DoNArTNeWs

While Alan Klawans, the Exhibitions Chair of The Plastic Club, awarded honors for the excellent Black & White show, DoN observed sunlight creeping across Vetiado # 48, a mixed media painting by Louisa Velben.  The painting glittered as if diamonds are embedded in the surface but the illusion was shiny paint bubbles in the thickly painted and swirled liquid.

Pulled From The Darkness, Erik Melendez, charcoal.

Karl Richard Olsen, Portrait, graphite. Bill Meyers, of PSoP, volunteer posed at the Plastic Club, the likeness is striking yet loose and free.

Rebecca Miller, Overrripe: Compost 3, graphite.  Miller is completing the Master program @ PAFA, studying with the extraordinary Scott Noel; this piece was created by drawing on gessoed board, draw with graphite, layer watered gesso over the drawing, let dry, draw some more…the result is an award winning drawing.  Miller also took home a prize the same day from The Philadelphia Sketch Club for an oil painting.  Seeing young new talent emerging from local art schools with the skill of masters participating in the grass roots arts movement in Philly is extremely satisfying.

Alden Cole, Dancing in the Dark, pencil and Leroy Fornoy, Night Bus, oil.  Pairing these two graphic pieces is genius - Cole’s trippy Starlings dance ecstatically and Fornoy’s painting has a Manga skate-punk nihilist vibe.

One of the great aspects of this show is the variety of media displayed, now that photography is accepted in  the art circles as a legitimate art form, many Photographic Society of Philadelphia members have the opportunity to show with their work along side traditional media - some photographers even entered paintings!

Arthur Ostroff, Floreal Ancienne, ink jet print.

Riikka Salo, Windows to Spruce, photograph.

Lois Schlachter, Exhibitions Chair of The Philadelphia Sketch Club, and Alan Klawans, Exhibitions Chair of The Plastic Club, at the Black & White Show.  The Philadelphia Sketch Club opened their 147th Annual Exhibitions of Small Oil Paintings the same afternoon - between the two art clubs there are over 300 new art works by contemporary Philadelphia area artists to see.  The juxtaposition of two strong theme shows is visually and psychologically invigorating, one show is limited to size and medium, the other limited to no color, the problem-solving and creativity of the artists is inspiring, entertaining and lucid.

Photography by DoNBrewerPhotography.

2010 Philadelphia Open Studio Tours -  pdf

Register @ http://www.philaopenstudios.com/Opportunities.aspx

Dog by Karen McDonnell & Anthony Cortosi perfectly encapsulates the theme of this groundbreaking, historic art show curated by Jody Schweitzer of Off the Wall Gallery @ Dirty Franks Bar on the corner of 13th & Pine Streets, bringing together artists from the dual art clubs, The Plastic Club & The Philadelphia Sketch Club on the historic Avenue of the Artists - a painting of a three-legged dog created in collaboration by an opposite sex couple.  The formally all female Plastic Club and the formally all male Philadelphia Sketch Club have been co-existing on the same block for decades - the Sketch Club is celebrating it’s 150th anniversary this year with a stunning array of historic art shows & the Plastic Club is nearly 100 - both clubs integrated sexes in 1991, since then Camac Street has become a fantastic haven for artists to work and learn side by side, the competition raising the bar for quality, prestige and creativity for everyone.  Alan Klawans, the exhibitions chair @ The Plastic Club, told DoN participation in art shows is up 300%; the current Small Oils Show @ PSC has 170 paintings, you couldn’t squeeze another piece in if you wanted to.

Karen & Anthony, create all of their art together: drawing, cutting, spraying, dumpster-diving, brain-storming…resulting in iconic imagery resonating with vibrant contemporary urban life.  Their work is proof men & women can work together in partnership, even if the result is like walking on three legs to get there.

The showcase @ Off the Wall Gallery with Dorothy Roschen, Cara Kendric and more, many of the artists are members of both clubs.

Mina Smith-Segal @ An Offering on Camac.  Mina won an award Saturday for a painting she created for the Lantern Theater Company’s Henry IV, Part 1 production, another art collaboration between the Da Vinci Art Alliance of South Philly and the St. Steven’s Theater in Center City - it’s art synergy, baby!

Sibylle-Maria Pfaffenbichler is getting terrific buzz for her jazzy paintings of couples dancing; every show they’re in is instantly energized by the bold color and confidant brushwork, capturing the attention of the viewer like watching a really good-looking couple dancing deep in the groove of the music in a smokey dive with a great juke-box.

An Offering on Camac @ Dirty Franks is the perfect third leg for an art crawl; after trying to absorb over 300 fantastic new art works on view between the two clubs current shows, a stiff drink is in order.  What do you call a one-eyed, three-legged dog?  Lucky.

Sibylie Pfaffenbichler, Sailor on Leave, oil.  The artist explained to DoN her inspiration came from the forties and the famous images of sailors returning home.  The painting is so exuberant, vibrant and distinctive it really makes you wonder why we don’t dance in the street when our soldiers make it home.  Pfaffenbichler is chair of The Philadelphia Sketch Club’s Annual Flower Show.

Paul Davis Jones, Enigma, acrylic.

Gail Morison-Hall, The Burning Bush, mixed media & Elise Arnold, Untitled One, acrylic.  With 199 works of art, Small World @ The Plastic Club would have been even bigger if more artists understood that presentation is half the battle, the exhibitions committee refused several pieces (DoN spotted a few suspect entries who passed muster).

Nick Brown, Orange Juice Cup & Mug, stone ware.  Brown brings unfired pottery to life study workshops at The Plastic Club and sketches directly onto the clay, often you can hear him scratching grooves into the design to prevent the glaze from spreading when applied.  The resultant objects are like ancient vessels found at an acheological dig - future meets ancient.

Lee Mamaluy, Popping Blooms, oil, Kathryn Russo, At Ease, mixed media and Jeanne Chesterton, Dots, oil.

Robert Stauffer’s photograph, Thorazine Can Kill The Human Spirit, with broken glass in a mirror lined shadow-box frame is like a history of modern art all mushed up like DuChamp meets Warhol meets Ansel Adams.  The broken glass reads like disaster, the desert scene feels like being stranded and the infinite reflections on all sides have secret hidden images to uncover.

 Alden Cole, Now n Then #3, Mother & Child, wax/clay, 2010 & 1964.

Bob Makoid, Avian Capers,markers.  Makoid told DoN this drawing is extra special to him because his kids surprised him by having the design made into a stained glass window.

Michele Jenkins, New Glasses, oil.  DoN LoVeS this painting!  Timeless, super-fun, nostalgic, funny, happy and executed with aplomb.

Anders Hansen, Earth Goddess, ink/watercolor, Lois Schlachter, Queen of the Night, acrylic and Joseph De Fay, The Cafe’, ink-jet print.

Lois Schlachter, Balloon Release, acrylic.  DoN appreciates Lois’ combination of real & unreal, abstract & illustrative, signs & significations - cool.

Alan Clawans, Small Shed, photograph, DoN Brewer, light being (Farrah Fawcett), photograph (it’s not DoNArTNeWs without some DoN news), Sylvia Schreiber, White Flower, acrylic, Susan Wierzbicki, Saim, acrylic and Elise Arnold, Cats, acrylic.  DoN is so pleased to have his entries placed so strategically in the beginning, #3, and the end, #196 - the magic of 3.

Photos by DoNBrewerMultimedia Photography.

P. J. Smalley, Girl on Toilet, oil/digital print @ The Plastic Club.

Donna P. Collins, Our Love Dissolved, photograph.

Donna P. Collins, One Way Out, photograph.

Julianna Struck, Untitled, oil @ The Plastic Club New Members Exhibition 2010.

Karen Frank, Effervesence, acrylic.

New Member Exhibition 2010 @ The Plastic Club.  Corel Topel, Baby #1, pen & ink, Armand Scavo, 101 Walnut Street #1, photograph and Karen Freeman, Modiglianni Girl, ink.

Serena Perrone, Dreaming of Flying Fish, oil/charcoal/graphite.

Welcome to the 24 new members of the Plastic Club; the current show is super-strong with technical virtuosity, broad variety of styles, big personalities and aspirational contemporary ideas from established and new members of the Philly Art Community.

When DoN entered the Cosmopolitan Club on Latimer Street to see the Karl Olsen exhibit the first thing he did was take his hat off, it’s that kind of place.  Quiet and plush it feels like a set from a Ginger Rogers movie with soft tones, tufted fabrics and multi-tiered rooms and a reception area where DoN pictured a Judy Holiday type answering the phone, “Good Evening, Cosmopolitan Club.”  The historic space is the perfect space to show Karl Olsen’s metropolitan style, artistic swagger and consummate artistry.

The gallery walls in the Cosmopolitan Club are 20′ long panels framed with moulding, a chic presentation space for ongoing exhibits of fine art. Currently Karl Olsen is showing a selection of art works from his vast stash of images created in various media from lino-cut prints to paintings to pastels, each piece special since Karl had to winnow out a group which is representative of his style with drawings, paintings and prints.  Olsen is a role model for DoN with his dedication to proficiency to many modes of communication through image making; sometimes Karl will contentedly draw quick figure studies in linoleum block with sharp tools next he’s scrawling broad swathes of color with soft pastels on huge sheets of fine paper then perhaps a wet, juicy painting always with an eye on finding an image he believes signifies his vision of art.

 Karl Olsen @ The Cosmopolitan Club.

DoN loves watching Karl Olsen work, he is very intense and focused on creating movement, emotional contact, energetic mark-making, lucid dream states - you can watch him drift off into an alpha state and let the universal energy pass through him onto the surface.  Olsen monitors workshops @ The Plastic Club and until recently held weekly gatherings at his own studio but Olsen is taking time now to do his own thing and the result is really innovative, exciting art evocative of another era yet really cool and contemporary.

Karl Olsen, Olga, oil on panel @ The Cosmopolitan Club.  DoN has been in the presence of Olga before, she always makes a powerful impact on a room, but at the Cosmopolitan Club, a proper woman’s club of high esteem, Olga is able to fully express the story of an artist’s struggle to a achieve a level of virtuosity she knew the painter held all along.  Olga represents modern sensibilities with bold color and urgent brushwork yet feels timeless with an impressionist style time-tripping to centuries passed.

Karl Olsen @ The Cosmopolitan Club.

The November issue of Philadelphia Magazine had an article called “Five Artists Who Will Make You Rich” by curator extraordinaire Eileen Tognini.  What a task?  DoN is familiar with four of the five artists the esteemed curator gleaned and couldn’t agree more but it made him wonder who he might choose if he could only pick five.

Karl Olsen with model/artist Arthur Ostroff @ the MCGOPA show last Fall.  Olsen is driven to achieve a level of technique, style, originality that is fiercely determined, tenacious yet warmly accessible - everyone loves impressionism but Olsen’s squishy brushwork has a darker undercurrent of emotion like a 21st Century Otto Dix, Olsen exposes the hurt, apprehension & fear of life during war-time preserving a moment of great change in our history.  Photo courtesy of Karl Olsen.

Brooke Hine was one of Tognini’s picks to make you rich.  DoN finds that just spending time with Brooke makes him feel richer; Hine is warm, empathic, vivacious, sharing, curious and extraordinarily creative - some of her ceramic sculpture incorporate cat whiskers, so poetic.  Her ancient/future ceramic concoctions ooze a dystopian narrative of archeological digs in our own future world or some inter-planetary find by an ancient space visitor.  Bones, spines, claws, spikes, hairs, curves and swirls all meld into interchangeable narratives - spooky yet fun.

Bob Jackson’s ball point pen figure studies on typing paper are like finding the perfect seashell on the beach or a crystal you want to keep while rock-hounding or that great antique find at a Paris flea market.  Jackson’s drawings are expressive and technically precise yet his use of lowly materials raises up ordinary paper to a higher plain because of the lines of ink Bob streams across the page with abandon, lyricism and grace.  Jackson is President of the Plastic Club where you can buy his drawings for around 20 bucks.

Karen McDonnell & Tony Cortosi collaborate on each of their hand-drawn, hand-cut stencil spray-paint paintings skewering modern icons, historic figures and art world figure-heads with equal levels or irony, respect, sarcasm, awe and cultural awareness from punk, pop & hip-hop to Shakespeare to Foxy Brown.  Their mash-ups are a comment on our time bringing a skate-punk anarchistic rock mentality to the gallery setting without giving up on street-cred integrity.

Eileen Tognini picked Rachel Constantine because she personifies the quintessential PAFA school of atmospheric realism presenting realistic, emotionally charged, technically accomplished paintings and deservedly so, Rachel’s work is absolute perfection.  But, DoN would include Paul DuSold in his time capsule of 21st Century art investment; DuSold’s paintings are ripe with vivid life brought into the realm of the sublime.  A simple wrapped loaf conveys a story deep with realness, a flower lives only for the moment before fading to obscurity, the portrait a glimpse into a model’s inner thoughts or the patron’s aspirations - Paul DuSold is a modern painter working with techniques passed down through the ages.

Eileen Eckstein, Balloons, photograph, DoN Brewer, light being (Mama Cass), photograph, Laura Pritchard, Portrait, mixed media, Dorothy Roschen, Red, White and Green, relief tiles and Alan Klawans, Milan, archival pigment print @ The Plastic Club’s Red, White and Green exhibit.

DoN Brewer Photography

light being (Mama Cass) $150.00 light being (Kurt Cobain) $150.00

Michael Guinn, 12th Street Still Life, oil.

3rd Honorable Mention Lois Schlachter, My Brother’s Keeper, acrylic, Alden Cole, Good Vibrations, mixed media and Honorable Mention Morris Klein, Love Park, photograph.  Juror Rich Harrington has a great eye and excellent taste considering that the theme was ambiguous in that the three title colors had to be used but not exclusively; Harrington chose works who fully met the criteria such as Dorothy Roschen’s wall sculpture in blatant red, white and green squares for 2nd prize and Peter Petraglia’s trippy undersea fantasy in a subtle palette for First Prize to Lois Schlachter’s wildly imaginative abstraction with what seems like millions of colors.

Tracy Landman, Reflections on Stewart, oil, Patricia Wilson-Schmid, Catching the Light, and Lucy Roehm, Radish Trio, color pencil @ The Plastic Club’s Red White & Green exhibit.

The theme is Red, White & Green which one would think should conjure Holiday Cheer but @ The Plastic Club the art is edgy, sarcastic, goth, even scary like Hunter Thompson meets Charles Addams meets Salvador Dali.  Some of the work is literal and literate like Roehm’s Radish Trio and some is out and out transcendental like Jake Smith’s Merry Fish Mess.  Above: Anders Hansen, Shiva, ink, graphite & charcoal, First Prize Peter Petraglia, Tubulars, pen & ink, Marie Davis Samohod, Funerary Portrait, mixed media and Karen Frank, Totem and Taboo, Acrylic.

DoN is honored to be exhibited along with such wonderful artists as those in the Plastic Club, their shows are always challenging, pushing the envelop, breaking rules yet there’s no stress, the only expectation is making art.  And when the art is all hanging together it feels really good to be an artist rubbing shoulders with some of the best in town.  A cool thing about writing this blog is that when DoN took the photos he didn’t know that he was shooting the work of some of his best friends, the Plastic Club uses a number system for labeling, it’s kind of like doing your own blind jury-ing and then finding out you picked only your friends such as Lois, Pat, Mike, Alan, Alden, Eileen, Dorothy, Morris, Anders…

Jake Smith, Merry Fish Mess, acrylic and Theodore J. Amick, Untitled, oil.

Merry Fish Mess, everybody!

 Italian Market by Nevio Celestino @ Deptford Municipal Building.

 Even though Deptford, NJ is only 20 minutes from Center City by car many art enthusiasts won’t cross the bridge; DoN blames the news media for branding Killadelphia as a scary place and the Philadelphia Parking Authority will get you by hook or by crook.  But the art community builds neighborhoods by going where others fear to tread and many towns have turned to artists to bring culture and art to their citizens.  But it takes special people to take the initiative to make these things happen; in Deptford, Pauline Jonas has assumed the role of art curator for the Deptford Municipal Building @ 1011 Cooper Street with ongoing art exhibits by local artists, art trips to museums and movie viewings about art and artists.  Recently, South Jersey’s newspaper,The Courier Post, ran a story about Jonas’ efforts and the impact she has made on the community.  The current exhibit includes Nevio Celestino, John Echtermeyer, Lolly Grilli, Jerry O’Donnell, Stefani Ramberg and Lawrence A. Vassallo with pottery by Harold N. Schaeffer.

30th Street, Lolly Grilli @ Deptford Municipal Building.

Autumn on Berkley Road, Lolly Grilli, pastel.

Lawrence A. Vassallo @ Galleria Deptford.

Elfreth’s Alley, John Echtermeyer, pen & ink @ Galleria Deptford.

Pottery by Harold N. Schaeffer @ Galleria Deptford, Deptford Municipal Building.

The current exhibit is on display for a few more days to be followed by the Annual Photography Exhibit; DoN is proud and honored to be included in the show since Deptford is his home town.  Alden Cole, an art star of the fabulous Philadelphia Dumpster Divers, is displaying his Night Lights for Adults in the cabinet outside of the court room.  Pauline saw DoN’s art at Alden’s gallery/museum/studio - you can imagine his surprise when he was offered a place in the show and discovered the venue is where he graduated high school in 1971 with an award for “Most Artistic“!  The opening reception is Sunday, December 6th, 2 - 4:00 PM.

Amy Schmidt, Toy Soldier @ Area 919, 919 North 5th Street, a survey of the past year of exhibitions.  From a distance the content of this image is clear, a young masked rebel with a gun but up close - break me off a toy soldier.  The collage is a huge collection of tiny war toys: plastic soldiers, tanks, planes, bugs, dolls, animals…the subtext is powerful in what Amy Potsic called “the political room”.

The art work collected in the newly refurbished back gallery is all politically motivated from TODT’s, Camera (an old camera with a fetus trapped inside created in 1980, still relevant considering the current debate concerning abortion), to Abby Schmidt’s Tank (encaustic made from melted crayons on a light box depicting children looking back at an approaching tank) to Potsic’s own photographs commenting on Chinese oppression of it’s people.  DoN likes arguing about difficult art and this show really pissed him off.

Abby Schmidt, Fossil Fooled @ Area 919.  This piece is not so easily read but it’s all plastic dinosaurs - plastic is made from oil, oil is made from dinosaurs, dinosaurs are dead.

Abby Schmidt, Jessica, melted crayons on light box.  Schmidt mixes her own colors by melting crayons together to create “flesh” tones creating a new take on everlasting encaustic.  The subject is fat babies being fed, the look in their eyes is frantic, as if they know they’ve already eaten too much - Mom, please stop!

Abby Schmidt, Jessica, melted crayons.  There are three of these big baby portraits hanging together, heroic in size, extreme close-ups of glowing skin shines with the light of “health” - a strong condemnation of America’s obsession with food and never-ending quest for satisfaction.

Amy Potsic, Made in China - Female Adoption, Made in China - One Child Limit, Made in China - Reproductive Rights & Made in China - Population Control, archival pigment print, each 24″ x 48″.

Amy Potsic, Made in China - Exile, archival pigment print.  Potsic’s Made in China series is based on traditional scrolls but are actually all shot around town.  Amy is a world traveler but came to the conclusion that Philly is a world class city and began shooting photographs as if she were in a foreign land.  The aspect ratio of the camera dictated the scroll design, the content is traditional appearing Chinese imagery but is actually trees found locally, each representing the four seasons, each photo dedicated to forms of Chinese oppression and how America kowtows to the huge market even though they are literally plowing down traditional villages to build high-rise apartment with no concern for preserving history or up-rooting villagers.  Hey, even Disneyland now has a franchise for Beijing.  The photographs are luxurious and rich with crisp detail, saturated color and beautiful composition, if you did not know how angry Amy is about religious oppression in Tibet you would think these were an homage instead of condemnation.

Mark Khaisman, packing tape on light box @ Area 919.

Mark Khaisman uses tape to create “drawings” of Baroque and Rococo furniture found in Sotheby catalogs.  The furniture is, of course, for rich people only and if you actually owned it you would never sit in it or write on it, you would probably put a velvet rope around it - that’s what makes Khaisman’s drawings use of lowly plastic tape so appealing and intriguing.  A former stained glass artist, Mark confidently twists and folds the tape into curvy lines, layering tape to create density and depth, transforming something so cheap into something precious and desirable.

TODT is an artist collective that have been working together (more or less) for 30 years, even though the member artists have individual names, they prefer to be known only as TODT.  The group is primarily interested in the future and science, the above piece was developed in the early 80s, before computers, using a light-box they found on the street, the Marilyn is also a found object, the combination is truly prescient considering the current “green” trend, the use of electronics and light and mixed metaphor collage, très au courant yet timeless.  TODT’s resume includes the Whitney Biennial, the Venice Biennial, and many gallery & museum shows going back to 1979.

TODT, Eye Tower @ Area 919.  This light sculpture was created for a gallery who fronted the funds to develop over a dozen pieces but the gallerist took off with nine of them, luckily several were saved along with material to make more.  The staring eyeballs signaled the oncoming onslaught of oppressive mass surveillance of hidden watchmen cataloging our every move from trafffic lights to toll booths; a local real estate mangement office even has a camera just in case renters get pissed off and don’t pay up.

13 Months has plenty more to see with photos by John Rosser, furniture by Luis Montoya, Anthony Angelicola, Mike Parsell & Daniel Petraitis plus antiques and objects of desire.  In just 13 months, Area 919 has established itself as an art force to be reckoned with.