August 2005 Archive

Weekly Update – Irish Grassroots and McFarlane’s Ladders

This week’s Weekly includes my preview of the Jane Irish-organized “Operation RAW” at the Icebox Project Space. Here’s the link. And below that story is my Editor’s Choice on Tim MacFarlane‘s “Logical Progression” at Bridgette Mayer Gallery. Here’s the link to that article.ofield, jackIrish RebellionJane Irish‘s art has always been political, challenging stereotypes and questioning the status quo. In the ’90s she made faux Wedgewood vases whose sides were adorned with depictions of the homeless. She’s painted the police Roundhouse as a beautiful castle in the clouds. Her 2002 PAFA William Morris Gallery solo exhibit included paintings commemorating Vietnam War ... More » »

So much art, so little time

Here’s some more upcoming art stuff that clawed its way to the top in my mailbox– Vik Muniz at the Morris Gallery at PAFA, Sept. 16 to Nov. 27; he will speak Friday Sept. 16, at 12:30 p.m., Hamilton Auditorium. Ellen Harvey will open at PAFA Oct. 14, 6 – 8 p.m., up until Jan. 8. Mei-ling Hom will speak at PAFA Sept. 7, noon to 1, Hamilton Auditorium. And Nan Goldin will be showing at PAFA from Dec. 17 to Feb. 12. Swoon, double swoon, triple swoon, etc. Canadian artist and video-maker Rodney Graham opens at the ICA Sept. ... More » »

Black Market

Just kidding. Make that Black Floor Art Market. Coming this Saturday, sept. 3, noon-4 pm.Here’s how the kids are pitching this cash and carry event: It’s shabbier than shabby chic! “Stuff that has REAL frayed edges, REAL holes, and true deeply-felt emotional content.” List of artists (incomplete) includes: Kat Karnaky, Carrie Powell, Damien Weinkrantz, Hawk Krall, Tim Gough, Kris Chau, Caitlin Kuhwald, Mark Price, Linda Smyth, Briele Dime, Grace Kim, Jeff Weisner, Mike Whirley, South Philadelphia Antheum, Doub Hanshaw, Carrie Yotter, Annette Moinner, Gerik Forston, Jamie Dillon, Elsa Shadley. Special features of the indoor fair include food, face painting and ... More » »

Art 21: Season 3 Coming Up

Delaware Center for Contemporary Arts sent out a mass email announcing the public screening at their facility of the new Art 21 Season 3. Who knew there was going to be a Season 3 of that wonderful PBS art series? That’s great news. Here’s the list of the artists participating: (we’ve written about a number of them, some of them at length — see index)Laylah Ali, Ida Applebroog, Cai Guo-Qiang, Ellen Gallagher, Arturo Herrera, Oliver Herring, Roni Horn, Teresa Hubbard/Alexander Birchler, Mike Kelley, Josiah McElheny, Matthew Ritchie (pictured), Susan Rothenberg, Jessica Stockholder, Hiroshi Sugimoto, Richard Tuttle, Fred Wilson, and Krzysztof ... More » »

Post-mortem Lichtenstein rises in Philly

Alerted by this morning’s paper, we set out for a quick look at the Roy Lichtenstein megasculpture newly sited at 17th and Sansom streets in Center City Philadelphia. “Brushstroke Group,” a witty take on brush-stroke marks in three dimensions, were placed there by the law firm of Duane Morris in cooperation with the Lichtenstein Foundation. The site although outdoors in front of the law firm itself, is a private plaza. We had to see if it was visible, what was visible, what was blocking the view, and where the good viewing sites were going to be. The thing is so ... More » »

Packing it in

I bought a beautiful digital print by J.T. Kirkland a while back. It came wrapped to the nines in wax paper inside two cardboard sheets very nicely taped to prevent against slippage. Then it was placed inside a fedex box for added security and shipped, I believe, by priority mail. The packaging was such an over-the-top statement about care and protection of something well-loved I was touched. This is an artist that respects his art and respects his collectors. (You may remember Kirland as the artist/blogger I’ve written about before. See my interview with him in hot topics at the ... More » »

Just wondering

I forgot to predict in my post about Target ads in the New Yorker that someday, we might be seeing the originals touring around the country–a kind of son-of-Altoids Collection show, soon to be seen in a gallery near you.

Media update

I was stunned this morning to see that Ed Sozanski went out on a limb and reported about Jane Irish’s invitational anti-war art exhibit, Operation Rapid American Withdrawal (Operation RAW), which includes 87 other artists as well as Irish. There are a lot of big Philadelphia names in this show, but still, the whole project, which is quite ambitious, is also not your standard fare (image, a collage of two of Irish’s 38 images of Vietnam and of small American towns visited during a 100-mile anti-Vietnam War protest march that took place 35 years ago, organized by Vietnam Veterans Against ... More » »

Art in the cyber frontier

The image at the top of Roberta’s last post reminded me of this one. It’s a still from a video, “X-I am Here” by Bjorn Wangen, of Malmo, Sweden, one of five artists in an exhibit on a new online site, binarykatwalk, recently launched by artist Jeremy Hight, who has a track record that includes being in the permanent collection of the Whitney Museum artport. Hight emailed us about the site. I downloaded a swell piece of screen saver art from the exhibit,”Holding Pattern” by Cathy Davies, a Los Angeles artist. Wangen’s and Davies’ were my two favorite pieces. The ... More » »

Final Pro Cuts Film

Today I’m uncovering ancient history, a trip July 8 to the Milwaukee Art Museum to see “Cut:Film as found Object.” I always liked the title of the show, partly because — intentionally or not — it refers to the video and filmmaker’s software tool for editing, Final Cut Pro. And for an exhibit that’s all about film and video editing, that reference is perfect. Another word for the editing that goes on in this exhibit is sampling, and here, like with music, the artists are sampling from extant works and re-mixing them into something new. Many times the mix takes ... More » »