Category Archives: Beauty Shop Cafe

20th Street Art Scene – studio christensen, Prelude Gallery and Beauty Shop Cafe

Matthew Ostroff @ Studio Christensen

Matthew Ostroff @ studio christensen

Matthew Ostroff @ Studio Christensen

Matthew Ostroff @ studio christensen

Matthew Ostroff is like a graffiti artist using wheat paste and torn paper the way a tagger over-writes earlier tags.  But Ostroff doesn’t deface property, he confines his low-fi technique of pasting painted colored paper onto a painting background then tearing away the paper like old posters shredded on a South Street Wall.  The deep layers of color, intense saturation and feeling of the hand emanates from the surface in perfect abstract expressionism.   Curator Jt Christensen is an interior architect who has transformed the old storefront at 333 South Twentieth St. Philadelphia into a hip, aspirational showcase for art, furniture and chic urban style.  The Ostroff show with big, bold contemporary art pairs with the modern and mid 20th Century classic furniture in a hip, clean living space vibe gallery, emblematic of the changes taking place along 20th Street, offering a street view tableau of cool desirable furnishings.

Brian Lauer @ Studio Christensen

Brian Lauer @ studio christensen

Brian Lauer was the featured artist at studio christensen for June but Jt decided to keep many of them because they just look so damn good.  DoN noticed them while we discussed Ostroff’s work and thought they were paintings, from the street they read as paintings but on closer inspection the detail emerges from the color and a photograph coalesces.  The photo above is Jesus being made up as a Zombie at Tattooed Mom’s on South Street, the chiaroscuro of light across Jesus’ wounds is like a Rubens.  The photo below are guys standing along the river in Camden but feels like some Nordic outpost with sad characters staring to sea but it’s just folks enjoying the view of a blizzard on the Delaware River.

Brian Lauer @ Studio Christensen

Brian Lauer @ studio christensen

Anna Shukeylo @ Prelude Gallery

Anna Shukeylo @ Prelude Gallery

Prelude Gallery is dedicated to promoting emerging artists in a gallery setting.  DoN talked with Creative Director Gaby Heit about their mission and she explained how the gallery is collaborating with art schools to help under-grad and master level artists have opportunities to get their work seen.  Heit said the neighborhood has been very welcoming, the gallery a perfect addition to the hip restaurants, salons and shops – Pamcakes is their neighbor, Yum!  July 1st was Prelude Gallery’s soft opening but look for new work for the Second Friday art crawl on August 12th.

Kyle Deal @ Prelude Gallery

Kyle Deal @ Prelude Gallery

Christopher Enty @ Prelude Gallery

Christopher Enty @ Prelude Gallery

Gaby asked DoN what his favorite paintings are, a tough question since it was his first visit but Christopher Enty’s portraits of urban youth stand out with a rough beauty that is almost brutal.  The characters in Enty’s paintings express the self consciousness of youth in a socially networked society where a profile is suddenly important, revitalizing the significance of portraiture; Heit confided in DoN she felt Christopher Enty is Prelude Gallery’s Soutine.

Benjamin Gonzales @ Prelude Gallery

Benjamin Gonzales @ Prelude Gallery

Gaby Heit expressed to DoN she thought the revitalization of the 20th Street Corridor was coming from the North, the Rittenhouse Square district, but DoN explained how the Beauty Shop Cafe staked out the corner of 20th and Fitzwater Streets when there were still gangs hanging on the corner.  And now students and young professionals make the trek to Center City from GHo all the way from Washington Avenue and get their morning coffee at the corner cafe.  Art shows were part of the Beauty Shop Cafe plan from the beginning and the current show is really good.

Caitlin Beattie @ Beauty Shop Cafe

Caitlin Beattie @ Beauty Shop Cafe

Caitlin Beattie is an emerging artist photographer, this is her first art show.  It is so gratifying to know that artists have showcases like The Beauty Shop, Prelude Gallery and studio christensen to exhibit their work where it can really be seen by a lot of people but it makes the neighborhood so much more vibrant, intellectual and welcoming, too.

Sabik @ Beauty Shop Cafe

Sabik @ Beauty Shop Cafe

Dreamcatcher, NFS

Beauty Shop Cafe

Beauty Shop Cafe

Beauty Shop Cafe

Beauty Shop Cafe

Jewelry and etchings by Kenzie Gemz.  The Beauty Shop looks like an old library or museum with terrariums, collections and photos creating a vibe of a secret society meeting room.  As the GHo neighborhood transforms with modern new houses wedging between old row-homes, young families with strollers, hipsters with porkpie hats and folks who have long lived in the neighborhood are now enjoying a renaissance of sorts along 20th Street helping to delineate a terrific art crawl up 20th, across Walnut Street to Sande Webster, down 22nd Street to Twenty-Two Gallery and on to 21st & Pine and the fabulous Gallery 339.  Second Friday, now a Center City West tradition, is August 12th.

 

Photos by DoN

Niki Bombshell – More, More, More…

Niki Bombshell @ The Beauty Shop Cafe

DoN had the opportunity to interview artist Niki Bombshell and learned she’s a neighbor!  You never know.  Bombshell is a graduate of Moore College of Art & Design  and is not only a fine artist/illustrator & designer, she is also a curator producing exhibits for James Oliver Gallery, SAGE Projects Gallery & Salsita Studio.  DoN also learned Niki prefers to use found objects and recycled materials to produce her work, unless someone provides her with a canvas to paint.

The party @ Salsita on South Street sounds like it’ll be a blast!  Attached is Niki’s resume.

Niki Bombshell Resume

Niki Bombshell Artist Statement

Claire Alta Elliott – New Works @ The Beauty Shop Cafe

Claire Alta Elliot

Claire Alta Elliott‘s one person show at the Beauty Shop Cafe is like a trip to the woods with drippy, trippy oils painted thick and loose into verdant landscapes which pop beautifully off the new citrus colored walls of the popular coffee shop.  The big windows really sell the art as you stroll by or drive down Fitzwater Street; The Beauty Shop just celebrated their 2nd anniversary, offering a great opportunity for many local artists to have an art show of their own.

Claire Alta Elliot

Claire Alta Elliott is a blogger, too – the painter likes spreading her imagery over the Internet, tracking her progress in a disciplined yet cheery manner.  Recently, DoN was discussing how American it is to be a multimedia artist with Dexiang Qian, former director of The Fine Arts Academy of Guangzhou – he was surprised at how many artists work in a wide spectrum of media from drawing and painting to photography and web design.  Qian explained, via his translator, that in China and many other countries that art is a discipline dedicated to a particular media like painting.  Claire Alta Elliott epitomizes the fresh, new, young generation of American artist, armed with a plan, a path, the savvy, attitude and talent to be recognized as a fine artist and taste-maker.  Surprisingly, this is Elliott’s first show considering the sophistication and depth of the art; thanks to The Beauty Shop Cafe for continuing to promote exciting new talent.

Happy New Year !!!

2008 has been a big year for DoN: co-chair of the Absolutely Abstract committee at The Philadelphia Sketch Club, membership in the Plastic Club and the Da Vinci Art Alliancepaintings, drawings and photos included in shows at Off the Wall Gallery @ Dirty Franks and First Impressions in Salem NJ, a one-person show at The Beauty Shop Cafe, produced videos for Paul DuSold, Henry Martin and the Philadelphia Sketch Club, DoNArTNeWs is part of Culture Pundits and a successful open studio as part of Philadelphia Open Studio Tours.  

DoN Brewer

DoN with his grand-niece Jaelyn in Florida for the holidays. 

DoN has made so many new friends in the art world and is grateful to all who have supported his artistic ambitions.  A new member to DoN‘s family along with Katy the ArT DoG is Doofie the Saint Bernard/Chihuahua mix who came to live with us because GadFly left our plane of existence to pester angels in the afterworld.  It was a difficult decision made quickly to include such a large animal in a tiny row house but Doof has brought so much love and affection to Katy and DoN that all the dog hair is worth it.  In these tough economic times it’s so important to help rescue animals from shelters; KaTy the ArT DoG is a rescue and the love she shares and the protection and safety DoN feels in her company is worth any price.Thanks and LoVe to Shoshana, Aldy, lola, Dee, John, David Foss, Barbara Murray, Mike Guinn, Lilliana Didovic, Karl Olsen, Anders Hansen, Mina Smith-Segal, everyone @ Center for Emerging Visual Artists, Helen & Joe, Debbie, and many others including my family who have whole-heartedly supported DoN throughout the year.

Peace & LoVe

DoN 

Hobo Orona @ The Beauty Shop Cafe

The Beauty Shop Café consistently displays forward thinking art, curator Jon has transformed this formerly dingy corner to a really nice hangout for locals.  The recent art opening for hobo orona, two art girls going to PAFA, each with their own distinct point of view, is quirky and deep.  The happening was fun and thoughtful, bringing out friends and neighbors to hear a local musician (whose name escapes me – I’ll get it soon.) The journals by Jamie with the repurposed book covers with lovely papers inside are cleverly displayed.  Her mom told me how a potential customer asked her to create wedding invitations from the pages of a love story, sadly the project was too big but is a wonderful meme.  The drawings and collages by Tate O are clever and thoughtful.

beauty shop

Jamie’s journals with repurposed book covers. 

beauty shop 2 

 

beauty shop 3

Paper cutout with collage – cool. 

beauty shop 4 

Art party @ The Beauty Shop Cafe for “hobo orona”.