Category Archives: Murals

Murals and muralists in and around Philadelphia.

My Photo Day

DoN Brewer, Dollar Store, digital photograph, Philly Photo Day, October 18th, 2013

Philly Photo Day is a Social Practice photography public art project that is easy and fun to do as a participant and beneficial to the image Philadelphia displays to the world. The goal is to capture a visual portrait of Philadelphia with a social media campaign encouraging public participation through photography. Social practice as an art form creates a unique meandering narrative that utilizes the energy and ideas from the public at large to make ideas grow big. Endless combinations of stories based on the random nature of the photographs are possible.

The Philadelphia Photo Arts Center is the conduit and curator of the event – simply take a photo in Philly on October 18th and upload it to their website, for free, by the following Monday. Every entry is printed in a vast display of hundreds of images of Philadelphia taken by photographers on that one calendar day creating an exciting interactive social experience. Philly Photo Day Gallery at 120 North 3rd Street, Philadelphia through December 28th, 2013.

October 18th, 2013 was a sunny day, perfect for a walk to the river with Katy the Art Dog. We walk past the Dollar Store almost everyday on the way to the dog park, I can see it in my head, but that day the shipping carts were all lined up after a delivery and I spotted this pattern about consumerism. My plan was to take lots of pictures all day, and the heightened excitement of looking for pattern recognition that is very Philadelphian felt strong and sensitive.

Katy and I walked through Fitler Square towards the Schuykill River, at the Southern tip of the park is a restaurant called Gavins, the ‘Ladies Only‘ sign has a vibrating meme about social norms and women’s history. The last lunch I had with mentor Francis Tucker was at Gavin’s, he paid for our soup and Argentine pastries while we talked about art. Places in Philadelphia are layered with memories that render emotional responses in nuanced and evocative images. When confronted with legacy the message is the massage.

DoN Brewer, Ladies Entrance, digital photo, October 18th, 2013

DoN Brewerr, Pug Guard Dog, digital photo, October 18, 2013

The light effect on my Pug Guard Dog with the big ball is naturally weird and the experience was a bit noisy. That dog would not stop barking. But, I was on a photo safari and I braved the barking – Katy by my side – and captured a little story of the Pug defending the iron gate to his territory.

DoN Brewer, Light from Yonder Window, digital photograph, 10/18/2013. $175.00

One of my things, work that I’m known for, is a series of photographs called ‘light beings‘. I look for reflections of sunlight onto urban surfaces from windows. This picture captures the source of the reflection, glass windows. Light reflects off the windows onto Philly’s famous stucco walls. I didn’t enter this one in Philly Photo Day but I did enter it into a show at Off the Wall Gallery at Dirty Franks with the title Coupling. Even though I was part of the jury panel I entered anyway, I like being part of the annual juried art shows there, and took my chances. When my five entries came up for review I left the room and the other four jurors voted in two of my photographs. Both of my entries were from my Philly Photo Day shoot. Including the one below, Holding Hands, digital photograph, 11″ x 14″, 16″ x 20″ framed, $175 at Off the Wall Gallery at Dirty Franks.

Proceeds of the sale of my framed photograph, Light from Yonder Window, in the Coupling show at Dirty Franks go towards the Sunshine Arts Foundation. The Coupling show is amazing with a display of contemporary art created expressly for a theme by truly fine artists, it’s such an authentic honor to be part of this extraordinary group show. Being on the jury panel is an interesting story, too. I’ll write a post about the experience soon.

The Social Practice aspect of group art shows is very energetic and Off the Wall Gallery at Dirty Franks has a wonderful symbiosis with their local artist’s community. I also included Light from Yonder Window in my 11″ x 17″ folded one-sheet book, light beings, for RiTUAL Reading Room at 110 Church Gallery, $75.00.

DoN Brewer, Holding Hands, digital photograph, Philly Photo Day 2013 and Coupling, 9th Annual Juried Art Show at Off the Wall Gallery at Dirty Franks

On October 18th, 2013, Philly Photo Day, I visited a dear friend at Pennsylvania Hospital, the oldest hospital in America, a warren of hallways and odd turns, swinging doors and curved paths that expresses the history and change of medical care architecturally. My friend was out of the Intensive Care Unit but her condition was very frail. I sat with her while Wheel of Fortune played silently on the TV and we just held hands.

Helen was a good friend to me. She was the lady who had all the neighbors house keys or was there to accept packages. She knew all the news about the neighbors and shared stories of mayhem, mischief and mystery as well as tidings of joy. This image captures our love and I will be forever grateful for those last moments together. My friends, it was really hard to watch the fading of a life, the terrible turn of events, but now I have experienced the realness, the liveness of the moments we are living in a way that will influence me forever.

I decided to use Holding Hands as my sole entry into the exhibit Philly Photo Day 2013 show because of the composition of the blanket folds and skin wrinkles and the empathetic narrative image of a day in the life of two old friends. Holding Hands was chosen by the jury at Philly Photo Day 2013 to be displayed on one of forty billboards throughout the city. The billboard with Holding Hands is located on Washington Avenue near 9th Street, near the Italian Market. When I saw the billboard my heart raced, I felt such happiness and joy, it was like a wonderful gift from Helen. Although she would have wanted her fingernails manicured, the image of generational shift and change is imbued in the lines of the picture, making up the connections of two friends in a pattern that touches the spirit and heart.

DoN Brewer, Holding Hands billboard at 9th Street and Washington Avenue, Philly Photo Day 2013

Philadelphia Photo Arts Center is also generously including Holding Hands in a group show of 175 images selected from the Philly Photo Day exhibit at the Philadelphia Airport for six months in 2014. Purchases of the print from Philadelphia Photo Arts Center are being donated to them as my thanks for their service to the Philadelphia arts community. Being part of the group show is a thrill in itself, no kidding, but the organization provides exceptional education about photography to the community that is truly beneficial to everybody.

I have made wonderful connections and friendships by being in this annual show. To have a photograph that I took in an intimate moment of a special personal relationship to be expressed in public in such a big way makes my heart burst with joy. Philly Photo Day made me look at the world a little closer for a day, the effort to examine my surroundings for beauty resulted in recognition of my creative vision of art and I feel gratitude for the embrace of the Philadelphia arts community for my efforts.

Here’s the link to the Philly Photo Day Billboard map. The exhibit of all 15,000 plus photographs is on display at Philly Photo Day Gallery at 120 North 3rd Street, Philadelphia through December 28th, 2013.

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Written and photographed by DoN Brewer.

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Missing Krylon

David Guinn – Mural Dedication, Garden of Delight, Locust Street, between 11th & 12th Streets, Philadelphia, Friday, April 15, 2011, 5:00 PM

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David Guinn – Mural Dedication, Garden of Delight, Locust Street, between 11th & 12th Streets, Philadelphia, Friday, April 15, 2011, 5:00 PM.

Philadelphia owes David Quinn a lot for it’s friendly reputation, as you come off the Schuylkill a beautiful mural greets you, drive down Bainbridge Street and Quinn’s Four Seasons murals offer color in the depth of Winter and accents for Spring, in West Philly he’s brought together community members to form coalitions that revitalize the neighborhood and he regularly exhibits his own paintings in galleries across the city all with apparent calm and secure leadership. The new mural on Locust looks like a David Guinn painting instead of a community collaboration; Guinn has more than earned the right to decide what should be painted or maybe the community taste of the Gayborhood is more refined, either way, Friday night is the perfect time to experience a unique Philly tradition – honoring a great artist, leader and taste-maker with speeches and heart felt thanks for improving the vitality of the city with art and beauty.

An early 21st Century mural by David Guinn, his style is evolving from the cubist realism to fluid naturalism. In the new mural is a door representing the house of his parents; David Guinn opens a portal for all of us to see the world around us as home.

Photos by DoN.

Introduction 2011 – Center for Emerging Visual Artists New Development Fellows @ Moore College of Art & Design Widener Memorial Foundation Gallery

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Kimberly Witham @ Introduction 2011 – Center for Emerging Visual Artists New Development Fellows @ Moore College of Art & Design Widener Memorial Foundation Gallery, Feb 2nd – 19th, 2011.

Kimberly Witham told DoN people presuppose she Photoshop’s her work but her mise-en-scène photographs are real still-life compositions, elements of which have a limited shelf life. The pictures of pretty headless birds in cups and on plates dredge up memories of dead birds on the street and questions of why they fell from the sky. About half of the photos included in this ground-breaking exposition are film, half digital, a seem-less transition between mediums made transparent by Witham’s virtuosity, she’s a professor of photography at Bucks County College, a school with a long tradition of excellence in photography education. The road kill element is shocking and beautiful, a sweet, sad commentary on urban wild life.

Maggie Mills, Crops, oil on linen. Maggie and DoN got into an animated discussion about”fracking“, another painting in the show is titled Frack, the practice of injecting noxious chemicals into the Earth’s crust to break it up and release “natural gas“. This clean fuel puts unknown dangers into the families and communities who live where fracking takes place by releasing toxic chemicals into the water table, scary shit, Mills’ painting shows an adolescent crouching, head to knees, while visions of matrix-like drills descend from the sky.

Daniel Kornrumpf uses fiber like colored pencils for his portraits of on-line social network profie pics he’s found over time – a long time since the densely embroidered portraits may take months to produce, unlike a drawing which may take an afternoon. The isolated faces floating in large blank fields of fine linen examines the connection of the isolationism of social networks and the self-portraits that make you think, “Really? That’s their best look?” Instead of attracting attention, ridicule and mockery may result, by the way Plenty of Fish often advertises in the DoNArTNeWs sidebar, please, click through, Valentine’s Day is coming up. Kornkrumpf will continue his unique fiber portraits but is pursuing drawing and painting for the upcoming show at the Ice Box in late spring.

Daniel Kornrumpf

Mami Kato created these futuristic sculptures by unraveling rope she imports from her home, Akita Japan,creating domes of fiber reminiscent of the rice fields at home after harvest and clumps of stems line the horizon. Kato surprised her audience by picking up the light weight, yet densely compact, domes, revealing the Trompe-l’il.

On the left is Alison Stigora, represented in this show with a magnificent drawing of a giant cosmic crystalline flower in mixed media including drawing, prints, chalk and wax but is also in an awesome show at LGTripp Gallery in Old City through February 26th. Next to her is Maggie Mills, behind Mami is a collage of digital prints by Jennifer Williams that is a totally steal-able idea – who knew, collage could be so cool.

Lewis Colburn, The Pursuits of a Gentleman, mixed media installation with ten photographs and steamer trunk. This assemblage was a fave of Spike Howard, Philly’s finest wind farm engineer, for it’s sense of time travel, irony and elegance. DoN loves how CFEVA treats photographers as true artists who belong at the table with painters and sculptors.

Arden Bendler Browning @ Introduction 11

A Fishtown native who’s studio is in the Crane Arts Center, Browning obviously takes full advantage of the large work space to create massive paintings, this color field of speeding urban images, like you see out of the corner of your eye as you zoom down the Expressway, is abstract expressionist yet a kind of contemporary cubism with obtuse angles and cracked spacial warps. DoN easily sees Arden Bendler Browning taking the opportunity of the fellowship that CFEVA offers and running with it, her work is complex yet accessible, perfect for contemporary collectors.

DoN inquired of new fellow Don Edler as to how he came to win the CFEVA fellowship and he generously explained how he meticulously researches grants and awards, looks at winners of previous competitions, discovers which other awards or grants they’ve received and applies for them, too. By making applying for grants part of his business plan, Edler makes it almost sound easy and is proof that persistence, patience, targeted yet broad research into funding, exhibition and publicity works like a charm.

Congratulations to the new fellows!

DoNArTNeWs Philadelphia Art News Blog

DoN Brewer

CFEVA Introduction 2012
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