Micah Lidberg, Rise and Fall (Nobrow Press: London) ISBN 978-1-907704-30-7 This surprising and seductive publication tells the story of the prehistory of the natural world, from the rise and fall of the dinosaurs and a meteor falling into the ocean, to the development of mammals, and ultimately, primates. The narrative unfolds entirely visually, with no text at all, across both sides of a concertina fold. Lidberg’s style betrays his knowledge of Japanese print-making but is hardly derivative, and he has great sophistication about how the illustration will look in printed form. It is characterized as a book because of its ... More » »
News The winners of the Leeway Art and Change Grant 2012 have been announced! $44,380 in grants were awarded to 18 women and transgender artists living in the Philadelphia area (including Camden County); four were previous winners but the rest are newcomers. Visual artist and educator Betsy Casañas (LTA ’08), visual and media artist Caroline Savage, and writer, performer and educator Julia Lopez (WOO ’01) sat on the August 2012 grant panel. Congratulations to all the winners! Alie Vidich, Multi-Disciplinary, Fishtown, $2500 Alison Crouse, Media Arts, Eastwick, $2500 August Tarrier, Literary Arts, Mount Airy, $2500 Charlotte Ford, Performance Art, Point Breeze/Newbold, $2500 Elliott batTzedek, Literary Arts, ... More » »
News artblog news This week artblog visited The Ungovernables, the second triennial of emerging artists organized by the New Museum in New York. You can see some images from the show here and stay-tuned for the upcoming review. It’s back to NYC on the 27th for the press opening of the Whitney Biennial. And we just learned that artblog was featured on Generocity.org’s list of Philly Non-Profit blogs. The site dedicated to helping non-profits likes what we’re doing here at artblog and we’re glad! In the Media The local voice of young Philly culture, Cred Magazine, organized through the Village of Arts and Humanities, has ... More » »
News Knight Arts Challenge Philadelphia names 55 finalists The Knight Foundation released the names of 55 finalists for its Knight Arts Challenge Philadelphia 2012. Finalists include artists, musicians, collectives, and community groups in the region. Winners are to be announced in the Spring.
What a relief to do an overnight in New York–it elevates the one-day marathon to a true vacation. This one included Renaissance portraits at the Met, Maurizio Cattelan at the Guggenheim, The Book of Mormon on Broadway and the Tenement Museum on the Lower East Side. The Mormons and the Dubins Back in April, my son Alex had a birthday, but we came up short on a gift. Alex loves musicals, so Murray tracked down tickets to the Book of Mormon for Alex, Lindsey and us. The wait has been long, but worth it. As musicals go, The Book of ... More » »
News Warren Angle died Friday We are sad to bring you the news that Warren Angle passed away on Friday, September 9 after a long battle with cancer. Angle, an artist, was the exhibitions director of the Fleisher Art Memorial for many years. He will certainly be missed by many. There’s a Facebook page set up as a memorial for Warren.
As I was leaving the Metropolitan Museum of Art (MMA, or The Met) on a Sunday afternoon in July, I followed the line of people waiting to get into the Alexander McQueen exhibition. The line ran the entire length of the corridor of the 19th century galleries, took a left turn where it continued through the enfilade of Near Eastern galleries and ended somewhere on the mezzanine balcony. It was 3:45, and I doubted everyone would get inside the exhibition, much less have time to see it properly. Now, the McQueen exhibition was spectacular – literally and figuratively – but ... More » »
If you’re not already familiar with the form, Pastel Portraits: Images of 18th-Century Europe at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (MMA, or The Met, through Aug. 14, 2011) will introduce an under-appreciated medium at its height; and high it was. Popes and royalty chose pastels rather than painted portraits on occasion, as anyone will know who saw the wonderful exhibition of Jean-Étienne Liotard at the Frick Collection in 2006. It included the marvelous pastel portraits that Maria Theresa, Archduchess of Austria, commissioned of her children, including the 7 year old Marie Antoinette (see below), who would marry Louis XV of ... More » »
Given the importance of music in our everyday life and our cultural obsession with musicians, we tend to know little about the often exquisite tools of music making. Two recent experiences shed light on the overlooked history and craft methods of America’s quintessential instrument, the guitar— a trip to the C.F. Martin Guitar Factory, and to the Met’s current exhibition “Guitar Heroes”.
I’ve been thinking for a while about Lobby Art – art in museum lobbies, that is. Not all museums feature Lobby Art; for some, such as the Guggenheim, the Philadelphia Museum of Art or the Art Institute of Chicago, the architecture suffices to create an ambiance for the entry areas, although certain artists, notably Jenny Holzer and Rebecca Horn, have taken on the Guggenheim’s central void to spectacular effect, and one might consider the Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall as the apotheosis of artist project lobbies.
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