Category Archives: Philadelphia Abstract Art

Non-representational art in all media including drawing, painting, photography, sculpture, prints, video, on-line, writing, etc.

Bohyun Yoon: Embody @ Center for Emerging Visual Artists on Rittenhouse Square

Bohyun Yoon: Embody @ Center for Emerging Visual Artists on Rittenhouse Square

Bohyun Yoon has created an experience design in the chic art gallery in the Barclay Building, every surface of the gallery is activated with a confounding display of intellectual design, superb craftsmanship, historical references and anthropomorphic symbolism vibrating in unison like a strum on a guitar.  Every nuance is considered as the exploded little bodies, each element hand crafted from custom molds, coalesce as shadows of babies cast by a single bright white light bulb on the walls.  But, when the light bulb begins making a circular motion, the tiny doll parts swinging with air movement, the whole room suddenly becomes a dream scape of dancing babies, inducing a startling sensation of floating.

Bohyun Yoon: Embody @ Center for Emerging Visual Artists on Rittenhouse Square

On the right is the artist, Bohyun Yoon.  Yoon decided to create each doll part mold because he didn’t want to violate copyrights, he told DoN the process took more than 5 months.  Each carefully crafted element of the installation is suspended in a way that the sum of the parts creates a whole experience design, Yoon told DoN he wished to,”…create a dialog not a monolog.”

Bohyun Yoon: Embody @ Center for Emerging Visual Artists on Rittenhouse Square

Yoon created these mirror masks to help him learn English by seeing all parts of the face he was listening to; the face recognition technology in DoN‘s camera went wacko.   Bohyun Yoon is an art professor at Tyler, is a glass artist (the water filled glass bowl hat and accompanying video is idiosyncratic to the extreme), a video artist and photographer; Amie Potsic explained to DoN that Bohyun Yoon, “is smart and resourceful in his use of materials.”

Bohyun Yoon: Embody @ Center for Emerging Visual Artists on Rittenhouse Square

Buhyun Yoon, Reforming, 9 channel video with sound, 4 minutes, dimensions variable @ Center for Emerging Visual Artists in the Barclay Building on Philadelphia’s beautiful Rittenhouse Square.  This Friday, 4/15/11, is the Center City District art crawl, the perfect opportunity to experience Bohyun Yoon: Embody.

 

Photos by DoN.

 

DoNArTNeWs – How to Overcome Creative Block? Go To The Plastic Club

DoNArTNeWs began as an e-mail newsletter to a list of Philadelphia artists as suggested in the book “I’d Rather Be In The Studio“.  The big idea is to make an art date with yourself, visit a gallery or museum, talk to people, learn new things and gradually the block will lift and the fear of a blank canvas or page will fade to tolerable levels.  The book was originally suggested by friends, a group of guys (fellow artists) interested in improving their visibility in the art work through social networking.  The newsletter is a great idea but labor intensive so DoNArTNeWs gradually evolved into this blog – a review of art dates DoN (my third party voice) makes with himself, quickly Photoshopped and posted (along with constant insertions of shameless self-promotion), even though the small art alliance has drifted apart (one guy is re-covering from a torn rotator cuff, another has a neurological problem currently under control and the third is experiencing arthritis – sheesh!).  Since 2008 DoNArTNeWs has become a source of good art news in Philly.  So, when DoN‘s voice became quieted due to the bodily invasion of an alien virus combined with long time chronic illness and the subsequent space-time morphing from a combination of OTC cold meds and biological disease modifying drugs, DoN is re-discovering the purpose of DoNArTNeWs and why the world around him has turned into a Philip K. Dick novel?  Disaster porn, fever dreams, waking up in a different universe with each dose of medicine has transmogrified into lack of productivity and a deep well of discontent to climb out of.

Tom L. Torosian @ The Plastic Club

Underground Man, Apollo, & Meditation, Tom L. Torosian @ The Plastic Club through April 2011.

DoN realizes artists have come to rely on this blog for information, links and resources and is making every effort to regain his footing in the shifting art landscape and find his voice again.  DoN has received many well wishes but a recent comment on Facebook thanking him for a mention in this blog sparked some energy to keep pushing on.  Sunday DoN visited the Plastic Club which is filled with art, enthusiasm and creative spirit; the main floor is a boldly abstract expressionist solo show by Philadelphia painter, Tom L. Torosian, the upstairs studio is a group show of moving model studies with some spectacular drawings and mixed media and the Downstairs Gallery is a group member show including Leroy Forney, Charles Kelly, Yeoun Lee, Bill Myers and Sibylle-Maria Pfaffenbichler.  Torosian’s reception wasn’t until the evening so most of us gravitated downstairs with a lovely lunch spread out by Plastic Club president Bob Jackson who obviously is in love with the club’s professional grade range.  Sitting and talking, munching ham sandwiches with a group of friends about art and culture in an historic space is a healing exercise in itself.

Tom L. Torosian @ The Plastic Club

Relationships & Reflection, Tom L TorosianArt is Happening Again @ The Plastic Club.

Tom L. Torosian @ The Plastic Club

Conjunction and Three Boats, Tom L. Torosian @ The Plastic Club.  Torosian’s bold neo-expressionist paintings ferment in his mind then explode from his hand onto the canvas, the expansive show of abstractions energizes and activates the gallery with a clear vision of how art can make one man happy with his life.

Sibylle-Maria Pfaffenbichler @ The Plastic Club

Sibylle-Maria Pfaffenbichler in the Moving Model Workshop show – a group show of drawings composed while the model slowly changes poses over time.  The practice helps Sibylle infuse action into her paintings of dancers which have earned her acclaim and awards.  Pfaffenbichler has a group of paintings in the Downstairs Gallery and won 3rd place for the Philadelphia Sketch Club‘s Small Oils exhibit; DoN saw a preview of the Small Oils show before jurying at the invitation of PSC president Bill Patterson and Sibylle-Maria Pfaffenbichler’s fancy dancers stood apart from the hundreds of excellent contenders for the show, it was no surprise to DoN she won a prize.

Moving Models @ The Plastic Club

Moving Model @ The Plastic Club.

Chick Kelly Plastic Club

Charles “Chick” Kelly @ The Plastic Club’s Downstairs Gallery.

Chick Kelly Plastic Club

Charles “Chick” Kelly with his paintings in the Downstairs Gallery @ The Plastic Club.  What a gentleman?  Chick’s self deprecating wit and fearless paintings of himself reveal an authenticity and genuineness of character.

Yeoun Lee @ The Plastic Club Downstairs Gallery

Yeoun Lee @ The Plastic Club Downstairs Gallery.

Bill Myers Plastic Club

Bill Myers @ The Plastic Club’s Downstairs Gallery.  Myers clever surrealistic Photoshop collages are deceivingly simple, the piece on the left is a collage of a graffiti photo with the heart bear layered in and “everyone bleeds now” text extracted from a clandestine shot of someone’s T-shirt design when combined morph into a love story with bleeding hearts, memes and symbols resonating like an orchestra of tin cans in a bag.

Bill Myers, Leroy Fornat & Chick Kelly @ The Plastic Club Downstairs Gallery.

Bill Myers, Leroy Forney & Chick Kelly @ The Plastic Club Downstairs Gallery.

Photos by DoN.

Downstairs Gallery @ The Plastic Club – DoN Brewer, Burton Greenspan, Cara Kendric, Mervyn Kline & Diane Podolsky

Downstairs Gallery @ The Plastic Club - DoN Brewer,  Burton Greenspan, Cara Kendric, Mervyn Kline & Diane Podolsky

Downstairs Gallery @ The Plastic ClubDoN Brewer,  Burton Greenspan, Cara Kendric, Mervyn Kline & Diane Podolsky.  Downstairs at the Plastic club is a gallery, print shop and kitchen carved out of a once junk filled basement, now a chic venue to show art and meet with friends and peers.  Even though the names are drawn from a hat, look at the well established artists DoN is associated with in this collection, it’s humbling to be included in the same sentence let alone show in the same space with artists Greenspan, Kendric, Kline and Podolsky.

Downstairs Gallery @ The Plastic Club - DoN Brewer,  Burton Greenspan, Cara Kendric, Mervyn Kline & Diane Podolsky

Burton Greenspan, Sun Lee, oil, DoN Brewer, light being (Joey Ramone), digital photograph, Diane Podolsky, Star Gazer, multicolor reduction linocut and Another Part of Town, collograph/watercolor in the Downstairs Gallery @ The Plastic Club.

Downstairs Gallery @ The Plastic Club - DoN Brewer,  Burton Greenspan, Cara Kendric, Mervyn Kline & Diane Podolsky

Diane Podolsky, The Cat, oil stick and Burton Greenspan, Gilda, oil in The Downstairs Gallery @ The Plastic Club.

Downstairs Gallery @ The Plastic Club - DoN Brewer,  Burton Greenspan, Cara Kendric, Mervyn Kline & Diane Podolsky

Mervyn Kline @ The Down Stairs Gallery in the Plastic Club.

Downstairs Gallery @ The Plastic Club - DoN Brewer,  Burton Greenspan, Cara Kendric, Mervyn Kline & Diane Podolsky

DoN Brewer, light beings, digital photographs @ The Downstairs Gallery @ The Plastic Club.  The opportunity to exhibit in  one of America’s oldest art clubs is a tremendous honor; with the luck of the draw, DoN was able to assemble some of his favorite images in a representative selection of his “light being” theme of reflected light on urban surfaces titled after friends and family who have transmogrified into spirits traversing the universe as beams of light.  DoN‘s Grandma would be so proud.

 

Photos by DoN.

Jed Williams Studio

Jed Williams Studio, Philadelphia PA

Jed Williams

615 Bainbridge Street, Philadelphia, Pa, USA, Earth, Milky Way Galaxy, Thursdays & Fridays 5 – 7:00 PM &  Sundays 1 – 3:00 PM, also by appointment.

Jed Williams paintings poetically explore the inner world of symbols, memes & icons tapping into ancient mysteries and futuristic fears with Academy trained skill and worldly experience.  Located near the hip strip of clubs, galleries and restaurants along the East end of Bainbridge Street, Jed Williams Studio is incorporating marketing into his art business plan with monthly openings, group shows and special offers.  Jed is offering fairly priced prints, combo packages and try it, then buy it plans; business is often the Achilles Heel of being an artist, seeing Jed take on the juggling act of creating, marketing and curating his own gallery is a model of determination and confidence.

Jed Williams Studio, Philadelphia PA

Drive My Car, oil & acrylic on canvas @ Jed Williams Studio, Philadelphia PA.

Jed Williams Studio, Philadelphia PA

Jed Williams Studio

The Lock is the Key, acrylic & mixed medium on paper and a new untitled work.  Jed Williams is experimenting in 3D with a mash-up of found art and his unique pops of color and shine; Jed often imbues his paintings with glittery plastics, liquidy mylar and shiny mesh enhancing the experience of bold color vibrating the space within the canvas.  Transportation images are a recurring theme and the new sculpture/painting has a skate punk vibe.  Cars appear often in Williams paintings, the freedom and extension of will a car provides is a theme many can resonate with, to be able to just get away from it all, hit the road with a full tank of gas and a clear windshield is the ultimate luxury.

Jed Williams Studio, Philadelphia PA

Jed Williams Studio, Philadelphia PA.

 

Photos by DoN

Plastic Club’s small Worlds 2011, Huge Art Show of Little Works of Art on the Avenue of the Artists

Plastic Club’s small Worlds 2011, Huge Art Show of Little Works of Art on the Avenue of the Artists

Plastic Club’s small Worlds 2011.

Paige Ozaroski, Closer Look, photograph, Gaby Heit, Morning, Sugar, watercolor.  246 works are included in the blockbuster event, the Plastic Club continues to draw out the best of artists as they each join the competition for the prestigious awards – imagine what went through the mind of juror Murray Desener when he learned the task ahead of him, he did a fantastic job.

Nick Brown Plastic Club’s small Worlds 2011, Huge Art Show of Little Works of Art on the Avenue of the Arts

Nick Brown @ Plastic Club‘s small Worlds 2011.  Nick sketches from life on ceramic then scratches out relief for the glaze.  Caroline Maw-Dies, Woven Stoneware Basket, woven stoneware.

Mervyn Kline Plastic Club’s small Worlds 2011, Huge Art Show of Little Works of Art on the Avenue of the Arts

Mervyn Kline @ The Wanderer, print @ Plastic Club’s small Worlds 2011Mervyn & DoN are included in the show in the Downstairs Gallery @ The Plastic Club; Merv’s stylish renderings are retro futuristic with an ancient lost civilization vibe.  DoN will write a separate post about the show including Burton Greenspan, Diane Podolsky & Cara KendricDoN feels blessed to be included with such a fabulous group of fine artists, DoN has seven photos on display at the Plastic Club, a true honor.

Plastic Club’s small Worlds 2011, Huge Art Show of Little Works of Art on the Avenue of the Arts

Plastic Club‘s small Worlds 2011, 246 artworks are on display at the Plastic Club, each small world unique yet when grouped cohesive in a simplistic, natural way – the above tableau of monochromatic works with touches of color is curatorial excellence considering the blockbuster size of the exhibit.

Sylvia Schreiber Plastic Club’s small Worlds 2011, Huge Art Show of Little Works of Art on the Avenue of the Artistss

Sylvia Schreiber @ Plastic Club’s small Worlds 2011.  The actual drippy painting isn’t much bigger than the image on this page but packs a bold punch of color in person.

Don McPartland Plastic Club’s small Worlds 2011, Huge Art Show of Little Works of Art on the Avenue of the Arts

Don McPartland, Kicker Conspiracy, mixed media @Plastic Club’s small Worlds 2011; Don McPartland made a splash when he became a new member of the Plastic Club this year, 46 new artists, now capturing first prize with his soothingly complex confection, comfortably nestled in a niche in the dining room.

Plastic Club’s small Worlds 2011, Huge Art Show of Little Works of Art on the Avenue of the Artists

Plastic Club’s small Worlds 2011, click the thumbnail.

Plastic Club’s small Worlds 2011, Huge Art Show of Little Works of Art on the Avenue of the Artists

Sung Ham, Joo Hooy, oil, Mervyn Kline, Picasso Blues, digital print, Jen Tsui, Post Card, mixed media @ small Worlds 2011, The Plastic Club’s annual small art extravaganza.

Plastic Club’s small Worlds 2011, Huge Art Show of Little Works of Art on the Avenue of the Artists

Plastic Club’s small Worlds 2011, each nook and cranny holds a universe of small Worlds – Patricia Wilson-Schmid, Vortex, acrylic, Gail Zelikovsky, Landscape of Mars, silk painting, David DiDonato, Recycled Garden, acrylic, Lois Schlachter, Anxiety Dream, acrylic, Veronica Meekins, Nude Figure, pencil.

Phil Juska Plastic Club’s small Worlds 2011, Huge Art Show of Little Works of Art on the Avenue of the Artists

Phil Juska, Meatloaf at Gilleys, 2AM, construction @ Plastic Club’s small Worlds 2011

Plastic Club’s small Worlds 2011, Huge Art Show of Little Works of Art on the Avenue of the Artists

Caroline Maw-Deis, Put de Lime in de Coconut, fiber, Dorothy Roschen, Smoke-Made Landscape, smoke fired clay @ Plastic Club’s small Worlds 2011,  a huge art show of little works of art.

DoN is sad for Japan.  “Smile, even though your heart is breaking.”  With new eyes, look at the wonderful culture, community, vibrancy and beauty we are surrounded with every day and cherish each moment as if it could all be swept away in an instant.  “Life is still worth while, if you just smile.”