How many ways are there to characterize photographer Emmett Gowin? He’s an empathetic chronicler of family quirks; obsessive stalker of his muse; eco-reporter; natural world archivist; latin-influenced surrealist. Each of the hats the artist wears coincides with a chronological chunk of his life’s work. And, as laid out more or less chronologically in the elegant [...]

Back in August, I had an appointment to talk with Jenny Sabin, architect, designer and Pew Fellow, at the APS Museum‘s Jefferson Garden (across 4th St. from the Museum). Sabin had designed and was in the process of building a very curious looking greenhouse as a temporary art installation at the site. It was two [...]

Cate and I went to the Vox building the Saturday after First Friday (which is usually a great day to go — mostly, the audio-video-robo works will be functioning; and often artists are lurking who will talk with you about what they’re up to).  We found a bunch of good stuff at Tiger Strikes Asteroid, Napoleon [...]

How pretty is Philadelphia’s City Council Districts map? Pretty ugly at the moment. Look at districts 5 and 7, with their long snaking tails, a product of some ugly political horse-trading that not only made the districts cockeyed on the map, but created ridiculous neighborhood splits where one side of the street is one district [...]

We’ve all seen the message embedded in the roadways of Center City, usually in crosswalks. I actually saw one embedded in the left lane of the westbound 676 ramp to the Schuylkill expressway!  I was stuck in bumper to bumper traffic and there it was just a half a car length ahead of me. How [...]

artblog friend and art impresario Shelley Spector sent along pictures of art she’s been working on during her Breadboard residency at NextFab Studio.  When Stella and I visited her there Aug 11, long before Irene, the artist was working on a series about storms — hurricane names, tornados, floods…  It’s water on the brain, taken to [...]

This is a superb book worthy of a museum. A catalog of the 2010 exhibit by the same name, the book was produced by little Arcadia University Art Gallery, whose talent always seems to match its ambitions.   With 5 essays, a great Q&A with the artist from 1995 and lots of photos, the 125-page [...]

By Andreea Bailuc A few weeks ago, on first Friday, I checked out Vox Populi Gallery. Among the various Skype interviews, “open mic” video projections and a surfers’ paradise, a live performance made a mark on me. A woman comfortably installed on a stage and surrounded by a basket of gift wrapping accoutrements and empty [...]

For a long time now, artists have been stealing faces. Portraiture, whether sculptural, painted or printed, is a thief. Even when a portrait shows a likeness, the face is often there to represent a larger truth about the human condition.  No matter how much Abraham Lincoln looks like himself in art, he is always the [...]

Hacking for the common good could be the motto on Cory Arcangel‘s coat of arms. Surely he deserves one, The Nintendo Lord of Hacking whose heirs will populate the earth with open source tools for benign purposes. Arcangel’s DIY hacks of Atari, Nintendo and other video games, and his alterations of other pop culture consumer [...]

Steve and I went to New York last week hoping to escape the Philly heat and humidity and slip into some music and art. Make Music New York was all over town, a free, one-day (Summer Solstice only) event bringing music (and streetside pianos for passersby to play) to all parts of town. We were [...]

In the show called Wax Apple, a plastic orange makes an appearance.  It’s not a wax orange, but the echo of the show’s title resounds like the punchline to a joke. While there are other oranges in this show (a glass vase containing 2 liters of orange soda; a painting and screenprint with a bright [...]

If you’ve never been to Eastern State Penitentiary go this summer. Not only does the historic Dickens-era prison continue to look like the glorious decayed wreck it is, but the cellblocks are cool on a hot summer day. Long past is the time when hard hats were required, and this year’s four new art installations [...]

Carl Marin’s first solo exhibit, now up at FLUXspace, is one of the most unusual things you’ll see this summer.  Marin, who is a former student of Libby’s and mine at Tyler, is showing a small body of work based on two very large projects.  Both involve animals, and one involves taxidermy. Marin, whose late [...]

Two magazines, Carrier Pigeon and LPV, came in the mailbox recently and while they are nothing alike they both have this in common: enthusiasm.  This post will essay Carrier Pigeon’s charms.  In another post I’ll write about LPV, a photo magazine. Carrier Pigeon, a quarterly magazine of illustrated fiction and fine art, launched last fall [...]

It was National Train Day Saturday, an Amtrak love fest at 30th Street Station, and as Steve and I waited for our train to Baltimore (to visit good friends Chuck and Iris) I ambled around the displays (there was a nice photo display on the Great American Migration that explained how the railroad helped make [...]

This new performance and exhibition space in Old City generated buzz well before it opened in July. Today, it’s the most exciting and experimental art venue in the city’s so-called arts district, a place where it’s now easier to get good coffee than it is to see art that’s pushing the envelope. The five Hampsire [...]

Want to send a letter but don’t have the stamp? Jessica Gath wants to help you out with that. In fact, she’ll even type it for you. Gath, otherwise known as the World Famous Secretary, will type a note, postcard or letter; address it; stamp it; and mail it—all at no cost to you, not [...]

With gorgeous color, ebullient natural imagery (birds, butterflies, flowers) and harmonious designs, Trudy Kraft’s “Emergence” at Gross McCleaf is pure visual happiness. Kraft’s third solo show at the gallery continues the artist’s exploration of the cosmic inter-connectedness of things. Influenced by cultural traditions in Japan, Africa, Thailand and India, Kraft’s easel-sized works on paper feature [...]

Thirty years after the advent of Pop art, Liza Lou beaded her way into art history, making pop-iconic objects and installations with miraculous numbers of glass beads applied to armatures of plaster, and in some cases, real live things like stoves. Lou labored mightily, and alone at first. Her “Kitchen,” a 168 sq. ft. beaded [...]