My First Second Thursday

by Andrea McGinty

New to Philadelphia, and unfortunately having missed every First Friday since I've moved here, I was happy to discover the Second Thursday openings in the Kensington/Northern Liberties district. The Crane Arts Building, the home to an art community with room after room just begging to be explored, proved to be a promising starting point. On Thursday May 8th The Crane featured the openings of five different exhibits, the Tyler School of Art's MFA exhibit "Semi", the University of Delaware's MFA exhibition, Nexus showing the work of Rebecca Gilbert and Virginia Batson, Jessica Demcsak's "The Crane Adjacent" presented by InLiquid, and Kelly & Weber Fine Arts exhibition of Sean O'Neil. Each opening made use of the varying spaces they occupied in dramatically different ways.

The Tyler MFA opening was housed in the Gray Space and Ice Box galleries of the Crane. Both spaces are large, but the Ice Box gallery is expansive, and taking full advantage of a space like that is a difficult task (one made even more so when the exhibition shown in it is curated based on nothing more than the school the artists attend). The Gray Space provided a more appropriate locale to perform the difficult task of making a student show look like more than just a student show. The architecture of the room, unlike the Ice Box, separates itself into several spaces under one roof, allowing individual artists' works to relate separately to each other, as well as the rest of the show. In the Ice Box, with no walls or support beams to soften the blow, each work was in constant competition with one another, so much so that it noticeably took away from the individual works. A perfect example was the installation by Daniel Ostrov (pictured left), one that I had previously viewed when it was shown as part of his MFA Thesis exhibition at the Tyler Gallery in Olde City. "Amnesiac", when placed in the Temple Gallery, appeared monumental, overtaking the viewer's senses. In height and depth it filled the space, leaving little room for standing outside of the installation, forcing the viewer to enter and explore the work's many nuances. The scent of the materials filled the air, and the texture of the salt was felt while shoes crunched over it on the floor. Forced into the gallery, the construction created impenetrable spaces, and upon inspection, one discovered text on the inside of the wooden planks, just barely out of site. Lost in the enormous Ice Box gallery at the Crane, the piece was dwarfed, and the hidden chambers were left open, stripping them of their mystery. On the other hand, the University of Delaware's MFA exhibit had exactly the opposite feeling. The small space it occupied was stuffed full of art, which caused me to quickly flee the room, though, it was hard to tell if it was the compact spacing of the show or the quality of the work that left me uninterested.

Both the Nexus (pictured below) and Kelly and Weber Fine Arts exhibitions had the air of traditional art openings, the Kelly and Weber show was even complete with soft music and well dressed providers of refreshment right outside their door. Luckily, the artwork featured inside the rectangular, white walls of the K&W did not entirely disappoint. Literature provided by the gallery explains that Sean O'Neil "appropriates images, often times using amateur photos or images from instruction manuals as sources (for his paintings). The reproduced image is then washed with new color to create monochrome layers juxtaposed with other images". While the juxtaposition of images is nothing groundbreaking, O'Neil was able to combine elements convincingly. I couldn't help being reminded of John Baldessari's photographic works in which he blocks out information from portions of images with bold shapes of saturated color. In situations like Thursday's openings, the viewer is presented with an onslaught of art and reception, and is provided the opportunity to see a lot of repetition and derivation. The Nexus show presented a number of delicate, small scale, line drawings that I noticed as an overtaking trend at December's Art Basel Fairs in Miami. However interesting an individual drawing may be, it is easy to get lost in the sea of similarity. Directly in front of Nexus, InLiquid is situated in the Big Hall, which allows artists the opportunity to utilize a unique floor-plan. Artist Jessica Demcsak's "The Crane Adjacent" wasn't particularly exciting or new either (a pared down, two dimensional cityscape presented on a three dimensional base), but featured my favorite aspect of the local Philadelphia art scene, an overwhelming sense of community. The skyline shown on her sculptures is the Crane Building itself and its surrounding architecture.

The few art events I've been to so far since moving to Philadelphia have been focused on so much more than just providing a stage for contemporary art. The art community of Philadelphia can truly be described as such: the atmosphere is not one of "you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours," but dedicated people who seek to involve everyone around them in their passion. I get the impression from both artists and organizers that everyone has a vision of potential for the city, and they're excited to participate in its growth. I realize this view may seem overly rosy, as I'm still brand new to the Philly art scene, though I can happily say I'm welcoming the change from the market driven Miami experience.

[Andrea McGinty is a South Florida expatriate and artist living and working in Philadelphia]



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