August 2010 Archive

CAi’s “Summer Phase” in Chestnut Hill windows

by Clarissa Shanahan Chestnut Hill Arts Initiative’s premiere show, ‘Summer Phase’, proved to be a thoughtfully curated blend of conceptual installations in a variety of mediums, featuring the work of ten different artists.This was a particularly contemporary and progressive show in an otherwise conservative area.

Close Examination: Fakes, Mistakes, Discoveries at the National Gallery, London

The most sensational aspect of the attribution of paintings as far as the general public is concerned is the subject of fakes, despite the fact that few art historians ever encounter them. What, exactly, is a fake? A painting that appears to be something other than what it is? Not always. Traditional academic training involved copying, and a copy of one work by a student, no matter how close to the model, is not a fake. If a later owner offers the copy as the work of the master, one might use the term fake, providing the owner is aware ... More » »

Radio post repaired

If you tried to hear the radio podcast of Sande Webster this morning and it wasn’t working, you can now hear it in its entirety. Sorry, all!

Sande Webster on artblog radio

This episode sponsored by Proximity Gallery Center City gallery owner Sande Webster has some yarns to tell. She shares some personal history as she talks to us about art prices, selling (and refusing to sell) art, and how she makes the gallery business work for her. Below is the 30-second sample clip. And below that is the full 14-minute interview. [Audio clip: view full post to listen] Right click to download 30-second sample

Gallery owner Janet Fleisher died

Janet Fleisher, the woman who founded the gallery now called Fleisher/Ollman, died last week. The obit is worth reading, especially if you’re not familiar with the story behind Fleisher/Ollman or with the original Janet Fleisher Gallery. Here’s the obituary in the Philadelphia Inquirer. (This link will expire in a few months, so if you are reading this after 2010, …). Here’s the top of the story.

Made at the Clay Studio

The Clay Studio‘s current exhibition, MADE AT THE CLAY STUDIO: WORK BY GUEST ARTISTS IN RESIDENCE, 2009-2010s features traditional clay works and also work of artists pushing the medium to new places.

First Friday dilemmas grow bigger

Amid the parking lots and barely passable maze of streets just west of Chinatown, Jolie Laide, the gallery that opened in July, has lots of big plans. The plans are short term and long term.

Blacklight Dinner at Smile Gallery

After savoring some of the best Thai food I have had in a long time in Smile’s downstairs café, I headed upstairs to their gallery.  The small but well utilized space is currently hosting Bangkok and Blacklight.  The show combines urban, graffiti style artists from the Trenton area with a well renowned contemporary artist from Bangkok, Vichoke Mukdamanee.  The gallery has been divided into two rooms, one with bright white walls and full lighting for Mukdamanee’s glistening works, while the back room has been drenched in blacklighting, showing off some color popping works.  Together, they flood the space with differing ... More » »

Under An English Sky [Part I ] : Wolfgang Tillmans At The Serpentine Gallery, London

I spent a week in London in August, and each day attempted to focus on a substantial outing, an interesting exhibition.  My first jaunt was to cross Kensington Gardens to The Serpentine Gallery where the German artist Wolfgang Tillmans put on something of a retrospective, an expansive display of his alchemical results with photography. The 2000 Turner Prize winner, born in 1968, today a bona fide blue chip in the art world, offers a cornucopia of stolen, manipulated and performative photographic works in his first full-on exhibition in London in seven years. Each piece conspires to reveal the over-reproduced world ... More » »

Weekly Update – Gold Mountain Redux

With an American flag at its heart and a jaunty colored brick road on the floor, Abigail DeVille’s Gold Mountain should be upbeat. But the dark, cave-like installation at Marginal Utility is a sorrowful piece, a shrine almost. And the flag and crazy brick road are degraded symbols. Gold Mountain is a hell on earth.