April 2011 Archive

Lowlifes and libertines – the myth of the artist in theater

Post by Deb Miller Artists have long captured the imagination of writers, and this spring Philadelphia offered several plays focusing on artist as subject, or containing telling references to society’s view of them. The portrayals range from lowlifes and libertines to eccentrics and egomaniacs, to inspired geniuses and avant-garde trailblazers.

Talk: Documentary PIX of Philadelphia at the Free Library

Today’s your last chance to do a truly civic feel-good thing–bid in a silent auction on a photo or print to help support the Free Library’s Prints and Pictures Collection.

Weekly Update 2- Equality Forum shows at UArts have a lot of heart

One is an alchemist and the other a documentarian, and while the photographs of Connie Imboden and Lorenzo Triburgo couldn’t be more different, what’s common to both Equality Forum artists is their focus on the human condition and their desire to capture truth and beauty.

Weekly Update – Hiro-ism in Sakaguchi’s solo show at Morris Gallery

Bad things do not happen in Hiro Sakaguchi‘s world, but the threat of bad things is everywhere. Which is why it’s hard to see the Japanese-born artist’s depictions of violent nature and vulnerable humanity without thinking of the recent cataclysmic events in Japan. But the Philly artist’s works, now in the Morris Gallery at Pennsylvania Academy, are not meant to serve as direct social commentary. Rather, Sakaguchi’s drawings, paintings and sculptures are the musings of an outsider who sees the world, imperfections and all, yet accepts and loves it to death.

Hiro Sakaguchi’s No Particular Place to Go at PAFA

By Diana Jih Somewhere between the Matterhorn and Mt. Fuji, Hiro Sakaguchi and I are teetering on the left wing of a 747 with paint cans and packs of brushes. As the wind picks up, I brace myself by pulling on a thin climbing rope tethered to a snow bank in the clouds. Hiro senses my panic, spins around, and acknowledges with a nod that although in this dream I am having we appear like Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay, neither of us knows how to climb a mountain. CRASH. Awake and relieved, I spend the rest of my ... More » »

Claes Gabriel, next on artblog radio

Claes Gabriel (Claes is pronounced “Clays”) is an artist whose work we encountered at Sande Webster Gallery in last year’s “5 under 40″ exhibit.  We love his bright-colored totemic shapes made of stretched canvas over wood armatures.  The artist was born in Port au Prince, Haiti in 1977 and came to the US in 1989.  He studied at Maryland Institute College of Art (BFA 1999) and while right now he’s in Philadelphia, his long-range plans involve living in Europe.  Below is a short sample from our talk.  The full podcast interview will run next Monday. Claes Gabriel 43-second clip

Jerry Mischak at Meltem Birey Gallery

Spring has filled the Meltem Birey Gallery in the form of Jerry Mischak’s brightly colored, playful sculptures. Imaginary Solutions, which runs through May 3, uses a combination of consumer materials and urban debris, including small pieces of electronics.

Yohji Yamamoto All Over London

The current feature exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum on Japanese fashion designer Yohji Yamamoto spreads itself out. Not only does this first UK solo retrospective spill out of the V&A’s main exhibition display room – popping up in spaces all over the museum – the celebration of Yamamoto’s work also appears at The Wapping Project Bankside as well as The Wapping Project in Wapping. The V&A features an extensive collection of garments covering the Japanese designer’s career since his Paris debut in 1981. While the fashion photographs shown at the Bankside location are unusual and captivating, the installation at ... More » »

Lotsa breaking news

Philly rocking the ICA!!! Megawords, the multi-tasking publishers and producers of hard-to-pigeonhole culture, is up to something, although we’re not sure what, as they hang out at the ICA in a show called One is the loneliest number. We know they are thinking about collaboration and that their presence at the ICA includes installation, performances, poetry, theory, video and other programming the Megawordsters have invited. Included in the posse of performers are video (and marriage) collaborators Nadia Hironaka and Matt Suib, also Philly people. The show is April 21 through August 7.

Chickens, sirens, at new Old School Studios

The chicken was a thing of beauty with a long speckled neck and banded body. She settled next to a small cement mountain. A blue neon light served as a negative sun. A photographer, Mike Kopena, there to document the installation, walked away from his tripod to the other end of the room to alert the two artists:  The chicken had dropped a load on the floor–and was sitting in it. Aargh.