Thursday, April 03, 2008

Philly opening tomorrow

Florence Putterman “Noir et Blanc” and Elizabeth Bisbing “People / Places / Paper” open tomorrow in Philadelphia's Projects Gallery.

This is the second solo exhibition of Florence Putterman at Projects. Known for her textural paintings and bold, earthy colors, Noir et Blanc features works in only black and white, focusing the exhibition on Putterman’s keen image-making. In Projects Room they also will present Elizabeth Bisbing in her first Philadelphia solo exhibition entitled "People / Places / Paper."

Both open First Friday, April 4th with an artist reception from 5-8 p.m. and continues through March 26, 2008.

Virginians at ComicCon

Greater DC area artists Carolyn Belefski and Joe Carabeo will appear in Artist Alley at New York ComicCon on April 18-20, 2008. Artist Alley is a special exhibitor space forprofessional artists to display and sell their work.

NYCC will take place April 18-20 at the Jacob K. Javits Center in New York City and will host more than 400 exhibitors, hundreds of artists and over 150 special events.

Opening in Richmond tomorrow

Claire Watkins (kinetic sculpture, drawings), Joe Deroche (mixed media paintings and Rosana Barragan (performance) open tomorrow at Transmission in Richmond, VA. Performaces by Rosana Barragan will occur on the opening night at 8 and 9pm and the show runs April 4-26, 2008. The opening reception is from 7-10PM. Transmission is at 321 Brook Rd. (between Broad and Marshall St.) in Richmond, VA.

Watkins is one of the most talented artists that I have seen in quite a while. She has written about her work:

'The digestive system turns food into eyelashes. I am in awe of the minutiae and delicate actions that make up everyday life.

The machines I build reflect this awe and wonder. My work is intimate, curious and mesmerizing in its gestures. The translation of energy is both a functional and conceptual part of my work...With movement, I make machines that become creatures. I am fascinated by systems found within the body and the parallel structures located outside of it; the human brain and circuit boards, nerve systems and trees. How is the brain a computer and how is it an electrical storm?

The affects of electricity are curious. Neurons fire in your head with the memories of your life. Your toast gets burned. Electricity has a visual presence in my work, traveling through motors, lights, wires microcontrollers and drawings that are circuit boards. I want to expose the invisibility of electricity, a physical reminder of its presence.'

Closing on Sunday

Eric Finzi's terrific solo "My Double Life: musings on Sarah Bernhardt" at Heineman Myers Gallery in Bethesda closes on Sunday; don't miss this show!

Philadelphia Airport

It continues to perplex me how bad Philadelphia Airport is and how spoiled I was when living in the Dc area to have choices of airports and such a well-oiled machine in BWI or Dulles, or even Reagan National.

Of the dozens of flights that I have taken out of this airport in the last couple of years, one has left on time, and I have heard the most amazing excuses for delays, including one where someone forgot to charge a plane's batteries overnight.

This major airport also lacks a cell phone wait area, and as a result, cars double park on the offramp from I-95 - a rather dangerous and illegal issue.

And there seems to be a lack of electrical outlets, a serious issue in this age of laptops.

This airport sucks.

Denver to Launch Biennial of the Americas

In the historic tradition of Venice and Sao Paolo, the world's newest international contemporary art biennial is coming to Denver, Colorado.

Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper announced the city has received a $2 million grant from the Colorado-based Boettcher Foundation to help launch the Mile High City's inaugural Biennial of the Americas. Scheduled for the summer of 2010, the two-month-long curated event will be a celebration of contemporary art and ideas from throughout the Americas. The Biennial will feature two major cultural exhibitions, one focusing on the contemporary arts of the Americas and a secondary program, an "ideas pavilion," that will explore themes ranging from science to urban planning. Each program will be led by a respected curator.
Read all about it here.

Trouble in Reston

Bailey reports that there's art trouble in Reston, Virginia as Linda Hesh's "Stop The Conflict" posters that are part of the "Conflict" exhibition at the Greater Reston Arts Center and which were placed around Reston Town Center yesterday by GRACE staff have been ripped down and torn up.

Details and images here.

Update: GRACE sent out this note to the "Conflict" artists:

Dear Artists,

We would like you to have the correct information about an incident related to the exhibition.

As many of you know, Linda Hesh’s posters saying STOP THE CONFLICT have been torn down from the construction fence across from GRACE. Our director, John Alciati and I have met the individual and talked with him about why he has done this. (He torn them down twice) He claims to be working for the company that owns the fence and says that he was directed to do this. The fence is owned by the development company, Kettler, who has given us permission to use it to promote our exhibitions. In the fall we used the fence without incident for over 2 months with posters about FLOW: The Landscape of Migration.

We do not know this person’s motivation and we do not know who he really works for but we will try to gather more information. He does not work for the property management company and he does not work for Reston Town Center. Please do not say that he is a town employee. We are not sure who his employer is.

In the interest of dialogue we prefer to not make assumptions about this individual. On one positive note, during the second encounter he did tell John that he knew our intentions were good. Let’s not make assumptions about his intentions until we have further conversations with him.

We look forward to a wonderful opening tomorrow night. The show is fine testimony to your integrity as artists and your courage to speak the truth.

Best wishes,

Joanne Bauer
Exhibitions Director
Greater Reston Arts Center

Airborne again

airplane

Heading to Boston to do a studio visit here. More later...