This week’s Weekly has no art page. “We are short on space this week,” said my editor, apologetically. Always the first to go and the last to get included: Art, the lonely stepchild of the publishing world. Anyway, my story on Shelley Spector‘s exhibit “You Are On My Shoulders” will run next week, Sept. 14. But I encourage you to get out and see the show this weekend and here’s Libby’s post for more. Meanwhile, in the Editors’ Choice section of the listings there’s my preview of the Fringe Fest exhibit celebrating outsider art. Here’s the link.
The Urban Outsider
Each year the Philly Fringe provides a feast of nonstandard theater, performance and dance for those looking for edgy fare. But the visual art component of the Fringe typically pales in comparison with the hot stuff produced by the ladies and gentlemen in the big tents. Carolyn Healy and John Phillips‘ “Limbic Pentameter,” a sculpture, light and sound work at last year’s festival, was an exception. This year the fest organizers may have gotten it right-they’ve included under their umbrella of events a show of art by outsider artists. “The Urban Outsider,” an exhibit of more than 100 works by members of Coalition Ingenu and two New York groups-Hospital Audiences Inc. and Fresh Art-could be the perfect visual accompaniment for the high-key theatrics of the Fringe. If you’ve seen paintings and sculptures made by self-taught artists, you know they’re often the wildest, weirdest and most unrefined art in existence. The palette is hot, the materials are raw and the affect comes from the streets, not from something learned in an M.F.A. program. Outsider art is true Fringe art at last.
Fri., Sept. 9, 6-8:30pm. Free. Through Oct. 28. Journey Home Community Enrichment Center, 948 N. Eighth St. 215.413.1318.
