Tag Archive "james-johnson"

American Dream noir at Vox

James Johnson, Some Rooms-Part I (Yours), installation detail Darkness is my pillow at Vox Populi this month. Almost everything is noir, and the American Dream has turned into something lost, exploded, longed for and gone. At least that’s what I got over almost everything I saw there. The most ambitious work on the subject is James Johnson‘s photo installation, Some Rooms-Part I (Yours). Corey Antis‘ smallish formalist paintings also refer to spaces and memory and feelings; and the video by Deborah Stratman at Screening Gallery, just inside Vox, also refers to these ideas. (Sarah Zwerling‘s Window, in the video lounge, ... More » »

Richard Prince interview–a prezzie from James Johnson

With Richard Prince’s Spiritual America having just opened at the Guggenheim, he’s everywhere in the media–the Times, the New Yorker and here on the internet, in a four-part video interview on Art Talk on VBS.TV. James Johnson sent along the url’s with a suggestion to sit tight through the advertisement before the show, but only part 2 had an ad when I looked. I watched with rapture, but I’m not sure at what level my rapture stems from my being such a fan. After part 1 of the video, I just sat and I sat and I sat and I ... More » »

The slippery truth–contemporary art photography

James Johnson, When I was a Kid I thought Mr. Rogers Could See Me Too2006, detail,inkjet prints; on the monitor to the right is a video by Kara Crombie. Photography is all over town–and there’s more on the way. From L’Autre, a group show at University of the Arts, to Tina Barney at Gallery 339, to James Johnson’s installation in the faculty show at Moore College, (not to mention Joel Katz’s 1964 photographs of Mississippians in the midst of the Civil Rights Era, also at Moore), to Eileen Neff’s eerie work at the ICA, I couldn’t help but think of ... More » »

New video gallery opens, and more

from Dial H-I-S-T-O-R-Y by Belgian artist Johan Grimonprez, screening at the new SCREENING gallery.Look for Philadelphia’s newest gallery, opening Friday. It’s called SCREENING, run by Matthew Suib and Nadia Hironaka, who say it’s the only gallery dedicated to the exhibition of innovative and challenging works of art on film and video. For its inaugural exhibition, Screening presents Dial H-I-S-T-O-R-Y by Belgian artist Johan Grimonprez. Produced in 1997, Grimonprez’ comprehensive and prescient chronology of worldwide airline hijackings combines documentary imagery with narration inspired by Don DeLillo’s White Noise and Mao II to “highlight the value of the spectacular in our catastrophe ... More » »

Weekly Update (1) – Et in Arcadia, excellence

This week’s Weekly has my review of Arcadia’s Works on Paper exhibit. Here’s the art page and below is the copy with more pictures. As usual, there’s more pix at flickr and here’s Libby’s post on the show. Arcadia FireThe tiny out-of-the-way gallery hosts the “it” show of the season. Installation shot. As usual the pairings are great, as here, with Judith Schaechter’s print “Child Bride” who is vomiting flowers, echoed with the pile of black bird confetti on the floor by Gabriel Martinez. Nils Orth’s untitled magical alien photo portraits stare like visitors from another dimension. Arcadia University‘s Biennial ... More » »