Nick Paparone – Accents for the Self-Made Man

Nick Paparone at Fleisher-Ollman. Lamps made from a stack of molded pineapple shapes

It’s not clear what the underpinnings of Nick Paparone’s works are. Nick, is, of course himself a CEO of a corporation, as the press material points out. But whatever this swanky parody of a furniture showroom has to do with — Ikea, Walmart or any of a number of global corporations — Paparone’s blue light specials (and red and yellow and green) are marvelous design statements, and you should get over there for a look before they leave.

Nick Paparone at Fleisher-Ollman.

The rugs are real rugs, printed digitally, that would fit your living room or family room, and the color-coordinated pineapple accent lamps would look excellent anywhere.  Prices affordable for what they are — not mass-produced products although they may well have been made (the rugs at least, and the wall hangings) in China.  I must bring up Amway here although I hate to give that corporation any ink.  Paparone has been doing PowerPoint presentations throughout the show’s run, and I am struck by how close his idea of the tight product line coupled with the, presumably, hard sell in the PPT lectures, mirrors the way that cult-like corporation works its sales.

Nick Paparone, set up for his PowerPoint lectures at Fleisher-Ollman gallery

Paparone, as you know if you’ve been reading artblog over the years, is one of our favorites. An enfant terrible not so enfant anymore, he co-produces Print Liberation and was a founding member of the late-lamented Black Floor and Copy galleries. Nick, post-grad school at Columbia, is based in New York now and yet he maintains ties to Philly via his internet business and his performance band, Personal Pain, a three-person band with Dave Dunn and Jamie Dillon.  See his website for more goings on. One part of the exhibit that colors it all is a manic and mesmerizing video of cars being crash-tested. See a clip online here.  The sound from the video colors the show as much as the lamps color the individual rugs and wall works.  The video’s aggressive sounds and imagery are tantamount to the corporate assaults we live under every day from advertising and corporate news.

Dan Murphy – Certain Things

Dan Murphy, Certain Things, at Fleisher-Ollman

In the gallery’s front space, small, intimate and perfect for this assemblage and collage work, is Dan Murphy’s Certain Things. The co-founder of Megawords is a vitrine and shrine expert.  His collections of street memorabilia and stuff from the bicycler-recycler-people-power world are sweet, earnest and great to get close to.   Note the pineapple salute on top of this shrine. Right now, Murphy and his collaborator, Anthony Smyrski, are involved in a Creative Time project in New York.  More on that at their website.

Dan Murphy, detail of shrine

Nick Paparone’s Accents for a Self-Made Man; Dan Murphy’s Certain Things are at Fleisher-Ollman Gallery through Sat. Oct. 15. Hours Friday, 10:30am-5:30pm.  Saturday, noon-5pm.

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.

John Vick is juror for New Wilmington Art Association show

Kim Faler, "Slack Tide", 2011, latex paint, paper, wood, clothing and bananas, dimensions variable. Photo courtesy of the artist.

Former artblog writer and co-founder of Art Workers Resource Group John Vick was the juror for the New Wilmington Art Association‘s current show RSVP 2011. The exhibit showcases 20 artists in a variety of mediums and runs from First Friday, September 9 to October 20.

Print Center hosts lecture by Wooster Collective founders
There is a lot going on these days at The Print Center. Of particular interest is the upcoming lecture by NYC’s Wooster Collective co-founders Marc and Sara Schiller. The topic of the lecture is the complex and controversial relationship between street art and graphic design/marketing. The free lecture takes place on October 14 at 6 PM.

Temple presents 9/11 Moments of Silence
Throughout September the Temple Gallery will be filled with recorded moments of silence from public and private events in commemoration of September 11, 2001. Gathered from newsreels, libraries, and the internet, these moments express a nation’s quiet remembrance and solidarity.

CofFREE Mondays at Temple
The Temple Gallery is also holding CofFREE Mondays starting September 12. Stop by the gallery from 7:45 – 9:45 AM for free coffee and the lowdown on cultural events at the university and around the city. Special guest lectures will also be on the agenda from time to time.

Opposites Attract at UArts

The Blind Tongue by James Fuhrman and Mark Warhol.

Starting September 6 as part of the Philadelphia Sculptor’s exhibit Opposites Attract: Collaborative Installations at University of the Arts, sculptor James Fuhrman and composer Mark Warhol present “The Blind Tongue”, a sculptural installation with video projections of an opera performance. The exhibition will be on display through October 13.

New online publication Hidden City Daily launches

Hidden City Daily, a new Philadelphia arts and culture publication affiliated with Thadeus Squire’s Hidden City project, has just gotten underway. They have a lot of picture-rich coverage of arts and culture and info on some of the more off-the-beaten-track locales around the city. One of the co-editors, Nathaniel Popkin, says the Hidden City Daily is geared up to be a hub of informed, reflective and innovative thinking about the city. It will be very interesting to see how Hidden City progresses in the near future.

Michael Rees lecture at Haverford College
Artist Michael Rees will hold a lecture on September 26 from 4:30 – 6 PM at Haverford College. Rees operates at the intersection of biology, art, and 3D rendering and will be hosting a workshop earlier in the day. If you have an interest in 3D art, sculpture, or contemporary art, this is definitely worth checking out!

Madelyn Roehrig Conversations with Andy

Madelyn Roehrig, Conversations with Andy.

For the past two years friend of Libby and Roberta’s, Madelyn Roehrig, has been videotaping individuals visiting the tombstone of Andy Warhol. Her project will be part of Pittsburgh’s Biennial at the Warhol Museum opening Sept-17 and running to Jan 8, 2012.  Also in the show are photos by LaToya Ruby Frazier and work by Dara Birnbaum. So far Roehrig has taped over 200 individuals with a range of insights and whimsical observations. Follow her project “Figments: Conversations with Andy” on its Facebook page.

Sprint 3D video
It may be a commercial for a phone company, but it’s also pretty fantastical! Check out Sprint’s recent 3D “flash art” video (or in 2D) in which park goers get accosted by  swarms of massive bubbles.

Met finds its funny bone

The Head Ache, a print after George Cruikshank by Enrique Chagoya.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art will be display works of humor, satire, and caricature in its newest show Infinite Jest. Works range from the Italian Renaissance to present day and offer a wide spectrum of satirical and comical work. The exhibition starts on September 13 and runs until March, so you have plenty of time to catch a few laughs.  One of the featured works is Enrique Chagoya’s “The Head Ache,” a print made when the artist was in residence at the Rosenbach Museum and Library.

Freeman’s Auctioneers record sale
Freeman’s Auctioneers had a record sale of a Chinese imperial-style double dragon white jade seal for $3.5 million. This creates a record for the highest-selling single lot and most successful sale of the company.

Opportunities

There’s an opportunities page set up on the Bartol Foundation website announcing teaching opportunities available to teaching artists. A few groups are seeking requests for proposals and teachers. Check out the details here.

Artist News

Gabe Martinez, "Lemon", 2011, archival inkjet print, 30 x 30 inches (76 x 76 cm

Pew Fellow and UPenn factulty member Gabe Martinez has a show dealing with gay male sexual identity at Samsøn in Boston from September 9 – October 15.

Huston Ripley, "Untitled", 2008, # 8XL1: Ink on Japanese paper: 25" x 19"

Huston Ripley will be displaying drawings at the Adam Baumgold Gallery in New York from September 8 – October 8.

In July, the Woodmere Museum acquired one of Doug Witmer‘s 2008 paintings “How Soon is Too Soon?” for their permanent collection.

Three former Philadelphia area artists – Jesse Greenberg, Nick Paparone, and Walter Benjamin Smith – will have work at the Socrates Sculpture Park on Long Island. Paparone’s solo show also opened at Fleisher-Ollman on September 8.

Dave Kim‘s recently completed project My Best Friend Facebook Forever has a website called My Best Friend Facebook Forever. My BFFF was a month-long performance/experiment where Kim did everything he was asked to do via Facebook.

Julie Courtney and Jennie Shanker will soon be completing their collaborative curatorial project CENTERpieces, affiliated with the Center for Discovery in upstate New York. Stay-tuned for an upcoming event for artist Richard Torchia’s work in one of the center’s geodesic domes.

Pentimenti
For the last couple summers, Pentimenti has mounted a group show based on an open call.  Reaching outside her comfort zone and current stable of artists, gallerist Christine Pfister has again this year rounded up a lively show.

Leah Frankel's mathematically-inspired egg array at Pentimenti

Leah Frankel’s free-hanging field of hand-blown eggs billowed gently in the breeze created by the passing viewers.  Frankel told us her piece was inspired by math….In case you’re wondering about all the souffles she’s cooked to make the piece, she told us that in fact she received eggs from a food kitchen in exchange for making quiches to be served in those kitchens.  We like the project and we like the finished piece, which has some sideways affinity with Felix Gonzalez Torres’ giveaways only Ledbetter has given the product away not in the gallery but in the soup kitchen.

Tim Eads, house paint dripped on Rand McNally maps

We continue to admire Tim Eads’ multi-faceted ouevre.  Tim debuted his bike pedal-powered butter churn last year at FLUXspace, a great old-fashioned, new-fangled functional kinetic sculpture.  Then at Jolie Laide, he had some wall paintings made by a fan pushing air at paint drips leaking from a paint can.  Recently, his lightbox digital prints appeared in the lobby of the Meridien hotel, his lit-up plastic-bag wall sconces were at Rebekah Templeton, and his Rube-Goldbergian toy slot machine was at the grand opening of the School House Studios.  Whew! Busy guy! Here at Pentimenti, he’s got dripped house paint on some cut up Rand McNally maps.  We love the Jackson Pollock meets grafitti-and-spin-art vibe.

Judy Gelles and Linda Brenner, installation in Pentimenti's Project Space. photo courtesy of the artists

In the Project Space, Judy Gelles and Linda Brenner collaborated on “Hopes and Fears,” a grid of photos and post-it notes. “I fear the loss of love…I want my mom to live forever…I hope this new job works out…I wish there was less acrimony in the world…I worry about my children. It’s a mother’s job,” were some of the sentiments on the notes, each one adorned with an inked fingerprint by way of a signature. The artists had asked for people’s hopes and fears during a one-day residency in LOVE Park–the basis of the grid. We watched as gallery-goers earnestly chose their Post-It colors and wrote their feelings. The new hopes and fears formed a cheery contrast to the stark Hanne Darboven-ish grid.

Also good in this show are Laura Ledbetter’s part cartoon/part abstract drawings and Jacque Liu’s beautiful pastel wall constructions — bon-bons on the wall.

One Night Only (UArts seniors) at the Icebox

Stephen James and Nick Maimone's video at the Icebox in One Night Only

The Icebox was burbling with sounds of seniors from University of the Arts, whose works sprawled through the big space and also the Icebox’s anteroom, the Grey Area.  We have to say we’re partial to this group since we taught some of them in our senior practices class in 2010.  Sadly, Tyler Held’s piece with a flat screen tv and a basketball hoop — which we’d seen at his thesis show — was missing, since it was too heavy to be installed on the Icebox’s apparently not so strong walls.  Tyler said he was going to have the piece at FLUXspace some time in the future. Stephen James and Nick Maimone’s collaborative video, with Steven sitting blankly, sometimes with eyes closed, occasionally smiling, getting Cheerios dumped on his head reminded us of Bill Viola’s The Crossing, a water piece that starts with a drip of water on to a body and ends in a deluge.

Stephen James, wall label

Nick and Stephen’s work is humble and sassy at the same time, an unbeatable combination. And we loved the ad hoc “wall label,” if that’s what it was — a brown paper bag with a couple names on it stuck to the wall by the force of a nearby fan.

Brandon Miller, photo on wood.

We found Brandon Miller’s photos on wood moving and a new direction for a sculptor who loves photography.  Miller’s images of himself and his family (father pictured above) are barely visible, submerged under the beautiful wood grain that asserts its dominance in the age-old  Man v. Nature conflict.

Michael Olivo, animation, at the One Night Only show

Michael Olivo’s animation is positively mesmerizing.  A skeleton sits on a couch, and periodically its torso and head gyrate like some unseen twisted rubber band has been let go to get the bones to move. Or maybe the bones are taking a bow (the perfect song-and-dance act for a show called One Night Only).  We don’t know what the message is but the still and moving image kept us riveted.

Little Berlin
Leslie Rogers’ first curatorial outing at Little Berlin brought together a bunch of live and video performances by a group of artists from Philadelphia, Boston, New York and  San Diego. It was quite the scene. As our buddies Kelani and Beth–sitting in LB’s swell grill, beer and weenie roast zone outside the gallery–said to us when we arrived, “It’s like high school in there!” We weren’t sure what they meant exactly until we got inside.

Vincent Finazzo, "Art 1," performance installation

Rogers gave us the annotated tour of the show, which was great and helped a lot in deciphering what we were seeing. For example, Vincent Finazzo’s installation — which showed four people sitting at an arts and crafts table — was about Finazzo’s high school experience as an artist surrounded by jocks in the high school lunch room. The performance here, which included the hoodied artist making art and three guys eating fast food and acting like obnoxious jocks, included a moment where the artist “escaped” only to be chased by the jocks and brought back, fireman-carry-style, slung over one of their shoulders. This was a really great idea and executed wonderfully.

John Sinclair, "All the love you can take," performance installation

In another corner of the gallery, John Sinclair had set up a replica of his childhood lair in the basement.  He was typing notes on an old typewriter and mainly trying to get people to sit down with him and make out.  While we were there LB member Masha Badinter was gamely sitting on the couch looking coy and in character as a teenage girl sitting uncomfortably on a couch with a boy who’d just put his arm around her.  Thumbs up for this installation and performance for revisiting the past and not getting bogged down in nostalgia.

We learned about All-Star Cheerleading, a world of competitive cheerleading we didn’t know existed, thanks to a still projection of the lightweight fly-girl atop the human pyramid and a photo of girls scrambling to form the pyramid, by Hannah Walsh! It looked positively bacchanalian, and again thanks to Leslie Rogers for the commentary.

Nick Paparone, Jamie Dillon and Dave Dunn, Personal Pain

The performance band Personal Pain, made up of Nick Paparone, Jamie Dillon and Dave Dunn, did a number that was notable for its noise and beat and for Paparone’s writhing, gyrating performance that riveted in spite of the song’s lyrics (repeated, mantra-like shouts of “Fuck You, Little Berlin!  Fuck You, Mom!  Fuck You, Dad!).  Paparone, by the way, is newly graduated from Columbia and worked with Rirkrit Tiravanija on Rirkrit’s recent show at Gavin Brown’s.  Nick told us that show will travel to Stockholm and he’ll be going over there to help with that as well.  Notably, Rirkrit’s show had a soup kitchen and a t-shirt  factory.  If you remember, Nick is co-founder, with Jamie Dillon, of the internet phenomenon Print Liberation, a t-shirt factory based in Philadelphia.

At the end of the evening, Zac Paladino would be handing out awards to the various artists for their works. Just like in those big high school art shows, we’re pretty sure everybody got an award of some kind. (We didn’t stay to see the award ceremony–if you know who won what, please put it in the comments!) Curator Rogers takes off soon for Virginia Commonwealth University to pursue her MFA.  Good luck, and come back soon!

Meanwhile, kudos to Little Berlin for fixing up their raw space at Viking Mills and turning it into a great white box with a fantastic courtyard for performing and hanging out.

Nick Paparone's installation at Vox Populi with the revolving eyeball/wrecking ball in the center

With Nick Paparone’s evil eyeball circling maniacally via a little motor in his frat boy sex, beer and hangover room installation, the revolutionary air was set at Vox. Brent Wahl’s quiet revolving zoetrope, a tinfoil mini landscape on a huge turntable that was captured by video and thrown up on the wall as a travelling landscape of the mind echoed the revolving nature of life.  The piece is lovely.

Brent Wahl's revolving tabletop landscape

Brent Wahl's revolving piece projected on the wall.

Onions, sliced in half and and dipped in rainbow-colored dyes were odiferous circles at Copy in Constance Mensh’s installation.  Mensh photographed herself in situ working with the aggressive vegetables.  Here she is crying her eyes out; there she is looking serene and like she’s done battle; here she is, frock covered in a mess of dye.

Constance Mensch, in a photograph, looking like Nigella Lawson having a bad day in the kitchen. Copy Gallery

Onions make us cry.  But so do breakups, sad movies, pretty rainbows.  Many things make us cry.  Good food can make people cry.  Some of Mensh’s photos — where she is standing behind a table laid with her onions in dye baths — have a wacky Food Network ambiance, like out-takes from a Nigella Lawson show where something went wrong.

Reading viaduct seen from the 6th floor of 319A N. 11th St. High line Philly anyone?

Much more to see in this building, from Alex Paik’s new tiny drawings at Tiger to Victorian-esque photographs by Margaux Kent at Jeffrey Stockbridge and, up on 6, a nice view of the Reading Viaduct that one day might just be the Philadelphia High Line (any funders may now please step forward).

I will put in links later (sorry) going to ICA now.

Seripop, the Montreal screenprinting duo, blows into Space 1026 with a load of 400 rock band posters, books and zines to show and sell. Seripop, founded in 2002 by Chloe Lun and Yannick Desranleau, is the Space 1026 of Canada—an alternative print studio whose products have a funky, psychedelic vibe. The duo has won awards for their “gigposters” for underground music phenoms including Wolf Parade, Chinese Stars and their own band, AIDS wolf.

Seripop poster. Space 1026

Seripop’s bold graphic style and use of monsters, skulls and cartoon characters channel high school sketchbook art. The colors are a surprise—’50s-era pastels with weirdly non-complementary shades of orange, ochre, brown and lots of black. The text is almost unreadable in letters that seem to be melting, burning or twisting themselves into knots. But like rock posters from the 1960s, these contemporary works are less about the information than they are about commemorating the moment.

Nick Paparone. Vox Populi

There’s lots of great stuff at Vox Populi this month but Nick Paparone’s swansong installation is funnier, edgier and odder than anything else you’ll see. The Vox Pop member and co-founder of Black Floor, Copy and Print Liberation is headed to graduate school. Known for being secretive, Paparone doesn’t share what his installations look like before they’re hung but he’s known for his iconic representations of the human condition—usually made with common materials and gag props and sometimes involving performers. Previous works used black trash bags, rubber fried eggs and Mountain Dew in nauseating excess.

Two Together: Craig Kane and TImon Meyer at Mt. Airy Contemporary

Queens artists Craig Kane and Timon Meyers mine pop culture, mythology and personal history at Mount Airy Contemporary. Kane’s tiny, delicate sculptural installations in boxes, on the floor or on the wall use found materials—such as photos and tree branches—with hand-carved words to whisper about the ephemeral nature of life and human vulnerability. Meyers’ easel-sized digital photos merge appropriated television images from daytime tv with appropriated online images of mythological creatures like centaurs, the minotaur and elves. Television’s garish colors and harsh lighting make a great backdrop for beast-on-beast fighting scenes and close-ups of elfin-eared ladies.

Robert Scobey. Projects Gallery

Twenty-six young artists debut in Projects Gallery’s “Fresh,” a roundup that continues the gallery’s annual exploration of work by recent graduates who are relative unknowns. Gallery director Helen Meyrick says this year’s group is less focused on the body than in the past. Notable in a show that spans a wide range of materials, subjects and styles is David Solan’s futuristic installation in the gallery’s front window with spaceships suspended from the ceiling, exploding animals, pods and other sci-fi trappings all from recycled materials and metal. And watch out for Robert Scobey’s First Aid, a carved book that turns a first aid manual into a sexy collage of mouth-to-mouth resuscitation and hands touching skin.

Seripop IBU400 x 2”: Through Sept. 15. Reception: Fri., Sept. 4, 7-10pm. Space 1026, 1026 Arch St., second fl. space1026.com
“Two Together”: Through Oct. 16. Reception: Fri., Sept. 4, 6-9pm. Mount Airy Contemporary Artists Space, 25 W. Mount Airy Ave. 215.764.5621. mountairycontemporary.com
“30 Days in the Hole”: Through Sept. 27. Reception: Fri., Sept. 4, 6-11 pm. Vox Populi, 319 N. 11th St., third fl. 215.238.1236. voxpopuligallery.org
“Fresh, 2009”: Through Oct. 31. Reception: Sun., Sept. 6, 6-9pm. Projects Gallery, 629 N. Second St. 267.303.9652.projectsgallery.com

David Shafer, Untitled Expression: How to Look at Sculpture, 11 min. audio, 2008

The 6-artist show, which we saw with Abington Curator Sue Spaid, includes a couple of doozies, good doozies that is. Our favorite, it’s orange and arch, is by New York artist David Shafer. “Untitled Expression: How to Look at a Sculpture” looks at first blush like a Sol Lewitt. Bright orange sticks in a boxy Modernist configuration. But the piece is a sort of joke about Modernist sculpture. Topped by a megaphone, which emits an eleven-minute lecture on how to look at sculpture, the piece talks to you like Alistair Cookie Monster delivering a pompous talk about how to approach a sculpture. There’s classical music and all.

Abington Curator Sue Spain, standing in Caroline Lathan-Stiefel's piece in the woods.

And here’s the kicker, Caroline Lathem Staffel, who was embellishing her piece in the woods from last year, was within earshot of the megaphone. She told us she quite enjoyed listening to Mr. Cookie Monster and agreed with a lot of his points. We also agreed with him, at the same time that we laughed out loud.

Foreground, Dillon and Paparone's Born to be Wild, 2008; Background, Knox Cummin's Habitation Suite: Cabin Van Gogh, 2007

The pieces in Endurance share the space with some sculptures from previous years’ exhibits. So, for example, within spitting distance of Shafer’s piece is Jamie Dillon and Nick Paparone’s Born to be Wild from 2008, a King of the Hill sod-haired dirt mound with a bell on the top that’s almost as noisy. Run up the hill, ring the bell, and then run down. Repeat and enjoy.

On our way to the woods we passed by Knox Cummin’s Habitation Suite: Cabin Van Gogh, also a holdover from 2007. This sweet little playhouse with a bed and some chairs plays with perspective a la Van Gogh’s bedroom painting. It looks fresh as new and made us smile again.

Robert Geno, Energia and Dissenssus, 2009. Wire, wood, soil, seed, cement

Back to Endurance. St. Louis artist Robert Gero’s Energia and Dissensus, with its sprouting limbs suggesting a shelter of sorts, reminded us of an Ewok village complete with mudpit floor and, we think, trolls hiding in the woods. The concept of embedding seeds into an architectural form becomes more and more popular. We chalk it up to eco-hysteria and people wanting to feed the birdies and replace the fading natural environment.

Others in the Endurance show are John Kalymnios, Stacy Levy, Winifred Lutz and Bill Shuck.

The Sculpture Garden is open daily dawn to dusk. Free. And Saturday and Sunday, free guided tours of the Sculpture Garden are at 11 am and 1 pm.

Nick Paparone and Jamie DIllon's poster for their upcoming X-Initiative performance.

Two of our town’s revered alternative galleries, FLUXspace and Vox Populi, are participating. Also, those two wild boys, Voxers Nick Paparone and Jamie DIllon, will be doing a collaborative performance Saturday, June 27 at 6 pm. The performance is called “Regular Tripping,” featuring what looks like Mr. Orange Juice, who seems like a cross between Garfield and Mr. Peanut–tasty and lots of attitude.

X-Initiative is presenting this conglomeration of art and stuff and we wondered who they were. Here’s info on the one-year project’s founders and board and mission.
X Initiative
548 West 22nd Street New York NY 10011
Opening Reception: June 23, 6-9 pm
with a performance by Martin Soto Climent

Shawn Thornton, one of five paintings in the show, oil on panel, 11×11″

Sly and serpentine works turn Fleisher-Ollman’s sixth annual emerging artist show into an Eden with bite. F-O is known for exhibiting the works of visionary outsider artists like James Castle.  But in this annual winter emerging artist exhibit it’s unusual to see a visionary.  So painter Shawn Thornton is the surprise. 

Thornton at the opening reception, posing with two of his works.

His colorful, heavily-worked oil paintings of complex diagrammatic interweavoven lines, nodes, dots and symbols are like 2-D Rube Golderg machines without the punchline at the end.  Several of the five paintings look like super tricked-out gameboards — Candyland or Parchesi for four-dimensional thinkers. The artist – (BFA 2000, VCU) who in 2006 had brain surgery and radiation therapy for a tumor on his pineal gland – is puzzling out life’s flow, energy and meaning right in front of your eyes.  Deeply personal yet somehow universal, the works are fascinating and gorgeous.
 

Steven and Billy Dufala, Long Chuck, 2008. archival digital print, ed. 5. 41×82″ That’s Ann Northrup caught studying the Photoshop whizbang image.

Steven and Billy Dufala‘s digitally-rendered photo of an improbably-long sneaker is another puzzle.  The iconic trick shoe curls into a snaky S curve that evokes snakes, skateboarding and roller coasters,  This virtuoso Photoshopping of a dirty sneaker into a pristine icon is funny and unexpected from the two makers of rough-hewn installations like their Fleisher Challenge show last year.  

Steven and Billy Dufala, Sledge Hammer. 2008. steel and oak. 33 1/4 x 12 1/2 x 6 1/2″

Also unlikely is the Dufala sculpture, Sledge Hammer.  With a a beautifully-finished wood shaft that looks like it’s an entire small tree trunk, the double-headed hammer is a fairy tale of a piece – it may be a lesson about double-dealing but the sculpture is pure seduction. 

Nick Lenker, Sacrifices Will Be Made, 2008. clay, glaze, enamel, wood, metal. 16x8x8″
Always Remember Your Place, 2008. clay, glaze, luster; enamel, wood. 12x14x14″

Next to the hammer — and all the more fragile for being there – are Nick Lenker‘s two ceramic pots in a glass vitrine.  The pieces mimic ancient Grecian urns with beautiful repeat patterns and central images of nudes or draped figures in some ambiguous narrative.  But the wowza pots are 21st Century constructs – the images are made with digital ceramic decals. 
 

Nick Paparone with his IHop special universe, The Long Now, 2008. laminated poster, aluminum foil, carpet, motor and light bulb. 78x24x25″

Nick Paparone‘s mischievous installation of a spinning breakfast special (2 eggs, pancakes, sausage and bacon on a white plate) in front of a laminated poster of the universe explores reality today.  The plastic breakfast is as real as the impossible picture of the universe, and the whole thing is comical.  Truly we are Lost in Space. 

Josh Rickards, Drug Rug, 2008. acrylic and oil on panel. 21×22″

Josh Rickards paintings of people with mutant noses (think Ed Paschke) and 70s hair are wonderfully deadpan; and Charles Hobbs‘ hand-carved snakes and wood installations are beautiful.

Mark Stockton, Mr. Olympia 1974. 2008. charcoal on paper, 104×60″
 
Also good are Mark Stockton‘s figure drawings, especially the 8 ½ ft. tall charcoal drawing of a young, monstrously pumped up Arnold Schwartzennegger; David Clayton‘s mini landscapes; C. Pazia Mannella‘s snake-like zipper constructions; and Jeremy Drummond‘s aerial photos of snaking suburban housing developments.

Charles Hobbs, Untitled. wood, 44x40x4″

Jeremy Drummond, 65-Point Plan for Sustainable Living, 2008. 65 lambda prints face and back-mounted plexi

C. Pazia Mannella, Your Grace, 2008. zippers, thread.

Alex Lukas’ untitled book pages like this one feature a post-deluge metropolis right out of Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth.  2008. ink, acrylic, gouache and silkscreen on book page. 10×14″

With beauty, virtuoso craftsmanship and dark humor throughout, the exhibition’s an unexpected holiday present.

“You Open So Late, You Close So Early.”
Through Jan. 17.
Fleisher/Ollman Gallery, 1616 Walnut St., suite 100.
215.545.7562.

VOX POPULI

Bag lady pouring Mountain Dew but not for you in Nick Paparone’s installation at Vox.

Winner of the P.T. Barnum Best Show on Earth award this month is Nick Paparone. His two bag-headed Daisy Mae’s pouring Mountain Dew into trash cans First Friday in his Reynolds Wrapped installation is the anti-spectacle spectacle that’s hard not to love. Not only does this piece,  Bacchanal-Tootsie Roll Whip, call to mind frat parties and youthful hooliganism in general but the hooliganism of our crassly over-consumptive culture as well. Oh, and then there’s some art content. Surely the ladies are fountains of a sort. (Think Duchamp among other art references.) A platform in the middle of the room — festooned with bikini tops — is the showcase for framed abstract finger paintings in what could be called fecal colors. And, this dubious ship of state is topped by a gilded icon: Brancusi’s Kiss–an emblem of old world art, craftsmanship, love — and the Philadelphia Museum of Art which owns the original.

Framed abstract art on the platform

This critique of the times reminds me of Mike Kelley‘s giant high school fair at Gagosian in 2005 “Mike Kelley: Day Is Done”, only unlike Kelley’s B-movie funhouse which fetishized teen culture which it was in love with, Paparone’s teen aesthetic is lighter, brighter and more conflicted.

Brancusi’s Kiss on top of Paparone’s platform.

Jamie Dillon with part of his installation at Vox

Jamie Dillon‘s installation A Better Day is Coming is a poignant little affair between two sculptural objects, one of which sings to the other while the other burns its candle down. This is Dillon’s first solo with Vox although singly and as compadre of Paparone’s in their joint venture Print Liberation and co-founder of Black Floor and Copy Gallery, his art has been in shows around town for several years.

The other half of the love duet created by Dillon in his installation at Vox

Dillon gutted an Ikea dresser then installed some hot car stereo equipment he bought on the Gowanus Bridge, he told me. The penny-encrusted dresser–on wheels, so there’s the possibility of movement–blurts out a low, loud, mournful tone periodically, addressed to the short stack of black and white whose red candle (in the shape of a brain) burns bright in the opposite corner of the room. Dillon said he thought of the black and white striped piece as a kind of panda bear. And when I asked what it was made of he said the top was the remnants of Everest, a piece he and Paparone made a few years back. The rest is plaster and paint I believe.

It’s a sweet piece about yearning and loss and while the sound of the dresser blurting its love was lost at the opening (I did hear it once or twice) in an empty gallery its impact would be big.

Jonathan Prull at Vox Populi

Jonathan Prull takes a departure from his previous material (cardboard) and here makes an enormous sculptural installation reminiscent of a giant Tinker Toy assembly. But while the piece, titled we carry what we seek, might be meant to suggest childhood games its affect is that of a playground bully — don’t come too close or the metal with its sharp pointy edges will surely do you harm. This is an interesting move for Prull and I look forward to what comes next.

Clint Takeda’s wood dog critter in the Vox alumni show

In the back room, the Vox alumni show, One Gray Grass in the Ball Field, was full of great stuff to look at, which is what Paul Swenbeck, one of the organizers, said it was supposed to be — a great group of stuff to look at.

Paul Swenbeck at the Vox alumni show. On the wall, right, is a Tristin Lowe drawing — a self portrait– that the artist did in his teens, Swenbeck said

Swenbeck’s ceramic frogs from the alumni show.

Others in the show include Joy Feasley, Shannon Bowser, David Wickland, Jen Macdonald, Kait Midgett, Nick Muellner and Richard Harrod.

SCREENING

Michael Bell-Smith:On the Grid

Michael Bell-Smith‘s digital animation made of the simplest of “materials,” + and – signs, seems to be a computer imagining of a city seen from different angles based on footage shot from a train. I sat through a couple loops of the piece lulled by its quiet affect and beauty. The sky behind the urban forms emulates a 24-hour period changing colors from pale blue to bright yellow, orange and indigo. This is the artist’s first gallery exhibit in Philadelphia although he told me at the opening that he’d been living in town until recently when he moved to New York. There is something forlorn and elegaic in the piece and I’d like to see more from the artist.

COPY
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Beth Brandon’s Bear Rug, a drawing on paper

We stopped at Copy Gallery too early to see the Carrie Collins costumes but we loved Beth Brandon‘s Bear Rug under glass, a lovely drawing presented as a precious trophy.

The walls in the space are painted a gold and green almost Tartan plaid with a gold alcove painted on one wall festooned with two tiger head candles. The stage was set but sadly we couldn’t stay for the action. But Copy’s Annette Monnier, who curated the show,  sent us some photos, a couple taken by Jeffrey Stockbridge and a few by Monnier herself. The tiger motif in the Collins costumes is greeeeaaaat as Tony the Tiger would say. 

Model in a Carrie Collins costume at Copy Gallery. Photo by Jeffrey Stockbridge.

Annette Monnier, right, with a model in a Carrie Collins costume. Copy Gallery. Photo by Jeffrey Stockbridge.

Brandon in a wolf hat at the opening.

More photos at flickr.

That sly boots Nick Paparone wrote us a note declaring that his current installation at Copy Gallery was a “life changing experience.” I really like Nick’s work (not to mention Nick himself) and it probably was a good move on his part, given that I for one was less than likely to make it to this particular show. (I should mention in all fairness that Paparone is one of the founders of Copy Gallery, although I wouldn’t call this a vanity show).

Well, turns out it wasn’t a life-changing experience for Nick (oh, Nick, next time you tell me it was a life-changing experience, I probably won’t be moved). But I sure did enjoy the installation, This side of Paradise, a surround-sound immersion with three inflatable figures made of plastic bags. The bags are powered up by three box fans that also serve as slightly raised pedestals on blocks.

For starters, dumb mechanics never fail to steal my heart. The box fans are perfect as far as I’m concerned!

Nick Paparone, who has lately been exploring the shock of having grown up.

The figures are painted–two dressed in jeans and t-shirts, one scribbled with a graffiti dress. They appear to grunt (or at least a sound track does) in a language that sounds half Inuit, half teenage-boy inarticulate. In other words, these guys are not fully hatched adults.

Therefore, on the wall are three sculptures of giant sunny-side-up eggs, their wavy edges radiating out in drawn lines, creating a forcefield of youthful unformed-ness. The highlight of the eggs is the yolks–inverted Martha Stewart yellow plastic bowls. After the show, Nick said he’d use them to scramble eggs. A fourth wall shows portraits of eggs.

It’s the fans and the soundtrack that make the show. The radiating egg imagery, like the youths, are kind of funny, psychedelic, and a little unformed around the edges. In other words, while they amplify the subject, they also feel just a tad off-target.

Nick also has a piece, done in collaboration with Jamie Dillon, up at Abington Art Center‘s sculpture garden. Here’s Annette’s post and here’s mine.

Copy will be open Saturday and Sunday, noon to 5 p.m.