Cake Walk

T&P Fine Art fits in with South Philly's rumpled, melting-pot aesthetic.

by A.D. Amorosi

BEAR ESSENTIALS: Jaws and Cheeks, by Angry Woebots, is a T&P splurge at $1,300, but not everything at the South Philly gallery's so steep.

There's no real shock that the Italian Market's newest venture — T&P Fine Art in one of Joe "Brown" Tartaglia's old warehouse spaces — embraces the mishmash of old and new that South Philly prides itself on. Cheap rents have allowed hairdressers, taquerias, Italian social clubs, French coffeehouses, Mexican costume shops, live poultry villas and fruit stands to exist along with an art gallery featuring pictures of big blue bugs inside and grimy designer graffiti out.

The Tartaglia family, who own spots on Ninth Street that sell knickknacks, fruits and vegetables on the cheap, also move trashy comedy and punk rock at ragtag BYOB Connie's Ric Rac. But this gallery space, which the Tartaglias have rented to Bryan Dilworth, John Halperin and Andrew Ellis (music bookers all), purveys a new brand of mishmash. The two-month-old T&P, named after the two products for sale in the space before it became a gallery — turtles and porn — presents "Give Less Fruitcake, Buy More Art!" this month. The show introduces a splashy mix of artists from Philly and beyond — Benjamin Soto, Bob Dob, Ephameron, Food One, GALO, Scott Musgrove and such — keeping the neighborhood's old-world-meets-street-art aesthetic intact. "It's that lowbrow, Juxtapoz [magazine] brand" of art, says Halperin, an art collector and T&P's curator. "I have an unhealthy obsession with the art community," says the L.A. native, who books the Glass House in Pomona, Calif. "Opening a gallery just seemed natural."

It seemed natural, too, to Andrew Ellis, who runs Ellis Industries music booking in New York City. But knowing that Los Angeles and NYC were too expensive led them to fellow music booker Bryan Dilworth of Live Nation and HeyDay Entertainment fame. Dilworth, who lives in the Italian Market area and is close with the Tartaglias, understands that his backyard is one of Philly's last ungentrified bohemias, with its blend of hipster doofuses, old-school Italian heritage and new-school Mexican and Asian families. "Say what you might about Fishtown and Northern Liberties. The Market is the melting pot."

Halperin says getting Dilworth involved was the best thing they could've done: The Philly booker and Ellis secured the South Ninth Street address quickly and went into immediate build-out mode. "Bryan admittedly isn't an art connoisseur," notes Halperin. "But he is the unofficial mayor of Philly. He got things done." 

Click Here For More Images

"It's a block where you, me, judges, police officers and the P'yunk guys live," Dilworth says of the latter design company's progressive graphic ideals seamlessly pairing with us neighboring goombahs.

Halperin loves that T&P is in an area of South Philly so rumpled and old-world — not like Old City's Gallery Row, which he calls "the Beverly Hills of Philly." This block is someplace where art can live and breathe comfortably — and at reasonable prices. "I can't tell you how many times I'd go to [shows of] artist friends of mine and say, 'I love your work but can't afford to drop $1,500 on something,'" says Dilworth. At T&P, he says, collectors and consumers can find the top-dollar work they crave — from guys like Dan Baldwin, Shepard Fairey and Adam Wallacavage — alongside $15 prints and $5 toys.

That mix describes this month's T&P exhibit to a T. It's a group show featuring stencil art, graffiti work and cartoonish stuff from the likes of Parker Jacobs, animation art director for Nick Jr. TV's Yo Gabba Gabba! "Parker's Pop style exemplifies an element we were seeking to show off when we opened the gallery," says Halperin. "We want it to be fun." In on T&P's fruitcake-y jollity is a concurrent exhibition from Hong Kong-based company Toy2R and their rubbery one-of-a-kind tchotchkes from artists such as Frank Kozik, Michael Lau and Kaws. "I have around 100 to 150 in my house, so that show was a no-brainer."

Plus, toys — like much of T&P's art — are crazy affordable. "Approaching the art world as I do — like the three of us do music booking — being able to give people what they want at a fair enough price is key," says Dilworth. "Our rent allows us to do that."

(a_amorosi@citypaper.net)

"Give Less Fruitcake, Buy More Art!" through Dec. 28, T&P Fine Art, 1143 S. Ninth St., 202-669-8977, tandpfineart.com.