February 2005 Archive

Coulda been a contender

We happened upon some swell papier mache sculptures by Beth Nixon, Michelle Posadas and Chip Malloy of Spiral Q Puppet Theater in the Liberty Place atrium on our way to giving out art.nixon, bethEntitled “Dalidelphia,” the installation is supposed Surrealism-inspired, with its buggy rowers on the Schuylkill and Rocky as a bulldog on a pedestal and a Liberty Bell dog. The pieces were a little tough to see against the bright sell-sell-sell surfaces there, not to mention against the giant pinky red Dali poster with the bug eyes and the aerodynamic mustache.malloy, chipHere’s a picture of the boxer (top image) ... More » »

On the street with Libby and Roberta

We have so many motives for giving away art on the street. One of the big ones is that we are not the gallery types. We tried that. We prefer the hurly burly of the street corner. In our Friday hurly burly, who should come along but the ultimate art insider, ICA Curator Ingrid Schaffner. Libby approached her and said “It’s a gift. It’s free art.” Ingrid looked straight ahead, thoughts elsewhere, and walked by. Libby ran over to Roberta in shock and said “Can you believe it…Ingrid Schaffner just rejected me!” Roberta ran after Ingrid, called out to her ... More » »

Buy at Amazon, honeys

In case you haven’t noticed, artblog is now an associate of amazon. If you click the amazon link in the left-hand column and then buy something at amazon we get a little percentage. We know you buy at amazon. We do. Buying through our link will help us out so we can continue writing out hearts out about art. And we thank you. Love from us.

Japanese if you please

I can’t believe I went all the way to Ursinus College and saw only one of the two shows there. How dumb is that?azechi, umetaroI was up near Norristown wrestling with my kitchen transformation, so I used the opportunity to catch “Modern Impressions: Japanese Prints from the Berman and Corazza Collections, 1950-1980″ at the college’s Berman Museum.watanabe, sadaoThe show had caught my eye for two reasons: Number one, the image on the card, Azechi Umetaro’s “Awe of the Mountain” woodblock print (right top) ; number two, now that I was paying attention, I noticed that my fellow townwatcher Frank L. ... More » »

Who’s Hsu?

Every once in a while, one of us throws a question out there and it actually gets answered. So when I wrote a post with an image of a wheat-pasted dog that I came across on and near the Penn campus, I attributed the work to one of my favorite artists, Anonymous (left, “Dawg,” by Jason Hsu, photo by his friend May).hsu, jasonThen two days ago in an email from a friend of the artist, whose name turns out to be Jason Hsu, not anonymous after all (right, “Dawg,” by Hsu, photo by his friend May). Here’s some of what ... More » »

Blood and guts and art

Post by Colette Copelandnitsch, hermannI took my visual studies class to see the Hermann Nitsch retrospective at Slought Gallery this week, “Hermann Nitsch / Die Aktionen: 1962-2003″ (right, Hermann Nitsch, “Das Orgien Mysterien Theater / Theater of Orgies and Mysteries,” Salzburg, 1990) . These are bright, well-read, open-minded students. Two of them refused to even enter the gallery. Quite a few were repulsed and shocked. Director Aaron Levy graciously turned off all the video monitors, so that the class could engage in a conversation. We spoke at length about the work in terms of its historical, political, geographical, psychological and ... More » »

The roots of collage run deep

Judy Engle emailed me at the Weekly to invite me to see a small exhibit of her collages in the teacher’s lounge at Community College. She reminded me that I hadn’t made it to a previous exhibit of hers, and that triggered the Catholic guilt in me and off I went. While the exhibit space, in the teachers’ lounge, was nothing special (in fact it is a utilitarian space with copy machine, lunch/meeting table and bulletin boards and would be a killer for some work), it was fine for Engle’s intimate pieces. The collages were seductive and intriguing and because ... More » »

Dorothy speaks today

We’re on for today (see Dorothy info in left bar), the first day of our art giveaway. Maybe we’ll see you there.

Advances in technology

At last someone in Philadelphia has picked up the New York Times-style narrated slide show, one of the great things that the internet can give you that print media cannot. The local show, a behind-the-scenes look at the installation of “Accumulated Vision: Barry Le Va” at the Institute of Contemporary Art, voice over by exhibition curator Ingrid Schaffner, is on the ICA’s web site (right, Le Va’s “Shatterscatter”). le va, barryGo directly to the slide show here. To make things even better, all the ICA has to do is replace the mysterious front-page description “interactive feature” with the transparent description ... More » »

She sews pretty–not

Two very different species of stitchery crossed my path recently, and the differences speak volumes about the differences in the two galleries where the work exhibited.ahn, julianneAt Space 1026, Julianne Ahn showed embroidered images on rough, hand-made felt that looked a little mysterious–maybe padding for clothes or furniture. The embroidery was bold and rough, the images surprising scenes of modern life–people sitting on the Kyoto Metro viewed from an angle so the figures were anonymous, a full-figure outline portrait of a young boy named Sebastian, a club scene on open mic night, a city view (left, “Kyoto Metro”).greene, taliaAhn’s work ... More » »