Category Archives: Paintings Philadelphia

oils, acrylics, watercolor, mixed media, ink, philadelphia

Ties That Bind, Seventh Annual Community Juried Art Show at Off the Wall Gallery

Jose Rios, Clown Posse, pen and gouache, Ties That Bind, Seventh Annual Community Juried Art Show at Off the Wall Gallery

By the time Clown Posse was presented to the panel of jurors assembled at Off the Wall Gallery curator Jody Sweitzer‘s place on her sweet flat screen TV, they were ready for a jolt of color. In the first round, the jury looked at over 200 images by about 50 artists while artist statements were read explaining how the artwork relates to the theme Ties That Bind. It was a lot to take in, DoN knew many of the artists but lots of others were new to him and as each image was connected to a statement, the idea of what the best representation of theme could really be emerged. For the second round of viewing, renowned photographer Rick Wright joined Elizabeth J. McTear, Marlise M. Tkaczuk, Melissa Ezelle and DoN as we looked at them all once more, each scoring our favorites in different ways. And then we looked at them all again and began the process of elimination.

There was some disagreement with Jose Rios’, Clown Posse because the color looks so bold standing on it’s own on a monitor and what do clowns have to do with Ties That Bind anyway? Jose Rios is an art student at Oasis Arts and Education, he wants’s to “inspire hope in others and myself.” The jury agreed that clowns connect deeply with people on an emotional level, a common childhood thread of fun and fear, the naive primitivism and cartoon pop color of the painting is right on trend and when you see the artwork with the rest of the show, the piece speaks in a quieter voice. During the opening reception the artist sat in the booth under his painting and worked on drawings of super-heros.

The team sifted through images for several more hours, with breaks for strawberry rhubarb pie, and argued the merits of each piece, we had to narrow the selection down to a manageable number of artworks that would fit the limited wall space and DoN learned a good lesson. Presentation is key; art shows are juried looking at digital photos which make the images all the same size on the screen, make sure your photo is the best possible.

Alice Gonglewski, Apartment, popsicle sticks, fabric and acrylic paint, Ties That Bind, Seventh Annual Community Juried Art Show at Off the Wall Gallery, photo courtesy of OTW@DF

Alice Gonglewsk‘s artist statement accompanying the popsicle stick constructions that look like a drawing/sculpture hybrids is a poem which begins, “Organize the dreams and moments, find connections, find a true tribe…” A good tip if you’re stuck writing an artist statement is to remember you’re an artist and can say it with words in a poem. If you can bring a tear to the juries eye, go for it. The graphic pieces present themselves as drawings in space, floor plan-like, with simple forms and materials representing the complex setting of a life lived.

Carla Liguori, Bound, terra cotta and glaze, Ties That Bind, Seventh Annual Community Juried Art Show at Off the Wall Gallery, photo courtesy of OTW@DF

Bound took the “top” prize, there were different levels of adherence to the theme instead of 1st, 2nd, 3rd, but the small ceramic sculpture exemplified the concept on so many levels, mixing metaphors, exquisite detail and finish, and a strange dada-ist narrative that is hard to put in words, as if we’re aware of being yoked and thinking we’re one thing instead of another; each creature believes it resembles the other because it can’t see itself. The artist describes the relationship between the figures as, “tortuous”.

Russell Brodie, Berkley House, oil on pine, Ties That Bind, Seventh Annual Community Juried Art Show at Off the Wall Gallery, photo courtesy of OTW@DF

The image of Berkley House, oil on pine, by Russell Brodie, is about life sized, the paintings are small and very realistic. In the jurying process the paintings looked as big as the other works, the images all presented relatively the same aspect ratio to one another, and presented on the screen large it was hard to imagine them small. The artist says he “wants to draw the audience in.”

Nicole Giusti, The Soap Dish, photograph, Ties That Bind, Seventh Annual Community Juried Art Show at Off the Wall Gallery, photo courtesy of OTW@DF

DoN loves the fact that The Soap Dish was awarded most abstract interpretation of the theme. How can a photo be abstract? But in this case many of the artworks were impressionistic, not abstract per se, and Nicole Giusti‘s still life photo combined with the tense narrative of her strained relationship with her grandmother transformed ordinary soap into doppelgangers, simulacra and ghosts of unpleasant memories. The repeating patterns, pristine color fields and limited palette resonated the theme of uncomfortable ties to family that reads differently for each viewer.

Gene Renzi, American Flags for Sale, photograph, Ties That Bind, Seventh Annual Community Juried Art Show at Off the Wall Gallery, photo courtesy of OTW@DF

Stephen Millner, Air Support, mixed media collage, Ties That Bind, Seventh Annual Community Juried Art Show at Off the Wall Gallery, photo courtesy of OTW@DF

Stephen Millner‘s Air Support collage is poignant and direct to the point, ties to military people is special, enduring and hopeful. The cancelled air mail stamps speak of countless expressions of hope and love, military families send care packages of stuff soldiers can’t get in Afghanistan or even on military bases, DoN has two nephews who have been deployed to the wars, Kurt is in Iraq right now working as a contractor, Buddy is back on active duty and could deploy anywhere, anytime. Art that reflects military life touches DoN‘s heart, the ties of love and hope bound with anxiety and fear is potent.

Eli VandenBerg, Egg Beater, ink on paper, Ties That Bind, Seventh Annual Community Juried Art Show at Off the Wall Gallery, photo courtesy of OTW@DF

All of the jurors thought of their grandmothers when presented with Egg Beater, an exquisite ink drawing that is simple, descriptive and active. The image represents a tool that ties us to fond memories, the old fashioned kitchen utensil able to mentally transport us to a place in the past with cake batter and whipped cream. Even the angle of the egg beater hints at activity, actions and achieving goals.

Jena Serbu, detail from Crickets, diorama with marionette- style low-fire clay figures found wood construction by Dawn Smith, Ties That Bind, Seventh Annual Community Juried Art Show at Off the Wall Gallery, photo courtesy of OTW@DF

Crickets is especially interesting because the piece was made on spec. The artists submitted a proposal with drawings and samples of some completed elements of the sculpture, the artist statement dealt with marital discord, problems from the past and angst of modern life. So the artists took a chance the jury would give them the go ahead to complete the piece, the presentation of the idea was fulfilled exactly as proposed and is a powerful presence in the show.

Ties That Bind, Seventh Annual Community Juried Art Show at Off the Wall Gallery

Awarding the prizes was a surprisingly simple and satisfying exercise. Each juror picked their top three favorites in each category ranked in descending order, if two or more pieces were selected by the jurors the scores were added and the highest scores received an award – a cool tie-dye kit.

DoN was honored when Togo Travalia asked him to help jury the show, Off the Wall Gallery at Dirty Franks has a long history of exceptional art shows. The Ties That Bind, Seventh Annual Community Juried Art Show is beautiful, sometimes challenging with a wide interpretation of a theme based on three simple words and what they mean to different artists. The ties that Off the Wall Gallery has to the Philadelphia arts community binds artists in a welcoming place, not afraid to take risks with art, challenge norms and raise the conversation to new levels when it comes to art interpretation and exhibition. Ties That Bind, Seventh Annual Community Juried Art Show at Off the Wall Gallery is on exhibit through August 3rd.

Written by DoN

Photographs courtesy of Off the Wall Gallery at Dirty Frank’s Bar except where noted.

Joyce Chan and Mark Price at studio:christensen

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Mark Price at studio:christensen

According to artist Mark Price his artwork, “I guess it is collage but it’s from editions that I’ve been screen printing. The screen prints are from ink drawings and also design elements composited into these environments. Yeah, kind of revisiting all this material that you generate when you do screen printing, it’s a fast process as far as the hand printing goes, and as I was doing the editions, you know, I would give some away, but I still had a bunch left over. And started doing this thing of slicing them and with one single edition, collaging them, it almost feels like a stuttering of the image. Or if you’re driving and the elongation of the landscape, like a pause repeated over and over.”

Mark Price at studio:christensen

“This is the first time I’ve tried working with an edition as material as opposed to it being the end point. It kind of reactivated how I was like thinking about it, like, ‘Oh man, this feels like it leaves the process a lot more open, like now the work is finished, the relationship with it is closed. It was always like I enjoyed the process but once you get to the end instead of having an image that is clear one moment, to have an image that’s fragments of this memory or this other experience. It’s all there but it’s like kind of fractured, or it’s like I remember it one way but it’s just this specific detail of it.”

Mark Price at studio:christensen

The odd shapes of the artworks is intriguing, really breaking the bounds of the picture plane. “I think that was a way to relieve the process, like the piece is still moving and the idea of, ‘Is this where the image ends or should I continue’. And also with abandoning 90 degree angles and the rigidness of it puts it in a place where it’s moving through three dimensional space.”

Mark Price at studio:christensen

DoN commented to Mark that the art seems to glow from behind, the pieces are mounted away from the wall with pins, and wondered if the pastel glow was intentional? Mark Price said, “Well, it’s like collaging onto this material that has a fluorescence so it’s not so heavy, it’s like this thing that’s just hovering. And with the drop shadow projecting a color it makes it different. I’m glad you picked that up.”

Joyce Chan at studio:christensen

There’s a couple large monochromatic patterned paintings in the gallery by Joyce Chan, DoN didn’t get to meet her, but the pairing of her quiet abstractions with Mark Price‘s vivid collage creates a kind of conversation between the artwork each speaking a similar but different language.

The studio/gallery/boutique on South 20th Street changes almost daily with pop-up shops by Hy/Lo, new aspirational furnishings, fashion shoots, art lectures and social events that there is always something new to see and desire.

Through SideArts.com, DoN is offering online and in-person one-on-one consulting services to visual and craft artists and art businesses. Read all about it here.

Written and photographed by DoN Brewer

Phillustration V at The Philadelphia Sketch Club

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Stephen Heigh, Sunday Morning Robots, Phillustration V at The Philadelphia Sketch Club

Phillustration V at The Philadelphia Sketch Club ends on June 16th 2012, so if you want to see a collection of 77 amazing works of art, illustrations for books, magazine covers, advertising, self promotion, then you have to visit the Avenue of the Artists now. To see illustrations in person is so different than what you see in print. Often a book cover is from a large painting, the art for a magazine cover may be quadruple the actual size, many are masterful works of painting virtuosity not illustrations made on a computer with Illustrator.

And you get to visit amazing alternate realities, space adventures, scary crimes and romantic trysts through the eyes and imagination of professional artists. Some of the art is by recent graduates from design school, especially from Moore College of Art & Design where Rich Harrington, the master-mind behind Phillustration V for the past five years, is a professor of illustration. The artistic talent he gathers together each year is impressive creating the opportunity to view artwork not normally available to the public except as a commercial product like a book or magazine cover.

Glenn Zimmer, Lost in the Tower of London, Phillustration V at The Philadelphia Sketch Club

Glenn Zimmer helped get members of the Bucks County Illustrators Society to submit work and deliver it to Philly.

Robert Byrd, The Grand Plans and Vision, Phillustration V at The Philadelphia Sketch Club – click the thumbnail for a larger image but Robert Byrd‘s website is amazing!

Stephanie Struse, Owl, Phillustration V at The Philadelphia Sketch Club

Mike Manley, Judge Parker 5.2.2012, Phillustration V at The Philadelphia Sketch Club

Jennifer Villareale, Finist the Falcon, Phillustration V at The Philadelphia Sketch Club

DoN featured this piece about the Moore 2012 graduate in a recent DoNArTNeWs blog post, it was especially satisfying to see the art in the historic gallery of The Philadelphia Sketch Club. Again, for a good look at this image visit the artist’s website or the gallery while the show is on.

Stacy Hornung, Belly Up I, Phillustration V at The Philadelphia Sketch Club

David Palumbo, Terrible Weakness, Phillustration V at The Philadelphia Sketch Club

The oil painting by David Palumbo, Terrible Weakness, is enormous, almost life sized, and evokes passion and emotion so skillfully that it’s scary. The Phillustration V at The Philadelphia Sketch Club will blow your mind with the creativity, masterful skill and myriad styles of modern illustration and proves you don’t need a computer to be an illustrator.

Read about Phillustration IV on SideArts.com Philadelphia Art Blog

Written and photographed by DoN Brewer

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Art in the Open at Schuylkill Banks Park

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Simone Spicer, Art in the Open at Schuylkill Banks Park

Katy the ArT DoG photo-bombs this pic of the site specific installation created by Simone Spicer for the Art in the Open weekend at Schuylkill Banks Park. The artist gathered plastic or plasticized trash, decorated each piece with paint or collage, then strung them like beads along the bike path. The effect was like a waterline where all this wacky trash had washed up on the banks of the nearby river commenting on the ecological effects of plastic trash. But Simone Spicer also lavished time and effort on each element accentuating the careful design of these daily-use objects and the efforts of designers and corporations to make them attractive enough to buy. And throw away.

Simone Spicer, Art in the Open at Schuylkill Banks Park

Art in the Open 2012 was a big commitment by the participating artists – three days set up as a working artist along the bike trail from Lombard Street towards the Philadelphia Art Museum. The point wasn’t to sell work but to demonstrate how art is made, engage with the public, raise questions and answer questions. The artists are rewarded with a show at The Philadelphia Seaport Museum for the rest of the Summer opening June 15th. The experience of strolling along the trail with the dog is one of DoN‘s favorite activities, the addition of art was like an alternate reality for an afternoon, it would be cool to see more artists along the scenic path all the time.

Barbara Gesshel, Art in the Open at Schuylkill Banks Park

Photographer, Jeff Stroud, DoN and Katy the ArT DoG walked along the bike path in the hot Spring sun and stopped at a shady tree where artist Barbara Gesshel had set up her studio out of the sun. Using the tree as a work surface Barbara Gesshel rubbed charcoal into large sheets of paper, using the ridges of the bark to create a naturalistic atmosphere to her drawing. Working with nature instead of against it, Gesshel’s use of charcoal, the charred remnants of dead trees, onto the living surface of a tree to make her drawings is poetic and inspiring.

Barbara Gesshel, Art in the Open at Schuylkill Banks Park, photo by Jeff Stroud

Barbara Gesshel has an expansive one-person show of prints and paintings at Red Hook Cafe on Fabric Row. Read DoN‘s blog post about the show on SideArts.com.

Erika Bergere, Art in the Open at Schuylkill Banks Park

Cyanotype is one of the oldest types of photography there is, artist Erika Bergere set up on the lawn with her baby and made the beautiful Prussian blue photographs using only the light of the sun and a solution of potassium ferricyonide and ferric ammonium. The wet paper hung out on a line to dry while the family lolled in the shade on the grass.

Justin Tyner, Art in the Open at Schuylkill Banks Park

Stained glass artist Justin Tyner was one of the only artists who needed to connect to the grid, he made this beautiful rose window outside with his soldering iron. Shortly after this photo was taken the window was mounted in a round wooden frame on the lawn on a hill near the art museum.

Jeannie Moberly, Art in the Open at Schuylkill Banks Park

Artist Jeannie Moberly used a variety of media from her art box to create the drawings on long expanses of paper that she planted in the ground with wood dowels. The maze-like effect was bold and beautiful at the bend in the river. Sitting in the bright sun with a big hat and long sleeves to guard her arms, the artist contentedly worked out the ambitious drawing while bikers, walkers and gawkers stopped by to check out the colorful display of art.

Abdelkrim Djennas, Art in the Open at Schuylkill Banks Park

Flowers made from battle caps – gorgeous! Abdelkrim Djennas flattens out bottle caps with cuts along the edge transforming refuse into delightful dumpster diver art. Like tramp artists of old, he takes what society discards and makes something desirable and pretty. The metal flowers sprouting in the woods near the art museum were whimsical yet prescient with a question of whether Nature will be overtaken by man made objects.

Nicole Donnelly, Art in the Open at Schuylkill Banks Park

Using found materials, Nicole Donnelly wove a structure of twigs and branches around one of the boulders along the river. Obviously temporary but the piece touched a childhood nerve of playing in the woods. The rocks along the river make convenient resting spots, Donnelly’s hut-like structure evokes Clan of the Cave Bear-like racial memories and the satisfaction of creating shelter.

George Apotsos, Art in the Open at Schuylkill Banks Park

George Apotsos used simple chicken wire to create his ethereal Occupy People. The wire torsos planted in the Earth at oblique angles, each faceless head looking in a different direction evoking the mixed message mantra of the Occupy movement. We can see right through them. Using a mannequin as a form, George Apotsos molds and trims the common material, using heavy gloves and strong shears, into a metaphor for modern life.

Written and photographed by DoN Brewer except where noted.

Contributing photographer, Jeff Stroud

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BLACKWHITE ANDINBETWEEN @ 110 Church

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Trish Thompson, BLACKWHITE ANDINBETWEEN @ 110 Church Gallery

BLACKWHITE ANDINBETWEEN show is already over but DoN is still thinking about the art installation that focussed simply on black and white. The gallery in Old City installed a three person show of black and white artworks by Philadelphia region artists: Trish Thompson, Tom Hlas & Wendy Wolf. The May First Friday crawl is all about discovering new art talent and 110 Church Gallery, off of 2nd Street in a quirky store front, feels so comfortable it’s like an oasis from the art mobs on the prowl offering a delight for the eye for the weary art crawler.

Tom Hlas, BLACKWHITE ANDINBETWEEN @ 110 Church Gallery

Tom Hlas explained to DoN how he meticulously crafted the woven collage, working each edge and surface of the paper with deceptive intensity. The group of three black and white collages all had red dots, Tom was grinning ear to ear with the satisfaction that his idea reacted with his audience in the best way.

Wendy Wolf, BLACKWHITE ANDINBETWEEN @ 110 Church Gallery

Wendy Wolf installed a site specific piece composed of string and and organically shaped cut outs that resemble Locust leaves. The pristine white elements create a pattern of shadow and shades of gray that only appear because the mind has to process the information somehow. The taut strings call to mind musical instruments, the random leaves striking chords in a holographic-like space between the strings and the wall. During last weekend’s Art in the Open event at Schuylkill Banks Park the artist installed a massive mixed media piece using her unique language of simple elements in a tree near the Philadelphia Art Museum. Her work weathers well and interacts with the environment in a pleasing poetic song-like work of art, one is still on view outside the art gallery.

The next event at 110 Church Gallery:

Josette Urso: Here and Then

Written & photographed by DoN

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