Deja Vu – 6th Annual Juried Competition @ Off the Wall Gallery in Dirty Frank’s. DoN is honored to be represented in this show, the requirements were stringent and the jury big league. the opening party is Thursday, December 2th, 2010, 7 – 9:00 PM.
DoN Brewer, I Was Here, digital photograph, inkjet print @ Deja Vu – 6th Annual Juried Competition @ Off the Wall Gallery.
Bruce Garrity, Double Boulder in Recent Work @ Crestmont Gallery, 495 Haddon Avenue, Collingswood, NJ.
Bruce Garrity is a professor at Rutgers Camden and is the curator of the Hopkins House Gallery on the banks of the Cooper River as well as a fine artist and painter in his own right. His large canvases are atmospheric, the clear, bright colors of the paint telling stories packed with myth and mystery, each painting taking the viewer deep into the artist’s introspection. The new Crestmont Gallery on Haddon Avenue occupies a grand old house with the first floor now dedicated to art, sculpture, ceramics, jewelry and more, the space looks so elegant with Bruce’s paintings accompanied by beautiful ceramics and cases filled with desirable objects.
Owner Gary is planning exciting exhibitions to coordinate with the car shows, street fairs, art scene and cultural events that have become the calling card of Collingswood. The Second Saturday art crawl in Collingwood is really fun with fine art, good food and a great small town atmosphere that is optimistic and forward looking with the arts being a driving force.
Bruce Garrity, @ Crestmont Gallery, Collingswood, NJ.
Dr. Deb Miller, a friend and colleague of Garrity’s said his paintings are, “Asian in perspective“, a Zen-like feeling of contemplation and respect for nature is infused in the compositions.
Bruce Garrity, Black Sea Bass @ Crestmont Gallery, Collingswood, NJ.
Photos by DoN.
Carla Lombardi, Gavaciolli, high fire stoneware, Shinoglaze, @ Decameron, Da Vinci Art Alliance @ Smile Gallery on 22nd Street. Decameron is presented in conjunction with the world premier of Karen Saillant‘s new opera of the same name presented by the International Opera Theater and inspired by Il Decamerone by Giovanni Boccaccio. The stories of the ten people who escaped the Black Plague to a country estate is operatic in scope with so much source material from the tens of tens of stories told while the world collapsed around them that the tales of love, lust, morality and sin still ring true and wise in the modern age. The artists reached deep to connect the dots of our common deep past with our futuristic present through drawing, painting, sculpture, collage and photography.
Ona Kalstein, Lisbetta Weeps, 4th day, 5th tale, ink & colored pencil on vellum.
Rosalind Bloom, Danse Macabre – The Black Death, watercolor, acrylic, collage.
Ted Warchal, Tale 5 – 2, Gastanza Sails to Tunis, assemblage, Decameron, Da Vinci Art Alliance @ Smile Gallery.
Ted Warchal @ Decameron, Da Vinci Art Alliance @ Smile Gallery. Tale 6-1o – The Relic of Archangel Gabriel reminds us of a time when zealots professed to own bits of Saints which could be viewed at a price, Warchal’s magical assemblage holds a golden feather and a bone.
Rachel Citrino @ Decameron, Da Vinci Art Alliance @ Smile Gallery. Citrino created a 100 block grid of images relating to Italy and the hundred tales of the Decameron, printed on canvas, the digital collage pops with hits of color amidst the stark black and white memories of a distant world.
Rosalind Bloom, The Embrace..., oil & mixed media collage and DoN Brewer, Heliotrope, digital photograph, digital print. Roz’s painting refers to the boils caused by the Black Plague called Caviciolli like some pasta, but when you got a boil you’re dead in 3 days. DoN‘s Heliotrope does not refer to the color but the magic stone offering the power of invisibility.
Alden Cole‘s painting depicts the rise of humanism and the lesson of living in the moment filled with love.
Sadly, this is the last Da Vinci Art Alliance show at Smile Gallery, Ken Tutjamnong‘s restaurant has become so popular that he needs the room for diners he has been turning away and he can show his own outstanding artwork as he does in the dining room at street level. Admittedly the art drew people to the restaurant and the gallery offered DVAA space outside the club’s gallery to do theme show’s like Decameron.
Photos by DoN.
Zoe Cohen – Wind and Weather @ The Crane Arts Center in Fishtown.
Zoe Cohen‘s site specific painting/drawing continues her exploration of the symbolic power of line by taking on Mother Nature. First the surface of the long, high walls of the main hall (which is changed out regularly with installations) was prepared like one would for a fine painting, then long, strong strokes of muted color is heroically applied in swirls, curls and stretches of balanced lines. DoN truly sensed the mythology of the elements signified in the simple line and color palette chosen by Zoe to delve deep into symbolism and communication.
The Hall @ the Crane Arts Center in Fishtown, with Zoe Cohen’s Wind and Weather, connects all the venues and is an important space for artists to activate since everyone passes through; Zoe Cohen s contribution to the legacy of the space is a simple, direct connection to a hive mind memory of simple shapes informed with complex ideas, capturing the imagination and stirring memories.
Fred Wagner An American Painter 1860 – 1940 @ The Philadelphia Sketch Club.
Fred Wagner An American Painter is curated by the artist’s great-grand nieces Cyndy Drue and Susan Brendlinger-Smith, who also co-authored a biography of the Philadelphia artist (available for sale at the Philadelphia Sketch Club), filling both the main gallery and the pool room with exquisite paintings of Philadelphia scenes, portraits, equine compositions and water scenes. The Philadelphia Sketch Club looks beautiful with the incredible collection of historic paintings gathered together in a space where the artist actually worked with his friends. An artist can only wish that their work will be preserved but Fred Wagner is cherished by his family, collectors and the art community of Philadelphia.
Fred Wagner, The River Harbor, watercolor study, 8 x 9 ” collection of Cyndy Drue Smith @ The Philadelphia Sketch Club.
Fred Wagner, Downtown Toms River, oil on canvas.
Visit the galleries at The Philadelphia Sketch Club on the Avenue of the Artists and take a step back in time to when Thomas Eakins and Thomas Anshutz encouraged artists to get out and paint, some of the original easels are still there. This year is the club’s 150th anniversary, the oldest art club in America, the Fred Wagner show wasn’t there long but the upcoming Legacy Show offers an opportunity for collectors to buy art by Philadelphia’s current and future masters.
Photos by DoN.
