Drawings Big and Small

Drawing, as anyone who reads this blog knows, is a passion for me, so I savor every chance to see a good drawing show. This was a great week in that department, with gold-plated historical works at the Frick Collection in NY and a big contemporary shout at Joe Gallery in Philadelphia. The Frick's exhibit of French drawings from a private collection ("Watteau to Degas," - early 18th c. to late 19th c. - through Jan 10) presents virtuosity on the expected small scale, neatly framed, all made for the private pleasure of an artist or an artist's patron, done as sketches or studies for larger, more finished paintings. The atmosphere of the show, like that of the Frick altogether, is hushed and reverent - it's easy to imagine viewing these intimate marvels in a drawing room, talking quietly with heads together, about subtle line and nuanced shading. The exhibit at Gallery Joe, "Very Very Large Drawings (through Jan 30) strikes a significant contrast on all front. Vast sheets of paper, some framed, but some rolling down from ceiling to floor, boldly take up whole walls, crying out color, value, texture, in booming modern voices. The old guys would recognize (some) mediums - graphite, pencil, watercolor - but pigmented paper pulp, acrylic, enamel spray, along with the scale and the abstract content would be hard to figure out. I think they'd get it, though - drawings, fresh and unerringly personal, are a great place to see how far ahead some historical artists could be (look closely at the easy, abstract strokes of chalk in Watteau's portraits and see the startling modernity in Degas's Roman soldier's eyes.) Great joy is on display in both places, speaking clearly in the tones of a suitable age. http://www.frick.org/exhibitions/lugt/index.htm http://www.galleryjoe.com/

B Square Gallery

Artists and galleries - often a complicated relationship, but what about when an artist is also a gallery owner? Heather Bryson, who runs B Square Gallery on South 9th Street in Philadelphia, shows her own jewelry, paintings, and sculpture, but she also has a mission to support and encourage local artists, many of whom attended her alma mater, Moore College of Art. Heather's enthusiasms show up in exhibits that include skulls painted with flowers - and insects - she loves insects and does an annual group show on the theme. She has some delightful, quirky jewelry pieces that feature carved flies set with silver, gemstones, and rich looking faux stone made of fimo. The central exhibit at B Square at the moment is the work of Dae Rebeck Sanchez - intriguing assembled memory pieces with personal photographs worked with soft colors and textures. Sanchez describes them as "environments of the expected fused with surprise." Heather is doing this right - keeping her heart in her own art while also connecting artists she cares about with the lively neighborhood where she lives, works, and runs her gallery.

Eye Candy for the Holidays

I was New York this week and spent some happy hours wandering through the Met Museum, discovering things and getting ideas. But it's Holiday Time in New York and Eye Candy of the most sparkly, over the top kind is on my mind. I nominate the people behind the Bergdorf Goodman windows as Artists of the Month. I look forward to these windows every year and am never disappointed. The theme is Alice in Wonderland - sort of. In any case it's High Surrealism complete with illusions, misleading reflections, visual tricks, strange proportions and juxtapositions of scale and context. The closer you look the more you see from the story - keys, white rabbits, pocket watches, little doors - they've done a great job of capturing of Lewis Carrol's bizarre vision. Adding to the glorious confusion are the reflections of buildings on Fifth Avenue and other gawking spectators, carrying the theme out past the windows into the street. After leaving 5th Ave I went past a display on 6th Avenue - Claes Oldenburg couldn't have done it better - which comes first? Pop Art or Pop Culture?