September 2005 Archive

Drawing Joe

[Ed. note:artblog contributor Joe Naujokas wrote us to say he had paintings and a drawing in a three-person show at Katharina Rich-Perlow Gallery in New York. Naujokas, a 2004 PA Council on the Arts Fellow told us he was showing six new works including his first drawing in over 15 years. I thought this was most interesting and so I wrote back to Joe and asked him to expand a little. Why a drawing now, for example. Here's what he wrote.] Hi Roberta, thanks for the response. It must be hard for you to concentrate on art when real life ... More » »

Always look on the bright side of life

When Faith Ringgold grabbed my hand and focused on my face and said “A blogger, a real blogger” (or maybe it was …a real life blogger), I had no idea that she might be the funniest woman alive (Ringgold in a video image). Unfortunately, what makes her funny is the way the delivery undercuts the words. So this is the last bit of humor in this post. Ringgold was in town earlier this month because Moore College was honoring her with its 2005 Moore College Visionary Woman Award, which also went to Wilhelmina Cole Holladay, the founder of the National ... More » »

1801 delights

I stopped by the “Alumni of 1801” exhibit on Friday and saw another fabulous exhibition. (See posts one and two about my previous exhibition/studio visit to 1801 in the Spring.) You can see more photos from my trip to 1801 Howard St. on my flickr page. 1801 Howard is the artists’ live/work space at the corner of Howard and Montgomery Streets in Kensington. This alumni exhibit includes names that are a who’s who list of Philadelphia contemporary art: Tristin Lowe, Shannon Bowser, Clint Takeda, Joy Feasley and Paul Swenbeck, Sue Patterson, Kait Midgette, Kate Brockman, David Wickland — many Fleisher ... More » »

Weekly Update – Anne Minich

There’s no art page in the Weekly this week so my review of the Anne Seidman/Susan Hagen exhibits at Schmidt-Dean Gallery will appear next week. (thumbnail review: excellent, run right over!) In the Listings is my review of Anne Minich‘s show at Philadelphia Cathedral. Here’s the link to that story and below is the text. My 2004 studio visit with Minich is here and Libby’s post on the show is here. “Anne Minich: From the Head Series”Through Oct. 10. Philadelphia Cathedral, 3723 Chestnut St. 215.386.0234.Anne Minich’s exhibit “From the Head Series” at Philadelphia Cathedral tells a universal story. Minich’s 13 ... More » »

Art in the trash

Check out Anna Conti’s response to Rah Crawford’s “Deus Ex Machina” (see post). She wrote a thoughtful essay on the whys and a who’s who of artists known to have destroyed their own artwork. Most people I know have done it, considered doing it, or feel burdened to preserve their piles of production. This is one artist’s thought process on why it’s good to move on when a pile of old work stands in the way of progress. crawford, rah

Squirrely kid, or how did Sally Mann do it

Email from Anne Minich I’ve seen the ["Operation RAW"] show a few times and “sat” it on Friday (here’s the most recent RAW post; you can work your way back to all the others from there). My favorite piece is the little girl hanging by her feet; It is , for me a perfect juxtaposition of something horrific and something beautiful and tender. I had an opportunity to talk with the artist, Cynthia Porter. The little girl’s name is Violet and her mother is a good friend of Porter’s. They made a game of getting the picture. Violet is a ... More » »

Great ideas in video

Before the dust settles on September and we’re on to pumpkins and Halloween I need to tell you about an email Matthew Suib sent me. In my gush ‘n enthuse over Christian Marclay‘s “Video Quartet” (2002) in “Film: Cut” at the Milwaukee Art Museum I apparently said that the piece was like nothing I’d seen before. Well, Suib reminded me of his piece “The Harpo Marx Free-Jazz Jamboree” (2001) a 6-channel movie and music appropriation that ran at Vox (he’s a member) in 2001. The piece was included in a different form (a one-channel piece) in 2002 at the ICA ... More » »

Deus ex machina

A crowd pressed into the small Qbix Gallery Friday night to witness artist Rah Crawford destroy three of four pieces he promised to saw through if they didn’t sell (see post). The gallery had some yellow caution tape across its width, behind which stood two saw horses. A classical singer was singing some very sad music when I arrived at 11:30 p.m., something appropriate for a funeral. (Murray helped me stay upright; it was past my bedtime). That’s the soprano, way in the back right corner of the gallery. When she was done, Crawford, a good-looking young man dressed in ... More » »

German/Swiss opera connection

Email from Rob Matthews Got this link from Matt Fisher recently. It’s a review from the drawing show in Basel he was in this summer. Matt Fisher in German! He’s at the Millay Colony now. There’s someone there that speaks German. The article says something about his figures being dressed “opera-like”…is that a word?…”of, or like an opera”…how’s about that? Anyway, dressed like that instead of like “toy soldiers.” He was glad to see that (image, a Matt Fisher drawing of a man dressed “opera-like”). –Artist Rob Matthews shows at Gallery Joe and is a regular artblog contributorfisher, mattmatthews, rob

Class acts

Libby and I were at Penn last week giving a talk for a class run by artblog pal, artist and correspondent Colette Copeland. After the talk Copeland mentioned to us she had some work in the faculty show at the Charles Addams Gallery, so since we were nearby we went to check it out. As with most exhibits that include video works, two of them were not working and the person at the desk in the office didn’t have a clue how to fix the situation. Not working: Copeland’s video installation and Nadia Hironaka‘s light switch video (luckily, we had ... More » »