I’ve been on system overload. Took on some new writing tasks (for Philly Style mag, I wrote a few pieces about design — they’ll be out in the Nov. issue, and then again in January). And I never do any travel but suddenly I had 3 trips in a month and another coming up this week. Sheesh.
I’m in catch up mode now and will hit you here with some inbox information about shows of note. For starters, it’s mural month in Philadelphia and Nexus has a nice photo-documentary exhibit curated by independent curator Mary Salvante celebrating the Mural Arts Program‘s 2000+ wall paintings. We usually sing the murals’ praises here, too. Muralist David McShane painted a real mural in the Nexus back room that’s a kind of working document about how he “does it.” (image) The Show’s up to Oct. 31.
Virgil Marti at Elizabeth Dee Gallery
The 2004 Whitney Biennial alum has a new (for him) venue in Chelsea. I ran into Marti recently and he told me — if memory serves — that he’s going to show his black light on flocked velvet wallpaper from his 2001 PAFA’s Morris Gallery show (image. Photo by Gregory Benson) — but without the sculptural candle-tables that appeared in that installation. (Read my 2001 Philadelphia Story at artnet for more) Marti wrote to say the show’s up and the opening reception is Thursday October 21, 6-8pm. Elizabeth Dee Gallery, 545 W. 20th St. , New York. The show’s up to Nov 13, 2004.
Oliver Sacks at Arcadia
Among the side dishes available with Olafur Eliasson‘s glorious color shock therapy machine, “Your Colour Memory,” up at Arcadia (see posts here and here) is a lecture by world-renowned physician Oliver Sacks, Oct. 26 at 7:30 p.m. The doctor is perhaps best known for his 1985 book The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, which tells of patients whose perceptions have been altered by neurological diseases.
“One of the great medical writers of this generation, he has transformed our understanding of the human mind and restored narrative to a central place in the practice of medicine,” says the press material.
The lecture is free and open to the public. Eliasson’s work is up through Jan. 9 and the gallery will be open from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. the day of the lecture.
Graffiti Gods and Goddesses at Union 237
Libby told you about the work of Pose 2 in her October First Friday post. Pose2’s work is at Freeform Gallery at MBN Studios in October. Here’s an opportunity to see more — lots more — in November. Pose 2 will take over the entire 4000 square ft. Union 237 gallery, according to my press information.
The grafitti artist’s gallery work at Freeform reminded me the kind of swanky caricatures Lisa Yuskavage does — only without the male gaze/female sex empowerment mixed message.Pose 2 puts clothes on his folks, and he’s not about sex but he is about empowerment. (image is “Ancient Warrior,” copyright Pose 2)
Show opens November 5th and runs through November 30th. Union237 Gallery, 237 Market Street.
Yuskavage alert
Everybody’s favorite bad girl painter will be in town Nov. 17 at 6 p.m. in a public conversation with ICA‘s Claudia Gould. I believe the talk’s at the ICA — early press information said the locale was tba. If it’s not ICA I’ll let you know. (image is “Kathy”)
I’m reading the new, full color monograph on the painter “Lisa Yuskavage: Small Paintings 1993-2004” (Harry N. Abrams, New York) with an essay and diagrams (?!) by Tamara Jenkins , author and director of the 1998 movie “Slums of Beverly Hills.” I’m digesting the 191 pages of mostly pictures and will review the book some time soon.
New 40th Street Artist in Residence Program in West Philadelphia
Edward Epstein wrote to tell me of a new Artist-in-Residence program he developed and is coordinating in West Philadelphia. The 40th Street Artist-in-Residence Program will award four area artists six months of free studio time in a previously unused space near the corner of 40th and Chestnut Streets. The residents for the first rotation are: Jerushia Graham, fiber artist, printmaker and book artist; Jacqueline Holloway, painter; Grace Jung, muralist and painter; and Jeremy Vaughn, sculptor, painter, and mixed-media artist.
In exchange for the free studio space, the program asks each artist to share his or her talents with the West Philadelphia community. This may include offering workshops or classes, or exhibiting work in the area.
Resident artists are nominated by an advisory board that consists of partner-membersin the venture: West Philadelphia Cultural Alliance, the University City Arts League, InLiquid.com, and the University of Pennsylvania. Contact Epstein at epstein.edward@earthlink.net for more.
Jessica Doyle in Williamsburg
We’ve told you about Penn grad Doyle‘s wall drawings and videos about her life as artist and new mom. (See my post of her Project Room show) Doyle’s got a series of new drawings in an eleven-artist group show called The Wedding Project in a Brooklyn gallery. (image is detail of “Reception,” copyright Jessica Doyle.)
The Gallery is 65 Hope Street Gallery 65 Hope Street 2nd Floor, Williamsburg, Brooklyn and the show’s up to November 7, 2004.
“This exhibition intends to deconstruct the shortcomings of the wedding ceremony and reception in terms of representations, exploitation, and expectations,” says Jessica.
