February 2011 Archive

Two exhibitions in conversation at LGTripp Gallery

Although the two artists took a course in the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts MFA program together, Plamen Veltchev and Allison Stigora had not seen one another’s work in about five years. It was a surprise for them to discover that their work has so much in common. Both artists tackle ideas such as the illusion of control and our inability to know the future – Veltchev through drawing and Stigora through installation. Both artists are featured this month at LG Tripp Gallery.  Formally, the two exhibitions share many parallels, including an emphasis on line and form, layering, dramatic ... More » »

Amze Emmons next on artblog radio

Nearly 100 artists contributed to Refugee Reading Room, at Space 1026 (up now through Febr 26). The exhibit, curated by Philadelphia artist Amze Emmons, includes Emmons’ cityscape installation with a makeshift newsstand and skyline–plus shelves and tables loaded with free prints and zines by the contributing artists. Not only are the prints and zines free for the taking. Many of them are quite beautiful and otherwise wonderful. Below is a short sample from our interview with Emmons. Catch the full episode on Monday. Amze Emmons 33-second promo

Reality collage: Chad Gerth and Lydia Jenkins Musco at Tiger Strikes Asteroid

Flying over snow-covered mountains in western Pennsylvania long ago, I was struck by the ambiguous appearance of this wintry landscape, as viewed from 30,000 feet. Was I looking at mountains—or and dunes in the desert, waves in the ocean, ripples in a pond? Chad Gerth’s urban photographs and Lydia Jenkins Musco’s constructions of urban materials [Tiger Strikes Asteriod, February 4 - 27, 2011] both explore the difficulties the eye faces in making sense of the world.

Studio interview: a look through the glass of Bohyun Yoon

Bohyun Yoon has been taking photographs of the people of Philadelphia . One of them turned out to be my friend Wendy, who was out in Rittenhouse Square walking her standard poodle Nelly when Bo approached. She talked, he talked, and they found out they had me in common. Wendy’s face is now one of the nearly 150 faces that make up Bo’s newest installation–150 different faces that have nothing–and everything–in common.

Sex Drive Melts the Snow at Haverford College

By Dennis D’Alesandro Sex Drive is a thoughtfully curated 22-person group show that coincides with the humanities seminar “Sex, State and Society in the Early Modern World.” The show brings together a diverse array of sex-infused artworks that deal with all manner of relevant sexual themes, including fetish, fantasy, infatuation, sin, gender persuasion, public scandal, romance, and the role of political and religious conventions.

Weekly update – Cheer up! Winter’s over in New American Voices II at the FWM

Crazy-happy collage paintings, mournful costumes, wizardly sculptures, and candy-colored sweaters with pleats — “New American Voices” at the Fabric Workshop and Museum is a four-course feast.  The works — by four featured artists who were in residence at the FWM recently — don’t really go together, but each artist is given so much space it’s like four solo shows.  I can’t say this often but you will find something to love here.

Refugee Reading Room at Space 1026 – Amze Emmons

“Library” is one of those rare words that held different connotations for me as I made the mystical transition from childhood into maturity. As a child, the small branch of the public library just a few blocks away from my home offered the promise of Reading Rainbow-style journeys into other worlds, bright picture books splattered with enough colors to rival the appeal of a candy store window, and the chance to make friends in any of a number of after-school programs. Once I entered high school, however, “library” quickly became associated with term papers, the echoing halls of silence and ... More » »

Daniel Traub on the interstices – artblog radio interview

Our series sponsor is Fleisher Art Memorial. Daniel Traub’s photographs of overgrown lots in North Philadelphia where rowhouses once stood have a mournful feel.  In Traub’s photos, on view at the Print Center until March 5, indomitable nature grows up tall where people once lived.  But the works are not so much about the man-nature struggle in the built environment.  They’re more about entropy and the way things are, the rub of time and place.  Traub spent the last nine years in China where he observed the building boom of gated communities rising next to shanty towns.  He talked with ... More » »

Daniel Traub – photography in Philadelphia and in China, next on artblog radio

Philadelphia-born artist Daniel Traub has been living and working in China for the last nine years.   But he’s back now and the son of artist/activist Lily Yeh and architect/preservationist David Traub has a show of new urban landscape photographs currently at the Print Center.  We talked with him recently about his work and his experience in China. Below is a short sample from the interview. Catch the full episode on Monday. 27-second Daniel Traub sample

Are you missing artblog radio?

We realize some of you don’t read the blog on Mondays. If that’s the case here’s what you’ve been missing–really great podcast interviews of 10 to 15 minutes with some of Philadelphia’s exciting art people. They have talked to us about public art and they’ve talked to us about race in art. They’ve discussed print publications and they’ve discussed whether landscape is dead.