De-Nature, the seven-person group show at Jolie Laide, demonstrates how artists love to mess around, ie transform or de-nature things, on the way to creating something new. Guest curator Wendy White is a New York artist, and most of the artists are New Yorkers with track records exhibiting in and around the Big Apple. So it’s a New York show — go see it anyway.
Go for Brian Bellott’s collages, which bubble over with color and rhythms and wild, id-fueled energy; and for Tyler BFA (and Rutgers MFA) Paul Demuro’s paintings. Demuro paints like he’s decorating abstract birthday cakes while tripping on LSD. Go for Liz Markus, Tyler MFA, who paints her feelings in drippy, ghostly quasi-realist works. (Recently, her portrait “Frank is much better than this painting” appeared in the “Thanks, Frank” show.) Take in these exuberant and idiosyncratic works by these emerging New York artists, some with Philly connections, and save your Bolt Bus money for another weekend.
De-Nature, Nov. 5-Dec. 1. Opening Reception: Friday, November 5, 6-9PM Jolie Laide Gallery, 224 N. Juniper St. 267 603 1295
Charles Burwell’s colorful, heavily-patterned abstract paintings are all about relationships. What types of relationships, you ask? While not clearly spelled out, we’re talking every kind, including interpersonal, historical, biological, technological and formal artistic relationships — all writ large in the interplay between color and shape, with hard-edged lines and biomorphic forms circled by sweeping lasso-like arcs. Burwell’s oil paintings are dreamy and meditative and built up layer by layer freehand and with stencils and templates. Both psychedelic and harmonious, the works reveal and revel in their depths, which suggest never-ending bright-hued conversations – not arguments – where passages echo and answer like married couples finishing each other’s sentences. As with jazz improvisation, there are underlying rhythms that ground the works (the stripes, the repeat cloverleaf shapes) and risky solo moments with swooping lines or large passages demanding attention. From cool mint green to acid yellow-ochre, Burwell’s colors surprise. Nine new works are on display at Bridgette Mayer this month. Go.
>>Charles Burwell: Structuring Desire/Desiring Structure. Nov. 2-Dec. 17, Opening reception, Nov. 5, 6-8:30 pm. Bridgette Mayer Gallery, 709 Walnut St. 215 413 8893
