Step aside, Damien Hirst, Martin Creed and Rachel Whiteread. Locks has invited London-based critic Barry Schwabsky to bring the latest round of young British artiststo Philadelphia in a show titled Post Flat, recalling Takashi Murakami's declaration of '90s Japanese contemporary art as superflat. Kate Bright shows her stunning waterworks, which are inspired by the element's clean and natural characteristics and yet are made from the most unnatural of media, acrylic paint and polystyrene. Simon Periton snips and tucks colored paper until it becomes something to his liking, whether a delicate leaf or a Warholian set of photo-booth images. Of the four artists, Phillip Allen might best reflect the exhibit's title; smooth, unmodulated paint treatment combines with a bold, sloppy technique (a literal translation of his belief that painting has its origins in the jumble of the palette.) As Periton clips, Michael Stubbs pours. The painter makes the old action-painting technique new again by exerting a rigid control with large stencils that keep the paint (and satin floor varnish) where he wants it. The result is pure, shiny and decorative but absent of artifice.
Reception, Fri., Jan. 3, 5:30-8:30 p.m. Exhibition runs through Feb. 15. 600 Washington Sq. South, 215-629-1000.
Rodger LaPelle Gallery
Marilyn Ashbrook's diptychs and triptychs askew might trick your powers of perception, but not your eye for color and skill. She has painted an old Victorian mansion from three angles, as well as an empty European sidewalk (on one panel) that turns to face a crowded café (on another panel). Her current series focuses on her time in Greece, so there's an intriguing mix of desolate ruins and excavation sites with gated gardens and colorful Athens streets, all in her signature flat style. There are no language barriers or flight delays in her travels, just rest and relaxation in the prettiest of hues. Also this month, twentysomething artist Roger Wolf has his gallery debut with Bricks & Beer, an installation of oil paintings that document tiny, often decrepit neighborhoods of Philadelphia. A South Philly rowhouse looks sadly on the remains of its just-demolished neighbor and the backhoe that did the job. Wolf also unveils his Schmidt's Brewery series at this show.
Receptions, Fri., Jan. 3 and Fri., Feb. 7, 5-10 p.m. 122 N. Third St., 215-592-0232.
Pringle Gallery
With three very different approaches, three women have dealt with the idea of narrative in their visual artwork, and Pringle Gallery has united them under the banner of Stories in its latest exhibit. Madelaine Shellaby combines short, mysterious musings with her simple but powerful digital prints to great effect. Shellaby's works are part of an ongoing series she's called Book of Stones, and their ominous look and mood are intriguing without being too clever for their own good. Barbara Osterman's watercolors on paper make you guess even more as to her intentions; transparent and delicate shapes creep out of their designated slots and boxes, while some are flat-out missing from where you expect them to be. In her series Paradise: Eve and the Garden, Deborah Almeida Land uses contrast and motion to capture the dramas she's depicting. Gauzy and ethereal or sharp and realistic, her Eves are quiet but knowing, still but on the move from a fleeting paradise.
Continuing at Project Room is Video Holiday, a collaboration between the gallery and Chicago's Seven Three Split.Participating artists include Chicagoans Cooper Battersby, Emily Vey Duke and Scott Roberts, as well as two Glasgow video artists, Katy Dove and Stephen Sutcliffe. But most exciting is the screening of Evil Eye Is Source, a video compilation by media label SHADAZZ, which matched 10 Glasgow bands with 10 Glasgow video artists. Look for a Chicago version of same soon. What about Philadelphia? Get to work! Exhibitions runthrough Jan. 31. 960 N. Eighth St., 215-413-3101.
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