I am very excited to announce that I will be putting together a group show at South Philly's beloved My House Gallery, with the help of Aidan Rich and Jim Grilli, for the month of May. The My House Gallery is a space that has always interested me due to its unique location, on 8th street just south Porter as illustrated above, and because it is literally the town house that the dedicated folks who run the gallery live in. I was originally supposed to do an installation utilizing the entire first-floor gallery space, however; I was thrown a few curve balls in my personal life, and did not think that I could get it together in time for a full-scale install. So instead of a solo venture I chose to invite some friends, whose work I admire, to participate in a group show.The idea behind this group exhibition is to highlight the creative breadth of the participating artists, giving the viewer a more intimate look at the unique personalities and processes of each person. We (me, Aidan, and Jim) are encouraging artists to show a range of pieces and drawings from daily doodles on up to finished pieces. Below is the list of participants, and why I'm psyched on their work:
Adrienne Langer
I have been a fan of Adrienne's intrinsically feminine line quality and color palette's (of course I mean that in the best way possible) from the first time that I became acquainted with her paintings. Her work has this softness to it that I really appreciate, and also she's the pattern queen, both in her work and her wardrobe.
Aidan Rich
Aidan is nice dude, plain and simple. He doesn't have a crazy client list, or some insane process, he just draws, paints, and does what he wants. I like that alot. He also drew this weirdly awesome tour poster for the amazing Arrah and the Ferns/Armchairs tour (so jealous.) check that out here.
Kris Chau
Ms. Chau's work has been popular with Philadelphian's for years. Her portraits of people, both real and imagined, all have a very loose and energetic quality to them that are very much within the same visual language. Drawing people in a cool way is something that has always thrown me for a loop, but Kris has it dialed. She also has a show on First Friday of May called "Can't Look Away" at the Reward Project (I checked the website and it looks like a real hip boutique for strictly babes, which = awesome) with all new work. So busy!
Matt Gribben
Radlands? AUF? Phrequency.com? Traffic Skateboards? If these Philadelphia organizations are at all foreign to you, then I seriously suggest you take a second out of your supposedly busy schedule to check out Matty's portfolio, and then ask yourself "What if I did regular design work for these people, on top of other freelance clients, and then decided to go back to school to nail down my design principles and be the best design dude I could possibly be, while simultaneously playing/performing in multiple sludge/stoner metal bands?" Welcome to Matt's life. His work is great.
Leah Mackin
I had Leah's work in mind from the beginning. She has been doing these awesome graphite drawings with subtle value changes and details pressed into the paper with a bone folder that are both simple and elegant. To me her artwork is very direct: minimal tools and mediums with maximum creativity and expression.
Steve Streisguth
Mr. Streisguth, and his work, always keep me guessing. I know for a fact he could draw or paint anything that he wants, but he seems fixated on crazy swirls, concentric shapes, and fluid mark making. I couldn't tell you what Steve will be exhibiting even if I wanted to, but you can bet it will cool.
and of course, myself
Stay Tuned!
