Artblog | reviews, features & interviews

October 18, 2016 by Roberta

Congratulations-Leeway grantees, Art Ability artists, and Sarah Archer! “We Are Watching” is doing that, Kutztown hosts Phila painters’ show, Plus Opportunities

One of the best-kept secrets of Philadelphia-area art is the annual Art Ability Exhibit, a juried show with more than $7000 in prizes! A project of Bryn Mawr Rehab Hospital, this year is the 21st iteration of the exhibition. (An aside, I was a juror in 2015, along with Anthony Vega and Deirdre Murphy. It was such a great experience to see all the work by the artists!).

October 17, 2016 by Beth Heinly

The 3:00 Book

October 15, 2016 by Flora Ward

Deep Waters – Darkwater Revival: After Terry Adkins at the Arthur Ross Gallery

Resonance–visual, musical, thematic–characterizes Darkwater Revival: After Terry Adkins, the current exhibition at the Arthur Ross Gallery. Conceived as an homage to the late revered University of Pennsylvania professor, who died tragically of a heart attack in 2014, the show contains work by Adkins as well as eleven young artists who trained with him. Adkins’ absence haunts the exhibition, but his presence is felt in each work.

October 14, 2016 by Matthew Rose

Turn On – Jean Tinguely Goes Electric in Paris

When Jean Tinguely unpacked his “Hommage to New York” in 1960 and turned it on in the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Sculpture Garden at the Museum of Modern Art on March 17, 1960, the sculpture did more than self destruct–it exploded, caught fire, and was drowned by the New York Fire Department. But art history was made amid the shattering bottles, smoke spumes, and firey blow up. Tinguely had brought his kinetic junk to the world of art and succeeded in spectacular failure.

October 13, 2016 by Andrea Kirsh

Chicago Shine – The Freedom Principle at the ICA

Over the past couple of decades, almost all American art museums have claimed a mission to reach out to “underserved communities,” yet none of them have acknowledged that these communities have their own well-developed aesthetics of art and material culture. They differ from the mainstream, and the institutions have not been willing to embrace aesthetic values beyond their own. The first part of “The Freedom Principle” is remarkable for doing just that: exhibiting art–and music–that was selected by a group of artists largely excluded from the mainstream of their period, who developed a different set of aesthetic aspirations and standards.

October 12, 2016 by Roberta

Elaine Byrne – Classic material with a contemporary context

Irish artist Elaine Byrne makes work that uses Dante, James Joyce and other heady source material for her works with political and social commentary on contemporary issues. In one case she is calling out an Irish bank scandal, using Dante’s Purgatorio and a pilgrimage location in Ireland called St. Patrick’s Purgatory; in another she’s raising issues about anti-Semitism in the context of Joyce’s Cyclops section of Ulysses. The videos are captivating, and give so very much to chew over. Elaine’s Irish accent is part of the treat of this 38-minutes long podcast.

October 12, 2016 by Anna Marie Gibertini

Why We Write – Thoughts on the Art Writing Discussion Hosted by Artblog and The St. Claire

On September 28, a group of approximately 30 people gathered in Vox Populi’s black box performance space to talk about art criticism, as part of the 2016 New Art Writing Challenge sponsored by Artblog and the St. Claire.

October 11, 2016 by Roberta

Lipton sisters bring Karen Finley to town for artistic candidate-bashing show, Fourth Lantern Slide Show at Wagner, Penn Arts Innovation Program announced, Matthew Christopher’s book launch at Gershman Y, Plus Opportunities!

Via Amy Lipton, Independent Curator (formerly at Abington Art Center)…Amy and her sister, Jane Lipton, are bringing Performance Art Warrior Karen Finley, to Venice Island Performing Arts Center, Manyunk, for a one-night-only performance, “Unicorn Gratitude Mystery, SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 7:30 PM. The piece is one woman’s inflamed look at the 2016 Presidential election and candidates.