May 2007 Archive

The Shaman’s Plumage; Spectacular dress from the Amazon

Post by Andrea Kirsh Tapirapé: Upé mask. Worn during the celebration of the spirits of the dead ceremony. H: 106.5 cm L: 132cm. Photo Ó Houston Museum of Natural Science. One of the most splendid exhibitions in Philadelphia is hiding much too quietly at the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, under the low-key if not boring title, “Vanishing Worlds; art and ritual of Amazonia.” What you’ll find among 150 works on view are feathers, feathers and more feathers, all with the high-keyed hues of tropical birds. Philip Treacy, eat your heart out! Philip Treacy feathered fedora The ... More » »

Inbox, incoming, part 3

Because life always gives you choices, this Saturday night, June 2, here are two competing items, both of which I’m interested in: Open studios/meet the artists at 40th St. AIRSPACE, 4013 Chestnut St. This round of artists in the residency program run by Edward Epstein is an interesting group as always: Christopher Hartshorne, Theodore harris, Sinae Lee, Jonathan Prull and Mary Tasillo. You’ll find three of those names in our index since Lee and Prull were Penn MFA grads last year and we covered their work in several venues and Hartshorne just showed work in the emerging artist series in ... More » »

Inbox incoming, round two

Rob Matthews, fresh from a whirlwind trip to Europe (read about it at Rob’s blog, Matthews the Younger), sent me a note about two New York shows with Philly ties that open this weekend. They both sound outstanding! The Lizard Cult at Clementine GalleryJune 2-Aug. 10. Robyn O’Neill who’s been blog-tending at Matthews the Younger while Rob and his wife, Tracy, went to Europe, is in this group show which honors a long-time and influential art teacher, Lee Baxter Davis. Robyn O’Neil, A Falling Stump, drawing seen at Art in the Armory, 2006 at Galerie Praz-Delavallade, Paris, booth Here’s the ... More » »

Inbox incoming, round one

Libby and I were just talking with Thom Lessner who told us about a book project he was doing with a publisher called Blue Q. A tiny book he said, and his book, he hoped, would be out this fall. A day later, I received a press kit from Jonathan Levine Gallery and, like it was meant to be, there was a little Blue Q book inside, not Thom’s book, but a book by California artist Souther Salazar who is having a solo show at Levine’s gallery opening June 23. The tiny book by Souther Salazar is called The Monster ... More » »

Hot event–Sherman Alexie at the Free Library

I want to highly recommend this excellent event next week at the Free Library: Sherman Alexie, a great writer and wonderful raconteur with a commanding stage presence, speaks next Tuesday at 7 pm. And it’s FREE, no ticket required!! Alexie’s books describe life on the reservation with both devastating realism and poetic leaps into the void of spiritual wonder. His movie Smoke Signals is a netflix must if you haven’t seen it. The writer is political, lefty and uses reservation life to raise issues about what it means to be “other” in our pervasively uniform culture. I saw Alexie in ... More » »

Hi there! It’s Squiggles!!

So I’ve been a little out of the picture of late. I’m sorry. For this I will pay in bad blogger hell (I’m already paying on earth in guilt feelings). But I must tell you one of the things that’s been occupying my thoughts and minutes: Squiggles a little pig who loves cupcakes. This is a story that Stella is working on for a children’s book. One of my favorite illustrations from Stella’s book Squiggles and the Pink Cupcake. In this illustration Squiggles is getting the one and only thing he wanted for his birthday, pink cupcakes. “His friends didn’t ... More » »

Briefly noted: Summer sizzle in and out of town

Cooking elsewhere: Houston Ripley has a hot show in NYC at Feature Gallery. Ripley’s obsessive inkblot drawingsmost remind me of Adolf Wolffli. It’s already up–May 26 to June 29. Is it a painting? Is it a sculpture? It is what it is–Frank Bramblett at his gnomic best. paint, wood. He makes the paint himself of mixing pigment, encaustic, sawdust, graphite, diatomaceous earth, cement or other materials into an acrylic base. No kidding. And for a double sizzle (arguably a triple), the amazing Frank Bramblett and the fabulous Zoe Strauss in one exhibit on Long Island???!!! The exhibit is named 3rd ... More » »

Power and politics in Africa–Libby in DC

Factory-printed cloth, Nigeria, late 20th century Here are a couple of great things I learned Sunday about traditional African art: white eyes on a mask mean communication with the spiritual world, or elongated female figures represent female beauty. I learned this from my friend Stefanie Taylor’s friend Bonnie Gottlieb. She’s a docent, and she took us–Stefanie, Paul, Murray and me–on our own private tour of both the Contemporary and traditional African art at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African Art. Stefanie sporting some of the jewelry she makes Before we got there, however, we stopped at Stefanie’s gallery in Bethesda. ... More » »

Weekly Update – Pepon Osorio’s Badge of Honor

This week’s Weekly has my piece on Pepon Osorio’s Badge of Honor at the Lighthouse. Below is the copy with some pictures. More photos at flickr.Insider ArtPepón Osorio’s work is interventionist and activist. Tucked into the second-floor meeting room at the Lighthouse community center is a strange installation. Two small chambers—one a prison cell, the other a teenager’s bedroom—have become focal points in the large room usually used for Narcotics Anonymous meetings and City Year teen sleepovers. Pepon Osorio, Badge of Honor. 1995. Having its debut in Philadelphia. Pepón Osorio’s installation Badge of Honor, which includes video projections of a ... More » »

Graduation time

Caitlin Kuhwald and her Boy Book (still with some blank pages for the next phase in her life, I suppose) of portraits of her friends. I like this idea of archiving a social circle. The exhibits of graduating seniors have their pluses and their minuses. They reward students who already know what they want to say and have a developed a way to say it. They can be pretty demoralizing for those who just stayed the course, did their homework and at the ripe age of 20 or 22 still are without a clue. These latter are of course the ... More » »