#philadelphiaart – Art Spiel

August 20, 2025August 19, 2025

Art Spiel Picks: Philly Exhibitions in August 2025

HIGHLIGHTS

Installation images of WARP Wood 2025: A Plank in a Shipwreck. Photo credit: John Carlano

Across the city, artists are focused on the meaning of visible labor and extracting the potential in the most innocent of found materials. Through unconventional mediums and reclaiming disregarded items like paper or rubber bands, artists are able to tap into universal experiences that inject value and sacredness into everyday objects. At PEEP Projects, Maria Ah Hyun constructs layered paper vessels to serve as ritual objects and gateways into cultural landscapes. Gabrielle Constantine transforms Blah Blah Gallery into a romantic archive of working class textures and sensibilities that honor the excesses of labor. Museum of Art and Wood presents the 2025 cohort for their Windgate Arts Residency program, inviting experimentation and individual perspectives in wood in A Plank in a Shipwreck.

July 15, 2025July 18, 2025

Art Spiel Picks: Philly Exhibitions in July 2025

HIGHLIGHTS

Artwork by Raúl Romero. Photo by Studio 105

Since the beginning of time, artists have drawn inspiration from and found it within the natural world. This month, Philly boasts a variety of work where artists are going deeper to discover what can be imitated and learned from the evolutionary beings around us. Some artists take direct motifs like coqui sounds or daffodil patterns, while others venture into new utopias or dreamworlds to live in as the real world diminishes underneath their feet. Studio 105 at RAY presents a bold reimagining of electrical current and vibrations that echoes the power of communication and sound. Philadelphia Magic Gardens reframes the purpose of the mushroom not just as a decomposer but as a symbol of rebirth and perseverance. The Arts Leagues suggests a world where the organic is depleted and society must build again. Arch Enemy Arts throws logic out the window as they find mercy in the mystical realm.

June 18, 2025June 15, 2025

Art Spiel Picks: Philly Exhibitions in June 2025

HIGHLIGHTS

Installation view of *Tea Party* at Locks Gallery, courtesy of Locks Gallery

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.

February 12, 2025February 11, 2025

Art Spiel Picks: Philly Exhibitions in February 2025

HIGHLIGHTS

Carl Cheng, Alternative TV #3, 1974-2016. Plastic chassis, acrylic water tank, air pump, LED lighting and controller, electrical cord, aquarium hardware, conglomerated rocks, and plastic plants. Courtesy of the artist and Philip Martin Gallery, Los Angeles

I often think about the first scientist who looked into a microscope and saw the dividing of cells, the jiggle of bacteria, and the movement of microorganisms. They must have marveled at the invisible worlds that were revealed. Similar to uncovering fossils of long-extinct species, we are humbled when we discover that we are only a tiny part of a much larger story. These monumental confrontations move us emotionally as much as they do intellectually, evoking within us a sense of awe and wonder. Close Encounters at Box Spring Gallery and Carl Cheng: Nature Never Loses at the Institute of Contemporary Art both ask us to consider our position within the cosmos, drawing attention to the fragility of our existence and the complicated ecosystems in which we live. Turning inward, allow yourself to be nourished by Ann Wehrwein’s Tender Ground at Pentimenti, where she renders quiet moments of everyday life with layers of color and care.

June 26, 2024June 26, 2024

Box Spring Gallery – Philly’s New Art Spot

Featured Project

Gaby Heit, mixed-media by Robert Reinhardt, @boxspringgallery

There is an exciting new gallery in the Crane Building located in the Old Kensington neighborhood of Philadelphia joyfully titled Box Spring Gallery, a brainchild of curator and creative director Gaby Heit. Gaby and I go way back to when I knew her as the director of Prelude Gallery in center-city Philadelphia. With her extensive background in both art and design, this place of her own sets high expectations for fresh, new work that is multidisciplinary and accessible.