Artblog | Artists

December 12, 2016 by Flora Ward

Searching for transcendence – Chromotopia Santa María in Burgos Cathedral

In mid-November, the medieval cathedral of Burgos in northern Spain was lit from within–not by any divine power, but by the miracle of technology. For her temporary light installation “Chromotopia Santa María,” (November 3-13, 2016) Vienna-based artist Victoria Coeln used projected rays of light in brilliant colors to fill the ample space of the cathedral, the white limestone walls intensifying the vivid colors. It’s as if the cathedral’s stained glass windows had turned themselves inside out, dissolving the solid stone structure into layers of light.

December 12, 2016 by Justin O. Walker

The specter of ruin – Cubism and War at the Museu Picasso

The exhibit reveals the cubists in Paris were never far from the external specter of ruin, and evidently leery of the internal one. The war to end all wars was only a few hours away, and two of their own had been sent to fight. This is what artists wrestle with, have wrestled with, which is to say we’ve heard it all before: artists respond to their volatile world.

December 11, 2016 by Flora Ward

Violence, birth, and Becoming an Image – Cassils at PAFA (NSFW)

I lost track of time as Cassils (who prefers the pronoun “they”) attacked the clay in a frenzy of finely choreographed violence. A single photographer circled the performer, the brilliant strobe lights of camera flashes sporadically illuminating Cassils, a small but impressively muscular figure.

December 8, 2016 by Kitty Caparella

The art of reparations at Temple Contemporary

The unusual combination of works appears to represent studies of the human condition–music stilled, broken bones, poverty, torture, a near-death experience, and more. The works are crammed together, much like the city, much like Temple University itself, as they present artists’ views of disparate problems facing us.

December 7, 2016 by Roberta

Lois Dodd’s spirit of quietude at List Gallery, Swarthmore

In this broad survey of the 89-year old artist and educator’s oil paintings, the figurative works capture ordinary domestic things. In many but not all cases the images depict snapshot-like captures — a ladder leaning against a house; a window and the ice boulders seen through its glass; a red drape partly obscuring a pink window as it billows in the wind. All of these images are partial views, details of a larger whole — Instead of entire windows you see parts, instead of whole houses you see less than a whole. But the works don’t feel incomplete.

December 7, 2016 by Roberta

Olanrewaju (Lanré) Tejuoso talks of his sculptural community project

Lanré, who is Yoruba, works with recycled materials and his art communicates a message about our fragile globe being overwhelmed by waste. His sculptures are labor intensive, and here in Philadelphia he worked with North Philadelphia community members in “sewing circles” to fabricate the individual components (he refers to them as “bricks” to build a skyscraper) that will go into his big new sculpture, which debuts on Friday. The piece is a memorial to loss, which is experienced in a personal way by all.

December 6, 2016 by Roberta

Man Bartlett interactive web project and many street performances at Barnes in Feb; History map of West Philly needs you; Advice for DIY space safety; Plus Village of Arts and Humanities, Space1026 Auction, Return of Machete group, and More!

After the Oakland fire, we are all worried about artists in DIY warehouse spaces with their iffy electricals and storage of who knows what kind of art materials. Philadelphia has some spaces I worry about. Here’s an open-source, editable tip guide for making collaborative DIY spaces more fire safe: HARM REDUCTION FOR DIY VENUES: DO IT YOURSELF // DO IT NOW

December 6, 2016 by Hammam Aldouri

The rhetoric of exigency

The question in response to this is clear—to what extent is Trump’s presidency unprecedented? Does it articulate a historical break in the fabric of American politics, one that requires thousands of artists to rise up? I do not think so. Trump’s victory is a result of a process that has been forming since the end of the Cold War. It is, in a way, the inverted consequence of the conjunction of globalized financial capital with Western democracy.