Visual Arts

Paul Stankard and Stankard Studio

If you imagine paperweights lack substance, you haven't seen the microcosms constructed by Paul Stankard. He's now showing with his studio artists, each of whom executes variations on his nature theme.

Through Oct. 21, Gallery of Fine Craft, Wheaton Arts, 1501 Glasstown Road, Millville, N.J., www.wheatonarts.org.

Eight artists were selected for an exhibition by UPenn's clay faculty (Linda Cordell, Matthew Courtney, Ryan Greenheck and Sumi Maeshima) who are also in the show. Work ranges from video to utilitarian pottery and suggests the diversity of clay today.

Through Oct. 21, Charles Addams Gallery, 200 S. 36th St., 215-573-5134, www.design.upenn.edu.

Salah Hassan, director of the Africana Studies and Research Center at Cornell University, was the curator for this reconsideration of African conceptualism. Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons (multimedia installation), Rachid Koraïchi (digital prints of drawings) and Berni Searle (video and prints) are featured in a show jointly organized by Philagrafika and Temple University.

Through Nov. 3, Temple Gallery, 259 N. Third St., 215-782-2776, www.temple.edu/tyler/exhibitions.

Marissa Shell's bright, flat, almost cellular paintings contrast intriguingly with nature references in New Yorker Brenda Stumpf's assemblage sculpture.

Through Nov. 17, Sam Quinn Gallery, 4501 Spruce St., 267-408-5769.

Black Pulse 2000-2007: Doug + Mike Starn (CLICK IMAGE FOR LARGER VERSION)

Those über-sophisticated photographers of the '90s, the Starn Twins, are ba-ack from international successes with a slightly revised moniker. Their first Philadelphia solo show at the Print Center features a series of constructions blurring the lines between photography, painting and sculpture. Some include digital projections.

Through Nov. 21, the Print Center, 1614 Latimer St., 215-735-6090, www.printcenter.org.

Allegory, fairy tales, myth and mysticism are tackled by five painters, three based in Philadelphia. In addition, curator Amy Lipton chose the fantasy philosophical card game OMNIANA, designed by Aaron Delamate, a Kentuckian who recently showed at Vox Populi.

Through Nov. 24, Abington Art Center, 515 Meetinghouse Road, Jenkintown, 215-887-4882, www.abingtonartcenter.org.

Eileen Neff: Between Us (CLICK IMAGE FOR LARGER VERSION)

A photographer who has long worked in an installation format, Eileen Neff now uses the computer to enhance the narrative qualities and intensity of her work. This show includes 1992's tribute to Cézanne's roots, The Mountain a Bed and a Chair. Neff has a second concurrent solo show at Locks Gallery in September.

Through Dec. 16, Institute of Contemporary Art, 118 S. 36th St., 215-898-5911, www.icaphila.org.

It's the last stop for the touring show of 160 Matisse works lent by collections from around the world. Plus, you can see the BMA's fabulous Cone Collection of modern art.

Oct. 28-Feb. 23, 2008, Baltimore Museum of Art, 10 Art Museum Drive, Baltimore, M.D., 443-573-1700, www.artbma.org.

A celebration of Philadelphia-born fashion icons inaugurates the Joan Spain Gallery for Costume and Textiles in the PMA's new renovated secondary building. Fifty works show how American designers like Galanos applied the savvy of Parisian haute couture to ready-to-wear and came up with enduring fashions like "the little black dress."

Through March 9, 2008, Perelman Building, Philadelphia Museum of Art, 2525 Pennsylvania Ave., 215-763-8100, www.philamuseum.org.

Likely to be the season blockbuster, this exhibition of around 70 paintings is the first to explore the inventiveness and importance of landscapes during the first 30 years of Impressionist Pierre-Auguste Renoir's (1841—1919) career.

Oct. 4-Jan. 6, 2008, Philadelphia Museum of Art, 2601 Ben Franklin Parkway, 215-763-8100, www.philamuseum.org.

After more than a quarter-century serving artists whose work may not fit into a commercial gallery setting, the co-op Nexus currently calls the Crane Arts Building home. New members show their stuff.

Nov. 8-Dec. 7, Nexus Foundation for Today's Art, Suite 102, 1400 N. American St., 215-629-1103, www.nexusphiladelphia.org.

(r_rice@citypaper.net)