Green Shows

Considering how important an issue it is, exhibitions on the environment are still not something you see a lot of. But thankfully there are a few organizations, both local and international, that see value in the topic.

The Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education brings us Swarm with an opening reception this weekend, Saturday June 28th, 5:30-7pm.

Philly Weekly has covered the Mark Dion show at Bartrum Gardens. The Dion website is comprehensive and includes video and other media.

And Mark Dion appears in a lineup of well-known, international artists in Artists Respond to a Changing Planet. The website features a video trailer that includes interviews with the artists.

From what I can tell here, there is very little painting in any of these shows, especially abstraction. There seems to be a block for some reason that needs to be broken.

Above, Augmented Bee, 2004, detail, archival pigment print, 9 x 1.5 inches, by Talia Greene.

On Political Art

The idea was floated on another blog that abstract art can't be political. I don't agree with that and here is an excellent piece written on the subject by Michael Brady.

Concerning the Political in Art

"From the realism of Homer and the paintings of the Ashcan School, from American Scene and Regionalist paintings and the social realism of the 1930's, to Abstract Expressionism, Pop, and other movements of the post-War era, artists have announced that each new style embodied the greater truth of representational fidelity (e.g., Sloane), transcendental good (e.g., Rothko), or authenticity and sincerity (e.g., Dubuffet)."

...A salient feature of propaganda--what makes it so effective--is its calculated use of popular styles and imagery. Propaganda is more political than "political" art because it readily uses a popular idiom and does not sneer at the masses. Many artists, from Kandinsky to Mondrian to Brecht proposed that there could be found new art forms which could cut through the pretensions of well-bred society and the dictates of the ruling classes and speak directly to the people in the lower classes. The problem with this, though, as Clement Greenberg has pointed out, is that the masses in industrial society do not want high culture, but its simulacrum kitsch." [read more]

And a few quick quotes.

Art is a finger up the bourgeoisie ass. -Pablo Picasso

If everyone would paint, political re-education would be unnecessary. -Pablo Picasso

All art is propaganda. -George Orwell

Above, Green line in woods, oil on canvas, 70.9 x 47.2 inches, 1986 by David Reeb,

Foss at Smile Gallery, video

The Smile Gallery recently celebrated it's one year anniversary. If you haven't visited yet the current exhibition by David Foss is a great introduction. The paintings, sculpture and works on paper, are mostly new and mostly black and white as you will get a hint of in the video/slide show. I really like artists who surprise us, who don't simply repeat themselves show after show. This is such an artist and exhibition.

I would recommend planning to eat in the restaurant on the first floor if you like Thai food. We really enjoyed the drunken noodles and roasted duck.

Smile Gallery, 105 S. 22nd, between Walnut and Chestnut, Philadelphia, PA 215-564-2502
Show closes Friday, July 13

Quicktime version (higher quality)
YouTube version

Robert Straight

Above, P-277, oil and acrylic on canvas, 78 x 78 inches, 1995 by Robert Straight.

An Interview with Karl Benjamin, by Julie Karabenick

An excerpt from the interview.

Julie Karabenick: In #6, 1989, the forms feel increasingly liberated from the grid.

Karl Benjamin: I was standing before a large square canvas holding a piece of charcoal and suddenly the whole room seemed to come apart as a large earthquake struck. The next day, I went back to the canvas and began making these slanting lines radiating out from the center—something very different for me.

...When you’re painting, the only thing you’re really aiming for is to realize that painting. I think all of us are confronted with the problem of feeling whole. Look around you—how many people feel really whole? It’s a rare thing. When you make a painting, you’re so closely identified with it that it is you, and when it’s done and it feels whole, then you feel whole as well. Otherwise, why would artists spend their entire lives painting? [read more]

Above, portrait of artist Karl Benjamin.

Charles Arnoldi

Untitled, 29.5 x 29.5 inches, monoprint, by Charles Arnoldi.

Save John Grass, video

This is an important project that I think a large number of individuals and groups from Philadelphia and the entire country should be interested in. The John Grass Wood Turning Co. was established in 1863 and is in danger of being lost to developers if money can't be raised to save it. The images shown in the video give a general idea of the age and atmosphere of this special place, but you really have to visit to feel the magic that it holds. At the end of the video is a phone number and website where you can make a donation. I have made this video pro bono to show my support.

YouTube