March 5 - April 2
Opening Reception Saturday, March 5th, 6-9 PM Gallery Hours: Saturdays 1-4 PM
MACAS 25 West Mt. Airy Avenue, Philadelphia PA 19119 (map) (267) 270 2787 info@mountairycontemporary.com
Mount Airy Contemporary Artists Space (MACAS) presents artwork by Philadelphia artist Alexis Granwell and Brooklyn artist Rick Lewis. Utilizing a variety of techniques and media, including painting, print and wall-mounted assemblage, the artists demonstrate their connection to place. Their work is as much about the performance of making as it is about the paradoxical tension between their use of fragile materials and the strength of their designs.
CTRL_AG2257_Wax-and-Wane-IV
Granwell is inspired by the cycle of decay and renewal in the urban landscape. Using detritus from the city she assembles constructions that suggest new possibilities. Her prints incorporate the lines and patterns of topographical maps leading us to a visualization of a psychological geography.
Lewis.AngrySea
Lewis’ art connects us to the Texan vistas where he grew up. His aesthetic has developed from his spiritual connection to the natural formation of the land. Rather than traditional landscape paintings, his work depicts the psychological perceptions of place, space and time.
MACAS is a small artist-run exhibition space in the northwest of Philadelphia. The gallery’s program is focused on connecting artists and artist communities through exhibitions that pair artists from different regions.
Exhibition Photos:
[flickrgallery setid="72157626059550345" limit=“10”]
Opening Reception Photos:
[flickrgallery setid="72157626209357740" limit=“10”]
Reviews and Press:
3/27/2011 Philadelphia Inquirer, Edith Newhall, “Good Works”:
Good works
The latest show at the Mount Airy Contemporary Artists Space pairs the assemblages of Alexis Granwell with the paintings of Rick Lewis and proves (again) that contemporary art can pass muster anywhere, even in an 18th-century carriage house in bosky Mount Airy.
Granwell's delicate interminglings of colorful cast-off bits of cardboard, leather, wood, wire, paint, and thread look like abstract paintings set loose from canvases. They're the descendants of works by artists like Judy Pfaff and Richard Tuttle, but with a whimsical architecture all their own.
All kinds of ingredients coalesce in Lewis' small, rough-hewn abstract paintings - besides oil paint and dry pigments, you can find asphalt, marble dust, newsprint, and graphite in the mix. I see walls with remnants of posters and graffiti on them as a possible influence, but they can also resemble aerial views of landscapes.
Hurry. Only one Saturday left.
5/11/2011 SUPERMARKET ISSUE #1 - A NEW JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY ART
Listing:
Supermarket_Issue1_Listing