"Sculptural Prints" and "Extra! Extra! 2D and 3D Graphic Work by Red Grooms"

by Andrew Parks

Art

For a while there, America just stared, gazing into a computerized abyss of abstract shapes and vibrant colors. If it looked long enough, microdots and swirls became sailboats, unicorns and gee, golly, gosh, bald eagles -- like the mighty-morphin', liquid-mercury robot from Terminator 2, only in your living room. In retrospect, the "Magic Eye" craze -- hidden three-dimensional images on flat prints -- was silly, a feeble excuse to feel superior to those unable to decode crappy 3D pictures on poster board.

This month, you can rest those eyelids and let the talented folks behind "Scultural Prints" make your pupils pop. In glorious mixed-medium fashion, artists fuse images to plastic, plaster, paper pulp and even parachute fabric. And so (insert exploding confetti balloon into the text here), we have sculptural prints and photographs that hover in the space somewhere between the second and third dimension. Twenty-five artists will display work at The Print Center, including a silky banner by New York's Nancy Spero and illuminated photographs from Pittsburgh's Daniel Sadler (pictured).

After you finish flirting with the twilight zone, you can also check out the 2D and 3D graphics of painter/sculptor/filmmaker/Renaissance guy Red Grooms, who is visiting Philadelphia for the first time since 1982. His exhibition features the debut of the three-dimensional lithograph Extra! Extra! Read All About It! The New York City newsstand scene is coupled with other tweaked, detailed snapshots of New York minutes, such as Hot Dog, Times Square and Down Under, the portrait of a city worker who watches human traffic pass by from under a manhole. Together, it's two shows for the price of none, because it's all free. So toss that Magic Eye book in the fire and save us from our own weaknesses.

“Sculptural Prints” and “Extra! Extra! 2D and 3D Graphic Work by Red Grooms,” Sept. 12-Nov. 1, opening reception Fri., Sept. 12, 5:30-7 p.m., The Print Center, 1614 Latimer St., 215-735-6090.