WEEKLYPRESS.COM ·
UCREVIEW.COM · JANUARY 18 · 2012
Phebe Shinn, Art Observer A Melding of Brush and Pen
“Cypress garden slides across a sea of color De Kooning giggles.”
I
t’s a cold time nowadays, and we are all mittened and booted and bundled
up to the ears when we ven- ture out of our shelters. But the world of art offers enthu- siasm and warmth. Galler- ies in the city are open and filled with beautiful, strange, and fascinating displays; our museums present classic and contemporary pieces; artists’ studios all around town are devoted to creation of new and intriguing works in all mediums. Definitely nowadays a time to check out what is happening in the Philadelphia art scene as a new year begins.
Highwire Gallery, an out- post of artistic activity in the happening section of Fishtown, has been running an interesting exhibit this month.
“Poets at Highwire chasing bait near Walt Whit- man cast lines in Fishtown” ...
T.Mosher
Called “Poetic License”, sev- en members of the gallery have mounted various pieces of their work and invited lo- cal poets and writers to view the pieces on display and then write their reactions as haiku or other forms of poet- ry. And the local poets have indeed responded. Written on scratch pads, index cards, with pen, pencil and even manual typewriters, some signed, some anonymous, a lot of short musings are posted on the walls next to the artists’ pieces. “Poetic license sounding out unspoken drips typing words to paint: ...T. Mosher
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One of the big pieces by Rochelle Marcus Dinkin, a triptych screen of oil on lin- en called “Welcome Home”, displays a Russian folkart/ European medieval fullness of design and detail, lush colors and enamel-like clar- ity. Dinkin’s brushwork is thin and stretched, polished and care- fully finished. The composition is crammed with bits - castle tow- ers, waters, angry little fish swim- ming through the air, birds borne up on the cur- rents. On the right, rows of crowned heads peer out of windows, mouths open and singing/wailing/ crying/ shouting for help? Within a window on the left an enigmatic, yellow- haired Rapunzel sits, a cat peek- ing over her shoulder, while a toothy, flower-bedecked monster tries to eat her up. Within a regal mandala in the center of the composi- tion floats a queenly figure, robed in majesty - perhaps a wicked stepmother? or the Virgin? This is a com- position of elaborate detail, painted with careful atten- tion and lavish colors, as re- sponsive to careful attention as a medieval manuscript. “Sly sister keeping cat wis- dom under her mane.”
Barbara Spadaro offers sev- eral spare, severely edited small oils featuring dismem-
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bered cultural icons - Alice with her blond head located well above her shoulders, floating like the Cheshire Cat.
Two smallish pieces by Jeff Waring - “Under the Double Bump” and “Swirl- ing Re-
Called “Poetic License”,
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seven members of the gal- lery have mounted various pieces of their work and invited local poets and writers to view the pieces on display and then write their reactions as haiku or other forms of poetry. And the local poets have indeed responded. Written on scratch pads, index cards, with pen, pencil and even manual typewriters, some signed, some anonymous, a lot of short mus- ings are posted on the walls next to the artists’ pieces.
An d L y d i a Hamilton Brown is represented by two large examples of abstract expres- sionism, acrylics on canvas, vividly colored and carefully composed.
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turns”, done in acrylic
collage somehow imply an Art Deco theater design. Composed from painted papers, the looping shapes
suggest at one and the same time, scenic planes, high- ways dotted with cars, the writhing of octopus ten- tacles - constant movement both within and without the shapes. The colors are rich but muted, the brushwork is subtle, the compositions controlled. “Poems from fresh prints still-wet oils and drying inks pressed through writ- er’s block”
....T.Mosher
A number of small works by Peter Kin- ney, of ink on paper, of- fer a series of black and white atmo- spheric im- pressions of the Maine sea coast. Kinney’s
free approach combines brush- work with finger painting, dabbing,
scrubbing, all of it silently evoking the uproar of the surf - crash-
ing waves, rushing winds. In “Monhegan Island at Dusk” swirling forms rush- ing across a field and filling the sky suggest a night filled with the northern lights, and the wind off the ocean. “A sturdy pine tree high above the turbulence
weeps for the dying” ....B.J.Swartz
An interesting idea, this ex- hibit at Highwire, highlight- ed by the eager collaboration of local writers and poets. Definitely an idea to be en- larged upon, a theme for ex- pansion. Highwire is often a venue for area musicians as well; the gallery has become a gathering place for the lo- cal art scene “Haiku from ‘What’s New?’ not York nor Jersey nor Age written words from art” ...T. Mosher
Highwire Gallery 2040 Frankford Avenue 215-426-2685 Exhibit runs through Janu- ary 29
The L. G. Tripp Gallery in Old City is featuring “Fo- cus”, the Fourth Annual Abstract Photography Exhi- bition, with works by seven artists. The exhibit offers a diverse collection of indi- vidual uses of the camera, of approaches to a new way of seeing, of explorations in the art of photography. The artists represented are all ex- hibiting at Tripp for the first time. L. G. Tripp Gallery 47-49 N. Second St. 215-923-3110 Exhibit runs through Janu- ary 28
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