August 2011 Archive

Open-ended Scripted at Gross McCleaf

Any way you look at it, Scripted at Gross McCleaf Gallery is a pretty open-ended script. While a significant portion of the show in McCleaf’s wonderful gallery space is devoted to painting, there are also strange objects, an installation, photos, and video art.

Butch Cordora’s Absolution Lab – Pop celebrity love at Ven and Vaida

Butch Cordora, who has been in the Philly art scene for five years now, was once the host of his own cable TV talk show “In Bed with Butch” which aired for ten years. Butch now commits his time to art, specifically appropriation art. If you’re looking for something new avert your gaze because you won’t find it here, and that’s appropriate when considering appropriation art is about questioning the pursuit of the new (or what attempts to be original). Repetition is held in high esteem in appropriation art; that’s the goal.

Jessica Gath’s gift giving without a registry

By Andreea Bailuc A few weeks ago, on first Friday, I checked out Vox Populi Gallery. Among the various Skype interviews, “open mic” video projections and a surfers’ paradise, a live performance made a mark on me. A woman comfortably installed on a stage and surrounded by a basket of gift wrapping accoutrements and empty boxes was wrapping presents for people. A green and purple banner on the wall behind her announced that “Kindness is contagious.” Jessica Gath, the artist, asked for a brief description of the gift receiver and carefully wrapped the objects provided by spectators, thus creating an ... More » »

Theresa Pfarr’s troubled fashionistas at Carbon 14

Carbon 14 is back, a phoenix regularly rising from its own carbon dust. The gallery has moved to Kensington from Old City, and once again the people behind it, Katerina Lydon-Warner and Andrew Warner, are happy to think big thoughts!

Matt Savitsky hits the road–on artblog radio

The day we talked to Matt Savitsky, he was moving out of his North Philadelphia studio, in preparation for a road trip across the country with his father. Savitsky, moved to Philadelphia from what he called “the New York pressure cooker.” Here he found a whole different way of life–first isolation and unemployment, and then friendship in a multi-generational community of gay men. Savitsky says he’s shy, but his art, often with openly gay content, includes not-so-shy performance; he quickly found an audience at places like Vox Populi, the Painted Bride and Bodega in the short time he spent here. ... More » »

Buddy-hood in two shows at Jolie Laide

by Dennis D’Alesandro Two shows at Jolie Laide this month highlight the creative dynamics between long-time art school friends. Heavy Metal Sunburn (in the back space) features the paintings of Cranbrook grads Japeth Mennes and Jeffrey Scott Mathews, both of whose works attempt a futuristic sci-fi feel by employing a process-heavy minimalist aesthetic.

News: art security, O.U.R., Bambi Gallery’s return and more

News Attack on Matisse at National Gallery highlights art security After a recent attack on a Matisse painting at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, art security is on the minds of writers at the Washington Post.  That publication ran two stories recently about art security issues.

Shock Waves at sundown – Daniel Oliva’s window installation at Pentimenti

Only visible at sundown, Shock Waves from artist Daniel Oliva is a memorial to the victims of the tsunami that devastated Japan last spring. While the inside of Pentimenti Gallery is currently empty, the installation in the gallery’s front windows is visible from its sidewalk through August 24.

get it while it’s cheap at Marginal Utility

by Julian Phillips Rust-ridden, day dream-laden, and dizzying are just a few phrases that can describe the distortions in get it while its cheap at Marginal Utility this month. The exhibit showcases the exploration and experimentation that comes with being a young artist.

Weekly Update – Facial recognition at Gallery 339

For a long time now, artists have been stealing faces. Portraiture, whether sculptural, painted or printed, is a thief. Even when a portrait shows a likeness, the face is often there to represent a larger truth about the human condition.  No matter how much Abraham Lincoln looks like himself in art, he is always the great emancipator and a symbol of liberty and justice. ”About Face” at Gallery 339 takes aim at the human face — in black and white and color photographs by 25 artists — and arrays a small congregation on the walls. Beautiful and compelling, moody, funny or ... More » »