Monthly Archives: June 2011

The Center for Emerging Visual Artists – Construct @ Crane Arts Center

The Center for Emerging Visual Artists - Construct @ Crane Arts Center

The Center for Emerging Visual Artists Construct @ Crane Arts Center.

Every corner of the mammoth Icebox Gallery in the Crane Arts Center is activated with visual signs, symbols and sensory stimuli.  Last January curator Amie Potsic sent a call for ideas to the Fellows of The Center for Emerging Visual Artists for the huge art space in Fishtown.  Site specific works were encouraged, developed and confirmed by April and last week all the pieces fell into place and Construct, an invigorating, unique, studied look at contemporary art and how assemblage, construction and collage is integral to the new way of seeing.  The photo above looks so Rauschenberg but it’s mash-up of two large installations, one a trippy multiple collage by Jennifer Williams applied directly on the walls and a large assemblage by Don Edler that sprawls across the concrete floor like a drift of entrancing debris.

The Center for Emerging Visual Artists - Construct @ Crane Arts Center

Don Edler @  The Center for Emerging Visual Artists Construct @ Crane Arts Center.

The Center for Emerging Visual Artists - Construct @ Crane Arts Center

Mami Kato in coming to the end of a long relationship with the special Japanese grass she uses to create the sinuous sculptures which take years to make to a new direction using resin for the bio-morphic sculpture in the foreground.  Her work looks so beautiful in the Gray Area, tying up the space in a confounding knot of dense yet floaty tubules.

The Center for Emerging Visual Artists Construct @ Crane Arts Center.

The Center for Emerging Visual Artists - Construct @ Crane Arts Center

Laureen Griffin plays with styles, textures, composition and sexual role models – huh?  DoN overheard a comment, “What’s that girl doing in the chair?”  The girl is dressed quite masculine, like a business woman, reading a paper, a strong contemporary image of a black woman set against the grain of an antebellum manor.  Intensely conflicting narratives zipped through DoN‘s neural network from stories embedded in the fabric, visual cues in the styling and strangely involving decor.  Gorgeous!

The Center for Emerging Visual Artists Construct @ Crane Arts Center.

The Center for Emerging Visual Artists - Construct @ Crane Arts Center

Kimberly Witham was concerned for a moment that the photographs that are so huge in her studio would seem dwarfed by the scale of Icebox, but arrayed salon style, the still life photographs using dead animals, wallpaper and found objects read perfectly well.  The beautifully rendered still life photographs are so bitter sweet, we get to look at beautiful creatures living on after death in a work of art, an exquisite corpse of a different kind.  Witham’s photographs drew a crowd of people who stood and stared a long time; the mixture of repulsion and fascination, ugly and beautiful, cheery and morbid strums a tender nerve.  And the concept that raw steak is not just the color of cabbage roses but can be sexually Dali-nian is genius.

The Center for Emerging Visual Artists Construct @ Crane Arts Center.

The Center for Emerging Visual Artists - Construct @ Crane Arts Center

Alison Stigora, Whirlwind, charred wood, site specific installation.  Like a charcoal drawing in space, Whirlwind is a feat of imagination swirling up like a tornado; Stigora and a friend hand-charred the wood, pulling logs from the fire and dousing them with water to preserve the scarred luminous iridescence of the wood for the construction.  Alison wants all DoNsters to know she is not a pyromaniac, having a healthy fear of fire and does not play with matches.  The imposing sculpture continues Stigora’s investigation into the fractal like forms of the natural world, especially trees and all that art owes to them.

The Center for Emerging Visual Artists Construct @ Crane Arts Center.

The Center for Emerging Visual Artists - Construct @ Crane Arts Center

Alison Stigora, Whirlwind, detail.

The Center for Emerging Visual Artists Construct @ Crane Arts Center.

The Center for Emerging Visual Artists - Construct @ Crane Arts Center

Lewis Colburn was seated atop a 15 foot wooden tower where he typed War and Peace by Tolstoy during a performance at the opening reception; Colburn typed out part of the book relating to a theory about history and calculus, a repetitive process which spilled a long stream of paper into a puddle on the floor.  The Center for Emerging Visual Artists Construct @ Crane Arts Center.

The Center for Emerging Visual Artists - Construct @ Crane Arts Center

Lewis Colburn @ The Center for Emerging Visual Artists Construct @ Crane Arts Center.

The Center for Emerging Visual Artists - Construct @ Crane Arts Center

Maggie Mills has five paintings included in the exhibit, each artwork representing a bit of the anxiety she feels about the political and ecological environment her young daughter is growing up in.  Mills’ paintings incorporate compressed narratives, coupled with coming of age incidents and rituals.  In each of the paintings, young people are involved in a manner of play that involves constructions like kites but in a dream state haunted by angst, danger and fear for the future.

The Center for Emerging Visual Artists Construct @ Crane Arts Center.

The Center for Emerging Visual Artists - Construct @ Crane Arts Center

Swim Team, oil on panel, Maggie Mills @ The Center for Emerging Visual Artists Construct @ Crane Arts Center.

The Center for Emerging Visual Artists - Construct @ Crane Arts Center

Panoramic shot of the Icebox GalleryThe Center for Emerging Visual Artists Construct @ Crane Arts Center.

Artists exhibiting are: Noah Addis, Arden Bendler Browning, Lewis Colburn, Don Edler, Laureen Griffin, Jordan Griska, Ana B. Hernandez, Mami Kato, Allison Kaufman, Daniel Kornrumpf, Maggie Mills, Tim Portlock, Alison Stigora, Jennifer Williams, Kimberly Witham, and Bohyun Yoon.

Construct is on view through June 29th, a short run for such a big show but exhilarating in it’s scope, direction and audacity.

 

Photos by DoN.

Jessica Barber – The Industrial Complex: A Visual Interpretation @ Twenty-Two Gallery

Jessica Barber - The Industrial Complex: A Visual Interpretation @ Twenty-Two Gallery

 The Commodore Barry, mixed media on panel, Jessica BarberThe Industrial Complex: A Visual Interpretation @ Twenty-Two Gallery.

Jessica Barber - The Industrial Complex: A Visual Interpretation @ Twenty-Two Gallery

Flare Up at the Refinery, 4 color lithograph, Jessica BarberThe Industrial Complex: A Visual Interpretation @ Twenty-Two Gallery.

Jessica Barber - The Industrial Complex: A Visual Interpretation @ Twenty-Two Gallery

Some Strings Attached, mixed media on panel, Jessica Barber – The Industrial Complex: A Visual Interpretation @ Twenty-Two Gallery.

Investigating the super structure of her surroundings, Jessica Barber has discovered a hidden beauty in the ugly encroachment of the industrial complex we live in.  The harsh angles and abrupt interruptions in the landscape are the leaping off points for Barber’s intense paintings and prints.  There is no secret that her endeavor for this show was about industriousness whether in her complex lithographs, an artistic technology unto itself, thickly painted industrial landscapes or thoughtful, contemplative figures, the effect is serious yet hopeful insight.  Seeing the beauty in the ugly is something we have to live with anyway, Jessica see’s the blight and decides to make something beautiful, deep and lasting for us, capturing the moment when the sun hits the bridge at just the right angle or the soft glow of oily asphalt at sunset.  There may be no right answer to the ugliness but Jessica is willing to look hard and see the wonderful patterns, colors and textures inflicted on the industrial landscape and offer answers in the form of art.

 

Photos by DoN.

Philadelphia Sketch Club Volunteer Art Exhibit @ Art Space, Lansdowne

Lois Schlachter Philadelphia Sketch Club Volunteer Art Exhibit @ Art Space, Lansdowne, 2011

Lois Schlachter,  @ Philadelphia Sketch Club Volunteer Art Exhibit @ Art Space, Lansdowne, 2011

 Steve Iwanczuk Philadelphia Sketch Club Volunteer Art Exhibit @ Art Space, Lansdowne

Steve Iwanczuk @ Philadelphia Sketch Club Volunteer Art Exhibit @ Art Space, Lansdowne, 2011.  That’s Steve reflected in the drawing on the right.

Lois & Steve have collaborated as the co-chairs of the Philadelphia Sketch Club’s Exhibition Committee for years, lately Lois is focused on her own art career, continuing to volunteer but now making new art, showing in galleries and entering competitions. Schlachter has had the unique experience of viewing virtually thousands of artworks submitted to the venerable art club’s competitions and exhibitions and now is creating her own memorable art, fractured planes, vibrant color, dreamy narratives like a mix of Charles Dumuth and Takashi Murakami Steve Iwanczuk teaches graphic design but his drawings are surreal and photographs technically exact, in this show he shows three sides of his persona, each piece strange and deep.

Philadelphia Sketch Club Volunteer Art Exhibit @ Art Space, Lansdowne

Philadelphia Sketch Club Volunteer Art Exhibit @ Art Space, Lansdowne, 2011.

Philadelphia Sketch Club Volunteer Art Exhibit @ Art Space, Lansdowne

Philadelphia Sketch Club Volunteer Art Exhibit @ Art Space, Lansdowne, 2011.

Mina Smith-Segal Philadelphia Sketch Club Volunteer Art Exhibit @ Art Space, Lansdowne

Mina Smith-Segal Philadelphia Sketch Club Volunteer Art Exhibit @ Art Space, Lansdowne, 2011.

Deborah Ann S. Horsting Philadelphia Sketch Club Volunteer Art Exhibit @ Art Space, Lansdowne

Deborah Ann S. Horsting @ Philadelphia Sketch Club Volunteer Art Exhibit @ Art Space, Lansdowne, 2011.

Philadelphia Sketch Club Volunteer Art Exhibit @ Art Space, Lansdowne

Philadelphia Sketch Club Volunteer Art Exhibit @ Art Space, Lansdowne – Gift Shop!  Many of the artists brought prints, cards and posters to sell, Art Space‘s lay-out is multi-purpose and really fun to wander through.  Art Space is a major component in the art vibe of Lansdowne, many of the locals came out to the show, the support of the neighbors is so important if art is the force communities use to stay vibrant and relevant.

Dorothy Roschen Philadelphia Sketch Club Volunteer Art Exhibit @ Art Space, Lansdowne

Dorothy Roschen @ Philadelphia Sketch Club Volunteer Art Exhibit @ Art Space, Lansdowne, 2011.

Philadelphia Sketch Club Volunteer Art Exhibit @ Art Space, Lansdowne

Philadelphia Sketch Club Volunteer Art Exhibit @ Art Space, Lansdowne, 2011.

John Schmeichen Philadelphia Sketch Club Volunteer Art Exhibit @ Art Space, Lansdowne

 John Schmeichen @ Philadelphia Sketch Club Volunteer Art Exhibit @ Art Space, Lansdowne, 2011.

Karen McDonnell & Anthony Cortosi Philadelphia Sketch Club Volunteer Art Exhibit @ Art Space, Lansdowne

Karen McDonnell & Anthony Cortosi @ Philadelphia Sketch Club Volunteer Art Exhibit @ Art Space, Lansdowne.  Karen & Anthony are collaborative by nature, often taking on responsibilities others don’t want to do ensuring art events can jump off.  The duo work together on their art, drawing and cutting stencils, spray-painting and decorating their canvasses until layers of memes, myths and memories are mashed-up like a DJ Shadow mix.

Rich Harrington Karen Philadelphia Sketch Club Volunteer Art Exhibit @ Art Space, Lansdowne

Rich Harrington @ Philadelphia Sketch Club Volunteer Art Exhibit @ Art Space, Lansdowne, 2011.

Volunteering is a good way to make friends, learn new things, experience different ideas and stretch social skills; sometimes it feels really good, sometimes it’s hard work but in the end people working towards a common goal, solving problems, creating opportunities, being selfless and inclusive is an art form unto itself.  Thank you so much to the Philadelphia Sketch Club and Art Space, DoN LoVeS seeing his work flanking Lois Schlachter and Steve Iwanczuk‘s art, to be included in their company is an honor.  Not all the volunteers are represented in this blog post many other artists are in the expansive show, take the drive out to Lansdowne to see the show, support the volunteers and the view of the city on the drive back is spectacular, a fine reward.

 

Photos by DoN.