|
Like DoNArTNeWs Philadelphia Art News Blog on FaceBook
Follow DoN on Twitter @DoNNieBeat58
DoNArTNeWS on Tumblr
@donniebeat on Instagram
Affiliate Marketing [disclosure page] Shop on-line and help support DoNArTNeWs
The drawing a day project has so many ways to interact with viewers and Stella Untalan has stories for each day but finds that people are telling her their stories for days that are important to them.
Whats so surprising is that I have a whole perception about the pieces, theres a whole different one because Ive never seen them all together. So, Im surprised. But, the other people come to it and theyre telling you what they like about the pieces, that they were drawn to a particular piece and its just like its interesting. Really visceral, I like this one, I like that one! Its really exciting.
And its not just me, I mean its about the excitement of the art of it, its like, Wow.
365 #drawingaday : Stella Untalan, 110 Church Gallery through January 18th, 2013.
Read the story at the new www.DoNArTNeWs.com.
Like DoNArTNeWs Philadelphia Art News Blog on FaceBook
Follow DoN on Twitter @DoNNieBeat58
DoNArTNeWS on Tumblr
@donniebeat on Instagram
Shine: Rebecca Gilbert at 110 Church Gallery, Out of the Well, woodcut on Japanese paper
Have you ever experienced that magic moment with a work of art when it changes from one thing to another? Like when an abstract becomes a landscape, or a figure emerges from a mess of paint? Expect that to happen when you visit Shine: Rebecca Gilbert at 110 Church Gallery. What looks like a drawing is a woodcut, what looks 2D is 3D, what appears abstract actually has a distinct narrative. The gallery on Church Street in Old City presents the artist’s work sparely, each piece or grouping has plenty of elbow room yet the space is entirely activated by the artist’s conceptual prints. Out of the Well reads like an abstract drawing from across the room but when approached the distinct markings of gouged wood become apparent and the sense of looking down a deep well and not tree rings comes into view. Rebecca Gilbert‘s art always takes the viewer on a journey to a strange place with an odd sense of the familiar. Have you ever looked down a well? Or even seen a real well?
Shine: Rebecca Gilbert at 110 Church Gallery
The triptych above looks at first like a crumbled pediment then transmogrifies into a skateboard ramp over a dirt pile. The static work becomes action packed with the handiwork of kids setting up a dare-devil jump for bikes; the seemingly flat surface is actually layers of dimpled board built up thickly and hanging away from the wall. Again the sweet moment of change, a dual reality of simple forms switch from abstract to story-telling illustration. Remember these are prints, not drawings or paintings, and more sculptural than flat.
Shine: Rebecca Gilbert at 110 Church Gallery
Shine: Rebecca Gilbert at 110 Church Gallery
Artist Dan Chow, like many others, moved up so close to the installation that a museum guard would drag you back. Thoughtfully, he covered his mouth so as not to breath onto the delicate surface to inspect the incredible detail and peek behind the sides to discover how the work floats away from the wall. Rebecca Gilbert told DoN she wanted to make a big Evil Knievle sized jump but settled for the fun sized kid version. But again, it’s the story of riding a bike really fast and making the jump over a dirt pile like an imaginary row of trucks on a Harley Fat Boy that creates action in the art.
Shine: Rebecca Gilbert at 110 Church Gallery
Shine: Rebecca Gilbert at 110 Church Gallery
The trio of woodcuts in white frames is peaceful like sitting by a pond, the watery blue ripples out like the waves from a thrown pebble. Insect and plant forms linger near the edges. You can almost hear the breeze rustling leaves and croaking frogs. Again, the images aren’t flat, layers of prints are built up in an elegant merging of amorphous shapes to delight the eye and bring wonderment to the mind.
Rebecca Gilbert is a CFEVA Fellow, her communications skills are awesome. She speaks with clarity and has stories to tell about each piece with explanations for the symbolism she incorporates in her art. And when you know the stories then the mark-making, line and color take on a richer quality saturated with colorful myths, amusing anecdotes and flights of fancy. Printmaking is a challenging art form requiring multiple skills such as drawing, sculpting and mechanical mastery, the show of prints, Shine: Rebecca Gilbert, will expand your mind and improve your knowledge of what a print can be in the age of mechanical reproduction.
Shine: Rebecca Gilbert at 110 Church Gallery
DoN had the pleasure of interviewing Rebecca Gilbert in her new studio on the second floor of Da Vinci Art Alliance in South Philly during Philadelphia Open Studio Tours 2012 and will post more information about her process and the many projects she is juggling while hammering, gouging and slicing away at a plank of wood, creating the reverse image of what you see in the final print. Amazing.
Written and Photographed by DoN Brewer
Follow DoN on Twitter @DoNNieBeat58
DoNArTNeWS on Tumblr
@donniebeat on Instagram
Subscribe to the new DoNArTNeWs by e-mail: DoN@DoNBrewerMultimedia.com
Affiliate Marketing [disclosure page] Shop on-line and help support DoNArTNeWs
Blick Art Materials’ Current Promo Code
Silicon Fine Art Prints at studio:christensen, photo by Jeff Stroud
Silicon Fine Art Prints at studio:christensen, photo by Jeff Stroud
Did you ever want to print one of your photos big, really big, like 64″ wide and almost as long as you want? Silicon Fine Art Prints has six Epson wide format printers at their disposal to make your dreams come true, plus they will help you realize your passion with expert advise. That’s why many of Philadelphia’s finest fine art photographers trek to Old City to have their prints made. And for the month of September studio:christensen, on 20th Street, is displaying a collection of incredibly imaginative images produced in the Silicon Fine Art Prints workshop.
studio:christensen is a unique gallery/design space/pop-up shop featuring art, furniture, fashion and photography for the discerning urban dweller. Just walking by the storefront is inspiring, going inside to meet the friendly owner Jt Christensen and his (may DoN say) glamorous assistant Joanna Babarakos is to step into a world of approachable yet unusual design and art.
Silicon Fine Art Prints at studio:christensen
Silicon Fine Art Prints at studio:christensen, Joel Lederer
When one enters the gallery, the modern art mixed with beautiful furnishings is satisfyingly uplifting. But Joel Lederer‘s bold pair of enormous prints draws you towards them like a magnet. DoN asked Joel Lederer about the luminous prints, “The images are from a game called Second Life, it’s an on-line 3D virtual world, a massive multi-user on-line role playing game. What this project is, is essentially landscape photography, straight landscape photography, inside that virtual world. And it’s like a survey of essentially different styles that are used to create that community. What’s unique about it is that whereas other games have sort of a set narrative, and a set aesthetic, Second Life’s content is built by the users. You can go in there and rent virtual land and decorate it however you want and bring your own content and textures. I thought that was kind of interesting, so my goal was to bring as many different types of styles of landscape photography within that world.”
Silicon Fine Art Prints at studio:christensen
Joel Lederer continues, “In the beginning I was like how do I take a survey view? A documentary view? I figured since the virtual world is built from styles of the real world, I’d have to emulate the individual styles.” DoN asked if it’s a screen shot? “It’s a little more difficult than that, but it’s like a high resolution screen shot.”
Silicon Fine Art Prints at studio:christensen
Joel Lederer‘s work is also on display at SITE Santa Fe, in a show called More Real. “A whole show about truthiness and virtuality.”
“More Real? Art in the Age of Truthiness presents work by some of today’s most accomplished and promising international artists who are examining our shifting experience of reality. Over the past century, during a period of unprecedented technological change and global social upheaval, once-established beliefs, or “truths,” have been cast into doubt, changing and shaping our understanding and experience of reality. Through diverse media and in unexpected ways, this exhibition explores the impact and role of deception, play, memory, power, simulation, and new technologies on art and everyday life.” SITE Santa Fe website.
Written and Photographed by DoN Brewer except where noted, thanks to photographer, Jeff Stroud
Follow DoN on Twitter @DoNNieBeat58
DoNArTNeWS on Tumblr
Affiliate Marketing [disclosure page] Shop on-line at Amazon.com and help support DoNArTNeWs.
Gesshel at Jed Williams Studio, Printmaking Demonstration 8/22/2012
Philadelphia artist Barbara Gesshel is a printmaker who combines excellent drawing skills with multiple printmaking processes. Old planks of wood become reliefs carved with images of nature in reverse, an old headboard is repurposed and carved away to reveal a family portrait, mono-prints become statement pieces…at Jed Williams Studio, 615 Bainbridge Street, Gesshel will demonstrate several printmaking techniques tonight, August 22nd, followed by refreshments and question and answer session. You may get a chance to even make your own print plus you will get a preview of Gesshel‘s upcoming solo show at Jed Williams Studio in October. Tickets are $7.00
Read more at SideArts.com
http://gesshelprintmakingdemo.eventbrite.com
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
Follow DoN on Twitter @DoNNieBeat58
Affiliate Marketing [disclosure page] Shop on-line at Amazon.com and help support DoNArTNeWs.