DoNArTNeWs

DoN’s photo does no justice to Rick Wright’s pristine photographs of hair balls shot against a stark white background now on display at Off the Wall Gallery @ Dirty Frank’s Bar. The first time DoN saw Wright’s compositions at The Center for Emerging Visual Artists he got kind of pissed off - is this what the competition in the art world is?  WTF are a bunch of hair balls doing in an art gallery?  And then they showed up in Dirty Frank’s Mid-Summer show and over drinks Rick explained the origins of the anamorphic fibrous images - a person who used to be in Wright’s life had Trichotillomania, an impulse control disorder manifested in hair pulling, twirling and twisting their hair into knots to be left sitting on tables, dressers, the mantle…It turns out the creepy little hair balls have a poignant back-story while transmitting secret messages.

The gorgeous flower photos by A. Celeste Hardester are simultaneously decorative and technical, impeccably presented and meticulously composed, botanical yet romantic.  Flowers are thought to emanate energy associated with particular stars; Hardester’s photos capture the star power of flowers.

The salon style hanging @ Off the Wall allows a good number of works to be shown in a limited space; Mid-Summer @ OTW was curated by Jody Schweitzer, hand picking pieces from the studios of former OTW award winners including Robert Bohne, Bob Jackson, Debbie Bonacci, Annette Saggiomo, Avalon Clare, Susan Stromquist, A. Celeste Hardester and Rick Wright.  Through October 2, 2009.   

Nancy Barch, Chained Mail, mixed media @ Grow - Off the Wall Gallery.  The use of disposable materials such as the ceiling tile and old slides reek with hidden meaning and memes.  Slides are so anachronistic and ceiling tiles, even though functional at insulation and sound-proofing, are out of style.  Barch’s piece sends obtuse mixed messages stimulating social consciousness neurons to fire in the brain.

 Grow @ Off the Wall Gallery in Dirty Frank’s Bar.

Alisa Fox, Jars, mixed media.

One of the cool things @ Off the Wall is the corner display case where more delicate constructions can be installed.  The team of Jody and Togo extend much effort in branding, soliciting, promoting and selling art from publicity to art cards and posters to installation, the production is always top notch. Off the Wall has hosted hundreds of local aspiring and established artists in their thoughtful exhibitions.

Karl Olsen, Free Compost, mixed media including ingredients from mustard to absinthe.

Grow is on display through August 7th and includes work by 30 artists including members of the Plastic Club, Photographic Society of Philadelphia and other regional arts groups.  Frank’s has been an outpost for many Plastic Club members and recently Anders Hansen hosted a Salon at The Plastic Club to discuss the Grow show.  In branding the show, curator Jody Sweitzer and manager Togo Travalia, put a new spin on the current “green” trend with a focus on recycled materials and ideas.

Karl Olsen used phylo dough, Julia Fisichella’s amazing photoshop collages are inspired, Ed Snyder’s floral photograph exquisitely illuminated the concept with an image pinched from nature, Veronica Schmude’s moody interior photograph is brimming with stolen narrative (Veronica is the guest speaker at this Tuesday’s PSoP lecture series at The Plastic Club).  The Salon was lively: Shoshanna Aron (just back from Israel) pointed out how being “green” is a new concept - that the old paradigm was consumerism, Bob Bohne introduced the topic of the healing power of art and the importance of community outreach, Alan Clawens highlighted how artists resist creating new work for a theme show and try to squeeze old works into new parameters, DoN mentioned bricolage and Burnell Yow!s amazing show at Smile.  The group sipped wine and chatted until sunset and the party moved to Frank’s.  The discussion helped DoN realize that thinking outside the box isn’t always the best approach - sometimes all you need is the box.

2008 has been a big year for DoN: co-chair of the Absolutely Abstract committee at The Philadelphia Sketch Club, membership in the Plastic Club and the Da Vinci Art Alliance, paintings, drawings and photos included in shows at Off the Wall Gallery @ Dirty Franks and First Impressions in Salem NJ, a one-person show at The Beauty Shop Cafe, produced videos for Paul DuSold, Henry Martin and the Philadelphia Sketch Club, DoNArTNeWs is part of Culture Pundits and a successful open studio as part of Philadelphia Open Studio Tours.  

DoN with his grand-niece Jaelyn in Florida for the holidays. 

DoN has made so many new friends in the art world and is grateful to all who have supported his artistic ambitions.  A new member to DoN’s family along with Katy the ArT DoG is Doofie the Saint Bernard/Chihuahua mix who came to live with us because GadFly left our plane of existence to pester angels in the afterworld.  It was a difficult decision made quickly to include such a large animal in a tiny row house but Doof has brought so much love and affection to Katy and DoN that all the dog hair is worth it.  In these tough economic times it’s so important to help rescue animals from shelters; KaTy the ArT DoG is a rescue and the love she shares and the protection and safety DoN feels in her company is worth any price.Thanks and LoVe to Shoshana, Aldy, lola, Dee, John, David Foss, Barbara Murray, Mike Guinn, Lilliana Didovic, Karl Olsen, Anders Hansen, Mina Smith-Segal, everyone @ Center for Emerging Visual Artists, Helen & Joe, Debbie, and many others including my family who have whole-heartedly supported DoN throughout the year.

Peace & LoVe

DoN 

Tonight is the opening of the Under $100 show at Off the Wall Gallery @ Dirty Franks Bar.  DoN is delighted that his photo, “Chick”, has been selected by the jury to be included in the show.  Chick was shot with a 35mm camera on black and white film, developed in the darkroom at Philadelphia University by DoN (gotta say that as much fun as Photoshop is there’s nothing like un-spooling the film in complete darkness, then developing the negatives with liquid chemicals; whoever invented this process must have been touched somehow by a higher being).  The negative was then scanned and enlarged in the computer and printed on pearlized photo paper on a digital printer.  So even though in theory the image can be endlessly reproduced, the piece in the show is one-of-a-kind since the printer no longer feeds paper properly and the printer heads are worn out.  DoN now uses Shutterfly for most of his photo printing and sometimes Kodak.  It’s so much more cost effective to produce art this way since all the hassles of paper jams and ink running out are handles by a vendor – plus they do a really good job.  DoN now uses the rather expensive Epson printer to print letters and such; maybe he shouldn’t have tried to feed through that thick watercolor paper just to see how it would turn out.

In a Kerouac-ian manner, DoN is posting this from warm and rainy Florida, so he won’t be at the opening tonight to hang out with the groovy art crowd Dirty Frank’s attracts but hopes that the party is fun and that Chick won’t be coming home to roost in DoN’s studio but will find a new home instead.

 Download full size copies of the poster by clicking here.  Chick is featured in the lower right.