December 2007 Archive

Find an audience; sell art

Things are changing in the art world–the very art world that shot itself in the foot when it decided to be so esoteric that only art professionals could make any sense of what they were looking at. Locally, that’s reflected in who is buying art these days. First of all, lots of young people are buying low-priced emerging artists. And secondly, broader national and international audiences have gotten in touch with what’s here through the internet and the art fairs. Ask most local gallery owners, and get this confirmed–their big sales are mostly out of town. Cerulean Gallery has decided ... More » »

Mezuzah love at the Philadelphia Museum of Jewish Art

Image of Mezuzot from the show, A Kiss for the Mezuzah, curated by Matthew Singer of the Philadelphia Museum of Jewish Art. Not long ago Matt Singer, Curator of the Philadelphia Museum of Jewish Art emailed to ask me if I’d write an essay for a show he was putting together at the museum called “A Kiss for the Muzuzah.” The exhibit is all new commissioned works — each a Mezuzah — by a Philadelphia artist. Not all the artists are Jewish and together they represent a power team whose works I’ve long admired: Candy Depew, Jeanne Jaffe, Isaac Lin, ... More » »

In the Garden 2 & 3

Jackie Tileston, Opera Brain Incantation, mixed on linen Gardens become figments of the imagination on the shortest days of the year. So naturally, a show about gardens that begins as the days shorten and ends before they lengthen turns my thoughts to the divide between art and the real thing–any real thing, any art. Jackie Tileston, detail, Opera Brain Incantation, mixed on linen The exhibit is Garden in Winter, a small group show featuring work by six artists–Jackie Tileston, Margery Amdur, Bill Scott, Robert Straight, Carole Sivin and Diane Pieri–at Hopkins House in New Jersey. Each artist takes a different ... More » »

Gardens in winter 1

Mark Dion’s expedition begins (photo taken from his blog on the William Bartram project) In case you’re not following the current travels of artist Mark Dion via his blog, it’s worth a visit. Dion is trying to retrace the journey of naturalist William Bartram (son of John Bartram) through the south to collect botanical specimens. The online updates are monthly. In the last one, Dion gets totally off track, even with help, leaving behind his maps, losing them in the water, and generally proving what a difficult thing it is to navigate in the wild (or these days, what’s left ... More » »

Brave new world emerges at Pageant

Jesse Greenberg unloaded a bunch of these all over every horizontal surface in the gallery Isskustvo Transmagica Provinces Animanina may be a bewildering title for an art exhibit, but the objects in the show at Pageant Soloveev Gallery are equally bewildering–and wonderful. I felt like I was walking into a space filled with gifts. Pageant once again proves to be a gallery you can’t pin down, putting together a juried show of four emerging young artists that sparkles with alternative universes and alternative life forms that are the opposite of the plodding online parallel universe of Second Life. Instead these ... More » »

Weekly Update – Year end roundup

This week’s Weekly has my year end wrap up. Below’s the copy with some pictures. More images at flickr. It Was a Very Good YearIn spite of hardships and lack of leadership, the art scene thrives. Video projection at Little Berlin. The up and coming alternative space carved out a video viewing space curtained off from the rest of the gallery and added seating — getting it right from the start! It’s been a shockingly good year for visual arts in Philly thanks to new utopianism leading the way. Young artists rose up like a wave, opening cooperative venues like ... More » »

Merry Happy Holiday, Everybody!

I am always happy when visiting Reading Terminal which reminds me very much of the Wisconsin State Fair — without the animals. (See my flickr set from the 2007 Fair.) Kitsch, commerce, and sophistication mix together as people shop, eat and mingle. Here are some pictures from a recent trip I took to RT with Steve and Stella. May your day be happy and may your new year be full of joy, good health and prosperity! xoxox Season’s Greetings thyme pot Bugs milk chocolate Chocolate teeth, teeth pops Lancaster County Farm Fresh Amish Dolls Buying bananas Go Eagles Microwave mitts, ... More » »

Ninety years, but who’s counting?

My mother-in-law, Mary Dubin, about to blow out the big 9-0 candles. Photograph by Jen Dubin. This is my mother-in-law at 90, about to blow out her birthday candles, Saturday night (her real birthday is the 27th)! When we told people we were throwing her a surprise party, they said, “Are you sure you should do that? She’s 90 years old.” By this they meant she might suffer a heart attack from all the excitement. But we know her, and she’s pretty unflappable. So she had her surprise and got to eat her cake, too. Mary Dubin and her three ... More » »

Season’s cheer

Libby Rosof, Snow LandEscape (Homage to the Square?) Dear friends/artblog readers, and anyone else who stumbles upon this in what remains of 2007, Merry Christmas (too late for Hanukkah) and any other operative holidays, to all of you. I never brought me greetings out of cyberspace into the real world this year, so this is as real as my card gets. Love to you all and a wish for peace on earth and the end of the George W. Bush era, with all its corrupt values and hegemonic, demonic, hystrionic demogogy and war-mongering. xoxoxoxLibby

Alternative stocking stuffer

CD cover art by John Overmyer Here’s your chance to do a little good and stuff the stockings with some swell alternative music recorded at the Green Line Cafe. The profits–all 100 percent–from the CD, Songs on the Green Line, benefit Cooperativa San Fernando, a worker-owned coffee cooperative located high in the Andes Mountains of Peru, where the Green Line’s house coffee is grown. This is quite a different model from the Starbuck’s music marketing scheme, which makes me squirm a little. And the packaging has a Christmas-y kind of jaunty cheer from the pen and brush of editorial illustrator ... More » »