Stimuli/Stimulus at 110 Church

Stimuli • Stimulus an exhibition of drawings shaped by recent external forces.

EXHIBITION

JUNE 3 – JULY 22, 2011

ARTIST RECEPTION

JUNE 17, 2011
Friday 5:00 – 8:00 pm

FIRST FRIDAYS

JUNE 3 and July 1, 2011
Friday 5:00 – 8:00 pm

Bill Brookover

Jenna Hannum

Colin Keefe

Brian Piana

Ana Vizcarra Rankin

Abbey Ryan

Kari Scott

Dennis Will

Wendy Wolf

and invited participant Danielle Bursk

Juror, Leo Robinson

110 CHURCH | gallery

110 Church Street
Philadelphia, PA 19106

GALLERY HOURS

Wednesday – Friday 1:30 – 6:30 pm

other times by appointment

Overdue Posting: Challenge 1 @ Fleisher

Painting by Arden Bendler Browning (sorry I didn't write down titles)

I recently received a surprise “fan” letter for this blog, which encouraged me to get my ass back in gear with posting. The anonymous fan doesn’t know me personally, and probably doesn’t realize that I have a life. A busy one, in fact, and posting on my blog is not my top priority (sorry!).

That being said, it has been on my to-do list for almost 2 months to got on here and post. I even have several half-written draft posts waiting final edit. Since I don’t see time in my schedule in the next few days to catch up with blog posting, I am going to go ahead and post this, even though the show is down and the post is not finished.

To my “anonymous” fan, don’t say I never threw you a bone…I picked this post ‘specially for you. Looovvvveee ya!

To everyone else, please forgive the choppy ending.

xoxoxo

-DB

As mentioned, I slogged downtown in the rain on Thursday in November to see the Wind Challenge 1 exhibition. I also went to see Sue Spaid, who was a juror for selecting this year’s challenge artists, speak in conversation with the artists. The three artists in this show are Arden Bendler-Browning, Amy Stevens and Matthew Thomas Cianfrani. It was totally worth the hour in rain and traffic to go! The work is amazing- Arden’s large paintings on tyvek require time and persistence to really “see” them in entirety.  But I am quite sure that is sort of the idea. The surface of the gouache and flashe (what is that anyway?) is by turns both velvety flat and sheerly transparent. She did an interesting thing when hanging the show: in two corners, adjoining paintings are set flush up against one another. Here, see, like this:

I enjoyed moving in close and seeming surrounded by the works, and then moving back and finding them separately juxtaposed in my view.

Amy Stevens makes cakes and then sets up fancy sets and photographs them. Sorry I don’t have any images- you’ll just have to go over here to see them. The work is bright and cheerful and scary at the same time. Sort of like clowns. I enjoyed the rococo decorative overkill and detail of the work…until I read her statement. When she started getting all “Women have used cake as both and outlet of creativity and a symbol of female power politics” I wanted to shake her right into a feminist theory class. I wrote my grad thesis paper on the feminist studio practice and this sort of thing irks me. I feel like we need to move beyond baking, knitting and menstrual fluid as methods of feminism and feminist art making. That being said, the work is luscious and pop-y, even if I can’t jive to her statement so much. Bonus for Ms. Stevens, she sold a piece. I know for a fact this is not that common for a Fleisher Challenge show so kudos to her.

The happy surprise for me of the evening was the work of Matthew Thomas Cianfrani. He exhibited a series of images printed on silk, displayed in front of steel plates.

He also showed a wonderful video projection, which at first glanced seemed to me to be a backlit transparency of the same subject matter as the prints on silk. It was the same dimensions, and almost static. The reason I loved this work so much was two-fold: the first is his composition was smack- on fantastic. The second was the lovely texture and movement of the silk. However, I will say that Matthew was really strangely defensive during the gallery talk about being seen as a “photographer”. It is obviously his training in photography that created his eye for composition. Perhaps having taught photo for so many years makes me weary of hearing “I’m not a photographer I am a (insert some mixed-media artist type title here)”. It’s ok to have been trained in photography. And it’s ok to simply call oneself an artist. (The only people who seem to resist this are “painters”, but that is a topic for another post. )

So now that I have described the show, some quick bits from Sue’s conversations with the artists. She began by talking about how all the work in some way seems to be post-apocalyptic, or chaos, or internally imploding. She then rattled off the name and number of floods, tsunamis, earthquakes, volcanoes and other natural disasters that occurred in the past year. She then asked the artists questions- some quite abstract and some quite engaging. For instance: “Shoots and Ladders or Candyland?”. She read Amy Steven’s statement, substituting “hat” for “cake” and sparred with Matthew about his “I am not a photographer” statement.  She encouraged viewer questions and also had some nice back and forth moments with the artists and Dave, the Fleisher exhibitions coordinator.

(end draft)

Post script- Sue Spaid left Philly in early December to be the head of the Contemporary Museum in Baltimore. We went to a rockin’ going away party for her and many of Philly’s ” art glitterati” were there.  We had a blast. Thankfully, Balti is not too far away, so I hope Sue will come back and visit frequently. We need more Sue Spaids in town.

I’m an Insider, baby!

So I was all set to write a little blog post about art in Vegas, (just got back yesterday) when I came across a little piece on artblahg “that blog that shall not be named” from a few days ago about Victoria D’s recent review of the show at Main Line Art Center. It revealed that I am, in fact, an INSIDER. At least I think that’s what it was hinting at. So, with no further ado, a little post about my new status as an INSIDER and how I got that way…

First, in order to prevent any suspicion of not disclosing..

This Post Sponsored by the National Sarcasm Society (like we need your support.)

Second, to prevent any other insiders from having to go to the blog that shall not be named (THEartblahg and  Atravestyofartblogging encourage insiders to not visit that blog nor to post on it, which is why I have to discuss the matter here) I present to you the quote:

“We have to mention Victorian Wannaknow because there is something smelly going on at the Mainline Art Center. For many a year now they have had an open call for abstraction. But not this year, no. Someone picked their friends and family members and local insiders to have a little art party. From the list of artists it sounds like a hodge podge with no thread at ch’all to pull these insider [sic] together.”

So, in order to become an INSIDER, I first managed to be selected by a curator, Chuck Thurow (from Chicago) and MLAC Director Judy Herman for a thematic show. This was tricker than it sounds, as I had never met either of them. Apparently they went around town looking at artist lists and registries at places like the Fleisher and CfEVA. They selected several artists to consider for the project, of which I was one. Even thought I received an email out of the blue about being considered for the show, it’s obvious that even at this stage I was working my connections. After all, what local artist shooting for insider status worth her salt hasn’t applied to these fine institutions? The fact that I was selected by both for their programs just demonstrates how I have been working the system in Philly since 1995, when I got my bfa from The Art Temple. Fifteen years of busting my ass sucking up and lots of student loans for prestigious local grad school at Rutgers apparently worked!

After being short-listed for the show, I again used my cunning suck-up skills to persuade “the deciders” to select me. I name-dropped like crazy, man. Wait, turns out we only had one common connection, a friend who lived in Chicago and ran a gallery and curatorial collective. I was pissed when I discovered my friend had no idea that Chuck Thurow was in Philly working on a project for MLAC.What good are friends if they can’t get you shows?

Of course, my work had nothing to do with being selected for the show. Or my extensive resume of insider-y shows. Never having shown at VOX or the other co-opish 20-somethings’ alt spaces leaves room on my resume for other  “wittle” insider-y places like Locks and the Hogar Collection in New York.

I was selected for the project over the summer- in fact, I was in the car on the way to Florida when I got the call. The curator asked me for a list of my “community” (insider-speak for facebook friends friends and family) so they could schedule actual, real studio visits with them to select the artists for the show. The tricky part was, while the theme of the show was community and social networking, not all of the artists in my community would be selected for the show. I actually briefly considered inviting Harry and Harrietta, but I know they would have to turn it down as it would smack of nepotism, which they abhor. Plus, we’re not facebook friends. Or actually, any kind of friends.

I provided a list of artists, and helped the curator schedule the studio visits over the 4 days he was in town. He met local artists and selected work for the show. Thank God H+H never actually went and saw the show (or read the, ahem, catalog that was published), or they would see the show was actually curated (gasp!) and each room at the art center all worked together. The catalog essay even explains how each room is a conversation between works.

On my last step to insider-ism, I relied on the kindness of others. The real actual honest-to-God press release written by the MLAC PR person brought in a writer from the Inky. To be honest, I was nervous, as my previous review by Victoria Donohoe in the Inquirer was a little cool. (Like that little casual mention that I have actually been reviewed before by the Inquirer? (twice before, actually) It’s an insider trick.) But the way the review in discussion talks about my work having”mature strength” is code for INSIDER!

Voila! That’s how I got where I am today.

Of course, I never knew that the Betsy Meyer Memorial Exhibition used to be a show for which abstract artists applied. Probably a good thing, since I would doubtless be bitter about it changing to a curated format had I not been selected for the Facebook project. Unlike some others we know.

Inquirer Review of MLAC show

Victoria Donohoe of the Inquirer wrote a great little review of the Main Line Art Center Show that is in the Inky today. I am so pleased about it, and happy she seemed to really be into the work in the show. I am curious, however, what “never less than pungent” means….in the context, seems to be a good thing, out of context, not so much….

Anyway, off to buy some papers so I can send a copy to my mother!

Sue Spaid Speaks!

Tonight at the Fleisher Art Memorial- Challenge juror Sue Spaid (she’s an independent curator and she teaches the ethics of engineering(!)) will be speaking in dialogue with Challenge artists. Sue is a warm, intelligent woman and a total freak (in the best possible way). I am looking forward to what she will discuss tonight. My favorite Sue Spaid comment: “Bruce Nauman in a terrorist! (bangs fist on table)” this was during a lunch with Sueyun Locks, the Locks Gallery staffers and the the other artists from the Microfibers show.

I am also excited to see Arden Bendler-Browning‘s work, as I met her when we toured the West Collection together (with others) and I have yet to see her work in person.  Um, guess I better do some research to see who the other two Challenge artists in the show are!