Dear readers, as we publish the cash prize and honorable mention winners in the 2018 New Art Writers Contest, we’d like to thank everyone who took the time to share their writing with us and congratulate all the winners! This year’s turnout was truly encouraging and we can’t wait to share the “Best of the New Art Writing Contest Anthology” book with you in 2019. Thanks also to Mari Shaw, whose generosity and support of local art writing allowed us to offer our biggest prizes to date.
Read MoreNew Artblog contributor, Mark Lord visits “Agnes Martin: The Untroubled Mind/Works from the Daniel W. Dietrich II Collection” at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and meditates on the enduring appeal of Martin’s subtle hand. Lord hopes this small exhibition of minimalist paintings from the 1960s and 70s, on view through October 14, will spark a resurgence of interest in the reclusive artist’s body of work.
Read MoreMandy Palasik visits Spanish-born architect and industrial designer Patricia Urquiola’s first solo exhibition stateside, at the Philadelphia Museum of Art through March 18th. “Patricia Urquiola: Between Craft and Industry” celebrates Urquiola’s innovative use of familiar forms and traditional techniques to activate both mind and body.
Read MoreDear readers, this week we are publishing articles by the honorable mention winners in the 2017 New Art Writing Challenge. Thank you to all of you who submitted your writing. Co-founder of the New Art Writing Challenge, Matt Kalasky, penned this lovely introduction for you…”I often use the analogy that art writing has become a fixed tool in the service of criticism. Like we are stuck using the same monkey wrench no matter what type of art we are talking about; no matter what type of art viewer we are; no matter what reader we are trying to reach. The winners of this year’s New Art Writing Challenge have, each in their own way, thrown aside the usual tools and have shown us the power of cooked spaghetti — or a flower — or a diary entry to talk about art. The best stopped trying to make sense of the work and started to unravel the art deeper into a personal mystery that epitomizes the experience of two humans looking at each other through art. This contest didn’t generate these new perspectives and manners of looking but rather it has illuminated the spectrum of writing that has always existed. This is an art writing landscape as complex, enigmatic, and empathetic as the art it examines. Get reading!” — Matt Kalasky, Co-founder, New Art Writing Challenge
Read MoreCarl(os) Roa is back with something brand new for Artblog: a short play! Co-written with Mona Washington, featured playwright for Philadelphia assembled, this work of creative nonfiction tackles an evergreen dilemma for artists of color who operate within mainstream institutions.
Read MoreDonald reviews a collaboration between the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia and the Philadelphia Museum of Art, in which paintings from the collection are paired with musical compositions they have inspired. While the idea of pairing music has the potential to provoke creative dialogue, the overall result fell short of those ambitions, he says.
Read MoreThe textiles on view betray a range of technical skill in both the stitchery and designs. Some show a sophisticated ability to render forms and were obviously transferred from patterns, while others seem to have been made up as the embroiderer went along. It is hard to believe that the precision of stitching in the Bagh phulkari weren’t made by professional craftsmen. There is no surviving literature that would indicate how designs circulated–indeed, there is almost no surviving history of phulkari in general, hence the significance of this collection and its catalog.
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