NEWS
I was one of three jurors for Bryn Mawr Rehabilitation Hospital’s 20th Art Ability exhibition. In the great company of Anthony Vega and Deirdre Murphy, I spent the morning looking at more than 400 works by artists with disabilities (culled from more than 1,200 submissions!) and saw the excellence of these artists’ works. I also met Sherman Fleming, the curator of the Art Ability program. And because you never know, I asked Fleming if he was an artist. The answer is yes.
Sherman Fleming’s art is personal, performative and quietly confrontational. Amazing, actually. Recently, Fleming said, he did a public art piece in Brooklyn that riffed on those offensive yard jockeys. He hired a horse and stood with it and invited people to have their picture taken on the horse. His new project is called “Noose,” in which the artist wears a noose and interacts with the public. Here’s a video from his website of a trip he took through the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
Congratulations to Odili Donald Odita, for his solo exhibit at the Nasher Museum at Duke University. Odita also has two new murals commissioned by Duke, one inside the school and one outside in downtown Durham. Odita teaches at Tyler School of Art and shows at Jack Shainman Gallery, New York. There’s a very nice podcast with Odili at the Duke website linked above.
Collette Fu, known for her sculptural pop-up-books and art in the community, has a solo show coming up next Fall at National Museum of Women in the Arts — Congratulations! http://broadstrokes.org/tag/colette-fu/
Good reading outside the Philly bubble #1 – Article by Brendan Greaves in ArtNews quotes Gallerist John Ollman about “vernacular artists at the margins.” The comprehensive long read discusses labeling of artists at the margins as outsider, self-taught, naive; why the interest in these artists seems to come and go; the problem of pricing the work; the issues in gallery representation; and lack of academic contextualizing. Greaves lays this all out very thoughtfully as questions to be answered. The former Philadelphian was affiliated with Fleisher-Ollman Gallery a number of years ago.
Good reading outside the Philly bubble #2 – Meredith Sellers’ article in Pelican Bomb about Pepon Osorio’s reForm project. The article is hyper critical of reForm, a project dealing with the closure of the Fairhill school. And the piece ends on a note comparing reForm with the real estate project in the now-closed Edward W. Bok Technical High School, Le Bok Fin, a rooftop bar atop the closed school. While it seems right to put both school closing projects together in a discussion, somehow there’s a more nuanced discussion needed than just this is bad and that is even worse. I’d love to get a discussion going about reForm and Le Bok Fin. Send a note to theartblog19004@gmail.com if you’d like to participate or help organize something. Sellers, by the way, was a finalist in the Artblog/St. Claire Art Writing Challenge. Read her article on ICA’s Barbara Kasten exhibit.
Good reading outside the Philly bubble #3 – Cruxspace, which turns 1 this month gets article in Adafruit blog. Double congrats, Andrew Cameron Zahn!
Opportunities
Art in the Open (AiO) Call for Artists DEADLINE: JANUARY 15, 2016
FEE (USD): $35.00 To apply visit: https://cfeva.slideroom.com
2016 ART IN THE OPEN JURORS
Annette Monnier, University City Arts League
Orlando Pelliccia, Leonard Pearlstein Gallery
Douglas Schaller, Locks Gallery
Artists do not need to be from the Philadelphia region to apply.
Professional artists working in all media are invited to participate in Art in the Open 2016. Beginning Friday, May 13 through Sunday, May 15, 2016, artists will use Philadelphia’s Schuylkill River Banks as their studio space, creating new works of art ‘outside, on-site.’
Art in the Open encourages both artists and audiences to draw inspiration from the city’s natural and urban landscapes. Using the SchuylkillRiverBanksPark as studio space, participating artists will have the opportunity to explore new or extend current working methods, develop process-oriented projects, and respond to a compelling intersection of urban and natural spaces in the public realm. Selected artists will have the opportunity to participate in complementary programming, public engagement events, and to exhibit artwork created during AiO in a series of gallery exhibition. For more information about the event visit http://www.artintheopenphila.org.
Via Kari Scott’s Week at Tyler Newsletter – But Can I Pay My Rent Tho?!: Surviving As a Social Change Artist – Thursdays, October 22 & 29 from 4:30pm-7:30pm at the Leeway office, 1315 Walnut Street Suite 832
Without art, there can be no movements. But artists are often unrewarded for being the drivers of change, which has created a culture of unsustainable practices. This workshop will make space for artists to develop long-term strategies towards a life supported by their creative work. Participants of these sessions are artists and cultural producers of all disciplines who are ready to build a career from their practice. Part 1 will focus on evaluating your financial needs and plans as an artist; and Part 2 will recharge your marketing needs and put your plan into action. Performance poet J Mase II (ACG ’07) will lead this workshop. This workshop is free, but space is limited. Participants must be able to attend both sessions. Please RSVP by calling the office at 215-545-4078 ext. 15 or email rsvp@leeway.org.
Artist News
Deirdre Murphy, who was a co-juror for the Art Ability prizes, told me she’s got two exhibits opening in November, a debut show of paintings at Gross McCleaf Gallery, Nov 4-18, with an opening Nov. 6, 5-7PM, and a show of works on paper at URBN 534 Gallery at the Navy Yard, Nov. 3-Dec. 5. Free shuttle from Center City to the Naval Yard
Anthony Campuzano wrote recently to remind everybody that the last week of his installation “Forecast 1998/2013” at the Philadelphia Museum of Art approaches. Pictures of the video installation here. The final day the piece is Tuesday October 20, and the video, which screens daily 11AM-5PM will have extended viewing to 8PM on Wednesday, Oct. 14, to coincide with the Shepard Fairey talk at the museum. Here’s a link to an interview the artist did with Gina Decagna for the ICA blog.
