Category Archives: Art in Philadelphia

Art in Philadelphia

Bangkok & Black Light @ Smile Gallery

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Bangkok & Black Light @ Smile Gallery

Bangkok & Black Light @ Smile Gallery

Photo by Timothy J. Moersh.

Bangkok & Black Light @ Smile Gallery

Model Meredith Battite of ExploreTalent embodied the spirit of International Superstar Leon Rainbow‘s genius black light art show in the dark back room of Smile Gallery.  The intense blue light is projected across the room with two big projectors and a Dan Flavin-like florescent mounted on the wall – the paintings vibrate with day glo color and bikini girl Meredith time tripping right out of Laugh In like a Goldie Hawn for the modern age.  The similarities between then & now are nostalgic yet with a grok of how the futuristic 60’s was like while we fought the American War in Viet Nam compared to the exit this morning from Iraq – it’s a party @ ground zero, baby.

Bangkok & Black Light @ Smile Gallery

Jim Hancocks, Untitled, mixed media & black light in the back room @ Smile Gallery.  Artists in the show include Leon Rainbow, Mike Ciccotello, Joe Iurato, Josi Luv 1, Aja Washington, Jim Hancocks, Papermonster, Dave Orantes, Demer, Kortez, Jon Connor & Will Kasso.   Super-Kawaii!!

Bangkok & Black Light @ Smile Gallery

Bangkok & Black Light @ Smile not only stirred memories of the 60’s, in the trippy vibrant glow, dreams of absinthe drinkers and green fairies emerged from the purple haze.

Bangkok & Black Light @ Smile Gallery

 Vichoke Mujdamanee

is using light in a completely different way, reflecting the ambient light off metal, embelleshed, hammered, painted and polished into ethereal worlds all unto themselves, each one gives a different feedback experience as you move about the gallery.  The collision of hard edge metal reflections and the zany black light art creates a dynamic inversion of perception & reality like a Star Trek holo-lab.

Bangkok & Black Light @ Smile Gallery

 Vichoke Mujdamanee, Philadelphia, mixed media @ Smile Gallery on 22nd Street near Chestnut.

 

Photos by DoNBrewerPhotography.

“Sculpting Nature” Featuring Career Development Program Fellows Susan Benarcik, R. Noel Shaak and John Woodin @ CFEVA

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Susan Benarcik @ CFEVA

Susan Benarcik installed thousands of toothpicks on the walls of the CFEVA Gallery @ 15th & Locust Streets as part of Sculpting Nature, a three person show of CFEVA Career Development Program Fellows .  Benarcik’s wooden installation wraps around a corner paired with hanging tear-drop shaped sculptures made from white wire hangers, some of which were rusted from hanging in a private garden (hmm…do the initials E.T. come to mind?).

Susan Benarcik @ CFEVA

Susan Benarcik @ CFEVA

Susan Benarcik’s wire sculptures are light and airy yet angsty and filled with emotion casting shadows of doubt in the gallery’s alcove.

Susan Benarcik @ CFEVA

Susan Benarcik @ Sculpting Nature.

R. Noel Shaak

R. Noel Shaak‘s pen, ink & marker drawings are goth & Goethe mash-ups each telling an entire movies worth of narrative like some steam-punk Gorey for 2010.

John Woodin @ CFEVA

John Woodin talked about how his vineyard photos are actually Long Island and not some exotic European country.  The large scale photographs have a strange geometry, formal compositions drawn from informal resources like walking through a warm East Coast forest in summer.  DoN knew the photos were Woodin before he knew they were Woodin, that’s style.

The cohesive show is an amalgam of styles each somehow tuned into the concept of nature changed by the gaze of people, Benarcik’s sculptures energize the room, Shaak’s drawings whisper weird secrets and Woodin’s photos traverse space and time.

John Woodin @ CFEVA

John Woodin @ Sculpting Nature in the Center for Emerging Visual Artists Gallery through 9/2/2010.

 

DoN Brewer

CFEVA Introduction 2012
Blick Art Materials

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Reta Sweeney, Passages in Paint @ Twenty-Two Gallery

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Reta Sweeney @ Twenty-Two Gallery

Reta Sweeney’s Passages in Paint exhibit at Twenty-Two Gallery includes several paintings from a trip to an island off Puerto Rico as a guest of Glenn Curry, editor of Art Matters Magazine.  The deal was to help spruce up a guest house and then have time to paint, a cool gig especially when your friends like Doris Peltzman, Betz Green, Barbara Keogh and others are there to help.  The glow of light in her tropical paintings is a lively counterpoint to the woodsy East Coast landscapes.  The body of work on display pays tribute to Sweeney’s trained eye and finely skilled hand, just beautiful.

Reta Sweeney @ Twenty-Two Gallery

The Second Friday art crawl in Center City offers several destinations, Twenty-Two Gallery consistently presents interesting installations featuring local artists. Reta Sweeney’s drew a crowd of Philly artists and friends in support of her one-woman show of  paintings; Reta’s core group of friends are all dedicated artists who enjoy taking trips to study and paint.  Diane Podolsky curated the show with Shawn Murray, the installation is subtle yet utilizes and activates as much space as possible, even hanging paintings back to back in the window.

Reta Sweeney @ Twenty-Two Gallery

Meeting of the Board II, oil, 16 x 16″, Reta Sweeney @ Twenty-Two Gallery.

Reta Sweeney @ Twenty-Two Gallery

Kumquats, oil, Reta Sweeney @ Twenty-Two Gallery, 236 South 22nd Street, Philadelphia through September 3rd, 2010.

 

 

Photos by DoNBrewerPhotography.

Casual Show & Salon @ The Plastic Club, Summer 2010

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Casual Show & Salon @ The Plastic Club, Summer 2010

Karl Olsen lights the subject of an impromptu critique of Yeoun Lee‘s paintings during the monthly Salon des Plastiques @ The Plastic Club on the Avenue of the Artists.  Lee took up the challenge from a previous meeting to bring out a few paintings on the sweltering Summer evening to stand up to the observations of Anders Hanson, Bob Jackson, Mike Quinn, Alan Klawens – the guys behind the on-going series of exhibitions at one of Philly’s premier artist clubs.  DoN couldn’t help to harken back to the days when air conditioning was a dream yet to be realized.  Yeoun explained the cosmological influence on her current work with light being represented by a subtle rainbow of color.

Yeoun Lee

Yeoun Lee @ The Plastic Club’s Salon.

Casual Show @ The Plastic Club, Summer 2010

The Casual Summer Show @ The Plastic Club showcases artist favorites.

Casual Show @ The Plastic Club, Summer 2010

Members of the Plastic Club are showing works not directed by a theme allowing for a salon like diversity of styles and medium; curators Alan Klawans and Bob Jackson filled the main galleries with a spectrum of light and color.

Marlise M. Tkaczuk, 3 Monkeys, silk screen

Marlise M. Tkaczuk, 3 Big Monkeys, silk screen in The Casual Show.  The Plastic Club has long represented printmaking with a great print room and print shows; Marlise’s confrontational funky monkeys are part clever and engaging, jumping off the wall.  Check the clubs website for info and links to events.

Diane Keller @ Dumpster Divers on South Street

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Diane Keller @ Dumpster Divers on South Street

Diane Keller @ The Dumpster Divers Gallery on South Street near 7th; the gallery is temporary contemporary like some pop-up shop for art.   Keller’s paintings of little girl outfits is sweet yet disconcerting, looking back to a time when kids weren’t covered in logos.

Diane Keller @ Dumpster Divers on South Street

Diane Keller @ Dumpster Divers on South Street

Diane Keller created these pillows by combining digitally printed fabric she designed at Philadelphia University as the result of an award she won at Da Vinci Art Alliance.  The artist combined vintage fabrics she’s been saving with her own painterly pattern with a lush cushion meeting the demand of the art being created with recycled materials.  Diane told DoN she recently re-created her mural of The Rizz @ The Italian Market as the result of a building rehab, the muralist says with the new paint and techniques ol’ Frank looks better than ever.

 

Photos by DoNBrewerPhotography