First Friday Focus

Carolyn Huckabay's First Friday Hit List


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Published: Nov 3, 2009

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Painted Bride Art Center

When houses catch fire, people don't just round up the kids and pets as they run for safety. They tend to grab the photo albums, too. After all, homes aren't just four walls and a roof; they're places where memories are made, stored for safekeeping and preserved for future generations. At least that's what comes to my mind when I think about shelter. But then again, I've always had a home.

As part of the First Person Festival of Memoir and Documentary Art, curator Marianne Bernstein challenged 17 Philadelphia artists to find out, firsthand, what the word "shelter" means to those whose homes are in flux: She paired photographer Zoe Strauss, multimedia artist Daniel Heyman, silk-screener Eva Wylie and others with 10 families receiving help from Rebuilding Together Philadelphia, a nonprofit that restores homes of the elderly, low-income and disabled.

For "Shelter," Heyman visited and sketched two previously homeless veterans, Lonnie and Tony, at the Vets Transitional House in North Philadelphia. Their stories resonated with the artist, who has spent time in Abu Ghraib for a series on Iraqi torture victims.

"I wanted to make sure the project really fit in with my work," says Heyman. "Since I already have a deep interest in issues surrounding war, and have worked with African-American men on other projects, the veterans house felt like a perfect fit." For two very different men, Heyman created two very different pieces: Lonnie (pictured, p. 28), a simple, respectful portrait done in gouache ink and pencil on Japanese mulberry fiber paper, and Tony's Shelter, a tower of symbolic images on plywood, meant to resemble a house of sorts. The distinction with which Heyman represents these men — one stoic, straightforward portrait; one disjointed wood sculpture — is a testament to their individual struggles. "I think from the outside we view people in trouble as all the same," he says. "But their lives and their personalities couldn't be more different." Opening reception Fri., Nov. 6, 5-7 p.m., through Dec. 18, Painted Bride, 230 Vine St., 267-402-2055, paintedbride.org.

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While we're on the topic of shelter, Stephen and Ophelia Clark are living proof that you don't need a gallery to make art — or to draw a crowd. The Old City residents, who've studied at UArts and Temple, respectively, have taken their multimedia work to the streets, plastering their black-and-white, collage-heavy canvases, stickers and posters around neighborhoods that thrive on the traditional gallery scene. (You may have seen them taped up on storefronts around Third and Race last week before they were quickly taken down.) "As experience tells us, art and creative expression suffer greatly under corporate control," says Stephen. This is not a diss on First Friday but a call to action for artists living in a world where expression is trumped by advertising, capitalism and the Internet. "Our concern is for the next generation of artists, since we are witnessing individuality being co-opted by pre-packaged rebellion, creating youth that will be bereft of culture, independent thought and artistic intent." Keep your eyes peeled Friday morning: The Clarks plan on continuing their public installation just in time for First Friday festivities. And keep an open mind, too. "We hope people don't misunderstand where we're coming from. We're not political or anti-technology or anti-popular culture. What we're trying to do is put these things into perspective in a world that is seemingly becoming more and more reliant upon them."

And Then There's ...

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The Delaware Center for the Contemporary Arts hosts Amy Orr's "Plastic Culture," which includes U.S. and world maps pieced together with cut-up credit cards. "I choose materials that resonate with me in some way," Orr says of her chosen medium, noting that plastic cards come with their own content: No two cards are exactly alike, yet collectively they represent a culture reliant on cheap mass production. "The arena keeps broadening, and now it's all about plastic." Eco-conscious art-lovers will be relieved to know that Orr received 40 gallons of plastic cards from a recycling service. Opening reception Fri., Nov. 6, 5-9 p.m., through Feb. 28, 2010, Delaware Center for the Contemporary Arts, 200 S. Madison St., Wilmington, Del., 302-656-6466, thedcca.org. ... Proximity Gallery's evocative November showing, "An Exhibition of Nude Photography," features all manner of nakedness from three photographers — David Miles, Pete Checchia and Benjamin Long — who may have gender in common, but not much else. Says owner/curator Janel Frey, "It's refreshing for me to see contemporary male photographers approach the nude in such varying ways." Opening reception Fri., Nov. 6, 6-9 p.m., through Nov. 30, Proximity Gallery, 2434 E. Dauphin St., 267-825-2949, proximityart.com. ... Mew Gallery's new exhibit is so delicious, we can't not give it a nod. Curated by self-described "meat painter" Mike Geno, "The Bacon Show" celebrates the joys of the titular pig product as interpreted by 10 artists. "It may be common knowledge," says Geno on his blog, "that bacon, the candy of meats, is the new black." Opening reception Sat., Nov. 7, 5-9 p.m., through Dec. 17, Mew Gallery, 906 Christian St., 215-625-2424, mewgallery.org, meatartists.blogspot.com.

(carolyn.huckabay@citypaper.net)