Also this issue: Aftershocks Two ways to remember the year that was. -Sam Adams Liquid Assets -Nikki Roszko Book Show -Debra Auspitz Artstream: North American Dish Makers -Debra Auspitz Rent -David Anthony Fox Couch: A New Play by Six Authors -David Warner Artsbeat -Debra Auspitz

September 5-11, 2002

first friday focus

Brant Schuller, Trophy Wife and Atrophied Husband (2000), size varies, silkscreen on medium-density fiberboard, maple stools and plaques.

The Visual Fringe

Supposing anyone exhausts all of the regular theater, physical theater, visual theater, dance, music or spoken word events going on during the Fringe Festival (can you say over-caffeinated?), one could investigate the possibilities in the Visual Art/Film category, quite small compared to other years, but worth a look nonetheless. Besides the IN:VIEW InLiquid exhibition, scattered in venues across town (see review p. 27), there are two solo shows: Amy Wolf at Big Jar Books (55 N. Second St.), and Lawrence Anastasi at Dream Windows (104 Market St.), Old First Reform Church (151 N. Fourth St.) and Germantown Jewish Center (400 W. Ellet St.). Anastasi’s project, “Recall,” uses light, shadows and reflections to question our ability to situate ourselves in a particular time, place or world. Wolf’s show, called “War Lubricates Oil,” seems to deal with topical political issues such as the war on terrorism and trade negotiations. But it could also appeal to basic aesthetic tendencies, as the Fringe guide acknowledges: “They’re also pretty and will look great above your couch.” The Lost Film Collective continues its hour-long show of “images from the underground” at the Bumpin’ Big Top (Wood St. between Second and Third). Dubbed “The Celluloid Sideshow,” the program’s thematic screenings include “Women on the Fringe,” “The Art of Culture Jamming” and “9/11: Perspectives and Propaganda” (Remaining shows: Thu., Sept. 5, 6 p.m.; Fri., Sept. 6, midnight; Sat., Sept. 7, midnight; Sun., Sept. 8, 6 p.m.). And finally, InLiquid presents another cheap art sale with “InLiquidation,” a sale of artworks at the Painted Bride (230 Vine St.) throughout the duration of Fringe, as well as strategically placed artist-designed promotional prints all over the place.

Temple Gallery

Brant Schuller turned Temple Gallery curator Kevin Melchionne into a detective for a day. Melchionne was so taken with Schuller's cryptic "sculptural prints" that he felt compelled to put the clues together and write a story about them. Schuller silkscreens enlarged clip-art images, adheres them to basic medium-density fiberboard and cuts the image out jigsaw-like. And like a puzzle, too, is Schuller's arrangement of the disparate works in the gallery. A window-shade cutout sits on an easel, while on an unvarnished bar stool perches a '50s-era image of a woman in a wholesome bowling stance (she bends down oh-so-gracefully to release the ball that isn't there). An image of a fly on a manila tag hangs on the wall, and around the corner, a towering skyscraper of stacked cardboard moving boxes (everything in the exhibit is beige, brown or black) reaches to the ceiling. Chin-scratching and entertaining, Schuller's work keeps you guessing. Melchionne's tongue-in-cheek, hilarious essay inspired by Schuller's work is a story given the film noir treatment ("It was nowhere. It was the worst kind of nowhere.... Why she called me, I'll never know.... She was a leggy doll with a swell smile and lots of friends"). In stark contrast to Schuller's scruffy neutrals are Soon Ae Tark's bright, clean abstract paintings of, as she has called them, "piles of shapes." Gloriously hued, meticulously arranged, perfectly balanced piles of shapes on solid, soothingly colored backdrops, that is. (Reception, Fri., Sept. 6, 7-9 p.m., 45 N. Second St., 215-925-7379.)

And Then There’s…

ArtJaz Gallery has found a new home -- right next door to its old one, and for its debut exhibition in these digs, they've chosen the works of Richard Watson, director of exhibitions at the African-American Museum in Philadelphia. "Survival Songs" stems chiefly from Watson's dual interest in history and folk song, and his mixed media works deal with everything from ancestral heroes to Jesse Owens to experiences only Watson himself can know fully. (Reception, Fri., Sept. 6, 5-8 p.m., through Sept. 30, 53 N. Second St., 215-924-6363.) ... Whether Jeffrey Margraf is actually a collector first and an artist second is up for debate. Among others, his shadow-box-like works in the exhibit "Private Archeology" at Highwire Gallery are filled with various trinkets, either stuffed to the brim or positioned ever-so carefully. One shiny purple box, Childhood's End is filled with dolls, moveable action figures, Hot Wheels and cheap plastic toys. Also showing is the work of Denise Dmochowski, who coats her canvases heavily with beads and paint to create dense floral landscapes. (Reception Fri., Sept. 6, 6-9 p.m., through Sept. 28, 137 N. Second St., 215-829-1255.)

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