Category Archives: Design

Design.

Crane Arts, CFEVA@PhotoWest, 10th St. Laundromat & The Beauty Shop

Thursday, DoN visited the Crane Contemporary Arts Center in Fishtown for Second Thursday; Nexus featured Rebecca Gilbert : Dirt Thirst and Virginia Batson: substance, sustenance, Kelly & Weber features Collect. Consume. Rebuild, paintings by Sean O’Neil, The Icebox has Semi, a juried exhibition of works by Tyler School of Art MFA students, Juror: Elizabeth Grady, The University of Delaware has MFA student show in The Triangle Space and Jessica Demcsak – The Crane Adjacent, presented by INLIQUID.COM. I know it sounds like a lot but DoN explored the whole space and has some favorites to share: Rebecca Gilbert at Nexus is showing imaginative prints which are delightful and probably the most accessible and salable art DoN viewed, featuring beautifully crafted small pieces which will enhance any art lovers collection (more about Gilbert later). Virginia Batson is showing some really DuChampian “drawings” using drips of salt water (sweat, tears?) on black paper, also lovely small papers with nubby surfaces and fine line work, again perfect art for contemporary interiors.

Work on paper by Virginia Batson @ Nexus.

Works on paper by Rebecca Gilbert @ Nexus.

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Beauty Shop, Autistic/Artistic, Bananas, Trans-gression…

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Thursday, Alden Cole and DoN drove to Bethlehem to drop off one of Alden’s fabulous luminaries at Home & Planet, an extraordinary art gallery featuring art created from recycled materials. The gallery was getting ready for First Friday, so we got to see a preview of the featured art which includes some really creative metal constructions by artists Ben and Kate Gatski and welder Lana Garner. Gatski’s installation includes works created for the garden as well as moo-valous steer heads, cows and giant flowers all made with found metal. Quite a-moo-sing.

Metal cow and flowers by Gatski @ Home and Planet.

Lana Garner creates signature cityscapes from steel dumpster doors, car hoods and drum barrels – a true dumpster diver. Gritty and bleak, the works portray the urban landscape with humor and inventiveness. Garner was a member of a women’s welding collective called Accoutrements and now lives in South Carolina where she has an old gas station for her studio and an old church renovated to be her home. DoN is fascinated with the scale and scope of these monumental works which are extremely heavy and required industrial strength mountings to hang in the gallery. DoNwas also pleased to see the Philly skyline portrayed in welded metal. Since Bethlehem used to be a steel town, the works by Gatski and Garner are particularly poingnant.

Cityscape on a car hood by Lana Garner @ Home and Planet.

Cityscape on dumpster door by Lana Garner with Alden Cole luminary (left) @ Home and Planet, Bethlehem, PA.

Detail from Lana Garner’s welded art on an old car hood.

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DoNArTNeWs – Sam Maitin, Touch, ArT CrAwL…

DoNArTNeWs – CFEVA, Stango, B Squared, more…

DoNArTNeWs – Crane, Sande Webster, 22 & more

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DoNArTNeWs – 4/13/08

Second Thursdays at the Crane Arts Building are off the hook; located at 1400 N American St. · Philadelphia, PA 19122-3803, there is ample parking and always excellent art. At the Nexus Gallery, two artists are showing works on paper; Tasha Doremus: New Work and Susan Abrams: From Stillness. Doremus’ work somehow mixes photography, computer graphics and surface destruction to create images at once emotional and thought-provoking; one image reminded DoN of when he was a kid and the film would sometimes melt at the movies and the projector would have to be stopped and the film edited back together. In fact, one of her pieces has slashes in the paper revealing a glimpse of crimson hidden beneath.

Artist, Tasha Doremus @ Nexus Gallery.

Susan Abrams’ “from stillness” is a collection of photographs and prints with unusual distinction, hand-made paper is printed with images of corrosion, water damage and entropy. All of the images are printed on paper made from abaca pulp (derived from banana plants) and were digitally printed in collaboration with Rick De Coyte of Silicon Gallery Fine Art Prints. (Nexus Website) DoN believes this is a bold artistic statement considering the technical difficulty of feeding rough hewn paper through a printer with the inherent risks.

Artist, Susan Abrams @ Nexus Gallery.

In the Icebox the future is on view; a fantastic motion graphics project utilizing five projectors creating a dystopian universe of animal totems, post-apocalyptic destruction and dizzying sound design. Many visitors sat on the floor transfixed watching The Soft Epic or: Savages of the Pacific West by Nadia Hironaka and Matthew Suib. Birds, cats and fire cross through the projections like a crazy quilt of spiritual images; the technical accomplishment is dazzling.

The Soft Epic @ the Icebox. Composite photo by Alden Cole.

On the second floor is 201 Gallery with a spot-on show of large scale photographs by Ryan Widger; black and white prints fill the space with shadowy compositions evoking loneliness, contemplation and magic realism appropriately titled Consummated. The gallery also features a new video display created by StudioScopic enabling the gallery-goer to virtually visit the artists’ studio.