I was talking with Brent Burket about Jack the Pelican Presents, the gallery in Williamsburg. This was on Sunday at Zoe Strauss‘s show under I-95. Brent was saying that there must be Philadelphia sticky string attached to the gallery because they seemed to have a steady stream of Philly art and artists or artists who have recently had a show in our city (like Caleb Weintraub who showed at Projects Gallery here not too long ago). Three days later I got an email from Jack the Pelican announcing a new show, Baby Bowies, opening Saturday, May 12, and check out the lineup:
Justin Lieberman
Jina Valentine–former Philadelphian and formerly on the curatorial staff of Fleisher-Ollman Gallery (she just had a show at F-O recently)
Jason Loebs
Matthew Siegle
Curated by Walter Benjamin Smith –former Philadelphian whose works we’ve seen at Fleisher-Ollman and at Seraphin Gallery.
Jina’s got some new work and will be doing an installation. Here’s the write-up from the release.
Jina Valentine offers us delicately cut-up bags of sugar and corn meal that emerge as beautiful cadavers of processed pop food packaging with their granular insides pouring out. Valentine is also installing what may be perceived as a nervous sand painting of a makeshift prayer rug out of bleached flour. Jina, who recently was exhibited at the Studio Museum in Harlem, works almost as an actress in her studio playing roles of folk artists with odd and obsessive practices. She consciously chooses strange alternatives to canvas from cupboard objects and wallpaper to record cases and shadows.
Sounds great. The opening is Saturday, May 12, 7-9 pm, so check it out if you’re around there.
