Our contributor Mark Lord experiences the Jasper Johns exhibit at Matthew Marks, and finds the highly charged subject of the work (a 1965 photo of a U.S. combat soldier weeping at the loss he could not prevent of friends in the war). He talks about the intimacy and emotion of the subject and how Johns removes the emotion for a reading about the mind distilling memory over time. The show is up through April 6 at the New York gallery.
Read MoreJanyce Glasper sees an insightful movie that deals with issues of post-graduate artists trying to make a go of it in the world today. “Olympia” screened at Lightbox Film Center as part of the Fifth Annual Philadelphia Women’s Film Festival.
Read MoreDeborah Krieger reviews a 2-person show at Philadelphia’s Magic Gardens. Didn’t know they showed art there (in addition to Isaiah Zagar’s amazing building)? Yes, they do. Check out Deborah’s piece on Claes Gabriel and Andrew Chalfen’s works.
Read More“The Appointment” is pulled from the headlines about women’s rights and abortion. With singing and dancing, and a definite point of view, Lightning Rod Special brings its liberal stance to life. Jessica Rizzo questions the one-sidedness of the piece but says when it hits, it is devastating. Final performances today, March 30 or tomorrow, March 31, 2019. Ticket links at the bottom of the post.
Read MoreMatt Singer explores the deep inner reaches and outer limits of Sarah Gamble’s highly focused and suggestive paintings, at Fleisher-Ollman Gallery, on view now through March 30, 2019. Ultimately, the works about consciousness and matter matter, says Singer.
Read MoreIlana Napoli visits New Orleans and sees an inspiring exhibition by Brandan “B-Mike” Odums (artist, filmmaker, educator, founder of 2-Cent, a youth arts education initiative for black children in the south). The solo show, called “Studio BE” is an ongoing project that is a tribute to black history/culture and resilience in post-Katrina New Orleans communities, opportunity.
Read MoreSamuel Brown reviews “Knowledge Lost” at Gallery 1201, by the artist collective “Difference Engine,” (John Bezark and Chris Baldys.) Brown says this interactive installation, which prompts you to write a eulogy out of deleted Wikipedia entires on an old computer, is especially impactful when experienced in solitude. The show closes Friday, Mar. 22, so catch it quick before it’s gone.
Read MoreFlora Ward visits BalletX’s Spring Series, reviews the three pieces in the program and articulates the show’s highlights and a few shortcomings with poetic descriptors. She applauds the shadowy finale, which left her speechless. This series ended on March 17th, 2019, so make sure to catch BalletX’s Summer Season, coming up July 10-21.
Read MoreSamuel Brown writes a thoughtful review of Joakim Ojanen’s recent show “Snake Pit” at The Hole NYC! Buy yourself a bus ticket and catch this quirky show– a world building installation filled with odd, anxious, cheeky, and playful characters– before April 14th, 2019!
Read MoreLogan Cryer writes an insightful appreciation of the Women’s Mobile Museum culminating exhibition. The group photography show by — and depicting — women involved in the year-long project at PPAC, has some great self-representation, and Logan concludes that photography is the best medium with which to examine issues of who is normally represented in art works and who is normally excluded. The exhibition is up at PPAC through March 30.
Read MoreIn her review of Cecilia Vicuña exhibition, Andrea Kirsh calls the works — little cobbled-together objects tacked to the walls or arrayed on a low platform on the floor — marvels. But these objects are not nothings to throw away but objects with magical shadows and poetic meanings, and their mystery delights.
Read MoreSam Brown sees a provocative show at Second State Press of printed posters made by the group “Prints for Protest.” He appreciates how many different ways artists in the show connect with protest issues alive today.
Read MoreLevi Bentley examines the complex melange of past, present and future in Alexis Pauline Gumbs’s book, “M Archive,” a work of speculative fiction that argues that Black feminist thought holds the “connection and knowledge and care of the earth and its people together through all time,” as Bentley says in their immersive review.
Read More
Support for Artblog has been provided by The Philadelphia Cultural Fund.
