CURATOR: Art out of (and in, and around) the box, and nature, nature, nature.

A weekly selection of Philly's must-see gallery exhibits. This week: art out of (and in, and around) the box at the Clay Studio, and nature, nature, nature at Muse and Woodmere.

0 comments

CURATOR: Art out of (and in, and around) the box, and nature, nature, nature.

POSTED: Friday, March 2, 2012, 3:00 PM

Filed Under: Arts | Arts Events | Philly Artists | The Curator Visual Art

Force of Nature, Elaine Kurtz: A Retrospective

Speaking of art inspired by the natural world, there's the Woodmere Art Museum’s current show, "Force of Nature." Presented as a series of two connected special exhibits, the show comprises Elaine Kurtz: A Retrospective and Elemental: Nature as Language in the Works of Philadelphia Artists. Kurtz, a Philadelphia native and 1928 graduate of the Philadelphia Museum School of Industrial Art (now the University of the Arts), is known for her Modernist abstractions drawing on the patterns and colors found in nature, which often incorporate natural substances. Complementing the work of the late artist are pieces by other accomplished locals like Edna Andrade, Murray Dessner and Neysa Grassi.

I was particularly drawn to the starkness of several pieces here. Very much products of the Modernist tradition, they do not explicitly attempt recreate nature or portray it as an ideal (no Thomas Cole-esque landscapes here). Rather, the paintings express an intimate connection between the artists and the repeated patterns they sensed in their environment. Strong elements of color theory combine with fluid form and malleable lines to portray (in one example) magnified views of the underbelly of an insect, which, even without a known subject, elicits a sense of the organic.

Pieces from Kurtz’s stunning Alluvial series use pebbles, sand, cotton and other materials layered beneath an earth-toned palette to create canvases that look and feel like they themselves are part of a dynamic and organic environment, be it sedimentary layers of a mountain or the tide receding from the shore. This exhibition is a lovely tribute to an artist and a style of work, and very much worth seeing.

Through April 22, free-$10, Woodmere Art Museum, 9201 Germantown Ave., 215-247-0476, woodmereartmuseum.org.

Have a gallery exhibit you'd like to see featured in an upcoming Curator? Email the author at courtney.sexton@citypaper.net or tweet her @NoRelation2Anne.

1 | 2 | 3

Posted by Courtney Sexton @ 3:00 PM Permalink | Post a comment

0 comments

Comments (0)

Q&A with SHARI SOLANIS: "The goal isn't pornography"
What we're trying to do this weekend
SEXY TIME Q&A: I've never had an orgasm during sex with a man — and I'm 30!
Coming soon to Philly: Two cockamamie movie promotion schemes
Q&A with Tony Goldwyn: "Life is gray, and relationships are, too"
ICE CUBE: In Memoriam: Joe Tartaglia
CONCERT REVIEW: Primus (3D & quadraphonic sound) @ The Tower 10/17
NOW SEE THIS: Transit cop arrests marijuana activist for alleged disorderly conduct.
ICEPACK ILLUSTRATED: The Archbishop meets the Geator, the Mayor goes suit shopping, Le Bec Fin fin.
NOW SEE THIS: Tim and Eric direct Terry Crews for Old Spice

About this blog

Featuring everything from event roundups to concert reviews and sex talk, City Paper's Critical Mass is a space for off-the-wall coverage of Philly's A&E scene.

Follow Critical Mass editors Patrick Rapa and Emily Guendelsberger on Twitter:

@mission2denmark | @emilygee

Search this blog:

Topics:

Blog archives:

May
April
March

February
January

Past Archives: