Tag Archive "painted-bride"

East Coast, West Coast vs. The Real Americans

My daughter Minna has at times performs her memoir writings and occasionally spoken word. And Minna’s friend Sigal writes and performs one-woman plays. In fact, the two of them are working on a script together right now. So when I got not one but two emails from Minna in San Francisco, with an urgent recommendation from her and Sigal to see The Real Americans, I took the suggestion seriously.

Social justice through photography

Harvey Finkle is a documentary still photographer who has focused on social, economic, political and cultural issues for decades. He mostly works in and around Philadelphia, but has also produced several bodies of work abroad. His affecting retrospective at Painted Bride, “Justice Behind the Lens: The Legacy of Harvey Finkle,” – on through August 13 – fills the main gallery and adjacent room with black and white photographs spanning the last 30 plus years.

Studio visit: Colleen McCubbin Stepanic

Colleen McCubbin Stepanic’s work ruminates on the universality of form, from rock formations to the modern home. Her current exhibit at The Painted Bride, “Home”, is a meditation on the challenges of the housing crisis. I recently had the opportunity to sit down with Colleen at her studio at the Crane Arts building to see what she had to say about her intensely laborious paintings.

Shelter at the Painted Bride

A mix of some great art and lots of good will make up the exhibit Shelter at the Painted Bride. The exhibit asks the question, What really matters to sustain us as human beings? While not literally answering that question, a number of answers are on display here, and it is those compelling, individual answers that make this show tick.

Philadelphia Notes

An artists’ demolition derby in a still from Aaron Rose’s Beautiful Losers (2008)Lives of the Artists (ca. 2000) I asked Tyler Kline to join me at the January 21 International House screening of two films on art/skateboarding cultures since he comes out of a Portland skateboarding and art scene of a younger generation than Aaron Rose’s Beautiful Losers (2008) and I thought he could provide footnotes (which he did). Rose’s film made for an interesting comparison with Ted Passon’s Space 1026 (2007) and told quite a different story of how the art and community developed. Rose portrayed Margaret Kilgallen, Mike ... More » »

Making do

Amze Emmons, Breathing Apparatus, at the Painted Bride Cafe Gallery How bad is the whining greed and entitlement that marks the American Way these days? It’s really bad. As a nation we can’t even accept that bad stuff happens–by accident, by fate, by the alignment of the stars. We’re bogged down in law suits based on some mistaken notion that we can control everything, and that anything bad that happens can be blamed on some human action, some human fault. Now that’s just plain irrational. I’m not talking about some higher being, being to blame. I’m just talking about being ... More » »

Am the Rhythm– zingy psychedelic Pop

Jeanne Jaffe, Polygenesis-Progeny, detail, Resin and acrylic paint Am the Rhythm at the Painted Bride riffs in unexpected directions by grouping a somewhat unlikely quintet of artists–Jeanne Jaffe, Isaac Tin Wei Lin, Jackie Tileston, Laura Watt and Andrew Jeffrey Wright. Curator Shelley Spector asked the artists to respond to the space and to one another’s work, improvising, sort of the way a jazz combo improvises and riffs. The end result goes beyond the metaphor of music, turning the combo into something bigger and better. First of all, the artists in the show transcend the generational divide and the genre divide– ... More » »

Artblog pieces together a trend

Amze Emmons, in his show World Headquarters, at the Painted Bride The new camouflage tenting material is made of recycled fabric. Such is the new camping these days, and it’s showing up in art work all around town. Last night we spotted it in several pieces by Amze Emmons, at his World Headquarters exhibit curated by InLiquid in the Painted Bride‘s cafe. Tents and buildings with patchwork fabric walls appear here and there in his unsettled cityscapes. Katie Abercrombie’s landscape includes some ad hoc furnishings for the nomadic life. Last week, we spotted a bit of the trend in work ... More » »

What we want to see Friday

Here it is First Friday again. Things are hopping all over town and here are a few picks for you. Hope to see you out there. Heather Jo Wingate, paper doll VALLEY OF THE DOLLSHoneymilk at Topstitch Boutiqueopening reception friday april 4th, 20086-10 pmtopstitch boutique311 market stphila pa, 19106215 238 8877 A variety of dolls by, holy honeymilk! look at this list! derek ihnatabigail brulyheather jo wingatejames ulmersteven dufalajoslyn newmanmarta abrantessue whitevida russellj.l. shnabelgerold mooneysarah huntcarrie powellamy millererin sweeney by Amze Emmons World Headquarterspaintings and prints by Amze EmmonsInLiquid at the BridePainted Bride Cafe Gallery, 230 Vine Street, Philadelphia, PAFriday ... More » »

Weekly Update – Jim Houser’s world at the Bride

This week’s Weekly has my review of Jim Houser‘s show at Painted Bride. Below is the copy with some pictures. More at flickr.Back to BlackJim Houser spills his NPR-addled subconscious. Black Lurker with arrow in heart greets you in Jim Houser’s Painted Bride installation. Black has never been the anchor color in Jim Houser’s mostly pastel installations, but it’s all over his new two-floor piece at the Painted Bride. From boulder-headed characters called lurkers to small candles, shells and rocks on the memorial-like shelves that dot the walls, the preponderance of black changes the tenor of Houser’s universe from eggs ... More » »