Kim Martin @ The Plastic Club. Kim leads an early morning workshop on Tuesdays at the club featuring extended poses. The result is magnificent works like this portrait of Bob Jackson; Martin’s exuberant use of color and expressive gesture is fun to be around.
Glenn Benge, Reclining Figure, chalk @ The Plastic Club.
Workshop show @ The Plastic Club. The venue is one of the few accepting all work which is then juried.
Correction – the show is down. Next – Models as Artists.
Nancy Barch, Chained Mail, mixed media @ Grow – Off the Wall Gallery. The use of disposable materials such as the ceiling tile and old slides reek with hidden meaning and memes. Slides are so anachronistic and ceiling tiles, even though functional at insulation and sound-proofing, are out of style. Barch’s piece sends obtuse mixed messages stimulating social consciousness neurons to fire in the brain.
Grow @ Off the Wall Gallery in Dirty Frank’s Bar.
Alisa Fox, Jars, mixed media.
One of the cool things @ Off the Wall is the corner display case where more delicate constructions can be installed. The team of Jody and Togo extend much effort in branding, soliciting, promoting and selling art from publicity to art cards and posters to installation, the production is always top notch. Off the Wall has hosted hundreds of local aspiring and established artists in their thoughtful exhibitions.
Karl Olsen, Free Compost, mixed media including ingredients from mustard to absinthe.
Grow is on display through August 7th and includes work by 30 artists including members of the Plastic Club, Photographic Society of Philadelphia and other regional arts groups. Frank’s has been an outpost for many Plastic Club members and recently Anders Hansen hosted a Salon at The Plastic Club to discuss the Grow show. In branding the show, curator Jody Sweitzer and manager Togo Travalia, put a new spin on the current “green” trend with a focus on recycled materials and ideas.
Karl Olsen used phylo dough, Julia Fisichella‘s amazing photoshop collages are inspired, Ed Snyder’s floral photograph exquisitely illuminated the concept with an image pinched from nature, Veronica Schmude‘s moody interior photograph is brimming with stolen narrative (Veronica is the guest speaker at this Tuesday’s PSoP lecture series at The Plastic Club). The Salon was lively: Shoshanna Aron (just back from Israel) pointed out how being “green” is a new concept – that the old paradigm was consumerism, Bob Bohne introduced the topic of the healing power of art and the importance of community outreach, Alan Clawens highlighted how artists resist creating new work for a theme show and try to squeeze old works into new parameters, DoN mentioned bricolage and Burnell Yow!s amazing show at Smile. The group sipped wine and chatted until sunset and the party moved to Frank’s. The discussion helped DoN realize that thinking outside the box isn’t always the best approach – sometimes all you need is the box.
Alden Cole‘s “Lucy in the Sky“, marker. DoN sees this drawing as the work of one of Philadelphia’s master artists; the combination of illustration, foreshortening, coloration, line quality, relevance and sensitivity to the subject, immortalizing the model. Then DoN realizes it’s marker pens on paper, the same as used in graffiti, popping energy and vibration, ancient and future knowledge, high and low art all vibrating from a single moment in space and time, into the gallery space. Absorbing the power of the messages being transmitted through Cole’s art is like time-tripping through art history in an instant. When you walk up the steps into the studio gallery, this is where the eye is drawn first.
Lois Schlachter, “Clown Fish“, acrylic. Super flat, futuristic, meticulous trips into the swirly world of Lois’ paintings is like a glimpse into a dream of the best amusement park ride you even went on, the kind that’s so fast and so thrilling that you can’t scream because it’s so much fun.
Marie Davis Samohod, “Ionic Table“, acylic, Naomi Rubin, “The Beauty of the Land”, watercolor.
Alan J. Klawans, Mike Guinn & Bob Jackson @ the Plastic Club’s 97th Annual Members Medal Show. Without people like these men it just doesn’t happen; the exhibition is so strong, the display so expertly installed and the experience design so inclusive, warm and inviting that it feels natural and accessible but tremendous amounts of work go into such a huge installation, these guys deserve credit for bringing out the best and making it happen. The art movement is Philadelphia is strong and determined, DoN LoVes it when people proudly tell which Philadelphia art school they went to and how organizations like the Plastic Club fill the void of the commaraderie of attending a school of art.
DoN Brewer, “Thanksgiving“, digital photo, Jeanne Coryell, “Mandala“, watercolor and Alice Meyer-Wallace, “Vrikis And Glads“, oil.
The Plastic Club’s 97th Annual Members Medal Exhibition award winners: Katherine Stanek, The Plastic Club Gold Medal, Jake Smith, The Plastic Club Silver Medal, John Benigno, The Zeigler Prize, Ben Wilson, The Dorothy Invernizzi Guinn Memorial Prize.
Paintings by Bob Arufo in his fourth and final major retrospective paired with Bob Jackson‘s life drawings is beautiful and inspiring. Arufo’s paintings are luminous and speak of a period in time – vaguely Vargas mixed with Edward Hopper – the sence of immediacy and liveness is refreshing. Jackson’s use of humble materials, ball point pen and typing paper or drawing paper, shows a singular vision, a practiced hand and a studious mix mark marking and seeing, each drawing framed with thought and restraint. Shoshka and DoN soaked in the vibe of Dirty Frank’s: a long haired man in a Matrix style leather coat drank cocktails with a green-haired girl, Bob’s wife knitted with light up knitting needles, old Bowie songs playing on the jukebox, and sipping whiskey at an ancient wooden table.
Bob Arufo @ Off the Wall Gallery in Dirty Franks, 13th & Pine.
Bob Arufo @ Off the Wall Gallery in Dirty Franks, 13th & Pine.
Bob Jackson, president of the Plastic Club, in the 5th Annual Mary Liz Memorial Masters Exhibition @ Off the Wall Gallery in Dirty Frank’s. Jackson’s drawings are impeccable.
The Women’s Caucus for the Arts is exhibiting “Plastic at the Plastic” @ The Plastic Club on Camac Street, a mixed media show of beautiful objects and images. Diana Riukas and Pam Flynn have special exhibits. The Women’s Caucus for Art is a National Organization of women artists, art historians, curators, collectors, art educators and museum professionals – the show runs through 3/29/09.
Virginia Maksymowicz, “Pane Trasparente“, installation of 30 small cast resin and photos.
Ponderings – Pam Flynn in the Tearoom @ The Plastic Club.
Art & artist. Neurotica – Works by Diana Riukas in the Main room of The Plastic Club.
