“Hale County This Morning, This Evening” is an emotion-charged, poetically non-narrative exploration of stereotypes of African American males in the South. The film, a Sundance favorite with many accolades, is a contemporary look at Hale County, Alabama, chronicled by Walker Evans and James Agee in their book, “Let Us Now Praise Famous Men,” (1941), which in turn inspired Aaron Copeland to write an opera. The film screens, FREE, on Monday, Nov. 12, 2018, at 6:30 PM at the Annenberg Center on the University of Pennsylvania Campus. Registration is at Eventbrite, link in the post.
Read MoreJanyce Glasper offers a poetic reflection of John Dowell’s current exhibition at the African American Museum of Philadelphia, Cotton: The Soft, Dangerous Beauty of the Past. On view through January 21, 2019, this installation of large-scale prints and medium-format digital collages explores slavery, not as a particularly southern phenomenon, but as an institution that haunts our nation from Alabama from Wall Street. What’s more, Dowell uses the symbolic force of cotton to carve out a space for personal reflection and collective celebration.
Read MoreArtblog’s newest contributor is our Content Manager, Morgan Nitz! Here she visits The Edge of Precarity, a group show which opened October 27 at Little Berlin and which takes on the value of creative labor and the struggle to stay afloat in our post-recession economy.
Read MoreOn view at the Museum of Modern Art through January 1, 2019, Bodys Isek Kingelez: City Dreams is a comprehensive survey featuring the recently-deceased artist’s “extreme maquettes” — sculptural cityscapes rendered in bold geometries, jubilant hues. Here Katerina Lanfranco fills us in on Kingelez’s unorthodox use of materials and his utopian vision for the future.
Read MoreMatt Kalasky speaks with artist Jerry Kaba about his Arts Wrestling Federation Urban League (AWFUL Wrestling). What started as a joke between friends has become a genuine cultural phenomenon, taking Philadelphia’s DIY arts scene by nostalgic storm.
Read MoreBaltimore-based photographer and writer, Chuck Patch, attends the media preview of the John Waters exhibit and catches the wit, wisdom and lively gestures of the local phenom and beloved Baltimorean, now getting his art world treatment as an artist, yes, didn’t know that? Us either. And, of course, groundbreaking movie maker of Pink Flamingoes, Hairspray and other great, funny and raunchy movies.
Read MoreMichael previews the upcoming documentary, “The Price of Everything,” and calls it a voyeur’s delight for those interested in the art market’s high rollers and art stars. Hot shot artist Jeff Koons gets a lot of screen time, if you’re into him, balanced with some Jerry Saltz and Larry Poons, who speaks about artists losing their souls to the marketplace. The film screens at the Prince Theater starting Nov. 2 and will be on HBO Nov. 12.
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