Beyond First Friday festivities, there has been a more intimate series of openings in Old City, First Saturday, which has gained momentum since the debut at the beginning of this year.
Under the auspices of Old City Arts, what First Saturday offers is an opportunity to meet and greet both artists and gallery owners for a more in depth take on art. These are walking tours presented by Bobbie Tilkens of Wexler Gallery, and cover just a trio of galleries per month. This month’s First Saturday is grouped on a thematic basis, with the triangulation offering Pentimenti Gallery, Larry Becker Contemporary Art and Gallery Joe.
This month’s First Saturday starts at 1pm at Pentimenti Gallery with “Bits ‘n’ Pieces,” which runs through July 10, and is a quartet showcase of artists who are making their debut here.
Jon Coffelt offers paintings that move fast for the cosmological and sculpture that are wallets to be seen or used. Amanda Knowles is featured with paintings that channel the inner mind to lunge full force into our waking world. Sandra Milner’s mixed media paintings present shadowy figures that either could be emerging from the work or vanishing within it. Rebecca Reeves toys with scale by creating miniature sculptures that she then photographs to fool mind and eye alike.
The work of these four newcomers is fresh, spirited and spiritual.
Moving along to 2pm, one arrives at Larry Becker Contemporary Art. On view through July 10 is “New and Recent Paintings,” the first solo show by Jon Poblador. He is an artist whose latest work is a continuance of past paintings while looking far forward to the future.
Though they vary in dimensions, there is nonetheless an expansive equanimity to these pieces based in how Poblador melds space and palette, while the abstract impulse is at once programmatic and serial. Indeed, each painting can either stand alone or work in tandem with the rest through how formal concerns are formulated.
Finally, First Saturday concludes at 3pm at Gallery Joe. The current exhibition is “Figure Out-drawing narrative,” featuring figurative drawing by seven artists and closes on June 26. Here’s a couple to keep close.
Rob Matthews offers up numbers from his impressive “Sleepwalk” sequence. On view is the prelude to somnambulism, as the lone figure in each drawing is sprawled in REM slumber, with each piece like a still from a film. In The Vault is “Mummy” by Josephine Taylor. Technical chops aside, this is a harrowing work of art, as the mummy is not totally swaddled, but all too alive, her face the more terrifying because it’s so empty.
This is some septet.
First Saturday is the latest event in the Old City renaissance. Please RSVP Bobbie Tilkens by First Friday at 215.923.7030. Suggested donations for all three venues are $15, $5 for students with ID.
Pentimenti Gallery, 145 N. Second St., 215.625.9990, www.pentimenti.com; Larry Becker Contemporary Art, 43 N.Second St., 215.925.5389, www.artnet.com/lbecker.html; Gallery Joe, 302 Arch St., 215.592.7752, www.galleryjoe.com
AroundPhilly Staff
