insight into the American culture of femininity? Or does it expound the power of a single aesthetic over a society?

Since 1993, Hemphill Fine Arts has represented dozens of artists, young and old, alive and deceased. Hemphill’s own passion for contemporary interpretations of culture, color, and society keep the gallery, located on the third floor of a 14th Street building, growing with the community.

“A gallery has to start somewhere. We represent a group of people that have to do with our approach to selling art,” Hemphill said.

“We have artists that we feel like make excellent work…artists making statements the gallery wants to make.”

That, I interpret seems to be the approach. But as he smiles a soft grin from behind his desk, I decide it’s something more than an approach. It’s a visual metaphor.