HIGHLIGHTS
There are many thought-provoking shows in Philadelphia this July. Beginning at Fleisher Art Memorial, three innovative Philadelphia sculptors combine materials in unexpected ways to reflect on intimacy, vulnerability, and natural phenomena. At the Fabric Workshop in center city, artist John Jarboe brings her cabaret aesthetic to create a stunning immersive experience titled Rose Garden following her life and gender journey. In Kensington, at Peep Projects Todd Stong’s delicate drawings and wall-sized multi-panel monotype reflect on the complexities of history, contemporary life, and what the artist terms queer cultural production.
Wind Challenge III: Alexis Granwell, Brynn Hurlstone, Idalia Vasquez-Achury at Fleisher Art Memorial @fleisherart
Juried by: James Britt and Kathleen Eastwood-Riaño
On view through: July 31st, 2024
Featuring: Alexis Granwell, Brynn Hurlstone, Idalia Vasquez-Achury
It is difficult to make intimacy and vulnerability feel elemental, yet each of the sculptors in the Wind Challenge III exhibition do exactly that by perfectly balancing their materials to their concepts.
Alexis Granwell’s textural and evocative paper mache sculptures confront the viewer with the tactility of the medium and the artistic process behind it. Her ambiguous organic shapes are reminiscent of solidified smoke, billowing clouds, and skeletal remains. Layered paper in stormy colors ripple like oil on water, weaving in and out of the sculpture’s surface.
In the next room, Brynn Hurlstone’s sculptures reflect on human intimacy, the relentless passage of time, and the transformative power of both. Liquid-filled glass vessels tipped almost to the point of spilling are placed like specimens along the gallery walls. Inside, dissolving messages gather like clouds. Across the room, a tall sculpture appears to be simultaneously dripping a vase into existence while dissolving the metal podium holding it.
In a darkened room, Idalia Vasquez-Achury’s mesmerizing creation emerges, a portrait of a woman made from dots and points of light. On another wall, spinning photographs interweave with projections that speak to the immigrant experience and their connection with intermediate spaces and environments.
John Jarboe: The Rose Garden at The Fabric Workshop and Museum @fabricworkshop
On view through: September 29th, 2024
Featuring: John Jarboe, in collaboration with The Fabric Workshop and Museum
Museum, partial installation view, John Jarboe in collaboration with The Fabric Workshop and Museum
Spanning an entire floor at the Fabric Workshop, John Jarboe’s Rose Garden is a deeply personal and interactive multimedia experience reflecting the artist’s gender journey. The show begins with a surprising chocolate snack and a teacup, which unlocks the audio and video narratives throughout the exhibit. We then learn of Rose, Jarboe’s “consumed” twin, revealed by an aunt upon the artist coming out as trans: “You had a twin in the womb. You ate her. That’s why you are the way you are!”
Confronted with this revelation, we enter a home-like setting, inviting visitors to open drawers, peek around corners, and explore at their own pace. Viewers wind through the traditional rooms of the home and several complicated dream spaces, all layered with video performances and original songs. Like an epic novel, the exhibition reveals elements slowly, captivating the viewer in the artist’s private world of poetry. Symbolism is woven through each element and videos call back to sculptures in earlier rooms. It is a cathartic exploration that becomes progressively more surreal. This show is campy, compelling, and emotionally raw.
The final room is a lush floral-themed sitting room with a powerful video conclusion. It is a peaceful space for viewers to process after the show (complete with complimentary tea), and a “hang out space made by and for trans and queer communities” which will host performances, conversations, and events throughout the duration of the exhibition. Be sure to leave yourself ample time (at least an hour) for a full unfolding of the experience.
Becoming Hole at Peep Projects @peepprojects
On view through: July 27th, 2024
Featuring: Todd Stong
Peep Projects currently features Becoming Hole, designed by artist Todd Stong specifically for the space. The exhibition’s sprawling 27-panel monotype shows hundreds of nude men sculpting a snow park as an homage to the 18th century art historian Johann Winckelmann, a homosexual in a time of government-mandated sexual oppression. This detailed artwork overflows with intricate images of historical events, both real and constructed, surrounding the life and murder of Winckelmann. People are killed, crushed, and eaten by snakes, while cats lick up the blood. Meanwhile, seemingly indifferent figures are hard at work crafting, cooking, farming, and casually relaxing with butterflies.
Peep is a narrow gallery, ensuring you can never step away from the work. As such, you must move around and crane your neck to see the image, and you can never take in the entire picture at once—an experience that seems to intentionally reference the limited view we have of history and of our place in it.
On the other walls, intricate pencil drawings dive deeper into themes of pleasure, consumption, and human fragility alongside violence and death. Many of the images are quiet and haunting; others are sexually explicit; some are violent. As the show’s title suggests, many also depict various types of holes, along with skeletons reminiscent of medieval black plague imagery. The implied narratives are nuanced, packed with symbolism and existential questions.
All Photos Courtesy of the writer.
Please note some of these shows contain mature content and may not be suitable for all viewers.
About the writer: Claire Haik is an artist and educator living in Philadelphia. Her work focuses on natural imagery and examines the hidden processes beneath the visual exterior of nature. You can see her work and learn more about her here.