Last Chance

Catch it or Regret It


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Published: Sep 12, 2007

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In Summer, the Song Sings Itself

Runs through Sept. 15, Pentimenti Gallery, 145 N. Second St., 215-625-9990

Eight painters, photographers and sculptors examine the surreal, lazy feelings we associate with summertime. Gabe Brown's oil painting Bring Rain looks like the cover of a Shins album, all bubbles, ferns and rainbows. In Deborah Hamon's Huff and Puff (pictured), a colorful illustration of a pigtailed girl running with an inner tube is superimposed onto a photo of a stark suburban landscape.

Confections

Runs through Sept. 20, Center for Emerging Visual Artists, 237 S. 18th St., 215-546-7775

For her 30th birthday, Amy Stevens ordered a cake-decorating kit, failed miserably at her new hobby and overcame her defeat by baking horribly unattractive desserts. Her photographs of these homemade, slimy green cakes are visibly cathartic — and bold reminders of her struggles with the modern woman's inability to simultaneously achieve perfection at home and at work.

Dreaming of a Speech Without Words

Runs through Sept. 16, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, 128 N. Broad St., 215-972-7600

H.C. Westermann (1921-88) was a sculptor, printmaker and painter who combined pop art and surrealism to poke fun at American culture. PAFA's exhibit features about 70 of his early works from the '50s that question consumerism, militarism and celebrity. Battle of Little Big Horn mocks American mythology with archetypal images of American Indians, burning covered wagons and a scared-looking Gen. Custer surrendering, a "Gawd Almitee!" speech bubble popping from his head.