December 2006 Archive

Photographs on science at Siano

Benjamin Pierce’s ENIAC 2 and 3, Digital C-print 31.5 x 28″. I couldn’t get a decent shot with all the reflections. That word “abstract” keeps turning up like a bad penny. This month plus a couple of weeks into January, the Second Annual Abstract Photography Exhibition is at Gallery Siano. And I could spend the whole post questioning the abstract chops of any of the photos on display. But why bother? ENIAC 9, by Pierce I’d rather cut to the chase: What captured my imagination in this show was work by Benjamin Pierce. Pierce’s photos focus on bits and pieces ... More » »

William Cromar: Taking space

trp[04f], by William Cromar, starts as a stick and becomes a blade as it impreceptably curves toward the viewer at eye level, 72″ high, wood, pigment, casein, fasteners. William Cromar keeps surprising me. I have yet to set out to see his work. Instead, I stumble upon it every once in a while. This time, I found it at Minimal Works Gallery, a new space up on Chestnut Street with windows too high to catch the eye of a casual walker. So I walked right by the place. Fortunately, George Collins at Art Around mentioned there was a gallery down ... More » »

No Wite-Out and season’s greetings

Snow Scene, by Libby Rosof As usual, I’m a little late. But less about me, because this post is about you, dear readers, one and all, who keep us writing. Wishes to you all for a happy new year and joy for whatever remains of the holiday season.

Margery Amdur: Serious decorations at Joan Shepp

Chandeliers of screening share the window with clothing for sale and other screening art objects. Fleisher/Ollman’s openings are always a hot spot for collectors and art lovers. So there I was at the Morgellons opening at F/O, talking to independent curator Marsha Moss, when she asked me if I had seen the Margery Amdur installation at Joan Shepp. I hadn’t. And who is Margery Amdur? Moss’ answer was, this installation is not so much decoration as it is art. And so it was that last week I walked into Joan Shepp for the first time in my life. (That would ... More » »

Happy Holidays, guys!

This year we dispensed with a Christmas tree, but I can’t be without lights. So here are lights I set up in the living room with Cascarone eggs by Bruce Pollock and Frank Bramblett. And lights with Mardi Gras beads Stella and I gathered with Chuck and Iris when we visited New Orleans, pre-Katrina. Hope you have much light and love this holiday season!

artblog review of a children’s book: The Dream of Tom Thompkins

My neighbor, Pam, invited me to go with her to the Brandywine River Museum, a place I’ve never been, a museum that houses the Wyeth family art and, so we thought, a temporary exhibit pairing works of Andy Warhol and Jamie Wyeth. As it turned out we had missed the Warhol/Wyeth (and Basquiat!) exhibit by a couple weeks and were pretty bummed about that. We also were a little flumoxed to find ourselves at the museum at a time when it was jam-packed with groups visiting the yearly blockbuster exhibit, A Brandywine Christmas, which includes a miniature train exhibit, tons ... More » »

The Pyramid Club at Art Around Gallery

Woman in Red Dress, 1941, by Dox Thrash (sorry about the reflections) On my way the the Morgellons opening at Fleisher/Ollman, I bumped in Walter Edmonds on his way to Art Around Gallery. I thought it was pretty funny, me with my white face going to a gallery that attracts an overwhelmingly white crowd and Edmonds, with his brown face, going to a gallery that attracts an overwhelmingly African American crowd. Old Church, restriking of a linocut by Hale Woodruff Edmonds’ destination, which is at 2011 Chestnut, is more than a year old and specializes in African-American art (I think ... More » »

Green Line fine line

4 Wires, a giclee print by Jill Galloway Sherman; sorry about the reflections. They were inescapable. The Green Line Cafe continues to show art of interest on a fairly regular basis. This month it’s work by Jill Galloway Sherman, whose work addresses our relationship to the power grid and its inescapable prevalence. I especially liked the photos, which are giclee prints, in which elements escape beyond the edges. One of Sherman’s drawings I was a little puzzled about the presentation of the drawings, which appeared on close inspection to be print-outs on transparencies. They looked pixilated. I also thought the ... More » »

Thanks to the grass roots for helping keep Eakins here!

We got an email last night from the organizers of the grass roots movement to keep the Gross Clinic in Philly. Congratulations to all on this big fish/little fish effort that actually worked! And to see photos of some of the organizers in action, see Libby’s post from the group’s first rally. Dear Friends, It has just been announced that Thomas Eakins’ masterpiece “The Gross Clinic” will be staying in Philadelphia where it belongs, front and center at the Philadelphia Museum of Art/PAFA!!!! Today (Thursday, Dec. 21), Stanley Bielen (the main force behing the “grass roots” effort, along with Patrick ... More » »

Gross Clinic to stay in Philly!!

Hooray!! Hooray!! And smiley faces all round. Read Mark McDonald’s story in the Daily News and the amazing Stephan Salisbury’s article in the Philadelphia Inquirer. Donations are still needed, though–because the institutions had to take out a loan to cover part of the purchase price. Here’s who ponied up the biggest bucks (quoting from the story). And yesterday, the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts said their urgent fundraising campaign has been successful enough to make them co-owners of the Eakins masterpiece with the help of a loan from Wachovia Bank. So far, the two ... More » »