studio visits/interviews
write-ups of studio visits and other interviews
Annette Monnier on liking–and not liking–art, next on artblog radio
Before the Vox building became a stacked art building, it was home to Black Floor Gallery. The groundbreaking Black Floor and its successor, Copy Gallery, are both gone, but they will remain remembered as among the best collective galleries in town in the first decade of the Twenty-First Century. One of the founders of both spaces is artist Annette Monnier, who came to town after art school in Cincinnati. Monnier is still making art. But most of her time is spent running the ClayMobile program out of the Clay Studio. And she writes a blog about art, One Review a ... More » »
Ralfka Gonzalez returns to Philadelphia
Two days before tonight’s opening, folk artist/gay activist Ralfka Gonzalez was sitting in the middle of A Seed on Diamond slipping final touches on to a painting. He was a little apologetic of as he reinterpreted the virgin’s traditional gold fleur de lis into runic gestures.
New podcast – ICA’s Ingrid Schaffner on curating, making her zine Pink, and working with artists
Ingrid Schaffner, ICA’s Senior Curator, has been with the Institute for ten years, and in that time she’s created many great exhibitions. Schaffner has a an easy smile, a ready laugh, and an interest in the absurd, from Dali and Dada to more contemporary artists like Richard Artschwager, for whom she worked as an archivist, pre-Philadelphia. The curator is an art omnivore whose shows range from conceptual artists Barry Le Va and Karen Kilimnik to the whimsical Maira Kalman. She also organized the Puppet Show, about the influence of puppetry in art, and Queer Voice, about the role of the “queered” ... More » »
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 » »
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 » »
Matt Savitsky – our next podcast coming up on artblog radio
Matt Savitsky is a young artist who makes forlorn sculptural installations — mostly autobiographical — and sometimes performs in the character of Minty. Minty played a puppy in a window at Bodega last summer, a memorable performance full of come-hither looks, floppy hair falling over the eyes and my dog Spot black and white makeup on his face. Savitsky graduated with a BFA from Cooper Union in 2005 and he just left the East Coast for San Diego where he’s beginning an MFA program focused on interdisciplinary arts. Matt is a Pennsylvania native and openly gay. And while he only ... More » »
David Huggins – an uncommon life
David Huggins is a 68 year old painter who lives in Hoboken, NJ. He studied at the Art Students League in New York City, and he’s been divorced for a little under ten years, with a 27 year old son who lives in Thailand. David concentrates most of his talent on the creation of a series of testimonial paintings about his life-long experience as an alien abductee. David is not on any medications nor has he been institutionalized at any time in his life. He says he’s never had an illness a day in his life, not even a cold!? ... More » »
Tornado watch–Robert Blackson takes Temple Gallery by storm
Temple Gallery’s new director of exhibitions and public programs is a revolutionary. He doesn’t wear a beard or espouse tracts from the latest theory of the month, but Robert Blackson is on a mission — and the young artist-turned-gallery director is a whirlwind of ideas on how to fulfill it. He will democratize art; he will program for the general public; and he will turn the space into an incubator for dialog and action to make the world a better place. And he will lose the gallery reception desk, which he calls “the iceberg,” a white desk that has a ... More » »
New podcast – Jordan Griska talks about sculpture, community and eBay
Jordan Griska grew up in Narberth in a household with a mom and dad who are physicians, and in fact Jordan was pre-med in college for a while until he changed his mind, switched to art, and transferred to Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. Griska makes sculptures and installations from found parts and re-used materials. He has accordian-pleated a real gasoline pump (he bought it online) transforming it into a small, R2D2-like version of a functioning pump. Now, he is working on a big commission for a large temporary sculptural for Lenfest Plaza, the new public space at Broad ... More » »
The black male image – an interview with JD Dragan about his photos in Modern Slave at AXD
JD Dragan knows how to light pigmented skin with exquisite finesse. His photographs of black male bodybuilders on exhibit at AxD Gallery are lush, sexy and very disturbing. Upon walking into the gallery I thought I was being confronted by the works of a black artist dealing with his or her own internalized racism (a subject worth exploring), until the gallery director informed me that the photographs were by a white man. In my mind that changed everything. My first instinct was to leave as quickly as I came in but instead I decided to ask a few questions. I ... More » »
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