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From The Collection of Ted Nash (left to right): Harvey Littleton, Ruby Twisted Ovoid from the Topical Geometry Series, 1980, Dale Chihuly, Cerulean Blue Macchia with Orange Lip Wrap & Lemon Yellow Skin, 1986, and Tom Patti, Tubated Compound, 1978.
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WEXLER GALLERY
July 3rd - August 30th, 2008
PHILADELPHIA- Wexler Gallery presents an exhibition of 35 Historic glass works from The Collection of Ted Nash. Show runs from July 3 – August 30, 2008.
Former board member of the Pilchuck Glass School, Ted Nash established himself as a champion of the contemporary glass movement. His comprehensive and significant collection includes excellent examples from master glass artists Hank Murta Adams, Howard Ben Tre, Harvey Littleton, Dale Chihuly, Tom Patti, Dan Dailey, Jose Chardiet, Therman Statom, and more.
As specialists in contemporary and historic glass, Wexler Gallery serves a wide client base including established collectors looking for specific pieces to enhance their collections, as well as those individuals just beginning to acquire contemporary glass. Alongside the masters, visitors will find extraordinary glass works by today’s emerging talent.
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| Recent works by emerging glass artists Greg Nangle, Nicole Ayliffe, Holly Grace, Taliaferro Jones, Josh Cole, and others will also be on view.
Image (left): Gregory Nangle, Mixed Feelings, 2008, Bronze, glass, 12 X 12 X 6”
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On the second floor of the gallery WALLS at Wexler presents a salon type environment featuring outstanding, affordable paintings, prints and photography. Visitors will find rotating exhibitions highlighting works by Tanja Softic, Jenny E. Balisle, Chiyomi Longo, Lisa Tyson Ennis, Amanda Blake, Margot Nimiroski, Mark Bennion, and more.
Image (right): Mark Bennion, Untitled (Fresco # 24,) 2007, Oil on plaster, mounted on canvas, 24 X 24”
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WEXLER GALLERY
May 2 – June 28, 2008
PHILADELPHIA- Wexler Gallery is proud to present (In)Between; a group show curated by Sienna Freeman, Associate Director of the Wexler Gallery. The exhibition is based loosely on the idea of Vanitas- 16th century Dutch still-life paintings that celebrate life’s pains and pleasures while meditating on their inevitable loss. Featured artists include Damien Hirst, Randall Sellers, Adelaide Paul, Tim Tate, Anne Siems, Dirk Staschke and Joe Boruchow. The show will run from May 2nd through June 28th, 2008. *An Opening Reception will take place on First Friday, May 2nd from 5-8pm.
Working in two and three dimensions, these seven artists investigate the transitory nature of life and the contemporary human experience. Although their mediums and experiences in the art world are diverse, these artists are linked by a certain uncanny quality possessed by their work. Often illustrated with imagery revolving around the passage of time, nature, and earthly belongings, this quality begs the viewer to consider their own mortality and question their perception of reality.
Media icon Damian Hirst is known world-wide for challenging the boundaries between art, science, and popular culture. A social mirror of sorts, Hirst’s work is an examination of life and death as well as a celebration of the commonplace and the absurd. Best known for his “Natural History” works, which present dead animals in vitrines suspended in formaldehyde, his works recast fundamental questions concerning the meaning of life and the fragility of existence. In 2007, Hirst gained the record for the most expensive work of art sold by a living artist when For the Love of God, a human skull recreated in platinum and covered with 8,601 diamonds, sold to a private collector for $100,000,000.
Hirst has participated in numerous group exhibitions including Into Me / Out of Me, P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center in New York (2006) and In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida in Tate Britain, the 50th Venice Biennale (2003). Solo exhibitions include Astrup Fearnley Museet fur Moderne Kunst, Oslo in 2005, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston in 2005 and Archaeological Museum, Naples in 2004. He is also the recipient of numerous awards including the DAAD fellowship in Berlin in 1994 and the Turner Prize in 1995. The artist currently lives and works in London and Devon, UK.
Randall Sellers currently lives and works in Jim Thorpe, PA, after spending 10 years based in the Italian Market area of Philadelphia. Best known for his tiny and extremely detailed graphite drawings of imaginary cities, constructed landscapes, and secret interactions between nymph-like men and women, Sellers sees the images he creates as “separate, tiny worlds climbing out of (his) subconscious.” Often no bigger then a few inches in diameter, Sellers’ work offers the viewer an intimate peak into fantasized worlds and private moments in the artist’s life. (In)Between will feature new works in Gouache by the artist, all of which have never been exhibited in the Philadelphia area.
Sellers has a BFA in painting from Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia and has studied at Temple University in Rome, Italy. He has received national and international acclaim, exhibiting in solo shows at Spector Gallery in Philadelphia, PA, Jonathan Levine Gallery in New York, NY, and Richard Heller Gallery in Santa Monica, CA. His work can be found in the permanent collections of prestigious institutions such as the Museum of Modern Art, (Judith Rothschild Collection), Philadelphia Museum of Art, High Museum in Atlanta, New Museum of Contemporary Art (Altoids Collection), and 21C Museum in Louisville, Kentucky.
Ceramic artist Adelaide Paul creates sensitively articulated and beautifully finished animal figures that, according to critic Glenn Brown, have "a cool but non-threatening demeanor.” Commonly taking the form of dogs and horses, Paul’s animals are covered in hand-stitched brightly colored leather. Having stated that “muscle is meat and, on great many levels, so are we,” the artist poses her subjects in provocative positions that take on human characteristics and emotions. Through her work, Paul seeks to pose questions to the viewer regarding the "alternately cloyingly sentimental and brutally callous relationship between humans and animals, both domesticated and wild."
Paul has a BFA from the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University and an MFA from Louisiana State University. Her work can be found in the collections of The Riverside Art Museum, CA and The Schein-Joseph International Museum of Ceramic Art, NY. She is the recipient of the Pennsylvania Council for the Arts Grant (2005), the Window of Opportunity Grant from the Leeway Foundation (2004 and 2002), a Residency at the Clay Studio in Philadelphia, PA (2001) and the PEW Fellowship in the Arts (2007). Paul currently lives and works in Philadelphia, PA.
Tim Tate, a Washington DC native who has worked with glass as a medium for sculpture for over 25 years, found out he was HIV-positive in the early 1980’s. “I didn’t work with glass until I found out I was HIV-positive,” Tate explains, noting that he has had no physical imparities because of his condition. Dealing with HIV is very much part of the creative drive behind Tate’s work, with which he hopes to challenge his viewers into thinking more conceptually about glass. In his latest body of work, Tate creates Video Reliquaries which are composed of hand cast and blown glass, electronic components, and original video. Using iconographic symbols and images, the artist meditates upon the universal concepts of home, luck, fate, life & death, and hope.
Tate is co-founder of the Washington Glass School and has exhibited world-wide. His work can be found in the permanent collection of many museums and institutions including The Smithsonian American Art Museum and The Mint Museum. Tate is also the winner of 2008 Niche Awards for Glass.
German born painter Anne Siems is an artist whose work comes from an “intuitive, visceral place.” Interested in “old things that have had a life of their own, stories and all the realms in between,” Siems’ dream-like paintings often follow an open-ended narrative that invites the viewer to complete their stories. Objects such as clocks, mirrors, keys, fruit, and flowers are shown interacting with ghostly human and animal figures, conjuring up ideas about life and death, sensuality, sexuality, and nature. Referencing themes commonly found in Vanita painting and early American Folk Art, Siems’ paintings encourage the viewer to explore their own thoughts on the psyche and the spirit.
Siems has shown in several group and solo shows, both in the US and internationally. She is the recipient of the Fulbright Scholarship (1986) from the University of the South in Sewanee, TN and has an MFA from Hochschule der kunste in Berlin, Germany. Presently, she lives and works in Seattle, WA.
Dirk Staschke is ceramicist and sculptor who weaves subtle allegory into a timeless art form. According to the artist much of his work is “based in human figuration and at times references sculptural history as well as contemporary culture. Often, the work combines these incongruent elements in a manner that asserts larger questions with anthropological undertones… the end result is an odd symbiosis of past and present.” Figurative, architectural, and ornamental in nature, Staschke’s work explores lines between the rational and irrational, the beautiful, and the grotesque.
With an MFA from Alfred University, Staschke has taught at a variety of institutions such as New York University, Nassau Community College, and the University of Montevallo. His work has exhibited at many esteemed venues and can be found in the permanent collection of The Renwick Alliance in Washington, DC. Staschke presently lives and works in Vancouver, Canada.
Philadelphia-based Joe Boruchow is a self taught artist working in the ancient medium of paper cut-out. According to Boruchow, "making images out of paper is like sculpting and performing surgery simultaneously. It is an exercise in excision (it's what you remove that is important) … my goal is to refine an idea to its essence.” Composed from a single piece of black paper mounted on white satin, his cut-outs play with contemporary social and political themes, symbols, and situations. Referencing Mexican poster art aesthetics, his work frequently depicts the simple and quiet moments in life that build up an existence.
Boruchow has shown in numerous group and solo exhibitions, including a 2007 juried show at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, at which he won first prize. Well known for his DIY “guerilla flyering” endeavors, his commercial poster work can also be found on telephone poles, in record stores, coffee shops, and other public spaces in the Philadelphia area.
The Wexler Gallery is located at 201 North Third Street in the historical district of Old City Philadelphia. We invite you to visit our gallery or explore our website at www.wexlergallery.com. For high resolution images or additional information, please contact Sienna@wexlergallery.com or call (215) 923-7030. |
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Last Light #4, 2007, Blown and carved glass
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Wexler Gallery is proud to present an exhibition of new works by Australian glass artist Tim Edwards. Show runs March 7th through April 26th. An opening reception will take place on First Friday, March 7th from 5 – 8pm.
Born in South Australia, Tim Edwards is best known for his simple, hand-blown and wheel-carved glass forms. Often shown in pairs, these sculptural vessels act as canvas’s for asymmetrical fields of color and design. Both abstract and organic in form and composition, these pieces play with the viewer’s perception of negative and positive space while referencing patterns often found in nature.
Edwards’ current process is one with much history dating back to Roman craftsmen. After blowing a vessel with several layers of colored glass, the artist selectively carves portions of the surface to reveal the desired exterior pattern. Traditionally, these “cold-working” techniques include intaglio (wheel-cutting into or below the surface) and relief (projecting above the surface).
Originally trained as a ceramicist, Edwards has worked as a self employed glass artist since 1997. During the 1990’s, he served as the Associate Designer of ceramics, and then glass, at the Jam Factory in Adelaide, AU. His work has been exhibited at SOFA Chicago, The Institute of Science and Arts in Venice Italy, The Mitukoshi International Glass Art Festival in Taiwan, and many more internationally known institutions. Edwards is also the recipient of the 2006 Rakow Commission from the Corning Museum of Glass in New York.
The Wexler Gallery is located at 201 North Third Street in the historical district of Old City Philadelphia. We invite you to visit our gallery or explore our website at www.wexlergallery.com. For high resolution images or additional information, please contact Sienna@wexlergallery.com or call (215) 923-7030.
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| *In correspondence with FiberPhiladelphia 2008, select works by mixed media fiber artists Donna Rosenthal and Wendy Wahl will also be on view. |
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CHUCK CLOSE
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January / February 2008
Wexler Gallery is proud to present an exhibition of new work by world renowned, innovative furniture artist Wendell Castle along with works on paper by photo-realist Chuck Close. Show runs January 4th through February 29th, 2008. *An opening reception will take place on First Friday, January 4th from 5-8pm.
American Furniture artist Wendell Castle creates unique furniture pieces that often blur the line between art and design. His designs for both private collectors and public spaces represent a unique exploration of the qualities and possibilities of materials such as wood, fiberglass, and bronze. Whether taking the identity of a clock, door, table, or chair, for almost 40 years Castle’s work has inspired his viewers to look at furniture with a new vocabulary stemming from the idea that “art is a form of redemption, a transfiguration of the commonplace.”
Painter, photographer, and printmaker Chuck Close is best known for his single portraits of his friends, family and himself. Executed from his own photographs in painstaking detail on a grid of small squares, Close is an artist who in his own words builds “painting experiences for the viewer.” Working first in black and white, then color in the 1970’s and 80’s, for more then 35 year’s the artist work has tempted generations to re-consider concepts surrounding portraiture, self representation, and techniques used in the image making process.
For almost 4 decades, Wendell Castle and Chuck Close have consistently pushed the boundaries of their craft. Both have become masters in their fields who have helped redefine traditional methods and thoughts about processes and materials. Having influenced generations of artists, scholars, and collectors, these innovators continue to produce bodies of work that challenge and explore the possibilities of their mediums.
The Wexler Gallery is an internationally recognized gallery showcasing the finest in contemporary glass, studio furniture, ceramics, jewelry and decorative arts. We are proud to represent some of the world’s most esteemed artists working today, including Wendell Castle, William Harper and Dale Chihuly.
As specialists in contemporary and historic glass, Wexler Gallery serves a wide client base including established collectors looking for specific pieces to enhance their collections, as well as those individuals just beginning to acquire contemporary glass. Alongside the masters, visitors will find extraordinary glass works by today’s emerging talent.
The newest addition to the gallery is WALLS at Wexler, featuring outstanding, affordable paintings, prints and photography. Visitors will find rotating group exhibitions on two floors of the gallery.
The Wexler Gallery is located at 201 North Third Street in the historical district of Old City Philadelphia. We invite you to visit our gallery or explore our website at www.wexlergallery.com. For high resolution images or additional information, please contact Sienna@wexlergallery.com or call (215) 923-7030. |
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The Materialise.MGX Collection is now on view and available for purchase at the Wexler Gallery! Please contact the gallery for additional information.
Designed by Patrick Jouin
Technique: SLS
Material: Polyamide (nylon)
Color: white
Folded position: length 25 ¾” * diam 4 ¼”
Seated position: height 16” * diam 13”
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Michael Manthey |
Marilyn Arnold Palley |
Yuji Kubo |
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December 7th – 28th, 2007
Wexler Gallery is proud to present an exhibition of fine jewelry by Michael Manthey, wearable sculpture by Marilyn Arnold Palley, and hand crafted lacquer-ware by Japanese artist Yuji Kubo. Show runs December 7th through the 28th; Opening Reception First Friday, December 7th from 5 – 8pm.
Born in Germany in 1949, Michael Manthey is best known for his stunning and alchemic one-of-a-kind jewelry pieces. Based in Philadelphia, Manthey uses precious and semi-precious stones and metals, animal bone, fossils, wood, plastic, and gems to create works that celebrate the wonders of both the natural and spiritual words. Stemming from a long line of jewelers trained in the Russian tradition, Manthey personally cuts and carves all of his stones and has been commissioned to make wedding bands from meteorite, amulets for pregnancy, a magic wand, and family heirlooms from one clients’ ancestors gold fillings.
Manthey is currently a member of the Pennsylvania Society of Goldsmiths and has lectured at many educational institutions including Temple University, Moore College of Art, The University of the Arts and Bucks County Community College. He has been represented by the Wexler Gallery since 2002.
Marilyn Arnold Palley, a fiber artist for over 30 years, is well known for both her large sculptural pieces and her art to wear. Her most recent body of work, Wearable Sculptures, blurs the line between object and adornment. Using semiprecious stones and metals along with materials such as plastic resin, bakelite, and wood, the artist creates unique three dimensional pieces. These wearable objects called “Totems” beg to be touched, held, and examined, creating a tactile experience between the object and the viewer.
Palley, a graduate of Philadelphia College of Textiles & Sciences, has shown work at many prestigious institutions including the Philadelphia Art Alliance (1973), the National Council of Jewish Women, NJ (1973-78), the Reese Palley Gallery, Atlantic City, NJ (1974-85) and The Danish Museum of Decorative Art (Copenhagen) in 2007.
Artist Yuji Kubo, who lives and works in Hirosaki City; the major center for Tsugaru lacquer, is one of Japans most notable contemporary lacquer artists. In his recent work, Kubo has introduced new patterns and colors of lacquer and has successfully created lacquer pieces on an unusually large scale. The traditional Japanese craft of Tsugaru lacquer was one of several technologies imported to the Tohoku area in the late 1600’s to stimulate cultural and industrial development within the predominantly agrarian culture.
Kubo has exhibited in multiple group and solo exhibitions including Tokyo’s “New Lacquer Ware” in 1987. After this exhibition, Kubo was recognized with the Good Design Award by Japan Ministry of International Trade and Industry. His work has also shown at the Pritam and Eames Gallery in Long Island, the Wexler Gallery in Philadelphia, the East Helsinki Art Museum in Finland, and at the Hannover International Lighting Exhibition in Germany.
For high resolution images or additional information, please contact Sienna@wexlergallery.com or call (215) 923-7030.
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Joel Philip Myers |
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Mark Peiser |
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“In the early days of the Studio Glass Movement, almost everyone came out of Harvey Littleton’s classes in Wisconsin. Joel Myers and I were two of the only ones who didn’t… In the forty years I’ve known Joel, we have each had more shows than we can remember, but this is our first show together. Seems about time.” -Mark Peiser
“Not only were Mark and Inot students of Harvey Littleton, but both of us were, each in our own way, self taught! We were comrades in that sense, and we were also, both of us, among the earliest ‘pioneers’ of the Contemporary Glass Art Movement. It is brilliant and insightful of Lewis to conjure up the idea for this exhibition.” -Joel Philip Myers
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WEXLER GALLERY
October 5th – November 24th 2007
PHILADELPHIA- Wexler Gallery is proud to host a joint show of new and past work by two pioneers of the contemporary glass movement: Joel Phillip Myers and Mark Peiser. This marks the fist time in history that these master glass artists have shared an exhibition. Show runs October 5th through November 24th 2007.
This historic exhibition will include works from Joel Philip Myers’ personal collection from 1971 to the present. Myers’ work is best known for its expert craftsmanship and exceptional sense of design. According to the artist, his approach to glass is to “allow the material an expression of its own…Press the material to the utmost and it will suggest ideas and creative avenues to the responsive artist." (Joel Philip Myers, Craft Horizons, March/April 1974).
In the early 1990’s, Myers took a break from exhibiting his work in order to take the time to "search for new directions which would require extensive experimentation." This time of maturation marks a period where the artist, who generally focused on themes such as the natural world, landscapes, rivers, and flowers, began to focus on ideas related to “the conditions of our humanity." While the first pieces from this series deal with darker human concepts such as pain, war and suffering, by the late 1990’s Myers had begun two new series called Dialogue and Enticement, which are "more optimistic and cheerful, even amusing." His most recent body of work, the Color Study Series, is an exploration and celebration of the artist’s “long love relationship with color.”
Myers graduated with honors from the Department of Advertising Design at Parsons School of Design in 1954. After spending a year studying ceramic design in Copenhagen, Denmark, Myers earned both a B.F.A. and an M.F.A. from New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University, NY. From 1963 to 1970, Myers served as Director of Design at Blenko Glass Company, in Milton, WV. From 1970 to 1997, he served as Distinguished Professor of Art at Illinois State University, Normal, IL. Myers has an extensive list of students, including David Huchthausen, who went on to establish themselves as noteworthy artists. His work can also be found in the permanent collections of The Art Institute of Chicago, The Museum of Decorative Art, Prague, Australian Crafts Council, and Hokkaido Museum of Modern Art, Japan. Myers lives and works in Marietta, PA.
Mark Peiser, a pioneering naturalist in the studio glass movement, is an artist whose spirit of technical ingenuity and innovation is central to his work. In 1967, Peiser become the first Penland School artist-in-residence in glass. At this time, glass as an art medium was essentially unexplored, causing Peiser to create new tools and techniques as he went along. "When I started doing glass, there weren't a lot of options out there. . . nobody knew how to do it. Nobody knew the tools or the materials, nobody knew the processes." (Mark Peiser, Looking Within: Mark Peiser - The Art of Glass exhibition catalogue)
Peiser’s personal collection of works from the Paperweight Vessel Series will be on view during this historic exhibition. This group of work, which the artist produced form the mid 1970’s to the early 1980’s, consists of hollow forms in which fictional worlds are encased. Landscapes, forests, wild flowers, and winding roads seem to come to life within the bodies of the vessels themselves. The artist hopes that upon viewing these works, one “would perceive them as though you were inside them, so that you would have a special relationship with the object… their external forms were supposed to comment only on what was inside. Kind of like the envelope that contains the letter.”
In 1988 Peiser was elected an Honorary Fellow of the American Craft Council and, in 1999, a lifetime member of the Glass Art Society. His work can be found in the collections of museums such as the Art Institute of Chicago, the Chrysler Museum, the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, the Corning Museum of Glass, the High Museum of Art, the Mint Museum of Craft + Design, the National Museum of American History Smithsonian Institution, La Galerie Internationale du Verre, the Hokkaido Museum of Modem Art, the Lucerne Museum of Art, Switzerland, the Tokyo Museum of Modern Art and many more institutions and private collections. Mark Peiser lives and works in Penland, NC.
The Wexler Gallery is an internationally recognized gallery showcasing the finest in contemporary glass, studio furniture, ceramics, jewelry and decorative arts. We are proud to represent some of the world’s most esteemed artists working today, including Wendell Castle, William Harper and Dale Chihuly.
As specialists in contemporary and historic glass, Wexler Gallery serves a wide client base including established collectors looking for specific pieces to enhance their collections, as well as those individuals just beginning to acquire contemporary glass. Alongside the masters, visitors will find extraordinary glass works by today’s emerging talent.
The newest addition to the gallery is WALLS at Wexler, featuring outstanding, affordable paintings, prints and photography. Visitors will find rotating group exhibitions on two floors of the gallery.
The Wexler Gallery is located at 201 North Third Street in the historical district of Old City Philadelphia.We invite you to visit our gallery or explore our website at www.wexlergallery.com. For high resolution images or additional information, please contact Sienna@wexlergallery.com or call (215) 923-7030. |
Taliaferro Jones
Water within Water |
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Inhale-Exhale, 2005, 14 X 14 X 6”, Kiln Cast Crystal |
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Auroral I (1/15), 2005, 46 X 46" (framed), Giclée Print |
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Wexler Gallery presents Water within Water; an exhibition of kiln-cast glass works & photographs by Taliaferro Jones. Show runs from September 6th through the 29th. Opening reception will take place on First Friday, September 7th from 5 – 8:30pm; artist talk at 7:30 pm.
California-born, Toronto-based artist Taliaferro Jones creates glass sculptures and giclée prints that explore the essence of balance using texture, form and light. According to the artist, her most recent body of work “uses water as a metaphor to illustrate the ever-present alchemy of our existence.” Jones proposes that glass, like water “has an amazing ability to reflect and refract light. Its prismatic qualities display the infinite patterns of nature in exquisite variety. Its power, beauty, and possibility are awe-inspiring.”
Jones’ work has exhibited internationally and can be found in many established collections including the Museo De Arte En Vidrio in Spain. She has studied at Sheridan College's Glass Program in Canada and has a BA in Art History and a BFA in Photography, Glass, and Mixed Media Sculpture from Tufts University and the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. |
Jenny E. Balisle
Paintings & Drawings |
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JBP842900V, Mixed media, acrylic and oil on canvas, 60 X 84" |
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JBD.3.6.1613, Graphite on paper, 6x13” |
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On the Second floor of the gallery, WALLS at Wexler presents an exhibition of mixed media paintings and drawings by California-based artist Jenny E. Balisle. Show runs from September 6th through the 29th. Opening reception will take place on First Friday; September 7th from 5 – 8:30pm; artist talk at 7:00 pm.
California-based artist Jenny E. Balisle is best known for her boldly colored abstract paintings and drawings. Using a two-handed approach, the artist creates “multiple layers that often are not seen by the viewer but regardless represent process and rhythm of the outside environment.” Despite their non-representational quality, Balisle states that her pieces explore and illustrate the emotion from interactions with people and places.
Balisle’s works have been exhibited in many group and solo shows across the United States. She has a BFA from the University of Wisconsin and a MFA in Painting from the Academy of Art College in San Francisco. |
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PHILADELPHIA- Wexler Gallery presents “Man Made: In the Natural World”, an exhibition of paintings and works on paper by Bosnian artist Tanja Softic juxtaposed withsculptural and turned wood objects by Ron Fleming, George Peterson, Thierry Martenon,Louise Hibbert and more. The wood portion of this exhibition is brought to the gallery in conjunction with The Wood Turning Center. |
Featured in the upstairs gallery, “Timeless Design: A Marriage of New Technology and Classic Modernism”, an exhibition of new rapid prototyping designs and lighting by the Belgium design group MGX.Materialise along with classic modern furniture of the 1950's-70's. |
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MGX.Materialise Collection
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Wexler Gallery presents an exhibition of contemporary European and American glass featuring works by Bertil Vallian, Thermon Statum, Roger Paramore andHiroshi Yamano.
Included in this exhibition are early pieces by world renowned glass artists William Morris, Tessa Clegg, Hank Adams and William Carlson. |
Holiday Hours: Tuesday December 26th through Saturday December 30th, 11am – 5pm
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PHILADELPHIA: Wexler Gallery presents an exhibition of fine furniture by artist Dean Pulver and wearable sculpture by Marilyn Arnold Palley. Show runs from November 3rd through December 29th.
Dean Pulver, a child of Japanese and American heritage, creates one-of-a-kind furniture pieces with design aesthetics drawing from many diverse cultures. Hand carved and heavily manipulated, his highly sculptural but functional objects evoke the spirit of primitive art. Using a variety of exotic woods and natural dyes, his work contemplates the universal ideas of silence, control, texture, form, and man’s interaction with material.
With a BFA in Sculpture from the Philadelphia College of Art in Philadelphia (now the University of the Arts), Pulver has exhibited work in numerous solo and group exhibitions through out the country. Select exhibitions include: Fuller Craft Museum, "Cut It Out", Brockton, MA (2005), Philadelphia Museum of Art Craft Show, Philadelphia, PA (2003), "Furniture As Art",Guild.com, Madison, WI (2000), "Wood", Berkshire Artisans Gallery, Pittsfield, MA (1995), and "Sculpture On The Creek", Martin's Creek Sculpture Park, PA (1993).
Marilyn Arnold Palley, a fiber artist for over 30 years, is well known for both her large sculptural pieces and her art to wear. Her most recent body of work, Wearable Sculptures, blurs the line between object and adornment. Using semiprecious stones including Amber along with materials such as silver, gold, plastic resin, bakelite, and wood, the artist creates unique three dimensional pieces. These wearable objects called “Totems” beg to be touched, held, and examined, creating a tactile experience between the object and the viewer.
Palley, a graduate of Philadelphia College of Textiles & Sciences, has shown work at many prestigious institutions including the Philadelphia Art Alliance (1973), the National Council of Jewish Women, NJ (1973-78), and the Reese Palley Gallery, Atlantic City, NJ (1974-85). Marilyn Arnold Palley will be having a major one woman exhibition at The Danish Museum of Decorative Art (Copenhagen) in 2007.
The Wexler Gallery is an internationally recognized gallery showcasing the finest in contemporary glass, studio furniture, ceramics, jewelry and decorative arts. We are proud to represent some of the world’s most esteemed artists working today, including Wendell Castle, Albert Paley, William Harper and Dale Chihuly.
The newest addition to the gallery is WALLS at Wexler, featuring outstanding, affordable paintings, prints and photography. Visitors will find rotating group exhibitions on two floors of the gallery.
The Wexler Gallery is located at 201 North Third Street in the historical district of Old City Philadelphia. We invite you to visit our gallery or explore our website at www.wexlergallery.com. For high resolution images or additional information, please contact Sienna@wexlergallery.com or call (215) 923-7030. |
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SOFA CHICAGO 2006
November 10 - 12, Exhibition Hall, Navy Pier
600 E. Grand Avenue, Chicago, IL
For general information:
call 800.563.SOFA (7632) or e-mail: info@sofaexpo.com
William Morris
Side-Striped Vessel, 2000
Hand-blown glass with powder
7 X 5 X 11”
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“To be at home in the universe—what does it mean? “To dwell as a mortal," as unpopular Heidegger would say… And to feel one is not fully at home in this place? In the past I'd been painting the house from the outside. Now I paint it from the inside, how it exists not only physically, but also spiritually and emotionally.” – Chris Anderson, 2002
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PHILADELPHIA: WALLS at Wexler Gallery is proud to present an exhibition of new work by painter Chris Anderson. Included in this show are select pieces from Anderson’s Family Stories: Historical Dislocations in the Domestic Landscape. Family Stories reflects Anderson’s personal experience living in rural and suburban America and growing up with its myths, pleasures and banalities. Using an inherited treasure of family artifacts – tiny objects, old photographs, books, newspaper clippings – as her muse, Family Stories contemplates American cultural traditions, ideas and ideals in the American home. Show runs from October 5th through October 28th.
Anderson studied visual art in Rome, Italy at the Tyler School of Art; in New York at the Pratt Institute of Art; in California, at Scripps College (BA) and the Claremont Graduate University (MFA).
From 1996 through 1998, Anderson lived and worked as a Fulbright Senior Scholar in the Arts in Berlin. The Fulbright Commission awarded her a lecturing/research grant as the only visual artist among over a hundred grantees. Other awards and honors for her work include fellowship grants from The National Endowment for the Arts (Painting), New York Foundation for the Arts (Painting), Artists Space (Artist's Grant), Ludwig Vogelstein Foundation (Painting), New York State Council on the Arts (CAPS Grant), and many research and scholarship awards, including several from The City University of New York and The Council for International Exchange of Scholars (Fulbright).
Her work may be found in a number of public collections including Artothek des Bundes of the Federal Chancellery of Art, Vienna, Austria; The Rockefeller Arts Center; The Museum of Modern Art (Life of the City Collection); The Vatican Collection, Italy; Deutsche Burgenvereinigung in Marksburg Castle, Germany; UCLA's Armand Hammer Museum; Fulbright Commission in Berlin, Germany; Casa di Risparmio Foundation (Torquato Terracina) and Istitito San Lodovico in Palazzo Ranieri, Orvieto, Italy; Italy; Kebble-Villa Museum of the Oberpfälzer Künstlerhaus, Germany; The New York City Public Library; and The Library of Congress; as well as corporate collections including IBM, Citicorp, AT&T, ITT, Delta, Bayer, Siemans, Takebashi in Japan, and Sebald Publishers in Germany, among others. |
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Ed Zucca
Sculptural Doorstops
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Leah Woods
A Personal Wardrobe
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Wexler Gallery is proud to announce an exhibition of new work by innovative furniture artists Ed Zucca and Leah Woods. Featured in this show are select pieces from Zucca’s sculptural doorstop series as well as seven new furniture pieces by Leah Woods. Show runs from May 5th- May 27th 2006.
The imaginative furniture of Ed Zucca stems from his early fascination with structure and design. Zucca, who describes himself as an "artist who works in the medium of furniture," uses mostly native hardwoods and often includes non-traditional materials such as metal, Plexiglas, and fur. His pieces, which generally revolve around themes involving robots, televisions, spacecraft, and extraterrestrials, are included in several prominent public collections, such as the permanent collections of The Connecticut Commission on the Arts and The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.
Leah Woods is best known for her one-of-a-kind pieces of furniture that play with ideas relating to surprise, mystery, and expectation. She integrates these ideas with the forms and functions of cabinets, desks, and seating to create unexpected, thought provoking environments. Inspired by fashion images and concepts, much of Woods’s recent work contemplates the idea of fashion as fetish as well as a form of 'personal transfiguration'.
The Wexler Gallery is an internationally recognized gallery showcasing the finest in contemporary glass, studio furniture, ceramics, jewelry and decorative arts. Located at 201 North Third Street in the historical district of Old City Philadelphia, the Wexler Gallery represents some of the world’s most esteemed artists working today. For high resolution images or additional information, please contact Sienna@wexlergallery.com or call (215) 923-7030. |
The Wexler Gallery is proud to present an exhibition of new works by ceramic artist Dirk Staschke. A percentage of the proceeds from this exhibition will be donated to The Clay Studio in Philadelphia. Show runs March 3rd, May 2nd 2006.
Included in this show are select pieces from Staschke’s “Ornament” and “Fruits of Labor” series. The artist states that “the majority of the work is based in human figuration and at times references sculptural history as well as contemporary culture. Often, the work combines these incongruent elements in a manner that asserts larger questions with anthropological undertones ranging from social to political. The end result is an odd symbiosis of past and present.”
With an MFA from Alfred University, Staschke has taught at a variety of institutions such as New York University, Nassau Community College, and the University of Montevallo. His exceptional ceramic sculptures have been featured in numerous exhibitions across the country, including solo shows at Philadelphia’s Wexler Gallery in 2004 and New York’s John Elder Gallery in 2003.
Dirk Staschke on his “Ornament” series:
“In 1908 modernist architect Adolf Loos made a case against ornament in his manifesto Ornament and Crime. His argument was that ornament is economically inefficient and "morally degenerate” and that reducing ornament was a sign of progress. Is ornament not beautiful?
Being a child of postmodernism, I feel somewhat conflicted by the opposing notions of beauty. My thoughts about ornament oscillate between that of a sumptuous sanctity of beauty and superfluous crap. My skepticism of manmade beauty stems from the daily bombardment of images and objects that have been studied and refined to fit my specific demographic and price point. At times it seems that beauty is only a formula for enticing consumption. We also consume ideas as well as products.
The larger scale and pristine surfaces in my work are reminiscent of public sculpture. Unlike public sculpture, my work incorporates ornament and the figure by reconfiguring and distorting them in order to build sculptures that convey an irrationality of form without regard for setting or context. Figures are often shorn off unexpectedly or joined in a strange and grotesque manner. It is this overlay of the rational and irrational, the beautiful and the grotesque, that most interests me.
Historically, public sculptures serve to commemorate or adorn with an underlying ideology or paradigm e.g. (monuments to political figures, war heroes or saints). I am removing ornamental sculpture from its original context of beautifying a building or symbolizing an idea and reorienting it into a freestanding sculptural object. My sculptures are devoid of recognizable attributes of specific individuals and in doing so question traditional notions of fame and greatness.
We form society collectively but experience it individually. In this aspect, the work is also an open-ended question concerning how we as individuals fit into the larger context of society.” – Dirk Staschke, 2006
Dirk Staschke on his “Fruits of Labor (blue and whites)” series:
“My work has been motivated by societal observations that typically involve paradox and irony. In this body of work, I am interested in the tension between our need for cultural specificity and the effects of increasing globalization.
My current sculpture is subtly informed by a trip to China in the fall of 2004 and by the history of chinoiserie ceramics. Chinoiseries are European decorative works produced under the influence of Chinese art in the 17th and 18th centuries. At that time the Chinese also started making works that catered to European tastes. It is this crosspollination of ideas that most interests me about this period. Through the exchange of ideas, each respective culture becomes a little more like the other. Chinoiserie ceramics could be considered an artistic crystallization of what we now call globalization.
This work borrows from the decorative history of East and West, fusing them into precarious forms, which mimic portions of industrial and urban landscapes. Western influences include forms derived from Cornucopias and Corinthian columns, or other symbols of prosperity and affluence. The Eastern influences are appropriated blue and white porcelains. At times, these elements are literally glazed together in the firing process.
Using purchased objects in the work alludes to notions of trade and consumerism. The objects I have chosen are associated with growth and nourishment through their domestic roles as planters or food receptacles and so on. Trade and consumerism are also forms of growth. In some regards the work is an attempt to reconcile disparate interpretations of the word “growth”. What is good for industry is not always good for the individual.
Ever growing financial dependency is not without its concerns. Throughout the world, angst about indigenous economies and energy supplies changing to a more globalized structure can create fear and mistrust. The sculptures I create do not propose to pass specific judgment on East or West. Instead, my intention is to create work that serves as a point of contemplation of our mutual fears and desires concerning globalization and its social and economic outcomes.”
– Dirk Staschke, 2006
The Wexler Gallery presents a spacious museum-like setting for an ongoing exhibition of the finest in contemporary ceramics, glass, studio furniture, jewelry, and decorative art. The gallery re-evaluates the distinction between the so-called decorative arts and the fine arts by taking functional art out of its traditional context and into that of fine arts gallery where its aesthetic and cultural value can be appreciated as a separate function. Much of the work shown in the gallery possesses a functional aspect, yet it is the communicative force of the work’s aesthetic values which grounds it in the realm of art.
Located at 201 North Third Street in the historical district of Old City Philadelphia, the Wexler Gallery represents some of the world’s most esteemed artists working today. For high resolution images or additional information, please contact Sienna@wexlergallery.com or call (215) 923-7030. |
February 3rd- 28th 2006 |
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William Harper
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The Wexler Gallery presents a survey of newly acquired work featuring world renowned jewelry artist William Harper, contemporary glass artist Steve Klein, and lighting by Materialise MGX. |
| Wexler Gallery is Proud to Present |
Yuji Kubo
Japanese Master Lacquer Artist
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WEXLER GALLERY
December 2nd 2005 – February 3rd 2006
PHILADELPHIA- Wexler Gallery is proud to present new work by Japanese master lacquer artist Yuji Kubo. The Hirosaki City based artist belongs to a generation of skilled and innovative artists who have mastered the varying techniques and patterns for which Tsugaru lacquer is well known.Kubo has introduced new patterns and colors of lacquer, and has successfully created lacquer pieces on an unusually large scale. Kubo has shown in multiple group and solo exhibitions including Tokyo’s “New Lacquer Ware” in 1987. Following this exhibition, Kubo was recognized with the Good Design Award by Japan Ministry of International Trade and Industry.
Lacquer ware was one of several technologies imported to the Tohoku area by the 4th generation leader of the Tsugaru clan, Tsugaru Nobumasa (1656-1710) in his efforts to stimulate cultural and industrial development within the predominantly agrarian culture. Among the distinctive qualities for which Tsugaru lacquer is famous is its durability, the result of solid construction with linen reinforcements, varying preliminary applications of lacquer undercoat, and up to 50 coats of lacquer, each requiring drying and burnishing. In 1975, Tsugaru lacquer ware was designated as a traditional craft by Japanese government.
The Wexler Gallery presents a spacious museum-like setting for an ongoing exhibition of the finest in studio furniture, glass, and decorative art. Located at 201 North Third Street in the historical district of Old City Philadelphia, the Wexler Gallery represents some of the world’s most esteemed artists working today. For high resolution images or additional information, please contact sienna@wexlergallery.com, or call (215) 923-7030. |
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New Acquisitions in historical and Contemporary Glass
Lino Tagliapietra
Purple and Green Swirl, 1995
Glass
6 X 5 X 20 inches
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October 2005
The Wexler Gallery Presents a Survey of Studio Furniture and Glass by Contemporary Masters and Up and Coming Artists Working in Similar Media |
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SOFA CHICAGO 2005
The Twelfth Annual International Exposition of
Sculpture Objects & Functional Art:
October 28 - 30, 2005
http://www.sofaexpo.com/ |
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September - November, 2005
In connection with the Wood Turning Center’s international exhibition “WOOD 2005 Collectors of Wood Art Forum & World Turning Conference”; The Wexler Gallery presents a survey of turned and carved wood objects featuring the works of Ron Fleming, Rudiger Marquarding, and Dennis Elliot. WOOD 2005 is a region-wide celebration of wood art taking place in and around the Philadelphia area during the month of September, 2005.
The Wexler Gallery presents a spacious museum-like setting for an ongoing exhibition of the finest in studio furniture, glass, and decorative art. Located at 201 North Third Street in the historical district of Old City Philadelphia, the Wexler Gallery represents some of the world’s most esteemed artists working today. |
Frantisek Vizner
Green and Amber Vase, Early 1970’s
Glass, cut with sand blasted matt surface
4.5(L) x 2.5(W) x 8.25(H)
July 29 through August 28, 2005 |
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July 29 through August 28:
The Wexler Gallery Presents a Survey of Studio Furniture and Contemporary Glass including works by Steve Klein, Jefferson Shallenberger, Frantisek Vizner, Loretta Yang, and Ed Zucca
By recontextualizing functional art into that of a fine art gallery where their aesthetic and cultural values can be appreciated on their own merit, the Wexler Gallery reevaluates the distinction between decorative and fine arts. While much of the works shown in this exhibition possess a functional aspect, it is the communicative force of the works' aesthetics that ground them in the realm of art. |
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