Members of the Breckenridge and Wagner families at the unveilng of the Historical Marker at the Philadelphia Sketch Club, the oldest art club in America. The Breckenridge family donated an important painting of the family matriarch to the Philadelphia Sketch Club that was found folded up in the bottom of a trunk. The painting has been meticulously restored by the prestigious Newman Gallery and is on display in the meeting room.
Muralist, David Guinn recently completed dual murals at 47th and Baltimore Ave. in West Philly. The twin tableau’s depict a vibrant, emerging neighborhood populated with hard-working Philadelphians, charming craftsman style architecture, diverse business’ and warm family life. Quinn captures the vibe of the ‘hood including many of the personalities with strong mark-making, assured coloration and thoughtful consideration of the context of his assignment. Quinn’s mural does not ghetto-ize the empty lot, formally a movie theater, it brings real art with references to Breugel, Hockney, and Rockwell to the street accomplishing a daunting task of satisfying many opinions and staying true to his art. DoN videotaped the ceremony and hopes to have a clip online soon.
David Quinn‘s mural @ 47th & Baltimore.
Detail of mural by David Guinn.
David Guinn @ the dedication to his dual murals. All David Quinn mural photos by Alden Cole.
Go to DoN‘s YouTube page, DoNNieBeat, to see a short video clip of the evening. It was really a fun night in West Philly; Shoshana and DoN dressed up and mingled with the crowd of artists while video projectors displayed examples of many of the POST artists works, an efficient way to honor the artists in the prestigious art museum.Last weekend was the West of Broad Street Philadelphia Open Studio Tours, DoN exhibited new drawings, photographs, paintings and video with a special display of NTPE 1 & 4 prints. NTPE = Newstoday Print Exchange. Newstoday, now QBN.com is a website dedicated to mostly multimedia and graphic designers who exchange ideas, chat and help each other. The Friday Photoshop Battles are hysterical. For NTPE, artists and designers send a print to people on a list and each then sends one to you. DoN participated in the first event and the most recent, fourth, exchange. NTPE is a wonderful experiment in trust, commitment, ingenuity and style with each artist doing their best to impress even the most jaded fellow designer.
Alden Cole with his Aldenized art chair @ Outsider Folk Art Gallery @ Goggleworks.
Ostensibly, the star of the show is self-taught artist Harriet Wiseman with her Modigliani-esque paintings of ladies and mise en seine on wood, palettes and ledger covers. Wiseman told DoNshe had never heard of Modigliani until people started telling her about the resemblence to the master and others like Chagall and Kokoschka – nice company to keep! She began studying art books in the library and soon understood the references; Wiseman is extremely prolific and has truly established a unique style all her own.
Oil painting by Harriet Wiseman @ Outsider Folk Art Gallery.
Wild Palms II, paint on cardboard, Jim Bloom @ Outsider Art Gallery.
Owner, George Viener, is an extensive self-taught art collector and expert in contemporary folk and outsider art; at one time he held 250 of Blooms paintings. Curator Emily Christenson toldDoN that Jon Clark of Home and Planet in Bethlehem cherry-picked the most angst-ridden pieces for the superb show held earlier this year in his gallery.
Alden Cole‘s dumpster-diver art perfectly suits the space, it wasn’t long before someone took the painted, re-upholstered chair off it’s pedestal to take a load off and it seemed as if everyone took a turn sitting on the art-chair. Alden’s fantastical luminaries softly glowed around the room, it was super-fun to watch the patrons with dropped jaws staring at the hypnotically changing lights.
The Goggle Works in Reading is a wonderful art space with five floors of studios and galleries as well as a recently installed LED light show in the windows of the old brick facade brightening the downtown scene with art and innovation. DoN and friends are planning a trip back to Reading to view more, more, more…
Alden Cole will be participating in the Philadelphia Open Studio Tours as well as an up-coming show at Smile Gallery, make sure you visit his gallery/studio in South Philly the second weekend in October.
Panoramic shot of Outsider Folk Arts Gallery in Reading, PA.
Philadelphia Open Studio Tours opening party @ ICA