Philadelphia City Paper :: First Friday Focus

First Friday Focus: Holly Otterbein's First Friday Hit List

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...

First Friday Focus

Billboard, by Erin Murray, oil on MDF panel, part of the exhibit "Architecture Parlante" at Fishtown's Slingluff Gallery.

Marginal Utility

A gallery recently didn't show Jayson Scott Musson's video series because it used the word "nigger" too much. Before that, Musson made a piece that imagined a new reality TV show, Find the White Neighborhood, which would drop contestants into a black community, and then challenge them to find their way out. He's not for everyone. But in "Neotony /// The Hard Sell," the inflammatory, oft-misunderstood artist's gone too far: Musson has disrespected the beloved TV character ALF, by placing a bone through his nose a la the Tea Party posters of President Obama. We'll stop there, for fear of spoiling the exhibit's shock value. Opening reception Fri., Feb. 4, 6-11 p.m., free, through March 27, 319 N. 11th St., second floor, 917-355-4487, marginalutility.org.

The Slingluff Gallery

Erin Murray used to hate Northeast Philly. But one day, the post-war homes along Harbison Avenue suddenly had charm. She was swept up by how they don't try to hide what they are: "They're the result of having to make a lot of housing with not a lot of money. It's humbling, and the houses look humble," she says. There's a term for such expressive buildings: "Architecture Parlante," also the title of Murray's exhibit made up of oil paintings and charcoal drawings of the local, often agrestic, built environment. A term that's rarely been used since the '40s, architecture parlante usually refers to structures that obviously reveal themselves, like a doughnut shop shaped like a doughnut. But Murray's buildings adumbrate their purpose. Take Yokefellow, an oil painting of what is technically a church, but what actually looks like a glorified shed. This structure tells us that it's young and tacky, unfathomably far from the holy places that inspired Michelangelo. Likewise, Billboard (pictured) shows an empty commercial property, notable for its poor paint job and graffiti — sending a clear message to passers-by. "These buildings are inconsequential," Murray says, "and by painti...

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F.A.N. Art Gallery

The name of Rick Buttari's pencil drawing is Sam and Bike (pictured above), not Bruce and Bike, so it can't be The Boss — despite the fellow's dark kinky hair, snug jeans, slick deportment and the Philly townhouse background. Buttari, a PAFA-trained local artist, has a way of making his subjects in "Recent Paintings" look famous, or at least like people you knew in a past life. His pieces are imperfectly framed, like pages from family photo albums and newspapers. His subjects — women with shoulder-padded blazers who stand impatiently in line, forlorn adults awaiting a parade, bony teenagers who avoid eye contact — are all captured lovingly, but casually, like in Dad's Polaroids. Opening reception Fri., Jan. 7, 5-9 p.m., free, through Jan. 29, 221 Arch St., 215-922-5155, fanartgallery.com.

Seraphin Gallery

Abandoned houses, no matter how many windows or doors are missing, always look unbearably heavy. But Kelly Wallace's graphite-and-pen drawings of shuttered homes are tragically light, like you could blow them off the page with the same breath needed to push away dandelion seeds. In "Capital Salvage," the Canadian artist sands down his gessoed panels till they're vegan-thin, leaving you with a disturbing reminder of how frail our built environment is. Anne Canfield provides a fine balance to Wallace's seriousness in "No Match for My Tiny Fortress," a series of oil paintings depicting mermaids, castles and cats so mischievous they must be from the same neighborhood as the Cheshire. Opening reception Fri., Jan. 7, 6-8 p.m., free, through Feb. 13, 1108 Pine St., 215-923-7000, seraphingallery.com.

Extra Extra

Akhil, a 25-year-old living in India, must be the envy of his o...

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B-a-a-a Runner (detail), by Shannon Collins, mixed media. Part of the exhibit "Say Hello to my Little Friends" at Café Estelle.

Café Estelle

Open your mouth and say awww: Shannon Collins' "Say Hello to my Little Friends" — a series of sweetly painted animals surrounded by their favorite snacks — returns to Café Estelle for a final hurrah before Collins boxes up her buddies for good. The critters, originally floating with their food on brightly painted cross sections of trees, have spent time exhibiting at the Philadelphia International Airport and, in various incarnations (think buttons and pocket mirrors), at Urban Outfitters stores all over the country. So why is the Philly-based multimedia artist/creature-keeper calling it quits on her little friends? "I'd like to move on to my upcoming project, which will involve illustrating dreams on a weekly basis for the span of an entire year," says Collins, who'll dream-draw on old vintage pillowcases, stretching them out as canvases. She'll be asking folks to submit their R.E.M. reveries on her website, too, "so I won't just be illustrating my own." Thinking about contributing? You better sleep on it. Opening reception Fri., Dec. 3, 6-9 p.m., free, through Jan. 31, 2011, Café Estelle, 444 N. Fourth St., 215-925-5080, youwannatalkjive.com.

Little Berlin

This little gallery's growing up quick, but it needs help flapping its fledgling wings. Little Berlin, the teeny Kenzo collective that could, is moving to an "extremely raw" space at Viking Mill, a historic 1890s textile mill-turned-artist-space a few blocks away, and organizers hope the second annual Art Dash will help alleviate some of the gallery's financial growing pains. For the past month, Little Berlin's been gathering donated pieces of art — anything from zines and drawings to sculptures and original pieces of clothing — for First Friday's Dash, which involves a free-for-all for any art appreciator with $25. The scramble's first-come, first-served, so don't be fashionably late — and don't forget your running shoes. Fri., Dec. 3, 6-11 p.m., $25, Little Berlin, 11...

First Friday Focus

Shadow's Space

Torre Apponale Rooftops, by Gregor Louden, hand-drawn in black ink and digitally colored in Photoshop.

Painted Bride

No matter where you fall on the scale of sentimentality — from purger to pack rat — objects provide a direct route to memory. Embracing the idea that tangible items, no matter how silly or everyday, hold strong emotional connections, the First Person Museum features 16 Philadelphians and the things that mean the most to them. (One woman keeps her ring from a failed marriage on her bedside table, while another walks around in the boxer shorts of her incarcerated son — so it seems, sentimental objects can be cheap and invaluable.) Incorporating locally produced audio, text, film and photography, the exhibit serves as the centerpiece of the First Person Festival of Memoir and Documentary Art, an apt reminder that art can be anything with meaning attached. Might make you think twice about recycling grandma's tchotchkes. Opening reception Fri., Nov. 5, 5-7 p.m., free, ends Dec. 18, Painted Bride, 230 Vine St., 267-402-2055, firstpersonmuseum.org.

Philadelphia Museum of Art

Why isn't Albo Jeavons' public gathering, Get Art Off Our Backs, coinciding with First Friday? "I don't want the [Philadelphia Museum of Art]'s admission price to be a bar for potential participants," says the Philly artist, who, in 2002, brought us the corporate-slamming DisneyHole and in 2007, the Barnes-mocking ArtJail, "so I've scheduled the event for pay what you wish' day." Jeavons invites Philadelphians to converge on the steps of the Art Museum, adorned with wearable art. "[I'm expecting] everything from hand-p...

First Friday Focus

Pentimenti Gallery

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After a long week, sometimes you just want to look at something pretty. Which is not to say the short-lived summer group show at Christine Pfister's Old City gallery — aptly titled "Three Weeks Only!" — is without substance to back up its sharp style. Pfister's chosen one or two standout works from nine artists, all of whom share an aesthetic that's equal parts pleasing and powerful. Watch for: Iranian multimedia artist Hadieh Shafie, who wrote "Love" in Farsi on each of thousands of tiny pieces of paper, rolled them up tight and stuffed them into a frame like a pack of cigarettes; UArts grad Matthew Kucynski, whose sequence of pretty girls in sweet dresses tells a dark tale that's ever-unfolding; and Jackie Tileston, a painter whose palette in
Benevolent Uproar (pictured) represents a patchwork of countries visited and lessons learned. Opening reception Fri., July 2, 6-8:30 p.m., free, through July 17, 145 N. Second St., 215-625-9990, pentimenti.com.
And Then There's ...

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Two Piazza openings worth noting: The brand-new Vincent Michael Gallery, run by local artist Chris M. Clark, hosts "PaperMonster Ate That Little Boy," a sample from the titular stenciler's oeuvre —...

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Rodger LaPelle Galleries

En Garde, Sarah Hunter, oil on board

Rodger LaPelle Galleries

Sarah Hunter's En Garde, in a pale palette befitting a nursery, depicts a pair of narwhals engaging in playful skirmish, inexplicably surrounded by birds. Hunter's painted critters in the exhibit "On Birds of Passage" are meant to look like 3-D figures plopped on a canvas — hot-pink Peeps, a series of reptile skulls, metamorphic rocks and even what appear to be feminine hygiene products — to form mythical, futuristic dioramas. "I see it as an alternate or post-human place where the animals have adapted using the structures left behind," says Hunter. "But I want it to be open to the viewer's interpretation." So if En Garde looks like two tampons in a fight to the death, then that's exactly what it is. Opening receptions Fri., June 4, 6-10 p.m.; and Sun., June 6, 1-5 p.m.; free, through July 3, 122 N. Third St., 215-592-0232, rodgerlapellegalleries.com.

Projects Gallery
Confronting the issue of insider art head-on, Projects presents "It's Who You Know," in which five artists who've previously shown at the gallery — Distort, Conor Fields, Ashley Flynn, Brooke Holloway and Mia Rosenthal — each pay it forward by hand-selecting another artist (a colleague, an idol, a friend, a complete stranger) to show his or her work. The work of the "final five" isn't meant to be cohesive; it's meant to stir up debate. "It's putting the gallery in a strange place, taking a risk by trusting their artists and not knowing at all what they'll end up with until they get it," says local sculptor Darla Jackson, who...

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Larry Fink

"Unfamiliar Skin" (outdoor installation shot) by Martha Posner, found objects, wire, feathers, pigment, synthetic hair and beeswax.

Dalet Gallery

From a distance, Martha Posner's sculptures are sweetly balletic: Evoking blissful action, the creamy, rustic children's gowns seem to float on their own, dancing like little girls do. But step right up, and beautiful quickly turns grotesque. Posner's "Unfamiliar Skin" comprises a handful of such "shape-shifters," made of found objects, wire, feathers, pigment, synthetic hair and beeswax. The result is a texture not unlike the flesh of picked-over roadkill, wounded and sticky. It's a visceral juxtaposition of sweet and wholly unsavory, yet for the artist, transformation is the key. "When the shape is shifting, it enters a transient state," says Posner in her artist statement, "which transcends categorization as either human or beast." Whether you choose to get close or keep your distance, you won't be able to look away. Opening reception Fri., May 7, 5-9 p.m., free, ends June 6, 141 N. Second St., 215-923-2424, daletart.com.

B Square Gallery

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Pigs for sale! Benefiting art th...

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Swan Float, by Christyl Boger, white earthenware and glaze,
2010 John Carlano/ The Clay Studio

The 44th annual National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts lands in Philadelphia this week, which means that nearly 100 area galleries are hosting correlating exhibits that focus on all things molded, glazed and potted. But hold the groans: Maybe it's time you got over your preconception that ceramic art is just the stuff of craft fairs, stodgy living rooms and second-grade art class projects. NCECA's presence here means a potential uptick in First Friday meanderers by about 6,000; join the ranks and get schooled on a legitimate, but underappreciated, art form.
The Clay Studio
Pulling all the strings to make sure NCECA runs hitchless, Old City's Clay Studio doubles as conference liaison and exhibit headquarters. With a self-explanatory title, "Of This Century: Residents, Fellows and Select Guest Artists of the Clay Studio, 2000-2010" celebrates a decade worth of extraordinary work — roughly 30 pieces — by decorated artists both homegrown and international. Ceramics' inevitable dichotomy of delicacy and substance is represented in unusual ways here, from a porcelain fawn with a rocket on its back to a floating pool toy made of sturdy, unpuncturable earthenware. Opening reception Fri., April 2, 5-9 p.m., free, through May 4, Clay Studio, 137-139 N. Second St., 215-925-3453, theclaystudio.org.
Art Star
While the Clay Studio looks at painstakingly crafted, unique works of art, "The Souvenir Shop" takes the opposite tack. The crappy, mass-produced tchotchkes we bring back from vacation serve as fodder for an exhibit that explores our nostalgic relationship with junk. Curated by Kyan Bishop, Kate Hardy and Joanie Turbek, the show itself is...

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Fisher Scientific International/CHF Collections

Scientific Researches! New Discoveries in PNEUMATICKS! or an Experimental Lecture on the Powers of Air, by James Gillray, 1802, hand-colored engraving.

Chemical Heritage Foundation

From the stereotype of the evil genius to fans of the truth-seeking geeks of MythBusters, there's always been a range of public responses to the work of scientists mad or not. Marjorie Gapp, curator of art and images at the Chemical Heritage Foundation, was drawn to materials that documented early uses of quantum chemistry for practical technical problems; she liked the connection between quantum chemistry and alchemy and the myriad ways people have understood science for centuries. So the wheels started turning for "Marvels + Ciphers: A Look Inside the Flask," an exhibition of paintings, photos, books and cartoons. "Like changes in taste and style, in artistic preferences, or political swings from left leaning to right, public opinion and perception of science is in constant flux," says Gapp. "As science continually tries to better describe and understand the material world, people naturally judge its success, leading to a great range of responses: excitement, awe, skepticism and ridicule." The works include a 1618 book of verse, music and images about alchemical theory; the 1952-53 research notebook of quantum chemist Sir John Pople; and two computer-imaging modules created for the show, one dealing with the molecular basis of vision and the other with creatin...

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Mario Nascati Jr

GIRL NEXT DOOR: Khmer Art Gallery's "After Life" explores the Cambodian diaspora in Philadelphia through the eyes of its youngest members (Untitled, pictured).

Khmer Art Gallery

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Browsing photographer Mario Nascati Jr.'s solo exhibit "After Life," what you'll notice first are the kids. Barefoot toddlers peeking out from behind ramshackle doorways, serious-looking 5-year-olds digging in the dirt, thrift-store-clad girls staring straight into the lens of the camera, unfazed. Says Nascati of the series he's built slowly over years of observation in local Cambodian communities, "There seemed to be an absence of adults." Inspired by a stint as an instructional aide in a Philadelphia classroom full of Cambodian students, the South Philly-born Nascati, 56, began to pick up on an undeniable trend: Despite the pressures of adjusting to a new language, new culture, new country, the Cambodian diaspora has produced a community built on resilience — which shines through even its youngest members. "Despite [being] plunged into a strange place," Nascati says of the kids he photographed, "there was no reticence. They always offered little hands to me." Opening reception Fri., Feb. 5, 6-9 p.m., free, ends Feb. 28, 319 N. 11th St., 215-922-5600, khmerartgallery.com.
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First Friday Focus

MUSE GALLERY
First Friday won't just fall into your lap this month. Most galleries are holding off till mid-January, past the holiday abounding with Mummers mumming and revelers reveling, to introduce their first exhibits of the new decade. But never fear, for on the opposite end of Two Street, Muse Gallery hosts a show just as larger-than-life as anything you'll see in the Fancy Brigade.

Steve Messenger, who groomed Grand Prix horses before studying painting at UArts, is drawn not so much to the animals' presence or power, but to their personality. Thus his solo show, "Horses," is an assembly of life-size, up-close-and-personal portraits. "Horses are animals I know well, and most of these animals are individuals to me," Messenger says. "But others see them in a more general way." No arguments here; the inclination to associate equine art with faded, dusty renderings of khaki-clad riders and their beasts of burden should probably be put out to pasture. Messenger chose a completely different route, veering dead ahead, using bright colors and mega-zoom perspectives to capture the uniqueness of each animal. "When we see a human portrait that's this large, the psychic energy can prevent us from seeing past the identity of the person," Messenger says. "Using animals solves this problem." Opening reception Fri., Jan. 1, 5-8:30 p.m., free, through Jan. 30, 52 N. Second St., 215-627-5310, musegalleryphiladelphia.com.

SEE ALSO ...
In the spirit of fresh starts, Bella Vista's Da Vinci Art Alliance is hosting "50 Years of Realism to Five Years of Abstraction," a retrospective by local painter John Guinn, who pulls off conceptual art just as deftly as portraiture. Opening reception Sun., Jan. 3, 4-8 p.m., free, through Jan. 31, 704 Catharine St., Schuylkill Center

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Try, if you will, to shake the hypnotically intense stare of Valerie Carrigan's Barred Owl, sitting aristocratically above these very words. If it's tough to look away, then Carrigan has accomplished her goal. Confrontation plays a huge role in the Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education's winter exhibit, "Nest and Branch," which gives nine artists the opportunity to explore the fleeting beauty of birds. For Carrigan, that means stopping viewers in their tracks. "The intensity of their gaze gives us nowhere to hide," says curator Zoë Cohen of Carrigan's "Messenger" series. "She challenges us to consider the depth of our impact on these birds." Not all participating artists took such an aggressive approach; Linda Byrne's minimalist Golden-Winged Warbler and Evening Grosbeck eliminates the bird from the equation entirely, presenting instead the stark, empty nest of an endangered species. "I am troubled by the terrible loss we suffer by our complicity in the extraction of our natural resources," says Byrne in her artist statement. "Each [bird] is isolated in its vanishing environment to emphasize a sense of loss." Opening reception Sat., Dec. 5, 5-7 p.m., free, ends April 3, 8480 Hagy's Mill Road, 215-482-7300, schuylkillcenter.org.

Vox Populi

If you prefer enchantment over hard truth, step inside Kara Crombie's...

First Friday Focus

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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 the...

First Friday Focus

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Snyderman-Works Galleries

Ellen Benson thinks my lack of siblings may explain why I've never heard my mother utter the phrase, "When you grow up I hope you have children just like you!" But of her vintage-y Mom Collection, part of The Works Gallery's "Found Object Art" group show, Benson suspects that even under-harassed only children can relate. The wonderfully intricate, purposefully clunky necklaces are themed according to mothers' classic nags (You're Too Young to Wear a Bra; Eat Your Dinner, There Are Children Starving in China) represented through a mishmash of tiny trinkets everything from dollar bills and shells to Altoid tins and doll furniture. Delicate locket-like photos of finger-wagging matriarchs tie it all together. "I looked for little images of mothers that were stern or guilt-inducing," Benson says. "Not so much the chirpy June Cleaver type, but more 'go to your room, young lady.'" Alongside Benson's work are found-object creations from 30 artists of myriad aesthetic sensibilities: The stoicism of Gordon Chandler's massive Oil Drum Kimona plays nicely against the intricacies of Larry Culkins' encaustic A Horse Named Phil. Upstairs, John Eric Byers presents his eighth show at Snyderman, this time exploring the serenity of irregular patterns and textures. Opening reception Fri., Oct. 2, 5:30-8:30 p.m., free, ends Oct. 31, 303 Cherry St., 215-922-7775, snyderman-works.com.

Infiltrator, by Dana Major Kanovitz, paper pulp, oil paint, human and horse hair, mixed media, 2009 " title="Infiltrator, by Dana Major Kanovitz, paper pulp, oil paint, human and horse hair, mixed media, 2009 " class="imageWrap" border="0" height="450" width="450" />
Wexler Gallery

Infiltrator, by Dana Major Kanovitz, paper pulp, oil paint, human and horse hair, mixed media, 2009

Marginal Utility

There's a theory that our bodies — our muscles and flesh — retain not only any physical trauma we may have suffered, but the emotional traumas, as well. People undergo intensive massage therapy to release these entrenched tensions and, they say, experience overwhelming relief that can bring them to tears as they recall experiences and let go of distress. Hadassa Goldvicht explores how global traumas, such as war and fear, inhabit our bodies. Goldvicht, a Jerusalem-based video and performance artist, presents her findings in "Schlaf (sleep)," the inaugural installation at Marginal Utility. Sharing space with Basekamp, Marginal Utility is a nonprofit dedicated to the work of local and international artists. Goldvicht believes these memories become as physical to us as our DNA, that our bodies integrate with the emotions and translate them from generation to generation. Her installation will encourage visitors to lie down in beds and view video and sound works meant to depict dream imagery of WWII survivors and the ways these events take root in us physically. Goldvicht wants to evoke a pre-sleep yet conscious state so that viewers are relaxed and willing to let go, but completely aware of what they are experiencing. It is about survival, dreaming and working through our memories. Unnerving? Maybe. Worth a look? Surely. Opening reception Thu., Sept. 3, 6-8 p.m., also open Fri., Sept. 4, 5-8 p.m., runs through Oct. 25, 723 Chestnut St., 2nd floor, 917-355-4487, marginalutility.org.

Bambi Gallery

Andrew Abbott can draw on any number of life experiences and living situations most artists can only dream of. He was born in Canada, lived in Nigeria and Jamaica as a kid, studied art at UNC-Wilmington, joined the Army as a medic and was based in Louisiana with a field artillery unit. He went back to Canada and helped establish organic beef and salmon farms (even though he's vegetarian), traveled in Puerto Rico, and finally found himself back in Portland, Maine, where he lives and works. What's the impact on the artist? "At first I was just kind of dragged into these situations by my parents — living in Nigeria and Jamaica was not my idea and I didn't like it at the time," says Abbott. "Now I kind of crave to be in strange situations. My environment kind of reflects off me onto pieces of paper. I am a spectator."

So his "Spectator-Ship" show is filled with Viking ships stuffed with fantastical creatures, drunken elephants (pictured), cancan dancers opening fire, meat parades ... you get the idea. "As I get older, my dreams become more realistic — kind of more boring — and my reality becomes more dreamlike, so that's the world I live in," he says. "The world of my paintings exists only on paper. I cannot even dream or imagine living in such a place. I would like to, though." Who wouldn't want to live among monkeys riding bulls, geometric haystacks and beautifully blurred portraiture? His materials (Bic pens!) and techniques are diverse, but he says he'll experiment within certain parameters until he's exhausted them. "I'm also pretty poor right now, so I try to economize by using recycled house paint, cheap crayons, cereal boxes, etc.," he says. "I don't think I could ever actually purchase a canvas to paint on or even paper. It's just too uninspiring to see a blank white page — blah!" Opening reception Fri., Aug. 7, 6-10 p.m., through Aug. 30, Piazza at Schmidts, 1001 N. Second St., 267-319-1373, bambiproject.com.

Area 919

The sometimes forgotten art of finely crafted fu...

First Friday Focus

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Philadelphia Book Co.

Now that Philadelphia Book Co. has opened its doors to the public, it's hit the ground running by hosting Art Bonanza, a multimedia First Friday event. The book people have rearranged the warehouse space to accommodate paintings, poetry and fashion and let the art people roam free — wine, cheese and all. Liz Krick teamed up with the Book Co. to organize the event, which will show her paintings and the visual art of a few others, as well as the poetry of Vincent Ancona and the fashion design of Andrew Dyer. Krick is a Pop artist in the truest sense of the word, taking cues from Warhol and Lichtenstein's bright, neon graphic sensibilities while remaining unique on her own. She takes baby dolls and bunnies and mannequins (pictured, detail) and does things ... well, just look for yourself. Michael Moffa comes from a similar place but embeds his visions into collages, acrylic paintings and postage stamps. Most interesting to me, though, is his reappropriation of 1920s fashion templates — flapper ladies with their long strings of pearls and curly bobs reimagined in twisted landscapes and psychedelic patterns. Krick wants everyone to "see art, be art." So she's asking visitors to come dressed as art, however they may interpret the idea. She wants viewers to become part of the exhibit, which could either be beautiful or hilarious depending on the crowd. But maybe the two aren't mutually exclusive. Fri., July 3, 6 p.m.-midnight, 1113 Frankford Ave., 215-291-5880.

Space 1026

Started by those rabble-rousing surrealists in the '20s, the exquisite corpse tradition lives on at Space 1026 this month. For the "Ca...

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Little Berlin

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Little gallery, big idea: Twenty groups of four Philly artists were given $50 and let loose to collaborate however they wished. The epic 10-week project, "Offerings," was intended to connect Philadelphia visual artists, performers, writers, biologists and anthropologists whose paths otherwise might never cross. When Anthony Angelicola, Daniel Petraitis, Todd Tharpe and Andrew Brehm got together, for example, they visited Niagara Falls and documented their trip, family vacation-style, in a Flickr slideshow (complete with absent brother — in this case, "Cardboard Todd," pictured, who'll make an appearance at the opening). Opening reception Fri., June 5, 6-10 p.m., free, through June 28, Little Berlin, 119 W. Montgomery Ave., 610-308-0579, myspace.com/berlinlittle.

Germ Books & Gallery
The flier advertising "The Quicksand Fontanelle" will either pique your interest or make you feel nauseated — which is just what folk/psych musician Thomas Nšla has in mind. An unnaturally long finger coming from nowhere pokes the center of a brain-pink swirl atop a baby's head. Only this baby isn't a baby: He's got a snake's tongue, an old man's suit and bow tie, and a wr...

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Proximity Gallery

Benjamin Long specializes in intriguing juxtapositions in his work, and the artist himself is an example of one. His photographic work combines several images, shot in a variety of film formats on vintage cameras, into one carefully considered final composition. They appear organized, almost academic. On the other hand, his paintings, while still combining disparate imagery, have a wildly different aesthetic, one that is free-flowing and high-spirited and emotionally, rather than intellectually, driven. His dreamlike, surrealistic compositions keep the viewer guessing: A carefully manicured tree resides with an empty chair and a water tower, while elongated, balloonlike shapes float elegantly over it all (pictured). The artist appears to revel in creating what Proximity calls "a hidden connectedness in a seemingly random environment." Who knows — perhaps Long, who with his wife, Lara, owns Plaid Pony Vintage in Fishtown, gets painting ideas from his day job bringing the past to the present, blending the bizarre with the beautiful. Opening reception Fri., May 1, 6-9 p.m., through May 31, 2434 E. Dauphin St., 267-825-2949, proximityart.com.

Mount Airy Contemporary Artists Space