Paige West, Founder and Curator of West Collection of Contemporary Art, Les Stoetzel, Director of West Collection and Gary Steuer, Chief Cultural Officer, City of Philadelphia Office of Arts, Culture & the Creative Economy answer questions about the expanded West Collects Prize after Mayor Michael Nutter’s announcement at Philadelphia City Hall.  West Collects has increased their budget and is dedicating $100,000.00 to collect art from Philadelphia artists to be exhibited in the gallery and halls at Philadelphia City Hall for six months next year.

Video by DoN Brewer

THIS FRIDAY, October 7th, Drink Philly is yet again supporting local artistic talent, local brewers and local restaurants for First Friday! Come enjoy food and beer tastings and check out some great local art and music.

Featured Artists:
Heather Marley
Sean Martorana
Richard Tenaglia

This month, The Farmers’ Cabinet will be serving mini Bavarian pretzel bites with a pear mustard, accompanied by their very own home brew, Grisette.
ABSOLUTELY NO COVER CHARGE. (Valid ID is required, only 21+ will be admitted.)
The event goes from 5-9 PM on Friday, October 7, and you may come and go as you please.

Our address is:
239 Chestnut Street (3rd & Chestnut)
Second Floor, Unit B
Philadelphia, PA 19106

Abby Schmidt, Thrice, mixed media, Play @ Paradigm Gallery + Studio

Abby Schmidt, Thrice, mixed media, Play @ Paradigm Gallery + Studio

Paradigm Gallery + Studio on South Street, founded by Sara McCorriston and Jason Chen, concentrates their efforts on installations by individual, emerging artists, giving them free reign to create an environment of their own.  Play, by Abby Schmidt is an experience design of profound and beautiful paradoxs; images of children in peril, often a cliché in popular culture, are translated to a higher plane of consciousness through Schmidt’s art.  Abby Schmidt mixes media is a very modern way like a DJ mixes different beats; her collages made from zillions of tiny toys, intense close-up portraits of a battered child made from melted crayon and armed child soldiers collaged from toy weapons, the room wrapped in silhouettes of iconic American children at play, is a masterful mash up of narrative, technique and ideas.

Abby Schmidt, mixed media, Play @ Paradigm Gallery + Studio

It’s difficult enough for an artist to portray youth, the ephemeral nature of babyish-ness is hard to capture in a painting, the images in Play are at first charming and playful but quickly turn menacing and perilous.  Not like the frustration in Diane Arbus’ kid with a hand grenade or the impressionism of Mary Cassatt’s mother love paintings, Abby Schmidt’s kids are TV reality real,  21st century modern, 24 hour news contemporary portraits; starving kids huddled together, a chubby cheeked cherub face with a black eye, a brother and sister holding hands as a tank approaches, all without irony, the signified images are granular, almost microscopic in detail.  Each tiny toy or bit of rice used to envision the documentary images represents it’s own story and how they relate to kids in the world.  As you move close, the tiny details tell a parallel story to the Dali-nian image viewed from a distance, all while the shadow world of happy, playful, well fed kids skip around the room, birds chirping across the sky.  Unlike the weepy TV commercials soliciting money for starving children, the images we usually look away from here are so poetic, poignant and powerful that we want to look, seeing the plight in a new meaningful way.

Play, Abby Schmidt @ Paradigm Gallery + Studio

Sara McCorriston says, “Abby’s work is incredible and it needs to be seen as much as possible.  She submitted her proposition to my partner Jason, and I immediately fell in love with it and said she has to show here.  She’s been awesome to work with, extremely professional and very talented.  I do fiber arts and mixed media, too, so, this really speaks to me, it’s probably the most socially relevant show we’ve had so far.  When I first saw the latest piece she made for the show and the mock up she made for the space, I was emotional when I first saw it.  The picture on the back wall is of a kid whose eye is swollen, on the left side it’s bleeding.  She’s injected another war-time image into the mix.” I want to post a picture of the large work made of melted crayons but the camera immediately dumbs down the impact of the piece.  In real life, you will experience that “aha” moment when a baby’s face suddenly reveals pain and terror in its eyes, the image is haunting, but on-line it reads too photographically, too quick, too immediate.

There’s another excellent reason to experience the show in person, in conjunction with the show the gallery and Schmidt are donating half the proceeds to the World Food Program.  Sara said, “It’s really important to us, we’re trying really hard to promote this show.  Not only so people see the show but we really want to get the World Food Program some money and be able to tell Abby we sold her work.”

The image used for the promotion of Play, Thrice, one of the smaller pieces in the show, is a group of kids pointellistically portrayed with grains of rice.  I’m not sure what the kids are holding in the picture.  Is it a handful of food or toys?  They’re kids, they should be playing, right?  But maybe their lives revolve around scavenging for bits of rice, gleaning the landscape for scraps for a meager meal.  The combination of the ugly and beautiful, the innocence and the violence, the glorification of war through toys and the tragedy of child neglect creates a meme for the state of being for today’s children.  Like Diane Arbus or Dorothea Lange before her, Abby Schmidt makes us take a hard look at the world and its effects on children, the young and the innocent.  With art and beauty Schmidt evokes a pang of empathy, that just may motivate the world to feed the children and stop the violence.

Play has been extended until September 24^th, 2011, meet artist Abby Schmidt at Paradigm Gallery + Studio on September 16^th, 6 – 10:00 PM.

DoN Brewer, Contributing Writer, SideArts

Photographs by DoN Brewer

10-hour, outdoor, live visual art competition with a backdrop of musical performances and DJs!!

AUGUST 27th from 12pm-10pm

Back for the 2nd round!! The Battle of the Canvas is a live painting competition that encourages the involvement of emerging and professional visual artists to paint under a theme that will promote social change through artistic images. In addition to fusing diverse artists with different skill levels together, appreciating visual arts out of galleries and museums is our goal since this free event will allow the public to connect with and interact with artists as they paint.

Where is it?? – The Artists Piazza | 2nd and Germantown Ave. 12pm-10pm | Free |Kids Corner

Watercolor Original Paintings by Sean Martorana

“I often talk to people who appreciate my work but can’t necessarily afford it. So I decided to start a line of more affordable art. Instead of simply offering prints as a lower-cost product (which many people balk at, because they want something original), I began creating one of a kind originals on 11×17 watercolor paper utilizing watercolors, ink and what ever else is near by. They’re quick strokes of inspriation that anyone can afford. I will be releasing them three at a time over the next several months.” – Sean Martorana

All artwork is signed by Sean Martorana and shipped in between cardboard to keep it safe.

You can pick them up as well as other artwork by clicking here.
(The paper was not previously stretched so it might have wrinkles and be a little bit warped which is all a part of Sean’s spontaneous process.)

Calling all artists….Bring your best to Race St Pier First Friday August 5th 2011!