But when an art piece grabs your attention it’s hard to ignore because it disrupts the languid comfortable homogeneity of my world and shows me something that doesn’t fit in; more specifically it actively refuses to fit in my world. That is how you know other worlds exist. This is how you get to those worlds. That is art at work.
Read MoreArtist, Pew Fellow, and 2016 Guggenheim Grantee Eileen Neff makes photographs and prints them large, small, framed or unframed, and, recently, shaped–like her photo of a leaf is shaped like a leaf, which appeared in her 2015 solo show at Bridgette Mayer Gallery, which represents her.
Read MoreNick Kripal was a generous, kind soul and an artist whose spirituality mixed with his medium, clay, in remarkable ways. A friend to many and inspirational mentor to his students, Nick will be missed by all of us.
Read MoreMierle Laderman Ukeles is a visionary whose work over the past 45 years has enlarged both the form and content of the art of our time. While revered among artists interested in feminism, performance art, social practice, and institutional critique, and a significant influence on two younger generations of artists, many of whom may not recognize her name, her work has not achieved the broad renown it deserves until now.
Read MoreBefore arriving at PAFA, Jodi Throckmorton was Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at Wichita State University. Prior to that, she lived in the new media mecca of Silicon Valley, where she was Associate Curator at the San Jose Museum of Art for eight years. Now at PAFA, Throckmorton is bringing her considerable energy and wide-ranging interest in contemporary art to integrating edgy contemporary art with PAFA’s traditional strong suits of figuration and realism.
Read MoreHaving seen all of the new operas presented by Opera Philadelphia in the past few years, Breaking The Waves is the best one out of the pack. It’s touching story, memorable score and libretto, and daring staging (the first opera I’ve ever seen with nude scenes!) make for a resounding contemporary American opera that will have a long life.
Read MoreThe works of emerging/mid career artists, Amber Johnston, Brian Richmond and Michelle Marcuse in the current Fleisher Wind Challenge Exhibition represent a small sampling by these notable Philadelphia artists. But a sense of their chosen direction is evident.
Read MoreYou’re probably familiar with bus wrappings, those advertisements printed on plastic then seemingly shrink-wrapped to the exterior of SEPTA buses. With the same materials and techniques — but with a totally different aim — neighborhood beautification, not advertising — the UArts Brown Box project has shrink-wrapped 30+ utility boxes in the Washington Square West neighborhood in a project that is three-years old and has been heartily embraced by the Neighborhood Association and the neighbors, some of whom have even contributed to the cost of the project.
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