News

The PMA’s valentine to Philly this year is one that everyone, from singletons to significantly-othered, get to look back on not just this V-Day, but every Wednesday night: Pay What You Wish Wednesday Nights at the Philadelphia Museum of Art is now in effect, with pay-what-you-wish admission every Wednesday night, 52 weeks a year! To see what’s going on each night, visit the Museum’s site and read on.

From Michaelangelo Ilagan, "#whyilovephilly: She's purdy." — From Michaelangelo Ilagan, “#whyilovephilly: She’s purdy.”

Speaking of Valentine’s Day, if you were on Twitter you may have noticed #whyilovephilly trending….then trending some more….then going global. Seems that Philly is everyone’s Valentine this year. Thank you to Philly Love Notes, for this social media blitz of brotherly love.

Matt Suib and Aaron Igler of Greenhouse Media have produced a video, commissioned by OACCE for the new Philadelphia Juvenile Justice Center. The final cut is here. In addition to the education opportunity this presents for the school housed in the PJJSC building, the video also showcases the % for Art commissions of artists Leroy Johnson and Sarah McEneaney.

As LinkedIn goes, so goes real life – or not, as Roberta humbly protests. This week, she was the recipient of a LinkedIn notification/award for landing in the top 1% most endorsed in United States for Copy Editing. The verdict? “However you spin this it’s pretty hilarious. Copy editing is not a skill that makes the heart sing. And also, I am a little bit comma challenged, which makes it all the more hilarious.”

via Lesley Mitchell – The Assemblage Artist Collective, a group of women artists, has a new website! Visit and learn about the fifteen women who have comprised its membership since 1985.

Opportunities

Many artists call Philadelphia restaurants and bars their day job, and now there’s a chance for them to see the two worlds meet. Metropolitan Gallery 250 is calling for submissions for its new “Sidework Series,” with a March 22 deadline for submissions. In order to enter, you must be employed by an area restaurant, bar or bakery. For an application, email Dani. Also going on at Metro Gallery 250: The last two weekends to peruse Second State, Second Edition are this weekend (Feb 16-17) and Feb 23-24. Featuring intaglio, relief, screen printing and lithography, you can contact them for a private showing as well.

Artist News

Yevgeniy Fiks, "Homosexuality Is Stalin's Atom Bomb to Destroy America," installation view. Photography by Etienne Frossard — Yevgeniy Fiks, “Homosexuality Is Stalin’s Atom Bomb to Destroy America,” installation view. Photography by Etienne Frossard

The Winkleman Gallery, where Yevgeniy Fiks’ exhibition Homosexuality Is Stalin’s Atom Bomb to Destroy America went up late last year, was one of many forced to shutter due to damage from Hurricane Sandy closed the gallery for 10 weeks. The exhibition, which had been open for one day, was closed – but safe – for ten weeks, and now the gallery is celebrating the reopening with a party to celebrate the publication of Fiks’ new book, Moscow.* The opening reception and book party are tonight, from 6-8 PM at the Winkleman Gallery. The show runs until March 16, 2013.

Jacolby Satterwhite is one of the artists included in an interview in Mousse #37, in which he discusses “techno-animalism,” a term that encapsulates his body of work pretty perfectly.

Dennis D’Alesandro, artblog writer of days past, has now launched a music career. “Stingo Sinned,” his new solo album, is to be released on iTunes and soon to be on Spotify. It was recorded on an old four track tape recorder in Ocean City NJ and mastered in Philly by Bill Moriarty, of Dr. Dog and Man Man fame.

Lesley Mitchell, Fire in the Hills, 30 x 22 inches.

In the last few weeks Lesley Mitchell has completed a number of works, including a painting, a book project, and dye sublimation printed reproductions of some of her tango and dance themed paintings. If you are out of town and want to see her latest creations, visit Secondary Colors, a collaborative artist’s book, at Harvard University Cabot Science Library, Cambridge MA, through May 19.