May 2008 Archive

Is that a video at Gallery Joe? Yes, and so much more

Rachel Perry Welty, Friends & Family, video on DVD, 8 minutes, edition of 25 Not meaning to slight the various other wonderful work at Gallery Joe, I had to lead with the video! This has to be a first in the history of this jewel of a gallery that usually limits its shows to intense drawings. The video, by Rachel Perry Welty, is excellent and hilarious–I stood for all 8 minutes, not wanting to miss a word. But you know how it is when you get a message on a phone machine, and some of the words come through a ... More » »

Here and There; Ardeshir Mohassess, Odili Donald Odita, Katie Baldwin

Ardeshir Mohasses The king is always above the people from the series Life in Iran (1978) ink on paper; Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division Ardeshir Mohassess at the Asia Society, New YorkContemporary media and the internet delude us with the fiction that we have access to global knowledge, yet much of the world escapes our sight. I’m grateful to the Asia Society for time and again expanding my view, as it does with it’s current exhibition devoted to extraordinary drawings by the Iranian satirist, Ardeshir Mohassess (through August 3). As repressive as the Bush administration has been, ours ... More » »

Two postmortems

Sometimes I just blow it in the timely department. I saw two shows that I hesitated to write about partly because I had mixed reactions. But they both were rather interesting, and so I’m coming back at them, even though both are gone. 1) Ryan Widger at Kelly and Weber (closed last month) Ryan Widger, Grey Room Ryan Widger‘s huge, grayed-out photographs at Kelly and Weber (201 Gallery) last month, created from distressed negatives that have suffered the effects of bleach and other cruel treatments, are of architectural spaces with mysterious what-is-it or who-is-it elements. They look like a still ... More » »

Summertime photo fun all over town

Post by Chris Paquette In case you haven’t noticed, Philadelphia is in the midst of a Photography renaissance of sorts.From the programs at the PMA’s Eugene Levy Gallery brought to you by highly regarded photography curator Kate Ware to the the recent influx of dedicated photography venues such as Yo Darkroom, Basho, and Gallery 339, and right on down to numerous corner cafés that showcase the works of up and coming locals, Philly has plenty to see — and serves up a wide variety of photographic exhibits. With that in mind, here is a schedule of what’s being offered around the ... More » »

Great reading, New Yorker style

Newspapers keep cutting back on visual arts coverage (the Weekly just decided to use the art page once a month for the next 6 months to cover poetry/performance ). The New Yorker magazine however has been ramping up their coverage of visual arts of late and as usual it’s a great mix of reviews, interviews and little quirky stuff. Here’s three really good things that ran recently just in case you missed them: May 26: Calvin Tomkins profile of Paul Chan who’s currently having a solo show of his projection light pieces at the New Museum — the artist’s first ... More » »

Figuring out the future — student shows from Tyler, PAFA, Penn

It’s that time of year. The graduates of local art colleges — and even some who are not yet grads — are putting up public shows of their art. Public exhibitions of student work were scarce 10 years ago but more recently with the market all crazy for newer, younger art and with art schools opening themselves up to the possibility now you can’t turn around in the Spring for all the senior shows and MFA shows. That’s not a complaint–far from. I’m just saying. As with everything there’s an exception — PAFA‘s student show. That’s been a very public ... More » »

Philadelphia art schools–some of the exhibits

The art schools spring a passel of students on the world every April, May and June. I’ve seen a lot of stuff. But here are a few things and moments that stood out in my mind– The Penn MFA thesis show at the Crane, curated by Fleisher-Ollman’s William Pym, had its share of work that stuck to where it was hanging on the walls, but a few things caught my attention: Damon Reaves, Entertaining, video, TV I got lucky when I arrived. The gallery sitters that day was Damon Reaves. I stopped to talk to him. Turns out Reaves, who ... More » »

Picture Books: Sendak on Sendak and Beyond This Time and Place: Children’s Books in England

Maurice Sendak preliminary design for cover of Where the Wild Things Are (1963), courtesy Rosenbach Museum and Library, © Maurice Sendak I love illustrated books; they’re one of the ancillary pleasures of being around small children. Art historians have lots of books with pictures but they’re not the same. By luck or intention, two exhibitions currently in Philadelphia present a wonderful range of illustrated books for children. Maurice Sendak, illustration from Where the Wild Things Are (1963) © Maurice Sendak The Rosenbach Museum and Library has drawn on it’s archive of the artist’s work to present the major retrospective exhibition, ... More » »

Libby and Roberta put themselves on YouTube

Monday, May 19, 2008, Academy of Music for Moore College of Art and Design’s Commencement. You are there. Libby and Roberta speak. As usual they have too much to say. Thanks to Steve Kimbrough for holding the camera up and defying grafity and not shaking too much! The video’s 5 minutes long just fyi.

Landscapes of the mind at Little Berlin

The rainbows were finer than my camera could capture The rainbow was sudden. We were racing up to Little Berlin Friday along I-95 when Murray and I spotted it. We were so excited we missed our exit and almost drove off the road. The first thing that struck me was how yellow it was at the base, shimmering and golden. I’d never seen that effect before, but I bet the legend about the pot of gold at the foot of the rainbow comes from that. The second thing the struck me was I wasn’t going to be able to get ... More » »