Monthly Archives: December 2010

Dysfunctional Furniture @ Art in City Hall

Deanna McLaughlin & Jack Larimore @ Dysfunctional Furniture @ Art in City Hall, Philadelphia.

Juror, Jack Larimore told DoN he’s a furniture maker first, it’s sculptural yet it’s furniture. Larimore liked seeing work by Philly region artists he had not seen before especially with an open ended concept like Dysfunctional Furniture – become part of the furniture, the piece above doubles as a font. Even things we perceive as being dysfunctional may have a function we are unaware of, a great metaphor for life.

Artist Deanna McLaughlin carried a matching mini shopping cart hand-bag to match her lounge chair made from a re-cycled shopping card and thrift store leather belts, the social implications of weaving our own furniture and learning from the homeless is palpable.

Holly E. Smith, Deceased Vole Coffee Table, wood, chair parts @ Dysfunctional Furniture @ Art in City Hall. Smith told DoN the sculpture started with the tail and gradually became an assemblage of objects, eventually an homage to dead voles. Artist Ted Warchal commented on how the legs of the sculpture are appropriately sized, larger in the rear, smaller in the front.

Hannah Fink @ Dysfunctional Furniture @ Art in City Hall, Philadelphia.

Michelle Post @ Dysfunctional Furniture @ Art in City Hall. Post uses salt & pepper shakers, some quite collectible, like sequins on her altar-like tissue box, a bizarre bedazzling of function, craft and stream of consciousness.

Lauren Frazer, Beauty is Only a Promise of Happiness, fabric, stuffing, plywood, synthetic human hair. “Furniture plays an important role creating theatrical context for my sculptures”. Dysfunctional Furniture @ Art in City Hall.

Herbert Simon, Chair Forward, welded steel, found objects. Dysfunctional Furniture @ Art in City Hall

Kay Healy, Stuffed, screen-printed fabric. Dysfunctional Furniture @ Art in City Hall.

Burnell Yow! The Puzzling Love Life of the Superhero, mixed media. Yow!s mirror reflects the puzzle of what we see in the mirror and the quest to get all the pieces of life fit together, even if it’s just because they touch without matching. Dysfunctional Furniture @ Art in City Hall.

Juror Albert LeCoff said Dysfunctional Furniture re-emphasizes what a strong region Philadelphia is for sculpture with an innovative use of material, one of the real surprises was Kay Healy’s fabric sculptures and the use of materials.

Art in City Hall is a great civic program with a new art space in Philadelphia City Hall of the 1st Floor; coordinator of Art in City Hall, Tu Huynh is featured on the web site for The National Arts Program. Thank you Tu for bringing art to the forefront of the civic consciousness in Philly and national attention to our artists.

Dysfunctional Furniture
December 16 – February 25.
Juried by Jack Larimore and Albert LeCoff and featuring artists: Gretchen Altabef, Carlos Avendano, Michael J. Brolly, Charna Eisner, Hannah Fink, Laura Frazure, Kay Healy, Lydia Hunn, Tara Inman-Bellofatto, Jack Larimore, Henry Loustau, Deanna McLaughlin, Ife Nii Owoo, Michelle Post, Matthew Alden Price, Leo Razzi, Maria Schneider, Adam Shuman, Herbert Simon, William Skrobut, Holly Smith, Chris Todd, Michael Wiley and Burnell Yow!
Art Gallery at City Hall, Room 116 and
1st and 2nd Floor display cases.

The Center for Emerging Visual Artists – The Imagined: Gregory Brellochs, Danielle Bursk & Brooke Hine

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Brooke Hine, Shadow, resin, zip-ties, acrylic @ The Center for Emerging Visual Artists, 15th & Locust Streets, Philadelphia.

The Imagined show is over now, the Center for Emerging Visual Artists is on holiday break, it’s Christmas Eve, 2010, and DoN is grateful and thankful for the excellent art memories the good people at CFEVA generate throughout the year. If it wasn’t for the team at CFEVA, a huge gap between artists and the public would be difficult to straddle; CFEVA manages Philadelphia Open Studio Tours as well as educational seminars, fellowships, art exhibition opportunities and more. Art girlfriend, Brooke Hine Facebook-ed DoN, last week, reminding him to stop in the gallery before her art show came down the next day; the CFEVA team was having a meeting in their underground lair, so DoN had total private access to the uber-cool, sleek, modern space arrayed with master-works by true art stars. The Imagined is laser-focused on craft, narrative and virtuosity with drawings, sculpture and mixed media; the art resonates with each other, feeding the sense of being lost under-ground, away from it all, alone with mysterious thoughts and things.

Brooke Hine, Philly Blossom Series, wood, acrylic, resin, porcelain @ The Imagined, CFEVA Gallery.

Brooke Hine.

These are a Few of My Favorite Things, porcelain, slip, glaze, stain, cat whiskers @ The Center for Emerging Visual Artists – The Imagined: Gregory Brellochs, Danielle Bursk, Brooke Hine.

Brooke Hine‘s work is paradoxical: hard & soft, internal & external, beautiful & ugly, light & dark, whimsical & creepy, preternaturally intelligent & child-like naivete, technical virtuosity & inquisitive exploration and she’s an artist that is one tough, sexy, street-smart, chick with a thick skin and soft heart. DoN LoVeS Brooke Hine! No cats were harmed in the production of this blog post.

Danielle Bursk @ The Center for Emerging Visual Artists – The Imagined.

Is this cool or what? Danielle’s drawings are like no-one else’s, instantly recognizable as a Bursk, yet each heroic drawing holds it’s own mystery and unfathomable conception of consumption of time and energy.

The Center for Emerging Visual Artists – The Imagined: Gregory Brellochs, Danielle Bursk, Brooke Hine.

Gregory Brellochs, Ganglions, 48″ x 48″, graphite on paper.

Gregory Brellochs, Sensafe, graphite on paper, 52″ x 217″ x 70″.

You know how sometime you see art and can’t imagine it in your home? Brelloch’s immersive drawing is so magical, the feeling of primitive forests from dark tales of earlier times matched with the subtle surrealism is quite seductive, like everyone should have an art chamber to meditate in.

DoN looks forward to the New Year and the continued success and optimism for the future of art in the Philadelphia region The Center for Emerging Visual Artists provides to artists, collectors, enthusiasts, educators, businesses and government. The services CFEVA offers to the community are essential, consider supporting their efforts by attending shows, spending money on art and making donations, they deserve it.

Deja Vu – 6th Annual Juried Competition @ Off the Wall Gallery in Dirty Frank’s

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Deja Vu – 6th Annual Juried Competition @ Off the Wall Gallery in Dirty Frank’s. DoN missed the opening party for Deja Vu but art friends reported the place was packed with artists and friends celebrating the amazing collection of art gleaned from the many submissions. Off the Wall has a long art history in Philly and being included in the group show, especially with such esteemed jurors, is a real honor. When lola & DoN sipped cocktails at the bar, a feeling of pride and accomplishment surges through his system, even the Jack neat doesn’t quell the vibration. Having photographs hang next to Rick Wright, Bonnie Schorske, Ed Snyder…feels so validating. Entering art competitions is like buying lottery tickets, you can’t win unless you play.

Yeoun Lee, Marion Lioppo…Bill Myers’ phot0 collage is totally Dada, Rick Wright corners anthropomorphism in household objects, Erin Lynn O’Connor tackles surrealism – the show is really trippy. Deja Vu – 6th Annual Juried Competition @ Off the Wall Gallery in Dirty Frank’s.

Deja Vu – 6th Annual Juried Competition @ Off the Wall Gallery in Dirty Frank’s.

Deja Vu – 6th Annual Juried Competition @ Off the Wall Gallery in Dirty Frank’s.

Thank you so much to the team at Dirty Franks, Jody & Togo, for maintaining this long tradition of art competition, friendship and networking which offers Philadelphians a glimpse into the best of the local art scene, artists a groovy venue and quality that many times foreshadows art trends – with cocktails!

Toni Nash @ Dumpster Divers on South Street

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Toni Nash, Leaning Tower of Brass @ Dumpster Divers Art Gallery on South Street.

Toni Nash, Hand of Time @ Dumpster Divers on South Street.

Toni Nash explained to DoN that her found object construction expresses the concept that people always look to their hands to acknowledge the passage of time. Nash uses hand imagery in her work, “…because what can you do without hands? A baby see it’s own hand, I see stuff and it talks to me, then I interpret what it says.”

Toni Nash, Last Sunset of the Millenium @ Dumpster Divers on South Street.

Nash was intrigued with the last sunset of the 20th century but not the first sunrise, she became involved in an art project involving Legg Eggs and transforming the Titanic ship to look like a rocket and forgot to watch the sun come up on the new millennium. It’s fun chatting with Toni in the eclectic gallery on South Street with the collection of art made from recycled materials surrounding us and hipsters wandering in off the street to check out the unusual art, Nash hosted a long running talk show in the Philly region and has zillions of stories to tell about meeting stars. The gallery is decorated for the holidays with some wack-a-zoid toy assemblages which are enthralling kids on South Street, stop in and meet the artist, she’s really cool.

Jon Paul Hammond

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I first met Jon Paul Hammond on an art crawl to the galleries one Friday evening a few years ago; somehow, without a car, he could travel to multiple venues all across the city in one evening and have a glass of wine with the art-erati, himself a visual sensation drawing attention from the art. Jon Paul was a culture vulture, like me, and we instantly became confidantes, dishing the dirt on the pretensions and hoaxes we often encountered as well as superlatives for thought-provoking art we liked. It was comforting to know that when I ventured out alone to an art show, I was sure to see a friendly face, a hug & kiss and a funny anecdote from a friend. Jon Paul is missed in the Philly art community and his passing reminds me to re-invigorate my art adventures, support my artist friends, search out emerging talent, explore new neighborhoods and challenge my endurance because tomorrow I may be gone. A lovely memorial webpage has been established in Jon Paul’s honor with thoughtful commentaries from his friends.

DoN Brewer & Jon Paul Hammond @ The Warwick Hotel’s, The Coffee Bar, DoN‘s “light beings Art Talk“, Summer 2010. Jon Paul Hammond offered me encouragement to continue making art and have pride in what I do; what is an art world without knowledgeable art enthusiasts? I’ll miss Jon Paul’s exuberance and style and his insightful opinions as I explore and report on the Philly arts scene.

Photo by Danny Reilly.