FOCUS 2011 is extended through January 28th. If the holidays have kept you busy and distracted, now there is plenty of time to view this exhibition of abstract photography. I look forward to seeing you in 2012. Happy New Year!!
Chip Schwartz reviews our annual photography show…
Many thanks to all who have come to see this exhibition.
PHILADELPHIA DAILY NEWS
December 2, 2011
The Abstract Lens (Art Attack)
Photography may be the most familiar artistic discipline—everyday we see photographs in newspaper, on Facebook, on billboards along the highway.
Although most photography aims to document, not all photos are so explicit. Some photography provides us with a view of everyday objects and scenes so abstracted that we may not even recognize them. This month, LGTripp Gallery explores photography’s multiples perspectives with “Focus,” its fourth annual Abstract Photography exhibition.
“Abstract photography is fueled by the desire to take an object and remove it from its original form,” said Luella Tripp, gallery owner and curator. Think of close-up detail shots that hide an object’s identity, or distorted photographs of things in motion that de-emphasize the subject in favor of the action. This is, of course, not picture-postcard photography, nor is it what you’ll find in most galleries. “We bring a very particular focus on abstract to nonobjective work,” Tripp said of this exhibition. “It’s rare to see a pure abstract photography show.”
Each of the seven artists on display in this year’s exhibit is new to the gallery. The show includes work by Chris Forelli that focuses on instruments, Alyssha Csuk’s photos of slate from mines, and views of light from Jenny Lynn and Paul Rider. Visitors can expect to see familiar objects such as drum cymbals or swaying branches, although what they are isn’t always apparent. But deciphering these photos isn’t the point. Instead, it’s an opportunity to see the world from a different perspective.
—Mary Sydnor
Galleries: …three solo shows…and a focus on young artists.
The Philadelphia Inquirer
By Edith Newhall
At least three galleries in Old City are currently home to solo shows of young artists whose works they have not previously exhibited in one-person exhibitions.
The front room at LGTripp Gallery, which is showing two newcomers, is dominated by Matthew Stemler’s monumental, handsome painted wood construction Flotsam, which suggests a pier and bulwarks and indestructability more than the destruction and chaos its title would seem to imply. Stemler’s small abstract drawings are more evocative of the overwhelming power of nature.
In the rear gallery, “John Doe Puzzles,” Raphael Fenton-Spaid’s series of candy-colored, multipanel portraits based on photographs of victims of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, suggests the prettifying of war for public consumption. By mounting his panels with spaces between them, Spaid has abstracted his images almost beyond recognition, though a nose or a mouth can suddenly, and disturbingly, come into focus.
The gallery is pleased to present another installation, this time in the front gallery. This is the work of artist Matthew Stemler. Also exhibiting is Raphael Fenton-Spaid. His large abstract portraits are in the rear gallery. Visit us on Facebook to see photos from the artist reception.
PHILADELPHIA
JON MANTEAU
LGTripp Gallery
“To a Hammer, Everything Looks Like a Nail,” a show of recent works by Philadelphia-based artist Jon Manteau (b. 1963), proved that a true graffiti artist never surrenders; he just adds a couple of fine arts degrees to his early obsession with embellishing the world. Known as “Beep” in his teens, Manteau was an active member of three graffiti clubs in Philadelphia. This is his third solo at the gallery.
Manteau’s painted abstract expressions in two and three dimensions reveal a universe in flux, familiar and diverse. Two large panel paintings with attached driftwood, an ink drawing and separate pieces of painted driftwood, both wall-hung and free-standing, filled the first gallery with waves of whirling, dancing color.
Created for the space, Gumtrees and Ghosts (2011, 8’ x 20’ x 5’) was the major work on view. Paint-spattered driftwood tree trunks seemed to secure the plywood panels, covered in loose skeins of house paint, to the wall. Brilliant colors are woven into abstract columns that can be viewed in front of, between and under the driftwood. In the ink-on-paper study Spiders from Mars (2010, 40” x 60”), vertical brushstrokes create a sense of volume and light across a distant sky. Another painting on panel with driftwood inclusions, titled He Must Be Gay, (2010), expresses a sensitive, inclusive mood. The gnarled driftwood branches and trunks on the walls and floor throughout the gallery were collected by Manteau along the banks of rivers in Philadelphia.
In a smaller room, one wall was lined with detritus from the artist’s studio; paint-saturated trays, shoes, paint cans, lids and brushes formed a colorful three-dimensional composition. This lively installation found a meditative counterpoint in nine small abstract works on paper (2009-2011). Each has its own palette and a unique composition, but together they merged into a harmonious unit.
The 8-foot square Nobel Inventor of Dynamite (2010) is also made of house paint on plywood, sans driftwood inclusions. A tactile surface emerges from the multiple layers of paint. The network of brushstrokes creates varied visual depths united by rhythmic white passages. This painting seems to contain the seeds of all the others.
From his graffiti-fixated youth, Manteau has evolved into an artist whose dynamic abstract paintings and installations infuse their environs with vitality.
– Anne Fabbri
SEPTEMBER ‘11 ART IN AMERICA
It’s nice to see a positive review for LGTripp Gallery’s RSVP2 exhibition in the Inquirer recently. Edith Newhall makes some great observations.
So much for expecting First Friday in August to be slow. Last night there was a steady stream of art on lookers until closing the doors at 8:30. Thanks to all who visited the gallery to check out our summer invitational. Great to see everyone! Just a reminder that First Friday in September we will not be open. Our next exhibition opens September 9th with new work by gallery artists Catherine O’Connell (paintings) and Stephen Blackburn (sculpture). See you First Friday in October.
Enjoy the rest of your summer and have a wonderful Labor Day Weekend!!