YOUNG AT ART 3, Off the Wall Gallery at Dirty Frank’s
Looking for an art show that’s a breath of fresh air? Perhaps one where the artists’ love of creativity shines through — no agenda, just passion? LOOK NO FARTHER.
THIS SUNDAY, AUGUST 18, 1 to 4 PM, we will gather to welcome 22 very young artists to OFF THE WALL. They are the forces behind YOUNG AT ART 3, the newest edition of the occasional juried show we inaugurated in 2013.
Our Opening Reception will put a kid-centric twist on our normal light hors d’oeuvres — pizza, fruit salad and juice boxes, plus mini-cupcakes from our friends and neighbors at SWEET BOX — and you’ll have the chance to meet more than half the artists.
Our creatives run the gamut in age from 3-4 years old — AUGUST KILLE, STEFAN NAU and ORLA VECCHIO — up to 11 and 12 — including JAYDEN O’HALLORAN, MARY MINEI and YOUNG AT ART veterans KYLIE GROVE, MO HINCHEY-MODGLIN, SKYLAR WILLENBORG and EMI and NOA TRAVALIA.
The Travalia girls also remind us that this time around we’re showcasing sibling synergy with five such sets: EMI and NOA, ISE and SAJ EVANS MCNALLAN, DARIUS and STEFAN NAU, A.J. and SADIE PENNINGTON and CORMAC and ORLA VECCHIO.
Across their work — ranging from paintings and drawings in oil, acrylic, watercolor, colored pencil, charcoal and oil stick, to photography and collage to August’s whimsical sculpture, which takes flight in our 3D case — you witness SHEER JOY.
It buoys our firm belief that each and every person is BORN TO CREATE. The love of art and art-making is genuinely innate. Life erodes this instinct rather than reinforce it — unless we lift up an artist as early as possible.
So come join us as much to elevate as to celebrate. And if your party includes other kids, more power. Yes, normally you would be carded — but not for these three hours and a little bit more (unless you order alcohol). Let’s take in great art and have fun! See you Sunday, Togo
Togo Travalia Manager OFF THE WALL GALLERY at Dirty Frank’s, NE Corner, 13th & Pine Streets, Philadelphia, PA, 19107
Elaine M. Erne, Lanie Doll and Friends, Drawings and Prints, House Gallery
Lanie Doll, graphite pencil on paper, 72″ x 126″
HOUSE Gallery, 1816 Frankford Ave, Philadelphia, PA 19125
Through June 30th
Artist Talk Sunday June 23rd, 4:00 – 7:00 pm followed by potluck.
The Lives and Traumas of Stuffed Animals is a continuing series of prints and large graphite drawings of Lanie Doll and her friends that represent individuals and their emotional relationships with themselves and others. In recurring distressful situations, people often become like dolls, putting forward a cheerful personae no matter what is happening. The dolls encapsulate the personality of an individual and allows me to explore the inner workings of painful relationships without being immersed in the reality of difficult interactions. Although there is a playful side, the underlining theme is fear, cruelty, isolation, and survival. Though the situations represented are far from real, no stuffed animals were hurt in the making of the work, they capture the aura that surround people who on the outside appear happy while actually experiencing deep sorrow, loneliness, and tension in their daily lives.
ABOUT E. M. Erne
E. M. Erne, co-founder and co-director of Star Wheel Printers, received a BFA from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, PA and a MFA from Tyler School of Art, Temple University in Philadelphia, PA. Erne’s drawings and prints have been featured in numerous invitational and juried national exhibitions. Erne has had six solo exhibitions in the past ten years: ‘Mr. Bunny Misses His Friends’, Nexus, Foundation for Today’s Arts, Philadelphia PA; ‘E. M. Erne: Drawing and Prints’, Rowan University, Glassboro, NJ; ‘Mr. Bunny and Friends’, Nexus, Foundation for Today’s Arts, Philadelphia PA; ‘The Lives and Traumas of Stuffed Animals’, BahdeeBahdu Gallery, Philadelphia, PA; a ‘Wind Challenge Exhibition’, Fleisher Art Memorial, Philadelphia, PA; and a ‘Community Gallery Solo Exhibition’, Abington Art Center, Abington, PA. Erne is a recipient of a Dene M. Louchheim Faculty Fellowship, Fleisher Art Memorial, Philadelphia, PA, and a Career Development Fellowship with The Center for Emerging Visual Artist, Philadelphia, PA. Erne was one of 25 artists selected by the Center of Emerging Visual Artist to represent them in their 25th Year Anniversary Exhibition at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. In 2015 Erne won the Jane Friend Purchase Award in the Brand Associates’ 43rd Annual Works On Paper National Juried Exhibition in Glendale, CA. She is currently on the faculty at Drexel University, Moore College of Art and Design, and the Fleisher Art Memorial all in Philadelphia, PA.
Location: 1816 Frankford Ave, Philadelphia, PA 19125
Hours: by appointment
Michelle Marcuse, Co Director, HOUSE Gallery, 1816 Frankford Ave, Philadelphia, PA 19125, 215-901-7190
gravy. 910 North 2nd Street, Philadelphia, PA 19123 · 267.825.7071
Exhibition Dates: June 7 – 29th, 2019
First Friday Opening Reception: June 7th, 6 – 10pm
Sponsored by Powers Whiskey and Music by Mother MaryRose
Nolibs Second Saturday, June 8th, 1 – 5pm
Artist Brunch and Open Hours- Saturday June 22nd 1-5pm
Saturday Open Hours – 1-5pm and by appointment
Documenting objects with photography slowly transformed into its own artform with artists like Man Ray, Duchamp, Hans Bellmer, creating pieces which intertwined the two mediums. This exhibition at Gravy is titled; Beauties of the Common Tool, references Walker Evans’ famous portfolio of photographs of ordinary tools in the 1950’s. Today everyone used a new “common tool”; the photographic camera to document their lives and manipulate their world into art. While digital technology has created imagery only used on a screen; this exhibition hopes to explore ways photographers are using materiality, the body, textures, objects, and installation to create multi dimensional pieces which expand our definition of photography.
One theme throughout the work in this exhibition is the ability of the photographic objects to create multiple views for the viewer depending on the lighting and position of the pieces. Roxana Azar’s work is influenced by science fiction, plant intelli-gence, anxiety, and floral design. In the Projections in the Last Greenhouse series, botanical images from greenhouses and conservatories are applied to reflective and colorful surfaces that allow sunlight to pass through, creating shadowplay and reflections that shift and create vivid colorful shadows, fluorescence, and prisms depending on the angle and quality of light. They say, “I used to focus a lot on digital manipulation in my photographs, but now the materials I tend to use result in some sort of distortion and manipulation when viewing an image, whether it’s acrylic, mesh, or fabric. My fascination with these materials is that it shifts in color or shape as you move around it, so you’re never experiencing the surface in the same way.”
Glass artist, printmaker, and photographer; Jen Blazina creates ornate frames for her photographs of plaster sculptures set in nature. This installation titled Menagerie is a combination of cast glass frames, glass flowers, and dye sublimation photographs on metal. She says, “The photographs were taken from an ephemeral site-specific installation which I created for Djerassi Artist Residency in Woodside, CA. As a little girl, the forest and animals entranced me. Having grown up in a city, the forest seemed like a magical place where fairy tales came alive. Menagerie alludes to a dream like memory by using my sculpture in my photography and the elegance of glass baroque styled frames embellished with wild flowers.
Beauties of the Common Tool, gravy. Studio, Philadelphia Photography
In the collaborative works between Will Douglas and Matthew Drennan Wicks, the physical process of manipulating porcelain is fused with the digital process of image making. The flat, hand-built surface of a vessel becomes a screen for image on which to present a photographic image. The work vacillates between three- dimensional and two-dimensional space as both image and object work together to create tension. The artists are interested in the commercial and mass reproducibility of both images and objects; the hand-built vessel pushes against the immediacy of digital imaging. Establishing a new relationship between the two drives the traditional conventions of both materials into a new dialogue about the consumption of images and the viewing of objects.
Created during a 2017 residency at a recycling center in Northeast Philadelphia, Maria Möller’s project One Last Time is a lens-based meditation on mortality, joy, and second chances. She developed a visual narrative that compares life cycles with waste cycles, salvaging six objects from Revolution Recovery and pairing each with a person in her life who is living in an especially close proximity to their own mortality. Working collaboratively with each participant, she staged a photo shoot during which the discarded object could fulfill its purpose “one last time.” After this shoot, another took place when the participant traveled to the recycling center and returned their object to the waste stream.
The images included in this exhibition by Cecilia Paredes are reminiscent of surrealist imagery while her use of pattern and color reveal her ties to Peruvian culture and visual vernacular of womanhood. Paredes composes these photographs by selecting a patterned ground, such as floral wallpaper, and intricately paints her skin to match. Paredes says about her work, “Part of what makes us human is our ability to see beyond the narrow door through which we enter the world—to grow beyond the culture of our birth by recognizing other cultures, other patterns of life. Yet our birth culture is always imprinted upon us; the mystery of identity is never fully resolved. We are always from a time and place to which we can never return”
Makeba “Keebs” Rainey also uses the body, textures, and color to create photographic collages which are printed on fabric. The piece in this exhibit is titled ‘Souls of Philly: London’ where the artist uses collage and statements from the subjects to share insights into her community with the audience. Rainey’s creative practice focuses on building community and what that looks like. For her, community is an extension of family. By centering her work around social justice, specifically in regard to Black Americans, community becomes the key to liberation. Her artwork taps into aspects of the Black community, merging the old with the new by re-envisioning the ancestors through new media and creating space for young creatives to build and sustain themselves.
Thank you to gravy. for the content of this post.
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Suitable Arrangements: time and place, Gail Kolflat, 38 x 48 inches oil/acrylic
Reminiscent of a shadow box with 4 overlapping layers, beyond the pink liatris and blue hydrangea in the foreground, this painting presents a couple of women actively engaged in floral design activity and conversation during an evening session of flower arranging. Behind them a woman works on her creation, and in the distance through the window, cars are parked under a darkening sky – the mode of transportation for the aficionados.
Melding The Collegiate: lessons learned, Gail Kolflat, 46 x 40 inches oil / acrylic
College life! Students between classes mingle and walk on campus grounds, with a stately school building behind them. In this painting, there’s a clear dialogue between abstract and representational elements, forming the body of the composition.
Life and the Progression of Human Bonds : birth and demise, diptych 38 x 96 inches (when flat) oil/acrylic, Gail Kolflat
This is a poignant painting that highlights the maternal bond of a mother and her new daughter, and the daughter’s compassion and sorrow after the death of her mother years later. Raw human emotions transpired from two of life’s most significant events, combine and contrast making this a powerful piece.
Exciting colors and engaging themes draw viewers into the vibrant paintings of regional artist Gail Kolflat. Eye-catching, and invigorating, this one-person exhibition touches on themes of social commentary, with an emphasis on compositions featuring people involved in assorted activities and events, such as: a concert in a park, a flower arrangement class, commuters on a train, students at a university, or a lakeside interlude. Kolflat’s interpretation of Americana and genre painting is contemporary, and uniquely fresh, with distinctive hues and a stylish manner of presentation. A number of works are multi-panel, large format compositions and several have irregular shaped borders. All are painted in oil and acrylic on canvas.
“In a sense these works portray America in positive and refreshing tones that are so rare in contemporary art. It’s America at play, and it is a significant facet of our culture as is violence and drug abuse. Kolflat’s work stands alongside those artists who came before who have portrayed a segment of a population, one that describes a particular time and place. Like Impressionists with their sun dazzled boating scenes and picnics, Kolflat’s people at play describe an innocence in America that still exists.” Marilyn J Fox
Gail Kolflat is a notable east coast artist, who returned to the exhibition arena in 2013 after taking a fifteen year break while raising her daughters. She has long, strong exhibition history, and currently serves as the Membership Chairperson for the New York City Chapter of the Women’s Caucus for Art.
Midsummer Trilogy : sorting through waves of circumstance, irregular perimeter 147 x 74 inches oil/acrylic, Gail Kolflat
This piece represents two anticipatory gatherings, one of several girl friends primping and chatting, the other of male friends casually relaxing and enjoying refreshments, and finally center stage, a melding of the highlighted parties into respective pairings. The idea behind the creation of this piece flowed from a series of optimistic possibilities related to young graduates in my orbit, their coteries, encouraging news from professionals, and the glow of a positive mindset.
Artist Statement: Gail Kolflat
As an artist I find it compelling to create compositions of human society. My paintings are a recording of people today, living in our world, partaking in experiences, culture and lifestyles common to us all. Painted over a period of months, my compositions evolve much on their own. A spontaneous abstract footprint initiates every work. It is intertwined with figurative representations derived from sketches and photographs used as sources for the primary layout of a painting. The sources are then disregarded, as I prefer to improvise from that point onward, relying on a continuing interaction of realistic and abstract principles. Using human forms, objects, landscapes, and buildings, I invite the viewer into a world he/she can recognize, understand and share – as if at the scene, participating in an event, or surmising a situation. The abstract elements “free the viewer from the monotony and predictability of a too real vision.” My work consists of singular or multi-panel assemblages, executed with a broad use of color. Color is of great significance, appealing to emotions and mood. I allow myself to use any pigments that seem appropriate for a painting; instinct derived from experience. Observing and delving into the interplay of shapes, textures and colors is what drew me into the visual arts. I focus on groupings of people – who they are, where they are, why they are there, the ambiance surrounding them collectively as well as individually. Tapestries, textiles, Art Nouveau, modern abstract painting, Impressionism, the human condition and numerous venues in Philadelphia, Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York City continue to serve as inspiration for my work. The greatest contributing factor to the development of my art is a need to create.
Entertainment and Amusement: summer fare, summer fair, 82 x 59 inches, triptych, oil/acrylic, Gail Kolflat
Thank you to Gail Kolflat for the content of this post.
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Philadelphia native, John Singletary, is a fine art photographer and multimedia artist. His educational training includes both Drexel University and a BFA in Photography from The University of the Arts, Philadelphia, PA. He has exhibited at The Pennsylvania State Museum of Art, LG Tripp Gallery and The James Oliver Gallery. As well, his work is represented in the permanent collections of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, The Center for Fine Art Photography and The Haverford College Archives.
Anahata is a photographic exhibition that uses its mode of presentation to transcend the limitations of the medium in a multi-disciplinary installation experience. Photographs are animated through multiple state-of-the-art OLED panels used as electronic canvases. The technology is synchronized to create joined, large format displays, some forming 8′ x 8′ luminous squares or a 30′ Greco-Roman frieze-inspired composition. Images materialize out of walls and recede back into darkness, as would apparitions in this oddly familiar living space. These and other works are set to original music composed by John Singletary and Matt Hollenberg.
Installation View, Clarise, 8′ x 8′ Photography Based OLED Installation
While the ambition in Singletary’s presentation is of distinct merit, it’s not mere technology doing the real work. The photographic quality in his highly ornamented images demonstrates a conscious and masterful use of the medium. Influenced by a production approach found in theater and cinema, Singletary and his crew built a black box studio in a Victorian house in Germantown, PA as a set for the photography in Anahata. This long term collaborative project enlisted dancers, theater performers, costume designers, make-up artists, choreographers and set technicians. And, in this black box studio, the dream-like imagery, extracted from mythology, symbolism and mysticism directs the narrative in Anahata as it explores human relationships and their connection to the divine.
John Singletary, Clarise, 8′ x 8′ OLED Installation/Pigment Print
In John Singletary’s inventive world of Anahata, the artist commands an ancient cry from demons and gods in spear-decorated headdresses and cocoon-like webs that conquer and connect us. From there, he uses an advanced understanding of technology to move forward seamlessly into a hyper-lit future. With his sensitivity in making this unique grand scale production personal and through his exacting print work, the fantasticality in Anahata becomes very real.
