Bruce Gast @ The Dumpster Divers Gallery on South Street.
Like some alien tribal mask collection, Bruce Gast’s found object constructions tell the story of an art collector from a galaxy far, far away who loves to capture and mount the heads of his trophies from space safaris. Each piece has a personality from another dimension, tapping into race memory and cell consciousness like some wacko Venus of Willendorf on a moon of Jupiter.
Alden Cole @ Galleria Deptford - Deptford Municipal Building, 1011 Cooper Street, Woodbury NJ.
While Alden installed his fantastical display of luminaries he was constantly stopped by the flow of visitors to the lobby of the Deptford Municipal Building, everyone wants to know what they are or they have a story about one of the components or their grandmother had a lamp just like that. Cole takes memories, shakes them up in his mind, recombining the pieces into objects with the logic of dreams; people are drawn to the glowing objects, filled with little stories, overflowing with light and love. And people are drawn towards him to find out how he figures this out and if he wants their grandmothers old lamps or why didn’t they think of that? Alden has a story for each luminary and a moment for each admirer.
Stars Stairway, in Alden Cole’s gallery/studio in South Philly.
Starlings Under Glass #4, oil on glass, Alden Cole @ The Plastic Club, Red White & Green Show.
Memento Mori #1, marker, Alden Cole @ Conscious World of Art. Alden is influenced by Nicholas Roerich and Mati Klarwein - Roerich was the first artist to win a Nobel Peace Prize and Klarwein created the famous Santana album cover. Alden Cole’s art brings people together, his art works the room like a good conversation, creating a buzz, upping the voltage with voodoo god-heads & peaceful warriors. Alden’s Starlings series taps into a deeply seated symbol pattern recognition with his sprightly characters playing out human emotions and exhibitionism in a playful accessible way. James Warhola just acquired one of Alden Cole’s pieces at the Da Vinci Art Alliance’s current show.
Starlings #2 & Delicious, shown here @ The Plastic Club, now available @ Dumpster Divers Gallery, 734 South Street. Don’t worry, be happy. Alden Cole currently has work available at the Deptford Municipal BuildingGalleria Deptford (psst…really great prices, big selection), The Plastic Club’s Red, White & Green show, the Da Vinci Art Alliance Under $200, SOTA on Pine Street, Home & Planet in Bethlehem, the Dumpster Divers Gallery on South Street and @ The Conscious World Art of Alden Cole Gallery/Museum.
DoN LoVeS this photo with Alden Cole’s Light Beings and DoN’s “light being (Rick Selvin)” @ Galleria Deptford.
The Dumpster Divers “The Games We Played Remade” @ The Historic Smithville Mansion inhabiting the game rooms (the pool room & bowling alley) of the 1875 estate is a melange of mixed media, metaphors, memories and wishes. Alden Cole’s Chinese Checkers is delightfully addictive, Ellen Benson’s mixed media works are displayed with room to breath and absorb, Burnell Yow! squishes Barbie heads with badminton rackets - Super Fun!
Burnell Yow! @ “The Games We Played Remade” in The Historic Smithville Mansion.
The bowling alley of the historic space is a perfect venue for the show; The Games We Played Remade is exhibiting some of Philly & SJs best mixed media, green artists in a quirky theme seemlessly matched with a truly beautiful space (there’s a rose garden and a Moose head in the card room) is definitely worth the short drive on Route 38.
To all those who understand my obsession with the LightTro color changing bulb which I have been using for the past 4 years, both here at 717 Federal, and in many luminaries sold over the past 5 years - somewhere around 280 of those bulbs have passed through my hands since 2004, when Betsy introduced me to them - I am devastated. Phillips Color Kinetics, the maker of LightTro, DISCONTINUED making them (some time ago, as I found out this morning). And the distributor has only 36 left. I’m the second one in line for those last 36. And I have one unopened package left of these bulbs, up at the South Street Gallery. Auction time?
Oh well, end of an era in my output. Hold onto your bulbs. They can last a long long time. Seriously, it’s a shame that such a beautiful GREEN item should be discontinued. Perhaps it will nudge me out of the luminary business and back into painting. Those bulbs were as good as it gets in terms of night lighting. On to the next phase…
Betsy Alexander and Burnell Yow! of Ravenswing Studio are art collectors, their home is filled with beautiful objects of all kinds and even had a recent story about their eclectic decorating style in the Philadelphia Inquirer. The duo have recreated their art house at Salon des Amis in Malvern, asking all of their friends who have contributed to their collection to show new work in the gallery. Sunday was beautiful weather and a large gathering of their friends arrived at the gallery to find the space filled with work by more than 40 artists.
Luminary artist, Alden Cole @ Art House in Salon des Amis.
Linda Lou Horn @ Salon des Amis for the Art House opening in Malvern.
Philly photographer, Armond Scavo with his work at Salon des Amis. Scavo has just published a book of photographs of Rittenhouse Square, a favorite locale for artists to find inspiration, Through an Artists’ Eye - Philadelphia can be purchased from Scavo’s website.
Eileen Feigenbaum, “The Blue Lady”, oil on canvas.
DoN Brewer, “light being (Rick Selvin)”, digital photograph.
The art crowd for Betsy Alexander and Burnell Yow!’s Art House @ Salon des Amis in Malvern.
Thank you Betsy and Burnell, it’s already nice just being friends with you both but when you do something so special like this art show it re-enforces the bond even more. Salon des Amis means House of Friends - so apropos!
Peace sign made from shredded money @ Art x 7 @ 6th & South Streets, the exhibit is elegant and edgy with strange points of view and exaggerated reality. The gallery is part of the new South Street Renaissance, superb photos by Susan Arthur Whitson and Keith Sharp.
Kathryn Pannepacker @ The Philadelphia Dumpster Divers in Outsiders Folk Art. This piece includes woven paper matches, the kind you light cigs with; Pannepacker knows how to ignite a conversation, her peace/heart is ready to burst into flames.
The Philadelphia Dumpster Divers have overtaken Outsiders Folk Arts in the Goggleworks Center for the Arts, a major cultural hub of the Reading region. DoN saw families tumbling out the door after some sort of recital, there’s an art show of students who have taken classes in the center, there’s an enourmous wood shop that smells so good. The Goggleworks is a magnet for artists of all stripes finding access to a wide array of opportunities and is really cool space itself, packed with studios, galleries, show spaces and art. The Dumpster Divers are definitely grooving on the vibe of the place and have installed unique, quirky objects which will inspire many budding artists as well as attracting collectors, since Viener’s artistic eye is well respected.
George Viener is a collector of folk art, outsider art and self-taught art; even though the many of the Divers are professional artists in their own right, collectively the group has a simple basic principle of being creative with what’s on hand, art doesn’t have to be expensive to make and rescueing lost objects ala Marcel DuChamp is de riguer. DoN thinks that counts as self-taught, it’s new, unfiltered raw ideas bubbling to the surface; Dada.
Len Davidson, Queen of the Gnomes, @ Outsider Folk Arts in Reading, PA.
Author and art-marketing consultant Alyson B. Stanfield, of ArtBizCoach.com, focuses on sharing the artwork directly with potential buyers through electronic and traditional communication outlets—in a manner that is comfortable, not artificial. Artists match Internet marketing strategies with sincere personal skills to take charge of their art careers.
The book includes online worksheets and downloads.
