Holly Otterbein's First Friday Hit List

Bambi Gallery | Artspace Liberti | Slought Foundation | Space 1026

by Holly Otterbein

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Published: Mar 2, 2011

With Time, by Gail Cunningham, cyanotype, part of the exhibit "Blueprint Series: The City Collected" at Bambi Gallery.

Bambi Gallery

Candace Karch, the owner of Bambi Gallery, "won't talk shit" on Tower Investments, the developers behind the Piazza at Schmidts, but it doesn't sound like they'll necessarily be exes who are friends. After the gallery's sprinkler system went off for no reason, twice — once on Dominic Episcopo's meaty photographs — Karch "took this as an omen" and will be shutting her doors at the end of March. The gallery, of course, is going out with a rose-colored bang. Karch promises a huge First Friday party, featuring exhibits by Sienna Freeman and Gail Cunningham. Freeman's collages in "Broken Mirror" are heavy, pretty things. Fusing together drawings, photographs and other materials, she creates jumbled images of women that probe society's beauty standards and sexuality. Cunningham, meanwhile, uses cyanotypes — an old-school printing process that architects once used to make blueprints — to forge depictions of Philadelphia's neighborhoods and built environment. Her works from "Blueprint Series: The City Recollected, " like Freeman's, are cunningly mashed-together. They each depict actual buildings throughout the city, but they're regrouped, and then made to look like a single entity: "One combines two buildings from Rittenhouse and Kensington," she says, "and another has a big, grand building from the Powelton neighborhood mixed with another up in Kensington." Opening reception Fri., March 4, 6-10 p.m., free, through March 27, 1001 N. Second St., 267-319-1374, bambiproject.com.

Artspace Liberti

When Rubens Ghenov began painting scholarly items like bookshelves and records, he had no idea he was following in the tradition of "chaekkori," Korean paintings that depict an academic's objects. "I was floored," he says. "I had never heard of chaekkori." Whereas chaekkori often display brushes, scrolls and other geekery, Ghenov's imaginary scholar holds onto fictional samba records, busts of the first Brazilian emperor, astronaut helmets and teapots. According to Ghenov, the strange, fragmented tale these objects tell reflects his Brazilian upbringing: "Storytelling is a huge part of my family," he says. "The stories that get passed down are constantly being reinvented, revitalized and recontextualized." Opening reception Fri., March 4, 6:30-9:30 p.m., free, through April 24, 2424 E. York St., artspaceliberti.blogspot.com.

And Then There's ...

Learn about Petty's Island, the bizarre piece of land between N.J. and Philly that's owned by Hugo Chavez, home to endangered bald eagles, and coveted by environmentalists and developers, at the Slought Foundation 's film series. Opening reception Thu., March 3, 6:30-8 p.m., free, through March 19, 4017 Walnut St., 215-701-4627, slought.org. ... Desert Island, a beloved comic book store in Brooklyn, is coming down to Space 1026, and bringing four artists with it. Opening reception Fri., March 4, 7-10 p.m., free, through March 25, 1026 Arch St., second floor, 215-574-7630, space1026.com.

(holly.otterbein@citypaper.net)

Kaleidoscope
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Swan Lake
Gut Check
Pterodactyls
Marc Chagall
Amber Alert