In a twist on the usual artist-chooses-artist exhibit Amy Adams* of Klein Art Gallery invited one artist to select another to be in an exhibit. The second artist in turn was to choose the third artist for the show and so on and so forth in a chain or network of friends or comrades until the exhibit, “Whisper Down the Lane” was complete. Adams, who is an artist and Vox Populi member and acting head of Vox since Yana Balson left, embraces risk-taking in her curatorial duties. She told me she didn’t have a clue as to what would turn up in this exercise based on a child’s game. But that was the fun of it. It’s a gamble that paid off in spades, with works that talk back and forth with each other and with the group like a nice bunch of chatterboxes who’ve all got interesting stories to tell.
The show opened on Friday the 13th with thirteen artists included, and apart from two near calamaties that day (work lost in customs that required new last minute Fedex delivery of new works; and a piece damaged before the opening) the show’s hitch-less. A delightful mix of booty, from Philly artists and some from all the way up in Canada.
Natalie Matutschovsy‘s “Sunset” is a fitting end of the show. The last piece in the chain is the work with such sweet longing in it — a longing I think I’ve seen in lots of young artists’ works of late — that it is a sobering “good bye.” But if you go through the show backwards, Matutschovsy’s piece is a funny “hello,” a wee joke to pass on that says maybe things are not so bad after all. We’ve still got towels with sunsets even if we don’t have the real thing.
I can’t say more now because I hope to write about the show for the Weekly. Be sure to get on over and look. Here’s my flickr page with all the Whisper images.
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*this post has been corrected. It previously said that Adams was assistant director of Klein Gallery. Adams is a curator at the gallery. Klein Curator Dan Schimmel together with Adams constitute a great double dose of energy and serious playfulness at the West Philly gallery with shows like this and the other great programming (and coming up — Schimmel tells me he’s working on a perfume show…scratch and sniff anybody?)
