September 22, 2009 | DoNArTNeWs

“MAKE ME CRAZY MAKE ME THINK”
Location: Plastic Club, 247 S. Camac St., Philadelphia
Opening Reception: Saturday Sept 26th 6pm – 8pm
Reception and Presentation: Sunday September 27th 1pm – 4pm
The “Make Me Crazy Make Me Think” exhibition is the culmination of ten months of collaborative work by Karl Olsen and Kim Martin. The concept was to paint our individual self portraits together, side by side at the same time, on the same canvas. The process of painting “ourselves” in this relative setting, the work reflects those dynamics in subtle and sometimes dramatic ways. How we worked, discussed, and managed the totality of each painting was tense, thought provoking, stimulating and included continual compromise with individual and collective interpretation.The result was 11 highly differing pieces averaging 6′ x 6′.

Images courtesy of www.coldnose.org – Kim Martin’s website.

Paul Rider, Chance 1 – 20, photographic prints each 16″ square.

Keiko Miyamori, Birdcage, mixed media installation.

Cecelia Rembert, Given, oil on canvas.

Paul Rider, Primitive 1 – 3, photographic prints.

Art shows don’t hang around long enough but DoN got to see In conversation with the Oracle at the Center for Emerging Visual Artist‘s gallery twice. Both times spending time alone with the art was engrossing and thought provoking: Paul Rider‘s photographs of blades of grass read like charcoal mark-making, Keiko Miyamori‘s birdcage installation bring mythological stories to mind of caged beauties or harpies, Cecelia Rembert‘s paintings are bold reminders of how much fun paintings can be.

The cul-de-sac seems to be a particular spot of inspiration for artist’s, Miyamori’s sculptures speak with each other adding color to the myths hidden in the art – the use of found material is particularly romantic, not the lovey dovey kind of romance but the romance of danger and fear as if an adventurer returned with a giant strange bird which has escaped it’s confines.