March 2011 Archive

Artists Call for Guggenheim Boycott over Migrant Worker Exploitation in Abu Dhabi

Hans Haacke made me aware of the following situation which I’m passing along to Artblog readers: More than 130 international artists, curators, writers and others have signed a boycott to end all cooperation with the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi and are demanding that the Guggenheim Foundation and its Abu Dhabi partner take immediate and meaningful steps to safeguard the rights of the workers constructing the new branch museum on Saadiyat Island, where Human Rights Watch have documented a series of abuses.

Andrea Packard – the world, one swatch at a time

We saw our friend Andrea Packard’s show at Swarthmore College last week on a gorgeous Spring-like day. Her landscapes are so full of beauty, joy and hope they mirrored the day — and took us on a little indoor roller coaster ride. Andrea’s works are made from cloth scraps, rug scraps, paper, prints, pastel and paint. Many of the materials come from friends or family and are significant to her.  In a way she is turning these scraps into monuments that praise the world — and people.  The works are special and  magical, and it’s well worth the trip out ... More » »

Judith Schaechter on art and craft at the Philadelphia Art Alliance

There’s nothing like ducking out of a stormy evening straight into a former mansion – known to most city dwellers as the Philadelphia Art Alliance. On the evening of March 10, the black of an overcast sky merged into the quiet gray of a brick façade, the sleek wetness of concrete pavements became the brilliant glimmer of dark wood floors and the steady fall of raindrops transformed into bright, crystalline chandeliers cascading from the ceiling. Judith Schaechter, a local artist was giving a lecture that evening.  Schaechter works with stained glass and teaches as an adjunct professor in the Crafts ... More » »

Carl Marin, Moby Dick and the end of hunting on artblog radio

Our series sponsor is Fleisher Art Memorial. Carl Marin’s art, which includes sculpture, installation, photography and taxidermy, will be on exhibit at FLUXspace in June. The son of a hunter and taxidermist, Marin puts animals in his work in surprising ways to explore man’s changing relationship with the natural world.  He is one of five semifinalists for a commission to create a public art piece for a Philadelphia playground. Marin is planning to go to grad school in the fall, but for now his day job is making bikes at Bilenky Cycles.  NEW!  Read what’s on Carl’s mind at Mind ... More » »

Meekyoung Shin at Haunch of Venison, London

The London gallery Haunch of Venison, currently housed in the back of the Royal Academy, would seem to be out of place. While its main location undergoes renovation, the contemporary art gallery is running its shows in the cavernous spaces of the eighteenth-century museum. Upon first impression, however, the sculpture (a polychrome fragment of Roman Antiquity?) in the niche at the top of the landing of the grand main staircase appears to fit right in. The sculpture, though, reveals itself to be Korean artist Meekyoung Shin’s Translation- Greek (1998), a figure made entirely of soap. Within this artist’s first major ... More » »

Out of Africa: a review of two exhibition catalogs

Yinka Shonibare MBE (Prestel Verlag, Munich, 2008) ISBN 978-3-7913-4123-1 Yinka Shonibare is a contemporary of the Young British Artists and while he exhibited with them, he has never been considered one of the group. Unlike them, he creates work of unapologetic beauty.  Shonibare uses beauty as a hook; it draws audiences for his manipulated, historicist figures and tableaux which play havoc with received notions about post-Enlightenment Europe and reveal the impossibility of separating cultural history from economic history. His work has been increasingly visible in the U.S., especially since the large survey organized by the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney ... More » »

Mat Tomezsko at Danger! Danger!

By Diana Jih Apart from being well-timed, Mat Tomezsko’s exhibition, Danger Danger Danger Danger, at the first First Friday at Danger! Danger!, marked this DIY gallery as the perfect site for celebrating the currents of the West Philly arts scene. Sound checks deep in the cellar and the smell of snacks help guide you into the gallery space after hiking up and tumbling down a tunnel stairway and ducking under graffitied ceilings. The best-lit slice of pizza I’ve ever seen, a cup of wine, and Tomezsko’s portraits greet you as you round the corner from the stairs to meet your ... More » »

Rubens Ghenov’s enigmas with Milton Jaula’s sound art at Liberti

Post by Chip Schwartz Rubens Ghenov’s show at Artspace Liberti on 2424 York Street is a series of snapshots without a camera. Everything in the gallery space in the show “ie: Brazilein Chaekkorias, rotted one note” seems to move in frames. The intermingled, painted images are stationary, but their relationships are jumbled and obfuscated. Along with Milton Jaula’s anxiously dynamic soundscape (listen here) resonating throughout the space, this show is intriguing because it is so challenging.

Desert Island – a desert in name only, at Space 1026

By Daniel Hoffman Desert Island, the exhibition at Space 1026, is full of artists who have played a role in Desert Island, the Brooklyn comics store owned by Gabe Fowler. The exhibition, curated by Fowler and up through the end of the month, gives us a little glimpse into the lives of these prolific artists. Art seems to permeate their lives and manifests itself in multiple expressions. Pieces on the wall serve as finished ideas, while zines act as receptacles for the numerous thoughts and ideas of the individual artists.

Weekly Update – Trudy Kraft and Joan Becker, order, disorder and the cosmos

With gorgeous color, ebullient natural imagery (birds, butterflies, flowers) and harmonious designs, Trudy Kraft’s “Emergence” at Gross McCleaf is pure visual happiness.