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FIRST LOOK: "Rawhide" @ James Oliver Gallery
"Emerging yet established": that's the key phrase to describe the artists showing at a group exhibit opening tomorrow evening at the James Oliver Gallery. They're young but also experienced, and their work is still emerging-developing and changing.
FIRST LOOK: "Rawhide" @ James Oliver Gallery
“Emerging yet established”: that’s the key phrase to describe the artists showing at a group exhibit opening tomorrow evening at the James Oliver Gallery. They’re young but also experienced, and their work is still emerging—developing and changing. Maybe that’s why the exhibit is titled “Rawhide”: it’s a transformative, shifting material that can adopt a variety of shapes and textures, the exhibitors say.
I spoke to Philly artist Ryan Beck, who will be displaying his work alongside pieces by fellow Philadelphians Antonia Cianfrani and Miriam Singer, as well as four other artists from across the country. Beck’s work certainly fits the “rawhide” description: the pieces the Tyler grad is showcasing represent an artistic shift for him. In the past, his work has been largely opaque—but in "Rawhide," he’ll be showing acrylic pieces that are made up of transparent layers, with a focus on process. That represents a change from his roots: his first experience with art was seeing graffiti. “Being young, I didn’t have an appreciation of museum quality paintings,” he says. But graffiti was “relatable, like Transformers or G.I. Joes.” Perhaps that’s why he has long emphasized line and penmanship in his work. The new pieces, however, focus less on line and are more “subtle and integrated,” he notes.
In bringing together the exhibit, Beck says, Antonia Cianfrani hoped to bring something to the James Oliver Gallery that was a bit off the beaten path. Expect mixed media, printmaking, and sculpture. Like Beck, Cianfrani has also been experimenting with a changing style. Her new work, she says, is a lighter, more fun version of the highly detailed work that has been her focus. Miriam Singer will display works on paper that she compares to maps and cityscapes. Among the other artists are Brooklyn’s Owen Rundquist, who takes an interest in the occult; Jim Gentry of Los Angeles, whose work joins together the materials of a sewing machine and a typewriter; Grimaldi Baez of Providence, whose pieces are based on narrative; and Dave Olsen, also of Providence, whose work studies the role of objects in communication.
Opening reception: Sat., March 19, 6-10 p.m., James Oliver Gallery, 723 Chestnut St., Fourth Floor, jamesolivergallery.com, 267-918-7432. Runs through April 23.
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