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Robert Bohne at Artists’ House Gallery

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Painter, Robert Bohne has exhibited his oil paintings at Artists’ House Gallery in Old City, Philadelphia four times now. His collection of recent and quite exquisite plein air paintings is a subtle yet sublime interpretation of landscapes and still life subjects. Each of the paintings has an immediacy and atmospheric naturalism that identifies the artist’s painting style. The small scale oils are richly narrative with information design and skilled brushwork. The artist’s eye is apparent in each piece especially with technical virtuosity of color and depth of field, drawing the viewer deep into the landscape or experiencing the delightful wetness of an object with expert application of paint.

Robert Bohne described the group of paintings above to DoNArTNeWs, “On this wall are some plein air work, one piece, the middle piece, of the fountain was done in Majorca Spain. The original sketch was done in Majorca and I transferred the sketch into an oil painting. The one above that is strictly out of my head, it’s a fictitious cloud, The one on the bottom is one of the piers on the Delaware River.”

“I’m always looking for the light in a painting, a good focal point, and after I find that it’s almost like a leading actor in a movie or a play, that focal point. And then after that I look for the supporting actors, which are less significant pieces of the painting, but, they lead your eye to that focal point.”

DoN thought this lobster painting looked familiar? The artist explained, “This is not the same as the one at The Plastic Club, this is the second. Actually it’s the same lobster, it’s spent a couple of months in my freezer and it came back out again and re-emmeged in another painting.”

Like impressionist masters, Bohne knows to return to his subjects repeatedly to gain the sense of realism he desires with less and less detail but infinitely more important visual information.

Robert Bohne at Artists’ House Gallery, photo courtesy of the artist

“This is a painting that sat around for close to a year, I wasn’t quite sure what I didn’t like about it. And then after looking at the George Bellows show just recently, I realized that what this painting needed were a couple of areas of really dramatic contrast. And it was just a matter of putting a small dot of orange and a small dot of white for highlight. And, of course, increasing the shadow area to the left of that and it made the painting pop. And it made it work”

The sense of realism yet obvious impressionism almost makes the plate of shrimp look abstract. The oil painting displays Robert Bohne‘s mastery of the medium and certainly is desirable as a work of art, at once decorative yet with a sense of narrative liveness. Working oil on board, oil on paper or academy board, each painting delights the senses with the artist’s appreciation of artistic appropriateness and style. One aspect of Robert Bohne‘s paintings is that they look really finished, professional and accessible. The paintings are not overwhelmed by a fancy frame instead complemented by surround offering a lovely collaboration of image and frame.

“Debbie West is my framer, West End Frame Shop, she’s in Media PA. Debbie and I spend a lot of time trying to find the frames that won’t overwhelm a painting. It will just become part of the painting. Presentation is a very important aspect of showing work. Presentation and editing. What I mean by editing, there’s a certain painting on the far end which was twice the size it is now. After looking at it for quite a while, I realized that if I cropped this painting in half it would be a much more dynamic composition. And would work much better. And so, this is what I ended up with and I was very pleased with that. I’m sure I’m not the first artist to do that.”, said Robert Bohne.

Robert Bohne at Artists’ House Gallery, photo courtesy of the artist

DoN asked the artist how he knows when a painting is finished? “I don’t know. I try not to have too much of a finished look to my paintings. I want that spontaneity to remain when the piece is finished. One of the things I really dislike is photo-realism, so I want people to see the abstract qualities and some of the spontaneity in my work. I want more of my work to have a degree of life, I want it to breathe. A good example of this is the Marigolds, this is a painting that won Best Still Life in The Philadelphia Sketch Club Small Oils show last year. As you can see, it’s not a lot of detail, very quickly painted, very spontaneous, and yet you know what it is and actually has a quality of life to it.”

Robert Bohne at Artists’ House Gallery, 57 North 2nd Street, Philadelphia, PA, through October 28th, 2012.

Written and Photographed by DoN Brewer

except where noted.

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Made in China, Amie Potsic at Ven and Vaida Art & Jewelry

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Made in China, Amie Potsic, photography at Ven and Vaida Art & Jewelry

Amie Potsic lived in San Francisco for many years and found when she moved back to Philadelphia that she had missed experiencing the changes of the seasons. As a world traveler, the photographer shoots pictures everyday and found the relationship of taking pictures at home, where she grew up, can feel fresh and new. For three years Amie took pictures everyday going through the seasons and began to see the Asian influences of her travels in the photographs of Philadelphia trees.

The exhibit, curated by Butch Cordora at Ven and Vaida Art & Jewelry, for the first time gathers images representing all four seasons in one show. The effect is sublime with groupings of images throughout the gallery communicating the beauty of the Philadelphia landscape and how trees can express an underlying narrative. One day the artist saw a protest in Rittenhouse Square that was against the Chinese government torturing people for practicing a religion called Falun Gong and brought the ideas and the esthetics together in a subtle combination of traditional beauty and clever protest.

Made in China, Amie Potsic, photography at Ven and Vaida Art & Jewelry

The collection of images has grown over time Amie Potsic says, “It’s interesting, this is the closure of the project where I now have the four images per season and each season deals with a particular issues.” Important social issues like reproductive rights, religious freedom, censorship and working conditions that we can discuss openly in America but are suppressed by the Chinese leadership. “I think it’s interesting, in the 1980s and 1990s there was a lot of political work, all the post-modernist work was really political and then that sort of fell out and it became that work was not about anything topical per se and I think that shift is coming back. A – there’s a lot of topics worth talking about and B – people are wanting more from their artwork and more of that critical discussion. Having something to say again.”

The Made in China images are beautiful and expertly crafted but they each have a little zinger added with Chinese text paired with the translation in English. First impressions look like a traditional Asian signature but when you look closer the words are political in nature offering a subliminal message about government trying to control the way people think and behave.

Made in China, Amie Potsic, photography at Ven and Vaida Art & Jewelry

“I think there’s an expectation now that artwork be easy to understand. People feel that they think they should ‘get it’. That it should be understandable but that’s not always the function of artwork. There’s a lot of levels of ways you can interact with art on just a visual level, a purely conceptual level and every continuum in between. I think it’s a real stumbling block for people who require that they need to understand everything they’re looking at and not just have an experience. I used to have a class where I taught at the San Francisco Art Institute, I would take them to the San Francisco MOMA, there’s an Yves Klein painting that’s a blue color field painting, a cobalt blue painting, and I knew that when we would meet back at the cafe that there would be this one student who would say, ‘Why is that art? I can do that.’ It was like clockwork every time, but it was the perfect conversation to have because the idea was, ‘But, you didn’t. He thought to do that, he’s making you question what is art.’ And if it pisses you off, all the better.”

Made in China, Amie Potsic, photography at Ven and Vaida Art & Jewelry, 18 South 3rd Street, Philadelphia, PA, 19106, 215-592-4099

Read more about Amie Potsic, Made in China at SideArts.com by Contributing Writer, Cassandra Hoo, Made in Chine, a Thought Provoking Show by Amie Potsic

Written and Photographed by DoN Brewer

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Mae Downs & Co. Shoppe Grand Opening

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Mae Downs & Co. Shoppe Grand Opening, fine home decor, interior design, antiques and vintage.

Mae Downs & Co. has been operating out of the artist studio building 1241 Carpenter Street for years but now they have taken the leap to opening a lovely shop at 1118 Pine Street in Philadelphia. The studio shared by Brian Campbell, the dish and pottery collector/connoisseur and Kevin McLaughlin, the fabulously creative fabric artist was inviting and inspiring but hard to find in the maze of studios.

Now, with a simply gorgeous storefront window decorated with vintage pottery such as Clarise Cliff pots and Kevin McLaughlin‘s own aspirational handmade pillows, the duo have staked a claim for elegant home decor among the galleries, restaurants and antique stores along Pine Street.

Mae Downs & Co. Shoppe 1118 Pine Street, Philadelphia, PA 19107

Quirky yet homey the collection of elegant china, fun vintage finds and handmade pillows and sachets creates an aura of fine living Philadelphians have longed for after existing too long with Swedish flat-packed furniture. The collection isn’t old fashioned at all with a mix of mid-century modern, art deco and 21st century craft proving good design is timeless and desirable.

Kevin McLaughlin‘s handmade strawberry shaped sachets are made with vintage fabrics and stuffed with luscious lavender. Each piece is unique and have even been sold at The Philadelphia Museum of Art gift shop. When DoN visited the workshop during a Philadelphia Open Studio Tour a few years back, Kevin chatted while not missing a stitch as he assembled each berry from fine flannels, linens, wools and re-cycled knits. The sachets are so popular that design maven Brini Maxwell even featured the fine sachets on her popular webpage and YouTube channel.

Each of these gorgeous pillows are handmade by Mae Downs & Co. Shoppe proprietor Kevin McLaughlin and are affordably priced in the low three figure range. Considering the time and effort lovingly put into each piece, these pillows will need to be re-stocked as Philadelphians discover the beauty of these fine American made products.

DoN had the opportunity to chat with shop co-proprietor Brian Campbell and asked about the challenges of opening a small business in these harsh financial times? “Well, the economy has certainly been a challenge. I started by collecting pottery and turned to china, and I started collecting obsessively. And then I found I had too much stuff so I started selling it on ebay and then opened the studio to keep it all and sell. I share the studio with Kevin McLaughlin of Mae Downs and Co., so we had his shop and my storage and we would have open houses but it wasn’t a retail space with little foot traffic.”

Brian Campbell explained, “We wanted a place where people could come and get to us easily. And we found it. ebay worked out when I first started doing it but after America tanked after 2007, sales started going down. The last year or two it’s been on the rise again, there’s definitely, um, people are paying more for things. So, that was kind of a clue that maybe it was time to start thinking of opening a shop. Whenever I go to a shop I ask them, ‘How’s business?’, because in the back of my mind I was always thinking about opening a shop.”

“As I started getting better reports from small shop owners, I thought, ‘OK, maybe it’s time?’, and this kind of fell into our lap. We saw it in the City Paper and we met with the realtor. I stopped in early on my way to work, I have a job at The Mural Arts Program, and we loved it so we applied and they loved what we do and felt really good about what we were doing. And that it would be a good fit for the street. The timing couldn’t have been more perfect, we found the space in August, we took the lease beginning September 1st. All we really had to do was paint the floor and then move stuff in, we still have some work we want to do but we want it to be open so people can walk around and not feel like they’re in a museum.”

“I was trying to describe to someone what the feeling was like and the line came up, “Where Sister Parish meets Dorothy Draper“, said Brian Campbell before he was drawn back into the shop to answer questions about the eclectic merchandise by excited shoppers.

Written and Photographed by DoN Brewer

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More Photos About Buildings and Food at Gallery 339

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More Photos About Buildings and Food at Gallery 339, Lucas Foglia, Lunea with Deer Rib

“Girls are getting into abstract analysis
That want to make that intuitive leap
They are making plans that have far reaching effects” – Talking Heads, The Girls Want To Be With The Girls, More Songs About Buildings & Food

Gallery 339 at the corner of 21st and Pine Streets is dedicated to fine art photography, the chic space always has something special and inspirational to see. Spending time alone there with the incredible images is one of DoN‘s favorite things to do because there is nowhere else like it to see art by master photographers (except PPAC, of course) but that’s across town. The gallery has become a destination for photography lovers from around the world and it’s right down the street from Haus of DoN. Usually the gallery is dedicated to just a few photographers, focussing on a body of work but More Photos About Buildings and Food is a large group theme show with many of the great photographers who have exhibited in the past at the gallery.

The opening night was more like a party than an opening with a DJ spinning classic Talking Heads songs at ear throbbing volume making it impossible to talk but that only meant the party spilled out into the street. The eclectic mix of images are either about buildings or food, all of them spectacular and special examples of the state of the art in fine art photography. Some are easy to look at, some disturbing and deep, others are pop art or documentary style. The mix is heady and exciting, the crowd was loud and rambunctious – just the way DoN likes it.

More Photos About Buildings and Food at Gallery 339, Martin Parr, Turkey Leg, Disneyland, Tokyo, 1998, chromogenic print

More Photos About Buildings and Food at Gallery 339, Vincent Feldman, Shizuoka Shinbun and Broadcasting System Tower, carbon pigment print

Vincent Feldman lives down the block from DoN and it was a nice surprise to see him and his family at the show, it was an even better surprise to see his work in the show with spectacular prints of Japanese modern architecture. Over the roar of the music we chatted about his contribution to the exhibit. DoN asked how Vincent Feldman, a professor of photography at University of the Arts, got involved with More Photos About Buildings and Food at Gallery 339?

“Well, I live in the neighborhood near the gallery, so I know Martin McNamara, the owner and director of the gallery and he’s actually purchased some of my work in the past. So the work that he owns is what’s being exhibited but they’re a larger scale. I take pictures of buildings and that’s part of the theme of the show, so, it worked out for this exhibit.”

DoN asked how long Vincent Feldman has been involved in photography? “Thirty-plus years, most of my life.” Not long ago the artist unloaded a bunch of enlargers for people to glean from the street which lead DoN to think maybe he had gone digital. “I still have some enlargers, but the prints I’ve been doing lately, I would say, are mostly digital but I always shoot film. It’s four by five negatives, there’s nothing comparable for me to shoot digitally in that size. I use a large format 4 x 5, Toyo, a Japanese company”

Do you still have a darkroom, they seem to be going away? “Yes. There are still a lot of darkrooms, in fact, they seem to be a growth industry since a lot of them have been decommissioned and I teach, too, and a lot of students want to print in the darkroom. They want to make real prints. It’s a magical process, I love working with the computer but I think you should know what real photography looks like before you try and make it with a computer. You can make anything, you can print out an M16 now, a working gun, so what’s to prevent students from doing that, when you give them a computer you’ve got to focus them and the computer’s not a great thing to focus with if you’re just learning.”

“I have a book coming out in the Spring called Philadelphia City Abandoned about the civic architecture of the city. I’m working with Paul Dry a Philadelphia publisher and he’s been really great and hopefully it’s going to be a beautiful book that will last a long time.”

More Photos About Buildings and Food at Gallery 339, Mary Parisi, Wounded Soup, chromogenic print

More Photos About Buildings and Food at Gallery 339, Ion Zupco, American Homes Portfolio, gelatin silver prints

More Photos About Buildings and Food at Gallery 339, David Graham

Gallery 339‘s Martin McNamara has agreed to help jury the upcoming Photographic Society of Philadelphia‘s 150th Anniversary exhibit at the Plastic Club in November, read more about the upcoming show at SideArts.com.

Written and Photographed by DoN Brewer

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