Artblog | Artists

September 1, 2016 by Hammam Aldouri

Within the conditions of digital technologies of production, reproduction and distribution, we are all busy working away at our creations, leaving no cultural space for others to look and contemplate. Here we come back to our guiding question: if we are all compelled to be artists, what happens to the figure of the artist understood as something other than simply the producer of content? Indeed, what happens to art as a zone of cultural activity that is not simply subsumable to the endless machinations of creative production and reproduction?

August 31, 2016 by Roberta

Happy Birthday to Philadelphia art treasure, Marie Ulmer, 99

Marie will celebrate her 99th birthday on August 31. Marie is Kensington’s most notable artist. Her house and home was on Howard St just around the corner from Berks St, in which, she resided mostly all her life. It was only a few years ago that she needed to move into a senior citizen assisted living home.

August 30, 2016 by Michael Lieberman

What Needs To Be Said – Sarah McEneaney’s When You Wish at Locks Gallery

You don’t have to be a dog or cat lover (indeed I am not); you don’t have to be a Philadelphian; you don’t have to know anything about the artist’s past or present personal or professional life; you don’t have to know anything about her politics or her activism (or her pets); you don’t even have to know anything about art to enjoy When You Wish, Sarah McEneaney’s exhibition of 16 new works now up at the stately Locks Gallery. There is nothing esoteric, mysterious, pretentious, assuming, conceptual, or even symbolic about this collection of McEneaney’s work.

August 30, 2016 by Roberta

Judith Schaechter+Justin Tyner’s contemporary stained glass excellence, Gallery shout outs, Penn Humanities Forum hosts Rebecca Solnit, Plus opportunities!

Penn Humanities Forum each year has surprising and wonderful topics that they plan their program of lectures, movies and events around. This year’s theme is Translation, broadly construed.
Here’s the website that explains the topic. And here’s the lineup of events.

In conjunction with the Penn Humanities events, writer, activist, artist, environmentalist, walker, thought leader Rebecca Solnit gives the Keynote Address for the two-day conference, “An Ectopian Toolkit for the Anthropocene,” April 13-15, 2017.

August 26, 2016 by Roberta

Artblog Presents Creative Africa – Walé Oyéjidé of Ikiré Jones

Creative Africa is a 5-exhibition blockbuster show of contemporary and traditional Africa Art at the Philadelphia Museum of Art’s Perelman Building. This video focuses on Philadelphia-based Walé Oyéjidé, designer, writer and Creative Director of the Ikiré Jones clothing label.

August 23, 2016 by Roberta

Weckerley’s+Barnes=ice cream ensembles, 14th Philly Zine Fest, Congratulations Tim Eads+Tayyib Smith! Plus Opportunities and Good Reads

Because we all need ice cream…Local purveyor of small batch yummies Weckerly’s Ice Cream partnered with the august art collection to create a Barnes-inspired ice cream sandwich, called the “Barnes Ensemble.”

August 23, 2016 by Roberta

Artblog Presents Creative Africa – Akinbode Akinbiyi

Akinbode Akinbiyi was born in England of Nigerian parents. The Berlin-based artist is a self-taught street photographer who calls himself a “wanderer.” He loves mega-cities and in fact he told us he wandered around our own mega-city, Philadelphia, and took photos when he was here. Artblog spoke with Akinbiyi on May 13, 2016, at the Philadelphia Museum of Art’s Perelman Building, home of five Creative Africa exhibitions. You can see Akinbiyi’s beautiful black and white photos at the PMA Perelman building now until Sept. 25, 2016.

August 19, 2016 by Noreen Kress

Serious Play – Playdate at Vox Populi

As someone who knows and has seen these artists develop their practice, I find many artistic commonalities and formal intersections in the show. In the pairings on view in the multi-room space at Vox, the strongest is undoubtedly the collaboration between Alber and Caponera. PLAYDATE #3 is the work of five months of teamwork, planning, and camaraderie.