Infinite paths will be taken by thousands of art appreciators during the Philadelphia Open Studio Tours (POST) this October. Find yourself exploring a system of visual art in Philadelphia during this self-guided tour run by the Center for Emerging Visual Artists.
The creativity, innovation and talent you will experience offers just a taste of the powerful network in which Philadelphia creatives thrive. This synergy can be used to describe what it takes to make everything, from a thriving city to the travel of a microbe through an icy tundra.
Such sumptuous pondering resonated with me in looking at the work of several artists opening their studios this fall. Each creates pieces that captivate, encouraging one to consider where they come from and where they are going.
Artist Colin Keefe of Mt. Airy explores the micro and the macro—where the concept of city came from and is still bound to—using thin and precise lines to depict large modern cities from far above, while melding the rigid structure together with round, lively intrusions.
Synergistic impulses can also be seen in the work of Angela McQuillan, whose work can be found in Northern Liberties this season. She explores wider systems or “Networks” in mixed-media creations that intertwine saturated, vibrant shapes with various lines of different trajectories. Her work shows organic life in its colors, greater order in its formation, and carries tinges of chromosomal patterns to reference the basis of life.
Much like the themes presented by these artists, this is but a small take on a much larger event. The realm of biological systems speaks to me as an embodiment of what an artistic community can be—not quite knowing why truth or meaning is strived for, but knowing that it will always be sought nonetheless.
Philadelphia Open Studio Tours returns October 7 and 8, 14 and 15.
Written by Philadelphia native and art appreciator Tyler A. Treml.
