VoxBox Portfolio Preview Cocktail Party

art

Here's a chance to start an instant collection of contemporary art, in one handy box, for only $250. For the first time, Vox Populi, a cooperative gallery that consistently shows some of the most successful and cutting-edge work Philly has to offer, is releasing a limited-edition portfolio and throwing a party to celebrate it. Each portfolio contains work by five different artists, with four editions of each portfolio. Here's how they break down by artist. Portfolio 1 contains work by Max Lawrence, Kate Abercrombie, Robert Chaney (collages with Life magazine pages), John Lorenzini and Justin Witte (minimalist prints made with a special ink that rises when heated). Portfolio 2 has Nadia Hironaka (animation on DVD), Joseph Hu, Stefan Abrams (documentary-style photos of suburban landscapes), Mauro Zamora and Justin Witte (again!). Portfolio 3 boasts Nami Yamamoto (bubbly work on Mylar), Olivia Schreiner, Bill Lohr, Kelley Roberts (photos of self-made sculpture) and Charles Hobbs (a fantastic mummylike figure made of crumpled paper and unraveling masking tape, stiffened and shaped with wire; it's attached to a motorized base, and when turned on the figure does a herky-jerky dance). Finally, Portfolio 4 has Amy Adams (homemade-sticker collages), Matt Suib (a DVD/7-inch record combo pack utilizing The Police's "Every Breath You Take"), Isaac Resnikoff, Jennifer McDonald and Douglas Bohr (one oddly unsettling photo of a candelabrum, with dripping white wax and the table covered in it like milk). Five works by some of the most buzzworthy artists in the city for $250 is really quite a bargain. This also might be a last chance to see and acquire work by a few talented artists who are leaving Philly for other opportunities: Justin Witte and Olivia Schreiner are off to Chicago, while Jennifer MacDonald is headed to New York. The 20-buck admission gets you first crack at the portfolios, wine, hors d'oeuvres and a sneak preview of the May exhibition that opens the following day. All proceeds benefit gallery programming for the coming year. When you purchase a portfolio, it'll come in a custom-made box with the VoxBox logo right on the front, and you're off. In one night, you've started a mini-collection and helped out one of the city's valuable artistic resources -- no small favor these days. Now how easy was that?

VoxBox Portfolio Preview Cocktail Party, Thu., May 6, 7 p.m., $20, Vox Populi Gallery, 1315 Cherry St., 215-568-5513.

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