Come out to support UArts MFA Painting student AJ Bredensteiner in this amazing exhibition at Serafin!
For Immediate Release:
Exhibition: I CAN’T GET YOU OUT OF MY MIND
Date: MAY 21 – JUNE 22
Opening Reception: MAY 21, 6-8PM
Location: 1108 PINE STREET PHILADELPHIA PA 19107
Contact: ROHINA IQBAL (at) ROHINA@SERAPHINGALLERY.COM
Seraphin Gallery is pleased to announce “I can’t get you out of my mind”, a group exhibition curated by Seraphin Gallery artist Hiro Sakaguchi
As often the case, group exhibitions are successful based off the effectiveness of the theme or the story it evokes. Sakaguchi, in this case, chooses himself as the tying thread by choosing works which gave him a long-term impact upon viewing them in the Philadelphia art scene. As Sakaguchi states, “Simply, I choose artists whose works I want to see again for selfish reason.” Because of Sakaguchi’s selfish pursuit, the exhibition becomes an homage to the artists, offering them a new venue and viewers. Works include minimalist cityscapes, needle threaded paper, and ceramic sculpture. By giving these artists the same platform, “I can’t get you out of my mind” becomes a biography on Sakaguchi’s art aesthetic.
Sarah Roche
Sarah Roche’s 2007 series of paintings, “From Dust till Dawn”, reflects her everyday experiences working as a gallery maintenance conservation technician at the Philadelphia Art Museum. Among this series, one watercolor painting stood out, a self-portrait reflected in a window case of medieval armor. The painting depicts a slightly off centered face looking back at the viewer. At a glance, it appears as though she herself is the wearing armor, calling to mind references of Joan of Ark. The simplicity and strength in this depiction and Roche’s use of paint have stayed in my mind for some time. Roche has created a new version of this piece for “I can’t get you out of my head”, Portrait in Armor, this time made of ink on paper.
Marie Ulmer
The first time I saw Ulmer’s work, I thought that it was made by a young artist in her twenties or thirties. What I found out instead was the works were largely executed by an artist in her youth from the 1930’s and 1940’s. Given the rising phenomena of the popularity of works on paper in the past decade, Ulmer’s work fit right in with the Philadelphia art scene. As Candace Karch states “Ulmer is in her nineties, is quite healthy and continues to make works of art.” But it was her works from 1930s-1940s that stayed in my mind. There is sensitivity in the lines and her personal story of a life of an ordinary woman that struck me.
Philip Adams
About a year ago, Philip Adams displayed a charcoal drawing of a huge tsunami wave that took up an entire gallery wall, while a small surfer was placed among the waves. Upon closer examination, the surfer, it turned out, was President Obama. Ever since, I have struck by Adam’s works. For the Seraphin Gallery exhibition, I chose a hyper realistic charcoal drawing of a portrait on wood panel. Solipsist Will is a portrait of the artist’s friend wearing Ray-Ban reflective sunglasses. As the glasses reflect in the drawing, so does the work reflect youth culture and an air of our times. This charcoal on panel has stayed with me and burnt the image into my mind.
AJ Bredensteiner
The Sacrifice of Eternity for a Dream of Immortality is a large drawing installation piece made by artist AJ Bredensteiner. It is composed of more than 400 drawings of the book “Anna Karenina” by Leo Tolstoy.
His conceptual still-life came to be more than 400 drawings which Bredensteiner drew from the book as he turned the pages. Every drawing mimics the exact text as you would find on the correlated page. Bredensteiner devoted five months of his life to this project. He mentions that when you spend that much time in a story, your mind creates an association with your own life story as you are reading the fictive story. Due to my lack of patience, I have no way to find out exactly what AJ is talking about but I’ll take his word for it. His work is a example of a artist fully living within his own art for sake of his art. I have great respect for his sacrifice as an artist.
Artists are faculty members of Tyler School of Art, Drexel University and Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, recipients of the Fleisher Wind Challenge, members of Vox Populi artist collective, and alumnus of the Center for Emerging Visual Artist’s Career Development Program. Selected artists are also in the collections of the Victoria Albert Museum, London, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, and the West Collection.
Curator Hiro Sakaguchi has organized various exhibition projects including: “Caution Art in Here” at Cerulean Arts Gallery in Philadelphia, “My Dog Speaks” at Seraphin Gallery, “Useless weapon” at the Green Lantern Gallery in Chicago, and the “Picture Journal Project” at The Woodmere Art Museum. Sakaguchi own works are internationally exhibited and is in the permanent collection of Philadelphia Museum of Art.
Featured Artists
Phillip Adams
Gabriel Boyce
AJ Bredensteiner
Robert L Chaney
Gretchen Diehl
Mike Kowbuz
A.D. Loveday
Brenna K. Murphy
Erin Murray
Michelle Oosterbaan
Sarah Roche
Marie Sivak
Marie Ulmer
Casey Watson
Rohina Iqbal
1108 Pine Street
Philadelphia, PA 19103
215-923-7000
rohina@seraphingallery.com
www.seraphingallery.com
