Tag Archive "justyna-badach"

Class Warfare at Moonstone Arts Center

by Julian Phillips You will find the staircase to Robin’s Bookstore and Moonstone Arts Center between two bustling restaurants on an equally busy street. Once upstairs, you still might be able to hear the rabble and cries from those encamped at City Hall. Their chants and shouts are not intelligible, and many wonder what the protestors are trying to say. However confusing their message, we know why they have chosen to occupy the city center. We all feel it, hear and talk about why rabble-rousers and Americans hang their heads together.  And the Class Warfare exhibit at Robin’s/Moonstone will show ...

Philly portraits at Gallery 339 and PAFA

Portraits are everywhere, right now, major portraits. I had a nice conversation with myself after seeing two terrific shows of Philadelphia portraits in the same week–the show Personal Views: Contemporary Photographic Portraiture in Philadelphia, at Gallery 339;  and the paintings in Barkley L. Hendricks’ Birth of the Blues at Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.

Badach and Frischkorn’s men and boys

Vek, by Justina Badach Two photographic portrait exhibits at the Philadelphia Art Alliance borrow from the old masters to very different effect. Justyna Badach’s Bachelor Portraits exhibit is quite different from other work I have seen of hers. This time she is using straightforward C-prints with no digital whiz-bang alterations, and her subjects are human beings. The portraits are quite satisfying and material, presenting quite a different sensibility from her immaterial landscapes devoid of people. By including in each large portrait details of that person’s home and interests, Badach is falling back on the portrait tradition that includes symbols of ...

So near and yet so far

Steven Baris’ The Correct Distance #B5, 30 x 30 inches Jellybeans is what I think of whenever I see a Steven Baris painting. It has to do with the translucent glow and the Pop colors. Baris’ one-man show of 19 works at Pentimenti until May 27, looks great. Baris’ translucency is achieved by painting with acrylic on Plexiglas. He also finishes his painting with a kind of waxy material. The resulting surface has a matte glow. All of these add up to a sense of layers in space, of depth. Baris’ Spread #A9, 14 x 14 inches Some pieces have ...