We happened upon some swell papier mache sculptures by Beth Nixon, Michelle Posadas and Chip Malloy of Spiral Q Puppet Theater in the Liberty Place atrium on our way to giving out art.
nixon, beth
Entitled “Dalidelphia,” the installation is supposed Surrealism-inspired, with its buggy rowers on the Schuylkill and Rocky as a bulldog on a pedestal and a Liberty Bell dog. The pieces were a little tough to see against the bright sell-sell-sell surfaces there, not to mention against the giant pinky red Dali poster with the bug eyes and the aerodynamic mustache.
malloy, chip
Here’s a picture of the boxer (top image) doing all he can to punch his way through the visual static of the Dali backdrop and the Liberty Place razzle-dazzle. In any other kind of space, he coulda been a contender.
posadas, michelle
The pieces are charming and goofy, sort of a Muppets meets Antz. Loved the little no-head girl walking the giant turtle-dog Liberty Bell (dog, left). I also loved the real shoes on the Olive Oyl legs of this one and that one. Other scenes included “people” waiting at a bus stop and someone munching on a giant soft pretzel.
Anyway, I’m glad to see terrific, populist art in a public space like this, with a kazillion people passing it by.
We saw Posadas’ work before (see posts here and here) and liked it then, too. The other two names are new to us, but not Spiral Q, which is pretty much a Philadelphia institution.
