DoNArTNeWs

Seven Dishsoaps, Peter Seidel @ Da Vinci Art Alliance, 7th & Catharine Streets in South Philly.   Peter Seidel won the Da Vinci Art Alliance Gold Medal for his superb painting.

DoN Brewer, Heptagon, photoshop.  DoN was honored to be on the jury committee to select the medal winners, which also freed him to produce whatever he wanted for the show.  Seven will be shown at The Noyes Museum annex in Hammonton, NJ this Fall.

Lois Allen Charles, Seven Waterlillies and Lilliana Didovic, Seven Elephants @ Seven, the current member exhibition at Da Vinci Art Alliance has a wide interpretation of the symbolism of the number seven, yet the discussion around the sign went on long after the show was installed.  The DVAA exhibitions committee really tapped into a concept the members could grok.

Anna Vosburgh, Hope 1 @ Da Vinci Art Alliance - Anna is not only a great painter, she’s a blogger!

Alden Cole , Burning Man, oil on canvas.

Photo courtesy of the artist.

Alden Cole completed his series of self portraits portraying the Seven Deadly Sins, the first three sins are included in a painting Cole produced for DVAA’s Henry IV, Part 1 @ The Lantern Theater Company’s Black Box Gallery.  These two panels, though, are more explosively emotional, brashly colorful and deeply introspective; Alden acts for the camera then paints the facial expressions with light, color fields and texture as if he’s looking deep into your being, reflecting back the many faces of sin.

Karen McDonell & Anthony Cortosi

7 screens, 7 colors, 7 minutes - cool.

Anna Vosburgh & Lilliana Didovic @ Seven in the Da Vinci Art Alliance Gallery, Summer 2010.

Photos by DoNBrewerPhotography.

DoN Brewer, Seven, Photoshop.

Seven Prospectus

Seven, a Da Vinci Art Alliance Members Exhibition @ Da Vinci Art Alliance opens 7/10/10, the annual fundraiser is 7/17/10

Seven @ Da Vinci Art Alliance - 2010 Annual Fundraiser

Da Vinci Art Alliance presents 79th Anniversary Fundraiser, July 17th, 2010.

215-829-0466

REMINDER TO ALL DA VINCI ARTISTS:

Our annual members show in July is on the theme of Seven; there is no entry fee for submissions, all work will be included, per rules on attached prospectus.  The exhibition will travel to The Noyes Museum of Art in October!

CALENDAR FOR JULY MEMBERS SHOW:

Delivery of labeled art work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . June 27, 2010, 5-7 pm & July 7, 6-8pm

Installation of show. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . July 8, beginning at 11 am  

Opening Reception and Awards Presentation . . . . . . . . . July 10, 6-9pm

Lecture* and Closing Reception. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . July 25, 1-4 pm

Pick-up of unsold art work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . July 25, 4-6 pm & July 26, 5-7 pm

*The PPT lecture on “Depictions of the 7 Deadly Sins in Northern European Art of the 15th-17th Centuries” will be presented by Da Vinci President Deb Miller, supported by a grant from the Pennsylvania Humanities Council. 

All events are free and open to the public.  Please plan to attend, and to invite guests!

Susan Barnes, North End Dunes, oil.

The Annual Members Exhibition of the Philadelphia Sketch Club at Newman Galleries on Walnut Street is a wonderful introduction to the many fine artists who belong to America’s oldest art club.  The swirly mix of styles, techniques and ideas is evocative of the Philly art community in microcosm; the mezzanine and third floor gallery holds a heady mix of contemporary art by masters, newbies, wannabes of all ages celebrating the first decade of the 21st Century.

Edna Santiago, Museum Stroll, acrylic on plexiglass.

 Garth Herrick, Red Barn, 11:00 AM at Beaver Farm and Donald Meyer, Study (Structure) Hosta Series, egg tempera.

Linda Townshend, Holstein, oil on canvas.

Karen McDonnell, Wisdom, mixed media.  Karen  e-mails DoN phone pics of stickers of this little guy in public spaces, her contribution to the Philly art scene by introducing graffiti style into the mix of traditional media is like when photography put it’s foot in the door.  The silver spray paint gives a glamorous luster to the surface of the canvas as if dressed up for the special day when all the artists show their best work.

The 2010 Members Exhibition of The Philadelphia Sketch Club @ Newman Galleries with 156 works by as many Philadelphia area fine artists runs through 6/9/2010.

Photos by DoNBrewerPhotography.

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.

Jessica Barber, Bonifacio, monotype/oil pastels @ Gallery Twenty-Two’s Making An Impression show featuring prints by Jessica Barber & Alison Altergott.  Prints is a bit of a misnomer in this show, both artists use printing as part of their process but expand the barriers into writing, drawing, collage and painting.  DoN LoVeS this print which looks very much like a Star Trek Ferengi.

DoN asked Jessica if she created this piece in Madrid because it feels so immediate and plein air, as if she set up her plates & inks right there in the cafe.  Actually the artist worked from a photo she took while on a trip to Alice’s annual painting retreat in Majorca with friends from the Plastic Club.  Jessica said club president, Bob Jackson allowed her to work late at night in the wonderful print shop “down stairs”, allowing her to create these rich, saturated images which she had framed at Liberty Art & Framing with non-glare glass.  Immediacy, tension and vitality exude from the paper with a fresh, active style only the rigorous lithograph process produces.

Jessica Barber explained to DoN she uses a new non-toxic form lithographic process using plastic sheets which the artist applies different resists for the ink, Jessica used non-conventional mark-making tools to develop her images including Sharpies, she said, “ink loves the donor”.

Jessica Barber @ the opening of her collaborative show @ Gallery Twenty-Two.  Second Friday for people in cars was frustratingly frantic, west Center City traffic was snarled because of the snow and the South Street bridge being out but DoN walked, easily strolling past cars with “Bad Romance” blasting in his iPod; Jessica was stuck on a bus trying to get to her own opening, arriving safely - fashionably late!

Alison Altergott @ Twenty-Two Gallery.  DoN asked about the girls in Alison’s prints, old dress patterns from the 50s & 20s because of the resonance of the strong feminine ideal of the home-maker.  DoN thought a feminist home-maker is a contradiction in terms but Alison defended the mystique as a commentary on what we’ve lost compared to the way families live now.  Alison Altergott combines handwriting, collage, paint and printing to develop these densely signified images about the ideals of growing up.

Alison Altergott, Heartstrings, 1 of 2 prints @ Gallery Twenty-Two.

Photos by DoNBrewerMultimedia Photography.

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!

Judy Engle @ Da Vinci Art Alliance.  If Eileen Tognini says packing tape art is in - then DoN says listen to her!  If you can’t afford a Mark Khaisman before his packing tape drawings increase in value, then buy Engles layered clear tape collage @ Da Vinci Art Alliance for under $200.00 - in real life this small piece is 3D and deep, with layers and layers of tiny bits of color.  Another great steal-able idea.

Judy Engles, photograph.

DoN LoVeS how DVAA displays art - Judy Engle’s photo paired with DoN’s digital print is so elegant and thoughtful, the pieces really work together.  DoN was inspired to print “Autum Oak“, a digital photograph from a few years ago after seeing Amie Potsic’s tree photos @ Area 919 - the most expensive of DoN’s Under $200.00 entries is $129.00.

Lilliana Didovic, Alden Cole & Karl Johnson @ Da Vinci Art Alliance’s Under $200 show.  The DVAA always has such terrific, fun events, even though it was a snowy night, plenty of artists showed up to party - the board is to be commended on their careful attention to detail and making everyone comfortable and welcome.

Francine Strauss @ Da Vinci Art Alliance’s Under $200.00

Gerard Di Falco, etching @ Da Vinci Art Alliance.

Leon Rainbow @ DVAA - he not only produces these funky paintings, Rainbow provides web design services to the esteemed organization.  DoN is grateful for the publicity the links provide, the slide-show of member’s art on the website is cool.

Karen McDonnell & Tony Cortosi collaborate on these stencil & spray-paint images replete with peeling paint, drippy spray, coarse edges and mashed up cultural icons - the Carmen has such a skate punk sneer mixed with Hollywood glamor - Grrrl!.

 Karen McDonnell, Tony Cortosi & Ray Costello @ Da Vinci Art Alliance’s Under $200.00 opening party.

Photographer, Bill Myers @ Da Vinci Art Alliance.  Bill is also an active member of the Photographic Society of Philadelphia; Myers creates photo montage with clashing images mushed into contextual morphs - incredible.There are some really great art bargains for sale at the Da Vinci Art Alliance’s Under $200.00 show.  You can own a David Foss for $100, an Art Ostroff for a Benjamin or so…the Lee Muslin prints are gorgeous, an incredible Dexiang Qian for exactly $200.00!?!  The art show itself is amazing - all the participating members really put in memorable, desirable pieces and James Warhola signed his book Uncle Andy’s Cats;  he took a moment with each autograph to draw a kitty in the front pages and engaged everyone in a personal way - Warhola signed books for 3 hours!  He was still signing books when DoN left.

David Guinn & Jim Hinz, Hairy Chinese Landscape @ University City Arts League Gallery.

David Guinn & Jim Hinz both painted on the huge paper scroll simultaneously; according to Guinn the idea was to make a mess, not worry, not think about it or make it look good.  Working with big brushes they flowed with their stream of consciousness and let each other paint through and over each others contribution, fearlessly resulting in an abstract expressionist pan-cultural tour de force spanning an entire wall of the gallery.  Jim Hinz told DoN it’s rewarding to work with David Guinn because he’s so easy, willing to mix aesthetics, brings lots of collaborative enthusiasm and let him, “do whatever I wanted to do.”

Recovery, Psychedelic Birthday @ Facing the Void, works on paper @ University City Arts League Gallery, Jim Hinz & David Guinn.

Purple Sandpiper, David Guinn.  David is famous for his bird paintings whether you know it or not; as one of the most popular muralist in Philly he almost always includes birds in his wall paintings such as the Four Seasons series, the Morris Animal Refuge Mural and the dual mural @ 34th & Baltimore Streets.

Jim Hinz, Because You Have To Say It, digital print.

Jim Hinz, The Big Man, digital print from brush & ink on paper.

Mythical Mountain Fountain by David Guinn & Jim Hinz echoes the collaborative paintings the duo created including architectural elements, blobby swirls and real liquid dribbling wetly over the ceramic bowl as if one of their paintings materialized fully formed out of their imaginations.

Jim Hinz & David Guinn @ the opening of their collaborative exhibit, Meadowlark, @ University City Arts League.  The team worked well together because they made no mistakes, felt free to experiment and fail - a lesson we can all learn from.

 Ralph “Ren” Dillard, PAC, oil @ Smile Gallery curated by Lilliana Didovic.

Ren Dillard, Blue Smoke, oil.  Ren explained to DoN that he is finally finding his voice in painting, a spoken word artist (he has promised to perform at the show’s closing on 12/7), his art is about meditation, human commonality, promoting nationalism and personal pride.  Dillard’s work has a defined narrative concerning urban life and cultural icons but is also searching inward to find peace through meditation, introspection and transcendental non-judgmental.

Ralph “Ren” Dillard, We Are One, oil.  From hip-hop heroes like 2Pac to inner dream-scapes, Ren’s painting seems to be searching for truth, justice and the New American Way.  The trans-cultural tribalism of the city and the struggle to remain calm in the face of the storm is certainly reflected in the dichotomy between thug life and the art of living well.

 Ren Dillard, Ren’s Labyrinth, oil.

Vichaya “Win” Mukdamanee & Ralph “Ren” Dillard - Mysterious Lines @ Smile Gallery.  The tableau of two artists from opposite sides of the world bouncing ideas back and forth with the urban pop aesthetic of Ren’s paintings and the abstract expressionism of Win’s prints is a synopsis of contemporary culture.  Win’s bold, architectural black and white prints are a striking counterpoint to Ren’s wildly colorful meditations yet the conflicting styles reflect a youthful, modern perspective of the world.

Win Mukdamanee, City Element # 4, print 3 of 8.

Win Mukdamanee studied art at Suankularb Wittayalai School in Bangkok Thailand (with Smile Gallery’s owner, Ken Tutjamnong’s, former professor) and is now pursuing his Master’s degree at Pratt Institute in NYC.  Primarily a sculptor, Win’s prints certainly exude an architectonic flavor yet are painterly, vibrant and fluid.  Mukdamanee quickly applies ink in splashy yet controlled strokes on plastic film then runs in through a press on beautiful papers, then frames the resulting image in quiet white mats.

Vichaya “Win” Mukdamanee @ Smile Gallery, 22nd & Chestnut Streets.

Frankly, it was difficult for DoN to get good photos of Win’s work since the black under glass reflects back the photographer, all the more reason to visit Smile and contemplate the juxtaposition of styles which curator Lilliana Didovic has so capably displayed to both artists advantage.