Last Saturday was one of those beautiful early fall days, so I
continued my exploration of Philadelphia with a long walk over to U Penn, across the Schuylkill River. On the way I happened upon the Rittenhouse Art Event, a big annual affair. Rittenhouse Square is a lovely green space, one of five in William Penn's original city plan, and the neighborhood is now known for fancy shops, restaurants, and apartments. The scene was ideal; white tents, green grass, shady trees, sunny weather, and
best of all for the artists, lots of people. I was impressed by the high quality of the art, but couldn't help reflecting as well on the fact that I saw almost nothing I didn't already know, not in the sense of a name but a general idea. There were a few exceptions - one being the work of Joyce Stratton from North Carolina who does small scale paintings with a linear,
calligraphic feel that makes them more personal and contemporary than the usual art fair offering. If you've been to this type of art fair you probably know what I mean - lots of bold dramatic colors, often excellent skills in drawing and composition - but rarely does something add up to more than the sum of its parts. It's an extraordinary but timeless truth that despite a great deal of talent and hard work, art is too often simply high craft. The difference is hard to pin down, but has something to do with a sense of significance, something beyond the ordinary and merely good. After Rittenhouse Square I continued on to the Contemporary Art Museum at the University of Pennsylvania, and found myself thinking that, almost without exception, if the artists behind
what I saw there tried to sell their work at an art fair, they would be the ignored ones, the ones whose offerings made people puzzled and uncomfortable. The most interesting exhibit was a collaboration between Tim Rollins and K.O.S, a group of disenfranchised students - the work was not so highly crafted as what I saw in the Rittenhouse show, but it was powerful in the scope of the ideas behind it, a key element of that quality of significance. This example - look closely - is a reference to the text of Pinocchio, one of several classic texts that inspired the art. What do YOU think? Leave a comment telling me your thoughts on your art fair experiences.
South Street and in Old City, his work is everywhere you look, covering walls, snaking 
down alleyways, filling the eye and heart with color and joy. Mirrors, broken tiles, bits of sculpture and old dinnerware are his materials, and he puts them together with an uncanny sense of composition; the effect is outsider 
art meets sophisticated, well-trained art mind. 
Everyone of his creations is focused around a text paying tribute to an individual, a social movement, a historic event, or something else of personal and larger significance; words, often lengthy strings of them, crawl up, down, and around, leading your eye and mind in a loopy pleasure trip all over the surfaces of his buildings. There are plenty of examples to choose from, 
but the Painted Bride Art Center 
in 
Old City has to be one of his masterpieces. The pictures speak for themselves, but if you want to know more about Isaiah Zagar and the Painted Bride Art center, here are links to their websites.
http://www.phillymagicgardens.org/about/general
http://paintedbride.org/about/history-and-mission/
