HIGHLIGHTS
As we get into the summer months, June exhibition picks for Philadelphia are vibrant, sensuous, and bold. Works currently on display at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Locks Gallery, and Moore College of Art touch on subjects surrounding how we see ourselves and each other, and the transitory nature of existence. All things physical and sensual ultimately act as a foil to death, and these surreal and vivid works offer the viewer insight into how each artist considers what makes us human. Whether created of glitter, paint, ceramic, velvet, or butterflies, the works in these exhibitions remind us that we are stardust, and golden.
William Villalongo: Myths and Migrations at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) @pafacademy
Fisher Brooks Gallery, Samuel M.V. Hamilton Building
On view through August 31, 2025
Curated by Daniel Strong, Grinnell College Museum of Art
William Villalongo: Myths and Migrations presents selections from 20 years of symbolically and emotionally rich 2- and 3- dimensional mixed media works. Villalongo’s practice is informed by mythology, folklore, and science, and explores ideas around vulnerability and being seen, particularly in the context of art history and race. Villalongo’s work abounds with a mystical quality, with frequent use of symbols of birth and transformation, such as eggs and moons. His subject matter ranges from power dynamics and bravado to the erotic and mysterious, and several works embrace a darkness reminiscent of creation myths. These works are engaging and powerful, with subtle and poignant details throughout.
Villalongo’s pieces are filled with allusions to many types of metamorphosis, such as physiochemical transformation of crystals, fecundity, and consumption. Works such as Sphinx and Black Metamorphosis infer an atomic level of being, composed of intricately beautiful swirling elements. Others reference biblical narrative or social conflict. In many of his large-scale pieces, Villalongo’s use of velvet flocking cut into silhouettes offers wonderfully voyeuristic glimpses into surreal and lush gardens. Immersed within William’s world we are never truly apart from our transcendent place in nature and time.
Tea Party at Locks Gallery @locksgallery
On view through July 11, 2025
Including Ann Agee, Polly Apfelbaum, Lynda Benglis, Hanne Friis, Virgil Marti, Maria Nepomuceno, Louise Nevelson, Beverly Semmes, Yeesookyung
Tea Party dives into a space where artists have transformed traditionally decorative materials into sculptures and mixed media work that boldly expresses and reclaims feminine energy. This exhibition presents perspectives from nine artists working from the 1970s through present day, incorporating materials such as fabric, beads, and porcelain, and including overtly feminine motifs of vessels, eggs, and sinuous forms. These works also call attention to the labor and intent in their creation, subverting how womens’ labor is seen.
All of the works included in this exhibition embody both the corporeal and psychological, giving voice to the expansiveness of femininity as sensuous and complex. Pieces by Semmes and Yeesookyung celebrate imperfection and visible labor, embracing rounded, feminine, imperfect form. Nepomuceno’s Untitled recalls the paintings of Frida Kahlo, incorporating beaded elements that evoke umbilical cords and veins. Friis’ practice transforms fabric into fleshy, organic sculptures that embody the sensual nature of existence, with copious ridges and folds. Her piece Column consists of hand-stitched cotton and satin, reminiscent of a wedding gown, with folds also suggesting a vulva-like cavity. Benglis’ Swinburne Egg 1 glistens in its reproductive transparency. As the title suggests, these works sit in open conversation with each other, bold and self-assured.
Dana Donaty, Mile Marker 58: A Softer Way Through at Moore college of Art and Design @moorecollegeart
On view through July 12, 2025
Curated by Dana Donaty and Moore College of Art
Mile Marker 58: A Softer Way Through presents a selection of paintings by Dana Donaty created prior to and during her cancer diagnosis and treatment, and influenced by concurrent invisible disabilities. They are works of other-worldly color, incorporating larger-than-life self portraiture, and fragmented, symbolic elements. Each work suggests an expansive space with interconnected components, much like those in the work of Villalongo on view at PAFA. Symbolic features, such as flesh-piercing arrows, speak to the physical and emotional challenges faced by Donaty throughout this time.
The bright palette does not eclipse a sense of vulnerability in these pieces. Donaty’s desire to reclaim her body through this creative process affirms the profound impact of her diagnosis on her work. Donaty does not hold back, combining corporeal imagery with a diffuse physical and psychological space, one that surrounds and consumes. Within these works, the viewer can share in Donaty’s contemplation of her own mortality. The figures are overwhelmed, presented with disjointed, aggressive elements that rain down around her. These pieces speak to being present in a time and place, and the precarity of existence. They are a bare presentation of one artist’s confrontation with the eternal.
All photos courtesy of Nicole Michaud unless otherwise indicated.
About the writer: Nicole Michaud is a painter living in Philadelphia, and is a graduate of The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. Michaud’s work has been exhibited in the U.S. and London, including at the Woodmere Art Museum, Every Woman Biennial (NY and London), Art on Paper Fair (NY) and Red Dot Art Fair (Miami). She has been profiled in local and online publications including Root Quarterly and Mezzo Cammin. @nicolemichaudstudio