Artblog | Reviews

February 17, 2018 by Huewayne Watson

Toward a Liturgy of Emancipation, Kara Springer at The Galleries at Moore

New Art Writing Challenge winner Huewayne Watson is back with his reflections on Ten Days Before Freedom, A Hymnal, Kara Springer’s current show at The Galleries at Moore. This evocative photo-installation looks to the remote Bahamian community of Fox Hill, and its annual celebration commemorating the news of emancipation from slavery arriving some ten days after its decree. Ten Days Before Freedom, A Hymnal will be on view through March 17th, 2018.

February 15, 2018 by Roberta

Black is the Color, a movie that is an art history corrective

A short 2016 movie seeks to rewrite art history to include Black artists who have historically been left out of the American art history canon. Roberta says it’s a compelling piece of filmmaking that shows some progress but a lot of work still to come for an equitable inclusion to be achieved.

February 13, 2018 by Andrea Kirsh

National Gallery’s Outliers and American Vanguard Art, blockbuster show with many gems but too much work

Sometimes a show can be too big. Andrea talks about the new, 277+-work exhibition combining outsider and mainstream art at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., and says it includes many gems that are wonderful to see, but that the show breaks no new ground and winds up overwhelming even the hard-bitten art lover. She provides a few tips on what’s not to be missed.

February 9, 2018 by Ilana Napoli

REvisioning the fate of junk at Edison Price Lighting Gallery

Ilana visits a gallery above a lighting factory and finds beauty and meaning in works using upcycled materials from the factory scrap bins. The big group show has everything from abstract pieces to photos of “fashion” made from leftover metals and, of course, works that use electrical circuits and lights.

February 5, 2018 by Michael Lieberman

Anthony Goicolea’s Figure/Ground, a poignant remembrance of family, migration and homeland, at Swarthmore’s List Gallery

The Cuban-American artist Anthony Goicolea presents a photo, drawing and prints exhibition that is a moving reverie on the rupture of displacement and migration on families and abandoned homelands. Michael reviews.

January 23, 2018 by Andrea Kirsh

Two exhibits of ancient Chinese Terracotta Warriors, at Franklin Institute and Virginia Museum of Fine Arts

Andrea visits two exhibitions of the Chinese terracotta warriors, one on view at the Franklin Institute and the other at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond. She talks about the different presentations (one in an art museum, the other in a science museum) and finds both pleasing in different ways.

January 22, 2018 by Carl(os) Roa

Philadelphia Asian Performing Artists (PAPA) arrives with Tiger Style!

Carl(os) Roa sits in on a rehearsal for Tiger Style!, a comedic play, written by Mike Lew, about two Chinese American siblings coming to terms with their upbringing on an inter-continental voyage. Running from January 26th through February 4th at the Louis Bluver Theatre at the Drake, this will be Philadelphia Asian Performing Artists’ first full-fledged production since their founding three years ago. Roa also speaks with key members of the PAPA community about what makes their organization so vital.

January 19, 2018 by Nancy Chen

High Maintenance on HBO, a phantasmagoria of life in New York

“High Maintenance” is a web series that debuted on Vimeo in November 2012 and was picked up by HBO in 2016. The second season of “High Maintenance” premieres on HBO on January 19, 2018. New episodes will be released every Friday.