Posts By libby

Americana reimagined in PAFA’s “here.”

America is still feeding off it’s old myths–the cowboy and the limitless landscape, the road-trip escape, the huckster medicine show, the American Dream, home sweet home, the decorous South, the heroic founding fathers, the grass-roots democracy.

Nick Cassway’s vinyl portraits at J.O.G.

Nick Cassway’s show of portraits of friends at JOG gallery has the immediacy of the snapshots that people post on the internet–unselfconscious, overindulgent, light-hearted and intimate. These are images that our ancestors eschewed–not that they didn’t do these things, but they didn’t parade their behavior in public or preserve the carefree moments for posterity.

Erin Riley, Laura Ledbetter, Anita Allyn in Wind Challenge 2

Societal breakdown is in the air at this season’s Wind Challenge 2 at Fleisher Art Memorial.  The three artists–Erin Riley, Anita Allyn and Laura Ledbetter–take very different approaches in the newest iteration of this revered series of juried art shows, dating back to 1978.

artblog safari Kickstarter news: $1,340 to go!!!

artblog’s art safaris Kickstarter campaign only has 23 days to go. And we still need to raise another $1,340. That means we raised $1,160 in our first week!! So big thanks to all of you who contributed to a fantastic start! For those of you who haven’t yet contributed, have you checked out our unique premiums–ways to make you part of the great project that is artblog–you on the blog in a variety of ways to match the size of your gift; you on a safari; you accompanying us on a recording session. And there’s more. Check out all the options!! Love, ... More » »

Derek Frech’s virtual Sublime at Rebekah Templeton

The virtual molten rock slips out from under my feet at that jewelbox of a gallery, Rebekah Templeton. I haven’t got a safe piece of ground to stand on there.

Sonya Clark tangles with hair at Snyderman

I was drawn to Sonya Clark’s show at Snyderman Gallery by a photo of a chair she had made–a found armchair festooned with braids that hung off the back and bottom like Spanish moss. Fit for an African king I thought.

British artist John Stezaker at Rosenwald-Wolf

The moodiness of collage nearly overwhelms the show of work by John Stezaker at Rosenwald-Wolf Gallery in his show The Nude and Landscape. But then the sharpness of Stezaker’s intelligence and eye pull it back from the brink, seducing with beauty, complexities, surprises and ideas.

Finding my inner Minimalist

I love taking photos–for better or for worse, usually for worse. But Philly Photo Day is an excuse to take pictures not to give information–my usual reason–but rather just to play. Here are some of the runners up from my day of photo-taking. As I went through the day, the photos get sparer and sparer. What I finally submitted for the exhibit, which is in its second year at the Philadelphia Photo Arts Center, is spare indeed. Here’s where I started. Not a good beginning.

In Scale, in paper, at The Print Center

The exhibit In Scale of real-world-scale works by 10 artists at The Print Center lends itself to exploring the charms and surprises of the ordinary, just by virtue of scale.

Near the Brooklyn Bridge

On a visit to see Alex and Lindsey in Brooklyn, we walked over to DUMBO. The blue lights of this installation caught our eyes–a beautiful shade of blue–so we entered what were basically the remaining four walls of an old tobacco warehouse, now a public open-air space along the waterfront.