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Also this issue: Bad for the Business artquicks Wozzeck ComedySportz Cares "Martians and Motorcycles" "Privacy Writes: Public Lives, Personal Letters" Fourth Of U LIE Rebel Party Neal Barnard |
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July 3- 9, 2003
first friday focus
 Clarity Haynes, Crone’s Birthday (2002), 18 inches by 22 inches, oil on canvas. |
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Sometimes things not of this world can seem more real than those that are. So with the wit of a surrealist and the tenderness of a portraitist, painter Clarity Haynes melds imagination with intuition. "I just made those up," she says of several of her works on view at PII this month. Such a carefree approach doesn't mean anything goes with Haynes, however; the placement of a figure or an object is neither random nor hasty. Like dream sequences that take place entirely in your world and realm of possibility, Haynes' paintings escort you through events and tableaux that you may or may not remember -- and may choose not to. Rite of Spring, for example, includes a small child in a pale blue headdress holding an even smaller child, an empty swimming pool, a dancer in mid-air and your typical strip-mall Rite Aid. This work, she says, was inspired by her "South Philly days." Another work, though, is like a soft-focus architectural drawing -- on the surface. The subject looks like a dissected rowhouse, like those that can be seen all over the city where the home next door has been razed. There are remnants of wallpaper, outlines of staircases, obvious divisions of rooms. It's all pretty clinical, until you notice the suggestion of a figure in the bottom left corner. It's slight but memorable. And Crone's Birthday has enough fantastical glee (and a touch of the sinister) to prove Haynes' investment in her characters: "I think of her as a rebel," she says. Sure enough, the smirking old woman on the dirt road is wearing a party hat -- party or no party.
Reception Fri., July 4, 6-9 p.m. Exhibition runs through July 31, 242 Race St., 610-328-3468.
Dennis Stock, Audrey Hepburn (1953), detail.
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In the 1950s and '60s, a group of young photographers crept their way on to the sets of some of the most important films of the era, shooting some of the biggest stars of the time. Powerhouse directors such as Hitchcock, Godard, Eisenstein and Kurosawa allowed Magnum Cinema's Robert Capa, Henri Cartier-Bresson and friends to capture Audrey Hepburn, Marlon Brando and others at their most vulnerable. Capa and Cartier-Bresson were naturally interested in the movies, and befriended prominent producers and directors of the time, says Nancy Maguire, deputy director of the Stedman Gallery. This opened the door to exclusive contracts and access to Hollywood's most sought-after stars. Many of the 111 photos come from time spent on the set of John Huston's The Misfits, which Magnum's shooters gained exclusive rights to photograph in 1961. Here are Clark Gable, Marilyn Monroe and Montgomery Clift in quieter, off-camera moments that otherwise would have gone unnoticed. In one particularly riveting shot, Monroe is lost in thought, microphone equipment sitting idle behind her, all in a gorgeous mountainous landscape. Thirty-nine photographers are represented in the show, which is culled from Magnum's breathtaking 7,000 archived images.
Through Aug. 23, Stedman Gallery, Rutgers University, Camden campus, Third and Pearl sts., Camden, N.J., 856-225-6350.
Qimin Liu's portraits of homeless men at Artists’ House this month are studies in the way a single facial expression can tell a person's life story. Some are painful, some are hopeful, but none are dismissive. Through Aug. 17, 57 N. Second St., 215-923-8440. Susan Benarcik shows her botanical-themed installations and works on paper at fiacre & fleur gallery, along with the work of horticultural cobbler Lenny Wilson, who makes pumps made from birch bark, elephant-ear leaves and more. Through July 31, 7A S. Chester Rd., Swarthmore, 610-338-8182. Abington Arts Center features the whimsical work of Helen Ziga this month, who uses crayon, cloth and digital techniques to create organic monsters lounging on decorative patterns. Through Aug. 1, 515 Meetinghouse Rd., Jenkintown, 215-887-4882.
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