Just Do It

Dr. Sketchy's Philly Art Show

by Monica Weymouth

Opening reception Fri., Oct. 10, 6-10 p.m., runs through Nov. 1, Midwives Gallery, 1241 Carpenter St., 2nd floor, drsketchyphilly.blogspot.com, drsketchy@gmail.com

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Smokey eye after smokey eye, tattered fishnets, sharp collarbones and sharper tattoos: There's no mistaking a Dr. Sketchy's exhibit. After one year of saucy drawing, the "anti-art school" — which has featured models from the Peek-A-Boo Revue, Hellcat Girls, Revival Burlesque and Philly Roller Girls — is celebrating with a month's worth of events, including their first gallery show.

Dr. Sketchy's Philly Art Show features work by a wide range of participants (affectionately dubbed "art monkeys") from previous sessions, which are held every third Friday at Fleisher Art Memorial. As everything was created (or at least started) on-site, most of the pieces have a gritty, pleasingly unpolished quality to them. In Michael Ajero's pencil sketch, a wild-haired woman in layers upon layers of fluffy tulle perches delicately on a stool — possibly in pasties or possibly with really fantastic nipples. Straddling a chair, Carol Magnatta's topless woman is wearing knee-high boots and, according to her thought bubble, daydreaming about a crab. Andrea Grigoropol based her painting of a pixie-like girl on drawings she completed at the salon; her muse's perfect ski jump nose and feathery cape were clearly worth the homework. Another of Grigoropol's pieces (pictured) takes an X-ray view of the model, depicting her — or some creature's — skeleton and shoulder muscles in bright teal.

Keeping the work in mind, Dr. Sketchy's organizers Elizabeth Smith (of the Midwives Collective) and Nicola Black (of Nicola Black Design LLC) will be transforming the gallery with some Victorian touches, and Peek-A-Boo's Cherry Bomb and Lulu Lollipop will provide the entertainment. Work it, ladies.