DoNArTNeWs

Now, this is 21st Century computer art!  The Decline uses information design, ontology, color, data, memes, motion graphics, iconography, memories, miseries - truly epic.

Su Tomesen’s extraordinary video installation, 40,000 Feet, in the Ice Box Gallery @ The Crane Arts Center has been extended through 11/29/09.  The multi-screen movie is a visual and sensory exploration of the sky as viewed from above, take time to visit the show which originally was to close yesterday due to the upcoming holiday.  Photos courtesy of Su Tomesen.

The Icebox @ Crane Arts Center in Fishtown is an enormous white, cavernous space with high walls and no columns, it actually used to be a huge refrigerator.  Now it’s one of the premier art spaces in Philadelphia and through 11/22 will be hosting “40,000 Feet” by Su Tomesen, five huge projections of clouds viewed from an airplane with mist drifting across the floor and the low hum of jets, bleeps and bloops of seat-belt signs and the grind of lowering landing gear.  The effect is that of the perfect flight, the magic of riding high in the sky finally restored without having to take off your shoes.

Su explained to DoN there are several variables: time, movement, imperfection and the human hand.  The movie is not perfect, it’s not shot with five movie cameras somehow suspended from the underside of a plane, it’s the same clip playing at five different intervals.  But the illusion of clouds drifting endlessly by is mesmerizing like flying on a magic carpet with the mist drifting through room creating a veil of mystery.  Tomesen is thrilled with the space, the show previously was exhibited in a restaurant in Amsterdam above a row of windows abbreviating some of the magic.

40,000 Feet time-warped DoN back to cloud-watching with Grandma, looking for animals and faces in the sky while lying on the ground, only this time the view is from Heaven.

There is an artist reception Wednesday, 11/18 @ Crane Arts, 1400 American Street.

Ashley Pigford & Troy Richards, Vanishing Point combines computer graphics, motion sensors and robotics in the Information Translated exhibit in the University of Delaware’s art department adjunct gallery in the Crane Arts Center curated by Anthony Vega.

Troy Richards, The Hoarders II - Information Translated @ Crane Arts Center.

The University of Delaware faculty exhibit, Information Translated, is a futuristic trip into an art world where video projectors follow the actors around the room on a robotic platform (a movie called Knock by Lance Winn & Toronto artist Simone Jones), Legos and computers work in conjunction with movement and sound to create an experience design and normal appearing prints reveal underlying messages as if a computer memory kernel has exploded.  The show restores DoN’s appreciation of how video can be incorporated into an art show without seeming like a knock-off of Warhol.  By utilizing off-the-shelf components combined into innovative new forms, the UD faculty have created an inspirational, aspirational show that is sure to trigger new neural pathways for UD art students.  The space is an adjunct gallery for University of Delaware artists to display their work away from campus in the heart of one of Philly’s vibrant, emerging art centers.  The downstairs space is especially exciting with several video/robot installations that excite the eye and confuse the senses.  Check out the UD website for a statement about the show, but really, this show has to be seen to be believed.

The LOVE- Armor project is a collaborative work describing the empathy felt for those existing in war torn Afghanistan and Iraq.  The Icebox is in the Crane Art Center @ 1400 North American Street. Read the whole story here.

Sho & DoN were both drawn into the craftsmanship and thought utilized in the Hummer cozy including J. Crew style pockets, buttons and closures; the pictures of an actual Hummer covered in the crocheted cover reads like putting a daisy in the barrel of a gun.  The space is divided in two with cloth banners separating the movie area documenting the creative process and collaboration involved in producing the huge piece and is an experience design in itself; the movie is heartening and hopeful considering the dire situation.  No more War.

Art critic, writer and poet Bob (R.B.) Strauss passed away January 13th, 2009.  Strauss was an enthusiastic supporter of the Philadelphia region art scene and was a presence at The Philadelphia Sketch Club, The Plastic Club, the Da Vinci Art Alliance and much more.  Bob’s wit and wisdom, cultured eye and edgy writing style will be missed by many area artists.

Members of the Breckenridge and Wagner families at the unveilng of the Historical Marker at the Philadelphia Sketch Club, the oldest art club in America.  The Breckenridge family donated an important painting of the family matriarch to the Philadelphia Sketch Club that was found folded up in the bottom of a trunk.  The painting has been meticulously restored by the prestigious Newman Gallery and is on display in the meeting room. 

Go to DoN’s YouTube page, DoNNieBeat, to see a short video clip of the evening.  It was really a fun night in West Philly; Shoshana and DoN dressed up and mingled with the crowd of artists while video projectors displayed examples of many of the POST artists works, an efficient way to honor the artists in the prestigious art museum.Last weekend was the West of Broad Street Philadelphia Open Studio Tours, DoN exhibited new drawings, photographs, paintings and video with a special display of NTPE 1 & 4 prints.  NTPE = Newstoday Print Exchange.  Newstoday, now QBN.com is a website dedicated to mostly multimedia and graphic designers who exchange ideas, chat and help each other.  The Friday Photoshop Battles are hysterical.  For NTPE, artists and designers send a print to people on a list and each then sends one to you. DoN participated in the first event and the most recent, fourth, exchange.  NTPE is a wonderful experiment in trust, commitment, ingenuity and style with each artist doing their best to impress even the most jaded fellow designer.