Gallery 22 in Center City West is an artist collective under the direction of Shawn Murray with rotating exhibits of member artists as well as an ongoing group exhibit. The space is lovely with wonderful light and excellent presentation – the current show Energy & Matter was installed by Shawn and member artist Diane Podolsky, pairing the expressive paintings by Podolsky with photographer Bonnie Schorske. Before last Sunday’s meet & greet DoN had the opportunity for some quiet conversation with Diane Podolsky while Katy the ArT DoG & Lady Doofie (the St. Bernard/Chihuahua mix) lounged on the sidewalk on 22nd Street.
Over the Summer Podolsky held a teaching fellowship with the Center for Emerging Visual Artists to work on an inter-generational art project bringing together young people and residents of a nursing home. The gist of the program was to get older people to pass along stories of their lives to the youngsters, incorporating the tales of their lives into an upcoming art installation. The kids were captivated by the stories told by an ex-professional baseball player from the Negro Baseball League in Philly, a former jazz club singer and folks who lived in simpler times in Germantown. The project involves cut out paper flowers & leaves and paper clothes to be hung on a clothes line in a nine foot long installation with the stories written on the elements. Diane was surprised at how much the kids enjoyed hearing the stories and sewing the paper clothes – many of them had never threaded a needle let alone actually sewing. DoN will keep you posted as to when the completed work with be displayed.
Olea Europaea Biceps Popeyi, Bonnie Schorske, digital capture archival print and Thorns, Diane Podolsky, oil & graphite.
Make a Wish, Diane Podolsky, oil & graphite and Olea Europaea Deja II, Bonnie Schorske, digital capture archival pigment print.
Bonnie Schorske @ Gallery 22.
Diane is quite self effacing about her work even though the bold works are expressive, intriguing and vibrant. Her style is abstract yet naturalistic, combining brushy strokes of muted color with recognizable objects such as chicken wishbones, woody tree shapes and animal forms. Matched with Bonnie Schorske’s impeccable black and white photographs of Majorica, the overall effect is transcendent as if following Alice down the rabbit hole. Bonnie told DoN there is a hidden narrative in the installation which is fun to investigate – kind of like “Where’s Waldo” on an highly sophisticated level. The skill and beauty of the artists’ work is perfectly complementary with dreamy photo realism aligned with neo-geo paintings; Energy & Matter is on display through November 8th to be followed by a one person show of paintings by the incomparable Ed Bronstein, Explorations…..in the Neighborhood featuring paintings created in Katy & Lady Doofie’s favorite place, the dog park!
The group show @ Gallery 22.