Floating Garden: Cadmium Red #1

2015-2016

Mixed media

19 x 19 x 1 ¾ inches (framed)

Statement:

The piece, Floating Garden: Cadmium Red #1 is an exploration of color and light and how the two interact. As you look at the piece and see the pale blue behind some of the flowers please note that the color is reflected color. It is not applied to the support.

Alley Cats

Edition of 25

Archival inkjet print

30 x 14 inches (unframed)

Statement:

My black and white cutouts are an evolution from when I used stencils to make posters for my band, The Nite Lights. About ten years ago, as my technique improved, the stencils became too fragile to work with. I started to simply photocopy black paper cutouts and found that I was able to get much more coverage pasting and stapling these around town than I had with the stencils, all the while, retaining a fine art object.

My process varies with each paper cutout, but there are some things that remain consistent. From thumbnail sketches I develop more detailed studies that I then redraw on black paper paying special attention to the limits of the medium. In a paper cutout, all the black must connect (this makes things like belly buttons challenging). Then I excise all the white space with an Xacto blade, paint out the remaining pencil marks with black spray paint, and scan the cutout. From this I have large prints made, which I use for my large-scale installations.

The longer I have been doing uncommissioned public art the more I try to find architectural spaces to frame and add context to my work, ultimately, integrating it into the environment. In a gallery, however, one can to see the original cutouts from which the larger installations are made. Their intricacy and smaller scale often surprise people, giving them a new perspective on the public / private aspects of my work and emphasizing the blend of craft and concept that I attempt to achieve.

Bio:

Since 2003 Joe Boruchow's installations, made from delicate black paper cutouts, have been decorating the streets of Philadelphia. Using architectural spaces to frame and add context to his work, the 40-year-old artist continues to combine concept and design in his unique craft.

Three Irises

Edition of 25

Archival inkjet print

27 ½ x 21 inches (unframed)

Statement:

My black and white cutouts are an evolution from when I used stencils to make posters for my band, The Nite Lights. About ten years ago, as my technique improved, the stencils became too fragile to work with. I started to simply photocopy black paper cutouts and found that I was able to get much more coverage pasting and stapling these around town than I had with the stencils, all the while, retaining a fine art object.

My process varies with each paper cutout, but there are some things that remain consistent. From thumbnail sketches I develop more detailed studies that I then redraw on black paper paying special attention to the limits of the medium. In a paper cutout, all the black must connect (this makes things like belly buttons challenging). Then I excise all the white space with an Xacto blade, paint out the remaining pencil marks with black spray paint, and scan the cutout. From this I have large prints made, which I use for my large-scale installations.

The longer I have been doing uncommissioned public art the more I try to find architectural spaces to frame and add context to my work, ultimately, integrating it into the environment. In a gallery, however, one can to see the original cutouts from which the larger installations are made. Their intricacy and smaller scale often surprise people, giving them a new perspective on the public / private aspects of my work and emphasizing the blend of craft and concept that I attempt to achieve.

Bio:

Since 2003 Joe Boruchow's installations, made from delicate black paper cutouts, have been decorating the streets of Philadelphia. Using architectural spaces to frame and add context to his work, the 40-year-old artist continues to combine concept and design in his unique craft.

Shadowplay

2019
Signed and numbered 2/6
Silkscreen on panel
24 x 18 inches (framed)

Bio:
Shepard Fairey is an American graphic artist and social activist who is part of the Street Art movement along with other artists. Fairey blurs the boundary between traditional and commercial art through type and image, communicating his brand of social critique via prints, murals, stickers, and posters in public spaces. "Art is not always meant to be decorative or soothing, in fact, it can create uncomfortable conversations and stimulate uncomfortable emotions," he stated. Born on February 15, 1970 in Charleston, South Carolina, Fairey graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design in 1992 where he earned his Bachelor of Arts in illustration. In 1989 Fairey created the André the Giant Has a Posse sticker campaign, featuring a stylized image of the wrestler André the Giant. This project was the foundation for his seminal Obey series, which helped to push Fairey into the public spotlight. The artist is perhaps best known for his Hope (2008) campaign, which portrays a portrait of then-presidential candidate Barack Obama, in red, white, and blue. In 2017, the artist created a series of three posters- featuring portraits of culturally diverse women, again using a red, white, and blue color scheme-in response to the xenophobic rhetoric of President-elect Donald Trump. Fairey currently lives and works in Los Angeles, CA. His works are included in the collections of the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C., the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

Slow Medicine

2018

Collage woodcut on panel

15 ¼ x 15 ¼ x 1 ¾ inches (unframed)

Bio:

Dennis McNett graduated from Pratt institute with an MFA degree in 2004, where he taught until 2012. He has shown internationally including The Victoria and Albert Museum in London, Me Collection Museum in Berlin, MOHS exhibit in Copenhagen, Galleria Patricia Armocida, Milano, Italy, and nationally including The Ft. Wayne Museum of Art, Museum of Print History, Houston, TX, Museum of Contemporary Art, Jacksonville, FL, and Jonathan LeVine Gallery, NYC, Known Gallery, LA. He has been interviewed and featured by the New York Times, Juxtapoz Magazine, NPR, the Houston Chronicle and other notable sources. McNett has also contributed as a visiting artist/lecturer at over thirty Universities, colleges and art centers such as RISD, Philadelphia Academy of Fine Art, Mexi-Arte Museum, Universidad De Monterrey Monterrey, Mexico, and the John Michelle Kohler Art Center. Aside from showing and contributing to fine art institutions, his work has filled the window displays of Barney's in NYC, has been displayed on dozens of Antihero skateboards, can be found on murals/street in places such as NYC, Philadelphia and Richmond, VA.

Andre 3000 Teapot

2021

Glazed porcelain

5 ½ x 9 x 6 inches

Statement:

Known for his graffiti-inspired porcelain sculptures, Roberto Lugo's work centers around the notion of representation. Specifically, representing the culture and struggles faced within Black and Latinx communities through the lens of craft history. Lugo chooses to depict Civil Rights leaders, hip hop artists, musicians, writers, and cultural figures representative of Black and Latinx culture. Their likeness is elevated to a space that was historically inaccessible to people of color. Drawing from iconic forms, such as an urn or a teapot, Lugo works with the existing associations inherent to a form, while adding his own stylized imagery and content. The result is a complex, contradictory body of work that embodies both poverty and resilience as well as opulence and wealth. He combines status symbols from European society and urban America to create works of art that cross boundaries and weave together seemingly disparate cultures into one multifaceted vision.

Bio:

Roberto Lugo is an American artist, ceramicist, social activist, spoken word poet, and educator. Lugo's works are multicultural mash-ups, traditional European and Asian porcelain forms and techniques reimagined with a 21st-century street sensibility. Their hand-painted surfaces feature classic decorative patterns and motifs combined with elements of modern urban graffiti and portraits of individuals whose faces are historically absent on this type of luxury item (such as Sojourner Truth, Dr. Cornel West, and The Notorious BIG) Lugo holds a BFA from the Kansas City Art Institute and an MFA from Penn State. His work has been featured in exhibitions at the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Houston Center for Contemporary Craft, and the Museum of Arts and Design in New York, among others. He is the recipient of numerous awards (2019 Pew Fellowship, Cynthia Hazen Polsky and Leon Polsky Rome Prize, and a US Artist Award). His work is found in the permanent collections of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Philadelphia Museum of Art, The High Museum of Art, the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Brooklyn Museum, Walters Art Museum, and more. He is currently an Assistant Professor at Tyler School of Art and Architecture in Philadelphia, PA.

The Inlet

Signed

Acrylic on paper

12 x 12 inches (unframed)

Statement:

Internal and external environments create a strong engagement and impact in my work. The interrelationship of human struggles and the complexities found in nature, bridge my ideations of form, composition, and color. Images of place, from memory, and experiences are integral in making these connections and forming my visual narrative.

Bio:

As an artist, Ingersoll has been exhibiting her work in solo ands group exhibitions since 1980. She is the recipient of several Fellowships, including, most recently, a 2018 Fellowship and Residency at VA Center for the Creative Arts and a Fellowship at the Ballinglen Arts Foundation in Ballycastle, Ireland. She received an invitation to be an artist in residence at the American Academy in Rome. She is currently represented by the Artemis Gallery in Maine. Her work is in many collections.

From 1992-2004 she was a lead muralist for the internationally famous Philadelphia Mural Arts Program. Ingersoll created 8 city murals for the Mural Arts Program and is featured in the first two mural books by Temple Press.

She lives in Philadelphia.

Street Art

2020

Mixed media, photograph, oil paint and encaustic bees wax on board

23 ¾ x 23 ¾ inches (unframed)

Bio:

Renowned Philadelphia photographer Susan Beard launched her studio in 1990. Her vision for the studio has always incorporated a dynamic formula. The result has been images that are truly alive, and capture the decisive moment that makes them special, whether the event is a beautiful wedding, a lively Bar/Bat Mitzvah, a commercial headshot, or a fine art family portrait. Susan credits the success of her studio to a formula that combines a team of talented, personable, client-oriented artists with exceptionally high standards of product quality and innovative service. The team at Susan Beard Design are studied artists with passion and dedication to the photography as an artistic medium. These talented artists collaborate to produce extraordinary outcomes for our clientele. Susan Beard Design comes highly recommended by all professionals in the event industry.

Alicia Keys

Acrylic paint on parachute cloth

47 x 27 inches (unframed)

**100% of the proceeds of this artwork go to the Color Me Back program

Statement:

These images were created as part of the Color Me Back program's Mother's Day celebration where the participants selected 3 noteworthy women to research as a group, create short presentations on, and present 3-5 important facts about each of the individuals. With this participants also created painted portraits of each of the three women and countless bouquets of flowers which were all put together as a large display for our studio window. The entire display was put together over the course of 4 weeks and it was a collaboration between CMB lead teaching artist Alvin Tull, assistant artist Michael Belo and between 30-40 CMB program participants.

Bio:

Color Me Back: A Same Day Work and Pay Program is an innovative new initiative that combines participatory art-making and access to social services in a unique model offering individuals who are experiencing economic insecurity an opportunity to earn wages. Designed in partnership with the Scattergood Foundation, SEPTA, the Sheller Family Foundation, and Mental Health Partnerships, the initiative is managed by Mural Arts' Porch Light community wellness program, a collaboration with the City of Philadelphia's Department of Behavioral Health and Intellectual disAbility Services. Participants are recruited through outreach and have the opportunity to connect, contribute, and engage with outreach specialists who can link them with support services, including social and/or behavioral health services and potential opportunities for longer-term employment while working in the program.

Common Threads

2019

Artist proof, edition 1/1

Hand printed silkscreen in ink

18 x 24 inches (framed)

Statement:
Who defines the identity of a place? Is it individual community members or written history? Is it perhaps something more amorphous - a collective voice? I am fascinated by the fluid relationship between the one and the many. For this reason, I engage directly with community members throughout all stages of my creative practice. For me, looking, listening, sharing, and collaborating are inseparable from the paint, the place, and the form.

Flores de Libertad

2017

Archival print
20 x 16 inches (unframed)

Statement:

Flores de Libertad: Ortiz led several free paper flower workshops open to the public at the Barnes Foundation. Over a thousand paper flowers, a tradition passed down by her maternal grandmother, were created by more than 100 participants that include students, educators, and families in Philadelphia. The flowers made by the participants will join the flowers made by the mothers detained at Berks which carry messages of freedom and the continued fight against family detention. On Wednesday, October 25th from 11 am -12pm, the hand dyed flowers were assembled at the north gates of City Hall to spell out the 10'x40' word "Libertad" (Freedom/ Liberty). The collective artwork is a creative action followed by a press conference led by the Shut Down Berks Coalition to end family detention in Pennsylvania and in the United States.