art bites

November art bites: Philly's visual art worth seeing

Everything from highly technical portraits and embroidery to danger dinos! 

Heather Ujiie's new exhibition.
Hitoshi Ujiie

It’s a blessing and a curse — there is an abundance of intriguing visual art exhibitions and shows happening at any given time in Philadelphia, which is great. What’s difficult is covering them all, even with just a blurb, in print.

These have been hand-picked and crafted into easily digestible little art snacks for your consumption. Check ‘em out if you’re feeling the need for some rousing visual art but don’t know where to turn. Some have First Friday receptions; more First Friday picks for Nov. 7 can be found here. 

+ Heather Ujiie’s “Erotic Alchemy” at the Philadelphia Art Alliance, 251 S. 18th St., philadelphiaartalliance.org, through Nov. 30.

Ujiie, a textile designer and artist, uses printing, stitching, drawing and hand painting, along with large digital printing, to create her works. She calls them “a celebration of the unconscious.”

“Erotic Alchemy,” a colorful installation, zeroes in on biodiversity — hence the hybrid human-animals and plantlife themes blended with illustrations from early botanical and anatomical artists and Renaissance and Baroque creators. The whole thing’s capped off by nature-sound audio recordings. Looks a bit like stepping into your old anatomy, biology and art history textbooks at the same time.

Photo by Hitoshi Ujiie courtesy of Heather Ujiie.

+ “Hard to Please” at little berlin, 2430 Coral St., littleberlin.org, Nov. 7 (with First Friday opening reception 6-10 p.m.) through Nov. 29.

Those greedy little devils at little berlin — they’re fond of showcasing exhibitions that use all the mediums: video, painting, collage, photography, performance, short stories — this one includes a freakin’ three-course meal. Way to work the broad appeal, LB.

“Hard to Please,” writes Maddie Hewitt, the little berlin member who curated the exhibition, explores relationships and their struggles for power, which in turn contributes “to the culture of violence as a result of conflicting mutual desires.” Each work explores the battles in different relationships (coworkers, lovers, families, athletes, etc.) and “the exhibit chooses relationships where the power dynamic is ambiguous.”

It’s all based on Rene Girard’s theory that all of our desires are borrowed from other people. Example: Everything on social media, ever.

(The three-course meal, BTW, will be made by New York artist Will Owen on Nov. 22 at 8 p.m.)

Image from littleberlin.org.  

+“Portraits and Such: Recent Work by Mike Pavol, at the Da Vinci Art Alliance, 704 Catharine St., davinciartalliance.org, First Friday opening Nov. 7, 5-9 p.m., through Nov. 30.

Pavol writes in an artist’s statement over at InLiquid that he sees in portraits “the chance to further explore the subtle artifice and theatre (and I mean that in a good way) I saw in this format.” Portraiture can be theatrical, can’t it? There’s a winky showmanship to Pavol's work captured by, refreshingly, his self deprecation: “…[with] my deceptive and flaky nature as a visual artist, one should regard the above statement as suspicious and delusional at best.” You make the call.

"Uncle Pauly," image from mikepavol.com, excerpt from inliquid.org.

+Everything Bad is Good for You at Grizzly Grizzly, 319 N. 11^th St., grizzlygrizzly.com. First Friday reception Nov. 7, 6-10 p.m., open through Nov. 29.

Technically skilled and beautiful drawings of Doritos. Knitted beer cans and ashtrays. Paintings of mashed-up punk logos, vintage magazines and kid’s books. Those are just a few of the works in this group show that explores everything consumerist, rebellious and painful about our culture and our behaviors. Chris Bors, Sandi Petrie, David Poolman — plus a continuously screened film by Jennifer Reeder, a “super-natural coming of age film” — will, perhaps, make you feel less guilty about your own bad habits.

Image from grizzlygrizzly.com, featuring Sandi Petrie's "Mom's Too Busy." 

+ Dinosaur! At Practice Gallery, 319 N. 11th St., 2nd Floor, practicegallery.org. First Friday opening, Nov. 7, 6-10 p.m., on view through Nov. 22. 

Sometimes art can be fun, simple, cheap and hyper-focused on one very attractive idea. This one’s about dinosaurs. It worked for Jurassic Park for good reason. Practice is showcasing its third animal-based fundraiser, where you can check the dino artworks out and also purchase them for no more than $200 (some will be as cheap as $20, the gallery promises.) Simply walk in and buy a dino piece off the walls. This is no joke — more than 45 artists have created dinosaur works for the show. We suggest arriving early if you want only the best dino pieces. 

Christopher James Davison's dinosaur piece, from Practice Gallery's Facebook. 

+ Mothernism and Shift Your Weight at Vox Populi, 319 N. 11th St., 3rd Floor, voxpopuligallery.org., both exhibitions Nov. 7-30. 

"Shift Your Weight," VP says, is a group exhibition debut of the 2013 members of the VP artists collective: Timothy Belknap, Stephanie Bursese, Kelsey Halliday Johnson, Sharon Koelblinger, Christopher Manzione and Kristen Neville Taylor.

Mothernism, on the other hand, by Lise Haller Baggesen, we'll let the native Dane explain herself:

"At the intersection of feminism, science fiction and disco "Mothernism" aims to locate the mother-shaped hole in contemporary art and discourse...Through the writing and art production of the fictional alma mater Queen Leeba it explores the perceived schism, as well as the overlap, between mothering and artistic and curatorial practice."

"Mothernism" image from voxpopuligallery.org. 

+ Current Exhibitions at Artists' House, 57 N. 2nd St., artistshouse.com, First Friday reception Nov. 7, current exhibitions through Nov. 30, gallery hours vary daily. 

Artists' House has a heaping handful of works from various people on exhibition right now, like (all images from artistshouse.com): 

The deeply saturated colors and complex textures of William Cantwell:

The striking oddness of Gregory Tomezsko's scenery and nudes: 

And the explosive abstract hues of Nicole Michaud: 

Got a visual art tip? Email mikala@citypaper.net.