Pittsburgh Weekend Arts Events: 6/3-4/11.

Friday

It should be a nice night to stroll along Penn Avenue and take in the sights and sounds of Unblurred. The highlight of this month's event is SURE to be Modern Formations' Retrospective, featuring a selection of work from some of the many outstanding artists that have appeared at the gallery (4919 Penn)over the last ten years. They include Mike Budai, Andy Kehoe, Ben Kehoe, Rick Byerly, and Masha Vereshchenko.

David Matthews appears at Garfield Artworks with an exhibit documenting his performance art project (1995-2002) whereby he posted advertisements in which he claimed to be seeking a girlfriend. Alongside this work are a collection of his drawings called "Profitable Cute Kid".

Erick Brockmeyer and Kuan Ju are at work with low level electronbics at Assemble (5125 Penn), and Brian James Gonnella shows his paintings at ImageBox (4933 Penn). You can also see a decade of drawings by Cameron Clayton at The Shop (4312 Main Street, Bloomfield) from 7-11PM. Gabe Felice opens up the "Blurred Series" (curated by Dean Cercone) at 4810 Penn. Weekly installments follow throughout the summer. And as always, there is plenty of other stuff to discover just by showing up and walking up and down the street.

If you want to venture to another part of town, you can stop by Silver Eye (1015 East Carson Street, South Side) for their first annual Pennsylvania Photography Biennial, Keystone.1. There will be 16 photographers from all over the state participating, and the reception runs from 6:30-8:30PM. And it's FREE.

Also- check out the release (finally) of Black Forest. The Andy Warhol Museum will be officially rolling out the third collection of Unicorn Mountain artists with a bit of fanfare, as a part of their Good Friday series 96-10PM).

Saturday

Gallery 4 (206 S. Highland, Shadyside) is featuring "Wunderball", an exhibition of sculpture and paintings by Anthony Purcell. The opening reception starts at 7PM.

AND don't forget the Three Rivers Arts Festival starts this weekend. I'm not going to point out any highlights... just check out their site HERE for your favorites.

Pittsburgh Weekeend Art Events: 2/4-5/11.

c. David Grim (taken 10/17/10)

Because the Cultural Trust had the foresight (finally) not to compete with the regular onslaught of art events that occurs on every first Friday of the month, you have an outside chance of seeing most of what is worthwhile on the local arts scene this weekend.

Friday

The long-anticipated "Surface and Rigor" show is opening (6PM) at the Mendelson Gallery (5874 Ellsworth Avenue) in Shadyside. It features the abstract works of painter Mark Gualtieri, photographer Rick Byerly, and painter Will Giannotti. These three artists are long-time staples of the 'Burgh arts scene, and it's been awhile since any of them have exhibited in town. Stop by and exchange some words with them before heading over to Unblurred.

And while we are on the subject of the monthly Penn Avenue Corridor extravaganza- make sure to stop by the Pittsburgh Glass Center for 'TENacity", its tenth anniversary show. There will be 31 glass artists presenting their work. Meanwhile there is a mother/daughter show featuring the namesake and progeny of the Irma Freeman Center (5006 Penn), new work by Brad Heiple and Katie Watson at Modern Formations (4919 Penn), and collages by Seth LeDonne at ImageBox (4933 Penn). Most Wanted (5015 Penn) has Chatham University students, and the latest addition to Unblurred is My Place on Penn (4900 Penn)- a venue selling "art furniture".

Listen... I think it's important to recognize the achievements of young local artists. Unblurred has always fulfilled the function of providing venues for unknown creators to get their work out in front of many viewers. CAPA seniors Kimi Hanauer and Emily Hutchings are getting that opportunity this month at the misleadingly-named International Children's Art Gallery (5020 Penn Ave). Give the youngsters some love.

Additionally, if you somehow find yourself with available hours during the workday (from 12-6PM specifically) and easy access to the South Side, stop by at the "Historic Home of Phillip Benz" (2112 Sarah Street) to see the figure paintings of Mahalah McWilliams and Sam Thorpe. Similar hours will be extended throughout the weekend. The artists will be on hand for discourse at 1PM and 5PM.

Saturday

For years now, Bloomfield gallery Boxheart (4523 Liberty Avenue) has been (rather quietly) attracting artists from all over the world to show on its walls. This month it is bringing the work of Hong Kong-native Chung Fanky Chak to Western PA. His series "The Boxes" are photo collages examining visual stereotypes about urban environments. Stop in for a reception starting at 5PM.

Pittsburgh Art Events: 1/ 22-23/10.

c. David Grim (taken 2/8/09)

This photo depicts Rick Byerly of the Pittsburgh Galleries Blog. He has a photo in the Crawl in the basement of the Harris Theater.

Friday

The Downtown Gallery Crawl for the winter is upon us, and the Cultural Trust is offering attendees a melange of stuff- some of which has been up for weeks, and some that is being newly unveiled for the event itself (5:30-9PM).

Space Gallery (812 Liberty Ave.) still houses the "Behind our Scenes" exhibit (curated by Laura Mustio & Nicole Rosato), which showcases the work of artists affiliated with local art institutions like the Mattress Factory and the Carnegie Art Museum. I attended the opening, and would suggest that the show is worth a quick run-through. The Pitt News has a write-up of the show here.

I've also seen PCA curator Adam Welch's collection of large assemblage pieces and other works at the 709 Penn Gallery. Welch has been quite busy trying to reconcile the perplexing dichotomies within himself and society (here's a review by Kurt Shaw). You'll have to see for yourself how he's managing. While you're at it, stop by next door (707 Penn) for a display of works by Anjali Srinivasan.

Wood Street Galleries hosts a genuine opening reception for a retrospective of works by Argentinian artist Martin Bonadeo, and Future Tenant has Do You Understand?, a multimedia exhibit on online communication, curated by Kim Rullo. Even though they opened this thing last weekend, you can get a "Sneak Preview" online at their official site. Meanwhile the 937 Gallery (on Liberty Avenue) has three full floors of stuff to take in, including Robot Resolution for the tech geeks, and the For Real For Real storytelling series for the literate nerds.

At 820 Liberty, Urban Tree Forge and Moxie Dada has its closing reception for Resolutions. Evidently the curators there are trying to get you to think, as they are advertising an "Exhibit challenging viewers to think about environment, sustainability, self government & control". Finally, you should make a point of stopping by Pittsburgh Tribune Review art critic Kurt Shaw's relatively-new gallery (805 Liberty Ave.). He's featuring "rare original prints" by French Expressionist Georges Rouault.


If you'd rather simply avoid the hustle-and-bustle of Downtown on a Friday evening, you can choose instead to go to Paper - series on paper by Kelly Blevins, Seth Clark, Joren Dykstra, Maria Mangano & Andrea Muha at the Gallery on Baum (4643) in Oakland. I've been tracking events there for a bit, and it seems like this is their first show that features local artists, so come out (6-9PM) and reinforce this new direction. There's a nice preview (and a couple of images) of this over at The Pittsburgh Galleries Blog.

Saturday

Your options seem kind of limited for Saturday. All I could find is Now & Then and Cubism Revisited, featuring the work of David Lewis and Terry Shutko respectively, opening at the Mendelson Gallery in Shadyside (2-5PM). It should be worth checking out.



(EDIT: There's also a show of drawings at the Panza Gallery: 115 Sedgwick Street in Millvale from 6-9PM. I feel terrible for forgetting this because it's an exhibition by folks I draw with most Thursdays. Hell, I might even have something in the show.)