June 2011 Archive

Domestic revisions by Christopher Lawrence at 40th St. AiR

June Cleaver is in the kitchen when the bomb goes off; the vacant house becomes lost in time.

Our picks for July are up – one correction!

Good morning!  Our picks for July are on the our picks page.  You can also sign up to receive the our picks newsletter by clicking this link or clicking the newsletter button on the front of the blog.  Get our picks delivered to your email inbox–it’s easy! CORRECTION: We inadvertently put Vox’s address as 3000 N. Hope st., which is, of course, FLUXspace‘s address. DOH! Here’s the correct info: Vox VII Vox Populi 319 N. 11th St. 7/8-31/2011 reception, Friday, July 8, 6-11pm Sorry about that.

This fragile world in Think Global 2 at Pentimenti

Much of the work in Think Global 2 at Pentimenti reflects a shared mindset of lowered expectations, with artists channeling environmental concerns or worries about the world economy. In the exhibition open until July 9, the art is a reflection of a larger, collective mood of doubt.

Close Encounters with Art – Liam Dean #9 at Knapp Gallery

Never in my life has a painting brought me to tears, until #9 by Liam Dean. I stood in front of this vortex masquerading as a painting, frozen and consumed by an orchestra of exquisitely deep and rich orange, red, browns and yellows sparkling like melted glass and menacingly closing in on a central amoeba-shaped floating form claiming to be under constant attack but unafraid and sending me urgent whispers — about supernatural abortions committed by both good and evil; about aborted ideas of escaping the prison of duality, for no matter how good you are, good only exists because ... More » »

Artists’ Projects in France

During a week spent visiting buildings of Le Corbusier in France, one of the happiest surprises was the number of artists who have been invited to produce work in French monuments and sites. We began at the Villa Savoye in Poissy,  just outside Paris.  As we circumnavigated the building to reach the entrance (designed for visitors who arrive by car, the ‘front’ door is 180 degrees from the façade that’s visible on entering the grounds), we saw a large, open structure on the grounds, made of rough logs and thatch, that looked to me like an extravagant version of chickees, ... More » »

New York mid-week fly-by – Music on the Solstice, under a bridge, in a park and on a Highline

Steve and I went to New York last week hoping to escape the Philly heat and humidity and slip into some music and art. Make Music New York was all over town, a free, one-day (Summer Solstice only) event bringing music (and streetside pianos for passersby to play) to all parts of town. We were excited (well, I was excited) to hear live music outdoors and was very curious about a project by Nick Franglen of the British electronic duo Lemon Jelly, who was making electronic music under the Manhattan Bridge. To my mind an intervention with the bridge seemed ... More » »

Tyler Kline – from skateboarding to art with viscera, a new podcast

Locks Gallery sponsors this episode. Tyler Kline grew up in the small town of Stone Mountain, GA, a once-magical place with lakes and a pine forest and flowering magnolias and weeping willows. Tyler felt the heavy hand of history in the south growing up, and he also felt the terror of the Atlanta child murderer in the neighborhood. The artist, who grew up skateboarding and hiking the woods, graduated this Spring with an MFA from PAFA. His work has been shown locally at Little Berlin, where he is a member, at Rebekah Templeton and Vox Populi, and before that, at ... More » »

Above the Arctic Circle in Norway, industrial parks and art in Berlin, John Baldessari in Amsterdam

Our plane from JFK  touched down on Norwegian soil around 9:15 AM, Oslo time. My last aerial glances revealed Norwegian fields spread over long ripples of irregular landscape like crinkled foil, the plots creating a puzzle (not of squares like in America’s Midwest) but of triangles and polygons, which suggested people in a more relaxed oneness with the land.

CONSTRUCT, from CFEVA, at the Ice Box

Big is what the Ice Box exhibition space requires. CONSTRUCT, CFEVA‘s show there, delivers the goods.

Weekly Update – Bodega’s Wax Apple is a throwback to an earlier time

In the show called Wax Apple, a plastic orange makes an appearance.  It’s not a wax orange, but the echo of the show’s title resounds like the punchline to a joke.