March 2010 Archive

Weekly Update – Sexy ceramics at Wexler

Small ceramic figures in various states of languorous undress populate Wexler Gallery’s upstairs space in “The Hermaphrodites: Living in Two Worlds.” The group show, like rabbits in spring, has sex on its mind. Beautifully crafted, delicately painted and glazed, the statuettes by Tip Toland, Chris Antemann and others depict men, women and double-gendered beings who kiss and caress and expose little aroused body parts.

Las Vegas Studio: Images from Venturi and Brown

Las Vegas Studio: Images from Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown at the The MOCA Pacific Design Center, Los Angeles. Learning from Las Vegas was a real watershed moment— or maybe I should say a real Waterloo moment— in architectural history. This book was the first, fully-formulated backlash against the dictates of Modernist architecture, however polite in its tone. Running contrary to every last tenet of the International Style, the polemic warmly extolled the symbol and ornament, fun and dysfunction, the ugly and ordinary, the redundant and duck-shaped— and nearly everything else that had been shaved from the severe, honest, ... More » »

Bauhaus Studies

Barry Bergdoll and Leah Dickerman’s Bauhaus 1919-1933; Workshops for modernity (2009, Museum of Modern Art, New York, ISBN 978-0-87070-758-2), the catalog for MoMA’s exhibition of the same name, would serve as an excellent introduction to the Bauhaus for a serious scholarly or general audience.  The book, as did the exhibition, addresses the Bauhaus primarily as an educational institution, rejecting common usage of the term to describe a style, often associated with modernism in general.

Get your sassy on – Stella has a fashionblog

Ahem, not to brag but you will be entertained and enlightened.  Stella’s fashionblog, named in honor of artblog, deals with hot accessory issues like Scunci vs Conair.  And check out the outre fashion party pictures from a weekend soiree at the Warhol Museum.  I am, like, jealous.

Lots of art stories I read today

New York Times: Roberta Smith declares painting is not dead. Great images of contemporary painting. And several stories in the Philadelphia Inquirer: Red Grooms’ Philadelphia Cornucopia goes to PAFA! NCECA gets coverage from Ed Sozanski and Edie Newhall. (I think Sozanski should have revealed his personal interest when he went after the PMA for not having a more ambitious ceramics show!) A story about a great find–a face jug made by slaves in South Carolina, dug up in Philadelphia in the ’50s, goes to the PMA.

Locks obit in Inquirer

Here’s a link to the obituary for groundbreaking Marian Locks, founder of Philadelphia’s Locks Gallery, in today’s Philadelphia Inquirer. Locks, who died in February, took care of her artists and they returned the love. Shortly after her death, I had dinner with Diane Burko, who regaled me with numerous stories about Locks and how she became a part of Burko’s life and vice versa.

Fiona Tan in Sydney

I experienced Fiona Tan’s work over two days – not because it was an extended durational work but because her show, Coming Home, was being presented at both the Sherman Contemporary Art Foundation and the National Art School Gallery. The fact that the experience of the video works was a journey was the perfect mode of experiential presentation of a work that itself explores the idea of journey and its representation through time.

Picasso: the Master and his followers and understudies at the PMA

Picasso and the Avant-Garde in Paris at the Philadelphia Museum of Art (PMA) through April 25, 2010 is a remarkable exhibition for two reasons.  Most importantly, it emphasizes the strength of the PMA’s collection in the area of early Modernism; secondly, it has the public paying a special admission fee and standing in line to see an exhibition whose most important works, unless on loan elsewhere, are on permanent view in the museum’s galleries.  The exhibition is neither a definitive view of Picasso, nor a serious study of the Avant-Garde in Paris during the first half of the 20th Century. ... More » »

Award season – Libby and Roberta get one!

Not to toot our own horns again but here we go! We’re very happy to announce we’re getting the SGC writing award tomorrow at the Southern Graphics Council (SGC) national meeting. We are deeply honored and couldn’t have done it without all the great art there is to write about here in Philadelphia and elsewhere. Luckily for everyone we don’t have to give a speech!

Art of the Steal at Extra, Extra

This month at Extra, Extra, “PRE-CAREER RETROSPECTIVE: WORKS FROM 2009-2010“.  The title of this exhibit sets you up with the premise, a play on words, traditional words relating to the traditional art world.