Tag Archive "seraphin-gallery"

Let’s Go Enjoy Nature at Seraphin

The title of the exhibit Let’s Go Enjoy Nature! is pretty funny. There’s nothing natural about standing in a gallery looking at art–an imitation of life. But art is the sincerest form of flattery. And speaking of the joys of what’s unnatural, air conditioning in this beastly weather is just the ticket.

Curating the personal – I Just Can’t Get You Out of My Mind at Seraphin Gallery

Hiro Sakaguchi is an honest curator. His curatorial statement for “I Just Can’t Get You Out of My Mind” at Seraphin Gallery reads: “I choose artists whose works I want to see again for selfish reasons.” Simple enough. And, as uncalculated as his curation may be, Sakaguchi still managed to weave together a diverse and talented group of artists he discovered in the Philadelphia-area, all of whom tackle conceptually and aesthetically complicated issues with ease. By using personal taste to navigate the curatorial process, one begins to understand just what it is that Sakaguchi is interested in: detailed, relatively small ... More » »

Line on Vazquez

The photographer Victor Vazquez makes a virtue of his defects. His nudes, for example, are not erotic. Yet as photographs they carry potent ideas. A lady in feathers, for instance, only evokes Santeria. Alas, poor chicken! Vazquez is a Puerto Rican nationalist. But his political views are neatly disciplined by a potent witty formalism. In this show, that formalism is often simply a white line.

Weekly Update-My Dog Speaks at Seraphin Gallery

 This week’s Weekly has my review of My Dog Speaks.  Below is my copy with some pictures. Through the years artists have devoted gallons of paint and tons of plaster, clay and metal to the depiction of animals — beloved cats and dogs and heroic wild beasts.  If an animal-loving artist makes a self-portrait, chances are a beloved pet will appear in the work.  “My Dog Speaks” at Seraphin Gallery is a 13-artist group hug of the beasts of the earth. 

Saturday trifecta

From deep, Northwest Philly to Cape May and back, can Roberta and Libby trek it in one day.  We’re revving up our very non-formula ones for some serious consumption of gas and art this Saturday.  First off, you’ll see us at the Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education for the opening of Gimme Shelter which we helped to jury.  (Forgive us, SCEE, for our driving transgressions today which are not so eco-friendly.)

Goodman and Sakaguchi at Seraphin

Robert Goodman, Zzip, 200730 x 30 inches, oil, acrylic and spray paint on canvas Robert Goodman and Hiro Sakaguchi may seem like a surprising pairing. Their paint application and their content are soooo far apart. But perhaps that’s why the two of them at Seraphin Gallery, until Oct. 7, do not step on one another’s toes. Zzip detail Robert Goodman: Night Vision is painting as fireworks. The abstractions have a feeling of spontaneity and the look of the urban, neon landscape captured by a camera in motion. They have depth and space, they have light, they have detail and they ... More » »

The warm-up for New Years

Faten Kanaan Familie Muller’s Ottoman Sled 2006 Wood, Nacre, cuckoo clock pulley 40″x16″x14″ The holiday season is just around the corner at Seraphin Gallery, with a float for Santa in the back room–Faten Kanaan’s little hand-crafted sled–and a giant mummer’s costume by Walter Benjamin Smith out front. The sled is part of a group show in the back room, We’d Rather Not Tell You, a mix of work by gallery artists and others. (Our students at Tyler staged a show last week called Please Stop Talking, Please–pretty similar, huh)? The front room has a solo show by Smith, The Transcendent ... More » »

Weekly Update (2) Walter Benjamin Smith at Seraphin

Also in the Weekly this week, my Editor’s Choice preview of Walter Benjamin Smith’s solo exhibition at Seraphin Gallery. Below is the copy with a few pictures. And for more photos see my flickr set. Walter Benjamin Smith: “The Transcendent Real” Fri., Nov. 10, 6-8pm. Free. Through Dec. 3. Seraphin Gallery, 1108 Pine St. 215.923.7000. Walter Benjamin Smith, the Transcendent Real Walter Benjamin Smith believes in the redemptive power of the mystical experience. The young artist, having his first solo show at the Seraphin Gallery, says he’s experienced mystical realms. And his new paintings, drawings and window installation gallop into ... More » »

Threesies in abstraction

Robert GoodmanOriginally uploaded by sokref1. This is a detail from an untitled Robert Goodman painting. Click the image to see it bigger. And see more images from the show at my flickr set. Poured or brushed, chaos-evoking or orderly, abstract painting, can always make the case for itself when it’s well done. Seraphin Gallery ‘s exhibit Abstraction: 3 Views, does just that–delivers a juicy, non-representational painting show that’s a crowd pleaser. Of course no two minds think completely alike on any one subject so the three artists in the show, Robert Goodman, Jon Manteau and Ben Will, present three different ... More » »